Pretty much since we moved out of the unit and into the 'intermediate' house, I haven't really played many games online. There was a variety of reasons for that: the house was small and hot, I was busy and exhausted from building the 'final' house, other health reasons, etc. This year overall has probably been the leanest gaming-wise for a long, long time: I've really only played Mass Effect 3 and Max Payne 3 on the PC, nothing on the Wii, and only Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II on the PS3.
I'm not really sure why it's been like that. Maybe it's because a lot of the titles this year haven't really grabbed me, or possibly as I approach the end of my 20s I might be 'growing up'? Me getting back into reading in the past few months before our overseas trip might have something to do with it, but overall, for most of this year my mind wasn't really into gaming.
Now that we're almost totally settled into the new house and another gaming season approaches, I've felt the draw to get back into it.
Since Battlefield 3 (BF3) was released over a year ago, other than the single player, I really only had a cursory dabble at the multiplayer. Now almost 4 expansion packs later, I have finally started 'properly' playing BF3 online. Of course me being a single-digit level playing against people of levels well over 50 with all the weapon unlocks and intimate knowledge of maps, means that it's a very hard slog at the moment.
Still, playing with family and friends again is a welcome interaction, even if the familial 'hello again' is replaced by multiple stealth knifings to the back in the crazily fun "gun master" mode.