This morning, I zombie walked from my bed, to the cloffice. It’s a whole 4 feet away from the end of my side of the sleep-o-matic 5000, so it took a mere five thousand steps to get there. Or at least that’s how it seems when you’re still waking up. Once I had arrived to the temple of gaming, I dropped my hand on the mouse much like how an appendage falls when it has no life in it and upon doing so woke up the computer. The monitor was in a foul mood today, it decided to return the limp-armed greeting with a hello of blinding white light. After being exposed to the stuff for a while, it may not seem like much, but to the eyes of someone who just awoke from slumber it was like throwing a flash grenade at a subterranean creature. My retina eventually fused back together and I was able to make out the words on the screen with a squint. I made my way through the usual morning fare, and at some point opened my email. To my surprise, I had a response from Blizzard regarding my disabled account. They turned it back on and I was free to accept the resurrection scroll which I had attempted to a week earlier. Huzzah!

I fired up the downloader and went about the rest of my morning rituals before heading to work. But on the way to work I realized something. I don’t think I want to play World of Warcraft. Well, let me state that differently. I want to play World of Warcraft to socialize. But what World of Warcraft makes me want to really play, is a game that’s not even out yet. I’m referring to the Torchlight MMO.

See, even though it’s dated…really dated…I can’t deny that I do like WoW’s art style. It doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s fun. While I would rather see developers moving towards a more realistic approach, maybe something that looks like Mass Effect, I can’t deny that a stylized approach has a lasting quality. It’s one of the things I really liked about Torchlight. One of the things I wasn’t so sure I like was the ease of the game. Yes, it was a Diablo “clone” (hate that word), so I should have known going in that it was a click-fest of death and destruction. But even though I found it a bit monotonous, I also found it more entertaining that Diablo. But I still wanted more depth. That’s where I hope the Torchlight MMO will come in and sweep me off my feet. I doubt it will replace my want for a full triple-A game, but it could be a great success to me if it fills my need as a place to socialize with friends while obliterating a wall of enemies with extreme prejudice.

Note to self: buy stock in Logitech before this game comes out.