For some of us gaming is a lifelong hobby/passion. However, certain periods are more intense or memorable than others. What were the years that you played the most games or were most interested in gaming? When were you happiest and when did you play a string of your favorite games?

For me it was between 2009-2013. Those were the years I wrote reviews for this site. I was one of the most active reviewers. I played all types of games. Games I was interested in. Games that got sent to me by publishers. It was a lot of work though. I did not always enjoy playing the games and a lot of times I missed out on other games I wanted to play. This period came to an end when I moved to Japan for work. I decided against buying a TV/game console so I could focus on studying Japanese, meeting new people, and traveling.  I thought when I moved back to the US I would start up again and to some extent I did but now I don't game much at all. I am too busy with work, trying to get into a grad school program, and maybe moving overseas again. Any time I spend gaming I feel I could spend doing something more productive. I also have less interest in buying new stuff.

Still I look at my peak gaming years quite fondly. I met great people through the site. I got to travel to E3 and the Tokyo Game Show several times. I'm sure I will keep gaming but I doubt I will ever be that dedicated again.

Here is a list of all the games I reviewed during that time:

2009-2013

Furmins (PSV)
NBA 2K14 (PS4)
Pokemon X & Y (3DS)
KickBeat (PSV)
Rayman Legends (PSV)
Aabs Animals (PSV)
Muramasa Rebirth (PSV)
Flying Hamster HD (PSV)
Men's Room Mayhem (PSV)
SpeedX 3D Hyper Edition (3DS)
Publisher Dream (DSi)
Super Little Acorns 3D Turbo (3DS)
Draw Slasher (PSV)
MLB 13: The Show (PSV)
Spy Hunter (PSV)
FIFA 13
LittleBigPlanet
Tekken Tag Tournament 2
Madden NFL 13 (PSV)
Sound Shapes
The Amazing Spider-man
Metal Gear Solid HD Collection
PulzAR (PSV)
Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes
Men in Black: Alien Crisis (PS3)
Ridge Racer Unbounded
Stardrone Extreme (PSV)
Skullgirls
Ridge Racer
Asphalt: Injection
Plants vs. Zombies (PSV)
Lumines: Electronic Symphony
Uncharted: Golden Abyss
Tekken 3D: Prime Edition
Shinobi
Cooking Mama 4: Kitchen Magic!
Rayman Origins
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Tetris Axis
FIFA Soccer 12
God of War: Origins Collection
Madden NFL 12
Ugly Americans: Apocalypsegeddon
Phineas and Ferb: Across the 2nd Dimension
Resident Evil The Mercenaries 3D
NASCAR 2011: The Game
LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game
Ridge Racer 3D
Asphalt 3D
Jane's Hotel (PSP)
Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars
Test Drive Unlimited 2
Pac-Man Championship Edition
Z.H.P: Unlosing Ranger vs Darkdeath Evilman
Disney Channel: All Star Party
God of War: Ghost of Sparta
Gran Turismo 5
FIFA Soccer 11
Call of Duty: Black Ops
Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep
Madden NFL 11
Disgaea Infinite
Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4
Young Thor (PSP)
Modnation Racers
Super Mario Galaxy 2
Dead or Alive Paradise
Dante's Inferno
Dante's Inferno
God of War Collection
FIFA Soccer 10
Disgaea 2: Dark Hero Days
NERF 2: N-Strike Elite
Trine (PS3)
Obscure: The Aftermath
Gran Turismo
MySims Agents
Go! Sports Ski (PS3)
WET
Warioware: Smooth Moves
Wanted: Weapons of Fate
Madden NFL 10
Holy Invasion of Privacy Badman!
Bomberman Ultra
Rag Doll Kung Fu: Fists of Plastic
Beats
Hammerin’ Hero
Hot Pixel
Resistance 2
Tekken: Dark Resurrection
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time
Resistance: Fall of Man
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Lumines: Puzzle Fusion
Bomberman Blast
Ratchet and Clank Future: Quest for Booty

After 2013

Call of Duty: WWII (PS4)
Switch Galaxy Ultra (PSV)
Flyhunter Origins (PSV)
Woah Dave! (3DS)
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS
Z-Run (PSV)
Murdered: Soul Suspect (PS4)
Watch Dogs (PS4)
Toukiden: The Age of Demons (PSV)
The Lego Movie Videogame (PSV)
Age of Zombies (PSV)

When were your peak gaming years?

The time I spent the most time gaming was my middle school and high school years, from '97 to '04.

I spent 4+ hours every day playing on MSN's Gaming Zone in my middle school days (on my 56k modem woo) on games like Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II and Quake 2

Then in my high school days I got sucked into the MMO life with Dark Age of Camelot (I had dabbled with EverQuest before but DAoC was the one that sunk its claws in me) and played a lot of Counter-Strike/Day of Defeat. My high school life was basically spent online gaming.

I've never come even close to the amount of time I spent gaming back then. I have way too many responsibilities now.

2004-2010. It's been on and off since then.

2008, 2009, and 2017 for me.

2005-2011, I played World of Warcraft. Nuff said.

1983-1992 (from the time I was old enough to hold a joystick, until the time I started getting in trouble), 2014-present. I've been gaming my entire life. But, I played a whole lot when I was a little kid, and then a whole lot since the release of Destiny 1 in 2014.  During those other years I played more  casually. I stayed a couoce years behind, and only bought a game or two per year.

Since Destiny's release 'vee been playing a lot more than just destiny. But, for some reason, that game really cranked my gaming up by a couple thousand percent. It has become my number one hobby once again.

1994-2006. Been playing games since the early 90’s or late 80’s but didn’t get a nes till 92.

Although my peak years would be early PlayStation to late ps2, early ps3. Since then, it’s been an on again, off again affair.

In terms of pure gaming hours, from the second half of primary school right through the first half of high school (2007-2012) for me, I had multiple 255 hour Pokemon saves on every game (RSE, Colo/XD, DPPT, HGSS, BW, B2W2, MD) and played a lot of Mario and Pikmin too. Met my fiance in 2013 and decided to go on exchange to Japan in 2014 and working for that killed my gaming time pretty much. (My 3DS play log is pretty sad - 1000 hours in 2011/2012, suddenly bombs down to 100 in 2013-14; back up to 450 when I got back in 2015 thanks to FE: Fates though).

Since I got the Switch I've gamed even less too. I buy more games (I played 60 games total on the 3DS over seven years; already at 40 on the Switch in 1 and a half) but don't give any of them as much time. My most played is Octopath at 78h, then FE: Warriors at 70h and then a big drop to Overcooked at 45.

96-2008 is when i did most my serious gaming. after that its just going through the motions and just playing stuff to play it, no longer get the overall excitement as a whole except for a select few franchises

My whole life basiacly until maybe 5 years ago. Titanfall 1 and Ghosts were the last time I enjoyed two games simultaneously. Multiplayer games today just don’t interest me because of the transhuman superpowers that defy logic or fake guns, and xbox just doesn’t have single player games I like. I should have went with PS4. Maybe it’s my age, but the gaming industry seems extreemely stagnant to me. I haven’t had the types of nerdgasms I had when Halo, Mass Effect, or Oblivion released. Obviously I liked Skyrim and ESO is pretty good, but launch pvp in ESO was so terrible with the odd crouch to be invisible - with people directly in front of you!!- I just lost total interest. (no idea what dlc brought). Most of my life there were always new franchises bringing something new or old franchises being innovative in less copy cat ways. It seems like games cater to pop culture memes more than finding their own humor and games for service has a lot of cons people don’t seem to care about. I feel like I’m buying betas sometimes. I think Japan still produces good stuff, but the popular western franchises just bore me or don’t interest me. Certain companies like Rockstar and Bioware still appeal to the masses, but I never liked them. I have not liked pretty much anything Bethesda has released since Skyrim. The xbox this generation has just been a total bore to me.