Recent content by Narrator

The author used videogame immersion to quit smoking one week. I wonder if I could stop eating as much. If I didn't have the wife to cook for, then it's very likely that I could cut down on my fatty diet.

EA is quickly shedding their reputation of being non-risk-takers and sequel-itis mongers. They're actually putting fresh material out there for us to ingest. And EA Redwood Shores? Were it not for Left 4 Dead, those guys would've locked down the survival-horror vote for 2008 with Dead...

Not to downplay your enthusiasm for the game, but $300 per season sounds, y'know, a bit steep to me. Not that I didn't thoroughly enjoy it as well. Nicely written review. I'm ready for episode 2.

Many have argued that System Shock 2 is Bioshock's spiritual predecessor. Whoever said Morrowind is telling the dang truth. And Indigo Prophecy, since I haven't seen that one tossed up yet.

I'm absolutely honored. Thank you, guys. (Sweet title you folks came up with, too. Me likey.)

Agreed, Mr. Sheppard. I'm only a half-dozen stories into the Coming of Conan the Cimmerian, but I can already see that your advice is sound. I do hope to see some dove-tailing of people and events, but thus far, everything runs in a rather non-sequitur fashion, with no one event building upon...

(I am now going to secretly admit that, due to your link to that article, I've now added PopMatters to my bookmarks.) I've been on the lookout for more sites that discuss video games as a cultural phenomenon, as opposed to a rehashing of instruction manuals passed off as "reviews," and that...

I would politely disagree: That PopMatters article is difficult to imagine as a rebuttal (even as a rebuttal "of sorts"), as their clothing-the-barbarian theory is rather shoehorned, and the hypothesis as a whole is most certainly written with less cohesion and clarity of thought than Ray...

Zaxxon. Just kidding.

In Portal when you're descending into the test chamber's incinerator and you escape within an inch of your life. Freaking brilliant.

I'm positively weepy with nostalgia. And yeah. The amount of my life I sunk into Morrowind? That's one of those things I have to file under "I wouldn't trade it for the world, but I'd never do it again."

On a racing game, if I'm doing poorly, I turn all music and sound effects off. Dead silence promotes the clarity I need, and that run will undoubtedly be my best time. Any game featuring J-Pop, I immediately shut off the music. I don't care what else I listen to. Just. Not. J-Pop.

1987, Sid Meier's Pirates! owns my life. I ravaged the Spanish Main for years, lee and aft. But for some reason, I could hardly ever retire as anything more than a Pauper. 2004, Sid Meier's Pirates! remake owns my life. I ravage the Spanish Main for years, lee and aft. The first time I...

I likewise cite Edge and Play magazines when compiling arguments for visually compelling print publications. Play especially keeps its artistic values on a gorgeously high pedestal -- and I wonder why more gaming magazines don't have fantastic covers like Edge. But the writers in Games for...

I may have to concede that I'm in the Overthinking It crowd. I'm always digging down for the greater symbolism, the metaphor enrichment, and the parallels I can draw between life and the game's universe. I don't swallow games as a placebo for real life problems, but if I can eschew a cathartic...