Skyrim keeps on suprising me *SPOILERS*

SO I have finished the main questline and am faced with a choice. Kill a certain someone who has been nothing but helpful during the main quest line and have the blades back on side, or leave him alive and keep the Greybeards on side.

Usually when it comes to killing things in game, my moral compass is set to swing axe first, ask questions later. I like killing things, they give you loot rewards and makes you feel like the invicible badass you really are.

When I got the quest, I thought I could talk my way out of it and come out friends with everyone. Alas, this was overly optimistic and I found that I had to one or the other. I decided to do nothing and the Blades barely talk to me, the giant pricks. Once Alduin had met his end, I thought I would just suck it up and see how she went. So a Dragonrend, some wards and a couple axe swings later (and the awesome kill sequence), this (former) helper laid at my feet, dead.

I felt terrible.

Not only had this NPC helped me through my journey to kill the World Eater, he was wise enough to  understand the Blades point of view. Even agree with them on a level. It sounded like a well rationalised argument and even the Greybeards more or less said that the Blades were just overzealous dicks. Made them sound like the Thalmor (who I really detest and kill on sight).

I googled this and it seems that the moral dilemma is not unique to my own experience. Many people like this guy and have even gone as far as to say the Blades should die for being ignorant dicks. This is a community who are usually bent towards the "swing axe now, ask questions later" mantra I live by in game. Some even go so far as to mod the children so they can be killed too. Yet this noble NPC has made us pause and consider the kill and think about the morality of it. IF every NPC was as helpful, would it be as fun to clean out an entire town of its occupants??

It really suprised me the depth and the scope of this moral dilemma in a virtual world where killing is the norm and sentiment is rarely seen (except maybe for your favourite axe). On one hand, it makes me want to have more depth in the game so that I can talk out situations like these and form an alliance between the two factions. On the other hand, it is very true to life- some groups are unwavering in their wrong beliefs and those who are the victims of those wrong beliefs want no harm to come to the aggressors. It is just another aspect of this beautiful world that Bethesda have created for us. I can honestly say that I cannot get enough of exploring it. I would have put in 70 or 80 hours over the past month and I have only just finished the two main quest lines. There is a lot to go!

I think I am going to let him live for now. I need to have a really bad day to swing my moral compass towards "serial killer" before I can bring myself to bring my axe down on his head.

Summer of Gaming!

Just a quick note about the beginning of the summer of Gaming 2011.

I try and pick up the special editions where I can. Steadily building up a catalogue for my games room/man cave. I had one in the last place I was living and it was heaven. Every man needs a man cave when living with his partner. It gives you space to just be you - your style, your way and its physically definable. Believe me it needs to be a room otherwise everything just encroaches into it (and even then it can be hard to keep it as man space).

Other big titles that I want to get my hands on are Skyrim, Modern Warfare 3 and Halo Anniversary. The two former I want the collectors editions of and Halo just because I love the original. If it comes with a collectors edition Ill be all over it. I just love all the stuff you get.

Like the Legendary Halo:Reach . It would have to be the best to date, as far as collectors editions go. In game items, the statue and Dr Halsey's book in that large carry case were just brilliant. It all was put in context of the game too. It wasn't just a collectors edition - you were sent the package from an ONI storage facility to study and catalogue the contents (or something like that). It was awesome.

I have heard that Skyrim comes with a large cloth map of the region, artwork and a large statue of a dragon. But its not coming to Australia. Fuck you Bethesda you giant assholes.

Infinity Ward decided against anything special for MW3 like the night vision goggles that came with MW2. Instead, Activision is pushing their COD Elite network down consumers throats. Deeply disappointed that they have decided to follow this path. Quite frankly I think Elite is a load of crap that they are pursuing just to eke out the last dollar from the franchise which has already made them millions.

My hope holds out for Diablo 3 and Mass Effect 3 coming out with something awesome. I do love my collectibles. So much so, that since dragging home my Lancer the other night, I found out EB Games online had Gears 3 Epic editions still. So I have ditched the game I had on order, kept the Lancer and ordered the Epic edition from EB! The Marcus statue, all of his fathers medals and story material as well as the game... But I have to wait for shipping.

The site said shipping on release day, so I figured I will get it by Friday at least. On Tuesday, I receive an email saying that it wont ship till Thursday at best! Seriously pissed off! I was hoping to smash it out this weekend with a mate but oh well. It isnt going anywhere and I just have to avoid all reviews and spoilers.

Not that it needs to be said but...
IM SO FREAKIN EXCITED!

P.S. There is also this piece of Awesomesauce. Its not a collectors edition but it is still sweet. Its Cole Train in his Thrashball kit.