How do you play?

So, the big question most people ask is: what game systems do you have etc.

In short:

PC games are currently played on an older Prescott (3.0 ghz no hyperthreading), 1 Gig of RAM, 256MB valilla PCIe nVidia GeForce 6800 and an Audigy 2 on XP Pro. Monitor is a 20 inch CRT.

Console games are played on a 13+ year old Mitsubishi 46" rear screen projector TV 5 in 1 surround sound with an older Sony receiver, speakers are built into the ceiling of the house.

Consoles include: PS2 and a Wii.

I've been known to collect pinball machines and full size arcade games; currently the only one I have is a Williams High Speed pinball machine.

We do have a GBA, but it gets very little play.

Style of games I play: Casual, Sports, RPG, Puzzle, Action.

Am I good? Who knows. I've never been a big First Person Shooter fan, but took up playing Battlefield 2 about 2 years ago. While I certainly can't hold my own against the Southern Oregon Quake 3 champion from a few years ago, in BF2 I can usually get at least 50% of his point totals in any given round. On Pogo.com I may very well be the best there is at Word Whomp. For Wii tennis, I've been over 2200 as a player rating, but am currently down to about 2141.

Why do I play?

I'm not in this for the trash talking ego rush. I play games to relax and have fun. If I'm not having fun, I won't play. Does this mean "fun" means being good at a game or winning? Not at all. The only time I've ever trash talked on a game was to razz a guy in BF2 who had killed me 5 times in a row in various spots on the map, but someone else got me a 6th time.

What atrtracts me to a game?

Mostly the fun factor, but for RPG's story is very important, and player control is even more so (I'll rant about Oblivion the game developer at a later date.) I don't even care if the player control is an illusion, as long as I can suspend my disbelief enough to think I'm having a say in the game, I'm good.

The first step

If you're looking for a blog about some one's revelations in psychotherapy, you've come to the wrong place. This is my entertainment blog where I will review games and movies primarily with the occasional music group, TV show and book thrown in.

Oh, and I might occasionally rant about the state of entertainment, especially games.

So, even though I really don't particularly like the Rolling Stones, I will not hesitate to shamelessly steal from them with a quick "Please allow me to introduce myself," (if you're looking for someone with wealth and taste, you're probably reading the wrong blog.)

The quick and dirty, male, married, late 30's, two teenagers (both boys) and a lifelong gamer and movie buff.

In the real world, I do hardware and software QA as well as writing on the side. Yes, I'm published, no I don't know Stephen King and I don't have an agent.