Up late talking games & writing? You're...

Family: I worked a lot of hours last week. The bills have to be paid and that's just a fact of life, but after putting in so much time away from home, I'd been looking forward to the weekend. The goal was to get in some quality time with the wife and son to make up for being away, but life (as usual) had other plans.


I got slammed with a nasty head cold about halfway through Friday, and I spent the entire weekend dragging myself around the house and feeling miserable. We didn't get out, didn't do anything particularly fun or enriching, and spent way too much time with YouTube and videos trying to get through the days.

Now, not only do I still feel sick, I feel guilty for phoning it in this weekend and being sick-dad. Blarg.

(...And if I owe you an email or some edits, they're delayed. Apologies!)


Games: Since I worked so many hours last week, I didn't have much time to game. As a result, I'm falling a little bit behind schedule... I had hoped to have been done with Darksiders by now, but I've still got a little bit to go.


At least, I hope it's a little bit. It's been a great game, but I'm ready for it to be over and this last area (Azrael’s dungeon) has been the least entertaining and most tedious of the lot. Still enjoying it, but I greatly respect a game that knows when it needs to be over, and for Darksiders, that time is now.

In other games news, I’m also near the end of Gears of War 3 and contemplating doing a review. I've been co-opping with my wife for the entire game (and also had a brief stint with @KayinAmoh as our third) and it's been fine, but I can't say that it's been especially exciting or memorable.


Epic played it extremely safe with this third installment, and while I'm sure "more of the same" is good for some people, it feels a bit too predictable and monotonous at times. The ham-handed attempts at drama have been nothing short of laughable as well, so while it's technically fine, it really lacks in the inspiration/freshness department.


This week at GameCritics, we had several new pieces go up.

> @RichardNaik’s Skyward Sword review

>@GC_Danny’s Serious Sam: BFE and NFS: The Run reviews

>State of Play from Brandon Bales, this time talking to Jonathan Blow

> My review of the Honest Hearts DLC for Fallout: New Vegas

…And a slew of other stuff. If you've got some time, I invite you to click on over and see what we've got cooking.


In one last bit of GameCritics news, we just recorded GC Podcast episode 67 last Saturday, so expect that to be posted on Tuesday, or so.


If you’re a fan of the show, you definitely won't want to miss this particular episode... we've got a huge announcement for the listeners towards the end. I can't say any more about it now, except that it's big, big news.

I'll have more details here at the blog after the show goes live.


Books: My very good friend and talented author Marshall Moore’s most recent book has just become available for preorder. Titled The Infernal Republic, it’s up at Amazon and at Barnes & Noble.

If you’re up for something a little off the beaten path, he’s a great one to check out. That cover art is pretty sweet, too.


Radio: I guess I'm a little late to the party on this, but I used to listen to a radio program on NPR called the Thistle & Shamrock, but my local station dropped it several years ago and I just assumed that the program ended. Earlier today I was doing a random search and came across the website, and I was quite surprised to see that it's still going strong! I feel like a real knucklehead for not knowing this earlier, but there you go.

If you have a taste for Celtic music like I do, click on over and you can hear the last three podcasts for free.