So 2009 ended with an avalanche of new and desirable titles that bury me anew every time I think I’m getting over my addiction to my last purchase. Nevertheless, I’m still able to tear myself away occasionally in an effort to feed my cat, and crack open a textbook. How, you might ask? I’d like to say that I have some measure of self-control that allows me to get far enough away from my TV that I’m physically incapable of taking a 5 hour break to level up, but the answer is nothing so noble. The fact is, my stuff is breaking at an alarming rate.

This all began months ago when I stupidly upgraded to Windows 7, accepting the word of an IT professional that, unlike Vista, the new OS would not delete my files at random. He was wrong. Not only does the random deletion thing still occur (not gaming related), iTunes no longer likes to sync with my iPhone. Sure, I can use another computer, but the games on my Dell are stranded. So my iPhone is down for the count.

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Previously on Lost…

The beginning of the end.

That’s what ABC’s crack team of sales weasels have been billing last night’s season premiere. And based on what we’ve seen, they may be right – or they could be way off. After all, there seemed to be ample evidence to support that we may just be watching the End of the Beginning. After all, our intrepid brand of heroes eventually made their way to their original destination, LAX, as spoiled completely by the Title Card.

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Not many people have achieved what I’ve achieved. Several flake out. Even more buckle under the pressure. They can’t handle the weight of the situation. Well, I didn’t buckle. I focused. I made a promise to myself and I kept it. I don’t mean to sound like I’m gloating … oh wait, yes I do. It was a long, grueling road. Countless hardships. Agonizing late nights. Dozens of bags of chips consumed in battle. So yes, I’m going to gloat, in this, the hour of my victory.

Back when I joined Avault a couple of years ago, my gaming shelf was in ruin. Ravaged by my neglect, several titles succumbed to the torment of dust and resigned themselves to a permanent incomplete state. Some games were half-beaten, several more were still in the beginning stages. Heck, a few were still in their packages. All told, I tallied the list of my ineptitude to be about 35. Thirty-five games I still had yet to beat. My life was a mess and I was spiraling out of control.

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Previously on Lost…

Season 4

Time after Time – Episode 4.5 The Constant

What elevates a show like Lost is the character development. Sure, what draws me in is the mystery, but over time we have truly grown to love and loathe these characters. They’re indelible. Love ‘em or leave ‘em, we’ll never forget ‘em.

And that’s the beauty of the show – as crazy as things get, we are always grounded by our ragged group of Everymen (and women) who are confronted with the surreal and supernatural. It’s the same core tenet that Stephen King has found such sweeping success with – take normal people and throw them against the abnormal. As long as the characters are written and performed well, the viewer can accept anything.

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Late last week, Nintendo released its latest round of sales figures. While touting the continued dominance of the Nintendo DS as the most successful video game handheld to date (all four iterations have moved a total of more than 125 million units), they took time to underscore a fairly significant milestone. The Nintendo Wii has officially eclipsed the original Nintendo Entertainment System by selling 67 million units, as opposed to 61 million for the NES, arguably resurrecting video gaming as a legitimate entertainment form since Nintendo first rolled their Trojan Horse up to our doorsteps in the mid-1980s.

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That was the advice of Caressa Cameron, crowned Miss America 2010 on Saturday night. Obviously the broadcast journalism student failed to do her viewer background homework when she made these remarks and promptly annoyed 175 million US gamers. Not a bad start to her “love the world” plans. “Take away the TV, take away the videogames, set some standards for our children,” the newly crowned queen of beauty and all-round guru of public policy declared. “Parents should encourage their kids to play outside,” she continued, “playing imaginary games with sticks in the street like I did when I was little.”

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Previously on Lost…

Season 2

With a Surprise in Every Box – Episode 2.1 Man of Science, Man of Faith

One thing the Lost creators know how to do is open a season properly. Where the first season stumbled a bit at the finish (sure they popped the hatch but what the hell is in it?), Lost didn’t waste time when Season 2 started up. In a move that would become a signature moment for the series at the onset of each new year, they dropped us in strange environs with a character we’ve never seen before – throwing off our bearings as we seek to re-establish contact with the show after a long summer siesta.

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Yes, I know this is a gaming site, but darn it – this slab of real estate is my personal Blog and I’ll write if I want to. As a Dad to two young kids, I find that by the end of each day, I prefer to settle down with a video game to soothe the stresses away. I’d much rather indulge in this hobby than mindlessly channel surf.

That being said, there have been a handful of television programs that have grabbed my peepers and instantly become appointment viewing. Lost is just the latest and while it certainly has its detractors, I think it’s a fun mish-mash of high adventure, sci-fi, character drama and conspiracy thriller. It’s entertainment and it knows it – and I love pouring over the various mysteries.

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Just the other night, I watched the fifth-season finale of “Lost,” in anticipation of next week’s final-season premiere. As I re-watched pivotal scenes pregnant with all kinds of possibilities inherent to the true nature of the island, I came to a quick realization. I have a good idea what’s going down now, but my theories are completely contrary to what I thought was doing way back when.

Using this as a springboard, I then turned my powers of prognostication to the gaming frontier in hopes that some fears I currently harbor will eventually be countered. That said, where “Lost” is an entertainment obsession that is free to rewrite its own rules as the story dictates, my real-world concerns are less malleable. Especially when tackling a rock-solid monolith like Microsoft and some recent, troubling developments in their online space.

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Right before this past Christmas, my brother texted me, imploring me to give him some gift ideas. Apparently he was scrambling to purchase some last-minute presents. I responded to him, saying there were plenty of games and movies out there, and that he knew what I liked. He pressed for a list, so I texted him back with a handful of titles that sprang to mind.

When I looked back at the list I sent him, I thought, oh dear…I’m pretty addicted to violence. I had sent him 11 titles to choose from. All of them revolved around the simple premise of shooting people, aliens or other creatures. I thought to myself, damn, am I really that bad? So I took it a step further and looked at all the Playstation games I own. I have 15. Three are sports games, and one is a racing game. The rest are violent, nine of which are shooting games. Eight of them are rated mature by the ESRB. Yikes.

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I thought I might champion the little games today. Why not? It’s Friday and I’m feeling pre-weekend charitable. After all, they have been keeping me company of late during my coffee breaks at work. That’s the nice thing about Flash games – click and play. It’s not as if I have to lug my Xbox all the way to work and set it up (under the watchful, raised eyebrows of my co-workers). Yes, the big games usually grab our attention (not surprisingly, given all the marketing that trumpets their imminent arrival). These might be little minnows in the gargantuan pond of Call of Duty, Halo, Mass Effect, etc. But they can nonetheless provide as much fun and adrenaline as the big-hitters. Flash games that can stretch my scheduled 10-minute break into half an hour are worth a mention, but those that result in my coffee going untouched and cold are the ones that really interest me. If they can distract me from my caffeine rush, then they must be worth my attention. So without any fancy trumpets, dramatic drum rolls (or even a lone party popper), here are my three favourite Flash games of the moment (in no particular order):

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Last week I sat down to survey the landscape of games due to arrive in 2010 and made my selections for the ones that I would step over women, children and grandmothers to play. These are the games worth quitting your day job, shutting out the real world and skipping bills and sustenance to spend just five more minutes enjoying. At least, that’s the fond hope we harbor.

After all, we all make these lists early in the year, and while some games match their hype, there are so many that fall woefully short.

So, for this piece I decided to temper my expectations and pick a game that I long to play this year, but I have a sneaking suspicion is just going to royally disappoint me.

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Dear friend of mine,

Twenty years ago when you and I lived in Russia as children, what few games we saw were always pirated. There was simply no store that could sell us a game. The vast majority of people had never even seen a computer, and those who had, mostly did so at work. I remember going to my father’s office to play Leisure Suit Larry, Digger and Prince of Persia. It was even better when he brought a computer home to work on some project. Back then it didn’t occur to me that the people who made these games possible were expecting to get paid for their efforts. I thought that games just naturally shipped with computers.

We didn’t know each other back then, but my first week in America, I walked into CompUSA and was blown away. There were shelves full of games. It was amazing! I also was unpleasantly surprised by the prices. It turned out I couldn’t afford a single one. So I continued playing pirated games, but for the first time it dawned on me that I was doing something wrong. It was 1995 and I was 13 at the time. Later, as I got more and more into gaming, it began to bother me that I was stealing from the very people who were doing so much for me.

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While 2010 is in full swing, I am still held back. I came to this conclusion while looking at my gaming shelf. Straight up, I am an impulsive buyer of games. Aimless games just sit there on my shelf with no purpose, but for the fact I thought I would like (or wanted) to play them at the time. In the end, this has done nothing but cost me tons of moolah.

While looking at each title I purchased last year, I tried to remember the mental state I was in and how I tried to justify each purchase. A game that jumped out at me was Halo ODST. Now, sure it’s a Halo game, so it must to have been good, right? I was wrong. I clearly fell victim to the hype (as usual) and bought the game. Have I touched it since? Absolutely not! Another title I bought this year, mostly out of sheer boredom, was Street Fighter 4. Don’t get me wrong, this is a great fighting game. However, did it justify $60? Not really. Which leads me to my next conclusion: value.

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Sometime early last year, I cobbled together a list of my most anticipated games of the year. And as we’re often prone to do, as the year wound on, and new and exciting enchantments were revealed, that list changed numerous times. E3 will do that to you.

So, despite the fact that I fully intend to provide you with my picks for the top handful of games that I’ve just got to play in 2010, please don’t hold me to it. Something is bound to give at some point. Either that, or a whole helping heaping of them could simply be jettisoned to 2011 – which is what we saw last Fall when seemingly every publisher used Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 as a reason to turn turtle, as if this were an industry where gamers only pledge allegiance to one title. I’m sure a few FPS boogied out of that release window to avoid sales comparisons with the juggernaut but how does that excuse some of the third person action games? Do I detect the cloaked need for additional development time? Oh well, if the end product ends up justifying the means, then by all means, run and hide. I’ll just have to add you to next year’s list.

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