Tea Leaves

Why won’t I be buying The Sims 3? Because, although I sometimes do act like a dog who returns to his vomit, I have finally come to peace with the fact that I no longer have any interest in playing games that require as much effort as my job. So, sorry, no Sims 3 for me. Read the rest of this entry »

Telltale has done it again.

By “it”, of course, I mean “find a humorous property and turn it into a point-and-click adventure game,” and not necessarily “rolling around naked in fat sacks of cash,” although frankly I’m pretty sure they’re doing that as well. Read the rest of this entry »

The title of this piece will give astute readers a sense of deja vu. You will recall that more than a year ago, disgusted with the state of writing about video games, I called on the industry to do a better job and find something interesting to write about our beloved medium. The response has been decidedly tepid. I guess people were confused about what I meant by “interesting writing” or “an enjoyable review.” While one can find the occasional example of what I am after, I don’t think the situation has improved that much.
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Since everyone else is remixing the Dragon Age “Sex and Violence” trailer, I’m throwing my hat in the ring too:

Popcap has released Plants vs. Zombies for Windows PCs and Macs.

You should go pick it up now.

That is all.

Did you go yet? Because if you didn’t you are a fool.

Possibly the best game currently available for the iPhone/iPod Touch platform right now, Uniwar fulfills pretty much all of your “Hey, I’d like to play something like Advance Wars” needs.

The polish is sort of stunning - multi-player online games, with multiple players per team (2v2, 3v3, or 4v4), email notifications when it’s your turn, a computer opponent that’s not too shabby, and best of all, it’s in your pocket wherever you go.

I have seen the future of gaming, and it isn’t the Nintendo DS.

Dripping with style and almost aggressive cuteness, Ninja Town for the Nintendo DS puts the “aw!” in “kawaii”. Read the rest of this entry »

How many software engineers does it take to screw up a beloved franchise? The answer is “However many work at Obsidian Entertainment.”

Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir is the second expansion pack continuing the ongoing disaster that is NWN 2. As those of you who bought the original game know, Neverwinter 2 took the original formula of the first game, and added to it ridiculous system requirements to draw graphics that weren’t that good, which you wouldn’t see anyway because the camera in the game was completely unusable. On top of that, they heaped a passel of crashing and hanging bugs, put the turd in the box, and shipped it to retailers all around the world.

Storm of Zehir preserves everything bad about NWN 2, but then adds new game modes and gameplay, proving once again the game publisher’s mantra: “Millions for new features, but not a penny for bug fixes.” Read the rest of this entry »

As a great fan of zombie games I feel I have to point out the momentous turn of events that we are currently experiencing in this generation of game consoles. I refer to the fact that there is now a major new zombie game out for every major console console platform. How can one be anything but happy about this?
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Ed note: This article originally appeared in the pages of PTD Magazine

“That’s obese!” the voice happily chirps.

The voice, belonging to an anthropomorphized bathroom scale, is my nemesis. It is Wii Fit, and every day it tells me I am overweight (or, after a night spent drinking too many margaritas, obese). Read the rest of this entry »