So today in #clanam (the ClanAM IRC channel at irc.freenode.net) I was waxing nostalgic about my 2 years in FFXI by reading old entries from Sam's FFXI blog and I realized that I really regret not blogged about my gaming experiences like him. So, this post is me trying to atone for my sins of omission by not blogging much before^^
Anyway, I've been playing my 360 a lot lately. A hell of a lot. In fact, I don't play on anything else anymore. I sold my Gamecube, and my PS2 is collecting dust in the closet. And don't even get me started on my PC (I finally wiped away my last WinXP partition and now am 100% Linux and FreeBSD). So I'm exclusively gaming on my 360 now... and that's a good thing.
It's a good thing because the 360 is kind of the pinnacle of gaming, IMHO. It just does everything right.
- Strong graphics and sound
- Solid and integrated online gaming
- Impressive library of games
- Online marketplace for games, demos, videos, and more
You can kind of say I've gotten into a rut with my 360. I come home from work, plop down on the couch, and turn on my 360. My cable TV goes unused (except to provide me high speed internet connections for my 360), and my DVD collection stagnates (I haven't bought a new DVD in a year!)
Well, I'm also kind of a fan of FPSes. I've loved them since Doom. I've played them online with people since the old ClanAM Quake 2 days. And I typically buy any FPS that comes out. I'm a sucker like that.
Anyway, this year has been an awesome year for FPSes and owning a 360. The year started with a bang with F.E.A.R. (okay, so this was the end of 2006). F.E.A.R. was this rocking little survival-horror themed FPS from the guys who did the classic "No One Lives Forever" series.
Next up came Shadowrun, which took me totally by surprise. A squad and class based FPS themed around a classic table top RPG. Some may say it's too shallow with relatively few maps and game-types, but they are missing the fact that what is there is so good.
Then we had The Darkness, which was by the same guys who brought us Riddick. A new Riddick this wasn't, but it was certainly fun and among the best FPSes you can find on the 360.
After that we got Medal of Honor: Airborne, which re-invents the tired WWII-themed FPS sub-genre in cool ways. Huge open-ended areas with infinite replay potential only marred by the occasionally unfair crackshot AI.
Then, we got the seminal Bioshock. One part morality play, one part RPG, two parts FPS make for one hell of a game. Throw in the amazingly beautiful Unreal engine and some of the most intense moments ever seen in gaming and you have what is easily one of the greatest games of all time.
But the best is yet to come...
Tomorrow, September 25th, the hotly anticipated Halo 3 will be released. You can be sure I'll be one of the people in-line at the midnight release of Halo 3 tonight at my local game stop. I'll eagerly bring home my Halo 3 and likely play that fucker all night long. I can't wait to see the conclusion to the epic story that Bungie has woven, and I'm eager to try out multiplayer with the new vehicles.
Then, next month, we will get the so-called "Orange Box", which will have the most complete Half Life experience to date. HL2, HL2: Episode 1, HL2: Episode 2, along with Team Fortress 2 and Portal. For $40 we will get 5 great games, one of which will be a squad and class based FPS dream come true for the 360. Here's hoping they do it right and allow PC gamers to play with us.
Next month we will also see Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. The CoD series has brought us many landmark games in the what is otherwise a tired genre (WWII-themed FPSes) and so I'm very excited to see them take the same brilliance that make past CoD games so great and apply it to modern situations and weaponry.
And finally, sometime next year we should get Unreal Tournament III (previously known as UT2k7). Since we used to have so many awesome UT matches in ClanAM, I'm literally creaming-in-my-pants-excited for a new UT experience on next-gen hardware. Give me a gib rifle and a high spot overlooking narrow bridges to knock off enemies and send them to humiliation deaths and I'll be one happy camper... Seriously! LOL!
Anyway... 2007 (and the first part of 2008) will be remembered as one of the greatest years for FPS lovers :-)
