My Feminine Side

I made a sudden realization over the weekend that the last number of games I've played, if the option to to play a female character is included, that's the option I take.

Saints Row: The Third, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Star Wars: The Old Republic, SSX (I'll pick Elise over any other character) and now Mass Effect 3.

Why is this? It hasn't been a concious choice to play all these games -- almost in a row -- to see if the "female experience" is any different than the usual male experience. I just picked that character. Is it a response to having played so many games with a male protagonist? At this point I'm not sure but I do think it deserves some more thought.

If there was a robot option would I want to play as one? Is that my next stop when it comes to choosing a protagonist avatar? Right now, games are making me think but for very different reasons. I'm thinking more about myself than any theme or design choice or game mechanic.

The only change I made to my Saints Row: The Third character was her skin color. She was green for a long time.

The Main Problem with Skyrim

Here's the moment I became an

F12 addict.

So far my biggest problem with Skyrim is that I'm constantly hitting F12 to take screenshots. Every vista, every detail, every place I've been, I keep thinking to myself, "Oh man, that looks so cool!"

I've been very careful about staying on the main story path so far because of the problems I ran into with Mass Effect 2. That game would present these seemingly innocuous choices that might (or maybe they didn't) have repercussions down the line. For Skyrim, I've stayed on the straight and narrow and the only exploration I've really done is the distance I have to travel from story point to story point with a decision early on to always try to take the "good" path during NPC interactions (when they didn't try to kill me first).

After the story is done I might go back and do some more exploring. After all, there might be other vistas and caves that are just begging for a half dozen taps of F12.

There are spots like this all over Skyrim. Places you just want to string up

your hammock and drift into unconsciousness.

Just how many moons are there to see in Skyrim? Maybe the ultimate in-game 

moon is the crazy one from The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (N64).

The spider is only on fire because I'm using some kind of flame spell on it.

(I'm not good with knowing the specifics of what things are called -- the
spider is on fire, that's the important thing.)

The Finishing Touches...

I woke up this morning still feeling like I’d been attacked by fire ants – will I ever feel well again? – but I still managed to put the finishing touches on my Saints Row: The Third (PC) review. Still needs an edit pass or two, but at least it’s mostly done.

I think I had more fun with the this version of the game simply because control was much more precise and I went into the experience with my eyes wide open, knowing what to expect and being familiar with the layout of the city. I previously put a bunch of hours into the Playstation 3 version, but this second play through on the PC just felt better. I had more fun with it. The same thing happened with Batman: Arkham City.

I’m trying to put my finger on exactly why. Maybe it has something to do with playing them on an Alienware M18x. Or maybe it has to do with sitting close to the screen, which is something I’ve missed while playing games from the couch. It deserves more thought at the very least. I need to identify why the PC versions of these games are somehow better. Or at least why I’m perceiving them as being better.

Next on my playlist is The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim… unfortunately, I didn’t get a crack at the console versions so I can’t make that kind of PC vs. console comparison.

And since we’re half-way through January my mind has already turned to September and PAX Prime. If a GFW Radio Reunion doesn’t happen this year, I think that’ll be it. But that might just be the fire ants talking.

"What's in the box" Giveaway in full swing

We've been running the "What's in the box?" Giveaway for the last six days and so far there are t-shirts from LA Noire, Dead Rising 2: Off the Record, and GoldenEye Reloaded, along with copies of Skyrim (360) and the Uncharted Dual Pack (PS3).

Today's addition marks the first "What the hell?" item to be added. (Not to worry, there will be more items like it!) I included the two pieces of paper regarding the agreement for the WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos beta for a couple of reasons.

First, I couldn't believe I had them. I'd clipped them into a binder with about 3" worth of old press releases. Why? I'm not entirely sure. Maybe for the contact information on the press releases? That's my guess. Somehow that seemed easier than writing out the information or entering it into a database, maybe.

Second, it marks almost a decade since WarCraft III launched. A game that spawned not only Defense of the Ancients (or DOTA as it's more commonly known), which in some sense was responsible for the likes of League of Legends and Heroes of Newerth, but was ultimately the precursor to the massively successful World of WarCraft. In that light, it's an interesting document to hold in my hands. By the very fact that it's a couple of pieces of paper rather than an online form, makes it significant. People stopped using paper for these kinds of things a long time ago so it's kind of cool to have a physical thing to hold and look at.

With the move to digital, ten years from now this kind of documentation will be unheard of and that actually scares me a little, even if it means less clutter in my basement.

Having something exist out there in the cloud doesn't make me feel very good. That feel of the page between my fingers makes it much more real. I have a feeling I won't get the same warmth of nostalgia when I click by the Terms of Service without a blink.