Gaming by GlossGreen

And that's all he wrote.

Mass Effect was one of the more interesting games to come out of the last few years. What I liked about it was the fact that Shepard was a really well developed character and the story was new and creative. The sequel carried on in that vein. I don't necessarily like everything they did with the story and characters in the second one, but at least it was mostly original. BioShock was another game that I loved, but unfortunately it's sequel wasn't as involving.

Speaking of Bioware games, I have to say that I was a bit disappointed with Dragon Age: Origins, although that could be to my general disinterest in fantasy games. The difference between the treatment of the main characters of Mass Effect and Dragon Age were like the difference between night and day. What I really didn't like about it was that the Dragon Age main character had no real personality, other than what you added yourself. I do have an imagination and can develop a character pretty well in my mind, but honestly, the game doesn't give you much to work with. The supporting characters were great and very well developed, but that does not transfer to your hero. Granted, it would have been difficult to come up with a comprehensive script and develop the main character with so many race and class options available. I don't fault Bioware for that, it's just the nature of the game type.

I haven't given up on finding great stories in gaming yet, even though variety seems to be lacking as of late. I can comprehend that this is not a new development and it's up to the game makers to be better than that. Some developers have been up to the challenge, some have not.

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?

The last time I did a Word Of The Day post was waaaaaay back in early 2008. 2008? I've been writing on this blog a lot longer then I remember. Anyway, back to the show...er, hastily written post. Today's words of the day* are COMMON SENSE. Let us begin with the formal definition provided by Dictionary.com.

-noun

sound practical judgement that is independent of specialized knowledge, training, or the like; normal native intelligence.

Common sense is a term that is used frequently in everyday conversation. For example: Common sense tells you that if you step in front of a moving bus you will get hurt. Or, if you are outside in the snow without gloves your hands will get cold. Common sense, right? Basic knowledge that the average person should just know. No additional schooling or thought is required to understand what is generally observed to be common sense. The problem with common sense is that not everyone actually has it. We examples of this every day, the funniest of which culminate in the annual Darwin Awards. I love to read about how the less observant and intelligent of those among us voluntarily remove themselves from our gene pool.

Another example of how people demonstrate a lack of common sense is through the media and legislative demonizing of video games. It seems that everyday brings us another story about how some government or media organization is pointing out how video games have brought upon us the downfall of society. Certain video games are outlawed in many countries on the grounds of "protecting the people". The media loves to point out that video games are the core fault of why our kids (and our society as a whole) is getting fat and/or stupid. Even President Obama thinks kids should put the controller down and study more. And who could forget that whole "sexbox" debacle surrounding the release of Mass Effect a couple of years ago? I know I remember that enlightening episode.

Now, here's where common sense comes into play: Video games are...Games. And as we all know games are for entertainment, for fun. I was watching my daughter play The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion yesterday and I criticized her for playing the brigand by robbing and killing the NPCs that she ran across. She responded by making a logical statement. She said, "I play games because I can't do this stuff in real life". See, common sense.

7 January 2010

30 December 09

A fairly new and popular form of expression these days is a little more interactive than past efforts. Flash games aren't just for entertainment anymore. Just do a Google search on a celebrity that's been in the news for any embarrassing reason and I'm pretty sure you'll find a flash game for the offending incident. I found a site with a pretty good variety of games, a lot of them directed at misbehaving celebs.

Celebrity misadventures aren't the only fodder for flash games. Taking a look at the list of games on addictinggames.com's celebrity listings I see a few election games, celebrity smack downs, various movie related games and even a couple of the dress up type. Most of these games were relatively easy to make and are simple to play. The point of making a game like this is not to make a great game, but to bring awareness to a situation or to a specific idiot. Most flash games are made simply to have a bit of fun, often times at someone else's expense. Occasionally these games upset the subject, but they just need to remember one thing, it's just a game. These games do not mean much in the overall scheme of life, but they are a sign of the times. Flash games today are just one more step in the evolution of social commentary, and they certainly won't be the last.