Reality Gaming

Yes oh yes, I am easily addicted to intelligent (though non-productive) video games. I played SimCity in gradeschool, as well as SimLife and SimAnt (little known offshoots). I moved on to games that reflected my age better, like Pharaoh and, of course, Matrix Online — from here, who knows. Last week I heard about Spore, the latest from Sim master Will Wright. Yeah, I'll pick it up and play it nonstop for at least a month I'm guessing (if it follows through on its promises, of course). Penny Arcade took Wright's love of creative game design and came up with this. Exciting indeed, but I'm not paying any subscription fees.