Russell Beattie

Since I exchanged my Wii for an XBox 360 last week, I've been happily playing "casual" Arcade games at night while listening to NPR on the radio. One of the best ones is also the most classic: Tetris. When I first got the 360 a couple years ago, one of the things I really wanted was Tetris in the Arcade, and I finally got my wish. Well, actually, there are already a couple other versions of Tetris available for the 360, and at first I thought that the downloadable Tetris Splash wasn't as good as the disc-based Tetris Evolution, but it turns out it's actually really great, and much more convenient to play. (I don't actually understand why they added in the ocean-themed screen saver stuff... some marketing bozo must have been involved in the process, but whatever).

Two reasons why I really love it... First are the Achievements you can earn: Now I have goals to aim for (like combos or points) while the other part of my brain is listening to the radio. The second thing is how easy it is to get into an online game with other Tetris folk as well - because it's an "Arcade" game, it's literally two button pushes before a slight pause and you're competing with 4-5 other people online. Very cool!

I've ended up playing Tetris pretty much on every console, computer or gadget I've owned since about 1989 on the original Gameboy. That's really an astounding 19 years of playing the same game! You'd think I'd be sick of it, or so good, I could care less... but neither is the case. Every year I seem to find another pattern I like a little better than ones I've used in the past so it always seems new, and maybe it's *because* I started playing Tetris at such a young age that now it's a relaxing thing for me to do. I guess the way other generations play Solitaire or something.

What's interesting is that Nintendo's version of Tetris for the DS has some custom games that only they have the rights to. Tetris "Push" for example, is a fantastic variation that I wish was available on the XBox.

Anyways, if you're a Tetris fanatic as well - oh, and also a night owl - definitely ping my gamertag "Russe11" for a game.

:-)

-Russ

P.S. Ah-ha! I've found the qualities of my perfect woman: A night owl who likes to play Tetris while listening to NPR. Perfect! (Yes okay, I know, I'm going to die alone).