I'm a Giant Killer!
Over the weekend I dipped into the online experience that Project Gotham Racing 4 has to offer. It was a lot of fun, and not just because I was able to win several of my races. It was just a lot of fun, because it brought back a lot of good memories. My first real online gaming experience came with Project Gotham Racing 2. Before that, I had played the occassional game online here and there, mostly some PC shooter, but I never really saw the appeal. I preferred to just play games for the single player storyline, and when I wanted to play multiplayer, I gathered a group of friends and went head to head with them. But then Project Gotham Racing 2 came out and several of my colleagues urged me to get an Xbox Live account and race with them online.
Since they were boasting about their skills, I felt inclined to answer their challenge. I got myself the Xbox Live package, including headset, logged online, and was lost for several weeks of hardly any sleep and a heavily bruised ego. The lack of sleep came from the fact that this was an amazing 'one more go' game. One more go to try and break one of the many world lap records (which was I able to do once, but only because the game hadn't come out yet officially, and was only played by a handful of reviewers), one more go to try and defeat friends and unknowns, and one more go to try and increase my ranking on the ever expanding leaderboards. The egobruising came from the fact that I wasn't as good as I had always seen myself. Yeah, I was in the top 10 percent, but when you consider yourself the hottest driver in the world, you don't want to end last in a few too many online races with people who turned out to be just that little bit hotter. Or in some cases: a whole lot hotter.
When interest in PGR2 waned, so did my interest in Xbox Live. When I made the move to the 360, I never really went online, as the Internet connection at my then apparment gave a weird error that neither Microsoft or my Internet provider really knew how to handle, and I just shrugged and went on with my life. But now I'm in a new home, and I was able to get my 360 online, and even though I'm not that excited about it anymore that I want to play all through the night, it was still fun to 'school a few kids' on how you really burn rubber around the tracks. I was shocked at the lack of skills of many people racing online. I'm not saying that I'm such a brilliant driver, but many people were just tearing down the straights, only to crash heavily in the corners. You'd think this would teach them something, but in my rear view mirror I could see this happen again and again. Not that I'm complaining too much, since the easy victories were nice for my ego, but I had more fun with the races where my opponents actually also had some skills. So I lost a few, won a few, and generally had a good time. My most pleasant victory was when a French guy in a faster car wasn't able to pass me on the final straight, because I was able to maneuver my car in front of his with every move he made. I guess it's a good thing I don't have the headset for the 360 yet, I'm quite sure those words he was trying to whisper in my ears weren't too friendly.
And I'm oficially a giant killer. Who would ever have thought that possible?
You are probably familiar with the exceptional benefits of playing an online game. These games involve both mental skill and strategic thinking and in many cases their outcome is based on chance.
Posted by: warhammer empire | December 26, 2010 at 03:47 PM
Online games are very entertaining and very fun to play. Also, online games give us the opportunity to meet new people and gain friends.
Posted by: playmobil airport | April 27, 2011 at 12:57 PM
Racing games are exciting to play. It would be more exciting if you could play it together with your friends.
Posted by: tyranid | April 29, 2011 at 03:03 PM
Now i know. Online games makes our lives very relax and so much fun. Thanks for your article. Good post!
Posted by: plumbing | April 29, 2011 at 06:45 PM
I think you really enjoy playing online games. It seems you know all the benefits. I also played games online with my classmates and I really wanna know other beautiful games.
Posted by: party bags | May 25, 2011 at 04:41 PM