Gaming at Christmas

First let me say, sorry I haven't posted more. It's been kind of a crazy few weeks, and life isn't getting back to normal anytime soon.

Anyways, Christmas is my absolute favorite time of year. Not only do we celebrate the best brithday in the universe, (Jesus Christ in case you weren't following), we get time off from work, gifts to and from people we love.

In gaming, it's kind of interesting because we often feel a need to give in game items to people we know. Do you get your guild something? Do you get your closest friends something?

Heck, I have my husband whom I not only have to figure out what to get in the here and now, but also in our alter egos in WoW. My nephew is in that same boat. It's an interesting thought because there are so many people who swear that an online life is nothing compared to a real life. While I mostly agree, I do believe an online existance also has it's own reasons for being. We still connect to people, and those people may not be in the same state, but we still feel we have connections to them.

So, go out and get your guild something. Have a guild event. Enjoy Christmas. Sing Happy Birthday to Christ, and remember why we're all here.

Gahhhhhhhhh

Sorry, life right now is crazy, and I don't have any extra time.

I made a new mage in WoW though, which is pretty cool. You die a lot, and stop a lot, but the abilities look cool. Dunno if I'll keep her still or not, but it was quite a bit of fun.

Anyway, back to the drawing board. Again.

Oh, and if you want to see a neat gadget, search Engadget for the posture fixer. It's quite cool.

MMOs and the Economy

With all of the worries about fuel costs, collapsing industries, and employment loss, quite a few expenses have been cut across most families. I know a lot more people who stay at home to eat, rather than pay for an expensive menu. The fast food joints seem a lot more crowded, as do inexpensive retailers like Walmart. (Yes I’m cheap and tend to frequent these places even in a good economy).

People loose their jobs and careers and have to live on very little. New cars, jewelry, and other pretty accessories have started to get dropped. People aren’t going to the movies. They are dropping their animal friends at pounds because they can’t afford them anymore.

I know at least two or three people who now use an electronic scooter or manual bike to get into work. Even in the northeast where it’s freezing. People are cutting costs. I know I am.

I do see a few drop-outs in the games I play with other people. We have a lot of inactives in a guild that didn’t see that many inactive players previously.

On the other hand, I don’t think it’s all that bad for gaming. After all, especially with MMO’s, you pay an upfront cost, and then a small monthly fee to continue an entertainment that is otherwise cheap.

Granted, in WoW or other existing games, it’s cheap. You don’t need to worry about upgrading your system (think 2nd gen games, not 3rd gen like AoC), so you can play on the same machine you always have. You don’t need to worry about paying for extra gas to go anywhere. You can eat at home, spend time with your family and friends, and enjoy a fairly cheap entertainment lifestyle.

While I’ve always got a real life physical gift, I could see some people not being able to afford something physical to give to others this Christmas. In the mindset of the early years where we made what we gave people, we give people an electronic item. Like enough gold for a bear mount from Dalaraan. (that was a hint if there ever was one!)

In any case, I see people not quitting WoW first. I see them quitting the movies, and dinners first. I think it makes sense, and I wish more people entertained virtually as it would be an inexpensive way to have the expensive lifestyle we enjoyed before.

Wednesday's Five: Christmas Gifts

If I could get 5 Christmas Tech Gifts without worrying about how much they'd cost, this is what I'd get:

• Amazon's Kindle
  
• Mac Book Pro
• Blackberry Storm
• Area-51 with ALL the bells and Whistles
• Flash

What would you get?

Favorite Games as a Child

I’ve been gaming since my Dad brought home our first Commodore 64. I was probably about 4 or 5, and really it was one of the best times I’d had in a long time. My dad was a tech geek kind of guy, who loved fiddling with the thing to make it play games, and other fun programs.

One he had bought was called SAM. I couldn’t tell you what SAM stood for (something audio module I bet), but it was the coolest thing ever to me. It’d say whatever you typed through the tinny speakers we had attached to the TV. (There were no monitors back then!) I loved having it say words from all over the house, but I hated it when it said my name. Apparently to SAM I was JohD EYE.

My parents, being the mean spirited people they were (I love them so much), told me that in actuality that WAS how many name should be pronounced. I think I cried for a week.

In any case, I’m feeling rather nostalgic today, and want to remember some of the games I played when I was younger.

For the Commodore, I liked RUN-MAN, but I never could get very far. I always jumped off things when I shouldn’t have.

For the Atari (oh I miss my Atari!) I liked Pong quite a bit, but Breakout and Super Breakout were just the best games ever. I still get absorbed in Breakout like games on Yahoo and have to get hit over the head by my husband before I’ll stop.

Nintendo had some rather awesome titles. I always wanted Mike Tyson’s Super Punch-Out, but I had to go to a friend’s house to play it. I guess my parents thought it had too much violence or something. Pfft. Maybe it would have taught me to fight the bullys in school better. I can still sing the theme song to Super Mario Bros, and often do. (That Wii Commercial is my favorite!)

Super NES had the newer Super Mario Bros, Zelda and Metroid. I knew of Castlevania, but it wasn’t my thing as much. I also kicked around a Mega Man once in awhile. Of course, I’ll never ever forget Final Fantasy 3. I still get misty when I think about it.

Funny when I think about it. I’m now almost exclusively a PC gamer. I don’t have any of the newer systems (and can’t really justify the expense), but when I was young, I never played PC games. Until SimCity 2000, I didn’t play anything at all on the computer. Weird how life works like that.

So, for any of you who may be out there, what were your favorite games? Did you have a favorite genre? Do you have a particular memory that revolves around gaming you want to share?

How many games ARE there?

So the Independent Games Festival for 2009 has just released their entrants, and it made me wonder: how many games really exist?

Not just your big named “Left4Dead” or “World of Warcraft” games, but those small independent games that have a niche market. I’ve heard of games about characters like Rainbow Brite and Fraggle Rock. I guess they want to get us thinking about our childhood.

I know I’ve heard other people philsophize about books and movies; there can only be a certain number of story ideas that exist. If that’s the case, if we look at the incredibly large number of choices we already have – how many do we have left?

I for one think this is a really silly thought and that there are an infinite number of stories, movies, games and other media out there just waiting to happen. For every creative person that exists there is a new idea just waiting to happen.

While you can often group people into large types or social circles, each individual is still just that. We all have unique ideas and perspectives that allow us to create new and interesting thoughts.

Mine may be jumbled and random sometimes, but they’re not the same as another gamer girl who exists. I’m not a tomboy, as many of us are, nor am I a stylista. I’m a programmer who enjoys gaming, cooking, sewing, writing, and playing with gadgets and toys.

I’d hate to think there was a physical limit to the number of possibilities out there, but even if there is – that would be like trying to imagine having a million ideas all at once. It’s still an amazing thought, and makes me wonder how many of the games from the Festival I’ll see in stores and online.