It's almost Hallowe'en, but I have a very tangible sense that the scariest part of the year is now past. This fall was surprisingly tense, with the sudden responsibility of finding an operations manager for Exultate, keeping the organization on the rails, trying to learn one of the hardest pieces of music I've ever seen, and meeting a lot of short, sharp work deadlines at the same time. All of these things are now successfully behind me and us, and with the huge help from other members of the Exultate family -- with particular thanks owed to Janice Kirkkamp, Steve Wadhams, Michael Rowland, Molly McCarron, and to my dearest Anne for her unflagging support, love and help -- we are now ready to tackle the upcoming season and seasons with new purpose and organization.

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The next couple of weeks will be very interesting. Of course the most important event in the world will no doubt be next week's US election. Though we Canadians are powerless bystanders, we are collectively mesmerized by the good vs. evil showdown in play south of the border. Meanwhile, the US economy seems to be teetering on the edge of an immense slump (no doubt to take my Accenture stock options with it) and while Canada has a tidy federal surplus at the moment it does feel a bit like a single sandbag in the face of a tsunami. It's great theatre, anyway -- a classic cliff-hanger. We certainly do live in interesting times.

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Those who know me well know my love for good video games has not gone away with passing time. While I don't have as much time to spend playing as I used to -- having a life seems to take a lot of time! -- I still enjoy the escapist fantasy of a few hours on the computer, quite regularly. The quality level of games seems to have taken a major step up over the last year, even as (or maybe because) there are fewer genuinely new games out there. There is a new sense of storytelling, a new level of focus on providing genuine choices for how to play, that makes the "you are there" feeling much more tangible. While the best game I played in the past year was probably Far Cry, I'm finding Doom 3 to be an experience of such intensity that I can only play it for short periods of time. The continuously dark, dangerous, violent atmosphere keeps me perpetually on edge, even though it has become quite clear that the game is not actually all that hard -- certainly much easier than Far Cry. It's quite long, especially when played in 20 minute segments!

Coming up soon, Half-Life 2 is finally on the way to stores (sale date November 16, I believe) and Halo 2 for the X-Box is also almost out(you'll be seeing the ads). Based on the investment in these games, and the reviews and previews out for them both, they'll both raise the bars yet again.
posted by Tom at 11:04 AM | link |