What games will you be playing this Thanksgiving?

Every year, besides the excuse to feast myself into a turkey coma, I look for­ward to Thanks­giv­ing because of the four glo­ri­ous days off I get to devote to gaming.

Here’s what’s on my gam­ing agenda this year:

World of War­craft (“Cat­a­clysm Lite”)

Ear­lier than expected, patch 4.0.3a went live yes­ter­day and with it came the pre-Cataclysm sun­der­ing of the world we know as Aze­roth.  Deathwing’s erup­tion from Deep­holm has shat­tered the land and most zones have been for­ever altered.  I’m call­ing the patch “Cat­a­clysm Lite” because it’s the last major patch before the expan­sion , and some new con­tent is avail­able now, whether you intended to buy the expan­sion or not.  There are so many changes to digest, it’s a bit over­whelm­ing.  I plan to spend time get­ting acquainted with the new Aze­roth and gear­ing up for Cat­a­clysm release day.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

I’m sure I’m the last PS3 owner in the world to play this game, being well aware of how amaz­ing it’s sup­posed to be and the fact that it’s on many people’s “Top Games of All Time” list.  I got it as a birth­day gift a few months ago and just haven’t had the time to start play­ing.  I finally unwrapped the plas­tic the other night and played through five chap­ters straight; com­pletely hooked.  So far, it’s every bit as awe­some as Uncharted: Drake’s For­tune which remains one of the best game­play expe­ri­ences I’ve ever had.  (And it sure looks incred­i­ble on my 60″ HDTV.) I can’t wait to see more.

UPDATE: Just beat the game 11/28/10. Amaz­ing­ness con­firmed!

Pro­fes­sor Lay­ton and the Unwound Future

I love games that you can pick up and put down any­where but still have enough of a story to keep you play­ing until it ends.   Pro­fes­sor Lay­ton and the Unwound Future fits the bill per­fectly.  For me, the Pro­fes­sor Lay­ton games are a DS sta­ple and are the per­fect “go to”  when you’re in between other games.  The puz­zles are addic­tive and the game­play is casual and relaxing–the per­fect game to curl up on the couch with after stuff­ing your­self full of turkey.

What games will you be play­ing this Thanksgiving?

Happee Tanksgivinz

Happee Tanks­giv­inz

6 Geeky Things I’m Thankful For

Thanks­giv­ing is just two days away. Come Thurs­day I hope to be in a full-fledged turkey and wine-induced coma, sur­rounded by fam­ily and friends, kick­ing off a bliss­ful four days of gam­ing, couch­ing, Net­flix­ing, and left­overs. Gear­ing up for the long week­end has got me think­ing about all the geeky things I’m thank­ful for.

Here’s a look back at 2008 from a grate­ful geek girl:

The Tales of Bee­dle the Bard

I’m thank­ful for The Tales of Bee­dle the Bard , the new children’s fairy tale book and Harry Pot­ter com­pan­ion piece from one of my favorite authors, J. K. Rowl­ing . Since 1997, I along with most of the world have adven­tured along­side Harry in his seven-year bat­tle against You-Know-Who, and like so many other fans, was depressed when the series came to its heart-wrenching con­clu­sion last sum­mer. Look­ing for­ward to the book’s release this Decem­ber 4th, when I and legions of Pot­ter fans can delve once again into a small piece of the wiz­ard­ing world.

The Dark Knight

I’m thank­ful that The Dark Knight was a piv­otal box office phe­nom­e­non, and arguably one of the best super hero movies ever made. I’m thank­ful that Heath Ledger will be remem­bered for one of the most riv­et­ing and bril­liant per­for­mances ever known to big screen vil­lainy. I’m thank­ful that this movie has defined the new stan­dard against which all future super hero movies should be judged, and I’m opti­mistic that Hol­ly­wood will start pay­ing attention.

The New Xbox Expe­ri­ence

I’m thank­ful for the New Xbox Expe­ri­ence , and Microsoft’s part­ner­ship with Net­flix to bring the “Watch It Now” movie ser­vice to the Xbox 360 con­sole free of charge. Net­flix sub­scribers that own an Xbox 360 no longer have to face the inevitable deci­sion to shell out $100 for a Roku Net­flix player, yet another periph­eral that would clut­ter up our home enter­tain­ment sys­tems. I’ve found the high-quality stream­ing ser­vice to work absolutely per­fectly. It’s just too bad about Sony’s sour grapes .

Wii Fit

I’m thank­ful for Nin­tendo and their seem­ingly end­less inno­va­tion when it comes to pro­duc­ing fun and easy to learn yet chal­leng­ing games for the Wii , most notably 2008’s sim­ple but sur­pris­ingly effec­tive title Wii Fit . While Wii Fit cer­tainly doesn’t score any points for breath­tak­ing graph­ics or intense game­play, there is some­thing to be said for any game (or non-game) that moti­vates us lazy gamers to get off the couch and get physical—and have fun doing it.

The Twi­light Saga

I’m thank­ful for Stephe­nie Meyer’s ridicu­lously cheesy Twi­light Saga , whose sopho­moric books man­aged to com­pletely suck me in for a good two weeks of unadul­ter­ated guilty plea­sure read­ing, the per­fect anti­dote to a stress­ful month . I’m also thank­ful that the equally cheesy and unin­ten­tion­ally hilar­i­ous Twi­light movie —which grossed $70 mil­lion on its open­ing week­end, thanks to dreamy Rob Pat­tin­son —made for one of the most enter­tain­ing and mem­o­rable girls’ night outs I’ve had in a long time.

Wrath of the Lich King

I’m thank­ful for Wrath of the Lich King , the lat­est and great­est expan­sion to the sec­ond life I know as World of War­craft, which gave me the excuse to get back in touch with old guildies and good friends (some vir­tual, some real) and fall in love all over again with the sheer awe­some­ness of this game. Bliz­zard has really out­done them­selves with this release. The stun­ning visu­als and beau­ti­ful music score alone were worth the wait. Indeed, things were get­ting pretty bor­ing around Aze­roth until you showed up, Arthas .

Look­ing for­ward to all the geeky things 2009 will bring!