Apologies and Excuses

I know, I know. It's been more than two months since my last blog. So, a quick apology...I'm sorry I've neglected my blog. The majority of my summer I've been in a seemingly endless state of crisis management. Unexpected job losses, vehicle repossessions, threats of eviction, and especially news of potentially terminal illness all have a way of putting your life in perspective. So, forgive me, but gaming and blogging was quickly dropped to the bottom of my list of priorities! Now that each problem has been (or is being) solved, things are finally quieting down enough that I can focus on entertainment. Hence, y'all finally get a new blog entry.

What I'm Playing Now

It's not a huge secret that I have problems (read:get scared stupidly easy) with creepy little girls in video games. I played F.E.A.R, but only during the day, and only when someone was around to help keep me distracted. I don't even care if I go back to get any more achievment points in it (which, if you know me, you understand that says a lot about how much I did not enjoy feeling the fear of F.E.A.R.). So as I was following Bioshock's development, I was certain I wouldn't be picking up that title from the first clips that revealed more creepy little girls.

Then the demo hit. I decided to play through it so that if the topic came up, I would be able to carry on a conversation with my gaming friends. Needless to say, I was blown away. As the demo ended, I set my controller down, picked up my phone, and called Gamestop to change my preorder from Two Worlds to Bioshock. And I have to say, it's a decision I'm glad I made!

I don't want to spend too much time talking about the game right now, because I'm afraid of inadvertently spoiling even the smallest bit of the story for those that haven't picked it up yet. (Yeah, thanks to the 360 forum poster who ruined a major plot point for me in his/her topic title...)But I will say, that every single thing in this game has me ooh-ing and aahh-ing. From the story to every detail poured into the art to the voice acting and music. As much as I love Oblivion, even that game couldn't pull me in the way Bioshock has. I'm playing it on hard now, and though I refuse to look at even the achievment list until I uncover the story for myself first, I'm already looking forward to my next playthrough and planning how I can do certain things differently.

On a final Bioshock note, I managed to score the last preorder of the LE version of the game. I'm not generally into 'toys', but the Big Daddy figurine is pretty damn cool sitting on a shelf of my entertainment center acting as a bookend for my 360 games. I've also decided to embrace my inner nerd and tell anyone who will listen that all I want for Christmas this year is a hard-bound Bioshock art book for my coffee table.....yeah.....it's that good!