The first of my Winter Games ‘06 ate the bomb last night. After a month of regular distractions I finally defeated those uppity Russians on Ghost Recon. The completion of a three year old game isn’t exactly worthy of a gala celebration, but at least it’s one more loose end tied up. I’m going to make a confession now and tell you that I’ve never actually completed a Tom Clancy game before this, despite the fact that I’ve started at least four (Ghost Recon, the first and second Rainbow 6 games, and Splinter Cell). I run out of patience for the realistic tactical considerations and begin to long for crazy rocket launcher combat.

Other progress has been made as well. World of Warcraft continues on at pace, and I’m still enjoying Dragon Quest 8. It’s harder than I expected it to be, actually. I don’t know if I’m rushing through the game and encountering monsters beyond my experience level or if the game is just harder than its predecessors but I’ve never died so much playing an RPG. I think this one is going to take some patience. For example, one of my characters is so useless at this point in the game (level 12 or so) that if she’s ever going to contribute she’s going to have gain a lot of levels. Look for this one to keep reappearing over a long time.

Catch you next week.