Wet? I’m soaking in it
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Posted on October 13th, 2009 by
The new 3rd person action title Wet (short for Wetwork, which is a euphemism for “an operation likely to result in casualties in close contact” – which means killing people personally) isn’t a particularly innovative or unique game. But ‘m playing it constantly nevertheless because I like it so much.
Game Review: Singstar Queen (PS2,PS3)
Posted on October 5th, 2009 by
Before there was Guitar Hero or Rock Band, there was a music party game by the name of SingStar. Developed in England, it was a big hit and was soon brought across the pond to the US. It is Karaoke gone video game, the series has continued through many titles on the PS2 and on into the PS3. In solo or multiplayer modes, the game challenges you to sing along with original artists as they sing their hits. Players are judged based on pitch and timing of their notes using special microphones. It is a fun party activity, helping people shed a little inhibitions. The SingStar series has many thematic titles including Pop, 80’s, Country, and Rock. The latest release is a welcome addition based around a single rock band, Queen. While the lead singer’s high voice may be challenging to some, the included songs are easily recognized hits such as We Will Rock You, and Another One Bites the Dust.
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Write like a Pirate
Posted on September 18th, 2009 by
My second finished Middle-Grade novel – think, slightly sub-Harry Potter – is a strange fantasy based on the American Midwest and Polish mythology. It’s called Harvey Stickman and I fear it might just be too strange a story to be publishable. I rarely share this side of my writing but I’ve just read this to Maggie and have begun, finally, sending it ’round to publishers. This being “Talk like a Pirate Day” and my book having a pirate scene in it – I couldn’t resist sharing. Hopefully one of my readers knows someone in the publishing industry? Here it is and it’s very brief (but loads of fun to write):
Tales of Monkey Island FREE on Talk Like a Pirate Day!
Posted on September 18th, 2009 by
In honor of Talk Like A Pirate Day this Saturday, September 19, TellTale games is making their first episode of Tales of Monkey Island FREE to download for a day only! Read on to find out how in the press release:
Bill Wyman Doesn’t Get It
Posted on September 14th, 2009 by
Who? He was the drummer for the Rolling Stones back when they mattered. Now he’s just another musician who, like Prince, Jimmy Page and hopefully no other artists I like – just doesn’t get it.
PAX-Man 2: The New Adventures
Posted on September 8th, 2009 by
The Penny Arcade Expo, or PAX for short, is a huge video game convention in Seattle spearheaded by the guys who do the prolific Penny Arcade web comic. PAX 09 was this past Labor Day weekend, and I was lucky enough to get a chance to go to it. Read on and join me on my PAX ‘09 adventures!
Book Review: The Dragon Codex Series
Posted on September 5th, 2009 by
In the past few years, the folks who make the Dungeons and Dragons role playing game have made a big effort to be more family friendly, trying to expose kids who have a natural love of fantasy and imagination to the rich tapestry of story that makes up the various parts of the Dungeon and Dragons mythos. Not immune to the lure of the very hot realm of preteen fiction, they have put together their own publishing line entitled Mirrorstone books. Two of the main series are the Practical Guide Series and the Dragon Codex Series. The Practical Guides are almost coffee table books for kids with rich, colorful illustrations and entertaining text on the topic of dragons, fairies, monsters and the like. The Dragon Codex series takes a more traditional route and is a series of young adult novels all tied to a particular color of dragon (in the D&D universe basic colored dragons like red or blue tend to be bad while metallic colored dragons like copper or gold tend to be good). All the codex books are fairly good reads, age-appropriate with a couple minor exceptions. They take advantage of the rich history of the D&D Dragonlance universe to provide stories about young teens having adventures in a world with a rich, diverse history. Each book is independent of the others, although if they are read in series there are occasional nods to occurrences to things that happened in previous books. Here are my thoughts on the books in the series so far.
Doldrums – What are you Playing?
Posted on September 3rd, 2009 by
I’ve finished Batman and slated it for another playthrough (a rear thing for me) on Hard, sometime in the future. Beatles Rock Band is due in these parts today or tomorrow, but other than that I’m kind of at a loss game-wise. Wolfenstein lost my interest due to generic gameplay and poor pacing sometime back and I decided that Battlefield 1943 (an awesome download) just wasn’t fun using a console controller. What I really mean to say here is that back in the PC BF1942 I was a deadshot on Wake Island – on the 360 I wonder how the heck people can hit me so consistently. Of course, the coming PC version might just prove I’ve totally lost my touch. A real possibility at 38. So, what to play?
State of the Heart – 2 years Ago
Posted on September 2nd, 2009 by
Two years ago today I felt a little off. I did some gardening, kissed my kids as they went to a sleepover at a friends house and had a nice dinner with my wife. I started feeling a little chest pain – right side, like heart burn or a stomach ailment – but otherwise okay. Linda went to bed, I went to play video games, for the life of me I can’t remember what game it was. After an hour or so I woke Linda up, the pain was worse, but it still felt stomach related so she authorized me a second pill (Prilosec) and went back to sleep. I took a shower to help defer the discomfort and went back downstairs where – unbelievably to me now – I had a cigarette.
Blizzcon ’09 – Gaming with Children style
Posted on September 2nd, 2009 by
Blizzcon, the annual festival of all things Blizzard (World of Warcraft, Diablo, etc…) was recently held in Southern California. Rather than send some boring old grown-up to do the reporting, Gaming With Children went an entirely other direction – we sent a boy (and his mom). Since they’re both avid World of Warcraft players, it seemed a natural fit. Here’s his report!
Hi, I’m Aiden. On Friday, August 21, 2009, I was given the opportunity to go to Blizzcon as a reporter, thanks to the great guys at Gaming With Children. It was amazing! It was so big that the $175 tickets sold out in about a minute. If you weren’t in the queue to buy a ticket in the first thirty-seconds after they were available to the public, you didn’t get a ticket. However, I got to go for free as a Gaming with Children reporter! Blizzcon was held in four halls of the Anaheim Convention Center. Each hall had a different focus: World of Warcraft, Diablo, Starcraft, and the Performance hall.
