Day Thirty-three: evening of September 3rd 2009

I’m going to help my wife at school tomorrow, she needs a base assembled for one printer, some troubleshooting for another printer, and checkout the cable needed for the link up of her server to a flat screen monitor (I’m going to check my cable drawer to see if there are any converter there). Part of the day was spent finding my tools and getting my gear together.

I started playing Mass Effect, but before I really got into the downloadable content, I changed my mind, and shifted over to a game I haven’t played in awhile-Fable II. Mass Effect’s Pinnacle Station is a multiple arena challenge scenario. I played it for a while and it is going to take me some time to get the hang of the various arenas, and I didn’t feel like that today.

It has been so long since I’ve played Fable II that I don’t remember where I left off, but it shouldn’t take to long to get back into the flow of things. I forgot how visually interesting the scenery is in this role playing game. The world seems massive, even more so with the addition of lands added through DLC. There aren’t that many ticks that interfere with game play, allowing you to attain a state of suspended disbelief (a desirable sci-fi state, also) permitting you to get lost in the character that you develop. You can become an adventurer, an entrepreneur, a villain, a hero, or any combination of them. You can achieve this as a male or a female, and with a magical potion latter in the game change you gender. You can establish relationships, get married, have children, and be aware of the level of satisfaction of spouse and children. Get caught by your spouse propositioning another person and that could lead to a divorce. In this game that might have a negative effect on you reputation.

There are times when this video game reminds me of two games I used to play a long time ago-Life and Careers. I can’t count the number of hours spent playing these games with friends and relatives. I get hints of that kind of interaction in the online games, but I think I miss the physicality of people around the board. I notice that the console have optional video camera that can be attached so that you can see the persons that you are playing against/with, but this feature is not available in all games. I think that I heard that one of the racing games that actually takes a snap shot of the person driving a car that is wrecked to show the expression on their face. That’s why I like the marketing of the Wii as a family interactive game. The only problem with that is the hectic nature of our busy society. When I walk the dog on weekends, its nice to see the neighborhood children playing kickball or softball in the alleyway. I can relate to that, reminisce, and enjoy that scene.