So after all these years you would think i would learn my lesson. I keep putting myself in painful situations. No i didnt trade anything in this time. I'm talking about MMO games. I love MMO games but at the same time I have no time to play them. It's not that i have work or family in the way (although family never gets in the way!), it's just that I have 209 other games to play and I can't seem to balance my game-playing. I feel guily letting these other games just sit on the shelf un-touched, unloved and unfinished. MMO games are a time stealer and I need to let my other games have a piece!

So I'm trying real hard to be a collector of video games and such and I started to get all my older games back that I either lost, sold, traded-in or let someone borrow that ended up moving away the next day. I go to this place called McVan's Video Games here in Fishers, IN. They have all kinds of older goodies and some newer stuff as well. The place delt mostly with used games rather than new ones and there was hardly a time i couldn't find what I wanted! I mean they had Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 on dreamcast there! Well with all this recession buisness and whatnot I noticed buisnesses all around me start to drop of the face of the map like flies and certain areas of town started looking like a ghost town from the old western movies. After reading an article on Gamespot.com about how the video game market is virtually "recession-proof" I went out with a friend one late night and was going down 116th street in Fishers and noticed that McVan's signage was gone. I asked her to slow down a bit and I saw that inside the building there was bare walls where loads of classic games were stocked. My heart suddenly dropped and I felt like crying my eyes out. Video games is a passion of mine...one that has spanned 24-25 years now and to see a privatley owned game store that has been there for ages all of the sudden dissapear was heart breaking to me. I mean the stupid home decor store right next to it is still in buisness and I never see anyone go in that store. It's confusing and my head and heart ache.

I will forever miss that place. And if you were a worker there and you come across this blog from keywords then I just want to say thanks for being awesome. I hope the end wasn't to painful as it is for me.

I always seem to start off my blogs with the sentence...When I was younger..., so I'm going to do it again (although it technically didn't start with that sentence lol).

When I was younger and was playing my NES and and other game consoles that came out of the late 80's and early 90's I started to get more and more fascinated with the whole game buisness itself. As my fascination grew i started to read more publications about my favorite hobby. Magazines like Electronic Gaming Monthly and Gamepro were some of my favorites to thumb through and fill my head with knowledge of the things I love. The more I read these magazines I started to have a certain connection to the editors and journalists that put great effort into bringing me (and others) the wealth of gaming news, reviews and more. I found myself wanting to get more connected to these people and to this world.

Before the internet was a booming success in homes around the world, trying to contact these enigmatic people was only a mailbox away. Even if you sent a letter to the editor in chief or some other person, you had no guarantee that it would even be read or be published in the latest 'zine. Now, today is a bit different and getting connected to people all over the world is easier and faster. Now getting connected to those that I only sensed were human through some printed gloss paper now form actual personalities and emotions. One such person has made me feel like we are all the same, and no matter what job title we have in life we are all just gamers. I'm talking about Andy Salisbury.

Andy Salisbury is a semi-regular on PC Gamer America's weekly podcast. The show talks about pc gaming and the new happenings in the industry as well as reader questions and my favorite...the playlist. Andy is probably the coolest ex-intern-intern you can ever speak to. He's down to earth and really comes across as a hardcore gamer who is passionate not only about his work, but also about gaming itself. When talking to him i felt like he really wanted to...

I like playing MMO games just about as much as the next gamer, but I'm starting to let it take control of my "Gaming Life". What I'm trying to say is this...Before I knew what the concept of an MMO, I was happy playing a ton of different games in different genres. My goals at the time didn't include trying to reach the level cap or desperatley searching for that new peice of legendary gear, but was consumed with trying to beat the game on all difficulty levels and trying to get every achievement. When playing MMO games it's hard tpo find the time for anything...and i mean anything. I work late nights (i get off around midnight everynight) and I come home to eat a quick meal and start playing my MMO of choice at the time. I would play until I went to bed around 4 or 5...just to wake up to do it all over again. It gets a bit stressful but I somehow made it work.

Latley, I been wanting to play other games that are either single player or non-MMO type games. I find myself, as I'm playing these other games, guilty by the fact that I'm not there helping my "guild" out with anything or trying to get to a higher level. It's rather hard to shake off that feeling of regret...then it occured to me. It's like a drug to me. The (almost) same side effects are happening to me when someone really wants a drug or trying to quit. I feel incomplete, worthless and ashamed by the fact that I'm not playing. I think..."My guild-mates are probably pissed that I'm not on right now." Well, Just like any drug I'm going to try to kick this habbit. There is a slew of great games out now and on the horizon that I'm missing all because I'm addicted to one game and one game alone.

Here I come again! Back to the world of hardcore gaming. I'm ready to take on all challenges, to dominate multiplayer arenas and to do what I grew up doing in the first place...JUST HAVE FUN!

We all know what it is. Digital Distribution. Clients like Steam and Stardock's Impulse already do it and websites like Direct 2 Drive and the upcoming Good old Games are doing it as well. Getting games via an Internet connection! What a concept right? I mean why would gamers want to leave the house and deal with lines at the local Gamestop or EB when they can just download it right to their PC with no hassles? Most people are not too keen on this idea. I'm going to talk about why I believe it will revolutionize the market for pc games.

First lets talk about the number one killer in the world...PIRACY! I for one do not pirate games because I feel guilty and ashamed lol. Also why steal what others have worked hard on? Nothing in the world gives you the right to do this....NOTHING. So where does Piracy tie into digital distribution? Steam is a good example. Right now people can torrent games and download files from other p2p sites and clients that were ripped from the game disc and in some cases leaked from the pressing plant (assassin's creed), but with digital distribution there is no physical copy to deal with so that decreases the percentage of games being downloaded illegally. Do I think this is going to TOTALLY eliminate piracy for games? Nope. People and hackers will find a way to get the codes not to mention more people will somehow get "leaked" copies before they are up for LEGAL download, but it will be GREATLY reduced.

Drm. Three horrifying letters to any pc gamer out there right now. As an effort to deter piracy of pc games developers have put DRM (Digital Rights Management) on their discs only allowing a certain number of installs to happen on a certain registered pc. This is a good concept but fails miserably as we, the pc gamer, change computers and hardware all the time. DRM only allows those limited installs for the life of YOU! that means if you go over the amount of installs for the DRM'd game then you have to call the company and get the right to install it more times! I...

When i decided to go ALL PC gaming and not play consoles for a while because they piss me off, at first I was missing all the console greatness that is going on with the PS3 and 360. I remember being like well i wont be able to play games like Silent Hill Homecoming or Gears of War 2 and Resistance 2. Well, Silent Hill is coming to pc whenever they decide to release the bitch on Steam and as for the others...they will always be there...waiting for me. I really haven't been wanting to play a console in a while and the more I lpay my PC I realize that its like an addiction that I'm "weening" myself off of. Granted the addiction would really be video games in general but for the sake of this blog I'm talking about consoles. PC gaming has shown me things that I forgot as a child when I first started to PC game. The fun mysteries of trying to figure out how to make your hardware kick more ass while not utterly destroying it lol. I honestly, like so many blogs, don't know where this is going hence the name "just thinking".

I love gaming, I mean, I wake up and think about gaming. Throughout the day I'm thinking about a tactic to get past a certain boss on a certain game, or I'm trying to watch as many game videos as I can and download them so I can watch them over and over again. I pride myself on the fact that I know alot about gaming (not as much as some, but enough). What I'm trying to get at is that, the very long years and hours I put into gaming has taught me to never put all your loot into one bag. It's hard enough trying to buy all these games, but, to play only one game or only one console is not my idea of hardcore. You will, however, in your journey as a gamer come across those that fit the forementioned type. They cater one game and one system mostly. Sure they'll play another game or watch a video for an upcoming game but it usually ends in this game looks like shit,__________ is so much better than this! Sigh. Not only does this make you cringe when reading this on a post or on forums but you cant help but feel sorry for them. They have become assimilated to one thing and the very core of that ONE thing has buried itself into their brain. Everywhere they look now looks like that ONE game. They could watch more videos about new games and still see that ONE game.
I had made a blog post on here or Gamespot.com about people comparing one game to another and hating the new game because its nothing like the other (old) game. Sometimes they compare games to each other even when one game isnt out yet saying things like: this game suck balls! or Man this game looks exactly like ____, but only this game sucks! I mean how can one person know how a game is before it's out (aside from beta testing.)? These people are idiots. Fanboy-ism is a good thing in some cases but most of the time it's just plain ignorance. Ah well, Like the war on drugs, it'll always be there. Like the snot coming from a baby's nose they will be there....commenting, pestering and just plain annoying people with their lack of knowledge. All us REAL...

AS time goes by and the once underground world of gaming comes into the mainstream, girls are starting to play more and more games. Most of the time you can't even spot these rare breed of women. Most male gamers out there have this sterotipical image of what girl gamers look like: short, rounded (curvy), unwashed hair...you know, that sounds like some male gamers i know as well lol. To be fair I really haven't seen a girl gamer that was a complete knockout. I'm in no way a "Brad pitt", and to be quite honest I like my women to be a little on the meatier side! I'm not on this ranting blog to make fun of girl gamers in any way, in fact, I encourage more girls to pick up a controller and start having fun. Don't be afraid of the multitude of buttons and just have fun. It'll come to you in no time...remember us guys had to learn the button scheme as well.

I've also noticed a more growing trend with what seems to me and some other gamers as the mythical girl gamer. You know the ones I'm talking about. Super sexy with straight long hair and great skin complection. The ones that always seem to be wearing a low cut u or v-neck shirt. I claim these women to be mythical gamers because it's rather hard to beleive they are hardcore about gaming as most of us guy gamers out there. I might be sounding like an ass right now and for that I'm sorry, but when you watch these women talk about games in general it all seems staged to me. Granted I know a couple out there on the internet and G4 that look like this and are complete geeks like the rest of us. I'm not sure if it's the fact that I grew up thinking girls just don't want to game that makes me feel this way. My past girlfriends and even my wife have always viewed our passion as childish and a stupid waste of time. Girls want to do more "meaningful" things such as walk ina park or go out to dinner. Hey I'm all about that **** as well....well not parks (i am a gamer after all, sun kills us).

I'm not sure where I'm going with this anymore but I...

Finally beaten Prey this week! Feel free to check out my Prey photos! (Warning: Some photos are spoilers so browse at your own risk!)