Even though I’m now 30 years old and have left the happy twenties behind - and probably should focus on getting grown up hobbies like stamp collecting and gardening - I’m still a somewhat active gamer, either flying around in the EVE universe on my Mac or wrestling the PS3 controller.

On the console, I tend to play racing games and after I got the marvelous Logitech G25 racing wheel a while back, it has not turned out to be any less fun to put it that way. The only drawback with the three-pedal, stick shift G25 is that it takes about ten minutes to rig it, so it’s not very friendly to those 15-minute casual gaming sessions, it require a little planning.

The most recent racing game to catch my precious attention is Midnight Club: Los Angeles by Rockstar Games. I played through the demo of the previous Midnight Club game, DUB edition, but it was too arcadeish for my taste. Midnight Club: Los Angeles looks like it might be more of a simulator than an arcade game. It also has a couple of other things going for it.

Rockstar has done what Atari did with Test Drive Unlimited, they have created a large sandbox area where the player can roam free. As you might guess from the game’s title, the area is Los Angeles, but unlike Test Drive Unlimited where you drove around on a replica of Hawaii, Rockstar has only recreated certain areas of LA. Not that this matters much since I have no idea what LA actually looks like, a large playing field is enough to get me excited.

There are also cops. Cops, with their black and white cruisers, flashing lights and wailing sirens. And the LA cops do not dick around and look away, they’ll even start chasing you if you innocently jump a red light. Or at least so I’m told, I’ve not had the chance to actually play the game yet. Why? Because it’s not released yet, that’s why! The Norwegian release date was supposed to be last Friday, on October 24, but EA suddenly decided to push it to October 29 without telling me. What gives!?

Another game that looks awesome is Dead Space. I’ve been playing a little Half-Life 2 Episode I again lately and more often than not, the games makes every hair on my body stand straight up. No, I don’t want to go to Ravenholm. If you take that tension and multiply it by ten, you’ll get an idea of what Dead Space might do to you. GameSpy awards the game a smashing “Outstanding!” verdict and has this to say about the game:

Leave some time after the credits roll to pull yourself together and stop your hands from shaking; no, seriously.

Based on this, I’m not sure if the game is good for my physical health, but maybe, just maybe, I’ll pick it up in favor of Midnight Club some day.