My (High) Definition

Last weekend I finally gathered my courage and took the ultimate plunge: I proposed to my girlfriend.

Psyche. No, last weekend I finally "man'd up" and pulled the trigger on my first HDTV. It's not the top of the line or even the biggest around (a "mere" 42 inches) but it's a beaut and I can't wait until the delivery crew comes to my door this Wednesday.

Buying such a big ticket item in late January feels a little strange. It's very much a guilty pleasure. While most people are still recovering from post-Christmas credit card trauma, you have scrooges like myself who actually didn't break the bank during the holiday rush and managed to save a few pennies.

Not to say I had a wad of cash burning a hole through my wallet. The time was just right for me. I was really beginning to itch for something bigger and crisper than my tired old 27" Toshiba standard def, I had transferred to a new, better paying job and there just so happened to be some modest sales going on to capitalize on the Super Bowl next month.

I'll come back with a "launch day" report after I've spent some time with the new screen. You can just imagine I'm more excited than a little school girl in the spring time about this. I'll test run a bunch of my games and give some opinions from a HDTV virgin's perspective. It's going to be a blast popping in some of my old favourites and see if the jump to hi-res really breathes new life into them. The first games I'll play on the new TV, in no particular order are:

Call of Duty 4
BioShock
Mass Effect
Gears of War
Rainbow Six: Vegas

Honourable mention: Crackdown

I think the first 4 of my picks are rather self-explanatory. Those games already look fantastic on my old Toshiba set and, with the exception of Mass Effect, they were good enough to support full screen on 4:3 aspect ratio.

I'm definitely popping in RS:V since it's my perennial favourite and I've been logging more hours into it recently in my quest to earn my Elite rank. As for Crackdown, I fully recognize that this is not the prettiest game on the block, but I've always loved the presentation in that game and the pure scope of the open world environment. I've also felt very ripped off by their choice not to support full screen 4:3. The letterboxing has really affected my enjoyment of the visuals, more so than shinier games like Mass Effect, if you can believe.

But who am I kidding? Once I have my 42" LCD plugged in, I'm eventually going to take any one of my games that's worth a damn for a spin, so to marvel at the size and crystal clarity of the image.

How long did it take you to make the leap to HD? Did your love for gaming push you over the edge or was it something else?