Nutty about games!

After being an avid gamer since I was around 8 years old, I am finally bored of gaming. Nerd rant alert!

I have no interest in any of the many games sitting on our shelves, no games that are out at the moment appeal, and no future games excite me. Nothing. Not the imminent arrival of Fable 2 and Fallout 3. Nor the announcement of Diablo 3 and a new Star Wars MMO based on Knights of the Old Republic. Not even Warhammer Online (which I had been playing rather a lot of), or Wrath of the Lich King for wow which is due out in a couple of weeks.

I can’t be arsed any more. Games aren’t what they used to be.

I don’t think I am alone in this - just the other day my sister messaged me as she just couldn’t find a game worth playing. Modern games suck.

Nothing can compare to the decade or so that produced masterpieces such as Unreal, Diablo 2, Deus Ex, Planescape Torment, Baldurs Gate 2, the Thief series, and many more. More recently, Divine Divinity and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic were absolute corkers.  How can I forget true oldies such as Duke Nukem and Doom too, just awesome fun, and such replayability!

Innovation and originality is seriously lacking in games these days, and the sterility of the Xbox port doesn’t help matters. I was seriously pissed off and disappointed with the Deus Ex followup - what a joke that was. The storyline sucked, it was very linear, bugged to death, and you felt like you were playing in a cardboard box (thanks to the game being created for the Xbox). Thief 3 wasn’t much better. I did enjoy Mass Effect and Bioshock but I never did complete the latter.

I always completed my old faves. Many times over in some cases. I completed Deus Ex some 15+ times before it got a little tedious, and I have completed Thief 3 at least 10 times on Expert mode. Fabulous game! But then, I have just played it too many times now, I need something completely new.

I think partly it may be because games simply are too realistic, which leaves no scope for the imagination. I am a game nerd and freely admit it. Back when I was playing on the Acorn Electron and Spectrum, I would daydream about games of the future being more realistic. I never imagined it would happen for real. After we got our first P100 PC and discovered the joys of Doom and Heretic, I asked my Dad if one day processors would get faster and he said no, they could never possibly cool anything near a gigabyte. Now look what has happened!

When I played Elite, I would daydream about actually being in the game for real. The same with Unreal and Thief. They kickstarted my (often wild and frequently completely bizarre) imagination. Not one modern game has managed that. I know I am older now and have more to think about and I am more often than not simply too tired or harrassed to daydream, but my imagination remains unchanged!

Another gripe is that many of them look the same. The graphics are similar, because they are made for the same platform ( we all know which that is, grr), there are no large landscapes like in Deus Ex and true non-linear games are no longer in existence. I imagine Diablo 3 will be like living in a box/dungeon/sewer, with crappy console-ported controls, a linear storyline without much deviation, and it will look exactly the same as the dozens of other games that come out at the same time.

Finally, maybe - just maybe - it’s the fact that I can no longer sit gaming all night long whilst chain smoking and drinking huge amounts of alcohol! I have kids to care for and a man who won’t get up to them, I don’t smoke any more because I’m scared of cancer and smelling like an old dog-end, and I am drunk off 2 small glasses of wine these days! Hmm…

Anyway, rant over. Honest. I’m tired now and it’s not 9pm yet!

But PLEASE make some decent games, dammit!

Well, perhaps a  little fib there. Ok, so maybe it’s quite a big lie!

In actual fact I admit that this stupid game has yet again got me in its grasp! So much in fact, that I am thinking of joining a raiding guild. Yes, me, raiding! I think I will need a good supply of valium to do this though, seeing as I am so scared of anything involving the slightest chance of messing up and being thoroughly embarrassed!

I am thoroughly enjoying playing, and if I could I would spend every waking moment ingame, which is not a good thing.  Anyway, I have decided to hit a goal of reaching exalted with the Shattered Sun faction (I only just started doing those quests), then I will use up all the rested xp on my two alts. After that I am going to spend my time writing/reading and playing other games until I hit maximum rested on my alts, then rinse and repeat, etc. 

You see, this morning I got such a fantastic response to some writing I did (for children) that I’m going to give it one last try.  I have absolutely no confidence in anything I do any more, and it puts me off doing them. From WoW raiding, to writing, to studying - if I think I am going to waste time and make a fool of myself, I give up. Comes from being isolated for far too long I guess (having a man who sits at his Mac 24/7 doesn’t help matters). I have planned to go out at the end of May to a Burlesque evening, as it’s something I would like to try myself, but as I haven’t been out for years really I am worried I will make a fool of myself - drink too much, come dressed wrong, get ID’d as usual and forget my passport, seem like a boring old fart who normally sits indoors playing WoW or watching her other half play WoW.

Paranoid or perfectionist? I’d like to think the latter but these days I am not so sure!

Steve quit his guild last night and joined another pretty much out of the blue, so I had to leave the guild myself pronto before getting the boot. I joined a ’social guild’ and if you are a WoW player you will know what that means! Let’s say it is just a temporary thing! I would need to find a guild which doesn’t raid too early, so I can get the kids to bed first; I might be hunting around for a while yet!

On another note, we went to see Nicholas’s school today and loved it! Just as well as I had already accepted a place! Long story, maybe ask me about it some time

Better go and prepare our delicious feast of…soup and bread! Er, yes…

As it is nearing the 10th anniversary of the death of my gaming Grandma, Dorothy ‘Dot’ Beesley, I have decided a little retrogaming is in order in her memory.

Grandma loved her games, and was a big fan of the ZX Spectrum from the late 80s right up until her death. She even got the Spectrum before us, and once I had seen the games she could play I was hooked!

We never ran out of games because Grandma would copy them for us, and we would never get stuck on a game for long with her countless gaming tips, and ‘pokes’ (cheats) when it all got too difficult!

I feel sad that she could not stay with us for longer as I am sure she would have loved the games of today, and also been an avid fan of the internet, especially enjoying sites like YouTube. I think she would have played an MMORPG with me for sure! Who knows, maybe Battlefield 2142 would have been her cup of tea!

Anyway, more about the games.

 Dizzy Series


Dizzy was one of my fave games ever, and I never managed to finish the early ones - but I believe Grandma finished them all! I remember her talking a lot about Treasure Island Dizzy and I believe she found every last coin too. So, first order of the day is a proper go at a number of episodes from the Dizzy series - although these days I am glad there is a save function as I don’t have the patience to complete them without it!

Slightly Magic


I loved this game but every time I got near to the end I would die horribly. I used to cry and scream at the damn annoying thing! It was a very short game but you had one life, and if you made a single mistake that was it, game over. Cue Grandma to the rescue! Although I wanted to complete this one legitimately it wasn’t to be, so Grandma found me a poke and I got to see the ending. Hooray Grandma!

Bubble Bobble and Bubble Dizzy


I have to admit that after 20 years or so I can no longer remember which of these Grandma played or liked the best, but I suspect it was both. I never got into it either of them, but I am going to have a go anyway.

Chuckie Egg


Oh, what a game, I loved it! I never did finish it but I got pretty close; not bad for a kid sharing with an obsessed Dad and younger sister!

Werewolves of London


Looking back at this game I see it wasn’t actually all that exciting. I only think I enjoyed it because you could eat people! I think they should make a modern game with a werewolf going round biting people’s head off - it would be awesome!

There are more that she used to play such as Repton and Saracen, but I will stick to these few. I don’t know how long my limited attention span can cope with such classics…