Peach of a shot

Image via WikipediaOnline gameplay is something I have dabbled with on and off over the years, more off than on, in fact, because my newbie-ness in such environments always resulted in brief adventures before becoming easy meat for the veterans.

Back at BBC Online (when it was so named), we would occassionally spend the licence fee payers cash by indulging in Quake across the network. I never lasted long. More recently, I died quickly playing Fall of Man on the PS3. And just the other night as my Wii spun, I was emphatically shot dead during a Medal of Honor Heroes 2 session by some determined psycho.

My regular reader (for I know you are but one) may recognise a previous blog entry of mine on a similar theme - the behaviour of the killers in online environments.

What struck me about my latest death, apart from a single shot to the head, was the sheer performance of my killer. I mean performance in the theatrical sense. There I was, an Axis grunt with an MP40, creeping through the undergrowth trying to capture the flag, and I was getting mighty close. All I needed to do was break cover, charge between a barn and a farmhouse and I would be there. There were a few empty beer bottles on the table so I was not as alert as I usually am. Thinking I was in the clear, I set off only to be confronted by the enemy, suddenly right in front of me. Where did he come from? It was like he'd been watching me for ages. He held his pose, rifle aloft for half a second, giving me just enough time to realise he had been watching me, and knowing full well I'd never be quick enough to shoot first. I flicked my wrist to aim the Wiimote but was far too slow.

A single shot cracked, the colour in the screen faded and I fell on my side, my last impression being this fellow watching me from a distance.

It was great. I must do it myself someday.