Back to life, back to reality

It’s not everyday I get to slip a Soul II Soul reference in there, right?

At any rate, my holiday vacation is now unfortunately at an end.  And what a 2 weeks it was.  Lots of time with friends and family, including some great gaming experiences.  It’s back to real life for me – time to get back in the groove of the job and to try and get over my impending WAR withdrawal.  Over the past couple weeks, I’ve made a significant amount of progress on my Archmage main (now at level 35.5) as well as my Bright Wizard alt (lvl 13).  Lots of surprisingly good T4 questing along with a decent amount of ORvR.  As I mentioned earlier, I picked up my first warded gear (3 parts of the Annihilator set), and once I hit level 36/RR33 I’ll be able to actually wear it.  I also managed to get two real-life friends hooked on WAR, which has only deepened my enjoyment and fed my desire to play.

Along with a pretty absurd amount of WAR time, I got to dive in to Left 4 Dead and blast some zombies, which was incredibly fun.  It’s definitely a nice change of pace coming from an MMO to a frantic co-op shooter.  I also did a bit of Red Alert 3 online, but I think I’m to the point now where I’m just getting owned all the time and it’s not fun anymore.  I’ll probably give that one a rest until I can recruit some friends to join me to finish the campaign.  Rock Band 2 was a hit with the family, as usual, and my wife found out she’s a pretty good drummer.  And I saw just the tip of the iceberg on what promises to be a nice little JRPG in Lost Odyssey – I just hope I can give it the time it appears to deserve.

All in all, it was one of the more relaxing vacations I’ve had in years.  Although my pace in WAR will undoubtedly slow down now that I’m back at work, I’ve gotten a good chunk of the 30′s out of the way.  I think I’ll be able to relax through the last 4 levels without putting too much pressure on myself (especially if they keep that XP bonus – HINT).  I’m going to try and spread my gaming time between a variety of games, with WAR always being at the forefront.  I can honestly say I’m having a great time with Warhammer right now, and I think the future looks very bright as I march on to 40.

Happy New Year!/Rock Band is a wondrous invention

I sit at my computer, two hours into 2009.  My wife and I continued our boycott of New Year’s festivities this year and instead decided to go to an early movie, grab dinner, then hang out at home.  Hanging out turned into a Rock Band duo play session, or “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve”, as Dick Clark might call it.

That’s not all that notable unless you know my wife, who barely tolerates my gaming habit and will generally not go near a video game.  But she loves Rock Band.  As I sit here, I hear her banging away on the drums in the next room to Nirvana’s “Drain You”, a song I can’t imagine she’s a fan of.  This is why Rock Band and games like it are so great.  We have wiled away many an hour with her on drums or singing and me  doing a variety of rock functions.   It’s a bonding experience between us over what is essentially my hobby.  It’s especially funny considering how pissed she was last year when I told her I had bought a set of plastic drums that was going int he basement!

Speaking of pissed, after I failed “Joker and the Thief” for about the 5th time, we came up with a New Year’s resolution for me – stop getting so upset at video games.  Seriously, it’s dumb, but I do it all the time.  So that’s my project for next year this year.

So here’s wishing you and yours the best in the new year, and keep reading my blog if you’re so inclined.  I’m going to try to keep a relatively consistent update schedule with a variety of content.  I appreciate any and all feedback.