An Open and Closed Case

It often seems to me that when it comes time to write my column, the stars align and I suddenly see that several of the game-related thoughts that have occured to me during the week actually have a connecting thread running through them that I can weave into a coherent argument. So it is again this week. My sources of inspiration start with a previous Gameshark column about buying too many games, continue with the resurrection of an old idea of mine about open and closed strategy in games, and closed with my recent shameful admission on the forums that, increasingly, the games I find myself enjoying the most are actually high-interaction Euros.