Western Civ
Based on all the trouble I get into over the things I pick up scouring through the Blog, it's a wonder I'm ever allowed to log on at all. I'm impressionable, dammit...practically a sponge just waiting to wipe up the spill on the counter whether I need to or not and yet when someone throws something out there, I'm there to consider it, roll it around in my head, and then go do it. It was exactly this that happened when in reading someone's blog (and someone's blog who I don't really care for, but that's a whole other story) I was introduced to the fun that is Civilization III. HA!
For anyone who knows me and while I'm fine with all things pop culture, my actual propensity and coordination for video games is about nil. Sure I was raised on the Atari 2600(tm) but somewhere after Pitfall(tm) when the joystick evolved from a single stick and button into some fleshed out buttons-on-top-AND-bottom where you had to remember and be able to navigate complex series of right-button-left-button-while pressing the jump button-four-times maneuvers, I just quit and found out about self-exploration. My video-game career ended there. Fast forward 17 years and while I've tried out several different games, spending way to much money on something I knew I had no interest or passion in pursuing, I'm still sucked in by a good sell and Civ III seemed to be it. The sell wasn't even particularly good, actually. It's just it sounded interesting to me and so I found both Civ III and it's expansion pack, Civ Conquests at Wal-Mart the other night and threw them in our cart along with several new winter hats, those fingerless glove-mittens, knitting needles, and a birthday card that had a dog blowing a gum-bubble out of it's ass.
Needless to say, after a 3-day weekend, it's safe to assume I still have NO idea how the game is played nor how to win. I essentially just keep clicking the button to advance another 50 years until my city treasury is so low the town has burst into unrest and flames and there is some rosy-cheeked fop telling me I need to build a Colossus and become envied of all civilizations. As I'm not an instruction manual kind of guy in any good sense of the word, the 56-page Civ III manual has been of little value to me. So essentially I'm left with $70 worth of gaming software that not only utterly bewilders me, but also sucks up my time that could be better spent vegging in front of the TV watching reality shows bitching about how I never have enough time to read or write or do any of the other things I always think about doing but never get around to.
On the other hand, it's better than sitting around listening to crap about Jacko or the Iowa Caucuses or that God-forsaken State of the Union address on tonight.
I wholeheartedly agree. Civ III was hailed as the ultimate game to me by one of the guys at a Best Buy. I find it annoyingly complex. Sim City 3000 is so much easier...and when you get tired of listening to people complain you can simply beset them with fires, tornadoes, godzilla monsters and earthquakes.
after Pong i was pretty much out of video games. i'm a simple man with a seriously simple brain. oh, and i never won at Pong, by the way. simple i tell ya, simple.
Don't feel bad about your destruction of an entire society. It's not like you had to give a speech about it on television and try to make it sound like you are doing a good job.
When did K-Mart get a gay friendly card section? We watched X-Men 2 rather than the state of the union. I prefer reality/fiction to self promotion by the president. Damn I feel disenfranchised.