I actually work with a lot of gamers. Some a lot more hardcore than me. I started eating at the break room instead of working at my desk. I was amazing to hear their thoughts on things. Some have a WoW addiction. Others play whatever was just released because they only like to talk about games, not necessarily play them beyond the chat. One is a COD junkie. Some are PC gamers, others strictly X360 people. Funny thing is we each have a point of view and it is more fun to talk about games that worry about the differences. Recent talk around the table has been about Dues Ex. A game I probably won't ever play simply because the discussions have given me enough of what I find interesting about the game and enough reason to not worry about the 'game' that gets in the way of that interest. That is a complicated way of saying someone already figured out how to 'game' the game and explained it to us. It didn't sound like fun anymore. I have tried to interject what I have been playing. Other than Oblivion, no one really has anything to say about the games I'm playing. Even bringing up a DS game is instantly mocked - I won't bring them up again. But this is what I am playing: Oblivion (PC). I really like it, but I have decided I don't like the leveling up system. It is a game I have to play to have the maximum character possible. I'm only level 12 and I have maxed two parts of my character stats (endurance and strength). I find myself doing stupid things in the game simply to make sure I get a +5 level bonus when I sleep. Yeah, that is stupid. At first the level system makes sense. You level up the stuff you use. Totally logical. Yet in the game world, so stupid. It means I continue to focus doing the same stuff, to get the same result, and when I level up I will continue to use it because that is what I feel the most awesome using. "Gaming" the game... or "maxing the build" as most people would call it. One of the people constantly says, "if you find yourself punching a horse to make sure your stats level right, something is wrong." Indeed. Yet like the WoW addict or COD gamer, there I am, hand to hand fighting someone with a sword to make sure I got +5 to Strength the next time I leveled. Yep, doing stupid stuff because I'm a gamer. Next up: Donkey Kong Country Returns (Wii). My wife joined the SNES generation when that was THE platformer. She has a love of the series, despite how bad she is at it. We play together, but it is a constant frustration. It is too hard for her, and personally I think DK controls like ass. I hate the game. Take mario, make the controls suck, make it hard to double jump, take away all the extra lives at every corner, and put bananas in stupid locations to see how often we die to get them - That sums up DKC Returns. I play it because she wants to. I would never inflict the game upon myself without her. On the X360, I put in Forza 2 last night. I played 4 races. I repeated a track... How lame is that. It wasn't even me looking for it. It was a professional series, finished it up, started the next series - I was already duping races in a different car. I guess that is the game really. How many different cars can you race on the same 7 tracks. At least the first two were the only ones in a '66 muscle car that suck. The next races were in a nice fast car that controlled well. When I race I like cars that control well. I drive with the dash cam (or bumper cam in this case) because it feels more real to me. However, if you race with that camera you will quickly find Forza is a repeat of the same tracks with the controls being great sometimes, and other times sucking hard - sometimes the races are fast, other times slow as mud; Same tracks though over and over.

Regardless, I hate to have to 'watch my car' as I drive, so Forza, and car collecting games in general, don't really cut it for me. Instead of making a lot of useless cars, I would prefer tracks - lots of tracks. And a game around why I'm driving those tracks. I don't care to get yet another car that I won't drive unless the game forces me to use it. Someone should take all the elements of Forza and make a fun racer out of them. Also on the X360, I have actually started playing Enslaved again. It isn't a bad game, but it isn't a good one either. Once again you control a guy that controls like Donkey Kong, only this time in 3D space (so you get a crappy camera to go with it). 3rd person = crappy camera. Yep I said it. Everyone that started on the Playstation probably just doesn't get it. All they know is crappy camera... And they are use to it. I'm sure they say the same thing about me and my requirement to be in first person mode or 2D side view. meh, whatever. My iPhone game of the moment is Stratergy again. A "Risk like" only simpler and more fun. I also have been playing Tichu. It is a Chinese card game. #1 card game on boardgamegeek.com. Yeah, I don't expect too many people to be interested in that either. At work, we all bought copies of COD4 and are playing LAN again. We would have bought Borderlands, but we had too many people (that and the company blocks the ports to register the game and play), we would have bought COD5, or 6, but it requires us to register with an Activision server and my company blocks the ports. Someone thought Starcraft 2... but yep, company blocks the ports and no LAN. There are a lot of people that want to play Diablo 3 when it comes out... oh yeah, ports blocked. Really, we had a lot of people that want to buy some games and start playing, but yep, back to COD4. Thanks gaming industry for making sure the pirates win. Sure you might be stopping pirates, but you are stopping legitimate customers at every turn. And lastly, on the DS. I have been playing Devil Survivor. I would say the other part of the name, but they left it in Japanese and I don't know how to say it and I won't bother to look it up. Good localization there... Want to quickly alienate a group of potential customers from buying your game? Yep, forget to localize the name so no one knows how to say it. Regardless, I'm playing it. I really like it. The battles are like Fire Emblem, only with teams of Demons and Demon Tamers. The fights are like Pokemon where certain elements toast other beasts that use the other elements. You can merge demons, teach demons new skills, level up. It is actually really fun. It is kind of dragging right now though and I think I'm only on day 3, but still. My DS is a right before bed experience anyhow, so I don't get very far before the text sections put me to sleep or I realize if I do another battle I might be up for 45 minutes or longer so I just have to close it. I really like the game though. Anyone that likes TBS games with actual ok'ish dialog should play it. I hear there are 100 different rereleases of the game these days, so I can't image anyone that is interested in TBS that hasn't played it, but I guess I was one of them so I figure I might as well put a shout out for it. Which version is best? the one you can find. I'm playing the original and it is good enough for me. It is also long enough for me. I couldn't image playing through it more than once... games with replay value need to be shorter, so I can replay them. There is no point putting in 6 different endings when it takes you 40 hours to get to each one. That is why youtube was invented (broad generalization there). Regardless, fun game. Everyone seems to be talking about what big game they are getting during the holidays and such, so I guess I better give a shout out to Ace Combat. That is the only game that I'll buy near release. The jury is still out on Skyrim. I will buy the game, I just don't know if I'll get it before all the DLC comes out and gets disc'ed up and rereleased for $30. I need to play the demo of Ace Combat. I really like fighter games like that, but I am worried they will put in a really stupid story like the last one. I still roll my eyes every time someone says "Angels". What's up with everyone else?