An early adopter of the first generation iPhone, I eagerly anticipated Apple's announcement earlier this summer of their latest and greatest entry into the smart phone market. I passed on the 3G from last year, for a variety of monetary and practical reasons, figuring I might grab the next iteration. In spite of the Reality Distortion Field, I found Apple's announcement of the iPhone 3GS features and capabilities compelling. A couple of people have asked me how I liked the new version, so I thought I'd jot some of my thoughts down here.

Since I'm upgrading from the 1st gen to the 3GS, it should be pointed out that some of these are improvements that came with the second generation (or are available on the first generation with the latest firmware).

FORM FACTOR
Apple has a reputation for designing sleek devices, though I've always thought their obsession with white made their products look practically antiseptic. The 3GS is identical to the 3G in form factor (as far as I know) and really does feel good in my hand. The curve of the back and the plastic make it very "holdable". But, that same curve makes the phone wobble a bit if you try to interact with it while it's resting on a flat surface like a table top or desk (though probably not obnoxiously so). The curved plastic also makes it a bit more slippery; pro-tip: don't rest it in your lap unless you want it crashing to the floor seconds later.

SPEAKERS
The speaker volume is much improved from the first gen, making it more practical to use speaker phone, show a video or song to a friend, enjoy gaming, or any other time when you don't want to wear headphones or have the thing pressed to your ear. The speaker(s) are now covered with a fine wire mesh instead of simply holes in the case, which should help keep dirt and pocket lint out (as well as probably aiding in volume). The one oddity is that covering the speaker in any way (say with your hand while gaming) seriously reduces the ability for it to generate sound (practically muting it). This is difficult to avoid when holding in landscape mode, carrying it in your pocket or purse, etc., and is confounded by the fact that sound only comes from one speaker.

OLEOPHOBIC COATING
A feature that seemingly snuck into the latest hardware without much fanfare is the new oleophobic ["fingerprint resistant"] coating. It actually works better than I would have expected. Although the screen still picks up smudges and fingerprints, it's not nearly as bad as the previous generations which seemingly required a wipe down after every use. For awhile there I thought I really was a greasy stereotype. I find myself having to polish the screen much less frequently, no longer having to stare through old button presses and finger swipes. For an interesting explanation of the technology, see Bill Nye's explanation at Gizmodo.

GPS
The first generation, which didn't have any GPS hardware, faked it by using information from nearby cell towers and a wireless network if connected. A clever scheme, it worked well enough to be useful if you only needed to know your approximate location. Having real GPS hardware, introduced in the 3G, is really where it's at. Being able to almost instantly have your location pinpointed is undeniably cool (at least for someone like me who doesn't own an in-car nav system or the like). Watching the pulsing blue dot is almost hypnotizing. Plus, since the hardware is available for all applications to use, it can be leverage to do some fun/interesting stuff. As an example: I recently used it to track a nature hike I went on.

COPY PASTE
One of the most requested features finally makes it to the iPhone as of the 3.0 firmware update. It works pretty well, though the copy pop-up can be somewhat intrusive when all you're trying to do is edit text you've entered. It has some oddities though. For instance, you can't select just part of a text message, you only have the option of copying it all. Strange design decision.

UNDO WEIRDNESS
There is an undo function, apparently. I know this because practically every time I pull the phone out of my pocket, it has a message on the screen that says "Nothing to undo". I guess I must be "Butt Undoing".

FORWARD TEXT MESSAGES
Not sure when this was added (3.0?) but it's a nice feature to have (finally). Though it's under the "edit" button which seems non-obvious.

GLOBAL SEARCH
It's about time! Introduced with the 3.0 update, you can now swipe right from the first desktop or click the "home" button to access Spotlight for searching the whole phone. It works pretty fast, and searches while you type, bringing up music, applications, safari bookmarks, email addresses, etc., that match your terms. You can also access the search functionality within the e-mail client, but annoyingly, it only searches e-mail addresses and subject lines. To me, this is practically useless, as the information I need 99% of the time is in the body of an e-mail, not the subject line.

VOICE RECOGNITION
A cool feature that is a long time coming, I think only available on the 3GS. Holding the home button for a few second brings up the voice menu from which you can make a limited number of requests, focused mainly on controlling the phone or the iPod. It's a mixed bag of impressive and fail, varying greatly with what you are requesting and the noise of your environment. For instance, the first time trying it, I asked it to dial a friend of mine, and it got the name right on the first try. It even prompts you to say what phone number (i.e. "mobile", "home", "work") you want to dial if they have multiple entries. Using the iPod is a bit trickier. Often times it would misinterpret what I was asking, and this is due in part to the small vocabulary of the commands. If you don't know the exact command to do something, it will give you strange results. For instance, if you want to hear some Pearl Jam, you have to say "Play Artist Pearl Jam" and not "Play Pearl Jam". There does not seem to be a way to play a specific song, which if an unfortunate omission. In noisy environments, it has worked very poorly for me. Walking outside wearing the supplied headphones on a somewhat windy day, it interpreted mic noise as various different commands, none of which where what I was attempting. Apparently it doesn't work over Bluetooth currently (another odd omission) but will supposedly after the next minor software update. Also, the voice menu closes after every command, which can be annoying if you want to do multiple things (such as ask the artist of the current song, then ask to play something else).

COMPASS
It's a compass. By itself that's nothing to write home about, but it will be very useful in mapping applications and could prove interesting for other applications. I'm waiting for the star gazing apps to use it to really nail down the ability to hold your phone between you and a constellation and identify it.

LANDSCAPE MODE FOR MORE APPS
Landscape keyboard works in email and text messages as of the 3.0 update, which has it advantages, and should have been in place from the beginning. Still, I don't know why they don't have a landscape mode for the desktop. It wouldn't have to be complicated, even just rotating the icons in place would be sufficient.

3G AND NETWORK SPEED
It's hard to say if the 3G antenna, which debuted in the second gen iPhone, is offering much of an improvement. It should be faster than the Edge network, but coverage is spotty. Browsing feels faster, but I think a lot of that has to do with updates to Safari and the faster processor. I also think that this phone seems a little less tolerant to poor signals. On my first gen iPhone, it seemed like I could get away with sending a text message more often when I barely had a signal. Now, I'm constantly attempting to resend when I'm in a dead zone (which seems to be most of the buildings I'm inside). It feels very "all or nothing" as far as connectivity goes.

TEXT MESSAGING
The text messaging interface is a little different now when a text can't send. Now it simply marks the text with an exclamation point when it fails. However, it would be nice if this was visible from the home screen (an exclamation point on the Messages icon, for instance, to let you know one or more failed to send).

CLOCK
I noticed a slight change to the Stopwatch which now has a lap timer. Don't know when that was included, but it's nice, if you like that sort of thing.

VOICE MEMOS
A cool app added in the 3.0 update, it allows you to record and send voice memos. Minimal interface, but it does what it advertises, without a lot of bells and whistles.

CAMERA
The new camera is a nice improvement over the first generation. 3 megapixel autofocus, with a nifty "touch to focus" interface (touch the object on the screen you want to focus on and it does--makes sense). Welcomed, also, is the ability to do macro photography as it was difficult before to take photos of anything relatively close to the camera. This comes in very handy on the iPhone, as I find I'm often photographic product labels or other objects with text, which before came out as a blurry mess.
Video recording is a new feature, one that I can't believe Apple, of all companies, left out in the first two generations. The picture looks good, the frame rate is nice, and the UI is simple and useable. You can do simple cropping of the beginning and ending with a simple scrubber, and you can even upload to YouTube.

STORAGE SPACE
I don't have a huge music collection, but even I was constrained by the 8GB of my original phone. The 32GB of the 3GS feels vast... at least until I start filling it with videos of my cat.

BATTERY LIFE
Although they always tout improved battery life, I'm not seeing one. In fact, my battery seems to run down faster than my first gen. But I can't make any specific claims as I have done any empirical testing. I have found that gaming eats up the battery quite quickly. Peggle is forcing me to charge my phone more than once a day. I'm not the first to complain, however, and some think that perhaps the 3.0 software has some poor battery management.

HEAT
The phone also experiences some heat issues from time to time, mainly when gaming for long stretches, getting noticeably hot to the touch. Again, I do not appear to be alone in noting this.

HEADPHONE JACK
As of the 3G, this is no longer recessed, so any standard headphone will work. It was one of the more ridiculous issues with the first generation.

SPEED
This is the overall best feature of the new iPhone. My first generation always felt a little sluggish, and I'm happy that this doesn't seem to be the case with the 3GS. Everything is improved by the faster chipset and it's surprising how smoothly the device runs now. Text entry is improved: no more lag. Web surfing is better: pages don't seem to stutter on scrolls (though this may be also improvements to Safari). Apps load and play noticeably faster (particularly games). This is the chipset that should have been including in the first generation, the one that delivers the smooth and quick interface people expect from all the Apple hype.

Overall, I'm extremely happy with the iPhone 3GS, coming from the first generation. It has its quirks, and some odd design decisions in places, but every software revision seems to improve it just a little more. If you have a 3G already it may not be enough of an improvement to warrant the price, but first gen owners who are available for the subsidized price should seriously consider the upgrade for the speed and other niceties included in the 3G and 3GS.

Seriously, why?



I didn't know hermit crabs were a thing in desperate need of blinging.

This week I'm proud to announce the start of my very own guest column over at the fabulous bs angel's video gaming blog extravaganza Hawty McBloggy. The Katonian Press is reporting on gaming and game industry news to the best of its ability: by making it all up. Please check out a weekly dose of faux gaming news in The Katonian Press at HawtyMcBloggy.com.

Rock Band is certainly a fun way to enjoy your favorite songs and pretend you're "melting hot licks" (or whatever the kids are calling it these days). It also has a decent character (rockvatar?) generator that let's you appropriately create a digital representation of your on-stage awesomeness.

What's more, it let's people create all sorts of great interpretations of famous real and fictional individuals. And then put them in a band. Like the cast of Star Trek The Next Generation, or Sarah Palin, or the survivors from Left 4 Dead.

I too have experimented with creating Rock Band facsimiles of famous characters. Tired of stand-ins filling out my band, I decided to create two much more interesting compatriots to rock out with. Mind you this was many months ago and I didn't spend a lot of time on it, but it's the Internet, so I'm compelled to share.

First up is everyone's favorite musical villain, Dr. Horrible. Behold him in all of his angsty glory!


My apologies to Joss Whedon and Neil Patrick Harris.

Since I have a penchant for villains (and super-villains), I couldn't pass up the opportunity to pay tribute to The Dark Knight. Filling out the rest of my band is everyone's favorite Clown Prince (of Rock), The Joker:


Oh, and in case you were wondering, this is how I roll:


At least I think that's me. It could be Yahtzee Croshaw.

Twitter, the masturbatory social time sink that has ensnared even the all powerful Oprah and her legion, is currently down for scheduled maintenance.

Unable to post there, and burdened with an abundance of useless (read: tweet-worthy) information, I struggled to get through the outage. I e-mailed my favorite game blogger, Miss bs angel of Hawty McBloggy, and made a desperate request for just a small taste of information. "I need my fix", I pleaded.

Here's how she replied:

There's this thing I love doing called Twitting.
When it goes down though I feel like spitting.
What am I to do,
I haven't a clue.
Whomever will I tell that I'm shitting?

Out of the park. But not to be outdone, I had to reply with a limerick of my own:

I hate to sound nasty and bitter,
but my life has gone straight down the shitter,
I've got plenty to say,
bout my boring old day,
And alas, I can't post it to Twitter!

One way to pass the time, I suppose. Feel free to post your own variants in the comments.

Okay, I get it, The Escapist was nominated for a Webby. That's great, but do you really need to bombard me with banners begging me to vote for you? It's annoying and, honestly, a little creepy. Do you have some issues to work out? Were you unpopular in High School? Did your college girlfriend call you "a little small" the first time you guys did it?

Seriously, maybe tone down the requests. It's a little needy.


Not shown: a preroll vote request, and a pop-up vote request during the video. "We've been nominated for a Webby" final ad tally: 8.

Another year, another potentially blown-out-of-proportion epidemic. Let's jump on the bandwagon, shall we?

Ten Signs You Might Have Swine Flu
10. Mud puddles are nearly irresistible.
9. Your lips taste like bacon.
8. You find yourself oddly attracted to Kermit the Frog.
7. The term "Hamburger" annoys you for no apparent reason.
6. You have a tail...
5. ...And it's curly.
4. You're considering upgrading to a brick house in case of wolf attacks.
3. "Moons Over My Hammy" just isn't that funny to you anymore.
2. You wake up in bed with a pig and no memory of how you got there.
1. It oinks when you pee.

I'll be here all week, folks.

The other night I had a dream.

I was in what I'd guess you call a large convention hall. It was furnished with numerous long tables with folding chairs, but the room was mostly empty. I found myself at a table with a handful of others (friends, acquiantances, strangers, I'm not really sure). We were playing a game.

It was D&D.

As we played, I took in my surroundings. With so few people around, it didn't take long for me to spot the gentleman sitting at a table nearby. It was the Geek, the Legend, the one-and-only... Wil Wheaton. If I was surprised to see him there, it didn't register. Perhaps this was a Con or the kind of place one expects to find geek culture icons mixing with the unwashed masses. I studied him for a moment. He was with someone, a suit perhaps. Wil seemed busy. Were they discussing a new book deal? Was he negotiating to play his own Grandfather in Star Trek? Was he finally getting around to suing Rob Reiner for the leeches in Stand By Me?

Who knows. That wasn't important. What's important was that it was WIL FUCKING WHEATON.

Our game wasn't going well. I can't summon the details at this moment, but I knew we needed some help. And WFW was sitting right there! He didn't seem to be having a great time either; a look of boredom and frustration crossed his face. But I knew a way to save us both.

I knew his secret.

I stood, grabbing a die from the tabletop and quickly hiding it in my closed fist. I walked down the row of tables, moving parallel to Mr. Wheaton and his cohort. I tried to walk casual--but not make it look like I was walking casual--as I strode down the aisle. Passing by Wil, I deftly placed a red D20 before him, the twenty facing up, and continued on my way, like a geek informent secretly passing a note to his handler.

He looked down at it.

It was an invitation. One I knew he couldn't ignore.

You see, in this made up dream world, I knew Wil Wheaton's secret: He must obey the call of the D20. If one is placed before him, twenty facing up, he is obligated to pick it up and join your game. He is not bound by some group or mystic force, or Wookiee Life Debt to Gary Gygax, just an unwritten Gamer's Code and Geek's Honor. It is a duty he performs willingly, and with great pleasure. It was my opportunity to game with a geek hero, and hopefully his chance to dodge whatever mundane facts-of-life task had brought him here.

Or, at least so I thought.

What came next was an anticlimax of epic proportions, though one I've come to expect in the kinds of dreams I have (Really, brain, you couldn't throw in some bikini girls and a can of Cool Whip? Is that too much to ask?) He looked down at the die, and then back at me as I walked away. I expected to return to my seat and see him getting up, explaining to the suit his geis, and brandishing a Player's Handbook seemingly from nowhere. But as I rounded the corner he levelled his gaze at me. I had a smug smile on my face that slowly faded to a look of embarrassment.

"I'm sorry, I can't," he explained. He looked annoyed. Not necessarily at me, just at the situation. "I'm really busy, I don't have time for this."

And that, well, was it. I returned to my table, dejected, and WFW went on with whatever he was doing that day. It was a fantasy bitch-slap. It was the dream equivalent of buying an ice cream cone only to have it plop on the ground the second you go to lick it. It was like dreaming that you were finally going to score with that girl you've been crushing on for years only to look down and find you no longer have a penis.

I'm not sure but as I woke up I swear I heard the "sad trombone" sound.

But it was a dream, so whatever.

Dreams can reveal some fascinating insights, though. I found these two points to be particularly intriguing:

1. Since dreaming is just a product of the imagination, the brain can make up any kind of crazy shit it wants. What's more, it doesn't have to rely on established facts or logic. For instance, in this dream, I just knew that if I laid a D20 before Wil (Fucking) Wheaton, he would be compelled to act. This isn't something he joked about in the real world or something I read in his blog or on Twitter, my brain just decided to establish it as a fact. I have had other dreams where in them I've "remembered" something that wasn't true or didn't ever happen. But since the logic part of your brain is mostly shut off when you sleep, my imagination was free to make up fake memories (or, even simpler, just the sensation of remembering). You can't say that's not fascinating. And maybe a little scary.

2. I love the idea of Whil Wheaton having a secret D&D compulsion. I think this is brilliant. It's the kind of thing you'd see in a Penny Arcade comic. I wish my brain was that creative when I'm awake (stupid brain, I'm going to stab you with a cuetip!) It's just such a beautiful idea: you present him with a D20 and he has to play. It's like a gaming version of Adrian Monk. If anyone reading this has a chance to test this at a convention, let me know. Just don't abuse it, he's got books to write and stuff.

I can only assume that this incident is the beggining of a pattern for me. Next time I'm sure I'll dream of Patrick Stewart refusing to perform Dickens with me on stage.

Or maybe LeVar Burton telling me that "reading is for pussies", and that I don't have to take his word for it.

This is your old friend Kato, Mother Nature. I know we've had our differences, but this... whatever this is... has got to stop.

Quite frankly, this snow--this snow is bullshit.

It's April, all right? April. What part of that are you having difficulty understanding? The saying doesn't go "April showers bring snow flowers", and not because that doesn't really make much sense, but because it's APRIL. It doesn't snow in APRIL. I mean, it does, but it shouldn't.

Do you know what I heard a few weeks ago, Mother Nature? Spring Peepers. That's right, Spring Peepers. It's in their goddamn name. And yet I look outside and do I see adorable amphibians calling to their mates with sweet sounds of love? No. I see snow. SNOW.

And what are those frogs gonna do, huh Mother Nature? They're cold blooded. It's not like they can just slip on a cardigan and sip hot cocoa till you decide to get off your ass and bring us some sunshine. Have you ever tried to put a sweater on a frog? They're fucked. All because of you.

You sicken me.

Look, I know you're busy trying to drown Fargo, but no reason to get pissy with us too. We're the Heartland, the Bread Basket. Or maybe you don't like the Heartland, in which case, consider us an eastern state. A good one, not New Jersey. Maybe Virginia. Everyone likes Virginia. Except maybe pre-Civil War blacks. Whatever, I'm getting distracted from my point.

And my point is this: can we lose the snow? Seriously, it's Baseball Season. You can't go to the game and enjoy a hotdog when there's an icicle hanging from your wiener.

Snow in April is un-patriotic. It's un-American. Basically, what I'm saying is: if you keep snowing on us, you let the terrorists win.

But if you won't do it for me, or for America, then do it for the Peepers. Cause no one ever stops to ask them what they think.

Angrily yours,
Kato

Welcome, welcome to Blog Banter, the monthly blogging extravaganza headed by bs angel! Blog Banter involves our cozy community of enthusiastic gaming bloggers, a common topic, and a week to post articles pertaining to said topic. The results are quite entertaining and can range from deeply insightful to ROFLMAO. Any questions about Blog Banter should be directed here. Check out other Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!

Ah, Valentine's Day. A day I have, in years past, derided as a bastion of insensitivity toward the lonely and relationship-disabled. I have since softened on my views, having been blessed to be lucky enough to find someone who can stand to be around me for more than a few minutes. It's something I'm still trying to grapple: my brain can't quite comprehend the madness that must be at work. Surely she must be suffering some fever that affects her perceptions and once it breaks she will be free from her stupor and run screaming at first chance. It's either that or the roofies I keep feeding her.

Being a rather low-maintenance couple, we had no fantastically romantic plans for Valentine's Day this year. Neither of us are opposed to a fancy dinner, but spending a weekend together at home in our cozy pajamas, lounging, is more our style. In fact, the only thing we really "planned" to do that weekend was maybe kick back, relax, and play some videogames. Together.

I'm lucky enough to have a gaming-enabled girlfriend. We actually spent part of our first or second date rocking out to Guitar Hero II. Fellas, if you are single, music games are a great date option. You can each play at your own difficulty, so it's fun for both, and you can show her what a patient guy you are by teaching her how to play (if she doesn't know already). As you get warmed up, you can really ham it up for her and bust out the stage antics of a true rock performer. You may look like a jackass, but hopefully she'll be laughing so hard she won't notice. If you really want to make things interesting, you can institute this house rule: Every time you two pass a song, you have to kiss. It's a great way to show her you're having fun, and hey, free kissing. You can thank me later when the game ends in a make-out session on the couch.

This year, Bungie, makers of the somewhat popular Halo series, made available a "Valentine's Day Massacre" playlist for the weekend for players who wanted to celebrate their love by blowing the ever-living-crap out of one another. Fittingly enough it was a two vs. two playlist. The girlfriend and I are no stranger to teaming up in Halo 3 and venturing out on Xbox Live together to wreak havoc as Team Awesome. Granted the kind of havoc we wreak usually involves accidentally blowing each other up and running around the map aimlessly looking for a weapon that we might possibly be able to get a kill with, but it's something to do. So, we jumped on the chance to have a little Valentine's fun. Nothing's more romantic than owning noobs, am I right?

In my naivety, I thought that we might have a decent chance to win this time. I mean, after all, it was the Valentine's Day playlist. Who would be playing other than devoted couples who wanted to take a break from the flower and candy and bring hot death to all comers. I thought we'd come across some charming couples that were as rusty as we are just looking to have some fun.

Apparently I've lost all ability to reason.

What I failed to comprehend was that the majority of people playing in this special holiday-themed brawl were not the adorable, fun-loving couples that I hoped them to be. No, the only kind of games these imaginary couples were playing were the kind that involved wine, chocolate body paint, and innocuous safe words. While they enjoyed their Valentine's bumping uglies, as it were, the girlfriend and I were pitted against all the lonely and socially inept masses that, out of some sense of perverse irony or perhaps self-loathing, joined together to make the world pay for their inability to establish meaningful relationships with another human being. Or at least make us pay.

Instead of some fun romp against a bunch of lovebirds, we found ourselves facing off against the usual crew of overly-competitive douche bags and the like that lurk in the depths of Xbox Live, dining on cheetos and fearing the sun, most completely unversed in the ways of fair play and sporstmanship. The girlfriend and I did... very poorly. Abyssmal, as it were.

As a side note, who over there at Bungie decided all the games should be Battle Rifle starts, huh? C'mon, give me at least a fighting chance. I love being spawn killed from the other side of the map repeatedly as much as the next guy, but couldn't we have at least had, I dunno, fiesta, or default weapon starts? Also, you guys gotta show me some time how this matchmaking system works. You can't tell me it's working just the way it is supposed to when it matches us up with two guys who combined have played over 8000 more games than us. Honestly, what the fuck, is there just a monkey at the server randomly putting players together in between bouts of poop flinging? I know matchmaking is hard, but sometimes I find it hard to believe there isn't a better match among the hundreds of thousands of people playing at any given moment. I'll wait the extra couple of seconds for a better match, honest.

The best match of the night (and I mean "best" in the most drippingly sarcastic manner possible) was the one in which we were practically shut out. A normal 2 versus 2 match goes to 25 points (one point per kill) and collectively I don't think the girl and I managed to even muster 5 kills. As unbalanced, and un-fun as that sounds, the other team had apparently been brought up by wolves or were perhaps from an alternate universe where it is totally okay to act like an ass to everyone you meet. Case in point: After every kill, without fail or hesitation, they chose to teabag our bodies. Uh, hello, assholes? Yea, we know you're beating us. We can see the scoreboard. Thanks for the reminder of your "greatness" though: You must be a really awesome player to be beating so handily a couple of people who only get to play Halo occassionally. Takes real skills there it does. Gee, I guess you must be some kind of super gamer. I'm envious. Have you joined MLG yet? I should add you to my friends list. You're really the kind of person I want to interact with regularly.

Oh and if you are unfamiliar or don't have the imagination to conjure what the term "teabag" means, it's the universally douche-baggy practice of standing over your opponent in a multiplayer game and repeatedly crouching so it looks like your character is humping their body. You know, like putting your testicles in their mouth: teabagging. Last time I checked though, didn't putting your balls in another guy's mouth kinda make you gay? Which is fine, I'm cool with that (though by your sexist/racist/homophobic taunts I suspect you are, in fact, not okay with it). Anyway, teabagging is about the lamest taunt ever, yet pre-pubescent kids and other equally simple-minded denizens of Xbox Live and elsewhere seem to think it's funny and the appropriate thing to do. To clarify: it's not. It doesn't make up for your small penis or failure as a human being. But whatever, keep doing it, I love reporting guys like you. LOVE IT.

I left the lobby as quickly as possible to avoid having to listen to these two cro-magnons taunt us any further, though the girlfriend narrowed her eyes at me and declared that she would have liked to hear what they had to say. But that's probably because she has, in the past, done her best to verbally bitch-slap our opponents.

It was frustrating, and not the way we wanted to spend our Valentine's gaming together. But then, gaming with your significant other doesn't always turn out the way you might want. But then, sometimes a moment comes along and you know why you bothered in the first place. We took a break after the disappointing session and decided to play again a couple days later. After some warming up, a better attitude, and some considerably better matchmaking, we got into a groove and played some good (and most importantly: fun) matches. I looked over at her, and her face was animated. She giggled infectiously, like a little girl, as she stuck an opponent with a plasma grenade and watched him explode in a beautiful blue ball of light.

And it is moments like these that remind me why I offered to share with her my controller, and my heart.

Other participants!
Gaming with my wife, You could be doubling alone, Next Gen Killed Our Gaming Relationship, Forced Perspective, Playing With My Toys, From Gaming Geek to Heroes Freak, My Lady and Gaming, Gaming with your significant other, Gaming Together, Maybe?, Girl Gamers = Hawt, Gaming with my significant other, Move Over Hott Boy, I Want to Play, Frag the Girlfriend!!, 'Til Mongoose Do Us Part