Field Trip: To Where the Writers Are

Field Trip: Where have Philip and Donnie Gone?

Playing Games of Freaking Course!

Written by Philip and Donnie (it's one of those group efforts)

The two most obsessive gamers who write this awesome blog have seemingly disappeared for a few weeks now. What happened to us? Well when time is short and we have to decide between playing games or writing about games the answer is obvious. But we’ve cataloged our efforts to see the best way to play games when the clock is against you.

We both have an average of 45-60 minutes a day to play. Here’s how we’ve spent our time.

What has Philip been playing?

Philip has the unfair advantage in game time this month due to him finding himself on the wrong side of the unemployment line. So he has taken this chance to catch up on some loose ends and pursue platinum greatness.

“It’s a shame that multiplayer leveling and trophy hunting aren’t good sources of income, ‘cause if they were I’d be loaded. At first I got really into the multiplayer for Uncharted 3. It can be quite addicting and a ton of fun, but after a while the effort/achievement ratio starts to diminish and I found myself wanting to play something with a little more reward to it. So I started through Mass Effect 2 and it’s incredible. I can’t stop and want to spend all my free time in it. Also, if you plan ahead you can even get the platinum on it in one playthrough. I was hesitant to get into such a large RPG that would take 40+ hours to get through it, but ME2 has a nice “Mission Report” at the end of each task to provide good stopping points. This gives it an 'episode' effect where a story concludes every 45 minutes or so that I think is crucial for gamers with limited time. So my advice if you’ve got limited time each day to play but wanna try this game or similar ones, treat it like a TV series. This way you won’t bite off more than you can chew only to eventually go into the pile of games you didn’t have time to finish.”

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What’s next?

“You mean besides getting Lefty up to speed again? I’ve probably got a little bit more to finish Mass Effect 2 and wrap up 'Crushing' difficulty on Uncharted 3. I think if I can use the same “episode” tactic from ME2 then I may try to get through Deus Ex: Human Revolution. If that doesn’t work out then there are some PSN games I would love to jump into like Journey or Megaman 10. Above all though, I think most of my time will be spent on daydreaming about owning a Vita someday.”

What has Donnie been playing?

While Sir Fewkington is the more responsible one still employed he’s got the pleasure of feeding a family and playing the indie game, Earn More Than You Spend (Rated M) around the same time bills show up each month.

“I’ve been playing an intense amount of Rocksmith. I’ve been feeling that I need to try and accomplish something. Usually that comes in the form of trophy hunting. But lately the little chime when you unlock a trophy hasn’t been enough to keep me feeling like videogames can be an avenue through which real life progress can be made. I started playing Rocksmith last October when I drove for miles to buy it off of someone for 20 dollars cheaper than retail (used games fo life!) at a McDonalds at 10 PM. Sketchy to say the least. Since then I’ve been enamored by the constant thrill of learning to play a real life guitar through a game. Make no mistake, Rocksmith doesn’t make learning to play the guitar any easier-- It makes it easier to practice. You still need to spend hours practicing to get your finger positions right. Now you don’t have to spend hours playing through horribly written tablature just to realize it was wrong. The songs you play on Rocksmith are legit. They aren’t just pieced together by some YouTube wannabe. The DLC they put out actually has songs that I would love to play and am happy to pay for. It has equipped me with real skills that I can deploy anywhere there’s a guitar.”

Learn to play. For realsies this time!

What’s next?

”I’ve also just finished my first PC build. Yes, I forged the videocard in the fires of Mount Doom. This PC is truly one rig to rule them all. I’ve loved playing Star Craft 2 on my horrible laptop. I got to the point that if I wanted to get better I would need a computer that runs faster than 5 fps. In addition to this, Star Wars the Old Republic surfaced and I’ve begun to feel the itch of the MMO again. I fully plan on investing some hours into both of those titles in addition to the myriad of others that I’ve missed.” 

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