“Which one will you choose?”
You know, I thought all of the decision making was over and done with after November 2, but I was very wrong. With the importance of world politics set to the side and the fate of our next four years begrudgingly sealed from an executive perspective, the last few weeks have been filled with opportunities of a different sort. Every week of this past month or so has brought to bear yet another virtual distraction to divert our attention and lay waste to our wallets and time.
Video games are dropping like leaves from trees.
It started with Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, but this means nothing to me. Like the GTAs that came before it, the initial offering is only for the PlayStation line and I’ve never taken that bait. Sooner or later, it’ll find release of the PC or Xbox variety, but for now I can just live vicariously through PS2-enabled pals like Mr Gray and his tales of tagging and shovel whacking.
Then came Halo 2. Now, had this been during the summer, I could just grin and nod and say “Well, isn’t that just so nice for those Xbox folks.” Then I could wipe my hands of it and walk away. But, alas, I can no longer count myself among the un-consoled because I (we) received an Xbox as a wedding present. As Uncle Ben told spider-bitten Peter, with great power comes great responsibility. Likewise, with new technology comes more electronic accessibility and flexibility. So what could I do? Even NPR — the bastion of all the information you really need in your day — made a point of announcing the game’s release. But fifty dollars?!? I compromised and rented it, right on the day of release. I played a bit, got it out of my system and returned it. I even helped to review it. Need assuaged.
But the last seven days have been rough.
A week ago, Half-Life 2 became real. After six years of development and speculation, the sequel to the PC game to end all PC games arrived to extend that end beyond human comprehension. And to make matters worse, you didn’t even need to leave the house to buy the product. Just download the installer — the first run is free, after all — then just click to purchase. In seconds, the happy elves at Valve will be more than thrilled to turn up their bucket of electric happiness to fill your harddrive with gigabyte after gigabyte of crowbar-smashing, alien-possessing, scientist-screaming goodness. So far … I’ve been strong.
But wait, did I miss something from back in October? Oh, yeah. On the same engine that powers Half-Life 2 — the Source engine — is a new game from Troika called Vampire: Bloodlines. Now, I’ve been burned by White Wolf’s PC offerings before. The original Vampire The Masquerade RPG for the PC was very un-fun and looked much better on the box than in-person. But Bloodlines looked so good when I caught a glimpse in the dealer’s room at DragonCon. One reviewer has even compared the game play to the original Deus Ex — still probably my favorite single-person RPG ever. I might have to wear a wreath of garlic or something …
Then today, World of Warcraft went retail. I participated in the closed beta and even wrote about it for JIVE, but here comes the big test: will I pay to play? This is probably the toughest decision of them all, because I can’t turn around without running into yet another person willing to become a Night Elf rogue or an Undead priest. But frankly, I just can’t make a strong enough case for it. I’ve already got my current roster of multiplayer heroes to enjoy and I don’t plan on abandoning Paragon City too soon — it is still too much fun not only from a gaming perspective, but from a social angle as well. I’ve got friends in the City from up in Pennsylvania all the way down to Florida. Now, if they all decided to migrate entirely to a new diversion, we might pull up stakes, pack up our capes and move right along, but I think I’ve found where I want to be … virtually.
For now.
