Last year I deployed to Iraq with the Army. Unfortunately, that pretty much killed gaming for me. I got used to only having the time to game every once in a while, instead of nearly every day like I did before I deployed. Gaming became less important in my life, I think for pretty obvious reasons. In Iraq life itself becomes more important than anything. I was also very busy at work and that pretty much decided the direction my life was to take, basically all work and no play. Now, I'm back at home and I just don't have the drive for gaming that I used to. I've played a few games since I've been back, but nothing has just gripped me like it did before. The war did change me, as it has changed hundreds of thousands of service members in the last 9 years, and getting the old me back has been difficult.

have been playing through some of my older games lately, some of the ones I bought before going to the big sandbox in Asia. I finally got around to playing God Of War II. I have to say that that game did impress me. The story was interesting, the action was good and it had me hooked until I finished it. Since it wasn't a very long game I was only hooked for a couple of days, oh well. My only problem with the game? Why does K
ratos have to be a dick all the time? I know, the whole "manipulated by the gods and betrayed thing", but from the very beginning he was a bit of an ass. He's kinda like the forgettable main character from the even more forgettable Too Human. Remember that game? I didn'
t either, I had to go to my gaming collection and look at the box to remember it. I'm really glad I did that too, 'shudder'.

Next on my oldies but goodies list was Crimson Skies. Good game, entertaining if a bit repetitive. It wasn't all that memorable to me either. Cookie cutter characters, too many missions that are very similar, simple story- maybe that's what made the game decent. Nothing really bad about it, b
ut nothing really great either.

On to a new(er) game. Dragon Age: Origins is on my current playlist. The game is very reminiscent of Oblivion, but then again, what type of game like this doesn't bring up memories of that gem? OK, I like this game, even if I'm not a fan of the whole fantasy genre. I do like RPGs and that is why I'm playing this one. I'm about a quarter of the way through the game at this point so I'm reserving judgement for now, but I'm happy so far. Hopefully this game has enough of a story to keep me interested until the end.

Anyway, this is my first blog post on Gaming in over 6 months. I have to say, it's good to be back. Maybe I'll even post here like I used to. I had kept a twice a week schedule for quite a while, but I don't know if I can maintain that yet. Hmm, sounds like that would be a good goal to shoot for. What do you think?