Hopware

What video game will consume me next. I won't shell out $400 plus games for an XBOX 360. I sold my original XBOX and Playstation 2 consoles this year, and assembled a game computer from Fry's shelves. The first game software I bought was was 'Half-Life 2' from a guy on Ebay. I played it on every difficulty level and still love it. I remember developing mild motion-sickness the first time I tried to pilot the swamp boat past the Overwatch.

That is the kind of game I really like: a lone wolf trying to save the world. I guess 'first person shooter' is the industry term for it. After I bought my first computer, I was still playing MS-PacMan and looking for a decent Super Mario Bros. clone Then one day I saw the shiny, trapezoidal box containing the adventures of Lara Croft in 'Tomb Raider'. The first four games in that series are the perfect blend of action and puzzle-solving, set amid fantastic archaelogical worlds. By the time 'Lost Artifact' came out, I was developing carpal-tunnel syndrome from repetitive keyboard-mashing. After that series, there was a long drought of new games for me until I entered console land.

I still have the first console I bought: A Nintendo 64 from Toys R Us for $99, plus about fifty more for the Ridge Racer and Super Mario cartridges. The best first person action was playing as superspy James Bond, faithfully reprising the protaganist of 'Goldeneye' and 'The World is Not Enough." I still have the console, because one day, I want to get the expansion module and play 'Perfect Dark.'

When Sony dropped the price on its Playstation 2, I was able to able to immerse myself as Jimmy Patterson, scourge of the Nazi's. I played every game Electronic Arts put out under the 'Medal of Honor' series. Somehow I doubt that Allied High Command would send a single army lieutenant to destroy the Nazi heavy-water facility, but what the heck. I still remember my exultation upon defeating the Wehrmacht and stealing their secret weapon.

The state of the art in the first-person World War II experience is now the 'Call of Duty' series. I played COD and COD United Offensive, in which gamers alternate Russian, British and American missions. I felt truly sickened in the role as a ball turret gunner shooting at Messerschmidts and unloading a deadly, whining payload on a ground target.

I just bought a used copy of 'Call of Duty 2' for about thirty-five dollars, on Ebay. I have discovered the adrenaline rush of playing against other people online. There is a type of multiplayer match called 'base assault,' in which players attack a fortification. Then there is the 'deathmatch,' in which anything that moves is carnage. Excellent therapy for that extra aggression. I recently started playing 'team deathmatch,' which is much more challenging. Every target has to be identified as friend or foe. I felt frustrated a few times because I can't always tell the uniforms apart. Oh well, watch out for chillblaine....