I started reviewing it tonight. If I had off tomorrow, I would just push myself to finish, but I've got to run an orientation for students that goes from 8am-4pm, so I'm headed to bed. I want to have this done by Sunday night.

The short version is that I'm giving it an 8/10, with potential for that to be a 9/10 before I'm done. It really is a fantastic game and an incredibly addictive multiplayer experience. My only problem comes from the overabundance of cutscenes (a disturbing trend in modern gaming) which too often breaks the flow of the amazing action.

...and I'm done doing Atari 2600 for a while. I have two rough drafts for Tutakham and Atlantis set. I just want to type up a No Escape! review before moving on.

Thank you both very much!

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.

It's months later, I know, but I'm finally setting the first words to paper in a review of this unique running game. I don't want to spill my opinion too soon, but it's one of the more conflicted opinions I've had about a "game." And yes, those quotes are intentional.

Hey, congrats! The kid sounds really cute. :)

It's a shame you put this in your blog. I don't think people read these anymore, so that's probably why you didn't get any responses. I'm glad I checked, though! I was wondering when this day would come.

Good luck with raising the little guy. If we happen to see any activity from you in the next few weeks / months, then great. But if not, that's fine, too. You have a whole new chapter in your life now, and I hope you enjoy it.

Dragonvale has sucked me into its simple economy. Breeding dragons, waiting for their habitats to fill with dragoncash while asleep and buying pretty decorations such as snowy trees, flower beds and coloured flags. It's beautiful and engaging in a pointless and effortless way. Like Chao but without the personality or effort required.

My son, Grayson, was born today about quarter to 2 PM. 8lbs, 10 oz, healthy, and a very irritable sleeper like his dad [seriously, you lightly nudge this kid and he's like, "I'm trying to SLEEEEEEP WAAAAAAAAAH!"]. As such, you probably won't see much of me over the next few weeks. I hope to continue retro reviews, writing them if I get any downtime. I hope to complete some more Atari 2600 reviews (rewriting my reviews for Shark Attack and Tax Avoiders, and covering some games I haven't reviewed yet) before moving on to something like NES, arcade or Game Boy rewrites.

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

No, I don't think I'm going to enjoy it. Not one bit.

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!

Can you provide a link? I think I know where it is on Amazon, but I'm not sure.

I've been playing quite a few iPad games and an NES RPG that I'd like to review but probably won't get around to it so I'm gonna make a few notes about them here.

8Bit Ninja
Simple sliding/dodging game but great fun. Large fruit falls from above as you move your ninja right and left to avoid being squashed. Sound effects are lovely: you hear his footsteps and the sound of melons, lemons, oranges, and dragonfruit falling.

But you also get little coins that fall as well as various devices to avoid death. A shuriken, a shield, a rocket, landmine that you can upgrade from the shop to make the effects last longer. And earn badges for things like slicing dragon fruits, and reaching level 15. Each time you start again and go through the same patterns of falling fruit: at set times the patterns change, with the fruit falling faster, more of them, coming from different sides of the screen.

As well as upgrades you can open new venues and unlock three more variations of ninjas. BGM is lovely traditional chinese tinkling. Soothing.

Didn't get any physical games, though I wanted the new Mario. I did download 4 digital games, though, and...

Pushmo is addictive.

Mutant Mudds is pretty fun.

Gargoyle's Quest is old school goodness.

Dragon Crystal sucks.

With the exception of my system review (which I don't feel like rewriting, and may even have removed from GF in the future), I'm rewriting the rest of my Atari 2600 reviews and posting them here. I know, it's probably more 2600 than one person should cover, but that was part of my original plan in coming here to HG--converting most of my old GameFAQs work to new reviews. So, in the future, expect:

King Kong
Missile Command
Moonsweeper
Ms. Pac-Man
Pitfall II: Lost Caverns
Shark Attack
Tax Avoiders

I'm also planning on hitting three or more 2600 games that don't currently have reviews here: Atlantis, Forest, Dragonfire, No Escape!, and Tutankham.

I'm greatly disturbed by this.

I decided to join on the Apollo 18 20th anniversary tribute which was posted to the text adventure forums back in December. I probably took too many games--the organizer wanted them all to be claimed by January 1 or so and so I stepped in with some ideas by January 15th, worrying nobody was going to take things. So I feel bad having taken so much, and I didn't really go after reciprocal testing, but I have to say this: it was a ton of FUN when I had the time, and despite being rather sick for 10 days, the 3-month buffer was enough.

And other people started picking things off. Some members of the Chicago-IF group took one here and there. Some other people I'd never heard of dropped in, too, some writing their first games. And if there aren't any super-big-long-time-historic traditional names writing (except Nick Montfort) I really enjoyed the opportunity to beta-test other people's games, which gave me ideas for my own.

I have a hard time finding what sort of criticism and creative trade I like, but with text adventures, I think I am really happiest at the moment. The sort of criticism where I know someone is going to fix Obvious Bug X (e.g. they say there's graffiti there and the player can't examine it) or they don't respond to a standard verb (e.g. SING in a game with a guitar, or maybe BURN PHOTOGRAPH in a game where the room is on fire.) It gives a chance to be positive and suggest a person can do more. That's when criticism's at its best.

So whom would I recommend? I had a blast playing Carl Muckenhoupt's game (My Evil Twin) before it was fixed, and I know he will--his game The Gostak will either annoy you or blow your mind or both.

I was able to provide a lot of checking for Ben Collins-Sussman and Jack Welch's Narrow Your Eyes. As they co-wrote it, and they live a thousand miles apart, they used Google Code. I enjoyed being able to report issues to the issue page and also being able to see the source--which I learned so much from.

Ryan Veeder also won IFComp 2011 (just ahead of someone else here's fine effort on HonestGamers) and his two games are almost certainly worth playing. He writes funny stuff.

Whether or not you're familiar with TMBG, it's probably a lot of fun to poke around. I have to admit, I've got a potential embarrassment if some of my games don't work (hint: Space Suit received the most testing) but I think if you're in the mood for a quick text adventure game, any of the Fingertips will do. They're all intended to be 1-movers and many have VERY different ways of looking at things.

And I just like how this collection acted as a sort of farm system for people who were maybe newer to writing text adventures to join in.

Anyway. That's what I've been up to. I'm already planning my next game, too. It may not get wide exposure, but after my 2011 IFComp entry, I finally wrote a game (as I wanted to.) Now I want to write one really well.

So I know Jason has a full-length novel. What's everyone else doing writing-wise outside of HG?

He tried to stop you. He knew what was ahead. If only you'd realized what he was trying to do.

He tried to save you from the awful, awful ending. But he failed.

In life he was Marauder Shields. In death, he was Marauder Health.

He is the true hero of Mass Effect. May he rest in peace.