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You are here: Home / Archives for guest

Product Tie-in Video Games 101: A Lesson in Love and Paychecks

July 10, 2009 by guest

Today we’re going to be discussing one of the biggest money makers for video game studios; Product Tie-ins. They are something that we’ve been accustomed to in video games, and all can form a general consensus when we hear their name said. From E.T. to Chronicles of Riddick, video games based on movies have been around for most of your brief gaming lives. When did they start? Were they always bland and overpriced?

Filed Under: Editorial, Featured, Humor, Reviews, Video Games Tagged With: ghostbusters, movie tie-in, terminator: salvation

Put the Phone Away: A call to gamers still in the dark ages of handhelds (Part 2)

June 11, 2009 by guest

Although the PSP is selling wonderfully in many other parts of the world, it has struggled in the US market since its release. It would be hard to call it a failure with the many millions of systems sold stateside, but it definitely has struggled to find an identity in this country. The UMD video discs were a complete disaster for Sony, and the third-party market hasn’t embraced the system as much as it has its rival.

Filed Under: Editorial, Featured, Reviews, Video Games Tagged With: crisis core, final fantasy 7, jeanne d'arc, portable gaming, psp

Put the Phone Away: A call to gamers still in the dark ages of handhelds (Part 1)

June 6, 2009 by guest

Gamers have a predicament when they are away from their home base: they have a gnawing hunger for escapist goodness without a good way of appeasing the hungry gaming monster in their bellies. Too many of you are resigning yourselves to badly-made clones of golden-era games on your tiny little cellphone screens. Stop it.

Filed Under: Editorial, Featured, Video Games Tagged With: ds, dsi, portable gaming, psp

Review: “The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena” (Xbox 360)

May 17, 2009 by guest

For us folks who are two movies and a video game behind on knowing what the hell is going on, here’s what I can gather: Space Vin Diesel washes up on some shore, and is pissed (naturally). He also looks damn good in a space wife-beater, and has sweet space welding goggles. There’s some silly obligatory one-liners said by our hero, but soon we’re off doing what we REALLY wanted to do: stabbing people in the throat!

Filed Under: Featured, Reviews, Video Games Tagged With: vin disel, xbox 360

Review: Omnifray

May 9, 2009 by guest

It’s taken me a long time to review this product, because it’s so obviously a labor of love. It takes dedication to write tens of thousands of words about your game setting and your system, then put it all together into not one but two books, and amazing amount of courage to put it out there in the world and hope that people will like it and play it. I commend and support that kind of initiative. Roleplaying has always been a creative, Do-It-Yourself kind of hobby and it’s one of the things I love most about it.

That’s what makes this hard for me to review. Because when someone like Matt West, the creator of Omnifray, has made this kind of commitment and clearly has such a strong belief about their baby, it’s hard to say anything negative without feeling like a jerk.

Filed Under: Reviews, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: omnifray

Sex, Love, and the Races of the PHB2

April 1, 2009 by guest

In honor of the release of the totally awesome PHB2 and Spring, I decided to write about sex, love, and the races of the PHB2.

Ever wonder what a gnome finds sexy? Or how goliaths deal with friction from rubbing lithoderms? Maybe I’m the only one who thinks about these things…

Filed Under: Featured, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: april fools, geek love, love, PHB2, races, sex

Review: “Street Fighter IV”

February 20, 2009 by guest

Street Fighter IV, the six-button-mashing cash cow for Capcom is here, and already it’s being hailed as a successful sequel to the franchise by videogame critics. This is not the first Capcom foray into the pseudo-3D universe of Ryu and Chun-Li. The Street Fighter EX series was produced to rival the growing number of people playing games such as Tekken and Virtua Fighter. These games were nominally successful, and offered some of the same gameplay features. Street Fighter IV, however, is far more pretty and fine-tuned.

Filed Under: Featured, Reviews, Video Games Tagged With: fighting game, street fighter, street fighter IV

The Michael Bay School of GMing: Say it with Rockets

January 9, 2009 by guest

This is a second guest post by reader Kitsune.  With the recent debate surrounding the Rule of Cool and Critical Hits’ take on the Rule of C4, I thought this would be a good time to post Kitsune’s experimental essay on GMing.  No doubt this will set some people’s teeth on edge while others may […]

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: Tropes

Chatty’s Guest: We fight the blues

December 13, 2008 by guest

Chatty DM: I’m on blogging Hiatus until the week of December 20th.  In the mean time I post some of my old articles as well as guest posts.  Today, I’m treating you to a guest post by my good friend Kitsune,  fellow Canadian gamer.  Enjoy! Even though I don’t get Japanese and somehow manage to guess that Utada Hikaru did […]

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games

Chatty’s Guests: Sharing Narrative Control

December 11, 2008 by guest

Chatty DM: I’m currently on blogging Hiatus until the Week of December 20th.  In the meantime, I post old articles of mine or bring you guest posts from my readers.  Today, prepare for a treat from my friend Eric Maziade. Hi there! Don’t be fooled by the familiar decor: I’m not ChattyDM – most people […]

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: sharing narrative control

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