Ah, the warm and sunny days of July are finally here! It's time to get outside, meet friends in the yard, and enjoy some barbecue. Good times! But then, summer isn't all about blue skies and hot weather. It's also about dark and rainy afternoons. Ha! You just knew I was coming to that, right?

So, here's my gaming update for the season. I finally finished Guild Wars (the Prophecies campaign) last April, and I've been rejoining Lara Croft in Tomb Raider: Legend these past few days. I've very tempted by Tomb Raider: Anniversary now, if only because there's something to be said about the way I usually feel during summer and doing a globe-spanning quest with a kickass babe as my alter ego.

Keep the rainstorms comi... erm, I mean... keep the sunny days coming!

Over the years, PC games have offered me a lot of great things: graphical and audio pleasure, creative thinking, visceral and intense action, and of course, pure fun. I've probably been spending too much time gaming already, I've seen a lot of entertaining and innovative ideas across different genres, but I've never felt how I feel right now. I'll call that feeling "allegiance". Allegiance to other players. Allegiance to my friends. Allegiance to my Guild. Yes, being part of a bigger whole is the most striking thing I've yet seen in gaming. And I'm hooked!

It all started last week. I had just completed a quest with a random party when one of its members invited me to his Guild, namely, The Illini Tribe. Being a complete newbie in this MMO business, I wasn't sure what being in a Guild implied. Right off the bat, let me state that The Illini Tribe is a "friends" oriented group. These guys are nice and they play Guild Wars to have fun, in a truly social way. Members are quite talkative (like me, if that blog is any indication), and each do his/her best to help others in time of need. After all, Guild Wars does offer its share of challenging missions and quests, which quickly become overboard for a lone wolf. So now I log in not just to play the game anymore, but to play the game with my Guild. And to me, this is what renders an RPG like, say, Dungeon Siege or Neverwinter Nights, completely obsolete. Period.

Let me also point out that had I been invited into a less friendly group might just have killed my interest for the game altogether. Now, on the contrary, this Guild gave me great new reasons to play the game. The Illini Tribe is part of an even bigger whole, called EveR, which is an Alliance of Guilds. All of that combine to give you, the lone player, so much more options for joining people than simply browsing a town or outpost. If you're into Guild Wars and would like to join us, then look up Almighty Wolf, The Illini Tribe Guild Master.

And you'll definitely see me there also. From the look of things, I'll be hanging around for quite some time. Goodie!

Just a thought, but perhaps this wonderfully addictive game should be renamed Guild Friends. Why? Read on to find out.

Up until last week, my gaming sessions in Guild Wars were comprised of solo adventuring with the occasional henchman (I had great fun with the warrior Stefan and the healer Alesia, among others) and I had no intentions whatsoever to invite other players to form a group for a particular mission or quest. But then, I got stuck somewhere. I kept on dying, overwhelmed by my enemies. So I did it! I went back to town and posted an invite on the chat channel. To my surprise, several players accepted the invitation, and within minutes, I had a well rounded party of real people, ready and willing to help me in a quest whose completion would concern myself alone. I felt blessed, not by the game, but by people who wanted to devote their time for me.

While we were adventuring, I realized how this game is so perfectly balanced to accommodate conversation with party members. There are plenty of opportunities to do so, and to me, that's definitely the main difference between henchmen and real people. That single hour I spent with this group turned out to be one of my greatest gaming moments ever! Guild Wars has been around since April 2005. But where was I all this time?

Stay tuned!

I've now been playing the Prophecies campaign since the holidays and, honestly, I can think of only one word to sum up my experience so far: addiction. The fact that this is the very first MMO game I've played in my life is perhaps a major factor. Then again, there are so many things to see and do in this gigantic, open-ended world, that I can't see a reason to stop playing anytime soon.

My character is a fighter/mesmer hybrid and is now at level 11. It took me a while to realize that, although I could spend hours and hours just exploring the environment to discover new quests and new cool areas (and having quite a lot of fun in the process), the only way to actually advance the storyline is by completing cooperative missions. These are easily accessible on the map screen, and can be accomplished with other players or with a group of computer-controlled henchmen. I find this to be really fun and relaxing, because you progress at your own leisure. That's a nice change of pace, especially after playing more linear, tightly-paced games like Doom 3 and Quake 4.

My only concern for the moment is that I've only seen about 10% of the game world, after hours of playing time. How long does it take to finish a behemoth of a game like Guild Wars?

I've been very curious and tempted by the MMORPG Guild Wars ever since it came out almost three years ago. Having never tried one of those online games before, I felt reluctant and unsure to make the jump. But after getting my hands on a trial test lately, I have to admit that it seems to be completely awesome, and also quite different from the competition. I am aware that jumping into such a game can be very time consuming, but regardless, I've decided to play the Prophecies campaign (the role-playing portion of the original game).

So this week I'm making preparations for the long journey ahead, creating a brand new character in the process. While only time will tell, I am hoping that this could actually turn out to become one of my most exciting gaming experiences ever.

More to follow...