A Continued disillusionment with games...

I was really, really excited about Batman: Arkham City. I loved the Arkham Asylum game and used to consider it not only the best Batman game of all time but possibly the best super hero game too.

Since having my soul destroyed by playing Duke Nukem Forever, I've found it increasingly difficult to garner any enthusiasm for games. Admittedly part of this might be that I just don't have the personal time required to get into games in the way that I used to - spending 36 hours over a weekend, surviving on crisps, chocolate bars, pop and beer is not an option now I have a wife, and a family - yet I do long for days like that again, there's something magical about getting completely absorbed in a game so that your eyes are bleeding, your brain is melting and you feel like you are really, really there...

The things I liked about Batman was the polished feel of the game, the creativity you could express in defeating the enemies - there was always so many ways you could choose to tackle a situation. I liked the huge cast of super villains, the dark setting of Arkham Asylum and the wierd dream sequences...

I suppose part of me would love to get into Arkham City, but maybe part of me wants to hate it because I know I won't have the time to invest to get the most out of it.





Another game I was really excited about - and might have even pre-ordered was Gears of War 3. Gears of War 1 & 2 were really my introduction to the XBOX 360, and my introduction to the concept of 'cover shooters' I loved the stories, the settings, the combat - although it took me a while to get my head around 'how to succeed' I still think Gears is a hard game, at least on above normal difficulty setting.

Yet here we are, it's on the shelf and I don't bother picking it up - why? Because I won't get time to play it, it'll just mean more and more frustration as I want to put more hours into it which I simply don't have. I'll probably pick it up used around christmas time and hop I can snatch a few hours here and there... Instead I'm putting all my gaming time into S-ranking Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2, sad porbably but I can't motivate myself into playing anything else - apart from a bit of Rome: Total War when the mood takes me...

Sometimes I envy the guys over at the video games tv channel afterall - I have to divide my time work / jobs at home / Open University / Family / Wife / Kids / Games. A huge portion of that time - 8 hours a day is dedicated to work! If I could incorporate some games playing into that time, it would be easier to fit everything in - but it's hard to get paid to play games. Not many jobs pay you to effectively have fun.

I suppose the unfortunate reality is that sometimes you probably have to play games you don't want to play and you then have to spend time writing script about games you didn't like - that sound remotely positive, because otherwise the publishers won't send you more games and the games are your content. That could be soul destroying at times too.

I mean if there was a programme based on my gaming habits over the last month it would be pretty damn boring - just me carrying on about Left 4 Dead 2 and not much else... No - in some respects I think Gaming is a nice thing to keep as a hobby, it's just a pity I can't spend more time on it.