2) No I don't have a girlfriend.

With the recent passing event of PAX (Penny Arcade Expo), it seems relevant to talk about the role of video games in our society. PAX is one of the few examples of how gaming has influenced most of our lives. Gamers who follow gaming closely will know what I am talking about when I say things like E3, Sony Entertainment North America, Nintendo, Microsoft, etc.

What few seem to realize is how big gaming is in the general media. It makes its appearances here and there in the form of cameos in movies, tv shows, and, commercials. The recent bloom of Wii related items have spurred the market in telling people exercise in your living room will keep you from being fat. The unknown fact is that so many Wii's are bought everyday, but less than half of them are actually used.

Of course we like video gaming for a reason. It distracts us from the realities of life by replacing it with an alternate one, one where your actions have no moral or physical repercussions. As an avid gamer myself, I can tell you that gaming simply helps me relax in times of great duress. There is something to be said for going home to crawl into your room. Inside said room in the world of video games you can be anyone and anything you want to be.

There are of course, the parents who say that video games are violent, they inspire crimes (mentioned in my previous post), and they are making our new generation conscious soldiers. There have even been political scandals involved (google sex-box scandal).

The future of gaming? These days there are 3D goggles that work with your computer to create a real live world image. Frankly it seems that technology will one day advance to the point of no return, blending video games with reality. When we can't distinguish between the two (for some it has already happened), I'm going to sit back and read a good book.

And if we're living in The Matrix, I'll just keep laughing.