The beginning of the end...

Written by Linkwick Tuesday, 07 July 2009 15:11

OK, so the powers-that-be have, in their infinite wisdom, decreed that us mere mortals, the writers of TGV, should have a place to post our views on the realm of gaming as we see it. Little do they realise what they're in for... They'll rue the day they gave me a keyboard and a soapbox to stand on!!

So the last fortnight's been a right royal b... pain. The end of the financial year's not normally much trouble for us tax accountants, as due dates for prior year returns are normally well before June... unless Ruddy's giving away money!! Bloody $900 bonus - everyone wants their returns done before the 30/6/09 cut-off, and bugger me if there's not a ton of people wanting expecting multiple back-years lodged on extremely short notice. Needless to say, much midnight oil was burnt, hairs turned grey and curses were hurled at computer monitors and politicians alike. Worst part is, my money's already long gone (can't even remember where to!!).

So finally getting back to some semblance of a normal routine, I've been coming back to my 360 more often now. Busy weekends and a lack of motivation's meant that I haven't touched mine much over April and May, but "Wolverine" drew me in again with some well-programmed gore, and with a bargain trade-in deal at JB for "Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince" ($16.10 outlay in the end) that one's strangely enticing. Sure, it's repetitive as hell, and the graphics are nothing to write home about, but I'm actually not minding grinding my way through the "run here - do flying/potions/fighting minigame" missions. It'll be gone and traded by the end of the week, but I'm actually getting back into the groove of gaming again.

And though a lot of late has been single-player campaigns and the like, even the lure of multiplayer is starting again. I'll have lost any semblance of skill or combat awareness (well... you can't lose what you never had!!), but all I need now is some free time.

Another trade deal I took advantage of was for Pokemon Platinum. Boy, that series has come a long way since I "borrowed" my younger brother's "Blue" copy on the ol' grey brick all those years ago. It's pretty, full of stuff to do... but I've barely touched it still. And my brother's hounding me for a match or three. Better get levelling...

Some great titles are on the way: "Battlefield 1943 XBLA" (tomorrow), "Secret Of Monkey Island XBLA" (Weds 15th), and my imported copy of Ghostbusters should be here any day now. So there's only gonna be more jetplane noises coming from my console over the next few weeks - and that can only be a good thing (the gaming time, not the console noises :-p).

Anyway, 'til next time...

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