“The Dead Room” – that darkened place we all fear ending up, too soon into a multiplayer session for any length of time.

A place for reality checks, rapid-fire cursing, and quick planning for the next round before members of the other team join you in lamentation.  A place of magical bewilderment and revelation that reveals to us in shock horror that we’re not just quite as good as we thought we were.

It was on one such premature visit (in my eyes anyway) that I didn’t have the chance to utter my dismay at being curb-stomped in “Gears of War 2″, as someone else was doing it for me!  Well, not so much out of dismay, more laughter and ridecule actually.  With ego bruised enough as it was, and sorely tempted to stick my lancer rifle where the sun doesn’t shine, I asked the perpretrator why he was taking the micky in no uncertain terms.  Now, it was probably my own fault for joining a ranked public game in the first place, but it was a quiet night on the old friends list, and most folk were playing ‘Halo ODST’ which isn’t really my thing.  So I’m sure you can imagine the high quality of good sportsmanship in our room that night.