On video games.

Saturday was fun. I hung out with Chris for awhile, discussing comics and all things geeky, then I swung by Iain's for drinks and video games. We played Star Wars: Battlefronts 2, which has its flaws, but is still a fun game to play. If you're a Star Wars fan and want to relive the action from the films, then this game will definitely satisfy one's urge to pick off Rebels with a sniper rifle.

I grew up with video games. I played Atari when it was around, then I received the Sega Master System for Christmas many moons ago and probably spent (read: wasted) a king's ransom in video arcades. I'm thinking of investing in the Xbox 360, since Sony has decided to install lockware (software that "locks" games to specific consoles, so users cannot install games on other consoles - but if your console is stolen or breaks down, the games you have will be useless) and are involved with other shady dealings around copyright and privacy issues. Boing Boing has some great coverage on the whole debacle.

Lately I've become a casual "gamer" - I hate that word - playing real-time strategy games (Rise of Nations is my current vice) and first/third person shooters (Halo is fun, but I'm more into historic games such as Battlefield 1942) like Battlefronts. I'm a sucker for Star Wars games. By casual I mean I (a) don't join clans (b) don't spend hundreds of dollars on gaming-specific PCs or the upgrades (c) don't (or at least try to) spend most of my waking hours playing them or discussing them. Lisa and I discussed my gaming habit, and she makes a good point: hanging out and being active is much more rewarding than sitting in my office for hours. My plan is to build a kind of schedule than limits my gaming time. Yeah, I don't mind the verb/adjective "gaming." It's a good word.

Getting some school work done. I want to post more later.