My love hate relationship with video games has swung into resurrection phase again. Round about the very day that I posted the YouTube video of Journey’s Don’t Stop Believing, the same song became available for download to P-L-A-Y in Rock Band II. If that wasn’t a reason to dust off the drum sticks, I don’t know what is. Took me about four times through to learn and time the beat properly but now it’s one of our favorites to play for sure. And the kids have no problem following along because I only played the vid a billion times until we could all sing it in our sleep… take the midnight train going anywhere…

Must have been slipping into that mindset again that spawned the realization that console game developers probably don’t make more of their games cooperative because they assume we who enjoy playing in that style are completely immersed in MMOs. We hear lots of flowery promises and see very little results. Fable II was a particular disappointment. Rather than being a truly “we are playing together” experience, it was more like “I’ll come over and bring my character to run around your game for awhile while we hang out” mentality. It seems that 360 developers are forced into this very constricting corner because of the online component, but it’s their loss. We’ll just drool over the upcoming but yet to be announced release of Diablo III and not buy their silly games. And sorry, I stand corrected… there are games that are cooperative out there, but I’d like a few choices that don’t involve using a chainsaw as a weapon. Thank you very much.

In good news on this front, what I always wanted and hoped and wished for in Warcraft – high-heeled shoes! – has come true in the new Sacred II. Which incidentally is the only RPG game to make good on the promise of being co-op recently. We are trying it out. Again, I magically picked the mage character without knowing any of her abilities, but thankfully fireballs are fun and rarely go out of style. And her wall of fire dances out across the landscape in a satisfyingly wide semi-circle, destroying everything in its wake. My only complaint is that the game, so far, is too easy. We will probably have to bump up the difficulty. Destroying demons and like monsters is fun at the end of the day, but you’d like them to give up a little fight, no?

Whoa. I totally lost the high-heels part of that thought process. One of the characters in Sacred II – not mine *sad face* – runs about in high heeled boots or shoes the whole game! She looks super spiffy. Wait a minute. Why am I suddenly reminded of 1950s kitchen appliance commercials? No apron on this lady, but mopping in high heels would be right up her ally. I feel like such a shallow bimbo. And yet I’m still thrilled about high heels… on a girl… in a game. Please don’t tell my daughter.

On the opposite side of that thought, was anyone else deeply offended by the nurse in the new Star Trek movie wearing a super mini-skirt? I was. She was only on the screen for a split second and yes, she was in the background, but still! Ehura donning said fashion blunder is one thing. She sits at a desk translating alien languages and never moves, never needing to move! But are you seriously going to tell me that the nurses of the 22nd century save lives in white micro-minis?! Incredulous would be an understatement as a description of my emotions. And I have a strong incliantion to report them.

Share this post!

You may also be interested in these posts:

1. Lvl 70 Druid and still get an education? Yes ma’am, you can! I saw this ad last year...