Edward's July 2012 Mix
It's been an unusually hot summer. And how best to avoid the simmering sun by staying inside? I did manage to finish Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 3. Wow, what a cliffhanging ending!! Captain Picard, a Borg? I finished reading Michael Chricton's first novel, The Andromeda Strain. Great book, and despite being published in the early 1970's not nearly as dated as you might think. Okay, without further ado, this is what I've been into this month.
1. Northern Exposure: The Second Season on DVD
I wasn't an avid fan of this back when it originally aired back in the mid nineties. Goodness, did I miss out. I adore this show. The writing exudes profundity, and the slightly quirky characters remind me of when I was a kid and thinking The Robinson family of Lost in Space literally lived in the television set. This show affects me in that same strange way. Each episode I get to peer in on the character's lives and their idiosyncrasies. I'm so intrigued I can't help but to quietly root for them. Chris's observations he so wisely puts into words as he dj's at the radio station is the icing on the cake.
2. PC Gamer Magazine 2006
Reading through my back issues of this grand magazine I'm now in the midst of 2006. The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion and Company of Heroes. These two games alone defined great gaming in the year 2006. I still play these games today. I have yet to finish Oblivion. And Company of Heroes will always reside on my hard drive. I've said it before, I think it's the best RTS ever made. Bar none.
3. Never Winter Nights on PC
I'm still weaving my way through this game. I'm at the tail end of Chapter 2 and my stately paladin, Edward Dogooder, is doing just that. Saving damsels in distress, defeating evil and lining his pockets with gold along the way. He's delivered the cure to the plague that was the scourge of the land, and has become a local hero of sorts. 45 hours and at level 11, I still have far to go.
4. Need for Speed: Carbon on PC
Occasionally I get an itch for simulated car racing. The last NFS speed game I played (NFS: Most Wanted) took me 130 hours to beat and, well, actually, I didn't beat it. I mean, I beat all the street racers, working my way up the ladder to the final boss. But then there was an APB put out on me in the final cut scene and when the AI turned the car back over to me I had twenty plus po-pos on my tail and despite numerous attempts to thwart them I couldn't do it. So, I didn't beat the game. It beat me. Oh well, I got to watch the final scene on Youtube, and now I've started the sequel. So far it feels considerably easier than Most Wanted was, but I know the AI in these games can ramp up rather quickly. Still, it feels good to be back in the saddle again, amongst the tricked out cars and some hilarious cheesy blue screen actors, and of course, the beautiful babe who's my flippant sidekick and always leaves me wondering if she's really on my side.
5. The Bottoms by Joe Landsdale
Joe Landsdale is a good ol' boy southern writer from the great state of Texas. I've followed his writing since the late 1980's. He's one of the more underrated writers who's entertained me like no other. This novel concerns a boy and his sister during the Great Depression that discover a dead body in the creek near their house and the ramifications this find has on their small community. One reviewer said this novel was like "an X rated Andy Griffith episode." I'm not that far into it, but so far I can see it's going to be a humdinger of a novel, no doubt.
6. F.E.A.R. 2:Project Origin on PC
Regarded to be not nearly as frightening as the first one, I wholly beg to differ. The original F.E.A.R. had awkward music queues and a tell tale grind of the hard disk drive as it loaded components of the game into RAM, so you always knew when the crap was about to hit the fan. The sequel offers no such advantage. This is the best horror game I've played in a long time, with some of the best jump out of my seat moments since Dead Space. The script is as convoluted as the first game, but it's not a big deal. You'll spend far more time trying to shake the lead feeling of dread encompassing you than worrying about the plot line.
7. The Annual Summer Sale on Steam
If, as a pc gamer you're not familiar with Steam I must ask you from which cave did you emerge or from which rock have you been living under for the past seven years? Steam is having a hellacious sale and I've already purchased 3 games with no let up in sight. It's a miracle if this sale doesn't bankrupt me, seriously. Prices are low, and they allow user members to vote on select titles to offer at even lower prices. This is Black Friday in July. If you don't check this out then the bottom line is simply this: you are NOT a gamer.
8. Magic: The Gathering on pc and the collectible card game
I've been playing quite a bit of Duel of the Planeswalkers 2012 on my PC. And this has led to a blessed reuinion with my old Magic buddies (these are the guys who taught me to play way back in 1995.) It's great to be playing again after a many year long haitus. It's frustrating that my old cards get steamrolled by the modern decks, but then it's great to hear such comments as, "Dude, do you know how much that card is going for that you have?" Heh. Good times.
