Day 16: It’s been over two weeks without my beloved Internet now. Oh, how I miss you so. The limited connectivity of 3G just doesn’t satisfy me as you once did. Yes I can get text, but where are my pictures? Where are my videos? It’s like being in the Middle Ages, secluded from the ‘real’ world, getting my news from word of mouth, is this what it has come to? My friends have begun to taunt me. They don’t do it knowingly mind; they just talk amongst themselves about the Uncharted 2 Beta, the PES Demo or how frustrating the download for the MAG Beta is. I, in the meantime, sit here wallowing at my inability to partake in such trivial activities. Do I really want to be playing Spider Solitaire instead of shooting up zombies on Left 4 Dead? No. Would I rather play through the DiRT 2 Tour, totally naive to how my friends are doing, when I could be racing with them down the straights of Utah? No. No I do not.
It’s remarkable really. Life is completely different on this side of the technological barrier. Yes, I may still own a PS3 and a 360, but what good are they now? The world was moving along swimmingly until those pesky bandwidth gremlins teamed up with our local phone company, who shall not be named, to swipe the connectivity rug from beneath my feet. The day that I am finally plugged back in will be one of joy and sorrow. Whilst, the potential to return to my usual routine will be a most welcome one, the serious number of gigabytes I will be downloading to catch up on over two weeks worth of iPlayer and a large array of Podcasts and Videocasts, without even beginning to glance over all of the screenshots and trailers I have missed. How does Gay Tony look? As odd as the reply may sound, I’m hoping he looks marvelous. Then there are the demos, the betas, the DLC, the games, the updates; the glory of Unlimited Broadband will be there to behold and our provider won’t know what hit them.
The point that I’m eventually trying to reach is that in an industry that originally revolved around cartridges and magazines for our content, to one that now relies so heavily on the web is truly astounding. Imagine purchasing Fallout 3 on release date for you big black box, to then have to experience that horrendous freezing and disgracful number of bugs for the, what may turn our as brief, duration of time with the title. Imagine trying to decide who was going to get your hard earned cash, FIFA or PES, without being able to play either demo? The impact that the Internet has had on our most faithful of hobbies is unquestionable and will only likely increase as time goes on. Just look at the PSPGo and the future of cloud gaming. Just think for a brief moment, what it would be like without the means to read this post. Welcome to my world; I intend to join you again shortly.