Fifa 11

Fifa 11 come out at the beginning of October and I had the following week off work. Which meant that all of the plans I had for the week went out the window. Be more productive than I usually am when off work, do some stuff I’ve been putting off, sort some stuff out, go out and see some stuff was the original plan. But the simple equation was week off work + new Xbox game = not getting a lot of shit done. My week went something like this. Wake up, TV, breakfast, look for something to watch on the internet, lunch, Fifa 11, dinner, pub. It was a good week off work.
A month later and I’m still playing it. Obviously not as vigorously but an hour here and there.
I’m playing in the virtual pro mode which means that you create a player. His position on the pitch, height, weight, facial features, hair. And you only control him on the pitch and over matches played you improve his ability. It might sound boring but its addictive.
My player looks as close as I can get him to me. Face, hair and the same height and weight. And the players name is the same as mine but with a Russian kind of flavour added. At times when I get drawn in I really do believe that the player I’m controlling is myself. Living out a football fantasy of curing in a 25 yard winner in the last minute.
I go through periods of playing video games every day. It engrosses me. Even when I’m not actually playing I can be in bed trying to get to sleep but running through my mind I’m planning out a strategy to use to get me past the bit in the game I’m stuck on. Run for cover, tack out the sniper in the window, throw a grenade down the alley way and take out the two of them as they run from the explosion, climb up the ladder to the roof, switch to the sniper riffle and take out all the hostiles approaching, then switch to the rocket launcher and bring down the chopper.
Then I can go weeks and weeks without switching the games console on. But I think I will never not play them completely, even when I’m an old man. In-fact when I’m retired I can spend every day like my week off work.