Original Link: https://www.anandtech.com/show/3058

I gamed

by Anand Lal Shimpi on March 29, 2004 11:24 PM EST


Back in early high school, just about every weekend a bunch of us (usually around 6 - 8 people) would head out to catch a movie or two. I saw entirely too many bad movies during those years (Sphere, Blues Brothers 2000, Soldier - actually walked out of that one after around 15 minutes - just to name a few) but usually after the movie(s) a smaller group of us would end up building a few systems and gaming for the rest of the night. We played anything and everything that had multiplayer capabilities: SiN, Soldier of Fortune and of course the usual suspects - Quake 3, Counterstrike, etc...

College came around, AT grew tremendously and life just got busier so it's actually been years since I've been able to have a good, solid day of gaming. This past Saturday three of us got together and relived the high school days of all day gaming. For the most part we tag teamed going through Ninja Gaiden, which is an extremely difficult game. It's not difficult in the sense that it's complicated or full of mind boggling puzzles, it's difficult in the sense that old NES games were difficult - limited save points (thankfully more than none), annoyingly powerful bosses and enemies with ever increasing difficulties. It's quite refreshing to play a game like that actually and honestly my only complaint about the game is that the camera angles are some of the worst I've ever seen in a 3rd person 3D game.

We played a bit of Far Cry, which I will admit was the first time I'd touched the game (this semester has been a busy one). Far Cry's graphics are pretty nice, but I have become rather desensitized to "impressive" graphics in most games after having seen endless technology demos showcasing ATI and NVIDIA architectures over the years. Even Doom 3's graphics don't impress me that much, although the physics engine does continue to amaze me. Before I move on from Far Cry, the only issue I had with the game was that I'm not a big fan of the "realistic moving speed" which basically translates into "you walk very slowly." I'm all for realistic graphics and relative realism, but please don't take away my always run :) (and yes I know about the sprinting mode)

The new Splinter Cell game was fun, simply because of the unique multiplayer concept. It's sort of the new age cops and robbers - spies and mercenaries. What can you expect from a generation that grew up with heros like Bond? :)

The rest of the weekend was mostly spent working, this semester is coming to an end very quickly and the work is piling up. I'm hanging in there driven by the thought that by May 11th I will have taken my last exam. Being able to focus exclusively on growing AT will be great; there hasn't been a single year of AT's existence where I haven't been in school so this will be a very welcome change. I miss writing a lot, and although this blog has kept me somewhat satisfied I still miss sitting in front of a keyboard and typing away at an article for 6 hours. We all have our weird kicks, no?

I've gotta get back to studying for an exam that I'm completely unprepared for; don't worry, I'll rant about education some more this week :)

Take care

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