It’s amazing that even with an underpowered, two-and-a-half-year-old laptop, my two gaming companions of the past few months have both been PC titles. I have returned to my ongoing love affair with Team Fortress 2 and started a new and dedicated relationship with Starcraft II. Not only do I play both games a few times a week (ok, I actually haven’t played TF2 in a while), but I will continue to do so for years to come thanks to the frequent updates the games will receive.

And it’s not as if I fall in love with games easily; for example, I stopped playing Red Dead Redemption shortly after its release, quickly becoming bored of riding horses around a barren Western landscape while trying to aim and shoot with a shitty control scheme. I don’t want to digress into a Rockstar-bashfest or an argument about console and PC gaming; I’m just using my experience with Red Dead Redemption to contrast my experience with TF2 and SC2. Maybe I just enjoy games that end in “2″ this year (Mass Effect 2 was the fucking shit).

Although I love both TF2 and SC2, they are polar opposites. Two multiplayer games couldn’t be any more different from each other (perhaps UNO and Street Fighter 4 or Counter-Strike and Carcassonne). One game is a cartoonish and ever-evolving first-person shooter featuring at least one huge element of luck; the other is a science-fiction (although not exactly gritty-looking) real-time strategy game requiring multitasking, flawless execution, and a thorough knowledge of a game that is similar to its predecessor.

TF2 is about as casual and straight-up FUN as a PC game can be while still appealing to hardcore players. You can jump right in and play as a soldier, spamming rockets across the map at the other team, and have a good time doing it; or play as a Pyro, trying to find a way to get behind the other team so you can roast them up-close; or play as a Sniper, hanging back behind the rest of your team while trying to snipe enemies in the head. You can jump in and play for fifteen minutes or spend an entire night killing characters that look like they were created by Pixar.

Starcraft II, on the other hand, is about as ruthless and unforgiving as a game can be while still appealing to players who are unable to click their mice 100 times a minute. Although, the multiplayer is only appealing after you’ve played a bunch of the single-player. There’s no way you can just jump in and have any idea of what to do. And then even once you have an idea of what you’re doing, you’re still going to be on the very bottom of the ladder without knowing some basic knowledge. And then once you have a grasp of the basics and can follow a build order and know counters, you have to learn how to scout and keep track of your own base at the same time, how to attack and train reinforcements at the same time — then maybe you’ll be decent. Then maybe you’ll learn how to micro-manage your army for maximum effectiveness, using spell-casters to devastate the opposing forces in a way pure brute force can’t. And this all happens at a pace much faster than most other RTSs. Units and buildings are very fragile, magnifying every small mistake. Oh, you told those units to move instead of attack-move and lost a bunch of them? Guess you fucking lose now. It’s brutal. Yet when you win a close game or fight off early cheese (do you really want me to explain that?), there aren’t many games more satisfying.

What ties these two games together is their respective developers, Valve and Blizzard. Both are the kings of PC gaming because they stick to what they know and polish their games until they’re nearly perfect. There’s the “Valve-Time” meme, but Blizzard is just as bad with getting its games out in any reasonable amount of time — but no one cares once they are finally out. Whenever they come out with a game, it just becomes the de-facto standard for the genre. Starcraft is a spectator sport in Korea. Diablo II and World of Warcraft have ruined thousands of lives. Valve too has ruined thousands of lives, starting with the famous mod for the original Half-Life called Counter-Strike, a game that became a worldwide phenomenon and introduced many gamers to the concept of “clans.” But more importantly, Valve created Steam, a digital distribution and multiplayer platform that is probably the greatest development of the 21st century thus far. There’s no disputing the integral place of both companies in PC gaming history and its future.

The bottom line here is that both games offer more than enough content to satisfy most gamers. TF2 is the wacky, content-laden, constantly-updated distraction; SC2 is the high-maintenance, but ultimately rewarding obsession–well, as rewarding as beating someone at a VIDEO GAME can get.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Crw85HvIFs

Phillies 2012: A Look Ahead – MLB Trade Rumors gives me hope that the Mets will be able to win the NL East in two years. Hopefully by then Fernando Martinez will be in the OF; Ruben Tejada or Wilmer Floree, 2B; Josh Thole, C; and Jenrry Mejia in the rotation. I wonder if that last sentence was at all grammatically correct.

Ken Blackwell, Author Of ‘Blueprint,’ Tries To Convince Jon Stewart That Obama Is A Tyrant, Fails (VIDEO) – I’m just kinda embarrassed for this guy. He wrote a book and he’s not even able to back it up. At all.

Team Fortress 2: 119th Update! – I haven’t played TF2 for quite a while, but it’s easily one of my favorite games of the past few years, and it’s certainly one that keeps on giving. Valve rocks. I need to load it up just to get my GRIZZLED VETERAN medal.

The Chase is on – Adam Rubin lobby that Chase Utley is “poised” to take the title of Most Feared Opponent of Mets Fans from Chipper Jones. I’d say that already happened. My mancrush is only proof of how terrified I am whenever he comes to the plate. For an opposing player to already have unofficially claimed naming rights to a section of a stadium is just impressive.

Apple shutting down Lala music service – I thought Microsoft was supposed to be the evil company? Now I can’t stream the albums The A.V. Club reviews? Fuck you, Steve Jobs.

Blame The Superstar Syndrome – Why David Wright was getting booed. Or why Mike Francesa was saying to trade him a year and a half ago. Or why sometimes I end up talking about trading Jose Reyes.

Batman 3 Release Date Set – I was really tempted to make this its own post. But all I have to say is July 20, 2012. I hope it doesn’t suck; I don’t want Christopher Nolan to go out on a bad note before the world ends.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=639y7fweUBg

TF2 voiceover videos are one the few things that reduce me to a little kid who can’t stop laughing. KA-BOOM! KA-BOOM! KA-BOOM! This video is better than every episode of America’s Home Videos put together. And these TF2 videos only keep getting better, as Valve adds more and more voice clips with each update. So while I may go back and forth with how much I love playing the game, I’ll always love the Heavy.

The Scout update isn’t even here yet, but just the fact that I know that it is imminent has me ready to jump back into the multiplayer FPS of recent history. The new unlockable weapon pictured above only adds to the anticipation. Just in time for spring training.

Details (and future details) found at the Scout update site here.

The farther the ball flies before ricocheting offa some chucklehead’s skull, the longer he’s gonna be stunned. And guys who think they’re tough because they’re invulnerable? It works on them too. Now the bad news: You can’t double jump when you’re carrying this little beauty.

I’m really curious as to how the Sandman’s mechanics work, exactly. There has to be a delay for the Scout to toss the ball up to himself, no? And I imagine it will be extremely hard to hit distant targets, as the stun time time increases with flight length. It’s probably a pretty high arching ball, and I wonder if people will be able to consciously dodge them. I’m sure ubered Heavies would be glad to know they could dodge these balls as they fly across the level.

There are plenty of days on that Scout update site, so I’m hoping there are a bunch of new maps added as well. It’ll be fun to see if Valve can top this genius with the Scout’s other two weapons. Although, they do seem to leave the best for last in these pages, so I’m pretty freaking excited. You should be too. It’s amazing how Valve has kept the love of this game so high by creating substantial additions and spreading them out perfectly.  And it’s all free. Valve has pretty much cemented itself as the greatest gaming company of the past few years.

My poor Xbox 360, all but kicked to the curb. The only thing gathering playtime in the past few weeks is GTA IV, and even then, it’s not exactly very enthusiastic gaming. I really should beat Mass Effect, Crackdown, and Burnout Paradise — considering how close I am — but how can I play those when I have years of PC gaming to catch up on? Company of Heroes, Civilization 4, Painkiller, Sins of a Solar Empire, S.T.A.L.K.E.R., World in Conflict, The Witcher, Command and Conquer 3, HL2: Ep.1+2…

You may notice those last two are also on the 360, but I can’t play an RTS with anything but a mouse and keyboard, and I’m too accustomed to playing Source engine games with them as well.

Team Fortress 2 has taken Call of Duty 4‘s spot in my gaming rotation as FPS of choice, I’m scrounging my way through the CoH single-player campaign, and I just went animal today and bought Sins of a Solar Empire and the “Every Single Damn Command and Conquer Game” pack.

Totally awesome. I’ve been playing Sins for the past 2 hours — it is a ridiculously epic and addicting game. A SMALL map is made up of 14 planets. I didn’t even finish the match yet. A large map with a bunch of people has to be easily more time-consuming than a game of Risk. Basically, it’s not a game that would ever make it to consoles. And with Red Alert 3 and Starcraft II coming out at the tail end of this year, I am set for a long while.

As for my 360…well, I need to beat GTA IV soon, so I can get a decent amount of money selling it. I need to fund all this PC gaming (and Ninja Gaiden II).

The Orange Box

Fortunately, my laptop runs Team Fortress 2 just as well as Counter-Strike: Source and Day of Defeat: Source, even though the minimum requirements are supposedly higher. This translates to 30-40 fps at the lowest possible settings, but it’s all I need. But I might end up buying it on 360 as well as the electronic copy I already purchased on Steam. You can often find affordable Xbox 360 copies at local pawnshops like ezpawn.com. Just in case you don’t know, the Orange Box isn’t just Team Fortress 2, it’s Half-Life 2 complete with both Episode 1 and 2, and Portal, a sort of first-person puzzle game involving teleports. So for any 360 owners out there that haven’t touched PC gaming in 3 years, the Orange Box is the best value in gaming this year. I’d pay $45 for Team Fortress 2 alone. It is THAT awesome. Surprisingly, it’s not as fast as I thought it would be, so I can see the 360 version being just as fun as the PC version. It’ll definitely look better for most people, including myself.

Bioshock

The game I bought before I even had a 360 to play it on. A very atmospheric, story-driven game with incredible graphics, but not quite the revolutionary experience it was hyped up to be. I haven’t touched it in two weeks due to other addictions, but I have vowed to complete it this weekend. It deserves at least that. Once the next game hits, no other disc will enter my 360 disc tray for at least a month.

Halo 3

The game Microsoft hopes they can ride to a phenomenal holiday season of sales. There’s really no way for it to live up to the hype at this point, but I have no doubt that it’s multiplayer will be nothing short of incredible. Bungie has had years to perfect this game and I think they’re still sore at how they were forced to rush out Halo 2. They want this game to be the end-all be-all. I didn’t have a 360 when the beta was out, but the consensus seemed to be, “it’s awesome.” One thing’s for sure — it will be a statwhore’s dream. Just look at this! Insane.

Rainbow Six: Vegas

The other game I’ve bought for my 360. Outside of a couple of epic nights, I’ve barely touched it. It is without a doubt the best realistic tactical shooter I’ve ever played, but I’ve been addicted to the following game…and it’s not even a final game.

Call of Duty 4

With an incredible multiplayer demo disguised as a beta, Infinity Ward has won themselves a shitton of sales. Running at a silky-smooth 60 fps while sporting eye-popping MGS 4-like graphics, COD4 is going to be fighting with Halo for supremacy in my 360 playtime once it hits in November. The choice to leave the WWII-era and enter modern times was the right one. It’s no slouch compared to Halo 3 when it comes to stat-tracking, and the leveling-up and challenges will no doubt keep me occupied for months. And getting kill streaks has never been so much fun. I completely own Crash in Free-for-All. It is MINE.

Gears of War

Ok, so it’s not technically a FPS, it’s a TPS, or third-person shooter. In every other way, it’s the same type of game. Epic just wanted to make a more cinematic experience. For all the hype it received, I wasn’t too impressed when I played it. The graphics were definitely amazing, but the gameplay was just clunky and awkward as hell. And apparently the online aspect of the game isn’t something to write home about. Nevertheless, I will borrow this game from Chris likely some time over the Christmas break. I’ll just beat the single-player to get some achievement points. Gotta get that gamerscore up!

Of course, mixed in with all these shooters will be Guitar Hero III and Rock Band. I think my GPA might suffer this semester…

Holy fucking shit. Pure. Awesome. Fun.

And it runs just as well as CS:S or DOD:S on my shitty laptop.

Valve, while they’re never on time, always deliver the goods. I am BLOWN AWAY.

“Here, you can preload so you don’t have to download anything more, just validate files and then play!”

Nope. Wrong. EPIC FAIL.

And Gabe Newell is fat.