"Halo Sux. OMFG."

I remember back to the mid-to-late 90s. To me, that era is the Golden Period of video games. Between the PSX era Final Fantasies, the early installments of Resident Evil and Silent Hill, Super Mario 64 and Legend Of Zelda, it seemed like almost every game that came out delighted me with an engaging storyline, fun gameplay, and memorable moments. Half Life and Deus Ex. Need I say more?

Flash forward to today, and what do we have? Rainbow Six. Halo. Gears Of War. World Of Warcraft. Plot and innovation have been tossed out the window like so much old garbage, to make room for scant, barebones single player games and online multiplayer deathmatches. Rather than attempt to engage me with plot twists and character development, game companies expect me to find running around a big arena killing 12 year olds as they cuss in my ear enjoyable.

Voice chat enabled multiplayer is absolutely the worst. I thought multiplayer in itself was less than intellectually stimulating, but having to listen to hardcore nerds blither endlessly about their best "kills" or how great they "fragged" somebody yesterday is like having my brain being assaulted by sharp sticks.