So, some of you may or may not have noticed the positively supertastic absence of rambling entries and gaming editorials that had been written in the recent weeks; all apologies for that. My first move to rectify this content depression was with my review of Titan Quest which was fairly well-received on one of the two locations which I publish material given that I didn't do my normal advertising spree across the realms of the wide, vast, and frightening Intarweb. So, hopefully this review will serve as a sort of olive branch to my ever-so-faithful handful of readers. And hopefully it serves as tolerable to the people who come here a couple times every year. And, to the kittens of the world: meeooow (if any of you squeals as to the meaning of this, imminent death should be expected).

A week ago, my fairly rigorous summer term at my lovely educational establishment came to a blissful end; this signified the end of yet another summer spent doing nothing but furthering my progress towards a degree in Engrish. With a minor in an as-of-yet unknown field (I'm thinking Educational Psychology). Then with a lovely plaque containing a certificate enabling me to do something along the lines of Secondary Teaching. This will, most likely, then lead to a fancy pants Masters degree in ______________ (thankfully, I have another year to figure this one out). All this will lead to an ever-so-profitable career in teaching high school (and then, mayhaps, a lecturer at a community college). A year or two ago I decided that I was going to abandon my young adulthood-long (seven years or so) dream of entering a field not entirely unlike that of a Game Programmer to do something which would actually somehow… Benefit (?) people in some generally understood sense. So, I dropped programming -- a fairly lengthy hobby and potential career that I devoted a whole lot of time to -- to enter a field where I had far less preparation for. And a field where I'd be closer to a 1991 Le Baron than the 200x Dodge Viper which inhabits the highest tier of my dreams.

Now, I still think it's the right move for me -- this is strictly from an idealistic point of view, of course, and may eventually drive me to an insanity from which I may not recover… But long, trying eighty-plus hours in a cubicle programming for even twenty years seems endlessly less Trent than a life spent teaching. I plan to get back heavily into the indie game development field eventually, but it's something I want to keep purely as a hobby. Gaming has always been one of my favorite hobbies since the first time I got a chance to play Super Mario Bros. on a brand new NES (when it was brand spankin' new) that my cousins got for a Christmas or birthday present way back in the day. Since then it's always been part of what makes me… Me? And while it's probably one of the nerdiest hobbies I could have chosen, it's something big enough for me that I'm not sure how I'd handle having all of the fun and enjoyment out of it due to a heavy dose of overexposure.

And that's also why I quit the fantastic reviewing gig(s) I had over at FileFront two years ago when they were first branching into the (pre/inter/re)viewing corner of the digital universe. It was a nice thing that I had going: I got a lot of free games and swag, I got paid to write the views, and I had a fairly easy-going schedule. Eventually this schedule changed into something more rigid, and I was getting increasingly bombarded with new titles as their "go-to" guy at the time. Eventually I was playing through entire games in a two to three day span whether I enjoyed the game or if every moment spent with the title made my brain pulse with seething hatred for the entertainment industry. After five-six months, I finally got a game (and it wasn't even a bad one) that made me realize something: this job was taking my hobby away from me. I quit shortly thereafter and, for a decently lengthy time, avoided gaming and writing about games entirely (this "lengthy time" may have been fairly short; I don't really remember).

This may seem silly and insignificant to some, but it's kind of cool to me. Now, a year after deciding to stop actively pursing a career as a game developer, I get the enjoyment of harboring the occasional pet project (I'm going to take a look at the newly-released Microsoft XNA Game Studio to see if that strikes up my interest enough for a new project), and I get to play through a bunch of games purely for enjoyment purposes. If a game doesn't float my boat, tickle my pickle, or stroke my goat (?) I can discard it like a one-night stand at the asylum. And, for the games I enjoy, I can play as much as I want for any period of time without any real constraints (outside of those which The Real World imposes). And then, as the mood strikes me, I write reviews and editorials for my site and publish them here and there. Some are surprisingly (to me, anyway) well received, get some decent attention and such, and it's a lot of fun for me to write. So, for now at least, I'd say that's good enough for me.

I was going to make this more of a normal site entry where I ramble incessantly about various topics under the veil of a single article… But, I think I'll keep this one relegated to a single topic. So, in the name of continuity, I'll just relate my most note-worthy gaming experience as of late (and then detail, briefly, plans for my next big editorial series).

In one of my last few entries, I mentioned that I starting playing Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos with the intent of finally picking up where I left off three years ago and beat the frickin' thing. Back then, I was playing through the game on Normal and I got to the third or fourth mission in the Orc campaign (the three of four campaigns) and lost my saved games shortly thereafter due to an entirely unexpected computer format. With this in mind, I started the game's campaign… On Hard. I'd heard this was a positively masochistic decision to make, but I figured I could use a challenge being that almost every single PC game released is designed to be almost a cake-walk even on the most difficult settings (this is especially true for single-player FPSs). There were a few missions that made me want to tear my metaphorical hair out, but for the most part it wasn't too bad… Until I reached the Night Elf campaign a few days ago. Holy God. The second and third missions were some of the most difficult missions I've ever played (due to an insane time limit on one and heavily limited resources on the other). I got past them, though, and beat the final mission last night. It was a feeling of accomplishment and enjoyment that is hard to come by from a lot modern games, and the overall game ranks up there in Trent's Top Ten Games list, easily. It was really nice being able to go through the game at a slow pace -- maybe playing one or two missions every now and then for the last month or so -- and eventually just go into a tactical frenzy by the time I reached the last campaign. Sure, this is nerdy, but it was a whole lot of fun.

And, as a closing note, this brings me to my new late-night goal for the coming week: a series of editorials dedicated to my favorite genre: Real-Time Strategy games (PC only. I don't care what Comrade Console says; consoles and RTSs mix like starved alligators and baby lambs). The inspiration for this came from a lingering desire to write my next "big" article as I've actually been on a roll with a few of my editorials this summer and decided to ride the good karma. The immediate inspiration, though, came from a piece in October's PC Gamer -- which makes me wonder why they ship out their magazines a month and a half early, but I digress -- about the numerous innovations that upcoming RTSs are bringing to the genre. Their writing on the topic, though, consisted of nothing but meager previews or interviews about the game itself. I say they did a poor job with the material, and I figure I can walk the proverbial walk in this case. So I'll have a two- or three-part series on the state of the genre to keep me occupied during those late evenings in the upcoming week or two while I get back in the swing of my fall semester of school (it's been a whole two weeks since I finished summer classes. It may be tough to adjust).

So, yup. That's that.

and i don't know