To defend against exam stress, go get yourself some Gunz

Few historians know that when Charles Babbage invented his “analytical engine,” the world’s first computer, he wasn’t trying to create a machine to aid in his mathematical work. He just wanted something to play games on.

Unfortunately for Babbage, no game had been created yet so he scrapped the project in the blueprint stage.

Little did he know that his neighbor, Sir Reginald Pompton had a remedial version of Doom in the works that he quit making because no one had made a computer yet.

Fortunately for us modern humans, there are now plenty of chances to act out our violent fantasies on innocent polygons.

I have always loved computer games and been a poor kid. While these two characteristics don’t normally work together they helped me find my most recent time sink – Gunz.

Gunz is a game for anyone who every watched a movie where the hero shot the villain while doing a back flip to avoid an onslaught of bullets and thought “Yeah, I could do that.”

In Gunz, players engage in death match style gun and sword duels all the while dispatching random strangers trying to increase in level, wealth and power. On the Internet, all of those things are worth killing and dying for.

Rather than sticking players in the eyes of their character, Gunz offers a third person perspective allowing for “Matrix”-style battles.

Gunz is not a browser game and must be downloaded from www.gunzonline.com before playing. It’s a small file that downloads quickly with a good connection like those found in the labs (hint, hint.) The program is free and legal for download and so far I haven’t noticed any problems downloading it.

So go on, get Gunz and work off some of that hostility you’ve built up toward you professors over the year. And if you get shot from behind by a guy name Shinbone, I’m sorry, but I play dirty.

Steve Shinney is a junior majoring in computer science. Comments and questions can be sent to him at steveshinney@cc.usu.edu.