Roller-coaster

Faith in gaming is a like a sport for me. Read the news, be wowed, hear about a publishing fallout, this indie developer goes down, predictable sequel announced, free content replaced by retail expansion pack, EA get bigger, Facade gets released: it's a roller-coaster. A low point came today when UK Resistance parody 360 launch list that came out a few days ago was replaced by a real one. The hilarity of the former becomes more prophetic than perhaps is comfortable. Lets compare some of UK:R's joke ones with real (approved by actual respiring human publishers) game names:

War of The Wars
Super Robot Wars

Elite Men Troops
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter

Storm Commanders: Ultra War
Dead or Alive: Xtreme 2

The first of each are fake, but it wasn't all that obvious, was it?

Perhaps its the beer talking, but re-reading Always_Black's Jedi Knight 2 piece, mentioned on Wonderland today, filled me with hope for the potential of Gaming. I use capitals to emphases my reference to everything the industry has to offer. All too often, I'll express to someone what Gaming could offer, it's black hole depth and starry potential only to find that when I've finished berating a poor listener, it's frustratingly clear how few examples I have to reference. The JK2 piece shows just how effectual gaming can be, and it reminds me of a handful of (mainly multiplayer) moments in which I felt like more than a player. A leader, a comedian, mystic, hero: times when I've felt like I haven't wasted time.

Its the designer's job to make that amount of wasted time hopefully, eventually, become as rare as the good moments are now. W00t, lets make artful games, everyone!