May 3rd, 2007
Gaming in a World of Grown-Ups
Essentially resigned to the fact that I have no time to play games after hours, I’ve resorted to thinking about gaming at work. Sure, I tried to install Diablo II on my work laptop, but when my office has no walls it’s a little tough to be discreet. I got a used Treo 650 a few months ago, and decided to see how it stacks up as a gaming platform. The best part about covert gaming with the Treo is that it easily carries over into day to day activities. A middle-aged man riding the subway that pulls out a PSP or a DS would certainly be labeled a man-child. But what if he unholstered his Palm Pilot? He’s now a busy guy checking his stocks or furiously typing an email to close some inconsequential business deal. Or blowing shit up in Hellfire: Apache vs. Hind. You never can tell. In this month’s Cultural Gutter article, I explain how getting a gaming fix during business hours isn’t as hard as it used to be.
February 15th, 2007
Another Easy Sell For Apple
The extent of my gaming lately has been on my brand new, 5.5th generation 80 GB iPod. Despite its initial appearance as an unnecessary gimmick (as if Apple needs any help selling iPods), there are some surprisingly playable games available that aren’t named Pac-Man. In this month’s Cultural Gutter article, I take a look at a few.
December 23rd, 2006
But Will Your Parents Play?
Having been out of the gaming loop since say, October, I was fascinated by a conversation I had with my Aunt and Uncle at a recent holiday gathering, where they recounted their experiences with Nintendo’s Wii. I just had to write about it. My latest article at The Cultural Gutter explains how Nintendo is changing the face of gaming.
November 23rd, 2006
Everybody Dies
Another extended absence, another post somewhere else. I’ve done next to no gaming in the last two months, but I made time for Introversion’s DEFCON: Everybody Dies for nostalgia’s sake. See, WarGames is probably the only movie that got computers right in making them incredibly cumbersome and boring. There are no 3D interfaces or flashy animations when you check your email. Well, unless you’re using a Mac and have no attention span. I was suprised by DEFCON, but not because the game was actually good compared to Darwinia. It’s a game that asks some important questions of the player, and does a chillingly effective job of simulating modern warfare compared with any low-level first person shooter. My article at The Cultural Gutter explains.
October 9th, 2006
GameSetWatch: Platforming on the PC: A Brief History
After an extended absence, I’m posting at GameSetWatch again. Writing about Abuse had me looking back to the early 1990s and the excessive number of platforming titles released by Apogee and Epic MegaGames, so I decided to put together a brief history of the trend. While I only touched upon Jazz Jackrabbit 2, I expect to be revisiting the game in its own column, as I still believe it is one of the finest 2D platformers ever made.
