At the recent i33 event, someone asked me what sort of games I enjoy. Just as I was about to answer, Dan responded with “he’s an FPS man”, whilst I was initially shocked, I now realise he’s quite right.

Even a cursory look over my gaming history will show I have somewhat eclectic taste in games: Forza Motorsport, Viva Piñata, Rockstar’s Table Tennis and Shrek the Third to name but a few. Look at the games I’ve been playing recently however and they’re all first/third person shooters – Rainbow Six Vegas, Gears of War, Halo 3, Call of Duty 4 and Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (I finished the incredibly short single player campaign yesterday). So why have I so obviously shifted my focus?

The fact is, I enjoy playing co-operatively online with friends far more than I do single player. These days, the only co-operative or team based games that have well developed online play are shooters. If there were different genres of good quality games available that supported co-operative or team based play, I’d be first in the queue at the check out.

I genuinely believe that gaming is reaching a point where online play is more important than the quality of the single player experience. Whilst I hope there will always be room in the market for the Assassin’s Creeds and the Bioshocks, I’m hoping that game publishers will find a way to successfully integrate rich co-operative multiplayer gameplay into more genres so that I can work together with friends without holding an MP5. After all, how good would co-operative Portal be?

When I spoke with Dan about joining Ready-Up he said it would be ok to post every ten days or so.  up until a few weeks ago that wasn’t a problem, I was really into gaming and I felt i could spout forth vast pages of gaming related wisdom.  My gaming time was just that-mine-after the family had went to bed the 360 whirred into life and a few pleasurable hours were spent playing into the wee small hours, but a cloud was on the horizon and I didn’t see it coming.

Just over a month ago my then girlfriend now fiance announced that she was feeling a bit more down than usual and was firing off accusations left right and centre as to what may be causing this.  Just for the record it was nothing to do with my gaming habits so…. Anyway a lot of the reasons were aimed at me and I must confess i was knocked for six by some of them, nothing I will trouble you good folk with.  The knock on effect was that at night when the 360 trundled to life I was merely holding the pad staring into the beyond, wondering, what I had done that was so bad, after all, to anyone who knows me I am one of the nicest people you could meet.  Games weren’t helping me!

Fast forward a few weeks and the doctor confirmed what we had already known, that fiance is suffering from depression, not deep suicidal depression, but depression none the less.  Having this confirmed led me to curtailing my gaming activities into the wee small hours just so that if she needed someone to hold in bed I would be there.  However fiance is seeking solace in a forum online and disappears to it for hours on end so now I play my 360 when she is doing that, which is usually for a damn long time, everyone’s happy?

You may be asking why I have written this blog after all it’s not really about games but here’s the thing.  It seems that if you have depression everyone is willing to give you good advice of be very gentle and kind with you or in fiances case pep her up via her forums.  But if you are the person living with the person affected there is nothing, you are just meant to understand and keep a brave face on which is getting increasingly harder to do.  I just needed to know that if even on person reads this that I have managed to get something out that is burning inside me.  Apologies if this goes against the Ready-Up tenet but in this case the phrase a friend in need…. really is true.  By the way you may have guessed that I wasn’t the reason for the depression, just the easiest target and that is why we are now getting married, we do still love each other.

Thanks for listening

Haggis

Lately I rescued a dance mat from the dark ugly corners of my flat. It’s no surprise that straight away I booted up my lovely elite and dived on for some hardcore dancing mania!

I’ve had a passion for the dancing games since first meeting Dance Dance Revolution on the Playstation One back in the late 90’s. At that time my nagging parents had finally accepted my “silly obsession” with video games. The old “video games are a waste of time” lectures have worn off over time as the gaming industry has adopted physical exercise, expanding their market. Aspiring those who want to keep fit in their own homes and bringing fresh gamers to the scene it has resulted with new ideas such as the birth of the eye toy progressing in time with the new age that is the Nintendo Wii.

Now I do like to participate in sports and fitness but it’s quite hard when you consider:

* having to pay a stupid amount of money for the gym

* being too self concious to go for a run in your area

* playing basketball in your garden/street would annoy your neighbours

* treadmills are damn expensive for someone like me!

and so on so forth. So now I’ve got my 360 and my dance mat there shall be no excuses. It’s time to take on a personal project. To make up for the years of moan and groan of weight/health issues. To be able to run farther than just “across the road” without losing my breath. I call it “Project Dance” and this my friends is a regime that I am going to commit to. To prove something to myself as well as back up the idea of the dance mat being a fun alternative way for fitness at home.

Plus I want to complete the Quest mode!