02/4/13

Hear Us On No Prisoners, No Mercy! (And Around the Web!)

Happy Monday, everybody!

As a lot of you know, I do some writing elsewhere on the web and also do a podcast called MMO Radio. I don’t update here whenever my work appears online since it’s usually dedicated to whatever venue I happen to be writing or recording for. That said, I’d love it if you took a moment to check out what I’ve been up to.

Most recently, Adam and I appeared on the No Prisoners, No Mercy podcast to talk about the video games and violence with our two favorite sisters. Adam also introduced the world to his parrot, Mango. It was a great time and well worth a listen. That’s pretty much how it works with NPNM, though, so give them a subscribe and enjoy. Thank you Sister Fran and Sister Julie!
Speaking of podcasts, I also guested on the WoW-specific Horde House over at the VOG Network. Rob and Shane were great fun to talk to and we had a great conversation. It’s Episode 91, so go give it a listen if you’re into the game. If you’re not into WoW, Rob also has Orange Lounge Radio where he and a round of compatriots talk about all things gaming.
While we’re at it, have you heard the latest episodes of MMO Radio? We’ve released episodes 5, 6, and 7. Episode 5 features Srs. Julie and Fran for a talk on the Fall of F2P (?), Episode 6 looks at the career and departure of Scott Hartsman from Trion Worlds, and Episode 7 features freelance games writerGavin Townsley. You might remember him from The Multiverse and Rift Watchers, but he’s since appeared at PC Gamer, GameSpy, and Massively.

For writing, I’ve been a busy bee.

I previewed Aliens: Colonial Marines. You can also pre-order this from Green Man Gaming for $37.50 with a coupon code.
I reviewed the global warming adventure game, A New Beginning.
Here’s my Far Cry 3 review, but you’ve probably already bought it.
For the medieval combat inclined, here are my conclusions on Chivalry and War of the Roses.
I talked about Licking Toads in RIFT
Oh, and I’m also reviewing the new Kevin Bacon series, The Following. You can read my thoughts on the first two episodes here and here. If you’re watching it too, I’d love to know what you think.

That’s enough link love for now. If you’re interested in keeping up with me, I can do more of these posts or simply subscribe to Vagary.TV and Hooked Gamers. Enjoy!

05/13/10

Ripped from the Headlines – 5/13/10

A funny thing has happened to me lately, I’ve stopped using my PSP to play video games. Instead, I use it to cruise my Google Reader before bed. All told, I have something like 92 subscriptions I follow regularly.

The next great American novelist. Watch out Hawthorne.

As you can imagine, between the likes of Kotaku and the word-bank that is our blogging community, there’s a lot of interesting stuff out there. Today I thought it’d be fun to look at some of the news and blogs that caught my attention, and may have slipped by yours in the noise of this past week.

Tyra Banks to Write Fantasy Novel Trilogy… called Modelland. Seriously. It will follow a group of teenage girls as they go to a special school to train in the arts of modeling. With magic and danger. And the main character’s last name is Potter. Okay, that last part was fake. But, srsly? In a related story, Tyra is said to have pitched the working title “VanityLand” to her publisher but was declined after several board meeting.
Keen Pulls a Fox News… and accuses Obama of hating video games. First, he comes for your guns. Then, your paddles. Relax, guys. Here’s a pro tip from Public Speaking 101: the use of rhetorical devices is common practice in the art of persuasive speech. He could have used any prominent electronic device and made the same point, but then he’d have been ignoring what’s relevant to the audience he was speaking to. And, as creative writers, we should know: sometimes, certain words and phrases just work better than others.

What’s funny is that the article that it’s the exact type of thing Obama is speaking out against. Out-of-context quotes surrounded by opinion presented as educated fact. And when someone like Proze pops up in the comments with a well reasoned argument, ignore every valid part of it and attack based upon inferred political alignment.

If you want an example of the noise Obama is speaking to, check out the masses of stories on the Drudge Report, Newsmax, or Michael Savage’s website. For that matter, it runs on both sides of the political fence. Agendas and all… I’ll be announcing The Fudge Report for all of us independent chocolate lovers out there early next week. Stay tuned.

Sony PSP2 at E3?… YES. THIS MUST BE TRUE OR ELSE A BUNNY WILL DIE EVERY HOUR IT GOES UNVERIFIED. We need a PSP2. The PSP is a solid gaming device (I’ve owned both the DSi and PSP, and PSP has the edge with the non-casual gaming crowd), but there’s a lot that could be improved. I want a portable GTA: San Andreas and that will never happen so long as the UMD stays in its current form.
Arrr... thar be pirates but no one really cares... arrr.
Nerd spends lots of money on senseless item… do you know how many bottle caps I could have bought for that?
Steam uses pirated copy of Max Payne 2… true story. So, tell me Mr. and Mrs. Steam, how did Billy Programmer get that hacked file in the first place? Mmhm. And that heavy pr0n web history must be because of spyware.
Wilhelm totally jerry-rigs a Pokewalker… someone had to do it and I’m glad it was one of us. My hat is off to you, sir.
The Air Force is SO mad at Sony right now… remember how they spent those hundreds of thousands of dollars on a couple thousand PS3s? Yeah, didn’t work out so well. Maybe they should make an exception. BUT THEN THE HACKERS WIN. So long Skynet…
Screw piracy, the real problem is GameStop… see, now if Ubisoft was smart, they’d just ban used game players from their servers. Money in the bank, baby.

Ah, that’s enough for now I think. Who knows, maybe I’ll even make this a regular feature around here. Lord knows I like reading through things like this. I hope these stories bring you as much entertainment as they did me

04/19/10

Mystery Science Theatre, but for Video Games

The Escapist is one of my favorite websites and it’s for reasons exactly like this. Uh, there’s an ominous glow at the door to see you.

And if you’re over 18, here’s one for Dante’s Inferno. Oh, good. The breasts are safe.