Tim Rogers is BACK.
Apr 09Actually, I’m not sure if he went anyplace at all. But he has, at least, returned to my life.
The greatest reviewer of video game entertainment ever born of mortal womb on the face of this or any other planet has launched a basic, straightforward, vicious and brilliant games review site, Action Button. He is joined by other writers, but they’re all informed by the “new games journalism,” which to me will always be Tim’s legacy.
Check it out NOWish, and don’t miss the scathing evisceration of Twilight Princess by reviewer Heather Campbell. Haven’t played the game yet, but it sounds like a well-deserved thrashing of the Zelda franchise.
Help! 360 has me in its grip! And it's squeezing!
Apr 07
A little known fact about video game developers – when it comes to the amount of video games we play, we’re average. We play more than normal joes, but our time is unusually tight, particularly around deadlines, and it is this shape of our free-time that quirks our time spent with the products of the industry in which we work. We’re prone to short-term, hardcore play – meaning, if we find something we really like, we’ll power through it as fast as we can, lest it get put aside and lost in the shuffle.
We’re also prone to trying the first bit of most every game we get our hands on. And somewhere in between lies good games that get completed by through shift work – one dev stars while a few watch. They wander off to work. Starting dev puts it down and another will take a break from work, and pick it up – repeat until done. The number of games devs have completed by proxy is very, very high. Sure, playing is fun, but we also want to see how the game plays – how does it work?
Me, I got an Xbox 360 at Xmas and some games. I played it for two days around New Years, as I was sick. Then it got put aside for work. I picked it up again a few days ago with the release of Guitar Hero 2 for the 360, and so help me, I’m in trouble.
Must. Get. All. Achievements!
Now I’m online buying hard-to-find, critical darlings, and I just dropped $30 on the 360 games Burger King gave away.
HELP!
But seriously, is it weird to be using Visine when trying to play a perfect score on Heart Shaped Box at 4AM?
Aw, Man…
Apr 06Gail Simone is leaving Birds of Prey!
This is a super bummer, as her writing on that title really convinced me that comics were, y’know, getting GOOD again. She will be missed, even if new writer Sean McKeever comes along and does a kick-ass job, which I hope he will.
However, the teases about Gail’s next “big” project…fascinating. Everyone seems convinced it’s Wonder Woman, which would be fantastic, but the Newsarama thread has a few other nice theories: the Marvel Family, Blackhawk, and my favorite, a new JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL title.
Why else would she bring Ice back from the dead?! All we need is for Ted Kord to be alive and well on one of those other rumored Earths they keep teasing, and we’d be all set.
Bwah to the ha to the ha.
AN: One Year Old Pt. 2
Apr 05A whole year and what do I remember most? I remember that Matt and Sarah out-write me and the Galactica drop-launching Vipers and then jumping away. And really, that’s all a person has to remember.
AN: One Year Old
Apr 05Because it is teh intarweb, and because navel-gazing is our chief MO, I will take a moment to point out that today is Alert Nerd’s first anniversary, or “blogiversary,” as some are wont to call it.
What’s been your favorite moment? I liked it when Chris knifed Cory Doctorow in the balls. That was SWEET.
