Video Game Review: Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

Saturday morning I woke up early as I couldn't sleep. I got some breakfast and then headed into my office to finish up my latest video game: Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. I knew I was close to the end as the game told me so. I got the message that once I started the next section of the game, I wouldn't be able to stop until I completed the game. With a whole Saturday before me, I started the final battle and finished the game in about 30 to 45 minutes. I actually expected it to take longer.

Unfortunately the latest Ratchet & Clank game is only available on the PlayStation 5 console and not everyone that wants one can get one. The only reason I have one is because I work for PlayStation and had the chance to get one on launch. I also received a copy of Rift Apart for free as it came from Insomniac which is part of my company. While I try not to let that influence my review, it probably does. My hope is that should some of you finally get your hands on a PS5 and look for games to play, you will be able to decide if the game is for you.

My two sons love the Ratchet & Clank games. They have ever since the PlayStation 2 days. Needless to say we have every Ratchet & Clank game. This is actually the first Ratchet & Clank game I have ever played all the way through. I have watched my sons play them but never really played more than a few hours. There was the one Christmas I played with my daughter but I never really completed any games. I have to say I enjoyed it a lot and am glad I finally played one of the titles to completion.

Ratchet & Clank games are fun for the whole family. Yes there is cartoon violence and so this game has an ESRB rating of E-10+, meaning it is for everyone but players should be at least 10 years old. Most of the violence is against robots and they are obviously bad guys. I would have no problem playing this with my 4-year-old grandson. In fact, my son did play it with him watching.

One of the things that used to confuse me watching my sons play the Ratchet & Clank games is the large number of weapons to choose from. By the end of Rift Apart, I had collected something like 20 different weapons. Each has their own strengths as well as stash of ammunition. The more you use a particular weapon, the more you can upgrade it. Ultimately it becomes an exercise in trying to find the merits of each weapon and use it appropriately. When you go to select a new weapon, all action stops. That allows you to take your time selecting the best tool for the job. It also allows you to let your pulse slow back to somewhat normal levels.

The story line for Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is a lot of fun. While there is a natural progression to things, you have the option of going back and finishing the task of finding collectibles in other parts of the story. I made sure to have everything collected and all parts of the story completed before beginning the final battle Saturday morning. I am also close to collecting every trophy from the game but am not yet sure if I will go back to try and platinum the game.

If you are looking for a fun game to play because you are a kid or want to play it with your kids, I highly recommend Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. I consider myself to be a big kid which is why I enjoyed it so much. I can't really comment on the price of the game other than to say that I have a huge backlog of games to play and I prioritized it over a number of other great titles and am glad I did. If you can get your hands on a PS5, it is the favorite of all the PS5 games I have played so far.

Video Game Review: Astro's Playroom

My grandson has been spending a lot of time at my house this week and whenever he shows up, he wants to play Astro's Playroom. He calls it the "Robot Game." He'll come down in my office, which is where I have my PlayStation 5 set up, and we will play for an hour before we are asked to come join the rest of the family. That is fine though as you really don't want to play video games for more than an hour a day.

Astro's Playroom is a game that comes installed on all PlayStation 5 consoles. When I first saw the game, it didn't interest me that much. I actually didn't want to play it until my grandson wanted to spend time with me and I knew it would be a fun and safe game for him. We tried it out a bit and he really likes most of the game. There are certain levels that are a bit too intense and he doesn't like them. He also gets bored of watching me fail on a number of the challenges. Overall though, we have a lot of fun.

One of the purposes of the game is to get PlayStation 5 owners familiar with the DualSense wireless controller. If you are familiar with the PlayStation 4's DualShock 4 wireless controller, it is the next step in the evolution of input. It has all the bells and whistles of the previous controller and also includes haptic feedback. That means you feel things like recoil in the triggers when firing a gun. It adds a new level of sensing to the gaming experience and needs to be felt to be understood. This brings us back to Astro's Playroom and how it shows you all of the features of the DualSense wireless controller.

I encourage everyone to run through the game just to see what the new platform is capable of doing. The game only took me about 5 or so hours to complete and that includes explaining things to my grandson. It has an ESRB rating of E for Everyone and truly is a game that everyone can play and will enjoy.

It is important that I let everyone know that I do work in research and development at Sony Interactive Entertainment, which is the company responsible for the PlayStation 5 console. The game is free and didn't cost me anything, nor will it cost you as long as you own a PS5.

Video Game Review: Call of Duty: WWII

Normally I wouldn't bother adding anything to my blog on a national holiday but last night I finished playing a very fitting title given that today is Independence Day in the United States. Last month one of the free games on PlayStation Plus happened to be Call of Duty: WWII and I thought I would give it a go. The campaign is not very long and I finished it over the course of the month. I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Call of Duty is one of those franchise games from Activision that is one of the most played video games in the world. I have only dabbled in the games playing the beginning of one or two titles but always having something else on my list of games to play. Lately I have been studying a lot of history and am fascinated by World War II. For some reason my history teachers always spent so much time on discovering America that I never got to study anything past the American Civil War.  I don't have a lot of knowledge about what happened in the second great war other than what I see in movies. I figured I might learn something from the game and was not disappointed.

The game begins with the D-Day invasion. One thing I didn't realize is how late D-Day actually was. I know the United States entered the war on December 7, 1941 but D-Day didn't happen until June 6, 1944. What did we do up until that point? Was our only focus the war in the Pacific with Japan? Now I am going to have to do a bit of reading to figure that out.

The game then has 11 missions all based on actual events in the war. Each mission took me about an hour to complete. Your mileage may vary as some will be a lot faster than me and those new to video games may be slower. The story is pretty linear and there are very few side missions, if any. You do have the option of finding collectables and performing heroic actions but I didn't worry about that through most of the game. I did enjoy the story and that kept me playing.

Before COVID-19 I spent a good part of my week in California where I had a lot more time alone and I could spend it playing video games. Now that I have been at home in Utah since March 7th, I have not really played any video games. I'd rather spend that time with my wife and other family members. Call of Duty: WWII is something I started playing because it interested me and I'm glad I took the time to go all the way through the game. In other words, I highly recommend the game.

Call of Duty: WWII has an ESRB rating of M for mature because of violence and strong language. I wouldn't recommend the game for young children or teenagers for that matter.

I got my copy for free on PlayStation Plus and so the only thing I paid to play the game is my time. If I missed adding the game to my digital game library this month and saw it in the $15 bin at a local retailer, I would probably buy the game.

A Quick Review of Ubisoft's Steep Video Game

A few days ago I found myself with some spare time at home alone and so I loaded up Ubisoft's Steep video game on my PS4. I started playing it and wanted to provide a quick review before moving on to my next winter break game. I don't want to keep playing the game right now because it is something that will appeal to me more in the summer when I can't ski and need a good snow escape.

The game does a good job simulating snow. It is one of the best I have seen. The Frozen Wilds DLC from Horizon Zero Dawn looks very similar and this is because of the graphics processing power of the latest generation consoles. Otherwise it plays very similarly to any of the other skiing and snowboarding games that have been around for a decade. You have a number of challenges where you try to beat times or get scored for tricks. My first challenge was to beat a specific tine down a course. I also had to fly through a wing-suit course in another one. Something new that I did was to follow another skier and try to stay behind her as she went off cliffs and through trees. I enjoyed it a lot.

Steep is a great video game for anyone. You don't have to worry about violence or nudity. It has an ESRB rating of T for Teen because of language but I have yet to come across any. I am a fan of Ubisoft games and play a lot of them. This is definitely one I will keep playing. I will just wait until the summer months before finishing it. You can find the game for around $25 if you look for a deal and it is worth that price.

Going Viral

One thing about long plane rides to Tokyo is that I get a lot of time to read. During this trip I read an interesting article about how "going viral on the Internet" is really just a myth. The article stated that popularity on the Internet is not about a lot of one-to-one shares of information but instead come from large corporations or celebrities. For the most part I have to agree with the article but then decided to do a little research.

First I plugged the title of the article into my favorite search engine and got several hits. Unfortunately you can't look at the article as it came from a print magazine and the only way to get to the article is to have a paid subscription. That doesn't help for links in blogs and so I won't reference it. The 3rd hit pointed out that the author of the article I read just released a book and while I thought the article was actual news, it turns out to be an ad for this book. I wondered how a print magazine with so few advertisements could remain in circulation. Now I know, a lot of the articles are really just advertisements. So much for journalistic integrity and trusted editors. For the record, that magazine just went in the garbage and I won't be reading it again.

Looking at my own blog and the traffic it receives, I have to agree with the article that "Going Viral" is a myth. I have kept at this since 2009 with 71 posts per year and only get about 10 or so readers per posting. Factor in the search engines that stumble across my pages and one is tempted to believe that nobody really reads anything I write. However there is one exception: my Photoshop-clone article. That one article from 2009 has hundreds of page views. No, I wouldn't consider it to have "Gone Viral" but it does help prove the point that in order for something to go viral, it has to be worth viewing.

I have a fairly recent post that surprised me by its popularity: a video game review of Sniper Ghost Warrior 2. For some reason, this review has become my most popular. I don't think I did a particularly better job of reviewing the game compared to other games. Instead I think the content set it apart. Perhaps the impending release of Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 has a few people wondering if they should go back and play the 2nd game before starting the 3rd.

Personally I believe that "Going Viral" is a real phenomenon, it is just rare. Sort of like being struck by lightning or winning the lottery. The content has to be worth viewing, you have to sell it to everyone, and you need a bit of luck.

Video Game Review: Sniper Ghost Warrior 2

Back in April I finished the Sniper: Ghost Warrior and wrote a review. I've had the second version for several months now and finally got around to playing it last week as I wanted a quick game to get through before the Thanksgiving holiday. The two games are very similar in that you are a US Marine sniper sent on a number of missions. Some of them involve sneaking around without getting caught while others require you to shoot people from a very long distance.

As I have mentioned before, I enjoy playing first-person shooters and so I had fun playing this game from City Interactive. As with the first version of this game, it is not a triple-A title and so don't expect a lengthy story or overly complex action. The maps are fairly simple and the 6 or so hours it takes to play the game feel about right for this title. They did do a great job on the scenery and the only glitch I noticed in the game engine is when it saves your progress to disk. That didn't interfere with the game play though. You should be able to find this for a very inexpensive price. I played it on my PlayStation 3 and most of those games can be found in the $5 bin at Walmart or Best Buy.

The game has an ESRB rating of M for Mature due to graphic violence and strong language. I played it alone on my boat and so nobody got offended by the language. However if I had tried to play this at home, headphones would probably have been a requirement. I recommend this game to any young adult that enjoys first-person shooter games and needs an inexpensive Christmas present. I paid next to nothing for my copy and would not recommend paying more than $7 for the game.

Video Game Review: The Walking Dead, The Complete First Season

Last night I received my first platinum trophy on the PlayStation video game console. I received it simply because I completed all five episodes of the video game The Walking Dead. There are actually six episodes if you include the "400 Days" episode found on the Game of the Year Edition. I have yet to play the sixth episode though as it is not necessary to get the trophy. As I completed the game, I thought I would give a quick review.

I just finished playing Heavy Rain and was looking for something a little more upbeat. The guys at work told me to play something else but for some reason I had my heart set on playing The Walking Dead. I should have listened because it was also rather somber. It played very similarly to Heavy Rain in that they are both more like interactive movies that require just a bit of interaction now and then. I am a fan of the television series The Walking Dead and thought the game would keep me entertained. I wasn't wrong.

The Walking Dead started as a series of downloadable episodes that take about two to three hours to complete. As I had a disk that contained all of the episodes, I binge played much as someone might by watching all the episodes of the television series. It started out as a lot of fun but I think having a break between episodes might have made it more enjoyable towards the end. By the fourth episode I just wanted the game to be over. I was pleasantly surprised that the fifth episode only took about an hour and a half to complete.

This evening I am trying to decide whether or not to play the "400 Days" episode or start a new video game. I enjoyed the game over the course of a two-week period but have decided not to play the second season as there are so many other video games I want to play. My hope is that the extra episode will tie up one or two loose ends in the story.

The Walking Dead is developed by Telltale Games and I picked it up for only $1. It is well worth the price I paid for it and would have been so even if I paid $20. The game has an ESRB rating of M for language and violence. Remember my disclaimer that I work for a video game company and may or may not be associated with this title in some way. In reality, I review games based on whether or not I want to play them and not the studio they come from.

Video Game Review: Red Dead Redemption

I was finally able to finish Thief a few weeks ago and got around to picking a new game to play. Yesterday I found myself with a bit of downtime in the office and so I went to our video game library and picked out Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption to play on the PlayStation 3. I had heard a lot of good things about the game and thought I would give it a try.

I put the disk in my PS3 on my sailboat and made a chicken salad while the game installed on my hard drive. The game was ready before my dinner and so I patiently watched all of the opening credits while I finished things in the galley. When I sat down to start playing, I had a lot of fun.

The game starts with you entering a town on a train. You figure out the mechanics of the controller by walking to a saloon, meeting a guide, and riding a horse. The whole time you have constant helps directing you what buttons to push and where to go. Everything was new to me and it took a bit to figure out how to make the horse do what I wanted. After a while the controls started to feel more natural and I enjoyed the game. One thing that is different about this game is that it is much more of a free world than games I have played in the past. While Battlefield 3 claimed to be free world, it had you running through a maze and still felt very controlling. With Red Dead Redemption you really can go anywhere and are not prompted to do specific missions. If you want to go into town, you can. If you want to go back to the ranch and take a nap, you can. There are a number of places you can go to get new tasks but if you don't feel like doing them, you don't have to. It took me a while to get used to that but I have to admit that I enjoyed not being forced to do anything.

I played the game for 4 hours and had to call it a night. I could have kept playing but after having woken up at 3:40am to catch my flight to the Bay Area, I was pretty tired. The only downside to the game is that I find myself wanting to leave work early today to go play the game.

Red Dead Redemption is an older game available for the previous generation of consoles and so you can find it for $20 new or $6 used at all of the usual outlets. For that price, it is well worth picking up. Now if you will excuse me I think I feel a cough coming on and probably need to head back to the boat so I don't get my coworkers sick.

Video Game Algorithms

Recently I have felt the need to do a bit more software development and so this evening I pulled out the code for a game I have been writing. Yes it is taking me a long time to write this game but it is the journey I am more interested in than the destination. I need to create an algorithm that allows a bad guy to hunt down the player. It looks so easy to do graphically but is much more difficult as I try to think out the steps so I can translate them into computer code.

I threw together something simple and then discovered that it doesn't work very well. When the player gets close to the edge of the screen, the program gets stuck in an infinite loop. I know the cause and so I am having to create a more complex algorithm. Not only do I have to check if the bad guy is close enough to the player to see him, I also have to check to make sure I don't try to run off the board or through an object on that is supposed to be a barrier.

When I learned how to write computer programs in high school, my teacher taught me to pull out a scratch sheet of paper and step through the algorithm development process. So that is what I find myself doing this evening. I have a notepad with X's (the player) and O's (the bad guy). Then there are arrows showing player movement with the bad guy chasing him down. I am making progress but not nearly as quickly as I had hoped. I do have to admit it is an interesting algorithm I am trying to develop though. One that can be used for a number of video game situations. Unfortunately I had to wake up too early this morning to catch my flight from home to the Bay Area and so I am finding it hard to concentrate. Perhaps I will have more luck tomorrow.

Video Game Review: Thief

I felt so great when I was finally able to finish Bioshock Infinite that I was eager to see what the free video game download on PlayStation Plus for the PlayStation 3 was for the month of February. There were two and the more interesting of them was Thief. I have a PlayStation 3 that I keep on my boat in the Bay Area and so I downloaded it one evening while I slept. My Internet connection on the boat is not very fast and so it took a bit longer than if I was at home or in the office.

Thief was created by Eidos Montreal and published by Square Enix. I asked the guys at work about the game and they all said it got bad reviews. That didn't deter me from playing and so I started playing one evening and couldn't stop for several hours. Instead of running around trying to kill people like you would with a first-person shooter, you are thief and try to sneak around without being noticed. It was very refreshing as I wasn't constantly trying to kill everything in sight. There are also a lot of puzzles to solve including picking various locks, looking for important items, and figuring out where to go next.

Unfortunately I get bored by video games rather easily and so the next night I went to play the game but it didn't hold my interest nearly as long. Instead of wanting to play through for several hours, I was good for about an hour and then decided to move onto other things. I still want to finish the game but the end of the month is coming quickly and I am afraid I may jump onto another game instead. We'll see how this week goes.

Video Game Review: FIFA 15

Christmas break is the best time of the year for me to catch up on playing video games. Unfortunately this year I have not had much of a time to play. I have spent a lot of time working on cars, skiing, and taking care of household chores. My oldest son has been home using my PlayStation 4 and playing FIFA 15. My review of the game is based on watching him play.

I have to say that the graphics on the PS4 are incredibly real. Even though you are playing a video game, it looks like you are watching a real soccer match. The announcers you hear as you play complete the experience and do a great job of describing what is taking place.

My son really enjoys how the game plays. You control a single player on the screen but can rotate through the other players so you are always close to the ball. There is a small read triangle that indicates which player you are controlling. When you are cycle through the the character you created at the beginning of the game, the red triangle is highlighted. Your ultimate goal is to make him look good. If you have other controllers, your friends can play with or against you.

Actual soccer matches are around 90 minutes long. The clock runs a little faster in FIFA 15 and so they only last about 12 minutes. When my son has a quick 15 minutes, he runs down to the TV room and plays a match. That is not nearly as quick as some of the other casual games you can play on your phone, but doesn't blow an entire evening like other games have a tendency to do.

FIFA 15 is available for the the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, XBox 360, and XBox One. It is rated E for everyone. I recommend it for those that like sports games, any fan of Soccer, and those with multiple controllers for their console that love to have friends over to play.

Video Game Review: Dead Space 3

A few months ago I was able to download Dead Space 3 for my PS3. Tonight was the first time I have been able to play the game and so I thought I would give a quick review. The PlayStation 4 and XBox One are selling well but there are still a number of games for the older generation consoles that can be found at very low prices. My hope is that this will help you pick an inexpensive Christmas gift for that gamer in your life.

The game starts with a number of quick videos giving you some background. I can only assume they surmise the activities of the first two games, seeing as I never played them. It is enough to get you interested. Game play begins as a soldier in a snowy world looking for something. I have been playing games on the PS3 again and so the graphics look pretty good. Had I gone from a PS4 back to the 3, I probably couldn't say that. I especially like how the transition from video to game play is seamless and that the videos are not done at a higher quality. You get to find your way through the snow with the help of a path control that shows you where to go. I thought it was well done and helps first-timers get to where the real action begins.

I have to admit that I have only played the game for an hour or so but found it very entertaining. There are a number of zombie-type monsters that can be rather difficult to kill even on the easiest or "casual" setting. The graphics are also pretty gruesome and quickly became a turn-off to continue playing the game. I have decided that I will probably go back to Mass Effect for the time being but may continue with Dead Space 3 afterwards.

Dead Space 3 is published by EA and is available for the PC, PlayStation 3, and XBox 360. I would recommend the game for older teenagers and young adults. If you are looking for that family game that everyone will enjoy, this is not it.

Video Game Review: Mass Effect Part I

It is the beginning of the Holiday season now and so I thought I would start my video game review a bit earlier than usual. A few weeks ago I was visiting a friend at Electronic Arts and was able to pick up a copy of the Mass Effect trilogy. I have wanted to play the series for a while and when I saw the bundle for $30, couldn't resist. This long weekend I was finally able to find some time crack open the case and start playing the game.

I have the game for my PS3 system and it is tough to going back to the PS3 after playing games on the PS4 for the past year. I only took a few minutes of play to get used to the older console. Mass Effect is one of those games where you make multiple choices throughout the game and each choice has far-reaching effects. There is also a first-person shooter element and I enjoy first person shooter games.

Mass Effect has been out for a number of years and so there wasn't any updates I needed to download when I started the game. However it did have to install the game on my PS3's hard drive. That seemed to take forever. I think it would have been faster to go to the store, buy a solid-state drive, and install it. I didn't do that, instead I went and had lunch. It was ready when I came back.

The game was a lot like a Uncharted in that it played like movie. I was surprised at how many glitches there were in the game, given its age. Once I had to quite the game and come back in because I had walked into a corner. The two people I was leading wouldn't get out of the way when I tried to back out and I was stuck.

I am only a couple of hours into the first of the three games. It is worth continuing to play as I find it very entertaining. I may have to take a break though as I have to head back to work in a few days. However I will pick it back up again during the Christmas break and will give an update as I get further along.

Don't Start Bioshock Infinite Unless You Have Time

Earlier this week, I downloaded a copy of Bioshock Infinite for my PS3. The artistic rendering of the characters made it seem interesting to me and so I started playing it. My oldest son had played earlier versions of the game and coached me through the first few minutes. He instructed me to spend time looking around and collecting items. It was good advice.

My son had to head back to his apartment at school and left me to play alone. It is a good thing I was playing at home on the TV in my bedroom. When my wife got tired she came in and told me to turn it off and go to bed. Had I been alone on the boat in the Bay Area, I would have kept playing all night long. When I did turn it off, I was half tempted to wait until my wife was fast asleep so I could keep playing. I knew better though because if she woke up and caught me sitting on the end of the bed playing a video game, I would be in serious trouble.

Bioshock Infinite is a great game for me. I like first person shooter games but have grown tired of the constant attention you have to pay to keep from getting killed. This game has a little bit of puzzle solving, a little bit of exploring, and a little bit of shooting. It all adds up to a fun game that I have enjoyed playing the last few nights. I think I am doing pretty good at not playing during the work day as that would be easy to do.

I downloaded the game to my PS3 from the PlayStation Network as it is free this month for PlayStation Plus members. This game alone makes it worth the annual fee for PlayStation Plus. I highly recommend it.

Singularity

One thing about being home during the Christmas season is that I get the chance to play more video games. This week I had some extra time while my wife was busy working on Christmas gifts and my son was doing homework. I looked at a stack of games I had been given and pulled out Singularity for the PlayStation 3 (it is also available for the PC and XBox 360).

My original intention was to play for just a bit to see if I liked the game and then move onto another game. I figured I would then give away the games I didn't like and go back to play the ones I did. Singularity was actually pretty good and I kept playing for quite a while.

Singularity is a first-person shooter (FPS) combined with some puzzle elements. It is the puzzle that kept me playing the game. A lot of FPS games are just running around killing things and it gets old quickly. With Singularity your helicopter is brought down by an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) and you are alone on an island that was once part of the Soviet Union. You do some exploring and find weapons along the way. Then you discover the former inhabitants of the island never really left, they turned into superhuman zombies (think "I am Legend" instead of slow-moving brain-dead ones).

I would have continued playing the game all night but my wife came and got me to go Christmas shopping. I am reluctant to get back into the game because it is rather addicting and I want a large chunk of time.

Super Motherload on the PS4

Several years ago my son introduced me to an Adobe Flash game called MotherLoad. It was incredibly addicting and so when I saw that one of the PS4 launch titles was Super Motherload, I wanted to see if it was a similar game. It is and so once I was able to log into the PlayStation Network, I used some free credits to pay for the $15 game.

The idea of the game is to dig holes in a 2-dimensional world. There are some simple physics with digging and you use a helicopter rotor to fly out of your holes. As you dig, you mine minerals. Some pay better than others just like in the real world. The deeper you dig, the more expensive the materials you find as well as more dangerous hazards you encounter. The game is a balance of fixing and gassing up your digging machine while earning money.

Super Motherload has a number of differences with the original Flash game. For instance, you can have up to 4 players at the same time. This is a perfect reason to get a second controller for your PS4. As all of you have to stay in the screen at the same time, one player can't head to the surface while the other continues digging. You have to communicate about when you go back for more gas.

I knew I was headed out of town and so I didn't mind that my son wanted to play the game late Saturday evening. We played until well past midnight and had a great time. Having played the original version of the game, we had a pretty sound strategy for getting rich quick. The game is different enough though that we had to adjust our play somewhat. I have to say that the adjustments contributed to the fun.

We have yet to play the game through to the end but I imagine we will have time during the upcoming Thanksgiving break.

Super Motherload is not a triple-A title on the PS4, nor is it priced like one. If you are looking for a simple video game to play on your PS4 with friends and family over the Holiday season, I would consider buying it.

A New Kind of Game

A few weeks ago, I had a coworker talk to me about an idea for a new type of game. I thought it was a great idea but needed some flushing out. Then a couple of days later I had a another friend give me another idea. This second friend also lives in Utah but works in the Bay Area. We fly out every Monday together and he gives me a ride from the Oakland airport to my office in Foster City. During the ride one morning, he suggested an idea for a computer video game.

Separately these two game ideas were pretty interesting. Combined, they make up a really amazing new kind of game. Tomorrow two of us and another friend are going to meet for lunch and start working on the idea. We will need to flush out a few details, but my hope is that we will be able to have a prototype running in time for the Christmas Holidays. Don't hold me to that date, as a number of unforeseen issues may arise, but that is my goal. Stay tuned as I will have more information as the game develops.