Over the weekend, I jumped whole hog into Star Wars: Battlefront. Not II or III, but the first.

I run a G4 PPC Mac (the last iteration of the eMac, actually), and my compuater gaming is severely limited. First, it's a Mac. Second, it's old, from a time when iPod minis were good idea and when Intel was a dirty word to Mac users. Third, I don't have Leopard. The good thing is the games are cheap and plentiful! (Wrong and wrong).

Every now and then, when I sick of the ugly Wii graphics, I'll search out an old Mac game that won't blow up my computer. The latest addition to my meagre computer game collection is Star Wars: Battlefront. As it is Battlefield inspired, multiplayer is the name of the game. However, I haven't even bothered to try it (let alone know whether there are any servers out there...)

I am not a huge FPS guy. The most recent FPS I've played is CoD4, and that was only the first few levels on my borther-in-law's Xbox. I played a couple on the Wii, (Metroid and MoH:H2), which were alright, but the free motion controls are not super satisfying. I prefer, and I have no intense experience to back this up, mouse and keyboard controls. They seem most natural.

Star Wars: Battlefront is serving a purpose for me that was never the intention, nor is the objective of most people who touch the game (or have touched, I doubt there are many who still take it in). I use it as a casual game. I jump into one of the maps, shoot some guys, drive some vehicles, whatever. I have no inclination to delve into the deep controls and I only marginally go for Control Points. I don't really understand the mechanics of spawning, or the differences in classes. Nor do I intend to. Right now, it's my casual game, where I can blow off steam between soothing my daughter, changing her diapers, or working on programs for my employer.

My point? Intense games requiring skill and experience, used for the power of good, are as good as Peggle.

What a ridiculous conclusion.

I mentioned in my last blog post how I was a long time 1upper, but joined giantbomb because I was displeased with how the site was going, how a bunch of the strong voices they had moved on, etc.

It seems joining Giant Bomb was well timed.

Of course everyone knows that Ziff sold the lot and fired nearly everyone. But scouring boards, blogs, and news feeds, the whole thing fails to make any sense. The entire review team got canned (Scott, Suttner, and Gallegos), while the entire preview team got through unscathed (Nguyen, Liang, and by proxy Leone). Everyone at Gamevideos got canned except David Ellis and Nelson Laut? They kept Sharkey and not Donahoe? Sam Kennedy stays, but Mielke and Simon Cox (the other two big-ish wigs) get pushed out? And they kept the community manager even though the community has revolted?

It just doesn't make a whole lot of sense. It's weird that 1up rests nearly all its mindshare clout on the podcasts... And yet everyone got canned, except the cast of 1up Yours (understandable, although Shane has gone, by his own accord) and... Retornauts... (Parish, Sharkey and Barnholt all made it).

Anyway, the whole thing looks to be under poor management (not to mention the questionable taste of ugo.com's editorial...), as well as a complete lack of resources to manage. I guess that's what happens when you can 40 people.

Hi. I was a long time 1upper, until back end changes, flips, and non-corrections made the site completely uninteresting to use.

I took a short hiatus from video games, with my last purchased and played game being Super Smash Bros Brawl for the Wii. After running through the byzantine collection of trophies and stickers, without anyone to play with (I was working a contract position in a town with a very small population), I realized the game was the opposite of fun without people to play with. And then I got a new job and then the wife got pregnant and then video games became irrelevant.

But as Christmas was coming around the corner, my interest piqued again. Not because of the new releases, as I only own a Wii and Power PC Mac, with exactly -2 new releases of interest between them. No, it was Christmas time, and it never seems like Christmas without video games to play. And with a whole bunch of Wii games that are actually good but never sold on the cheap, I figured it was time to cash in.

First of all, I got my hands on Super Mario Galaxy again. It was my sole "proper" Christmas gift from the wife. I had owned once and got about half way through the Luigi portion of the game when I traded it in. I was once a notorious game trader, cashing in former conquests for new booty, but after trading in Super Mario Galaxy (on Super Smash Bros, I believe), the will to live was sucked from me. After regretting the mistake for the better party of the year, past mistakes were righted by my 9 month pregnant wife. This is suprising in and of itself, as she doesn't approve of video games on principle. But after 9 months of running around to doctor's appotinments, getting the nursery ready, and talking about nothing but baby, I think she decided to give me the gift of man-boy-ness.

With my Christmas bucks, I made two purchases. First, Sam and Max Season One, which I am so very happy to see on the Wii. I loved Zack and Wiki, and hopefully this is as much fun. I haven't had time to sit down with it yet, but the minute I do (probably after my wife is recovering in the hospital and I have to stay at home outside visitor hours), I'm going to blast through a couple episodes.

Then I picked up NHL 2K9. Not particular happy about having to get it, mind you. I'm a huge EA NHL fan, and after all the great press two years running on the franchise, I was excited to sink my teeth in to it. But since a rocker chair and rent is more important than an Xbox, I had to make do with what the Wii gods offered. It's alright, mostly because I'm a huge hockey fan and it's great simply to play some hockey.

Either way, I'm playing games again, and that's a good thing. Up here in Newfoundland, we have a baby bonus and ongoing supplement monthly cheques, so I may have a little more cash floating around than I expect. So maybe I can go "next gen", or at least a TV so I can read the goddamned menus on NHL 2K9.