I too started in the Heyday of NES, and kept on going. The big difference now is money and lifestyle. I can finally afford to buy my own systems and game, which is big because growing up I was that kid that was one generation behind because my parents wanted games on the cheap. It also means I get better games, because my parents would also buy the CRAPPIEST games ever. Now I find i go through spurts. I'll play games hard for 6 months or so, hours at a time. Then all of a sudden, I'll just stop, and I won't feel like picking up a controller again for a few months. Also, I've deployed twice in the last 4 years, and there's virtually NOTHING to do on an airfield in Afghanistan but work and play games. I bought a new game just about every day off I got (1 every 14 days), and would usually beat that and whatever my roommate bought (he did the same thing) before my next day off.

Total summary, I played games fairly frequently through my childhood, in Middle/High School I got into RPG's and was a rampant gamer, for a few years after I graduated I didn't play a whole lot, and now I'm a 4-6 month on-off cycle, when I'm not deployed anyway.