10.31.07
It’s not that I enjoy watching mice die…
…but the kitties were just having so much fun!
10.25.07
Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee
Movement.
A few days ago I was reading this moderately interesting post on Damion Schubert’s blog when a link sent me to another blog, to this entry about movement in Crackdown. In this entry, Craig Perko has some pretty positive things to say about the most fundamental features in Crackdown, and how it actually becomes more fun to move as you progress through the game. I thought this sounded pretty interesting, so I bought the game.
10.19.07
Mask of the Betrayer
I want to talk about Mask of the Betrayer, the first expansion to Neverwinter Nights 2.
I finished it a few days ago, and it went straight to my top 3 of best game stories of all time. In fact it beats both Deus Ex and KOTOR1 and 2 on that count, making it a strong contender for Torment’s long-held first place. MotB has it all: Companions that you care about, a clear and strong structure, memorable location upon jaw-dropping setpiece upon memorable location, intellectually stimulating philosophical and existential questions (no, really!), and probably most importantly, plenty of freedom of choice.
10.14.07
Twilight
Here’s the film I’ve been making over the last two weeks. I stayed up ’till 7 am last night to subtitle it in English and encode it back to mp4 - I tell you, navigating the jungle of video encoding programs is not for the faint of heart. The film is 8 minutes, and I’m moderately happy with it.
Click here 
to download it as an .mpg file in a .rar archive (edit: The sound was out of sync on the .mp4 - this is 20 megs bigger, but the sound fits). I tried to make it stream from the page as well, but the audio was out of sync, so until I find a better solution (possibly YouTube), you’ll have to download it if you want to see it.
Read my comments after the jump, but not before you’ve seen the film, lest I ruin it for you.
10.03.07
What can change the nature, etc.
There are several reasons why I’m a fan of Kieron Gillen, insofar as a journalist is even worthy of fandom. The primary reason, however, is his unfaltering ability to harbour the same opinions as I do and put them into words in a much better and more well structured way than I could hope to (without putting serious effort into it, I mean).
Take his retrospective article on Torment. Having read it, there’s only really one way I can respond: Yes. Absolutely. My thoughts exactly. Bravo.
If you’ve never played Torment, read it so you can be converted - convinced to obtain and play it. On the other hand, if you’ve played the game, join the choir and allow yourself to be preached to. It’s not a long article, but it brilliantly sums up why Torment is an absolute must-play game, a prerequisite for participation in any discussion about narrative in computer games.
