Monthly Archives: November 2008

Games and Game Development, Personal Blog

I has a hunger

Let’s be honest. For a long time now, I’ve been scraping by on other people’s consoles, nibbling at new video games as a good-natured jackal might nibble bites of other kills, and have been happy doing so. I’ve sustained myself as such since, well, since Halo, I suppose, and fun times on the XBox back at Rhodes 2 in undergrad. There have been a smattering of purchases here and there, but for the most part I’ve been scavenging.

It’s been frugal living, and for a long time it’s been quite an acceptable means for me to absorb enough gaming to keep myself going.

However, things have been changing. I’ve grown hungry to own my own games again, and to feed off of my own consoles. With the recent wave of November releases, I become restless and jealous every time I read a twitter or a status update about some such game that some such person has been enjoying. It makes me twitchy and antsy and fuels a desperate hunger to play and learn and consume and shove games into my brain as I do so often with books. Can I hold out against this craving? Should I?

I haven’t felt this way, really, since back when I purchased my Playstation 1 in high school, which is pretty much when I began sustaining my gaming crave with my own money. It began in a similar way…I remember scraping by on the consoles of friends, playing what I could on visits, and slowly growing hungrier. Then Spyro the Dragon came and I was like “okay, that’s it,” and I happily devoted the meager income of a high school student to support my gaming hobby in full with a fresh new console.

I suppose, if I’m going to be a game designer, I could write off the investment cost as research and not worry about it. Still, it’s so much money! Even if I became a devoted GameFly user, I still have to get the consoles and a TV to play them on.

I think the best happy medium would be to take advantage of the ETC library and lounge in the time I have left, but students on co-op can’t borrow games from the library, so I’d have to have someone else get them for me. It is not quite the same, I know, but it might help sate my appetite for a bit longer. We shall see!

Games and Game Development, Personal Blog

A Poll

7 Comments

Internets, I need your help! I require input for decision-making.

Do I…

1) Go to Gamestop tonight to pick up my pre-ordered copy of WotLK and see all the fun costumed people and bask in the camaraderie of nerd-ism and have fun and a party.

or

2) Go to freakin bed and pick up WotLK tomorrow because I’m tired as hell and I won’t install it tonight anyway.

Discuss!

Edit: After handing over my decision to the coin of fate, I went along. It was quite well organized and they gave us free pizza! No one dressed up in crazy costumes though. I still haven’t installed it, as I went to bed immediately upon my return.

Games and Game Development, Personal Blog

Why Highlander the MMO will be AWESOME

So here’s another thought tangent that came out of Horseshoe, even though it was not directly connected to a workgroup.

Back in Bandology, we often joked about how we were going to make Highlander the MMO, and how it was going to be AWESOME. It was entirely a joke, as the “there can be only one” nature of Highlander doesn’t really mesh with the concept of a massively multiplayer game.

OR DOES IT?

Highlander the MMO WILL be fun…

Personal Blog

Things are good

I am in a startlingly good mood today, and I am unsure of exactly why.

Part of it, I think, is that I am so excited about going to Project Horseshoe this weekend that I can barely stay in my seat nor stay focused on any one thing for too long of a time. I have a feeling that it will be something like a Game Design retreat, and I am oh-so-excited to see Insomniac Drew again. I was also delighted to see that James Ernest and Nick Fortungo will be attending, both of whom recently visited the ETC. Plus, I’ll hopefully get to visit with Bryan Cash while in Austin!

My good mood could also be attributed to the fact that Resistance 2 is coming out, and though it probably marks me as an excitable young whelp in the industry, the launch of my first credited title does have me dancing and skipping and giggling in anticipation. First steps!

It could ALSO be attributed that my WoW friends have finally managed to do a full all-guild Karazhan run (with the addition of one helper), and will hopefully do another one this week. Granted, this was enabled partly from the nerfage, but it fills me with joy and love to be able to play the big instances with friends. I think I’ve given up on the notion that I am a casual WoW player, and will move it over into the “hobby” category. It is just such a fantastic means for me to nurture my friendships with those people I love who are far away from me!

Perhaps it is the weather. Who can say!