E3

I play video games. I have for as long as I can remember. It started with the Nintendo and Super Mario Brothers. I moved from it to the Super Nintendo, and then I got a computer and discovered the world of computer games. I'm not sure why, but I've always preferred computer games. The computer led me to games like Warcraft 2 and Diablo. I still have very fond memories of Diablo.

Then a curious thing happened. In my senior year of high school I pretty much stopped playing video games. I know part of it was just how busy I was with both marching band and being in the senior play. I went for a 3 or 4 year stretch where I just didn't really play many games. Oh I still had a couple that I played on the computer now and then, like Heroes of Might and Magic (4 I want to say, but I can't remember). For the most part though I was too busy doing other things. I think it was around my junior or senior year of Undergraduate that I picked up games again, playing on my Xbox, PS2, or computer.

The thing I remember sparking my resurgence of gaming enthusiasm the most was a game called Star Wars Galaxies. At the time I was in a Star Wars fan club and several members played. I had always been strongly opposed to games you had to pay a monthly fee to play, MMORPGs, but after watching a friend play I knew I had to at least try it. I was hooked immediately. After a good deal of time in that game I moved to City of Heroes and then on to World of Warcraft, from which after over 6 years of playing I am finally freeing myself.

I mention this because this week is E3, or Electronic Entertainment Expo. It is a huge convention in California where game developers meet to talk about what they are working on for the next year or what games are coming up for release. It is a week filled with delicious morsels of gaming news. And like the fan I am, I pull up a chair to the table and gobble up as many of these delicious morsels as I can.

Yesterday was spent glued to the TV watching the broadcast of the expo and today will be spent much the same way. They are also running shows tomorrow and Thursday I will watch too. It doesn't matter that over half these games I will not play and/or have no interest in. I just like seeing the excitement people have over them, see the trailers where characters are doing fantastical things. I like seeing the innovation, or lack there of. I like the experience and enjoy soaking as much of it as I can up.

So if you want to find me over the next few days, that is where I will be. Sitting in front of the TV absorbing as much as I can.