14 DAY TRIAL // Florian Totu: It's not Christmas just yet, and it's not the weekend either, but everyone's going on holiday leave and this pretty much counts as the same thing. Free time away from work is just that, and it must be spent in gaming fashion. While it's true that the holiday spirit is meant to bring us close to our loved ones, our family and friends, we, gamers, must not forget about the special friend in our lives that is always there for us. There's no reason why the next five days shouldn't be spent playing, and, if we really need to show social support, we can do so online. As far as the next few days go, while there is no exciting, new pile of games just waiting to be devoured by my gluttonous desires, it doesn't mean that I won't go all out and mash buttons into the early hours of the morning. The Zombie Island of Doctor Ned was recently released on the PC, and, in the crowded days that have past since then, I haven't really gotten a chance to take a good swing at it.
And, if that wasn't enough, the upcoming Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot has stirred even more slumbering need for some role-playing, face-melting, first-person shooting. So, that settles the matter, and it's going to be a Borderlands marathon until somebody comes to drag my sleep-deprived body to the Christmas Tree and force me to screech some carols. May I find you all gaming when I come back, and have a Bloody Mary Christmas!
Andrei Dumitrescu: Over Christmas, I will be playing one of the games that I am not very good at, but that needs to be experienced once in a while: the social interaction title with relatives and distant friends. It's a kind of massive multiplayer online game, but it has the advantage of being able to be played with real people close to you and without the need for any specialized hardware. The advantage of playing this social game is that it offers some insight into the interactions that video games will not be able to replicate in the near future.
The problem is that, after that, experiences like Dragon Age: Origins, which I plan to play through for a third time, or the upcoming Mass Effect 2, which I also intend to play thoroughly, will seem deficient when it comes to the story and to the dialog sections. Because, as much as developers progressed, they still have some way to go until they cross that uncanny valley.