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This is not my greatest Gaming Experience.
After the initial disappointment that “Games Tester for Nintendo” will never appear on my CV, I move on pretty quickly, and, when I buy my first game, I decide to stick to what I know. I know how Windows 98 works, and, like any self-respecting child of the nineties, I also know Harry Potter (a little too well, if I’m honest). I take a chance on Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, and wow. There are so many reasons why I love this game, some of which are:
1. There are no nasty surprises. I expect trolls, Malfoy and Voldemort to all pop up at some point and for me to have to button-bash them to death. Easy. That said, the first time Peeves jumps out at me from behind a porcelain vase, I am so distressed that I run out of the room and do not return for a good few hours, lest he escape from the screen and, um, poltergeist me.
2. Although many of the spells are your classic “Wingardium Leviosa”s and “Lumos”s, there’s some original linguistic brilliance dotted throughout; as a result, I am still employing “Flipendo!” as a favourite swearword well into my mid-teens.
3. I really don’t know if it is the game, or just our (inappropriately branded) Tiny Desktop PC, but a glitch in the graphics sometimes results in Dumbledore being given a funky pair of pixellated sunglasses. To my tweenage mind, this is the funniest thing in the world ever and once again, I have to leave the room to calm down.
4. When I eventually invite my aforementioned friend round to play it, I beat her at Quidditch. The fact that I have been playing the game non-stop for six months longer than she has is definitely not a contributing factor in this life-affirming achievement.
Philosopher’s Stone does, of course, drive me to deepest despair at some points: when the computer crashes just as I’m about to complete Snape’s potion challenge, or when the computer crashes just as I’m about to wipe out a gnome infestation, or when the computer crashes – alright, sometimes it doesn’t even make it to the start-up screen. But it’s safe, and magical, and hilarious: I am addicted, and with the ever-persevering optimism of You-Know-Who, I always come back for more. Darn you, Dumbledore, and your Shades of Power!
I loved the Harry Potter games. Even had the Quidditch World Cup - quality way to waste homework time 
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