Lots of links in this one

I haven't been gaming much lately. This is a bad time of year with regard to the amount of free time I have.

I have been carrying on with Fallout 3 and have managed to raise my character's Small Arms to 100 and Agility to nine.  Though I've realized this may have been a mistake and definitely won't be taking the Gun Nut perk. I don't plan on modding past the 100 limit, though, so I will just have to look at the Small Guns Bobblehead as a collectible and focus on items with non-gun enhancements.

In other news I am suffering from a great deal of ... I'm not sure what you would call it. Confliction? Ennui? Whatever it is, I have it. It has a lot to do with my inability to play MMORPGs lately, for whatever reason. Which is a shame because I have a month of time with DDO going to waste. Alas!

I have had it in my mind to make a clean break with all MMO-related games for a couple months and focus solely on older games. Not that I have the time for this either, but I can't shake the thought out of my pot-diseased brain that I should go on a binge the likes of which haven't been seen since the days of EGA graphics. It's the same part of me that thinks I should switch 100% to linux and run dosbox out of WINE so I can play the same game I was playing in 1989 rather than continue to dual-boot with Vista and play Left 4 Dead (which is coming out tomorrow). You know, the tweaker part of my brain.

I am also not feeling the spending of a grip of cash on the numerous titles and expansions coming out this time of year, as I think many of us understand. I can see even my munificent subscription to LOTRO ending (I sub even if I don't plan on playing partly to hold the $10/month rate but also to show support for the game) in the face of financial reality. It could even prevent me from using most subscription-based services, whether MMO or not.

I wonder if there will be a boom of F2P games when the realities of the financial crisis finally hit home. Probably not, as $15 a month is still a solid deal if it is your primary entertainment.

I have personally considered joining an Ultima Online freeshard. I am a more recent comer to the MMO world, one of the WoW wave so I have never played Ultima Online or even Everquest. I thought it would be interesting to give this title a whirl 10 years after it's release.

But that is all assuming I don't simply go away to Left 4 Dead land for good, ending with my brains eaten.