Old Video Games Memories

We are in 2013 and video games have changed greatly since my childhood years. Like all kids, I really loved games. However I do not own many game consoles. However I still have memories of the games I played or the games I watched my sister and cousins played. It was only when I had my own laptop and the advent of roms that I got a bigger glimpse of the games of my childhood.

The game consoles I own or I should say co-owned with my sister were limited to 4 namely:

Nintendo Fami Com

The FamiCom or what people in U.S call the NES was our first game console. This console defined our childhood. It came with a zapper or laser "gun" with 2 controllers. They are very basic in comparison to today's modern game controllers featuring only 4 buttons and the D-Pad. We had a grey version instead of the red. We also owned multi-cart and although it featured 11 game, we liked them and we eventually played more diverse games when we were at our cousin's who owned the NES as well as a more versatile multi-cart of more than 80 games.


Sega Game Gear

In the summer of 2001, my family and I went on a trip to visit some relatives and at our cousin's place we had the opportunity of seeing the various consoles he had. Most of them were not new to me because people were talking about it all the time and that these consoles were already hitting their decline phase. Prior to our visit, I have already seen but not owned the GameBoy, GameBoy Colour and at least played some games on the PlayStation at a friend's house. However the console that was new to my sister and I was the Sega GameGear. It was big, had bright screen but uses 6 batteries which was not going to be a cheap investment. Towards the end of our trip, our cousin gave it to us as a gift; along with the few games he owned. There were not many (3 in all) but we gladly accepted it in our console collection.


Sony PlayStationOne

By the end of 2001, we only had these 2 consoles and despite the fun when playing those games, the latter began to feel old, and that PlayStation games were more appealing. However in summer 2002, things became reality. Our 2D gaming experience got shifted to the third dimension. It was not something totally new since we did have our first gaming experience with the PlayStation during our 2001 trip. The PlayStation One is by far the console we played the most and what made it better was the fact that it was modded which allowed us to have a bigger library of games. Unfortunately we got the console quite late and the PlayStation 2 was already a big hit, thus we were always behind when bought the games. Nevertheless they were endless fun.


Nintendo GameBoy Advance

In the same year we got our first portable game console; the GameBoy Advance. It was quite the ideal console when going on a short trip. It kept us busy and most importantly it used only 2 batteries which was much better compared to the Game Gear. We had only 2 GameBoy Advance exclusive games but we also owned one special cart which contained old NES games. For me they were amazing despite how old they were mostly because I never played most of them during the NES era. We also bought GameBoy Color carts and the backward compatibility was a nice feature of the console.

The Future of The Canadian Dollar

To conclude this month about the Canadian dollar, I would say I have a feeling that the future of the Canadian dollar seems so uncertain yet stable. Its closest rival being the American dollar and they always differ by a few cents. However I remembered of asking my management professor at university about dollars in general. I asked why do people trust the U.S dollar despite being knowing that the country's economy is not healthy. He could not give me a convincing answer.

However he did say that the Canadian dollar or Canada in general was meant to be different that the United States. What he meant different would mean better and with improvements. We did learn a lot about the difference in the banking system in these two countries. Although I have never seen a U.S dollar in real life. I always want to hold one of these green paper with their former presidents on its side. Somehow holding the US dollar makes me feel powerful.

Something for sure about the Canadian dollar is that its banknotes will change dramatically by the end of 2013. A new material will be used in the making of banknotes and together they will form the polymer banknotes. They already implemented it on the $50 and $100 dollar bills and what some friends told me is that it felt like holding plastic instead of money. This new technology was aimed to eliminate the risk of banknote counterfeiting, But lately someone mentioned that the banknote melted at high temperatures. I believe they said 140°C which is not a temperature you would ever find only in ovens. It was a nice discovery but what a waste of money.

This was my view about the Canadian dollar and its purchasing power. Different countries may have different currencies and so far I am quite satisfied with the currency I am currently using. It might not be the best in the world but what defines the best currency? It is just a question of personal preference.

The 100 CAD - $100

The 100 CAD - $100

Our journey ends with the 100 CAD or $100 dollar bill. It is the largest denomination in Canadian dollars and as the name suggest, it is worth $100. It has a bizarre chocolate brown colour and I have not been able to analyse it closely because I never had it. I can only guess that holding a $100 bill must make one feel rich.

Indeed with $100 almost all the high class restaurants become available. I have seen total bills amounting over $100 but I have never seen a meal on its own costing between $50 and $100. Even the top notch restaurants I have been to do not have dishes costing over $50.

The only unfortunate side of the $100 bill is that it is not readily accepted as payment. Not that it is not legal tender but I assume it has lot of issues about counterfeits.