WCG Ultimate Gamer

I watched the first episode of WCG Ultimate Gamer - Season 1 on Hulu.com last night...and boy, where do I begin....

First off - I had no idea how awesome Amy Brady is - not only is she one of the founders of the PMS clan (her gamertag "Athena" gave that away) but she's also a FRAG DOLL?! I knew her as Valkyrie (Frag Doll) instantly, but I had never seen a picture of "Athena" - co-founder of PMS - so I was pretty shocked and excited to see her on there. Obviously, she'd be a great contestant on the show :-)

Now, I'm all for a good competition - that's kind of an essential part of video gaming - but like any reality TV show, the developers/producers of WCG Ultimate Gamer couldn't help but add a little "drama" to the mix. For example, instead of giving the gamers their space, they decide to place all 12 in one loft for the duration of the show. I understand this concept (every other reality TV show does this), and I understand that good drama equals good TV, that ratings are all that matter in most cases, and that it's probably best to keep all the contestants under a proverbial 'lock & key'. But I think I would have been just as happy with a good old TV show about these gamers and their challenges, minus the "living together" part. Granted that's not a big part (yet), but I'm only 1 episode in.

Also, a friend of mine mentioned how it seemed unfair that some very good gamers lost the competition because of games like "Rock Band" or "DDR" - but I have to say that if you're going to be the "ULTIMATE" gamer, then you have to be good at all the different types of games...yet another reason why I won't apply for this; racing games will be the end of me (snowmobiles not an exception). Those, as well as sports games and "music" games like Rock Band and DDR....all of which I'm horrible at :-/


In light of all this, I still find the show somewhat interesting. I'm planning to watch the other 7 episodes (eventually, as things are busy again), and I'm eager to see more of how the show (and contestants) characterize gamers and the gaming community. 


 Also, I find it hilarious that one of the male contestants noted that all the girl gamers on the show were "relatively attractive" and that he couldn't think of them as "serious" gamers. - I'll need to think about that statement a little more, as I'm sure there is a good theory I could pull out of this...

And finally - this is my fourth and final week of PMS Recruitment. I've already submitted my PMS name to my recruitment manager, and even that has been approved (yay!). Now, if only I could find a Big Sister....

Sharing the Awesome...

Even if you're not really into gaming, here is a link that I think everyone will enjoy. It's for the Nintendo 3DS, a 3D-version of the DS. Now, I'm not a huge fan of the DS or DSi or DSi lite - I don't own any of these, but I have played a few games on the DSi and I appreciate all the different things you can do with them, ranging from picture taking to wireless multiplayer gaming...but this new 3DS is just neat! I'd get one just to look at it all day long :-) Take a look for yourself and let me know what you think!

Today is the highly-anticipated release date for the new Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare 2 Stimulus Map Pack. I've already added Microsoft Points to my Xbox Live account (stupid, since I really didn't want to give Microsoft any of my money...or seem like I'm giving money to them) so as soon as I'm able to I'll be downloading the 5 new maps. Apparently only 3 of the maps are new, as two of them are well-known maps from Call of Duty 4 (Crash & Overgrown). The new ones sound interesting though (taken from Wikipedia: "..three new maps: Bailout, a multi-level apartment complex; Storm, an industrial park littered with heavy machinery; and Salvage, an abandoned car junkyard in the middle of the snow.") Exciting!


Oh, and if I didn't have a for-real job (that I love), I would definitely look into doing this: WCG Ultimate Gamer - Season 2. Now, I'm not big into reality TV (except for that one show "Who wants to be a Superhero?") - but this intrigues me. I haven't looked into it much, and I'm not going to apply or anything...but if anyone else knows information about this (stories from the first season, how the show conveys gamers and gaming to the public, etc...) let me know :-)