The Weekend Warrior and Videogame Shows

A lot of my fellow developers in my shop are also avid gamers themselves, and we often will have daily chats about what we've been playing. Aside from the mega-releases, we're rarely playing the same thing at the same time, but have often played the same games, regardless.

In talking to one of my buddies here, who is finally in the process of busting his Mass Effect cherry, it's been interesting to a) keep track of his experience in the game, and what he thinks of it, as well as b) to understand how he games.

Like a lot of us here, he has young children, so his gaming time is usually 4AM-5AM, and then maybe a little at night. He finds that if he plays the same game for more than two hours, he starts to fatigue of that game.

I found this very interesting. I have a very difficult time gaming during the week now, so I might squeeze in an hour each day, if I really try to make it happen, but I'll binge like mad on the weekends. I have a hard time really getting into a game unless I play it for a couple hours or more at a time. It takes a while for me to 'immerse.'

I think this spreads out more once summer hits, since I like to be outside on the weekends, and my wife and I watch fewer shows in the evenings during the summer, so I'll get in some game time instead.

Also, there are some games she likes to watch me play, ie Uncharted. I think I may try that with the Walking Dead show. We'll see.

The Videogame Show
I miss the old X-Play and I miss the 1UP Show. I've written about this before, but I finally found something that comes somewhat close (closer to X-Play, not the excellent 1UP Show.)

GameSpot now has a show every Tuesday called The Lobby.

I watched the première episode this week, and really liked it. It reminded me of a blend of X-Play and GameSpot's E3 coverage. It's usually two editors talking, and then they'll bring in other editors to talk about new releases or other topics. It's good stuff. This past week, they talked about GDC 2014, Thief, and a range of other topics. I like the direction that GameSpot is going with their video content.

That being said, I still miss the 1UP Show, and would love to find something that approximates that format. Does anyone out there have a game-centric show that they absolutely love?

Weekend Gaming ... Almost Here
Tomorrow at noon start both the latest ESO beta, AND, more importantly, the first Cardinals Spring Training game of the preseason. It's gonna be some good times tomorrow.

I'd also like to spend some quality time with Thief and find out if I just suck at the game, or if its controls are as wonky as I think they might be.

I also still have some story content I want to wrap up in SWTOR before I cancel it in August, so I may jump in on that if I get fatigued at all in ESO. We'll see.

And of course, there's always Morrowind, which I'm loving in more now that I've got the MGSO mod in there. One thing I'm going to do in ESO this weekend is see if I can get to Morrowind, and do some comparison. Otherwise, I'll just tromp around Skyrim and Cyrodil, and do some comparisons there. Yeah, I'm a nerd, but I'm a happy nerd.

Oh, and this is interesting. An explanation on ESO's 'M' rating.

So. What are you playing this weekend?

Either way, enjoy yourself, and thanks for reading!

-Blaine