But we're not talking about just any icon. Oh no. Not FSBuild, not SimPlates. This shy and unassuming little icon that has now grabbed you by the throat has nothing to do with flight simming. Nothing at all. And all those feelings of eager anticipation are suddenly and quite dramatically circling the bowl.

Sound familiar? Would that I had a dollar for every time this has happened to me. I'd probably be writing this from some beach in Barbados. My problem (and likely yours, too), is that I didn't start out as a flight sim freak. My horrible addiction has its roots (don't laugh) in a Power Rangers game I bought for my son. I had just gotten a new Dell, after having spent quite some time with a poor excuse for a computer, and decided that he really needed a new game to go with the new hardware. A quick trip to the local software store netted what by all appearances seemed to be a seriously cool (as far as the Power Rangers go, anyway) game. And it was! Not so much the subject matter, but the graphics were outstanding! I mean, the goofy guys in their little colored suits and helmets had dimension. They jumped, kicked and punched like nothing else I'd ever seen in a game. And that got me to thinking...always a fiscally dangerous thing. If someone can do something this cool for the younger set, I wonder what can they do for the likes of me? Thus began my quest for the perfect shoot-em-up.

The inside of my house looks like the dollar bin software section at CompUSA after the Labor Day sale. I've got games, mostly with ground and air combat themes, dating back to three computers ago. Everywhere. And these are just the ones that didn't get sold at one of those painful garage sales (hey man, wanna buy a Power Ranger game for your kid?). When I quest, I quest. And back in the dark days of pre-Pentium, really good war simulations were few and far between. And even the really good ones then could give a Hoover a run for its money. But, never let it be said that I've let a few (hundred) crummy computer games dampen my enthusiasm for the search for the ultimate in "Bang You're Dead".

Somewhere along the line, desperation drove me to try an air combat game. I think it was Red Baron. Now, it wasn't so much that bells went off and choirs of angels began to sing when I opened the package. It was more like, here's another whole vast category of simulations available to me. I swear, sometimes I think I buy these things just for the thrill of spending money.

But anyway, the flying thing eventually caught on, partly (well, mostly) because flight simulation was starting to become more prolific in what was available to it. The rest is, as is said, history.

So, enter the dilemma. Which do I want to play today? Sit down, get comfy, and there on the screen are two icons, which I have placed far apart on the screen in order to avoid pre-start conflicts of desire. I'm talking apart, as in one on the far left monitor, and one on the far right of the other one. They still jockey for my attention. And damned if all my preflight joy, my mental planning and anticipation, go right out the window when faced with the shortcut for my latest love.

I may as well tell you. Get it over with. Come out of the software closet. I'm enamored with this game called Americas Army. And the really odd thing about this is I didn't spend a dime on it. It's free. That's right. Can't buy it in the dollar store. This puppy comes with goose eggs on the tag. It's not easy to play, and there's a ton of players online who are much better than I am. But, it has begun to eat into my flying time at an alarming rate.

So, I'm wondering. Am I the only one out here who feels as though he is cheating on his flight sim investments? As technology continues to improve, graphics and game play only get better. True for flight simulation, and true for all other genres, too. Having roots in the Bang Bang type of simulation causes me to want to spend some time there with all the new wonders that are being introduced. I remember playing Army with all my grammar school buddies. Well, I'm not too sure about whether or not this is a good/healthy thing, but here I am doing it again.

You, of course, may go in oh, I don't know, perhaps thousands of different directions with your flight sim infidelity. It isn't the "what" that's important. It's the fact itself. Is what you are playing when away from the Microsoft skies constitute FS Infidelity? I know, it depends on what the definition of "is" is. We all have our conscience with which to deal. The way I look at it is, which is the best direction (today) to point my hard-earned e-dollar?

As much as I like sim flying, there's something about scoring a kill and helping the team win a game that is competing with greasing a landing in a crosswind. Which to choose? Which is going to win this competition this time around? Let's have a look at the download web sites and see which genre sets my wallet hand to itching...

Three Green!

Chip Barber
rfbarber@optonline.net