Licensed games are generally the stuff that core gamers avoid. Shoddy production, poor decisions, lack of understanding, and attempting to appeal to a broad range of audiences usually leaves us core gamers a bit out in the cold. Strangely enough, High Voltage Software is developing one of the few licensed games coming out worth looking at. Based on the movie coming out this October, Astro Boy for the Wii, PS2, PS3, and DS, is shaping up to possibly something more than just another licensed title.

Since these are more like daily wrap-ups, I’ll just list the games covered:
Left 4 Dead 2
IL 2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey
Astro Boy

Here I am, in LA staying with my friend Heather Campbell (who also writes for Play, but is better at it than I).

If anyone actually reads this  blog anymore and is also in LA you should email me at shapermcATgmailDOTcom and we should hang out.

Every once in a while something so original and unique rolls around that it can’t be ignored. Zeno Clash—developed and published by Chilean game developer ACE Team—is not only singular in style, but also eccentric and bizarre, my favorite flavor of originality. The world in which the game takes place, Zenozoik, is hard to compare to anything else out there. While comparisons fail to capture the spirit of game: it’s similar to the visual aesthetic of Dave Mckean, the architectural design of Antoni Gaudí, and the raw brutality of God Hand blended together. The result is an impressive, creative, and extraordinary experience that feels nothing like anything I’ve played before.

I just realized I should probably be logging my articles here. For now I’ll start with today’s feature, The Rise and Fall of Yu Suzuki. I’ll start working on previous ones next.

Yu Suzuki is a father of videogames. His works have influenced the industry above and beyond almost all others. Yet it was announced earlier this week that Sega has “retired” Mr. Suzuki from his R&D creative officer position. This position was already small enough that last year Sega of America CEO Simon Jeffrey wasn’t sure Yu Suzuki still worked for SEGA. Now his title is manager of the R&D department for Sega’s AM Plus division only. But is he really “retired,” or just not as involved with the company anymore?

So the time has finally come for me to use the first part of my blog title: WORK.

Here’s my first article that’s put up at Play Magazine Online. Hopefully it’s the first of many, and I know at least one more is coming, but only time will tell.

As a few of you may know, I’ve been under employ by the Federal Govenment for nearly seven and a half years now. I’ve been under the thumb of the United States Coast Guard (a subsidiary of the Department of Homeland Security) and their Uniform Code of Military Justice for far too long. I got into this gig so that I could save up money for college because I knew that I was horrible at doing it myself. I found out recently that I have the added benefit of being able to get a free ride to any Illinois public college on top of over $36,000 from the Montgomery G.I. bill. After all this time I’m coming out of the service with about 34 throw away college credits from the Coast Guard Institute, a free ride in college, and I’ll be paid to be a student.

Funny how some things work out. I mean, I’m pretty much set, the government is even moving me back to the Chicago-land area mid-November. I shouldn’t have to worry about anything, and most people would be more than willing to accept what I’ve been handed, so over seven years of my life in a job that I mostly hated shouldn’t be too great a sacrifice, should it? Nahh, probably not. I had a lot of spare time on my hands at work because my work load was designed for people far more remedial in their tasks than I am (on average, barring about 6 total months over the past 5 years, I was only working about 50% of the time I was at work and was one of the best employees who was constantly commended). Top off that nice career with 90 days of paid vacation (which I had to earn and save) you’d think nothing were wrong. Oh yeah, and I got a Coast Guard Achievement Medal.

That’s me in the middle, don’t I look pretty? With all these positive things you’d think it pretty strange that I’m generally in a bit of a funk, mildly depressed and fairly stressed out right now, but I am. I can’t put my finger on what it is either, which is really bothering me.

Anyways, so yes, I’ve never really liked talking about being in the military becuase it’s never something I’ve wanted to define me as a person, so let’s just move on. My last day was actually Friday the 2nd of November, but I hadn’t done much work at work for the past four weeks (well, technically I took one of those weeks off, so only three). So I decided what better way to celebrate than to do something I hadn’t done in about 10 years: go to Rocky Horror Picture show in a theatre. Apparently it’s only done four nights a year in St. Louis (though I haven’t seen it done anywhere else I’ve lived since I joined the military, so I can’t rightly complain) and I was lucky enough to get in on Friday night. I let my hair down (or up depending on your understanding) and decided to go all out. It was a fantastic evening and a great celebration. My wife Sara and I both got dressed up: her in grand vaudeville attire, and I as unconventional conventionest.

Fantastic night and a great show (although I wasn’t too big a fan of the actor who played Dr. Frank). Well, know I should be working on the magazine more, but, well, I just can’t do it. I’m in a rut. Sorry for anyone who’s waiting on it, hopefully it will be finished soon.

The Interactive Fiction Little Falls claims to be an experience rather than just a story. Released earlier this year by Mondi Confinanti in English (originally published in Italian), Little Falls has the widest range of multimedia I’ve ever seen used in an IF. Images and sound add to the story in a way that makes them inseparable from the experience (even though you can play the IF without them).