A Brief Update - What I'm Playing

I have a more detailed post forthcoming, but I thought it'd be nice in the meantime to give a rundown of what I've been playing.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I have stopped playing SWTOR. By far the largest reason for this is not due to lack of content, or boredom with the game mechanics, but it demands too much of my attention at any given time. Having a well thought out reason and story to my quests started to bother me due to my shortened gameplay times. It's like being constantly interrupted during a movie and having to pause it repeatedly and then come back the next day. The stories were great, don't get me wrong. But it just asked too much of my attention as a player.

I suppose that would reflect poorly on me and my attention span, but when it comes down to it, if I'm not having fun it's time to move on.

Mobile games have recently taken a front seat, and I've had my eye on a few concepts, specifically the back and forth, pick up and play aspects of games like Words With Friends and Draw Something. I would love to see this kind of feature implemented in turn based strategy games, but at the moment I only see a few taking advantage of the feature.

I have returned to WoW thanks to a very wonderful woman in my life who has decided she wants to pick up online games with me, so having someone to play with has reinvigorated my interest in the game. So inbetween bits of playing with her I have been leveling my 80's to 85 in preparation for Mists of Pandaria. So far my bear druid is at 85, my Prot Warrior at 81, my Prot Paladin at 81 and my Blood spec DK at 80. Can you tell I like to tank? I cannot wait to try out Brewmaster tanking on a Pandaren.

For longtime readers, yes, I'm aware of the irony of the last paragraph.

I picked up and then put down Mass Effect 3. I was hesitant due to the bad publicity, but picked it up and do not regret my purchase. I haven't finished it yet, but it seems so many people complaining about it enjoy glossing over the fact that nearly every plot from the first two titles is wrapped up in the third. For longtime players, it makes for a very satisfying journey. I haven't reached the end, so I won't comment on it.

And I will likely have a post or two about Diablo 3. My brother received a review copy (as he is a game journalist), so I will be spending some time with it very very soon. I've always enjoyed the Angels vs. Demons stories, so I'll be interested to see this next iteration.

And lastly, I recently attended a meeting of the IGDA (Independent Game Developers Association) where we got to hear Michael Gnade, founder of Indie Game Magazine, talk about the right and wrong ways to market an indie game. Very interesting stuff. As a writer, I was aware of some of his talking points, but the whole experience of his talk and the organization gave me a lot of hope for game developers around my area. I'm looking forward to the possibility of joining a project in Philly soon. I highly suggest finding one in your area. Even if you don't want to develop a game or join a project, it was a great experience just to be in a room of people talking about design decisions and the processes that go into creating a game. Click the link up there and take a look. It was the best decision I've made this month.