Games

**Saturday:** Quake 3 Arena at Ben’s housewarming party. Veterans like Ben and Jon, casual players like Dave and me, and various newbs clashed. > Sunday: Siren, which Ann brought up from Oshkosh. Hiroko, Ben, Ann, Brian, and I crowded around to watch Sony’s ambitious survival-horror game, much like crowds have gathered around Silent Hill and Fatal Frame II. Its atmosphere and concept were very compelling, but the game itself was too trial-and-error to be very fun. Hiroko’s tendency to get _angry_ whenever I die didn’t help. > Wario Ware, Inc., which Ben had bought for the party. Brian, Hiroko, and I fell asleep while Ben and Ann continued playing for hours.
**Monday:** R-Type Final, which I’d heard Jules mention on IRC. I played for about ten hours straight. There are so many ships to unlock, so many different weapons, so much detailed geeky stuff to get into. It’s the first game I’ve been addicted to, such that when I’m not playing it I constantly think about it, since TimeSplitters 2 or Shenmue II last summer. It feels pretty good to get engrossed in a game again, especially an old-school feeling one like R-Type Final. If you’ve got US$30 to spend on many, many hours of lovely blowing stuff up, that’s your game.