That’s all my girlfriend hears from me whilst I’m playing the side-splittingly hilarious Team Fortress 2 as the flamethrower weilding pyromaniac. Along with a few profanities when I don’t get my way, of course. 

As the game approaches it’s first birthday it has millions of players, myself included, completely hooked. Here’s how I like to think it all came about (and my opinions on the game too):
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Crikey, whilst freeing up my homepage and beginning to use Google Reader, I clicked through to a World of Warcraft feed that it recommended to me (presumably based on my current news feed content or my eating habits over the past week or something similarly scary). I won’t link to it because the guy will probably trace it back and leave me abuse or something but here it is:

hmm.

Now, as a casual WoW player, I needed to post this as I feel it doesn’t represent the bulk of the game’s players or the enjoyment that goes with it. Yeah, I play a few hours of World of Warcraft with a couple of chums (of the real life kind) when I can, so I understand bits of that quote more than non-players, but even then it’s still largely gobbledegook. To us the game is about playing in a team, identifying each of our strengths and weaknesses and pulverising any enemy player that dares to cross our path in the vast expanse of the world (although we’re still pretty bad at that). But personally, I like the exploration side. I’ll sometimes travel through the game until the early hours discovering magical lakes within thick misty forests and dark haunted lands, or simply clambering to the top of the tallest mountain I can find just to dive off and probably miss the life-saving pool at the bottom, only to resurrect in a spooky graveyard miles away. When playing like this (solo-ing) I’m not aiming for high scores or to finish the game in the traditional gaming sense, the media has evolved since Pacman. I’m playing for the rich and inspiring experience, the laughs that go along with it and the social aspect of multiplayer gaming, not “re-gemming”, “power-levelling” and “boar-grinding”.

Oh, and dancing.

I’ve decided that there’s no way i could write about anything for long before referring to games so I may as well embrace it!

Some of you may not know that as a geek, I am so uber-tricked out that I don’t even need to find the latest gaming info any more… it comes to me. One day I will become the “go-to guy” for the real factual news about games. So much so that the developers themselves will have to come to me to learn how their own game is coming along. Oh yes, one day…

In the meantime, I’ll continue to offer up gaming titbits in my usual, excitable way but perhaps with a little more of my own opinion than in the past.

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If you crave for those days back in the arcade working hard to put your name at the top of the scoreboard then I have the perfect game for you. Trackmania isn’t a normal racing game, it’s a work of genius. It’s a game where milliseconds count, where decelerating in mid air is the only way to continue the race. At times it is silly but it’s brilliant for it, especially when played with friends. I planned to recommend Trackmania United as it’s half price (now $20) on Steam this weekend but what was I thinking? They have a completely free version available which, while cut down, contains all the wondrous gameplay found in United and oozes replayability. Video after the drop.

IT’S FREE!!! JUST DOWNLOAD IT. You can thank me later

http://www.trackmania.com/en/index.php?lang=en&rub=downloads_info&id=17

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