After sitting down to draw some atomic robots for Mutant Future, I thought about how I would sort old-skool gaming from new. Lacking an exposure to rare products and decades of GENCON, I've decided to ignore most of the tough questions and make it about required technology. That is something my aging brain cells can recall - when dungeoneering became something that could happen on a RGB monitor. Thus, the "new gaming" sphere started forming when that first token passed from my pocket into a machine with circuit-controlled monsters. Naturally, the game types began to overlap, and suddenly I was playing characters not only with swords and spells, but also jump attacks and health meters. One such "gray zone" game is still a favorite of mine, CAPCOM's Shadow over Mystara. The game is essentially all icing and no cake, filling your need for button mashing and exploring trap-filled lairs. Other hybrids don't manage to generate the same level of appeal. I have no interest in playing a strategy board game on my computer; I want to see my opponent's scowl when I herd my plastic army into his shattered realm. I have no interest in RPGs with 4000 skills and powers that sound as if they should be followed by a joystick direction chart; I have a MMORPG that does all that and makes my PC dance better than I ever could.

I suppose I'm waiting for the day when I can roll a die and have a holographic Elf cast Lightning Bolt at an Orc being controlled by a dance pad in Tokyo.