Unfortunately, I haven’t played enough new content for a new post, but I’ve been playing enough games to do a thoughts post. The simple fact of the matter is, I’m addicted to Modern Warfare 3 (50 hours and counting). The real question is, can anything change that?

Modern Warfare 3 – Still Fun
I’m about halfway through my first prestige, and I’m tempted to prestige twice for the first time ever in a COD game. In fact, I’d only prestiged in one game before this (MW2). For some reason, progress feels faster in Modern Warfare 3. Like espion4ge, I’ve gotten a really good feel for the maps (except Downturn which I’ve literally only played 6 times). I’ve also been experimenting with different perks. Recon pro definitely is good, although I still prefer not to be blown up by predator missiles (Blind Eye).

I haven’t really gotten into Special Ops at all, and single player was interesting but not as good as the first two. I just felt like the game tried to do too much, going into too many countries. I could have lived without that. Overall, I’ve definitely gotten my $60 worth out of this game – I’ve completely given up on Uncharted 3 and have to force myself to play Peace Walker. I’m even ignoring my favorite TV shows. Will the madness stop?

Battlefield 3 – A Contender?
I really enjoy the Battlefield series, especially the squad system. I remember when everyone was playing the original Modern Warfare, I liked to take breaks and play BFBC with espion4ge and another friend and I couldn’t convince ANYBODY else to buy it. Well, Battlefield 3 went on sale a few days ago and I picked it up to play with loyal reader Largelobster.

I played a game or two, but I haven’t played enough to really comment on the gameplay. It looks and sounds amazing, and at least at first glance it feels a bit more realistic. What have I been able to conclude with my brief time with the game? ORIGIN SUCKS. It is like a incredibly poor version of Steam, and I hate, hate, HATE that I need to use the web portal to boot up BF3. Worse, there are just some stupid design decisions like you have to be alive to change the settings in the game. Why!? WHY!? It’s a good thing the game looks and sounds so awesome, otherwise I’d probably just swear it off altogether. Largelobster and I are going to try to alternate between BF and MW – we’ll see if it sticks.

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker – A Change of Pace
I’ve been playing MGS for a change of pace from time to time. It’s a really fun game, and I can see why it reviewed so well. My only problem with the game is the length of the cutscenes. I don’t mind the length on their own – I mind that I can’t pause it! I got chewed out by Mrs. cmfl3x because we left for something late because of an overdone cut scene. Let me pause, game! It’s simple! That’s what the start button was created for!

Peace Walker reminds me how much Hideo Kojima cracks me up. Why, thank you for the cultural lessons about Costa Rica and banana farms! It’s completely unnecessary, but I love how Kojima deems that kind of stuff important enough to put in the game. Only Kojima can balance an over the top military story with fun facts. Thanks, dude!

Skyrim – Want
There are rumors that Skyrim is going on sale next week. I WANT. That is all. There are dragons to be killed!

Metal Gear Solid has long been one of my favorite series (although only espion4ge has the right to say it gave him a gamertag!). I still remember watching my friend play through the entire Tanker chapter of MGS2 without even having a memory card to save on. When the new Metal Gear Solid HD Collection was released, I saw and seized the opportunity to own two of my favorite games of all time and a third game (Peace Walker) that I had never played.

Tactical Espionage Action
I played some of each of the three games included in the collection: MGS2 (Sons of Liberty), MGS3 (Snake Eater), and Peace Walker. The first thing I noted is how foreign the controls feel, especially in MGS2. It’s a bit jarring to see how far third person games have come since then (thank goodness!) Despite some quirky controls, the games still control fine, even on a Xbox controller.

For those unfamiliar with the series, Metal Gear Solid is a game based around “solo sneaking missions.” Most iterations have valued stealth over direct engagement which provides a unique experience. It’s still a lot of fun to sneak around and try not to alert guards, although it’s still as frustrating as ever to run away or fight guys when you get caught. Still, the action and gameplay is only half the experience which can be a good or bad thing depending on your perspective.

Where’s the Action?
The defining characteristic of the Metal Gear Solid series isn’t the action: it’s the sheer amount of dialogue and cut scenes you need to watch. You can literally be watching the screen for like 20 minutes at a time before you need to pick up the controller. I used to enjoy watching through all the cut scenes, but with my limited gaming times these days, it can be a little maddening to spend only half the time using the controller.

The cut scenes are pretty cool the first time around though. Hideo Kojima really can spin a good yarn and although at times the plot can be completely confusing, it’s never boring (not to me at least). My least favorite parts are codec conversations (or equivalent). It’s fun watching cut scenes, but watching two faces talk to each other for 10 minutes is decidedly less fun.

HD Action
The HD quality of the “HD Collection” seemed a bit of a mixed bag for me. MGS2 doesn’t look all that great – it definitely looks better but maybe my eyes are too used to real HD to appreciate it. I can’t really remember what it looked like on PS2. Snake Eater and Peace Walker look excellent, maybe because they looked better to begin with. The controls on those two games also feel much better and more modern.

The sound and music of these games is as excellent as ever. Metal Gear Solid has one of my favorite soundtracks of all time and these three games are no exception. It’s also nice that all the VR missions and added bonuses have been included so that I can try those out for the first time as well.

Parting Thoughts
I saw on some forum that Metal Gear Solid HD Collection is “the best deal in gaming since The Orange Box.” I think that may be true, with one caveat: you probably need to be a Metal Gear Solid fan to truly appreciate it. The amount of content you get for $50 (or $35 in my case) is astounding. Of course, a lot of that content you are required to watch as opposed to play, but hey who’s counting. You can always skip the cut scenes if you don’t want to watch them again!

Another Thanksgiving has passed, and from then through now we saw a ton of gaming deals. It’s through these past few weeks that I recognized another significant “leveling down” in my gaming life. While it may not seem like it based on how much I’ve been playing Modern Warfare 3, please allow me to explain! haha

Liquidation Strategy
cmfl3x recently posted an article about collecting video games like he does baseball cards. I found that I had been doing the same for the last several years. Very recently I came to the realization that with my time fleeting, I would most likely never go back and play older games in my video game collection. It was at this time that I decided to start selling as much of my collection that I could while I still got a decent value on them. Over the last month, I’ve sold 30+ games. If this were a year or two ago, I would have never dreamed of selling them, let alone selling games that I had never beaten or even played. But, with such little time, I finally realized that I needed to be realistic. If it’s not going to be as fun as Modern Warfare 3, why keep it?

So with that, I sold the following games to Amazon:
Alpha Protocol – $6.30 (never played but figured I never would get to it)
Batman: Arkham City – $36.45 (beat it and will never play again)
Borderlands Game of the Year – $12.15 (never opened but beat the original game)
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – $6.75 (beat it and will never play again
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – $15.50 (beat it and will never play again)
Dance Central – $19.75 (imported songs into Dance Central 2, so will never touch again)
Deadly Premonition – $6.05 (started but did not like)
Demon’s Souls – $9.45 (started it but it was too frustrating)
Fallout 3: GotY Edition – $13 (beat it and will never play again)
Grand Theft Auto IV: The Complete Edition – $16.20 (never opened but beat original & first expansion)
iNFAMOUS – $10 (started but did not like)
Left 4 Dead – $4.45 (beat it and will never play again)
Left 4 Dead 2 – $9.45 (beat it will never play again)
LittleBigPlanet GotY Edition – $9.00 (started but did not like)
Killzone 2 – $6.50 (beat it and will never play again)
Killzone 3 – $15 (beat it and will never play again)
Mass Effect – $8.45 (beat it and will never play again)
Mass Effect 2 – $8.80 (beat it and will never play again)
Mirror’s Edge – $4.80 (beat it and enjoyed it but won’t play again)
Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time – $10.45 (beat it and will never play again)
Resident Evil 5 – $9.45 (beat it and will never play again)
Resistance 2 – $6.50 (started but did not like)
Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution – $10.80 (never played but already have Civ 5 and haven’t even played that yet)
Soul Calibur IV – $5 (started it but did not like)
Tekken 6 – $8.10 (beat it and will never play again)
The Orange Box – $9 (beat it and will never play again)
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2 – $5.50 (beat it and will never play again)
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Conviction – $6 (never played but figured I never would)
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves – $7.50 (beat it and will never play again)
Valkyria Chronicles – $9.00 (beat it and will never play again)
Vanquish – $9.40 (beat it and will never play again)
Virtua Fighter 5 – $4.15 (beat it and will never play again)
Way of the Samurai 3 – $8.75 (never played but figured I never would)

In total, they netted out a little under $330 – so on average about $10 each in Amazon credit. While it sounds like a long list of games, I still have a ton more. Unfortunately, several of the games I have not sold I think are undervalued, so I’m not ready to trade in titles like Bayonetta and Ninja Gaiden II for $2-$3 each yet. And if they’re only giving me 25 cents for Guitar Hero 2 or 3, I might as well hold onto them. I’m also hoping titles like Portal 2 and Crysis 2 move up past their current $10 or so trade-in price.

The Short List
With several games already sold, I do still have a shortlist of titles I am keeping in case I ever have time to play them. These include:

Red Dead Redemption (campaign & Undead Nightmare)
Fallout: New Vegas
Enslaved: Odyssey to the West
Bioshock 2 (just for Minerva’s Den)

I’m not sure if I’ll ever get to any of them, but it’s nice that my “backlog” is a much shorter list now.

A Reduced Buying Strategy
In the past, when I had time, I would pretty much put every game that even slightly appealed to me in one way or another on my “To Buy” list. This would include all of the following games that have already been released:

Rayman Origins
Saints Row: The Third
Assassin’s Creed: Revelations
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary
Metal Gear Solid HD Collection
Battlefield 3
Dead Rising 2: Off the Record
Ace Combat Assault Horizon
Rage
Dark Souls
Dead Island
Deus Ex Human Revolution
Catherine
Shadows of the Damned
Tekken Hybrid
LittleBigPlanet 2
Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One
Ico and Shadow of the Colossus Collection
God of War: Origins Collection
Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten
No More Heroes: Heroes’ Paradise
Resistance 3
Infamous 2

Of course, with such little time now, I am able to actually contain myself from going out and buying all of them. Of the entire list, only 2 games stood out for me as titles I still want to pick up: Deus Ex Human Revolution & the Ico and Shadow of the Colossus Collection. I’ve yet to play either of them, and I think they are both unique enough and highly regarded enough that I still want to check them out. All of the others seem to be either remakes of titles I’ve already played, sequels to games I never actually played through in the first place, or simply sequels that do not sound interesting enough.

To be fair, Rage, Catherine, and Shadows of the Damned are all unique new games, but none of them appeal to me as much as they would have in the past. Rage got lackluster reviews, Catherine’s primary gameplay is puzzle-solving elements (not my cup of tea) and Shadows of the Damned doesn’t really have that level of presentation that I expect out of games these days. Of course, when you compare other games to games like Gears of War 3 and Modern Warfare 3, Japanese developed titles are not going to look so hot. But too bad! My time is too limited now so I just have to play the best stuff.

Thanksgiving Weekend Shopping (Or lack thereof)
Almost all of those games in the list above were on sale at some time during this past weekend. Titles like Metal Gear Solid HD Collection & Battlefield 3 for $30 seemed quite appealing, but I had to ask myself several times if I would ever actually play them. Eventually I came to the realization that I wouldn’t, so as good as the deals were, I didn’t buy them.

I was pretty stymied that I couldn’t buy any video game related stuff for Black Friday, so I ended up pouncing on a 4 GB Xbox 360 Slim w/ Kinect for $150 as part of an Amazon Lightning Deal. Hours after I bought it, I again wondered to myself, “Even though I bought this thing for half its retail price, what the heck am I going to do with a second Kinect?” So later that night, I contacted Amazon customer service and had them cancel the order. Instead, I found myself buying other non-game related things for Black Friday. Kind of sad that I’m more excited about the Dyson D25 vacuum we got for cheap this past weekend than anything else these days, but maybe that’s par for the course with my leveling down.

The Immediate Future
I figure going into the end of this year, there are really only two games that I want to keep playing into the new year: Modern Warfare 3 and Gears of War 3. I enjoy multiplayer for both games a lot, and with those two, I don’t know if I really need to be buying anything else. Of course, I have a couple other titles I want to beat and quickly sell while their value is high: Skyrim & Uncharted 3. Unfortunately, I find myself these days asking if I should play one of those single player games so I can sell them quickly or just keep playing Modern Warfare 3 since it’s the most fun. Every day is a struggle but we will see what happens. I’m already an Elite member, so I’ll be getting all the new DLC and playing Modern Warfare 3 for the long haul.

I want to slowly move towards having basically no games except for the newest multiplayer title or two that I play consistently. That’s quite a dramatic departure from my old hardcore mentality of “buy and collect everything that seems interesting, even if I never get around to playing them”. This fundamental change in my mindset of no longer wanting to “collect games” is certainly another breakthrough in leveling down, isn’t it?

When I was a kid, I used to enjoy collecting baseball cards. I don’t know what it is about collecting, but it is fun to have a collection of things you enjoy. Even though I’ve been leveling down, I keep buying more and more games! Are video games becoming my new baseball cards? Is that a bad thing?

Let’s start with what I’ve been interested in buying lately. I bought Gears of War 3, Uncharted 3 and Modern Warfare 3. In addition to that, I’d like to buy Skyrim, Halo: CE, maybe Battlefield 3, Batman: Arkham City, and the new Zelda. There is no way given my current schedule and the realities of life that I will get to finish all of those games before Christmas. I haven’t even touched Uncharted 3 since doing my impressions, and I think that game’s awesome!

So the question I pose to myself: should I get these games anyway? On the one hand, I don’t really want to waste money. On the other hand, I’d really like to add them to my collection – and I will play them eventually. Also, I’ve realized another thing: the excitement of getting a new game almost tops playing the game itself. Maybe I should just start getting these game’s as collector’s items and not as games? The reality is, a lot of the game’s I’ve been buying have just become collector’s items, because I haven’t been able to finish them.

The question I’ve been asking myself is – is that really a bad thing? Video games aren’t cheap, but people have far more expensive collection hobbies than video games. Also, I do derive pleasure from owning games, and playing them every once in awhile (I misplaced my Halo Reach disc and have been jonesing to play it!)

It’s not the greatest thing to spend money on things you don’t use too much, but I generally have been waiting for games to go on sale, so I’ve not been spending full price. I think as time continues, I’m going to move more towards being a collector of video games who plays the ones he really enjoys, and I think that’s okay. I enjoy my current gaming lifestyle, and would rather dedicate as much time as possible to Modern Warfare 3 while owning some games that I’ll play later. What can I say, I’m now a video game collector. That sure beat baseball cards!

Speaking of us getting old and not having time to play games anymore, I’m sitting here typing up this blog entry in the only spare time I have when I could be playing something! But, let’s change the subject and take a break from discussing how much less time cmfl3x and I have to play games nowadays. I’m going to talk about one of the only two games I plan to buy on launch day for the rest of this year: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. I know I’m getting it, but the questions is which version: the regular edition, or the Hardened edition that is $40 more, but comes with a year of “Call of Duty Elite” included in the package (which retails for $49.99 so it would be a $10 savings). Let’s see what the heck Call of Duty Elite even is and whether its selling points make it worth the purchase for someone like me – a major Modern Warfare fan, but also a very leveled down gamer…

MW3 Downloadable Content, Including All the MW3 Maps
The biggest selling point to me with the Call of Duty Elite subscription is the inclusion of DLC. Supposedly, there will be 20 pieces of new DLC released each month over 9 months such as multiplayer maps, Spec Ops, new missions, Game Modes, etc. And even after membership expires in the first year, you still get to keep the DLC. I’ve never bought DLC for Modern Warfare or Modern Warfare 2, but a ton of people did. The idea is interesting in that if some of these map packs already are going to retail for $15 or so, it may be nearly worth it to pay the extra $40 to bump up to the Hardened Edition just to get the Call of Duty Elite subscription for $40 instead of the normal $50.

Daily Competitive Program Guide
Apparently, there is a year-round competition calendar with prizes and digital trophies that can be earned for events, operations, clan operations, and official leagues. While this idea is slightly interesting to me, I don’t think I’m that good at the game where I would even consider this added value for the Elite subscription.

Exclusive Clan Benefits
Clan level benefits, Gold clan tag and exclusive emblems & cards? Blah. I guess if I were young enough to be serious at the game to want to be in a clan, maybe this would have some appeal. But as it stands now, no added value for me.

Dynamic Expert Strategies
Hours of pro video guides for every weapon & map and professional tactics & help? Actually, this actually does have some added value and appeal for me. Of course, Youtube videos are already free, and Microsoft already charges for “strategy videos” for certain games on the Marketplace, so this is sort of in-between. If the videos actually do help me get better, then I have no real complaints.

Join Premium Groups/Early Access/Premium Theater/Elite TV
Not much is really known about these things, but they seem pretty “social” to me and I don’t really find them to be worth my time. Premium Theater apparently allows users to store more video files, but I don’t think I ever even did that with Halo when it was free.

Call of Duty Elite Founder Status
If you pre-order the Hardened Edition, you not only get a year of Elite, but you get Founder status, which apparently grants you with a special Founder Weapon Camo, Player card, Emblem, Elite Profile Skin, and some other small things. None of these things really affect the game, so Founder status doesn’t seem that interesting to me.

Did I Make My Decision?
The short answer is not really. In evaluating all of these things included with the Elite subscription, it seems relatively worth it for about the $40 asking price of bumping up to the Hardened Edition just for the DLC alone. Yet I don’t usually ever buy DLC, so why would I start now? It’s also about deciding up front if the game is going to be good enough that I want to keep playing it over the next year or so. What if I spring for the Hardened Edition but the game ends up being bad? Oy. But I guess if I were to bet on it, I lean more towards picking up the Hardened Edition, just because the Elite membership is something new and relatively exciting. I gladly spent $100 for the Starcraft II Collector’s Edition, so why not spend $100 on one of the few gaming franchises I still love?

espion4ge stole my thunder a bit on Tuesday, but I have been leveling down a bit more of late as well. I’m not sure if it’s by choice though – I think I’m getting a little too old for this. How do I know? Let me count the ways.

You know you’re old when you start getting motion sick.
I’m notorious for getting car sick, but I’ve never gotten motion sick playing a video game before. Never until two weeks ago, that is. When I booted up Deus Ex and started playing, something felt weird. I couldn’t play for more than half an hour without feeling sick to my stomach. A friend recommended I change some settings, which helped a bit, but I still can’t really play that game for more than an hour.

I didn’t think much of it until I popped Gears of War 3 in last week. After playing through the first couple of chapters, I had a strange feeling in my stomach. I was feeling sick again! What’s wrong with me? Still, on its own, I figured getting a little motion sick wasn’t a sign of getting old. Until the next sign.

You know when you’re old when you don’t know what game is coming out this week.
The real scary thing is this: I didn’t even know Gears of War 3 was coming out. I only found out because espion4ge asked if I was going to get it. Then I started thinking about it – I have NO idea what’s coming out any given week. Now, maybe most people would think that’s just normal. But it’s been kind of a rude awakening for me.

The fact of the matter is, I used to know what game was coming out every single week. Not only that, but there would be a game I wanted every week. I have no idea when any of the big games are coming out this fall. I feel like a regular, non hardcore gamer. Or maybe I’m just old. And slow. Speaking of which…

You know you’re old when it takes you a week to get through the first chapter of a game
It took me one week to get through the first chapter of Deus Ex. It’s been over a week – I STILL haven’t finished the first chapter of Gears of War 3. In fact, I’ve had trouble finishing games in general lately. It’s not that I don’t enjoy the games, it’s just somehow I find things I’d rather do.

New TV show? I guess I can play later. Dog needs a walk? I guess I can play later. Sunday? Gonna watch some football. I finally have some free time to play! Oops, I took a nap instead. But the real kicker? The real sign that you’re old?

You know you’re old when your wife asks why you don’t play video games anymore.
Mrs. cmfl3x actually asked me this question. The conversation went something like this:

Mrs. cmfl3x – How come you don’t play video games anymore?
cmfl3x – What do you mean?
Mrs. cmfl3x – I can’t remember the last time I saw you playing a game.
cmfl3x – ………
Mrs. cmfl3x – Do you not like playing video games anymore?
cmfl3x – DON’T LOOK AT ME!!!! I’M HIDEOUS!!!!!!!!

I’m hideous! Who am I? What has happened to me??? I still like video games…or do I? Why do I find it so hard to sit down and play these days?

Unfortunately, I don’t have any answers to these rhetorical questions. And I still have games on pre-order – there are still a lot of games I want. I guess the fact of the matter is, games are truly just a hobby now. I hate to admit it, but I must be old now. Maybe I should get that Wii back.

It’s interesting to see how much I’ve leveled down in my gaming life over the last month or so. I thought that it’d be more gradual, but it is happening all at once like flipping a light switch. In the past, I loved playing practically any non-sports game that got decent word of mouth or reviews. And as a completionist, I wanted to play several of those games to their fullest potential, which meant getting all of the Achievements/Trophies associated with those games. But now, it’s crazy to see how much my gaming tastes have changed, my outlook on the industry, and my general disposition on gaming simply isn’t like it once was. Hit the jump to see what my kind of thoughts consume me now.

I think it is only natural as we grow older and gradually accept more responsibilities, our time for gaming decreases since that is really the only time bank that we can really subtract from in order to fulfill more important things. So as my gaming time continues to decrease, I find it somewhat startling to go through all of these changes. Even today I can see myself stopping gaming altogether for good, which is kind of crazy. But over the course of the last month, here are some things that have been on my mind:

Skip the Achievements & Trophies
As someone that has over 100,000 Gamerscore for my 360 profile, it’s a feat that I slowly moved towards throughout all of my gaming. If I had completed every game I played to get that score, that would have meant beating over 100 games on the 360 alone. But often times, in order to get all of those Achievements or Trophies for games, I’d have to replay the game multiple times, go hunting for various hidden collectibles, or follow guides to make sure wouldn’t miss Achievements as I played through a game. Today, with such limited time, I now say forget all of that. I don’t look at Achievements or Trophies for any games prior to playing them now, and simply just play them. One and done is how I feel, and whatever I miss, I don’t care. I used to think it was “cool” to be able to show off how many difficult games I have beaten, but now I feel like I’ve completely outgrown it.

Reduced Patience for Time Wasters or Mediocre Games
Any game that got pretty good word of mouth or decent reviews I would buy and add to my backlog. But nowadays I’ve tried starting up a few games and simply turned them off and said “Forget it”. I played Infamous on the PS3 for about 30 minutes and felt it was too slow, too much time wasted running around, and simply not for me. I tried starting Deadly Premonition on the 360, a “Twin Peaks” like game on the 360 with a cult following. I couldn’t stomach its terrible presentation and just had to stop playing. In my youth, I would play through games like these but today, I just don’t have the kind of time anymore to play “meh” games when better ones are out there and my time is so limited. Just give me the best games!

Lower difficulty is More Fun!
As I replay through the campaign modes of Gears of War 1 and Gears of War 2 to re-acclimate myself with the Gears storyline and world, it’s the most fun I’ve ever had playing through both campaigns. Why? Because this time around, I’m playing through both on Casual difficulty, and there is minimal frustration. Having beaten both games on Insane difficulty, I wanted to just enjoy playing the game for the game itself and Casual allowed me to do that. I was always annoyed that it took so long to kill enemies in the game with the assault rifle (a peeve that has contributed to my general “dislike” of games like Gears and Halo), but Casual allows enemies to drop a lot more quickly. I was surprised, and am now considering simply just playing through Gears 3 on Casual in the interest of time and reduced frustration.

The Guilt of Gaming When I Could Be Doing Something Productive
I start to actually feel some guilt now when I game. “Why aren’t I doing something that is more useful instead of just gaming?” I ask myself this a lot especially when I am on the subway and just playing my PSP every day. At least if I’m reading my intelligence will increase (or maybe I just want to get through the Game of Thrones books heh). Once I exhaust all of the titles I want to play on the DS and PSP, I’ll probably switch over to my e-reader full-time on my commute and read instead of game. Consequently, this means I doubt I’ll pick up either the 3DS or the Vita.

So Now What?
This Fall & Holiday season, it seems like there are a huge number of games coming out or have already released. But, with my limited time, my massive backlog (still need to get to Red Dead Redemption, Fallout: New Vegas, and Enslaved – among dozens of others), and near “indifference” about gaming these days, I’ll end up just buying two more games this season on their release dates: Modern Warfare 3 and Skyrim. Who knows if/when I’ll pick up other major releases from this year, but I guess part of me is fine with whatever happens since I don’t have the time anyway. Consequently, I may find myself having less to write about on the blog, so we’ll see if any further changes are in store at Leveling Down.

I didn’t really mean for this post to be a downer; I personally feel pretty great in general. I just think that I am outgrowing games a little bit, and instead of fighting it, am actually accepting it. I’m starting to believe that my leveling down from hardcore gamer to casual gamer is really on its way and there may not be many levels left until I hit 0, so stay tuned…

It’s been almost four years since the original Modern Warfare came out. For some reason, this past week I’ve been feeling nostalgic, so instead of opening up Deus Ex, I decided to play through the Modern Warfare campaign for the seventh or eighth time. I aim to play through both Modern Warfare titles before the release of the third and final installment, just to get some sort of grasp on the crazy storyline that is taking place. Playing through the game, I’m incredibly impressed about what a tight campaign Modern Warfare presents. Spoiler warnings by the way, but of course if you haven’t played this game yet……

It’s amazing to see the effect Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare has had on the gaming world over the past four years. Half the multiplayer suites out there have almost copied Call of Duty’s leveling system carte blanche. Even Halo took some pages out of Modern Warfare’s book.

I’ve been spending most of my time going back through the single player. It’s like hanging out with an old friend: a lot of the beats are the same and it’s a lot of fun. There are so many lines and moments from the game that bring back a lot of memories: “FNG.” “Oorah.” “Tango Down.” There are also so many amazing moments like when the nuke goes off, or when the president gets shot, or the AC-130.

The thing I like most about Modern Warfare is that the plot actually makes sense. A radical group of Arab terrorists start a war financed and backed by a radical Russian ultranationalist group. Unfortunately, the terrorists set off a nuclear bomb, killing many American soldiers in the war. To get revenge, a special S.A.S. unit seeks out the three men responsible and eliminates them all. It’s an excellent standalone story and a ton of fun to play through.

My question is – is the Activisioning of Infinity Ward ultimately going to ruin the franchise? Modern Warfare feels close to perfect. Modern Warfare 2 was still a lot of fun, but the story had started to go off the rails a bit. Is it just because things were getting old, or because the original creators were getting disillusioned with Activision. If the latter is the case, what does that mean for Modern Warfare 3?

My other question is, is the Modern Warfare series just getting too old and stale? My assumption is the multiplayer should still be good in the next iteration, but maybe I’ll be bored of it. There’s gotta be something new that keeps the franchise fresh.

Regardless, Modern Warfare is still awesome. If you haven’t played it for some reason, go check it out. It should be like $20 now. Go get it!

When the Wii hit the market in 2006, I really, really wanted one. I tried to line up, but failed, used the Wiiseeker to try to find shipments – failed. I finally managed to get my hands on one, although I don’t totally remember how. Five years later, I have finally said goodbye to my Wii (gave it to my parents). Unfortunately, I have far less pleasant memories with the Wii than I would have hoped.

The Good Times
It’s hard to think that five years ago, the Wii presented such promise and hope for gaming. I had visions of a future where games would be completely changed. Although it was originally meant for the Gamecube, the Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess seemed to hint at greater things to come. So too did Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. With the announcement of The Conduit, it seemed like hardcore gamers would get to play first person shooters in a whole new way on the Wii.

The casual games were also a lot of fun. I remember when people would gather to play Wii Sports – bowling, golf, tennis. Wii Sports Resort was also a lot of fun, and it was amusing to make fun of people playing Wii Fit as well. The Wii was also great as a family system; it represented the first and last time I ever played video games with my parents. The Wii was excellent in spurts, but unfortunately the lows left a bigger lasting impression than the highs.

The Bad Times
The innovative games on the Wii, like Zack and Wiki or other games that used the Wiimote in clever ways, had one problem. There weren’t enough of them. Every once in awhile, an amazing game would come along, but as the Wii got older and older, these titles became fewer and further between. Before I knew it, my Wii had become an incredibly expensive paperweight.

Worse, Nintendo completely missed the boat when it came to internet connectivity. I still remember what a pain it was to play Smash Brothers online with friends. Enough has been said about friend codes, but it really is incredibly ridiculous.

Worst of all, Nintendo forgot about what made it great – its fans. I don’t begrudge them making money, but they still could have thrown the hardcore fans a bone or two. Instead, it felt like games long time Nintendo fans wanted only came once a year or even once every two years. That just wasn’t right. In the last year, even when the Wii has had games I’ve been interested in, I haven’t bothered picking them up. Too little, too late.

Regrets?
My only tiny regret giving the Wii away is that the new Zelda comes out soon. Oh well. It’s not worth holding onto a system just to play one game or less a year. So, that’s it. I am no longer a Wii owner. I had all three systems for a short while, but I’m a two system guy once again. (Plus the PC!) I may regret it once a year, but unfortunately, the Wii has no place on my shelf anymore. So long, and thanks for keeping my papers from blowing away.

I’ve been super busy with work and life recently. I don’t think I’ve played a video game for five days straight or something! In the interim, I’ve been thinking about what games I’m anticipating for the fall season. Shockingly, I’m coming up zeroes! For every game I think of, I think of a bunch of reasons why I’m not excited. What’s wrong with me!?

Gears of War and Modern Warfare 3
The first games that came to mind when I was thinking about what was coming up this fall were the big sequels: Gears and MW3. I’m definitely excited about both franchises – the conclusion to the war with the Locust! The conclusion of the insane global conflict that makes absolutely no sense! Bromances! Chainsaws! Night vision goggles! Russians! The battle for AM3RICA!

I guess when it comes down to it, I know these will be solid games, but I also doubt they are going to wow me. I’ll definitely buy them and enjoy them – but I’d rather look forward to some new franchises. Or franchises that I’ve never experienced, like:

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
I never played Oblivion, but I hear it’s one of the best games ever. Supposedly, since I enjoyed Fallout 3 I will love Oblivion. I figured it’s probably too late for that though, but I am interested in Skyrim. The cool thing is, I have absolutely no idea what Elder Scrolls is about except that it’s an open world RPG. I’m excited to try a new franchise, although I do have some misgivings about investing another 100 hours of my life in a Bethesda RPG. Will I even be able to play the game to the end? Why not play something I know I’ll be into, like:

Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception
I’m definitely excited about this game because Uncharted is such a strong series. But even this franchise feels a little stale to me – the enemies are bullet magnets and sometimes the games feel too long. I also don’t like Elena Still, I really enjoy the Uncharted games and this will probably be the only PS3 game I’ll be picking up this fall. I am a little concerned about the title though – it doesn’t sound like the end of a trilogy. Are they going to keep milking this until it’s no fun anymore?

Are there any non-sequels worth looking forward to?
I guess my biggest problem with this fall, which I spoke about in my anticipated games earlier this year, is that everything I’m interested in is a sequel. There are a bunch of other sequels coming out: Arkham City, Zelda, ANOTHER Assassin’s Creed! It’s crazy. Maybe I’m just not in touch with games enough anymore, but I’m a little scared with the current situation. Am I only excited about sequels because I’ve become that kind of gamer? Am I…casual!?!?!? I guess we’ll find out. While I’m waiting for these games to come out, I’ll be playing through Deus Ex and maybe revisiting the Modern Warfares. If I ever find time to play!