I don't get to play my Xbox or my Xbox 360 nearly enough.  These past two weeks have been a prime example.  We deployed our new Online Banking system on the 23rd, so the week leading up to that and the week after have been rather hectic, especially considering the minor issues we had in production.  So the games on my playlist are a bit old-news-ish, but at least I've been able to put some thought into them.  Take that, IGN!

First up, I finished Call of Duty 2 on Xbox 360 last night.  Having given up on Dead or Alive 4, I decided it was time to play through the rest of this one, and I'm really glad I did.  This is easily among the most intense experiences I've ever had with a video game, at least from the single player aspect of it.  I haven't bothered with the online side of it, since it's apparently been mired with issues.  Playing the game on a 91" screen with 5.1 channel sound probably contributes to my love of this game.  Not since sitting in the front row at a Saving Private Ryan screening have I felt anything close to the level of anxiety (pseudo-shellshock?) as I felt playing this game.

I've been playing my way through Gun on Xbox 360.  I have a real love/hate relationship with that game.  On the one hand, you've got respectable graphics, an awesome storyline, and an interesting old-west setting.  And voicework by Kris Kristofferson!  That dude should be a prerequisite for anything even thinking of resembling the old west (Deadwood, I'm looking at you). On the other hand, you've got a sandbox game world that is just too small (I can cross the whole thing on horseback in just a couple of minutes), and really shallow gameplay.  The storyline missions as well as the side missions are spoonfed to you, made entirely too methodical thanks to the radar on your screen that plainly marks the objectives.  Being raised by a father whose favorite shows were Bonanza and Gunsmoke, and being a Deadwood addict myself, it's still a lot of fun.  Just not the perfect 4 out of 4 Playboy gave it this month.

The other big consumer of my Xbox 360 time has been Geometry Wars.  The whole Xbox Live Arcade thing is an interesting phenomenon.  Here we have the most powerful game console on the market, supported by the most robust online gaming network, and we are finding that some of the most fun to be had is with simple single-player games like this.  I'm crazy about this game.  I load this game, crank up some Prodigy or Crystal Method, and before I know it, my hands are trembling, my eyes are drying out, and my nerves are fried like a tweaker.  Good times.

On the legacy Xbox, I haven't got to play much of anything.  Michelle commandeered it for the living room, and she's been playing through SW:KOTOR, SW:KOTOR II, and she's just starting on Fable: The Lost Chapters.  I'm considering putting some time into Morrowind again (when I can pry Michelle away from the Xbox), since I'm looking forward to Oblivion in March.  Nah.  Between work, reading, preparing for my MCSD (hopefully to be followed with an MCSE), my kid, my wife, and my other games, I don't think I'll be hurting for things to do waiting for Oblivion.