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Now Playing

This blog serves as a sort of personal gaming history but it has been a few weeks since I wrote about any of the games I am actually playing. To redress the situation I will do a quick round up of my gaming over the last month or so.

Eve didn't survive long after my return from holidays. I found myself increasingly reluctant to log into my mission running main and only lingered on for a week or so playing low skill point alts. When my subscription ran out it was an easy decision not to renew.

I notice that Warhammer online is getting very good vibes from the press and my fellow bloggers but I am not ready to plunge into another mmo yet. Real life and work (see what I did there?) are making a lot of demands on me at the moment and I can't make the commitment required to do the mmo thing. In fact the commitment that mmos demand is one of the main tenets of my "mmos are history" argument.

After EVE I went to the opposite extreme and indulged in some Flash gaming for a few weeks. I was genuinely surprised at the quality, depth and innovation of the best of modern flash games.

During this flash game phase I also started playing Guild Wars again with a half hearted intention of finishing the Nightfall campaign with my Paragon character. Guild wars is a game that I only play occasionally now but I will get to the end of that campaign eventually.

I always like to have at least one shooter on the go to satisfy my testosteronal urges. Call of Duty 4 multiplayer has been that game for most of this year but I never manage to get above mid table on the servers that I play. It seems that I have hit my wall in that game. I bought Rainbow Six Vegas (on budget release) and have just finished the single player campaign. It is a very good squad based tactical shooter. Of course you have to suspend your personal morality to play any shooter these days but if you can handle that this is definitely one of the better ones.

I am playing Spore with my wife, she plays and I sit beside her giving guidance and direction. I have long ago given up any hope of turning my life partner into a fellow game addict (probably for the best lest we both starve) but actually sharing a game is a very enjoyable new experience. EA's heavy handed approach to digital rights management is an annoyance. The game doesn't allow us to set up separate user names and the limited number of activations makes me uncomfortable about installing it on more than one computer.I don't agree with those who have tried to bury Spore in protest over drm but I do think EA goofed big time on this one. Spore should be the ideal game to play with your family, yet they have made it very hard to actually play with your family!

As further evidence of my wife's mellowing towards my gaming habit she actually bought me a new game on the spur of the moment: a collectors edition of the rpg "Two Worlds". The game got fairly lacklustre reviews but shhhh... dont' say anything, its the thought that counts. It does come in a big box with free maps and other shiny stuff inside. I have just installed it, will give my thoughts on the game later.
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Comments

Crimson Starfire said…
Four months ago my girlfriend bought me a game called Loki. It's reviews were very sub-par and I would never have given it a second look in a games shop. I asked her why she had bought it for me, and her reply was:

"It looked like something you would play and I wanted to buy you something you would like".

The game cost her $50, but the thought alone was worth a million.

Enjoy Two Worlds ;)
1:57 pm
mbp said…
I understand perfectly Crimson ... I can't promise I will finish Two Worlds but I will certainly play it for a bit. Any inadequacy on the gameplay front is more than compensated for by the warm fuzzy feelings attached, bless her.
2:04 pm
Anonymous said…
Am hoping my wife gets the DS she has been planning to get. That way she'll understand a little more about videogaming & what I spend a good piece of my time doing or writing about.

For her it's about expanding her mind a little more, as her normal recreation is spent watching TV or reading a book.

Like you I don't expect her to become a game-head or compete with me on games but it'll still be nice to share some of the experience together.
10:04 am
mbp said…
Hi DM,I would strongly encourage that thought. The DS-lite is a beautifully engineered piece of technology. It is powerful yet intuitive to use and pretty to look at yet highly functional. Add to that Nintendo's superb understanding of how to attract casual gamers and you have a winner. My own wife has spent several hours playing Brain Training or even Mario on our kids DS's.
10:41 am
Anonymous said…
Good to hear mbp, Braing Training is definately something she longs to try out - of course I have a vested interest too!;)
10:26 pm
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