We are currently in the golden age of gaming. The term nerd just for being a gamer is becoming a thing of the past, our wives, girlfriends and even our mothers are getting involved and it seems everyones joining in with the hype, especially on consoles. Gaming is now almost as big as the movie industry, what with celebrity voice actors, major advertising on prime time television and games selling by the millions, its hard to not be in the know when it comes to the latest release of a new game for the xbox 360, Playstation 3 etc. Though with gaming hitting the mainstream this can also mean that games are more dissapointing and "Over-hyped", as they get rushed to meet deadlines and queues of fans willing to pay £40 - £50 for the brand new title which will need a stream of updates before it irons out all the bugs that the devs were willing to leave in, just to get the game out earlier. Despite our golden era i grow less excited for any new titles that are being released and instead find myself resorting back to older games such as "System Shock 2" or the original Deus Ex. Games such as the Call Of Duty series bore me to death. It's the same thing - different location, no doubt the new COD will involve some slow motion sequence which involves aiming through your sights to shoot a no good terrorist between the eyes to save the poor hostage after just blowing the door off with C4. Sure that sounds awesome, but i am pretty sure I have already done this about a thousand times in the previous COD games (ok maybe not a thousand times but still quite often). It seems as though Activision have just lost sight of Campaigns (along with other developers) to create a competitive and successful multiplayer experience which takes you away from any kind of smart gaming. Games like this almost fall into the ranks of reality TV which provides nothing but mindless crap for an hour. Don't get me wrong i have enjoyed playing the odd game of COD online with pals or even on my lonesome, but people play this stuff for hours/days/months on end and let their minds turn to dust. Even some of the least geeky people i know play COD religiously alongside FIFA, which they pay £40 for every year just so there is one new feature added alongside updated teams and slightly better graphics (thanks EA). Whenever i talk to a major COD fan about something like L.A. Noire or Mass Effect, i am looked at as if i am some kind of cretin. Story driven games seem like a thing of the past, campaigns for shooters are short and unfinished and focus more on their multiplayer feature. People only buy such games to play the multiplayer, playing alone or experiencing a story is no longer considered the core of gaming. There are a few exceptions such as Minecraft which just features simple drop in - drop out mechanics which make playing with friends much more fun, and it is more of a co-op experience as there is no competition involved. At least on minecraft i am not paraded by small children cursing at me or calling me a "n00b" just because i killed them multiple times in one game of Halo. On the whole, Campaign and single player is dead. The most recent game i can think of that has more story driven gameplay for a console is Sleeping Dogs, though the campaign in all is relatively short. Also what happened to the fun of multiplayer gaming? Everything is so competitive now, also people think they are real soldiers or could easily join the army because they get 30 kills on cod...BLAH. Anyway thats my first rant over. This rant leads onto my next subject of Steam: Greenlight and how i think Project: Zomboid definately deserves its place on there and how The Indie Stone deserve to be featured. For those of you who haven't heard of Project: Zomboid, it is an open-ended, survival sandbox experience placing you in the shoes of a survivor during a zombie outbreak in a place named "Knox County". The game is from an isometric view point, and combines elements from multiple survival and sandbox games to create a unique experience. Bed sheets can be turned into bandages to stop bleeding, pills can be taken to fight depression, trees can be cut to craft wooden planks to seal doors and barricade yourself into every building that you walk into. I have always dreamt of a game like this in terms of a genuine zombie survival game that doesn't require you to hack and slash your way through, but to fight with your own demons and evaluate your environments for the best escapes and storage for supplies. The game is still in its very early stages but its next update looks very promising including new animations, co-op and even the oppertunity to turn those bedsheets into ropes so you can escape windows from the second floor of the house you were hiding in, which has now been breached by the zombie horde. The game even in its early stages features such interesting and promising mechanics and has obviously had a lot of thought put into it. So please, there are many other titles on Steam that deserve being added but P:Z is by far my personal favourite and i have been a supporter of the project for years so please VOTE NOW: Vote Link: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=92916900&searchtext=