Recently in Great Stuff Category

I just finished Red Dead Redemption.

I played the game in spurts over about 6 months and it was clearly my game of the year for 2010 for two reasons: the experiences and the story.

I have never really like Rockstar games before. Bully was ok but got boring. GTA4 was not for me: I have no desire or fantasies about stealing cars or stip clubs or drug dealing. The final straw in that game was Internet dating and in-game email; Email is my real job not a video game.

On the other hand, RDR's look into the west and a glimpse of our own US history was fascinating and kept me coming back for more.

Experiences

Almost all games are either fantasy or science fiction with a few modern-day soldier stories here and there. A game set in the USA around 1900 makes for a unique and memorable experience.

I hear a growl. I turn around just as a cougar knocks me off my horse and mauls me. The sounds of nature in this game are everywhere and the land is alive with animals. Howling wolves, rattling snakes, snarling foxes, roaring bears, crying birds.

I am walking my horse through a light snow. His hoofs crunch on the ground as we climb an incline. I look out over a scenic valley landscape and savor the moment in the chill air.

I am following a narrow trail. We climb up out of the woods and I hear a rushing of water ahead. Soon we are walking along a running river, water droplets blur my vision. I want to go for a swim!

I am riding through the desert. I hear a coyote in the distance. The wind rustles the trees nearby as the sun sets on the horizon, turning the land orange and bronze.

For a game about shooting, RDR is unforgettable for the quiet moments of riding a horse through a virtual landscape. Lots of games have nice graphics but I kept coming back to this game for the scenery. The virtual world seems alive and provokes the strongest reaction I have ever had to a game.

Story

As I finished this game, I realized that it is just about the only game I can think of with a real story. A story that asks quests and provokes the mind to think.

Video game stories come in three flavors: kill everything you see with laser beams OR kill everything you see with assault rifles OR kill everything you see with a sword. That is pretty much all you get in a video game with the possible exception of jumping around or climbing on things. Not so with RDR.

The story in this game raises very serious issues about violence, guns, and the role of government and law enforcement. While the game play is still guns and shooting, the narrative adds an element of unease to the experience as it questions the myth of cowboys and Westerns. While the scenery kept me coming back, the story was uncomfortable enough to make me want to stop playing.

This game takes the simplistic shine off of US history. The rebels are sleazy. The police are criminal. While bears can be avoided, you cant hide from the dangers from other people and people are doing terrible things to each other. Just about everyone you meet in this game is someone you would rather not know, especially the government officials.

Although there is a ton of killing in the game, the narrative asks questions about its own game elements, about the role of violence and the nature of man. Poignant stuff given the headlines today about shootings in Arizona.

Guns dont keep people safe and the people that live by the gun, die by the gun. It is not a new theme but it is an unfashionable one in this day. We take our safety for granted in the US today but what if you couldn't? This game really points out how good we have it and gives some insight into our past and the lives many people live today in other countries.

What do people do when there is no law to protect them or the law is arbitrary?

What is the role of government?

What separates a soldier or policeman from an outlaw?

The game raises troubling questions with simple experiences: You are riding down an isolated road. You come to a broken wagon with a family inside. What do you do?

Stop and help them?

Ride past and ignore their pleas?

Stop and rob them?

Stop and rob them after raping and murdering them?

I like to think that most people would stop and help but out of 100 people, all of those choices are going to happen. This is the basic mechanism of the game and its look into history.

If people can do anything, what will they do? If there were no witnesses and no repercussions, what would you do?

I keep coming back to this question. What would life be like without our rule of law, without banks to hold your wealth, without information to catch criminals?

The Green River Killer murdered over 50 women before being caught. The value of life changes when it is so easy to steal. One is more thankful for each day of peace.

The other big theme is one of redemption which goes along with the theme of violence and society. That theme is less personal to me but it leads to quite an ending. This is a hollywood movie the way they used to make them a generation ago. American's today dont like to think about consequences, limitations or choices: we assume that we can have it all and that we deserve it all. Not so here and that makes the game, especially the ending, unsettling. Everyone does not walk off into the sunset singing.

If you play one game, experience this one. Rockstar has done a great job of holding a mirror up to our own history and forcing us to look at what we see there. Something more people in more contexts ought to be doing.

From time to time, you get your money's worth. I got my money's worth and then some with Dragon Age: Origins.

Dragon Age: Origins

It took me about six months and over 130 hours of playtime but I finally finished the game in June.

I have played Bioware games before: I tried Baldur's Gate but dont remember finishing. I played KOTOR, got bored and did not finish. I tried Neverwinter Nights, twice, before I eventually finished it. I did enjoy Mass Effect on the Xbox 360 but overall I like the idea of a Bioware game more than the actual games. Until now.

I did not hear a lot of publicity about this game before it was released, but once I started playing I was hooked. I loved this game. The graphics on the PC were great. The story was great. The characters were great. The voice acting was great. I never ran into a single crash or bug or obvious graphical problem. And the content was there. It kept going on and on and on.

DA:O did exactly what I want from a game: Strong narrative that takes me on an adventure. I will have memories of this game for a long time. By the end, I thought back at the beginning, before I had heard of a darkspawn or grey warden, and was amazed with how much stuff I did.

I survived the massacre that killed my family.

I survived the first battle with the Darkspawn.

I freed a prisoner sentenced to death.

I met a demon and bargained with it.

I rescued the Mage's tower.

I went to the Fade, the first original magic idea I have read in years.

I saved the elves from werewolves.

I saved the dwarves from each other.

I brought a golem back to life and found the golem maker.

I went to prison and got out again.

I killed a lot of darkspawn, a few revenants, and a few dragons.

Like I said, what an adventure.

I played the game as a human noble rogue. My constant companions were Alistair and Wynne. I rotated my 4th slot between my dog, Shale, and Oghren (who I didnt like much). I hated Morrigan and didnt see much point to the others.

Only a few small negatives marred the experience. Inventory was a pain and being limited was annoying to a completionist like myself. I never figured out or used the AI tactics-thing for my characters, which meant a LOT of pause-ordering.

And towards the end, I kept thinking about Oblivion and wishing I was playing an FPS instead of a group-based game. (Where is the next one, Bethesda?)

DA:O is clearly one of the best games in years. If you are looking for a lot of game for a little money, this is a good choice.

This weekend I played the final mission and finished Bioshock.

One of the reasons I play games is their ability to take me to a new place in my imagination. Bioshock's story and execution were so excellent, it totally brought me to another world.

Which is probably why I had to take two long, extended breaks from the game before I finished it. As I wrote about this time last year, the world of Rapture is just too disturbing to experience for very long. The first time that has ever happened to me in a game.

There have been other games that I felt were so disturbing I just didnt want to play them. In this case, the story was so well written, the world so lovingly created, I had nightmares but I still wanted to know what would happen. There was at least one big twist in the story and I kept waiting to see what would happen next.

I wont spoil any of the story for you other than to say it is much more mature than 99% of the other games out there. If you play one first person adventure, it should be Bioshock. Hands-down one of the best games ever made.

I bought the game on Steam and played it on Windows XP, Vista and ultimately Windows 7. No technical problems at all for me and it looks fantastic on a nice PC.

No matter what platform you game on, you should experience Rapture for yourself.

In business school, we talked a lot about the "razor and razor-blade model". We also joked about the razor wars - one blade, to two blades, to three blades, to four blades...

I have a full beard and grew up with 2-blades. But shaving was not a perfect experience for me. I have a tough beard on my cheeks but a tender neck which often breaks out in a rash. When you are a kid, you dream of shaving but the reality of shaving pretty much sucks.

My grandfather used to shave with a single-blade. Do you remember those old razors where the blade was this paper-thin piece of metal that came in a little metal box and you would switch the blades every so often? When I heard that those razors actually irritate the skin less than the modern multi-blade models so I got curious.

For Christmas in 2006 I asked for an old-school razor and received one as a gift. (Thanks, Mom :)

After 6 months of using it, I can say that I'm done with the razor wars. The old-school single blade razor is by far the best shave I have ever had and I am happily sticking with it. No more $15 blade refills for me.

Steppin' Razor

The first few shaves were a bit unnerving. This is a real razor blade! The kind you normally keep in a tool box in the basement not the bathroom. Moreover it feels TOTALLY different from the disposables. After the first few harrowing shaves, it took about a month before I got used to the new system. Since that trial period, I have grown quite fond of the single-blade and have no plans to switch back.

My main issue with the old razor was razor burn. I almost never get irritated skin with this new single blade so that was a big win.

Another issue with double-blades was that they got clogged up. Long before the blades got dull, they would get full of whiskers and the blades would bend. Once bent, the new blade angle would totally irritate. This was an even bigger problem if i didnt shave for a few days (as in every week).

I am happy to say that this problem is moot with the single blade. Whether I shave once a day or once a week, the single blade cuts the same and never plugs up. In fact, I much prefer taking a longer period between shaves because it makes my whiskers easier to cut. Even shaving once a week with a thick beard is a breeze now (as long as you soften your beard in a hot shower first).

An added bonus is that the razor cuts body hair easily - something men in their late 30's and 40's might (discretely) appreciate.

Along with the new razor, I stopped using shaving cream. Instead of buying a $4 can every month, I bought a single brick of expensive, imported shaving soap. The soap was not easy to find but it works great. And I have used maybe a quarter of the bar in half a year -- rather economical.

The one downside is that this blade will cut you. I dont think I had ever bled with my 2-blade but that happens now. For me the main problem is my prominent adams-apple (Thanks, god!). This razor is very hard to shave an irregular shape like that and I occasionally pull out the 2-blade just for this operation.

So next time you are annoyed with your multi-blade performance (or the huge expense), check out your grandfather's old razor. Sometimes new is not the same thing as better.

"Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion (DVD-ROM)"

The last single player RPG that I really enjoyed was Fallout. That was YEARS ago. I played Neverwinter Nights, but I kind of had to force myself to finish.

As I have written before, I find solo PC games like RPG's kind of depressing. After a while I start to wonder why I dont have any friends to play with and I start to feel guilty and anti-social. After Everquest, I just dont want to play this kind of game alone anymore.

Until now.

"The Fifth Discipline : The Art & Practice of The Learning Organization" by Peter M. Senge

In terms of personal growth and seeing the world more accurately, "The Fifth Discipline" is one of the best books that I have ever read. It had a huge impact on me back in the early 1990's and although I cannot remember all five "disciplines", I did internalize a lot of it. :)