40 Years of Gaming - Dan Bull

When gamers came along, the planet laughed at us

But this is gaming in the future

And you haven’t heard the last of us

Dismissing this is just an enormous fallacy

So, open your mind and let it alter your reality

Hey, geeks!

I bring a message from the future

There’s a new revolution heading to computers

It’s '73 but it won’t be too long

'Til we can get the TV to play a game of Pong

But it’s time to breakout of the house

The crazy days of Space Invaders await us

Arcade potatoes

Swap the shooting range for computer games

Arcade renaissance

Pre-8-bit's blooming days

A new decade, welcome to the 80's

Pac-Man's the latest new craze

Q*Bert's the rage

The first personal computers let loose

As Manic Miner grabs your time and to fight is truly useless

Elite gave legions of wee-little boys

A deep space region and freedom of choice

Now, here comes the console

The first one sold portended an industry of dimensions untold

The birth of franchise, Mario Brothers

Donkey Kong, Monty Mole, I’d tell you the others

But the list’d go on and on

Longer than I can tell

Until the 90's when the game became handheld

Meanwhile, I bought stories of another time

And point-and-click arrived from the shores of Monkey Island

Ever want to see your chums beat right up?

Well, Daniel-San, you need to try Street Fighter

A tournament with all your buddies in your front room

Is all good until you fight online on Doom

Hijack your mind, your momma can’t abide this

Night Trap might lack morals, it’s a moral crisis

What are we doing to our youth?

They’re shooting people glued to screens with superglue

Computers need to be banned when the laws broke

Ban Manhunt, ban Grand Theft Auto

Try something musical but if you’ve a sore throat

I have what you’re after, Parappa the Rapper

Tomb Raider, the tune invades your brain

Get in her way and she’ll make you taste the pain

A sport’s a game, always and it’s hard fact

Then a game became a sport and it’s name was Starcraft

Kids used to play with dolls and a house

The Sims is the same but controlled with a mouse, yeah

Open worlds abound but rarely 3D, hey

Until the Elder Scrolls and GTA

Wait 'til you see the scale of the monsters and bosses

That you face in Shadow of the Colossus

Things are getting bigger, more decisions, more maps

Millions of simultaneous players in Warcraft

All the people, so many people

See, your whole family can get involved in Wii Sports

And more people means more money, more flair

For big blockbusters

COD: Modern Warfare

Even more people, more freedom, more indie games

Limbo, Fez, Super Meat Boy, Braid

Revolutionizing gameplay

A mind blast

Constructing infinite destructible worlds, Minecraft

Gaming on the telephone, yes, I know it sounds absurd

Fruit Ninja, Farmville, Angry Birds

When gamers came along, the planet laughed at us

But this is gaming in the future and you haven’t heard the last of us

Dismissing this is just an enormous fallacy

So, open your mind and let it alter your reality

When gamers came along, the planet laughed at us

But this is gaming in the future and you haven’t heard the last of us

Dismissing this is just an enormous fallacy

So, open your mind and let it alter your reality

When gamers came along, the planet laughed at us

But this is gaming in the future and you haven’t heard the last of us

Dismissing this is just an enormous fallacy

So, open your mind and let it alter your reality

When gamers came along, the planet laughed at us

But this is gaming in the future and you haven’t heard the last of us

Dismissing this is just an enormous fallacy

So, open your mind and let it alter your reality

When gamers came along, the planet laughed at us

But this is gaming in the future and you haven’t heard the last of us

Dismissing this is just an enormous fallacy

So, open your mind and let it alter your reality

Gamers!

The world is ours

Now, where shall we take it?