To Game, Or Not To Game?

On occasion I will inquire about information on certain video game titles from friends who have made the leap into the world of modern systems; this is so I can experience their joy vicariously. I don't know where I stand on those sorts of games because I can see a balanced set of good and bad reasons to engage in (or reject) their use. I have negative associations with losing time to anything but guitar (the study of music in general really,) reading about science or the advancement of my art skills; this is probably why I should find another activity that doesn't reinforce my unrelenting fixation on productivity.


From time to time, I'm told, that just doing things purely 'for fun' is important. I know that there would be aspects to exploring the worlds made by VG artists that could be really thrilling and instructive. I have strong, positive memories of much less sophisticated games (than exist now) that expanded my imagination and live in my mind as real places. Here are the contemporary games (their sequels too) that I'm interested in:

Mass Effect:

Don't all these aliens look so cool that you would want to become a hermit in order to meet them?

Red Dead Redemption:

I love westerns and this would be like directing your own in real time or a grown up game Cowboys & Indians with requisite cursing.

Force Unleashed:

I have a life long obsession with Star Wars. No more needs to be said.

Left 4 Dead:

I am both terrified and delighted by zombies. I love the idea of playing this with my friends.

Dragon Age:

My friend Colleen says this game is amazing and I believe what she says. I also happen to be a fantasy dork, as you probably know.

Old Republic:

I might just be in love with The Preview but I'd imagine that it is probably pretty amazing to explore the world they've built.

Uncharted:

This is supposedly like Indiana Jones meets Tomb Raider and Mission Impossible; What's not to love?

Gran Turismo 5:

I have such pleasant memories of playing this game series with Nathan, Ben Brosius and Bob Grunau that it might as well have been a fifth member in our gang.

The Last Guardian

I missed out on the epic scale and beauty of Shadow of the Colossus so I figured this might be where that aesthetic journey of adventure will meet up with my adult tastes for great puzzles and beautiful environments to explore via a huge gryphon-weasel.

Age Of Conan

I have a mild obsession with Conan The Barbarian. I almost bought the art of book for this game and I still might."What is best in Life?" A good question.

Any Future Legend Of Zelda Game:

The Zelda series has been that irresistible siren song that keeps drawing me back in to the world of video games. It seems to have it all and I can't get enough. Hyrule has a special place in my heart.

There are probably a few more games I've forgotten but these are the ones that stick out as noteworthy. I'm compelled by a few specific types of games; I like puzzle games, racing games and games where you can explore the world while fleshing out a character (BioWare seems to hit a lot of these notes in their titles). I know that some of them are for different systems and or PC but I'd most likely get the system that gave me access to the majority of the games on this list.

If my friends Ben and Nathan lived near by I'd buy an X-box tomorrow but both of them live in other states and have families to spend their limited free time with. I probably won't ever do it but I like to fantasize about how much fun it would be. For the foreseeable future I'll be an art, science and music monk. Feel free to try and convince me otherwise; I'm obviously open to changing my mind!