We can all feel it in our bones. By now there should be a brisk wind blowing across your arms and legs, forcing you to cover them both in an actual coat. As you do your household budget you’ll have noticed a big downtick in the amount of spare cash you have to save. You aren’t going on any trips, and you have plenty of vacation time on the books.
Gaming season has arrived.
Since rolling out large changes to the site earlier this year, I’ve been in a bit of a gaming slump. A few weeks ago I tried Legend of Korra. That’s about all I’ve played this spring and fall.
It was a promising start to the year in gaming for me. Microsoft started throwing video games at Xbox Live Gold subscribers with earnest and I rejoiced. For a guy who hates platformers, I achieved a gold medal. (Not really, I just finished Max: The Curse of Brotherhood.) Before that I reveled in the multiplayer Mecca that was Titanfall. Titanfall was another shocker for me, I’m terrible at online multiplayer too.
So then, why am I excited? Why am I now settling in front of my office Xbox One like an underweight kid looking for a note to get out of gym class before dodgeball?
Why am I now settling in front of my office Xbox One like an underweight kid looking for a note to get out of gym class before dodgeball?
Halo: The Master Chief Collection launched early this week. I don’t yet have my copy in-hand, but I hope to by the end of the day. I purchased an Xbox 360 and found gaming thanks to Star Trek Legacy. I kept my Xbox 360 instead of trading it in because of Halo 3. Halo 3: ODST is my favorite first-person shooter of all time, closely followed by Titanfall.
Halo: The Master Chief Collection is a massive assortment of Halo related hotness. The campaigns from Halo, Halo 2, Halo 3 and Halo 4 are all included in Halo: The Master Chief Collection. Halo 2 has new cut scenes and better audio. It and Halo allow players to switch between their old original Xbox graphics engines and an updated engine with better textures at 60 frames per second. Joining all that campaign is every multiplayer level from the three games included that offer it. My favorite – Halo 3: ODST isn’t included but I’m crazy excited. I’ll be able to relive the series on my Xbox One. 4000 gamerscore isn’t a bad way to convince me to purchase a game too. I’m also very interested in seeing Halo: Nightfall. That’s the television show that bridges the gap between Halo 4 and Halo 5: The Guardians.
Besides The Master Chief Collection, I’ve got Assassin’s Creed Unity on the way. I’m crazy excited about Unity too. It’s the first game I’ll purchase this year that’s exclusively available on the Xbox One. I’m expecting next-generation graphics. I’m expecting its new mission style to make tailing enemies less of a pain in my ass. I’m hoping that the bigger dynamic crowds will make Paris feel interesting in a way that the Caribbean and American frontier didn’t. I’m overjoyed at the idea of cooperative multiplayer in a campaign. Sure, I don’t get the multiplayer elements form last year’s Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag, but I hated those anyway.
Finally, gaming season has arrived and all the things I need are in place. My Xbox One has external storage so that I can get all of these games digitally even though my console is about to run out of space. My Xbox One’s software has been updated so that long play sessions aren’t ruined by cloud save syncing bugs that still left me without a core achievement in Watch Dogs. (Oh yeah, I played Watch Dogs too.)
Let’s game folks. Let’s game like there’s no tomorrow and money just flows from the heavens.
