OK, so maybe I focus a lot on role playing PC games - but that's just the way of the gaming world nowadays. Every other game that hits the shelves is an RPG. But today's highlight has kind of a special place in my heart.

Let me tell you a story. Imagine - it's the mid 1980's. One of the top of the line PCs is the Commodore 64, and I've got one. Browsing the games at a local store one day, I stumble across a game set in the town of New Phlan in the popular Dungeons and Dragons world, the Forgotten Realms (the same world where the award-winning Baldur's Gate series takes place). The game is called Pool of Radiance, and it's been created by a company called Strategic Simulations Inc.

The game was fantastic (better than anything I had played on the C-64). So good, in fact, that SSI released several sequels to the game, and the roleplaying engine continued to be featured in SSI's games into the early '90s in DOS, Win 3.1 and Win 95 game versions. Pool of Radiance might be considered the Led Zeppelin of the PC roleplaying game world. Every PC RPG out there owes something to SSI and Pool of Radiance - if only a debt of gratitude.

Big deal, right? Actually, it kind of is, because this next part of the story is something I'm really excited about.

SSI will be, on June 5, releasing a brand new game - Pool of Radiance 2: Ruins of Myth Drannor. The Pool of Radiance has resurfaced near New Phlan, and the Pool's evil influence must be stopped.

Not only is this a return to the place that started the Golden Age of computer role-playing games; it's also the first PC game to incorporate the new 3rd Edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons rules system. As a long-time fan of SSI's products, as well as a fan of PC RPGs, I have to say that I'm really looking forward to this game.