Wow, it looks like you're making pretty good progress on that list! Congrats on setting a fun goal like that for yourself and sticking to it!

Represent!

I don't trust myself to try a never-ending MMORPG. There are too many great games with a definite ending that I still need to play first.

I decided that it's a bit silly how I have close to 300 games for the NES, SNES and Genesis that I basically never play, especially since I know that I love me some retro gaming. The main issue was that I didn't want to fiddle around with having three separate retro systems hooked up to my television, which already is surrounded by newer systems.

The solution brought itself to my attention several months back: it's the Hyperkin RetroN 3. The problem was that I had a hard time "pulling the trigger" on a purchase, because technically I already have the hardware to play my games. It's in boxes here in my apartment.

Finally, I decided that if this would help me get more use out of my games, it was worth doing. So I made the purchase, along with some knockoff NES and SNES controllers (which are remarkably good and cheap). Apparently, with patents expired, people can make great hardware to play all these old games.

The system arrived today, and I have already reviewed a game as a result. I look forward to (hopefully) playing through and reviewing plenty more retro titles from my collection in the months ahead, if there's interest. I do have a lot of great games--or potentially great games that I've not yet played, despite owning them--that aren't yet reviewed on the site. I'd like to see HonestGamers get back to posting a nice selection of reviews for those older titles, not just the new stuff... though I plan to keep up with that, too, with help from freelancers and staff.

So anyway, that's an update from me. I hadn't posted in this blog for awhile, and I figured this was as good a reason to post as any!

Horror games -- good horror games -- go out of their way to make yu feel like you're a/ always being watched and b/ there is always something just behind you. It's supposed to make you feel uneasy at all times. Silent Hill: The Room knows that, but does not know how to employ a subtle touch. So:



..... yeah.

There's a new landing page for the site, which I know is always a surprise but I hope that you'll all find the new layout useful. It should more effectively highlight a variety of new content for people who visit the site for the first time, while the content that more regular users tend to enjoy most is right near the top of the page (or requires less scrolling to reach).

I've posted in more detail on the forums. You can view that topic right here.

In other news, I've taken additional steps to disable iframes on the forum, both in messages and in signatures, as they can serve as a security exploit. I know some people like to use things that include iframes, but there's no telling who might control the content on the other end, so it was an appropriate change. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Good luck, man. Every now and then, something comes along that takes priority over reviewing video games online, and I suppose this just about registers as such.

I actually composed a top fifty list for albums, but I only posted it on Facebook. There are a few adjustments I'd probably make (having since seen them live, Kasabian and Bombay would both be higher), but here it is:

50. The Go! Team – Rolling Blackouts
49. Kasabian – Velociraptor!
48. Mother Mother – Eureka
47. Austra – Feel It Break
46. Bon Iver – s/t
45. TV on the Radio – Nine Types of Light
44. I Break Horses – Hearts
43. The Rural Alberta Advantage – Departing
42. Cold Cave – Cherish the Light Years
41. Boris – Attention Please
40. Lykke Li – Wounded Rhymes
39. Little Scream – The Golden Record
38. Yelle – Safari Disco Club
37. Cults – s/t
36. Moonface – Organ Music Not Vibraphone Like I’d Hoped
35. Jessica 6 – See the Light
34. Patrick Wolf – Lupercalia
33. Arctic Monkeys – Suck It and See
32. This Will Destroy You – Tunnel Blanket
31. Hooray for Earth – True Loves
30. The World/Inferno Friendship Society – The Anarchy and the Ecstasy
29. Asobi Seksu – Fluorescence
28. Yuck – s/t
27. Friendly Fires – Pala
26. Florence + the Machine – Ceremonials
25. Zola Jesus – Conatus
24. Is Tropical – Native to
23. Radiohead – The King of Limbs
22. Bombay Bicycle Club – A Different Kind of Fix
21. The Decemberists – The King Is Dead
20. Explosions in the Sky – Take Care, Take Care, Take Care
19. MUTEMATH – Odd Soul
18. Battles – Gloss Drop
17. Holy Ghost! – s/t
16. Handsome Furs – Sound Kapital
15. Iron & Wine – Kiss Each Other Clean
14. The Black Keys – El Camino
13. VHS or Beta – Diamonds and Death
12. The Rapture – In the Grace of Your Love
11. Starfucker – Reptilians
10. Junior Boys – It’s All True
9. Justice – Audio, Video, Disco
8. Wilco – The Whole Love
7. The Joy Formidable – The Big Roar
6. St. Vincent – Strange Mercy
5. Feist – Metals
4. The Dodos – No Colors
3. The Antlers – Burst Apart
2. Cut Copy – Zonoscope
1. M83 – Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming

It's a round number, so I'm noting it as a milestone of sorts. Which gives me an excuse to celebrate heavily today. CHEERS!

It's worth every penny, but don't forget, you'll also have to pay for your own airfare and lodging! I'd maybe let you sleep on the floor in my front room, since you would have to come all that distance, but you seemed just a little too excited about the walk on the beach.

Congrats on your win. That's gotta be gratifying!

Lol...you might be right. Since, while CC was a long review, it wasn't 350K words long.

I think you mean KB. MB would be a LOT of text.

I don't know if its just because I've had a lot to say about certain games like FF XIII and Chrono Cross, but I've been more in the 8-9 MB realm than the 5-6 MB realm recently. Might have to do a couple short-n-sweet reviews just in case I'm just getting overly verbose.

OD's Thought for the Day

I discovered that the links to posts from the Friends page were not always working as should (specifically, when people would try to click to read the original post that prompted any replies that now appear in the feed), so I fixed those links. It's just a minor tweak, all for the best because previously the page was not working as intended and now it is.

You have likely noticed by now that the left and right columns on the main site were swapped. There's a simple reason for that. I've been reading for a long time about the natural path a person's eyes follow when viewing a site. I've also been reading within Google's help pages that it's important to switch up design elements (such as the orientation of columns) to determine which layouts get the desired response.

The new setup is an experiment. People tend to look toward the left of the page first, which will allow them to see our latest featured content no matter what page they first view upon arriving on the site. In general, the tendency is to ignore content on the far right side of a page. Because our left bar is narrower than the right bar, the effect of the new design is that the left content calls attention to itself (as it should, to encourage more traffic to reviews and such) but the right column also pops out more and is more comfortable to read.

I realize that the experience can be jarring for people who have been viewing pages on the site for years. It took me between 15 and 20 page loads as I browsed the site before I adapted to the change, but now I quite like it. I hope that you'll give the change a chance and see how it impacts your browsing experience. It will likely remain in place for at least a few weeks to give me time to determine what impact (if any) it has on our traffic.

Edit: For whatever reason, pages now seem to load faster than they did previously. I like that.

Obviously, I haven't been making huge tweaks to the blogs after the recent change of some enormity, but today I did add one tweak that's been on my mind for a bit: a bar along the top of the page so that it's easy to return to your own profile if you visit a friend's blog. It's something some of you had asked about, as well.

Another change I may implement today is a change to add replies to the "Friends" page, so that it's easier to see discussions friends might be having that you aren't necessarily aware exist. It's likely I'll put that change in place today, perhaps even in the next few minutes. It'll make it easier for more people to join interesting discussions.

This section of the site is obviously still a work in progress. I hope that you're enjoying the streamlined design as much as I am. Thanks for continuing to frequent the site and for posting in your blogs when you have something to share.

I always (as in, both times thus far) enjoy reading about your expliots at Gamejam. Long may it continue!