The Console (as my consolation)

I love my Xbox.
     When I was in Gr. 6 I played Nintendo. That was the last time I touched a console controller until my last relationship when my ex bought me an Xbox 360 for Christmas
I was in my early thirties and it was our second year together. There it was, under the tree all festively wrapped with an inscription to me. Strange gift? Huh? I had never mentioned wanting to play video games or showed any interest in purchasing a console.
      In retrospect anything he ever purchased and addressed to me, was in fact something he wanted himself. A new TV, satellite radio, a new laptop. All of these items were purchased and handed to me and then he would inevitably be the one to use them the most.
      Not the Xbox; his plan backfired and my stubborn streak came out as I remember thinking that Christmas morning "Oh, you bought me an Xbox, because you are pretty sure I'll never play-well, we'll see about that."
      While he was working nights, I would come home and set to work. I knew it wasn't going to be easy in the beginning as that bloody controller has so many buttons (17 in total with the directional keypad counted as 4, compared to the old Nintendo controller with 10)

And it wasn't easy. My first couple of weeks playing Modern Warfare 2, had me literally learning how to move my character. Using the right and left joystick together proved to be my first hurdle, but I got there and after I was able to walk and run in a straight line, I learned how to shoot and so on and so forth.

After a few weeks, I was beginning to enjoy it and found myself thinking about playing whilst at work. I couldn't wait to get home and make some progress in the campaign. 

So I not only learned to use the Xbox adequately, but to also enjoy it AND once I started playing online, my skills continued to increase. Flash forward to the present and I'm still playing.

It is so satisfying to come home after a crap day and blow the shit out of people. 

Our relationship ended and maybe it was because I was better at Call of Duty then him, (ok probably not the cause of our demise)-but upon entering into this gaming world I did start to notice how people's gaming styles and strategies are reflective of who they are.

Case in point, I cannot stand RPG games like any of the Elder Scrolls. Skyrim is stunning visually, but makes me yawn. So many menus, so much inventory. I like the straight objective. Give me a mission, a straight through-line and I'm all over it- in fact I'll probably run through it, because I run a lot. I have two friends a man and a woman, who love exploration games. They take their sweet ass time, walking around, looking at every bush, cloud, box etc. Those games put me to sleep with their tedious details and all of that travelling...

There's still a lot of gender inequality in the gaming world, but it seems to be improving, even since I started playing. There are still some dumb ass women caricatures. I'm currently playing the Borderlands 2 campaign with the character of Maya. She's starts to huff and puff when she runs long distances. I haven't heard the male characters do this. Is it coincidence that her huffing and puffing sounds like heavy breathing? Sexual undertones anyone? Are we helping boys get off as they play in the basement?

The new Call of Duty: Ghosts to be released in November will finally feature a woman character that you can choose when you play the campaign.

I can't wait.