half a life

It's not as if my life completely revolves around video games, but certainly there have been at least a couple of games that have "peaked" my interest. To say that Half-Life 2, the follow-up of one of the greatest games ever made (Half-Life), is probably the most anticipated video game in the history of mankind, is probably the biggest understatement in the history of understatements.

This is a game that people have awaited since the day Valve announced they would be making a sequel to 1998 Game of the Year, which was pretty much the day after its original release. Not only was it a great game to play, but even from a developer's standpoint, the game, the engine, the graphics -- it was a true masterpiece. In 1999 in was named 'Best PC Game Ever', and some would argue that to this day, no game has surpassed it.

HL spawned an international multiplayer bonanza called "Counter-strike", which many gamers still play to this day despite it being a 5 years old with mediocre graphics (compared to today's standards).

So having said all that, HL2 comes out in 12 days -- November 16, 2004.

universe of blizzard

What can I say about Blizzard, other than that Blizzard Entertainment makes addictive games. When you think of Blizzard, you think of Warcraft 1, 2 & 3, Starcraft, Diablo 1 & 2. I don't think there is a single gamer out there who has logged less than at least 100 hours playing a Blizzard game.

I would admit to approximately 4000 hours spent on Blizzard games. Wow. And WoW indeed. WoW (World of Warcraft) is coming out on November 23, 2004. This game gives me the shivers.. why? Because I fear that this game will push me over the 10,000 hour mark for time spent on a Blizzard game. It certainly has that potential.

WoW is not as highly anticipated as HL2, because it is a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game, and the MMORPG community does not include all gamers. MMORPG's require more time -- and money, whereas HL2 is just a shooter with fantastic graphics and a mesmerizing story to boot. But it's gotta be the most highly anticipated mmorpg ever.

Umm.. I grow tired of talking about this stuff.

the others

But there's one last game to cover before I go, and that is Halo 2. From my point-of-view, Halo is/was a good game, but not a great game. But from a console gamer's standpoint, it is probably one of the greatest first person shooters of all time, right up there with Bond from Nintendo's N64.

Halo 2 arrives on November 9, 2004.

sports prediction

Charlotte Bobcats make the playoffs this year, or come real close. You heard it here first.