Thursday, October 7, 2010

Killing time

Sometimes I'm just killing time on my Xbox 360. No, that's not a new game that I've got. But wouldn't it be funny if it was. I can just picture little clock characters running around the screen screaming as I blow them up with my shotgun. There would be some of those old fashion pocket watches, wrist watches and mantle clocks. Boss battles would consist of a hard fought battle with a Grandfather clock. And when you get to the end of the game and beat the last clock it resets time and your back at the beginning again. Wouldn't that be great? But I digress.

When I say I'm killing time on my Xbox 360 it usually means I'm playing an Arcade game. I play them when I know my friends are about to get online and I don't want to get too involved in a big game like Mass Effect or Fallout 3. I want something simple and easy that I can jump out of in the middle of a game and not feel bad about finishing it. Quick little Arcade games are perfect for that. And chopping wood or forging swords in Fable II is just the same as an Arcade game.

I also kill time and use Arcade games to wind down after some intense online multiplayer action. Whether we end up having a great night or a terrible one, some times I'm too pumped up to quietly lay down and go to sleep right away. A couple games of Hardwood Hearts lowers my blood pressure and ten to fifteen minutes later I can now start getting ready for bed.

Sometimes when I'm killing time with Arcade games is because I don't have the brain power or attention span to focus on anything for more than a few minutes at a time. When you play an online multiplayer shooter in that frame of mind you're going to get killed . . . a lot. Sometimes these "brain farts" last awhile and sometimes only a few minutes. Either way, I prefer to play one of the Fable Pub games or Gin Rummy, or Backgammon instead of having my head blown off every few seconds. Maybe that's just me.

So if you ever see me online and I'm playing an Arcade game I'm usually just waiting for friends to come online, winding down after an intense gaming session or I just don't have the brain power to play anything too intense. Just because I'm playing one of those games doesn't mean I wouldn't be happy to accept a game invite from a friend to play something else (even an Arcade game). On the rare occasion when an Arcade game catches my fancy and I want to play it as much as I want to play a disk game, I'll let you know. Maybe I'll change my status to "Busy" or I'll go into hiding.

So if you see me online and I'm playing Hearts or Spades or whatnot hit me up with a game invite if you want me to join. Who knows, maybe someday we can kill time together. Watch out for those "3 o'clock" monsters though. They're down right mean.

2 comments:

Helll Weasell said...

Sometimes I just turn on the ol' Xbox to see who's around and what's going on. Sometimes I turn it on to check out the marketplace and catch up on DLC, videos, and the latest avatar fashions. Sometimes, no sooner do I turn it on, I get called away for something or other and then who knows when I get back to it. Sometimes I turn it on and then stare at my games trying fruitlessly to make a decision on what it is I actually want to play. Sometimes I turn it on and then I fall asleep in front of it because I'm just too tired to do anything.

I'm with you on the online play. When it starts getting late and I start to fade, nothing good comes of it. Just a recipe for disaster.

Don't hide offline. Change your status to busy if you must but don't hide. If you don't want to play something then just don't play. No big deal.

Pengwenn said...

Well, sometimes I "hide" because I don't want to deal with any of the drama that maybe out there at that moment. Or maybe I just don't want to deal with anyone for a moment or two. When I'm not so pissy I'll change my status back to online.

I tried "busy" once and I still kept getting invites to games. I even tried "away" but you can tell when the games changes then people know when you're not really "away".

Whenever I think about my Xbox360 I think of playing with friends. When I get on and don't see many friends playing it makes me sad. Maybe that's why I'm having a hard time playing single player games lately.