Return to Sender

Oh, and please don't forget Postal 2. Not because it was a good game. It wasn't. But because it stirred up some silly people to object not to its mediocrity as a game, which was the real problem, but to its offensive content, which existed for no other reason that to get silly people to shriek loudly about a game no one would have heard of otherwise. Next time a bad game comes out, remember Postal 2 and hate the bad game for its own problems rather that your own agenda, which might dovetail neatly with the agenda of the guys making the game. My staff has informed me that I should probably shut up now, because I'm just giving Postal 2 the attention I think it doesn't deserve in the first place.

Please don't forget Pirates of the Caribbean. Oh, wait, I was thinking of the movie. You can forget about the game.

Please don't forget Master of Orion 3. Remember it like you remember the day your dog was hit by a car. Think of it as a learning experience that makes you stronger. Then play some GalCiv to ease the pain. (That’s twice you’ve supported Brett’s point from the last Firing Line, Tom. You’re getting soft in your old age. -ed.)

Don't forget Midnight Club II, one of the best racing games in a long time, and one of the only games of its type available for the PC. At least until Need for Speed Underground comes out. Which is when you'll really need to remember not to forget Midnight Club II.

Please don't forget Raven Shield for having the worst CD-key authentication technology ever to screw up a multiplayer game. Seven hundred and twelve patches later and it still causes all manner of authentication headaches on a LAN. Surely this will deserve some special recognition at the end of the year. Don't let the potential disasters of the latest LithTech netcode, the delay of Half-Life 2, and your lingering ire for MOO3 distract you.

You can forget Unreal Tournament 2003, not because it's necessarily a bad game. It's not, really. But you can forget it because the 2003 at the end of the name is a trick. My staff has advised me that it came out in the fall of 2002.

Finally, please don't forget Sacrifice. Not because it came out in 2003, which it didn't, but because it's good enough to hold its own against anything else from the last three years.

Also use this day to consider what titles you need to play in the next few weeks before the holiday glut hits. For instance, you know you didn't play Vietcong. You know you should. Maybe you even bought it out of a sense of obligation, but you haven't gotten around to playing. So make your Game Memorial Day list and put Vietcong on top. My staff has informed me that he totally agrees.