Looking for a diversion to take your mind off the biting cold, the drizzling rain, the impending finals and the flu bug rampaging through your system? There's never been a better time to get into video games.
As far as the gaming community is concerned, November could be officially be dubbed National Game Sequel Awareness Month. Some of the big names in video games out there are coming out with really good sequels to really good games, and all the devotees of Halo, Half-Life and Metroid Prime are scrambling to put up the cash for the upcoming releases of Halo 2, Half-Life 2 and, yes, Metroid Prime 2.
This might sound like shameless money-grubbing on the part of the game companies responsible, and in the past it has been, but these are all REALLY good games, well worth the $50 you'll have to drop on any of them. If you're a gamer yourself, you know what I'm talking about, and if you're not, you've probably heard somebody going on about it. Well, at least about Halo 2.
This is coming on the heels of several other notable games, probably the most-anticipated of them being Doom 3, the sequel to everyone's favorite too-dark-to-see demon kill fest. With miniguns. Also still on the market is Everquest 2, the expansive addition to an online RPG which was already famous for having all the properties of electronic crack.
Let me revise my earlier statement. Now is a very good time to get into video games IF you have a little extra cash to spread around.
Gone are the days of the single major video game system. The classic Nintendo, the Sega Genesis, etc. have all fallen into the collective unconscious of gaming history, their one or two outstanding games either updated and adapted for the newer sleeker systems (as in the case of Samus from Metroid) or relegated to retro t-shirts and lunch boxes (as with Donkey Kong and, as far as I'm concerned, Mario). There are dozens and dozens of good, time-devouring games on the market for several different systems - and the PC - and choosing between them ain't easy. Gaming is rapidly emptying into the field of mainstream media, and most of the companies out there are making a wide enough variety of games that they're at least worth a look - with the possible exception of Electronic Arts, which apparently enjoys torturing their employees with the modern equivalent of hot irons up the backside, according to an angry post found at http://www.livejournal.com/users/ea_spouse/.
This might not exactly be vitally important information, and your life isn't likely to fall apart if you resist the temptation of the X-Box Live, but it's a wonderful diversion for those days where you know that your brain will begin leaking from your ears if you spend another minute studying. And nothing relieves stress like firing a minigun.
Believe me.
Write to Jonathan at tenement_cellar@msn.com
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