Ripped From The Headlines is now complete. Now that the first quarter rush is upon us, those would-have-been-holiday titles are wailing and beating on the window to be let in. We shall indulge them.

A good portion of my self-identity is tied up in the fact that I play games, particularly games on personal computers, which I recognize is somewhat strange but I'm hoping that this is the sort of audience which will readily accept such declarations. I can usually survive a family gathering outside of the healing radius projected by my machine (designation "Featureless"), but seated where I am now, hands directly on it, the bonuses to INT and CON are incalculable.

I could go on like this for a very long time but the truth is that something happened to my machine and the experience has been utterly paralytic. At random intervals - in any piece of software, at the desktop, wherever - blasts of sharp static fire from the headphones into my mind. This hellborne sound has a number of odd characteristics, the most noteworthy being that it is literally nauseating to hear it. I believe that there are police crowd control devices which produce a similar effect, though I would imagine that they are usually not worn directly on the head.

I can imagine an experiment by which one would break a person of their lifelong affection for computers, and it would be exactly like this in every way. I've been up most of the night trying to square this thing away, because we're talking about Domination, Freedom Force, and Republic Commando all basically this week. If you've got any ideas, and I hope that you do, please drop me a line at this dummy gmail account. My DxDiag dump is right here, if you're curious. I feel like the static is a physical thing by this point, an organism, waiting and then leaping.

(CW)TB out.

truly a sight for sore eyes

I picked up Republic Commando for the Xbox yesterday. It is totally fucking awesome. The multiplayer feels tacked on but I don't really care. The single player game is the best Star Wars experience I've had since the first KOTOR. I saw this screen shot from the upcoming EQ2 adventure pack and I couldn't help but laugh.

All the stuff I see from EQ2 looks like it was made by seventh graders with Bryce 3D and Poser. It all looks like 3D clip art.

I'm assuming that the concept art for this particular monster must have looked something like this.

You might have to refresh a few times but you should see an ad for Freedom Force over there on the right. We had the idea to draw an ad that looked like it was from an old comic book and the guys over at Irrational actually let us do it. I had a real good time drawing it as it's way different from the stuff I normally do.

With the consolidation of giant publishers it's rare that you get to support a developer directly anymore. Irrational has developed this game with their own money and now they're selling it via their own online store. This isn't just an opportunity to get a great game, it's a chance to support a talented developer and give a big fuck you to the publishers.

Gonna grab Devil May Cry 3 today. I'll let you know how it is.

-Gabe out