The Needles

In With The New

I also think it's time I tried an MMOG. I'm being pulled in two directions on this: One friend is into EVE Online and has been trying to get me involved for months, while another is a long-time World of Warcraft player and is desperately warning me away. I'm undecided about which direction I should go, but I definitely have the urge to try something. I love the social aspect of multiplayer gaming, at least to the extent that I've experienced it so far (which I admit doesn't go much beyond shooting other guys in the face), and now that I'm able to do so I think I'd like to take that experience to another level: the massive level.

In fact, I'd like to more fully embrace all aspects of the social side of gaming, be it through services like Steam and Live or on full-blown social networks dedicated to videogaming, like Vigster and GamerDNA. Making friends, comparing gamer cred, doing whatever the hell it is people do on these things: I think it'll be fun. I've never had much use for Facebook or MySpace, but gamer-centric networks are bound to be better. Right?

I should also finally apologize to Gabe Newell for some rather nasty "heat of the moment" things I said to and about him a few years ago. I was one of the thousands of people who picked up Half-Life 2 on release day, you see. I charged home, installed it, started it up and then waited two days while it activated and updated itself. I tried to be cool, but having to screw around online for a single-player game, with a dial-up connection no less, quickly sent me into paroxysms of nerd rage.

I sent an email to Valve's customer service that could generously be described as "unpleasant," in which I suggested that hanging and burning were too good for Newell, who, I felt, should be torn into little bitsy pieces and buried alive. I used a lot of bad words, I made some implications about his parentage and his fondness for cheeseburgers and I think at one point I actually got some spittle on my monitor. I was like an email Hulk. Sure, the odds that he actually read that message are practically zero, but I still feel bad about it. So if you're reading this, Gabe: Sorry, man. It was a dick move.

And then there's the big one: 2009 may very well be the year I go console. It's an awfully big "maybe." I've been a PC gaming Templar all my life, ready to crusade against any and all who challenged the superiority of my chosen platform, but my time spent co-mingling with the unwashed masses (yes, that's you) have me thinking that maybe there's something to all this console business after all. Will this be the year I finally become a button-masher?

That's the great thing about a new year: The potential is limitless. Anything can happen. Here's hoping it's a good one for all of us.

Got any suggestions for 2009? Post a message and see what you can talk me into trying - or better yet, tell us about your own plans for the coming year.