Friday, December 19, 2008

Into the SD void

'Tis the season. To gather with friends and loved ones, to decorate the tree, to light the Menorah, to sip a cup of eggnog before a blazing fireplace, to do the Feats of Strength, and to be dragged kicking and screaming from one's delicious HD/surround setup to spend two weeks in a realm of cruel, offline, two-speaker, 4:3, 480p squalor.

That's right. It's time once again to pack the kids (360, daughter, PS3) in the car to do some Christmasing at the parents' house in New York, and then off for a rustic New Years' Eve with the in-laws at their country cottage in Quebec. In both locations, I will be condemned to playing my 360 and PS3 on SD TV's. In Quebec, I won't have Internets. Not even French ones.

Now, I'm enough of a hardcore nerd purist that I'm reluctant to play through any new AAA content on these antediluvian "televisions". So Gears 2, Fallout 3, Fable 2... all off the table. So how best to use the gaming time I do have? What does one play in SD?

I can tell you that there will be a lot of Rock Band 2 going on, since I have a passel of siblings who will be in New York to rock it out. I've also concluded that my time in SD purgatory is ideal for going back and trying great older games that I never got around to, and probably wouldn't otherwise. Better to play them in SD than not at all . Last holiday season, I made my way through COD2 (which was terrific enough that I played it again in HD/surround once I got home), and played through most of Tomb Raider Anniversary (not a game that really flexes the 360's 1080p muscles anyway).

I'm thinking this year I'll finish TR: Anniversary, and maybe start Legend if I'm not all Lara'd out. And while I'm in New York, and at least have XBL access, I'll probably burn a lot of time with Left 4 Dead, because even SD can't take the sheen off that mofo. And of course, Psychonauts is still sitting on my pile of shame. I got a good ways in on the original Xbox, but never actually finished it. (Don't tell Jervo.) I guess I can also try to get through some more GTAIV.

Plus Ima pick up Chrono Trigger for the DS.

Okay, so maybe the next two weeks won't be the fun famine I made it out to be.

1 comment:

jervo said...

I think you can get away with playing Fable 2 in SD; it's pretty but not jaw-dropping.

Also - I wonder if your kid would be into the new Banjo game, in terms of building and creating vehicles. That game is actually pretty cool, but it should definitely be seen in HD.

I have no comment regarding Psychonauts, because I'm not talking to you anymore.