About two years ago Aimeé was given an XBOX 360 system. I was dead set against the idea but turned out that she had always wanted to play video games. At first I was a reluctant observer but Aimeé persuaded me to try some games, nothing interesting until she started playing Assassin’s Creed II.

Up until this late stage of life I had avoided video games because I considered them time wasters. Back in the late 70’s I played some text-based adventure games and found them addictive, so for me the best life strategy was to ignore the whole industry.

According to recent data, the gaming industry is now making more money than the music and movie industries combined.

I was very impressed with Assassin’s Creed II: the graphics, the sound, the story, the game-play; and I played happily for hours, especially while Aimeé was in Mexico this summer. In October here in Guanajuato we bought the latest generation XBOX system and the Assassin’s Creed Ezio Collection, which comprises three games.

As of early December I had finished all three games as I have lots of free time in Mexico. Choosing the next game required research. I liked everything about Assassin’s Creed except for the violence, which is pervasive in video games. I decided on The Talos Principle and will have finished that game very soon.

I need a break from gaming as I feel the weight and guilt of playing so much, but finding the next game to play is on my to-do list. Not only am I a late adopter of video games, I was unaware of the demographic trend of video gaming for seniors and its benefits for healthy aging.