Musings in Search of a Muse

I never could get into video games, even with such great systems as the Atari 2600, Atari 5200 (or something like that) and the Fairchild (the model of which I can't recall but it had a fantastic controller). These days games are hyper-realistic and hyper-expensive. And from what I hear they are hyper-difficult, too, for folks like me that have trouble with "Okay, left foot ... now right foot ... then left foot ... " or fear walking down a staircase. There's no way I'm going to remember "Jog dial left, Button A, Button B, jog jog jog, Button A (twice)" just to do the same thing. Maybe I'm getting old.

And of everyone I've ever met that owns one of these itty-bitty Sony PSP game players has done one thing right off the bat ... shown me how it plays movies. It looked sharp, it sounded okay, and certainly seemed handy, but the screen was tiny and you have to buy the movies (no Netflix). Oh! I hear it plays games.

Old fogey thinking abounds: My employer holds a regular drawing for a Sony Playstation2 machine and my recurring thought is "I wonder if Circuit City will take it for an in-store credit?" should I win the silly thing. Not coincidently, everyone to whom I've mentioned this thought replied "You know, it plays DVD movies, too!" Yup, must be some great gaming machine.

What I miss are board games, but living alone it's a little tough to play them. Sure, I have Monopoly and Scrabble for my computer and from a box of cereal I got a CD-ROM with Bicycle Card Games, but it isn't the same. If it weren't for Spider Solitare and Nu Jongg (a Widget game) I probably wouldn't play games at all.

Of late I haven't even touched that nifty computer-based chess game I wrote about recently, Pawn. Little time passed before I realized I don't like the beginning of the game, but throw me in at mid- or end-game and I'll have some fun.

Put me in an arcade with a pocket full of quarters -- or better yet, in a room with pinball machines -- and I have more fun than sitting in front of a TV or my computer. Maybe that's what I need to do this week. Hit an arcade. Too bad I know of but one in a 30 mile radius.

Click here to read the CNET story about the game picture at top.