Rediscovering PC gaming

I started my foray into gaming with a PC - my folks never believed in buying a console beyond the Atari 2600, so when my dad got a PC for the first time for "schoolwork" I got busy learning how to play games on it. I started on Tetris then moved on to old-school RPG classics such as the D&D "Krynn" series (Champions of Krynn FTW!).

As I started to work, I bought my first PC from Dreamchum Computers (yes, I was an idiot back then for believing in their "value" PCs), then I bought a more powerful rig (Pentium 2.8e with HTT) which lasted me a good 6-7 years. However, when "Gears of War" came out, I joined the bandwagon and bought an Xbox 360, and for the last 2 years I've been playing mostly on my Xbox while my aging PC just sat there, serving its purpose for the occasional RTS game or World of Warcraft.

Lately however, I've just rediscovered my love for PC gaming. And I chalk it up to 3 reasons:

1. A slew of great PC games. Yes, PC gaming is cyclical: it's a long drought of lousy games, followed by a period of great games, and I'm fortunate enough that this period is one filled with great games. In the past MONTH alone, we've seen the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (I played the 1st one on the Xbox 360 and I must say that it's such a sweet feeling to go back to playing FPS games on the PC!), Left 4 Dead 2, and Dragon Age: Origins. In the next quarter or so we'll also be seeing Dawn of War 2: Chaos Rising, Mass Effect 2, Bioshock 2, Assasin's Creed 2, and Starcraft 2 (sequels much?). Oh man, so many games, so little time.

2. My new rig. Yes, I finally purchased a brand new rig, and it's working just beautifully. For the 1st time I'm playing games on 16xx anti-aliasing with ultra high settings all through out with nary a stutter. I find myself replaying old games just to appreciate the beauty of the game (such as Dawn of War 2 and Assasin's Creed). I'll also be playing the mother-of-all-high-end-rig-game, CRYSIS.

3. Windows 7. Yes, Microsoft's newest OS is working wonders on my new 64-bit rig. Some people (especially Mac diehards) may dismiss Win7 as a mere copycat of Snow Leopard, but I beg to differ. Win7 may have similar features to Snow Leopard, but you get with it out-of-the-box functionality with almost ANY kind of hardware configuration (yes, Apple claims the same with a Mac; however, Snow Leopard works great out-of-the-box with a Mac hardware configuration - achieving the same with Win7 using the literally billions of potential configurations out there with a PC is nothing short of amazing). It works well, and for the first time in my life I had to spend some time learning about how a new Microsoft OS works.

It's a great time to be a PC gamer nowadays, I tell you!

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On a small sidenote, I am apalled at the unmitigated gall of some people. To do something and to blame alcohol is just pathetic. Being drunk is not an excuse, it's an alibi.

I wish some people would be brave enough to just stand up and say "I made a mistake and I apologize" rather than trying to weasle their way out of it through half-ass explanations and illogical self-contradicting statements and then resort to threats of violence when everything else fails.

Wishful thinking, most of the time. Wishful thinking.