Returning to Video Games After 11 Years

A decade ago, I never intended to go so long without playing video games. I had dozens of PS2 games and had spent hundreds if not thousands of hours playing them. My favorite genre was Japanese RPGs and games like Final Fantasy X/X-2, Xenosaga, Dark Cloud 2, and Dragon Quest VIII probably helped my get ready to enjoy anime when I would discover anime during this time period.

Looking back, it was a combination of my burgeoning interest in anime/manga with a poor start to the PS3 that caused the initial break and that was further solidified when I started this anime blog. It also didn’t help that the only video games that seemed to get made and talked about were shooter games which was a genre that I wasn’t interested in. Then, somewhere along the way, the idea of getting back into video games just fell by the wayside.

And that likely would have been how things stayed if two specific wires didn’t get crossed before the most recent Christmas.

Video Game Review – The Sims 3

I thought I’d do something different, a video game review. Anime and blogging have cut down how much time I devote to video games but I still dust off the controls and play games like Civilization 4 and Medieval 2: Total War.

I was never a huge Sims player but I bought the first two Sims in part because my younger sister enjoys the game. Certain facets of the game annoyed me and really limited how much I played though there were parts I liked, building and designing the house for example. I resolved not to buy Sims 3 until several of the expansion packs were released because if this game follows the blueprint of Sims 2, only after these expansion packs will the game feel complete and become somewhat fun.

However; I heard through the grapevine that before it’s early June launch, Sims 3 was leaked and it appeared to be the full game. Perfect, I thought, now I can see for myself if EA has once again stripped the game down to force the customers to buy the expansion packs – which means it’s not worth my money at this time – or if maybe EA included enough goodness with the base title to be worth buying now. So while I’m not exactly saying where I got my copy of Sims 3, I will say I’m playing a version of Sims 3 that isn’t buggy and apparently complete (or at least there’s nothing obviously missing that would affect my score).

Derailed by Spore

As you can see this isn’t my review of Kure-nai but it still is coming. I’ve been side-tracked this week and it’s thanks to Spore and it’s Creature Creator. Therefore, it’s getting a post along with a few odds’n’ends (and only one of them is anime related) so read at your own risk.