Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

I'm starting to get scared looking at the games being released this month and the next. Practically drowning in choice.

I HAD the idea of buying a couple games for myself for Christmas. But with the impending deluge of games, I'm starting to feel the paradox of choice block falling into place.

I mean, if I were -really- feeling thrifty about the whole affair, I don't /need/ any upcoming game. One MMO is pretty much enough to suck away all of one's time, and I have 3 subscriptions under my belt. (Though I might give up LOTRO after this year, dunno. Really depends how long Warhammer lasts. I still like it, but if too many people drift off from it, then it's troublesome times again.)

However, I do have some pocket money to spare - especially with the year-end bonus, which is a good excuse to give myself a little treat after a year's hard work. What's the point of being old and having to work if you can't treat yerself to playing around like a kid now and then, eh? :)

I'm not exactly willing to buy every single game that catches my eye like some rich surgeon plunking down a couple thousand for his Warhammer hobby though. Kinda takes away the fun of choosing and letting a few games ripen to cheapness so I can cackle about getting it for a steal later. Especially if it comes bound with expansions after.

Oh, but choices, choices...

On the side of the riper old games, I want the expansions for Galactic Civilizations II. I saw something entitled "GalCiv: Endless Universe." I -think- it's the two expansions combined into one, but it doesn't help that there's little to no information on the web about it because it's a UK/Euro release, rather than a US one. Still, it was going for only around SGD $40, which makes it quite a steal, as compared with me buying the two combined expansions from Stardock's website at USD $49.90.

Devil May Cry 4 has been ported to the PC. I snuck a look at the price tag the last time I visited Tec-Drome, and it was also $40ish, which makes my eyes gleam. Who needs a crummy Xbox 360 with games that cost $70 each, eh? Just need to be able to wait 2+ years, and pimp the heck out of your PC, is all.

Sins of the Solar Empire also looks like it's had some good reviews. And I'm a sucker for space games that aren't Eve. Old game, so probably I can pick it up for $50 or less. As long as the Tec-Drome uncle is around to give the geeky dwarf girl a discount. :)

I have been eyeing the Witcher Enhanced edition. It looks good, with all the weirder stuff from the language translation smoothed over. And it's already received rave reviews from lots of people, so it's tempting. Call it another $50-60.

Speaking of rave reviews, Fallout 3 has come out with spectacular praise. Like anyone who is old enough to remember Fallout 1 and 2, it is well nigh irresistable. Except *gnaws on knuckles* a new game easily costs $60-70 and can't really score a good discount. It's also not likely to go away any time soon, so in theory, it's a good game to KIV. But but, it's Fallout and everyone and their dad is playing Fallout 3. *twitch* With my luck though, maybe it'll sell out and I'll have no damn choice about it.

The other thing being raved about is Far Cry 2. It undeniably looks good. But everytime I look at it, I remember with a guilty start that I haven't even finished Crysis yet (haven't bought the Crysis expansion either.) Leaning towards this being a keeper - despite half my Warhammer guild having branched off to play this (most have dl'ed it from bittorrent, cos Aussie games cost $90 apparently. Pft! Crazy! At $90, I'd download illegally too. I just buy games to support my local game shop cos I can afford it and he sells them to me at $50-$55 apiece.)

What I fear CAN'T keep is Left 4 Dead. Fucking Steam game. So tempting to click a button and buy. See, if one wants to play online with lots of people, you have to catch the starting wave. Even now, parts of Warhammer are deserted, making it a different experience entirely. However, I haven't decided if I really want to play online. There's decent bot AI built into the game, apparently. The co-op involved sounds like quite a different experience though. Sometimes I fear co-op is just asking for trouble knowing most internet PUGs though. Too bad I don't have 3 other geeky friends with a decent PC rig who can keep up with the latest games.

I hear Fable 2 is out. I haven't even finished Fable 1 for the Xbox, and I don't own an Xbox 360 anyway, so thank god. I'll let it port over to the PC. Ditto Gears of War 2. I'm not done with Gears of War 1 on the PC either. And of course, I don't give a rat's ass about WoTLK, so more money saved, yay!

Games I haven't finished: Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl. The sequel/prequel, Stalker: Clear Sky is already out. I'm leaning towards letting it keep for a little longer, but if I don't get it soon, it'll end up bound into one of those 'gold' packs and I hate buying the original game that I already have. I need to just find the appropriate month to have it depreciate to ~$30 expansion price and snap it up. Ditto Crysis: Warhead the sequel.

There's Spore. The creature creator sounds cute. But there's two strikes against it. The bad comments about the last stage of the game, and I have big Securom issues. I caved in with Bioshock, I'd probably cave in with other EA RPGs, but this is one of those cutesy Sim-like games which I can resist for a long time. Maybe I'll let it rot until a sequel or expansion comes out.

I've been intending to try Mount and Blade. Not buying the box, since I actually have two downloaded copies of the trial game, and should I play it and like it, I'll probably just do a direct purchase to support an indie publisher.

On the PC/console side of things, I've been idly tossing around the idea of getting a Guitar Hero or Rock Band thingmajig. Except my taste in songs isn't quite the same as the US mainstream gamers' and I have yet to do a lot of research regarding which game to test the waters with. Probably just leave it as an idle thought. Dance Dance Online, corny and teenybopper as it may sound, is already a free way to feed the music rhythm game desire.

What has been developing into a less idle and more serious thought is getting a Logitech racing wheel. As mentioned, I was poking around Tec-Drome the other day (Uncle wasn't there, so I ended up just checking out prices. It's a matter of principle to buy from him. All his other stupid chauvinist employees, greedy for their own personal cut, only shave $2 off, while he as the boss can cut $5 per game easily.) While staring at the peripherals, I caught sight of this gleaming leather and metal and plastic thingummy known as a G25 wheel, with a price tag of $495.

*whistles*

Not something I'd ordinarily buy, but Christmas, bonus, fun stuff, rationalization, the works.

I've dabbled in racing games since I downloaded GTA4 and realized I couldn't drive worth a darn. Plowing into pedestrians on the pavement (not on purpose either!) while attempting to turn is kinda a big hint. And since the F1 craze, I've been messing around with the one modern game I do own - Need for Speed Carbon. And I like it. It's a nice action-y sort of genre that is good for a quick spin (pun not really intended) when one doesn't have time for 3 hours of RPG, MMO or singleplayer.

Part of the appeal is knowing that I've got a LOT more to learn. It was kinda funny the first time the game plunked me into something called a "Drift" race, and I sat there thinking, "WTF is DRIFT? The hell am I supposed to do?!"

Lots of trial and error, much googling and attempted search for tutorials and walkthroughs turned up very little, and I gave up on the whole game for a couple months. Enter F1, and an urge for going around bends at full speed in a safe virtual way, and I was back in Need for Speed doing some boring laps and banging my head against figuring out how to drift. Somehow, much button pressing later, I was managing to score -some- points. I'm sure there was absolutely ZERO style in my first attempts at drifting, and I don't think I've quite hit upon the appropriate theoretical strat yet. Addictive though.

Makes me tempted to put down my USB Xbox-style controller and learn something trickier. Like steering with a proper wheel and using pedals for accelerator and brakes. Maybe even figure out clutch and manual transmission at some point.

After all, my mom has only been nagging me for ~15 years regarding learning how to drive.

I've always been freaked out that the moment I get into a real car, I'd smash into the pavement (or another car, or a wall, or a tree) on first press of the accelerator and traumatize my driving instructor (and/or kill myself.) The idea of a virtual car simulator and learning how to react at fast speeds that I'd never try to achieve irl appeals. If I can handle a race car at 160km/h with no crashes or mistakes, that gives me a little more confidence driving a real car at a sedate pace.

Even pilots train with flight simulators, eh?

And there's a bunch of these driving game/sims around. Especially on the PS3. Which conveniently is supported by this G25 racing wheel, both PC, PS3 and PS2.

I may or may not have mentioned that I'm seriously considering getting a PS3 next year. I blame the Heavy Rain PS3 exclusive. I have been a total fan of Indigo Prophecy's potential and storytelling approach (even if the last bit sucked and felt like they ran out of money), and their next game looks super-intense. Mindblowing. 4 perspectives, significant choices, moral themes about what is good and evil, spectacular mood graphics, what is there NOT to like?

Oh, except their stated intention to have it be a PS3 exclusive. Dammit.

And this isn't Microsoft. We all know Microsoft will bend over after a year or two and release the Xbox 360 'exclusive' for a PC port to make more $$$ and sell DirectX 10 graphics and what not.

This is fucking Sony. Who will sit on their Blu-Ray proprietary format for life, thank you. And engineeringly incompetent (but story-now amazing) Quantic Dream who have announced publicly that they don't want to deal with the technical compatibility issues of converting from one port to another, but rather concentrate on story experience instead, on one chosen platform.

I -cannot- sit and wait for two years hoping for this to get ported. Indigo Prophecy was one of those innovative games that had me riveted and feeling an immersive emotional experience that was more than simple shock/fear/adrenaline rush. I think only Planescape: Torment may have topped it, though others come somewhat close (Fallout, Baldur's Gate).

I gotta have Heavy Rain in my grubby hands the moment it is out. As long as fucking MDA doesn't ban it outright or something. Thank goodness they now have the video games rating system, so it probably will get labeled M18 at worst. I don't think it makes any racist or political statements. :)

It's coming out Jan or Feb next year. Once it's out in the stores, I'm buying that, and the console to play it in. I'm just hoping the longer I leave the PS3 to sit, the better the deal will get. Christmas may be a good time to see if I can get some kind of bargain too. Except I'm a little scared to buy the console before the game, and find out later that MDA doesn't like me. Or that the game shops don't think it'll sell and refuse to stock it.

Of course, if I have a racing wheel and buy one or two racing games for the PS3, that might make it more tolerable, and allow me to feel vaguely justified in the purchase until I can sneak a package from overseas over.

It's a thought.

Very tempting thought.

Which means I'll have to put aside a lot of PC game-procurement plans if I do follow through with it.

I suppose a lot of the popular games will keep. I mean they're still offering Diablo battlechests for sale and what not. And stuff on Steam is pretty much forever. Last weekend, I saw they were offering Vampire: Bloodlines for US$9.99. Not half bad for a semi-decent mood game until it degenerated into a buggy actionfest.

I think the only thing that bugs me about letting games keep is missing the geek discussion boat. I didn't play Diablo for ages. Wasn't half bad when I finally played it, but the multiplayer experience had sailed past its prime. But I'm also a deal-seeker, and paying $20 more for a game that will depreciate in a month makes me cringe, unless it's an MMO.

1) Logitech G25 Wheel - $495
2) Gal Civ: Endless Uni - $40
3) Devil May Cry 4 - $40
4) Sins of the Solar Emp- $45
5) Witcher Enhanced - $55
6) Fallout 3 - $60
7) Far Cry 2 - $60
8) Left 4 Dead - $??

Stalker and Crysis sequels are definitely keep-for-later worthy.

Phew. That's ~$800, not inclusive of L4D. Affordable, but not all at once, methinks.

I can definitely leave Far Cry 2 out. I bet they will have an expansion eventually, so I may as well let them bundle it together. Besides, the longer I leave it, the more I can upgrade my CPU and mobo to a point where it won't break down crying trying to run an overheating graphics card, eh?

2-4 are cheap deals. $120 for 3 games is no biggy. No brainers there. Witcher: Enhanced should be nicely depreciated by the time I make it back to Tec-Drome, so I may as well.

The real question is whether I get Fallout 3 now or later, I guess. Bah, we'll see. Could be already sold out. Knowing me, I'd probably only end up in Tec-Drome in December.

Goodness knows what's coming out in Dec then. No news of Diablo 3 or Starcraft 2, I hope.

(And yes, I could be a naughty dishonest person and pirate stuff - but I already indulge with MP3s and ROMs - and I like the whole 'musing about what game is most value for money at this current point in time, making a shopping list and going out to buy a nifty cardboard box' experience.)