December 30, 2000

"So what do you write about?" Trevor asks, peering in the empty donut box to make sure it's empty.

"Just game stuff. You know, what we're playing and what we think of it. What works and what doesn't."

"Well what are you gonna write about this week. There's no one else here."

"That doesn't mean we can't have Shoot Club. We just have to find games for two people."

"Games for two people. Man, that's lame. Like what, Go Fish?"

"No, like Unreal Tournament with bots."

"Yeah, I guess. Assault mode would be pretty cool, but we have to watch the bot skill level. It's better if they're too hard than too easy. We could play co-op against the bots."

"Exactly. Same with Quake III."

"Naw, it's not as good," Trevor says, "Not so many options for game types. The weapons don't complement each other as well. In Unreal Tournament, you would take the snot gun and I would take a ripper. You'd cover the entrance with boogers and I'd fire the razor blades."

I'm always the guy who gets stuck with the snot gun. It's like being the medic in Team Fortress or being in high school and having to be the cleric in D&D. To get out of being Trevor's snot gun wielding sidekick, I suggest something else: "Or we could each lead a team of bots against each other. That would make for a great two player game."

"We don't have to play an FPS," Trevor says, sounding out the acronym for first person shooter: 'Eff Pee Ess'. "What about Diablo 2?"

Trevor is awful at Diablo 2. He wanders off by himself then complains when he gets killed. "Where were you, dude?" he'll wail, "You were supposed to be my back up. Can you get in there and kill those leaper things around my body?"

"Just about any real time strategy game is good for two players," I suggest, again trying to avoid tagging along behind Trevor as his bodyguard/sidekick. Trevor won't even share healing potions until his inventory is full. "I found them first," he'll say, "You snooze, you lose."

"An RTS, huh?" he considers. 'Are Tee Ess'. "But, you know, this is Shoot Club, not Build Club or Drag Select Club."

"But there are different games with different modes to play. We could play cooperative against the AI," I suggest, since Trevor is also awful at real time strategy games, "since Starcraft's skirmish AI is pretty tough."

"That's because it cheats. There's no way it could be that good. Hey, did you know that they're going to nominate Starcraft for the national sport of Korea. 70% of the people over there play Starcraft?"

"70%? I don't think it's that high."

"It is. I read that. Maybe we could play a more American Are Tee Ess?"

"Red Alert 2?"

"That's too American. I was thinking AOE2." Ay Oh Ee Two. "There are some good modes with the Conquerors add-on. Dibbs on the Spaniards. Oh, hey, you know what?"

"What?"

"We should play Virtua Tennis while we decide."

Cont'd