• 13Jul 09

  What would you ask a Scribblenauts developer?

  Remember a couple of weeks ago when I realized I went to high school with the lead animator at 5th Cell? Well I couldn't let that connection just sit there, so I contacted my old colleagues at TC Magazine and asked if they would be interested in an interview with Nathan. They were down with it, so I contacted Nathan and we set things up. I'll be interviewing him later this week and I thought I might open up the interview process to you guys.

  

  The TC interview will be a bit lighter on the nitty gritty game content because it's a general teen magazine, not a game publication. I will ask some other game related questions though and post them here to the Soapbox if you guys are interested. So if you've got a question, let me know in the comments and I'll see if I can work it in to the interview.

  I would love to start doing interviews like this more often. I certainly have the reporting training, I just need the excuse (or publication) to do it. I feel like there is a lack of in-depth features in the gaming press. Everything is all previews and reviews (though I do like the state of the union styIe feature GS just did). If TC is all right with me adding game content, and if I can find the time, there could be more of these interviews in the future.

  • Posted Jul 13, 2009 4:55 pm PT
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• 12Jul 09

  The beast grows older

  As seen here.

  • Posted Jul 12, 2009 7:53 pm PT
  • Category: Pets and Animals
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• 8Jul 09

  Do you holiday game?

  I've been meaning to make a post earlier but our other reporter at the paper is on vacation right now so I've been working extra hours to pick up the slack.

  My fourth of July weekend was great. My younger bro and his wife came down from Virginia and we had a blast. Friday we went to the symphony in the park for some patriotic music and fireworks. Saturday we went to the US National Whitewater Center (located right here in Charlotte) and went rafting and did their 1100 foot long zip line, which was terrifyingly fun. On Sunday we saw The Hangover, which was as hilarious as everyone said it would be, and then we finished the day by stopping by a great French bakery and strolling through the colossal Ikea store.

  Naturally with my bro in town we had to play some games. Here's what we played:

  -I had some illustration work to finish up the first day my bro was here, so while I worked I had him hook up with Battlefield Heroes. After I got done with the work I joined him on my desktop-with the settings maxed out. I have a few gripes about the game, but none of them seem worth mentioning because it's free. In fact, it might be the most entertaining and polished free game I've ever played. Definitely a great way to waste some time in front of your computer.

  -I usually do all my game renting through GameFly, but if I need something quick, I'll go with Blockbuster. We wanted a game to play together so we picked up Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles for the Wii. Since renting a game cost $9.60 (remember when it was $4.15?) I opted to pay 40 cents more and go with the $10 summer plan that lets you exchange a game or movie as much as you want during your week rental period. I'm so glad I did that because RE:UC is boring! Forget the horribly written dialogue and repetitive enemies; that game just moves too slowly. I expect something a little more snappy out of my on-rails shooters.

  -We returned RE:UC and picked up Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. We decided to take turns on the story mode (after beating on each other in multiplayer for a while) like when we were kids. I'm not a big fighting game fan, and I've never really been a fan of the MK series-I'm more of a Street Fighter kind of guy. I know MK loyalists found the dumbed down combat offensive, but I like it. The controls were accessible and they let you hop in and beat down fools with almost any character. The story mode is ridiculous but fun...at first. There's some pretty atrocious padding in the latter half of the twisted tale of colliding universes. It's as if the developers wanted to make sure you participate in every MK vs DC, DC vs DC, or MK vs MK combination possible. We had a great time with it, but we gave up after the billionth unnecessary fight. Still, it's a great weekend rental.

  -As I said on my birthday post, I did pick up RE4 on Wii. I had a bunch of credit on my Edge card (perk of reviewing games you don't want to keep), so the game only cost 86 cents. I've only played an hour or two but I'm already extremely impressed. The controls are perfect and they make the game so much more playable than RE5. The pacing and general action is more exciting than RE5 as well. I'm looking forward to blasting through the rest of the game in the coming weeks. I still can't believe that a scaredy like me is enthusiastically playing through RE games.

  That's what I played this past holiday weekend. What about you?

  PS--It's been a long time since I've written a soap box editorial, so I think I might cook one up soon. Any suggestions?

  • Posted Jul 8, 2009 2:00 pm PT
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