Back from Argentina -- an update

Well, my wife and I made it back from Argentina safely. We had an amazing trip. The highlight was probably glacier watching and ice-trekking near El Calafate.

On a video game front, I finally entered 2005 on Christmas day and got an Xbox 360. After returning from the southern hemisphere, I started a Halo 3 co-op campaign with my brother. It's quite fun, though he seems to quadruple my score on every level. Maybe it's because the last console shooter I played was GoldenEye (yes, that means I haven't played Halo or Halo 2 -- yet).

I also picked up a copy of the The Orange Box. Again, I'm late to the game on this, but I have never played Half Life 2. Mainly I bought it because of Portal, though. I had read a lot about it and was really looking forward to playing it. Yes, Portal is a short game, but I think it's the perfect length for exploring the possibilities of a single game mechanic.

I played through the whole thing in one day (with some healthy Halo 3 time in the middle) and loved every minute of it. The best thing is that it got even more fun as I went along. The more I think about it, the more I think that makes Portal one of the best games I've ever played. Seriously. Most games hope to keep a pretty steady entertainment level. But this one just seemed to get better and better without introducing any new gameplay mechanics. It's a great concept with great level design and great writing. If SPUDZOOKA is half as fun, I'll be quite pleased with myself.

Speaking of SPUDZOOKA (sorry for the stream-of-consciousness post), it may be another week or so before I can resume regular work on it. I am traveling to the UK for work next week and will be gone for five days (busy month).

Anyway, I'm back, and I hope to get my posts back on some sort of normal schedule in the next few weeks. Thanks to everyone who has kept coming back in my absence. I know it doesn't take long for a blog to peter out.