Jason Ocampo Associate Editor

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The Big 3-0

It was inevitable, but the moment I thought wouldn't happen for a long time is all of a sudden going to happen. I'm going to hit 30 next month. Yeah, the big 3-0. It's a terrifying thought. If you're over 30, you know what I mean, but if you're under 30, don't kid yourself, it's a huge milestone to hit. Besides, it's going to happen to you one day, too.

In Logan's Run, society killed you once you hit 30.

The funny thing is that I don't feel like I'm 30. What is 30 supposed to feel like? They don't give you a manual about it, though I do expect my physician to give me the "you- can't-eat-like-you're-18-anymore" speech soon. I'm over halfway to 50, and I'm knocking on the door to middle age. (And if I feel bad, I can only wonder what my parents feel like.)

So how old is 30? Well, I was born in the waning days of the Nixon administration, which feels like an ice age or two ago. George W. Bush is my seventh president. I can remember when the Intellivision was the cutting edge in video game technology. And all my fondest childhood memories came during a decade that is now being recycled on VH-1.

You give a lot of thought to hitting 30. Everyone does. And you come to a few realizations, the main one being that life is too short. Sure, more and more people are living to 100, but come on, we all know that all of the good years happen in the first half of the century.

So how does this apply to GameSpotting? Well, for one, I recently decided that no game is worth waiting for. You know what I mean. Half-Life 2, Halo 2, Doom 3, heck, even Duke Nukem Forever. I see lots of folks on the forums constantly talking about nothing else other than Half-Life 2 or Halo 2. And it's sad. Because while I'm sure they're going to be great games, they're not worth slavishly waiting for.

There are great games available right now that you should be playing and enjoying, instead of constantly whiling away for a game that's months, or sometimes even years, away. The Half-Lives and Halos of the world will eventually arrive, and if you want to make them the focal point of your entire existence, at least wait until they're out. They'll get here when they get here. But for now, you're not only wasting your own time, but you're also raising the bar of expectations to an unreasonable level.

How old am I? Well, I remember when this was cutting edge.

And, though this may be blasphemy to say this here, there are plenty of other things in this world to enjoy, including books, movies, good conversation with friends, and more. Do I have any regrets for the past 10 years? More than I care to admit. But I'm still going to keep gaming, though I plan to make more room for other things in my life. And I suppose if there's a lesson in this, I would tell you to do the same thing, too.