During the building of the HTPC I downloaded and installed STEAM.
This was more or less and after-thought, but when I decided one evening to browse the games on offer I realised there were quite a few I liked the look of.
One particular one is called "State of Decay", a zombie survival game that instantly struck me with its clean graphics and striking colour scheme. There was something idyllic about the screen shots I’d seen, not those images of zombies noshing on flesh, but the landscapes and open spaces that made me think of the American mid-west we see in films.
There were other games too and after I setup an account and began to collect games in my online "wish list" I immediately began seeing special offers that took my fancy.
One such offer was "The Witcher" and its first sequel, these seemed something I’d like (I’m a long time "Final Fantasy" player) and the deals were a little too good to pass up.
The first and second games in the series put me back £5.
That was for both of them.
I downloaded and installed but was dismayed to find my HTPC would not play them. I immediately (and wrongly as it turned out) surmised that this was because I had no dedicated graphic card installed and I began pricing up a modest card to add to the system.
After a few days another deal presented itself. A game called "Arma 2" and several add on packs. One of these was called "DAYZ" and this too was a zombie inspired game, so I purchased it.
I found that this too wouldn’t work, so I shrugged and thought "ah well, I’ll have to put money aside for that card." Then thought no more of it.
Then a few more days passed and the penny dropped when I noticed that automatic updates seem to be, well… Not automatically updating. So I looked into it.
My clock on the computer was wrong… Seriously, this had stopped the computer from updating. I shook my head in that way people who deal with computers, civil servants and small children tend to do, changed the clock and set the auto-update to run.
I rebooted and, on another whim, decided to run "The Witcher".
And what would you know? It ran without a hitch. I closed "The Witcher" and tried "Arma 2"; and this too ran without a hitch.
Then I re-ran "The Witcher" and started to play; eight hours later my girlfriend asked if I was actually intending to go to bed, it was one in the morning, and I realised that on some level I was a "Gamer".