May 25, 2006. That was the day I launched Game Central, the web site dedicated to my personal gaming experiences. Therefore, today marks the fifth anniversary of the site. Over the past five years, I expanded Game Central quite a bit. I added to the role-playing section, home to some of my most cherished gaming memories, with lots of new content. I played another five seasons of North American League Baseball, and published extensive season stats. I played dozens of computer games, updated my game library, and identified new all-time favorites.

Today, I am adding Coin-Op games to the Computer Games section. Although not computer games as we think of them today, arcade coin-op games were my first love when it came to video games. I decided that it was time I devoted a page to my favorite coin-op classics.

Finally, after five years, I thought it was time to revamp Game Central’s design. Part of me hated to do it because I was very pleased with the original look. I spent many hours tweaking everything to get the details just right. Time marches on, however. I think this is a new, satisfying design that should serve the future of the site quite well. Here is Game Central 2.0.

After Doom 3 and a quick finish of Diner Dash, I was ready for another AAA title. For my next selection, I installed The Sims 2. Over the past several weeks, I’ve played it off and on. It is certainly different from most of the games in my library. Like other “God games,” Sims 2 offers gameplay that is very wide open. There is no single way to experience the game. I have been playing in Pleasantview, one of three neighborhoods available. You have the ability to control (well, direct) the actions of your sims. However, a lot of the Sims experience is spent as a voyeur. You watch these digital people go about their lives, which they will happily do without any human intervention. Although, I enjoyed some of my time with The Sims 2, I must admit that it isn’t exactly my cup of tea. I just installed The Sims 2 Seasons expansion pack, so I will probably play it a bit more before I move on to something else.


Cassandra Goth and Don Lothario—Whoever said Don would never marry?