#oneaday Day 618: Glitch in the System

Glitch, brainchild of Flickr cofounder Stewart Butterfield, launched to the public today following an extremely lengthy and well organised testing period. I played the game briefly during testing while writing an article about it and found the experience utterly bewildering. I've had another go, and I still find it utterly bewildering.

The thing that is most bewildering is arguably its most defining feature — its non-violent nature. There is no hacking up wolves to collect 300 pelts for someone in the village. There is no dungeon delving to defeat some terrible great evil. There is no "take on this army of identical enemies singlehandedly, unless you're in a party." No, there's just a world, filled with trees, pigs, butterflies and bureaucracy, and it's pretty much up to you what you choose to do with your time there.

Your pet rock, who introduces the game to you in a tutorial which doesn't really tell you much beyond the basic controls, offers you a few quests to show you what you can do over the course of your first few hours. But beyond that, it's up to you what you choose to get on with and what skills you choose to focus on. Are you going to become a miner? A chef? Someone who talks to animals? There's a wide range of things for you to do — but none of them involve killing things.

The saying goes "you don't know what you've got until it's gone" (or something along those lines) and it's true — it's easy to take for granted that the fundamental play mechanic of the vast amount of games out there is killing things, whether it's dudes, monsters, aliens, zombies or anything else threatening the status quo. As gamers, we're comfortable with that. It's been the core mechanic of gaming since many of the earliest titles. Conflict is inherently competitive, and thus lends itself nicely to being a "game". Non-violence, however, is a more tricky prospect. What's the point of a game if there's no world to save, no princess to rescue and no Big Bad to kick the bottom of?

I'm yet to discover exactly what makes Glitch tick, but there's a lot of people playing who seem to enjoy it, so I'm willing to give it a chance. If nothing else, its non-violent nature should hopefully mean it's free of the sort of people who use words like "noobfags" and "stfu". And the whole "freeform" thing has been working pretty well for Minecraft, so why shouldn't it work for a 2D browser-based MMO platformer where there's nothing to kill? Granted, Glitch is not quite as freeform as Minecraft, though its RPG-like elements (such as learning skills) are stronger. It's not really a good comparison at all, thinking about it, save for the fact that both games are fundamentally pointless but compelling wastes of time that are inexplicably popular with hundreds, thousands, millions of people.

I shall be giving Glitch a bit more of a go over the next few days and weeks. I shall be sure to report back if I do happen to find anything interesting.

#oneaday Day 610: Gears of Bore (No-One's Ever Made That Joke Before)

I suppose with the world gripped by Gears frenzy I should probably explain why I'm not a fan of the series.

I have nothing in particular against shooters. I have nothing in particular against space marines, either — I have a copy of Space Crusade sitting proudly on my shelf as proof. But something about the first Gears of War really rubbed me up the wrong way after the "my GOD these graphics are nice even on a standard-def TV" shock wore off. I played it for a while and got a reasonable way into it before realising that I wasn't really having any fun. The series' oppressive brownness was getting to me, and what few attempts at humour there were in there just came off as silly action-movie posturing — I guess that's kind of the point, but still.

Consequently, Gears of War 2 and now Gears of War 3 hold little to no interest to me. The first game didn't make me want to get to know these characters any more, so why should I spend any more time in their universe? It wasn't just due to the risible dialogue, of course — the infuriating bullet-sponge nature of most of the regular enemies in the game put me off somewhat, too, along with numerous sequences in which snipers could insta-kill you if you didn't work out where the best cover spot was. Constant repetition of a short sequence in shooters is something of a bugbear for me, and Gears hit me right in the fury spot with one particular section.

Alongside all that, I'm not a huge fan of competitive multiplayer games (largely because I'm typcially crap at them) and it all adds up to a package that I'm not interested in in the slightest. I don't begrudge people their excitement for the new game, but it seems that the days in which every triple-A title was an essential purchase for everyone are long gone — at least so far as I'm concerned, anyway.

I'm not sure exactly when this happened. I know it was definitely this generation, as I vividly recall throughout the PS1 and PS2 eras picking up the "essential purchase" titles almost as soon as they were released. Perhaps now there are simply too many high-profile, high-quality games being released to make this practical, perhaps I'm no longer interested in the "blockbuster" genre, or perhaps I'm increasingly disillusioned with ever-more underhanded tactics to get players to part with even more of their money beyond purchasing the game itself.

Whatever the reasons, as I say, I certainly don't begrudge the Gears fans their upcoming fun-fest, but I'm more than happy with what I'm playing right now: Xenoblade Chronicles (awesome), Minecraft 1.8 (buggy but awesome), TrackMania 2 Canyon (aweso– you get the idea) and Wing Commander III (surprisingly still great). The fact that I'd rather play a Wii game, an indie game, a niche racing game and a space sim from 1994 is perhaps a sad indictment on the mainstream gaming industry, however.

Ah well. Horses for courses and other such clichés. If you're playing Gears this weekend, have a blast. I will not be joining you!

#oneaday Day 606: While You Sleep, They'll Be Waiting . . .

I started up Wing Commander III tonight in celebration of its recent rerelease on Good Old Games and in protest against all the Gears of War 3 excitement that's slowly building up. (I hate Gears.) And by golly, I miss that series something rotten. (Wing Commander, not Gears of War.)

I remember first playing the original Wing Commander and being gobsmacked by its then-revolutionary cutscenes and effort in telling a story. In fact — and this was always a big taboo in the early days of PC gaming — Wing Commander's dedication to spinning a compelling, if cheesy, space opera yarn made me consistently enjoy it far more than the X-Wing series.

Wing Commander III was something special, though. One of the first games to boast a multi-million dollar budget. An early outing for Mark Hamill, now a mainstay of the games industry. Full-motion video in a glorious 256 colours coming out of its ears. And, bizarrely, a porn star cast as the ship's mechanic.

It's difficult to pin down exactly what it is that's so appealing about the Wing Commander series — III and IV in particular — but I have a feeling it's the good balance between plot and spacefaring action. Missions are short enough that you can get through a bunch in a single sitting, but they don't feel like "throwaway" efforts — there's always something to do, even if it's just a patrol. But it's the fact that you're rewarded for completing them with advances in the plot — or sometimes just getting to know the characters a bit better — that made the game fun for me. Despite the fact it's essentially Top Gun in space, with all the cheesiness that implies, Wing Commander's cast is memorable, even years later. I can still recall Malcolm McDowell's star turn as the deliciously sinister Admiral Tolwyn years later, and it's always nice to see John Rhys-Davies. Hamill, too, puts in a good performance — at the time, the game invited references to Star Wars thanks to Hamill in the leading role, but if Wing Commander III showed one thing, it's that Hamill had grown up, got better hair and was no longer Luke Skywalker.

I'd almost go as far to say that I have fonder memories of the Wing Commander series than I do of the Star Wars saga. I mean, sure, I respect Episodes IV, V and VI and the culture they created, but despite the username by which I typically go online, I'm in no real rush to watch them again — neither am I in any hurry to go pick up the Blu-Ray box set which released recently. Wing Commander III rereleased on Good Old Games, though, for $5.99? I was straight in there. (This may have something to do with the fact that the Star Wars Blu-Ray set costs nearly 70 quid, while Wing Commander III offers an equivalent, if not greater, amount of entertainment for less than a tenth of the price.)

Nostalgia, as they say, isn't what it used to be. But sometimes you revisit something from the past and find it's just as awesome as you remember. So far, Wing Commander III, in all its grainy-video glory, has fallen squarely into that category. While modern takes on the space sim genre (what few examples there are left) often offer pleasingly deep and freeform experiences, there really is something to be said for the structured, narrative-heavy approach that Wing Commander offered.

And if you've never tried the series for yourself? For $5.99, you can surely afford to check it out.

#oneaday Day 604: TrackMania 2, Day 1

It's been a good week for game releases that I'm excited about, and not one of them has been on console or what I'd call a "mainstream" title — further confirmation that there's more than enough entertainment out there for people without having to always play the "biggest" and "best" games there are. In just the last couple of days, we've seen Minecraft's official update to version 1.8, which adds some significant new content; the re-release of Wing Commander III on Good Old Games; and, of course, TrackMania 2 Canyon being unleashed on the public.

I've been playing it a bit tonight so I thought I'd share some observations.

First up: it's good. It's still recognizably TrackMania — the interface and sound effects are pretty much identical. The driving model for the cars on offer in the Canyon environment is fun, though — strongly drift-based and very reminiscent of arcade racers such as Burnout, Daytona and Ridge Racer. This is a little different from the variety of cars seen in TrackMania United, where for the most part, drifting was discouraged as it lowered your speed. In the Canyon, however, if a corner is more than a slight wiggle you're encouraged to throw your car around it sideways. Always fun.

The potential disappointment of the game that I had on my radar was the fact that it only has a single environment — the titular Canyon. Fortunately, there are enough blocks and combinations thereof to mean that this environment offers more than enough variety to carry a whole game. And the single player campaign is nicely paced, alternating between twisty mountain roads, rollercoasteresque elevated tracks and traditional speedway circuits. Despite remaining in the same cars in the same canyon for the whole game, it's not a worry — for now, at least, and by the time it may start feeling a bit stale, there'll surely be some modders out there with new textures and addons to improve the game. And following that, the Valley environment will be released — and who knows what beyond that?

If you're not a TrackMania fan then the fact the base of the game is fundamentally not that different probably won't be enough to sway you — though the improved driving model makes it a little more accessible than the sometimes-idiosyncratic handling of United's lineup. Series purists are bemoaning the lack of Platform and Stunt levels in the single player campaign, though these were always lesser-played modes anyway, and Nadeo have also said that there's the possibility of putting these modes back in through a future update — the whole point of the "ManiaPlanet" platform is to be able to evolve it on a regular basis.

A pleasing new addition is the four-player split screen mode. I haven't tried it as yet, but if you have your PC hooked up to your TV as I do, this will make for some highly entertaining party play. The Hotseat mode of the original is present and correct, too, as is LAN play. And online is as fun as ever, with servers already offering a wide variety of creative community tracks and intense competition for up to 200 people at once.

So first impressions of the game are very good, then, and especially as it's just £20. While the lack of other environments is a shame, with the game releasing at a lower price point I certainly won't object to paying more for extra environments in the future — particularly if each comes with its own campaign, as is likely to happen. And the future also holds the highly intriguing possibilities offered by ShootMania and QuestMania, information on which is very limited right now. QuestMania is probably the one I'm most excited about, as I'm very interested in the implementation of user-created RPG quests. I hope it turns out to be good. We'll see!

You can grab TrackMania 2 Canyon now from its official website, and I recommend that you do.

#oneaday Day 602: The Systematic Destruction of Everything You Once Held Dear

So EA has officially confirmed the existence of Syndicate from The Darkness developer Starbreeze, and lo and behold, it's a first person shooter. After X-COM, this makes two once-beloved PC strategy franchises pillaged in the name of popularity and commercialism.

Now, to be fair to both the new X-COM and Syndicate games, no-one's played them in any great detail yet. (Except the developers, obviously.) So there's every possibility that they might be very good. Syndicate in particular has a setting which lends itself to Deus Ex-style first person exploration and cyberpunk shenanigans. Perhaps it will even be able to out-Deus Ex Deus Ex: Human Revolution — given the somewhat mixed opinions I've heard regarding that game (mostly of the "it's great but the boss fights suck" variety) that's a distinct possibility.

X-COM, though, is missing the point to a spectacular degree. The whole point of the X-COM series was to repel an alien invasion through careful management of your strike teams, of your vehicles and bases. It was a complex series of games, but an immensely satisfying one as a result. Its isometric turn-based battles laid the foundations for many future games and indeed, some might say, the whole strategy RPG genre. And it's not as if strategy RPGs have fallen out of favour, as the recent Tactics Ogre release on PSP, Disgaea 4 on PS3 and Final Fantasy Tactics on iPhone will attest. So why pillage a beloved franchise and turn it into a shooter?

Perhaps they believe that they'll be telling an excellent story from the first person perspective. It worked for BioShock, after all (right up until that stupid ending) and it worked for the Half-Life series. But herein lies the rub — the original X-COM was an emergent experience where the story unfolded naturally as you played, and everyone's experience was a little different. Sure, there was an end to the game (which very few people saw, I'd wager) but the route you took to get there was up to your own strategic mind and the decisions you made — and not in a BioWare RPG binary choice sort of way, all the decisions you made regarding the makeup of your team, their equipment, where they were based, how you developed them and so on. To pre-script the whole thing again seems to be missing the point somewhat.

Perhaps it's just misplaced nostalgia that makes us ageing gamers want to remember these games as they once were, not as the populist reboots that they're getting. After all, as gaming has become more and more mainstream and more and more people come to these big-name titles, games in once-niche franchises use the cachet of their name to attract veteran gamers while providing the quick-hit thrills of the popular FPS genre to attract younger players reared on a diet of Call of Duty.

Sadly, though, it doesn't really work — the younger players haven't heard of the series in question and simply come to the game because it looks interesting (and because people are talking about it) and the veteran gamers take one look at it, think it doesn't bear even a passing resemblance to the game they once loved and thus dismiss it. They'd be much better off making proper sequels to Syndicate and X-COM in their original styles (with appropriately upgraded graphics, obviously) to appeal to those veterans — who would doubtless snap up such products in a trice — and leave the youngsters to newer IPs.

Alternatively, as someone said on Twitter earlier (I forget who, sorry if you're reading) — if X-COM and Syndicate can become first-person shooters, why can't Ghost Recon become an isometric turn-based strategy game? I'd play that. (And yes, I know it has already done this on the 3DS — with X-COM creator Julian Gollop behind it, no less — but I'm talking about a proper computer version, preferably PC exclusive, with renamable characters.)

#oneaday Day 601: Whatcha Been Playin'?

I have been playing precisely two games recently, one of which I only returned to today and the other of which you can likely deduce from recent blog posts.

Yes, Xenoblade Chronicles is still going strong and is still magnificent in its excellence. So solid is the gameplay that very quickly you cease to notice the little presentational defects such as the blurry faces, the Final Fantasy X-style nonexistent lip-syncing in certain scenes (but perfect in others) and, of course, the fact it's on the Wii.

Final Fantasy XII was often compared by its players to MMOs. Structure-wise, it was quite similar, with large, sprawling, expansive zones making up a large interlinked open world which could be freely explored assuming you didn't aggro some beast 30 levels higher than you. Combat was quasi-real time, with auto-attacks and triggered abilities. And the Gambit system worked in the same way as being a party leader in an MMO — you were explaining what you wanted your teammates to do and when. The only thing really missing from the MMO structure was a wealth of quests to undertake in place of grinding simply by killing enemies. Sure, there were the Hunts, and those were cool, but ultimately they were all quite similar, albeit with increasingly ridiculous challenge factors as the game progressed.

Xenoblade Chronicles doesn't deviate too far from this formula, though the changes it makes are quite welcome. The Gambit system has been ditched in favour of some excellent party AI who genuinely seem to know what the right thing to do in a given situation is, so long as you've made sure their equipment and skills are levelled appropriately. Unlike FFXII, you can't switch characters at will during battle to trigger specific abilities, though when protagonist Shulk gets a premonition of a particularly devastating attack, it is possible to warn your teammates, which then allows you to pick one of their abilities to use.

The Tension system is an interesting addition, too. Characters' morale is tracked during combat and reflected in their portraits by their health bars. Should a battle go badly, teammates will get demotivated and start missing or generally being crap. Cheering them on and praising them for cries or dodges helps get their morale back up, and the background music and battle cries all reflect how the fight is going. It's a nice touch.

Quests are present, too, by the hundreds. Unlike FFXII's relatively limited number of Hunts available at once, entering a new zone in Xenoblade generally means you're about to be bombarded with quests. Some are simple and formulaic for each area — kill x beasts, find x collectibles, kill x boss — but then there's a range of mini-stories to follow too, most of which allow you to build up your Affinity Chart, a worryingly comprehensive "family tree" of every named character in the game and their relationship to one another. I'm yet to see if this information becomes super useful, but even if not it's neat to see it all mapped out.

So; 34 hours in so far and I now have a nice selection of characters to play with. Between battles you can switch your lineup whenever you like, so you can spend the whole game controlling a character who fits your preferred playstyle if you like, whether that's tank, healer or damage dealer. Of course, changing things up not only adds variety but also allows you to build up Affinities between different combinations of party members, so you're indirectly encouraged to do so. And mercifully, inactive characters receive XP at the same rate as active ones so there's never any need to switch up characters just because someone's 10 levels behind, unlike FFXII.

But enough enthusing about that. It's certainly on track to be my Game of the Year so far. Which is nice.

The other game I went back to playing today was Minecraft, thanks to the "leaked" version 1.8 patch. This "Adventure" update gives Minecraft a good kick up the bottom and while it still doesn't structure the game as such, it gives much more incentive to wander off in hope of discovering cool things. The new landscape generation makes for some spectacularly diverse worlds with deserts, canyons, plains, forests, dungeons, caves and all sorts to discover. I have taken to a strategy I should have used a long time ago — when going off exploring, I build a path as I go, making it significantly easier to find my way back to my buildings and storage when I need to. This hasn't stopped me being murdered horribly by monsters down one of the horribly inviting deep holes dotted across the landscape which lead to the many random dungeons. But I don't mind — adventuring is risky business. Sure, you could stay above ground and chop down trees and whatnot, but don't you really want to see what's down there…?

While 1.8 clearly still needs work — it's occasionally buggy and experience points do literally nothing right now — it's very exciting to see the game getting closer and closer to the state it will be in when it's eventually declared "finished". We all know that won't be the case, though, as the team at Mojang is more than likely to keep adding stuff even after release. And even if they don't, the mod community is likely to step up and show their stuff, too. It's going to be a big deal.

Another working week beckons from tomorrow so it's time to bid you good night.

So… Good night.

#oneaday Day 598: Activity, Ho!

My copy of EA Sports Active 2 showed up today. I went for the PS3 version as it seemed the most practical option thanks to its wireless motion sensing armbands. I don't have a Kinect and the Wii version sees you constantly getting tangled up in the Nunchuk cable, which isn't ideal. The motion sensing on the Wii version is a bit dodgy at times, too. (It is a little on the PS3 version, as it happens, but that may just be my appalling posture.)

So, how was it? It's good. While the graphics are functional at best even in glorious HD, the game, like its predecessor, puts up a good fight. By the end of your 30-ish minute workout you'll likely be sweating. The addition of a heart rate monitor to the mix also lets you see how hard you're working yourself, which is pretty neat.

There's a good broad range of exercises on offer, too, and not all of them are straight muscle workouts. There's a nice mix of simple motion games that require "proper" exercise moves to complete alongside more traditional stretches and resistance exercises. And the warmups and cooldown stretches are much better integrated than in the previous version — rather than simply doing low intensity versions of other exercises, there are now dedicated warmup and cooldown stretches to complete, which bookend your workout nicely.

The resistance band is, once again, rather flimsy and doesn't offer very much resistance. With the wireless armbands, however, you're free to use your own weights and can even tell the game what you're using for it to more accurately calculate your calorie usage. This is neat — I may look into acquiring some weights for use alongside the programme, if only to avoid being constantly outwitted by that stupid elastic band.

After one workout, it seems good. There's a nice range of "gamey" features to encourage motivation — there's a "gauge" to fill each day, for example, encouraging you to complete exercises and the game's surveys, and a wide range of trophies to unlock and publicly brag to your friends about.

There's also some online functionality that I'd be keen to try out once we get Internetz here. I'm not sure what it offers but it appears there's some sort of "group" system, presumably allowing friends to motivate each other. If anyone else out there has a copy and wants to group up once I get Internet next Tuesday, just let me know.

And so it's time for a rest now. 'Cause I'm bloody knackered.

#oneaday Day 596: Back in the Saddle

(As an aside, I heard the song "Back in the Saddle Again" the other day for the first time and I thought it was incredibly dull. This means nothing to the following blog post, I just thought I'd share it.)

In the next few days/weeks/months I will be resuming some sort of fitness plan. I went out and investigated local gyms the other day — there are two nearby, one of which has a slightly inferior gym but also has a swimming pool, jacuzzi and sauna, while the other has a much larger, superior gym and a significantly more "hardcore" attitude, from the looks of things.

Hopefully after payday Andie and I will be joining one of the two (likely the former, as we both like swimming) and torturing ourselves into something resembling shape. Or at least slightly more fit. We shall see.

In the meantime, I found a cheap copy of EA Sports Active 2 for PS3 on Amazon, so I snapped it up while I had the chance. The original for Wii was very good (though I must confess to never having finished the "30 day challenge" mode) but slightly marred by a resistance band which offered very little in the way of resistance and a leg strap which repeatedly fell off. Having a Nunchuk and Wii Remote wired around your hands while faffing around with the resistance band was a bit of a pain, too. The PS3 version comes with its own arm and leg bands that can't get tangled up in anything — apparently the leg strap is still a little prone to slipping off but I can live with that — and also doesn't require any additional hardware, unlike the Xbox version, which requires Kinect.

I enjoy exercising with games and have done ever since EyeToy Kinetic brought the idea to my attention. EyeToy Kinetic wasn't perfect by any means — though this was more down to the limitations of EyeToy than anything else — but it was proof that video games can get you up off the couch and moving around. That's not to say (as some people assume) that all games must get you up off the couch and moving around. But if a few can, that's good for everyone, surely.

Wii Fit was similarly good, though disappointingly lacking in structure and challenge — before I came across the first EA Sports Active title I took to doing the 30 minute stepping programme with my own music on (a combination of Space Channel 5 and Persona if I remember correctly) in order to up the challenge factor a bit. The muscle exercises were good but without the game forcing you to do specific ones it was easy to fall into the habit of avoiding the "painful" ones and doing the "easy" ones all the time. EA Sports Active, on the other hand, puts together a programme for you each day and you follow it. Sure, you can build your own to avoid the difficult ones again, but since the structure is there in the first place you feel more inclined to follow it.

I'm looking forward to trying it, anyway. It should be here in the next couple of days, and then I can support any work I do at the gym with EA Sports Active days. If the pre-made programmes work anything like the original, there'll be "rest" days which I fully intend on using the gym on so the two things will hopefully complement each other nicely.

We'll see. Good intentions and all that.

#oneaday Day 589: Further Enthusing Regarding Xenoblade Chronicles

Xenoblade Chronicles is the reason you kept your Wii and didn't play with it for months. Xenoblade Chronicles is the game Final Fantasy XII fans wished Final Fantasy XIII was. And Xenoblade Chronicles is, I feel, shaping up to be a strong contender for Game of the Year.

Why is it so good, though? Perhaps it's the fact that you're straight into open world adventuring from the very beginning. Perhaps it's the fact that exploration is rewarded with fast travel landmarks, collectibles and unique named monsters to defeat. Perhaps it's the fact that the combat system is an excellent evolution of that seen in Final Fantasy XII, offering an excellent balance between having to quickly respond to incoming threats, manage aggro like in an MMO and trigger positional abilities for maximum effect. Perhaps it's the fact that the in-game Achievement system, which rewards specific accomplishments with XP and other quest-like rewards carries some sort of in-game worth to it rather than simply online bragging rights. Or perhaps it's all of the above.

I'm aware I'm gushing somewhat but, you know, it really is that good. So far (10 hours in) there's been a healthy mix of tooling around killing shit in the open world; hunting down collectibles; hunting specific named monsters; solving interpersonal dilemmas in town — often with several solutions; and, of course, appropriately JRPGish melodrama. What would a JRPG be without it?

Fortunately, though, the plot so far has been interesting and well paced, though it suffers from that perennial RPG problem of "characters say 'hey! Let's move on!', player hangs around for 5 hours collecting bugs and lettuces" though when there's as much to do as there is here, it's worth exploring every nook and cranny. All the sidequests are optional, of course, and if I'd ignored them I'd have probably progressed a lot further through the story by now. But part of the attraction of Xenoblade is its world and its characters, and by allowing you a brief snapshot into the lives of these people going about their business you develop the sense that this is a well-realised game world that is worth exploring and far more than just a pretty backdrop to kill rabbits in.

So if you have a Wii and the means to play Xenoblade, I'd encourage you to do so right now. Deus Ex may be the high profile hotness right now, but Xenoblade will offer you an altogether different — and far less orange — experience.

#oneaday Day 581: Deluge

There are so many awesome games coming out in the next few months that it is nigh on impossible to know where to start — especially when there's a backlog sitting there mocking me, too.

For starters, the long-awaited Deus Ex: Human Revolution is out this week, and reviews have apparently been very positive. I'm pointedly ignoring them, though, as I find myself doing increasingly these days — I much prefer making my own mind up without having someone else's opinion ringing in my ears when I do so. When I do this, I often find myself enjoying games that others might find not so good, and vice versa. It's healthy to have an opinion that differs from others — particularly if you've developed it yourself.

But anyway; Deus Ex is one game that is very interesting. Xenoblade Chronicles is also very very interesting — for starters, it's the first Wii game in forever that everyone has been excited about, and it also sounds like an awesome RPG.

Further down the road, there's TrackMania 2, version 2.0 of The Witcher 2, Guild Wars 2 and all manner of other stuff. Having seen Guild Wars 2 in action at Gamescom, that looks like a game that could very easily put everything else on hold by virtue of its awesomeness and multiplayerness. I enjoyed the first games a lot (though I never beat any of their campaigns) and appreciated the fact that it was an MMO with high production values that you didn't have to pay money into every month.

Then there's the various HD remakes inbound — the Ico and Shadow of the Colossus collection and the Metal Gear package of particular interest — that make me want to revisit these titles. And Assassin's Creed: Revelations, which makes me want to catch up on the rest of that series right now.

This isn't even getting started on the excellent free to play games that are on the way — Star Trek: Infinite Space looking particularly excellent, and Perfect World's Rusty Hearts, which I've already been playing the beta for.

It is both a great and a terrible time to be a gamer. Great for the sheer amount of choice, and terrible for the sheer amount of choice. At some point you have to shrug and admit to yourself that some titles are going to be sitting on that backlog for a long time to come yet — and some you might never get to at all.