Astute readers will no doubt note the (nearly!) two month span of time between my last post and the one that you're currently staring at. I blame three things. Gainful employment in a terrible recession, maintaining a rapidly crumbling home with duct tape and spackle, and a rare case of genuine spring fever. Take it up with them.
It isn't just Joe. Q. Gamer that's suffered from my desperate lack of free time. Friends gnash their teeth in frustration, unable to connect with me in any more meaningful way than the occasional text message. No less than two editors have a tab open in their browsers dedicated to emailing me, requesting projects that are beginning to redefine the word 'overdue'. My cat misses me. So it isn't just my blog. As a result of all this goddamn time sink malarkey, I haven't had much time to actively game lately. I feel like a high schooler returning to class after a lengthy case of mono: everyone is ahead of me all of a sudden, and I'm not sure how to catch up. I mean, what the hell is Plants Vs. Zombies? Do I really need to play Bionic Commando? There's yet another batch of New Fallout 3 DLC to get through? Sunny isn't dating Mike anymore, and Mr. Johnson the science teacher blew up the chemistry wing? Where the Hell was I?
(Lucky for me, then, that gaming culture is even less focused on important long term stuff than any given high school. I figure in six months no one will even remember what happened while I was on my reluctant sabbatical, and I can get back to the business of making insightful comments about shit no one cares about with a clear conscience.)
The only real gaming time I've been able to get in is with Street Fighter IV, which seems to have stolen away my heart completely. I've never in my life spent so much time with any one game: between the PS3 and 360 versions, I have more than two hundred and fifty hours logged since the game launched in late February. Truly, incontrovertible evidence of a pathetically wasted life, but never mind that right now. I'm busy, and as usual, I don't have time for shame. Instead, consider how hard that game must have grabbed me if I've managed to fit that kind of playtime into my hellish schedule. More to the point, consider how and why.
The best thing about fighting games (or any game where you aren't stuck dealing with a prolonged and narrative-dense plot) is how perfectly it fits into anyone's schedule. I can play for ten minutes or five hours and get the same kind of satisfaction from the experience. God, I wish more games could do that. In order to play through Fallout 3 or Valkyria Chronicles, I had to put meaty chunks of uninterrupted time aside: these are not games that reward a prolonged absence. On the other hand, Portal, that old standby, is three hours of pure gaming bliss, but is cleverly divided into quick and easy chapters, each with it's own defined arc. Perfect for the person on the go, or who needs to go soon because his girlfriend is getting impatient.
"What about portable gaming?" I hear you ask. I own a DSi and PSP, and use them frequently, but sometimes you want to be sitting on a couch with an arcade stick in your hands. I have a big ass TV for a reason, after all. I can't surrender to something with a resolution of 250 by 250 as easily as I can my 37 inch LCD at home: the world intrudes on me, even with headphones. It isn't something I'm immersing myself in. It's merely something I'm doing to pass the time.
That spells trouble for a gent without disposable time. And there isn't anything to be done about it. I'm simply stuck whupping fools online with Blanka and Vega: my homiez, down for life. Word. And after all, there are worse fates. I could have ended up maining Sagat.
More updates as I can get to them. Next time, I think we're discussing controls and the myths regarding their complexity, and how it relates to the divide between those who game and those who do not. Exciting!
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