Over the last few weeks, I kinda dedicated a good portion of my leisure time to playing StarCraft 2. Well, more than “kinda.” I have dedicated a good portion of my life to the game. It’s been a ride, man — a 0-60 thing where I’ve started from zero skill to being able to handle some business at the top of Silver league 2v2. It wasn’t too hard. I had a new pal really hold my hand through the learning process and I’ve approached the game in an oddly academic way, soaking up what I can from professionals and wikis. Currently, I’m banging my head against a skill wall. I’m just… not fast enough to roll with folks in Gold. It’s frustrating beyond belief that finger speed, of all things, is killing me.

I’m writing this, I guess, because a lot of folks are like “what are you doing this is not a Brad Nicholson joint.” They’re right. This is not a game I’d usually play. I don’t know exactly why I’m being drawn to it, but I can say this: this game’s competitive play is on a different plane of existence compared to every other game I’ve checked out. It’s harder and faster and requires more skill, knowledge, and dexterity than shooters and, to some degree, Lord Managmenent games like DOTA 2 or League of Legends. Maybe I just subconsciously love the weird challenges this game brings into my life. I gotta admit, the winning feels good. On the other hand, the losing is awful because you don’t just lose, you get ANNIHILATED.

Anyway, basically I don’t know why I’m playing. But it has sucked up all my free time. Crazy, right?

I guess I should write something about the PS4? That seems like a thing people want me to do. Look, I’m not too stoked, and it’s not because the system isn’t beefy enough or that it won’t have OK-to-great support from Sony throughout its cycle. I’m not all that stoked because launch hardware usually isn’t good. Neither is the software. Chances are that it’ll take up to a year for this thing to hit its stride and by then there’ll be a new thinner, and presumably, much more technically sound and less expensive PS4 on the market. This is just how this stuff seems to play out.

Granted, there’s a lot of cool ideas going into this thing. For one, I really dig the “watch you buddies play the game you want” feature. Now, if that actually rolls out on the console at launch or not is another thing entirely.

Side-note: man, it’s been forever since the last console launch.

[image via The Verge]

If you’ve got 20 bucks, about an hour, and a love for the surreal, Kentucky Route Zero seems like a game that’ll be up your alley. I’ve been playing through the Steam version this morning, soaking up the all the oddities and thinking about how different it feels from everything else I’ve played. It’s definitely an edgy adventure game. There’s really no puzzles. Instead, what you’re tasked with is figuring out the meaning behind what you see, do, and experience.

It’s kind of a trip, really.

Man, this game would have been cool if the driving wasn’t so awful, huh?

Over the last few days, there’s been a lot of discussion about horror games and what makes a good horror game in light of Dead Space 3′s reviews, which have pounded the game for not being scary enough. People are settling on pacing and combat design as the culprits since the game is kinda twitch-y. The faster pacing just isn’t turning the collective crank, so to speak.

Conversation’s good, but I don’t think I like how we’re all kinda agreeing on what makes horror a thing. Horror, like comedy, is subjective. Stuff that scares you might not scare someone else, sort of like how some folks think Dave Coulier is the funniest guy on the planet and some of us don’t. To each his own, right, so can we cut it out?

I’ve been playing Dead Space 3, too, and yeah, it definitely hasn’t had me shaking in my boots. But, it’s not like it doesn’t have horror elements — isolation, chaos, dread and hopelessness are all conveyed at some point or another. I’m curious to hear what the wider audience thinks as they really start digging in.