E3/Playataion 3/Metal Gear

Mother Fuckers...God Damn Sons a Bitches...Rotten Pieces of Shit... GAHHHHHHHHH!

So this past week was the E3 convention in Los Angeles. It is the big event that occurs once a year where the video game companies show off all the things that are going to rob gamers of their time and money for the next year. This past convention was especially big because it showcased the new consoles, particularly the Playstation 3 and Nintendo's Wii.

I am not a very intense gamer. My friends and I play occasionally, but not very often. I don't play online, because I know all of my free time would be sucked down that toilet and I would never get anything done. No writing, no podcasting, no studying, nothing...it can be an ugly addiction. I have heard stories of marriages ending because people have become too wrapped up in their gaming. I am in too deep with comic books to mess with gaming.

Anyway.

There is only one game series that I am a devoted fan of, Metal Gear Solid. Metal Gear a totally different gaming experience than GTA or your typical First-Person Shooter. Where those games want you to gun down as many people on the screen as you can, in Metal Gear it is actually a bad thing to kill. The object of Metal Gear is to get through the game without being detected, of course if someone does see you the option to shoot them in the head is still there. Just don't forget to stash the body someplace where others might find it, because then there is evidence that you are there. It's a spying game, you mission is to get into the area, gather information, sabotage the newest version of the Metal Gear super weapon and get out. It is a hell of a lot of fun. The game is also extremely plot heavy and showcases a lot of long cut scenes. In fact it is often criticized for having too much plot and too much time where you are just sitting there watching the character develop the story when you should be sitting there blowing people away. The thing is when there is a plot that makes you care about the character you are taking the role of and care about the characters that are interacting with you, the game becomes so much more exciting than when you are machine-gunning through hundreds a crackheads and Satanic monsters. Metal Gear is a step in the right direction for gaming to become something more than it has been. Gaming will become an art form, just as film has.

Now if you are still reading this then you are probably wondering what that outburst was at the beginning. Well, I was almost done with video games. I did it before. I walked away after Sega and didn't get into the Playstation 1/Sega Saturn generation of gaming. I had plenty of other distractions to keep me entertained, comics and the internet waste a lot of time. Then by random I was able to play Metal Gear and it was a very different experience than Super Mario Brothers and Sonic the Hedgehog. The sole reason I bought a Playstation 2 was to play Metal Gear: Sons of Liberty and Metal Gear: Snake Eater. I was thoroughly satisfied with both and believe that the experience I have had playing and replaying those games was well worth the couple of hundred dollars that I spent for the PS2.

So at this year's E3 convention Sony announced that Playstation 3 is going to cost SIX HUNDRED FUCKING DOLLARS. I can't justify spending that much money on games no matter how much entertainment I get from them. So I walk away from video games. It wouldn't be that big a deal for me, personally. I only play when a new Metal Gear is out or when I have my friends over. I don't think that I am turned on my PS2 in almost a month. So at the beginning of the week I am feeling pretty good about myself, I am going to give up on games and it isn't going to be a big deal. Hey, maybe I am getting more mature. Right? Then the trailer for the new Metal Gear was released. "Guns of the Patriots", is what they are calling it. Holy shit does it look sweet! I know that trailers usually make the thing that they are advertising look better than it really is, but if this Metal Gear is at least one third as good as that trailer makes it look, then it will be great. I have to know how the story ends or at least what the next chapter is about. It's sick. Just when you think you have found and out those Sony bastards pull you back in.

Here is the deal. Before I spend that much money on a new video game console that I will likely play less than I did the last one I owned... Before I sacrifice more time for entertainments sake...Before I get suckered into dividing myself more than I already have there has to be a significant step forward. Before I buy a Playstation 3 and before I get into Metal Gear Solid: Guns of the Patriots, I will have either written a complete short story that I am proud of or I will have written a decent beginning to my novel. Otherwise, Sony be damned I won't be your whipping boy anymore. I am not letting go of these things that I want for entertainment sake.

I am putting my game face on. This is it. I am not entirely sure what exactly "it" is, but here it is...