Thursday morning I sat and contemplated what I should do. My choices were quite simple. It was either to do it or not. Such a simple choice, yet I couldn't decide. Do I make the months of hard work worthless by giving up, or struggle forward for a slight glimmer of promise and excitement with a heap of frustration along the way?

Other than human contact, only video games could cause such an emotional turmoil. I have put in many hours to Viewtiful Joe 2 and have reached a point where I don't think I can continue. Faced with yet another near impossible boss battle, I wonder if I should put forth any more effort. If I beat this boss, there are 5 more behind it just waiting to pick me apart time after time. The last boss battle took me weeks to figure out even with help from the Internet. I've never been a quitter. I've always stuck around to the bitter end regardless of the circumstance. So here I am in a quandary. Give up on a game, or push my way through it knowing I will become angry and fed up? I think quitting won out (at least for now).

It didn't help that I was unknowingly playing on the hardest difficulty in the game. When faced with the option at the beginning, I chose to play the "adult" level. Little did I know "adult" meant freakishly hard. Although I can act like a kid frequently, I thought the "adult" setting would maybe be a little more unfiltered (more blood, maybe some swearing). After I picked it I might as well have seen a laughing devil on the screen flipping me off in sadistic glee. Maybe I chalk this one up as a moral victory. Hey look how far I got on the hardest setting ever in a game.

Only video games can provide the satisfaction of figuring out that tough puzzle or getting past that tough boss. At the same time they can cause you to throw things, yell at the TV and tear your hair out in frustration. While I was playing Wii Baseball last night, I stood there taunting the TV. I was already up 5-0. I openly cheered at getting two birdies and an eagle in Wii Golf. I felt like I had done something. When I play hockey, I get excited at the prospect of scoring a goal. Playing realistic hockey in a video game is not anywhere near easy. It took me three games before I even scored a goal. But when I saw the red light go on, it was so rewarding. I lost that game 4-1, but I scored the goal. Here I am a few weeks later playing in an online league where I am 2-0 and can now say I've beaten the computer in a game. That makes me happy to know I am overcoming the challenges put before me.

So for the moment (and probably for a long time) I have decided to shelve Viewtiful Joe 2. Will I ever play it again? Maybe, but in all honesty it's doubtful. If I do, I'll start over and play on the "kids" difficulty, but with so many games in my collection and more coming all the time, there's probably no time for Viewtiful Joe 2. I'll play something not nearly as frustrating, Paper Mario.