Watched the Video Game Awards... well, what I could stomach. Award shows are jokes for the most part and that one was no exception. I realize the only reason why I've gotten into video games is that I haven't had to travel so much this year. I spend entire days teaching classes from a laptop in my living room. Some day we'll all be virtual and I'll be able to look up and see a virtual classroom and their breakout sessions will be more than just conference calls. Video games help me see what that future will be but it seems the future is always farther away than you think. I also was initially attracted to the Xbox because you can play Ticket to Ride, Carcassonne, and (I thought) Lost Cities. I tried Ticket to Ride but it's not the most compelling thing to play on the Xbox. Yucata.de is a better platform for boardgames, even if it is turn based after email notifications.
It seems the game of the year, Uncharted 2, is only on the PS3. I've thought of getting one of those but it feels ridiculous to have all 3 platforms. The Wii just sits there for the most part. Last night the family and I were watching the Star Trek movie again on DVD. I hate that regular DVDs don't take advantage of HDTV. So if you get a blue-ray player, my thoughts are you should spend the extra $100 or so and get the PS3. Then you can also play Uncharted 2, Ratchet and Crank, and a few other exclusives. Just not going to pull the trigger on that one for a while.
I'm already enjoying the Xbox 360. A Netflix movie is streaming as I type this and pack a few games for today's board game meetup. The device itself wasn't expensive and I've bought practically all the games on Craigslist. When you add it all up including the guitars, the drums, the controllers, the third-party wireless headset, you get a reason not to switch. Plus I really enjoy Xbox Live 1 VS 100. I know you don't have to switch but it seems silly to pay for another device that I'd mostly not be playing.
I was hoping Batman Arkham Asylum would get game of the year. Of course, I haven't played Uncharted 2 so I'm not really informed on the decision. I do like Dragon Age: Origins. It didn't take long for the hours I spent on that game to exceed the Modern Warfare Single Player I was playing. Sometimes you just get tired of being shot at.
Dragon Age is a role playing game that reminds me of Ultima 3, Bard's Tale, and the like with a cloth map and "enter the code on page 27, third word" kind of things. I used to play those in college and shortly afterwards. It's a big shift to have me equipping characters with the right armor and spells instead of just running into battle Halo Style.
Bust voice actor: Jack Black. Haven't played Brutal Age and I probably won't. I don't want to listen so much to the heavy metal music. Mark Hammil was so awesome as the Joker that I thought he would get it.
Next purchase will probably be Assassin's Creed 2. I've got so many unfinished games right now I don't need to dive into it soon. Funny, having Netflix streaming movies also gives me a ton of half watched movies in my queue. Sometimes I'll put one one while I work and then when the kids get home I have to turn it off due to mature content. Then I check the queue and it's got movies with watched 75%, 83%, 59%, etc. I guess that's better than having the physical DVD sit around till you send it back.
The Trailers for World Premiere's were also disappointing. Halo Reach didn't show any actual game play, just cut scenes. Spec Ops looks decent as a cover based shooter. That Crackdown 2 looked interesting and fun. I guess it's very expensive to create a new game so developers deliver mostly sequels.