My love affair with video games ranges to the obscure as well as the block-buster mainstream titles. From sailing simulators to The Sims, from Unreal to Quake to Command & Conquer, Eve Online to World of Warcraft, Crysis and Modern Warfare 2 and Microsoft Flight Simulator X. If it’s enthralling, I generally enjoy it.
My first PC gaming dates back to the days of Wolfenstein 3D. Then Doom blew up my world, and LucasArt’s X-Wing simulator. From there, it was the Jane’s series of flight sims. Diablo consumed my life for months on end. But my fondest memories were when Quake finally dropped.
My current line up of games consists mostly of three categories: FPS, RTS and simulators. The simulators are easily the most obscure, with Silent Hunter IV, Virtual Skipper 5, Sail Simulator 5, Wings of Prey and IL-2 Sturmovik 1946 on my machines. RTS are more mainstream “big names” at the present: World in Conflict, Company of Heroes, Red Alert 3, Spore, Chessmaster: Grandmaster Edition and an eager anitcipation of Starcraft II.
My FPS stable is the largest, with currently loaded games of Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, Crysis, Crysis Warhead, Far Cry, Far Cry 2, Counterstrike: Source, Unreal Tournament 3, Battlefield 2142, The Orange Box, and the newly released Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. FPS games were my first love affair on the PC, and certainly the strongest. But, my days of getting a pilot’s license decades ago keep me coming back to flight sims.
Over the years, my handles have changed. Mojo, Hooch, mojohooch, urban, illgotten and now obskyurity. I guess the influence of playing so many games now dealing with Africa, eastern Europe, Russia and the former U.S.S.R. have worked its way into my subconscious.
