• Batman: Arkham Asylum
• Shadow Complex
• Halo Wars
• Street Fighter IV
• Halo 3: ODST (For Firefight, if nothing else)
• ‘Splosion Man

It’s worth noting that I haven’t played a fair amount of the games I need to play. Assassin’s Creed 2, Left 4 Dead 2 and Uncharted 2 spring immediately to mind. It’s also possible that Torchlight just might make it on there once I sink more hours into it.

Anyhway, the point I really want to get to is this: I think ‘Splosion Man has to be my pick for overall game of the year. I don’t know if that’s radical/crazy/pretentious, but it’s my choice. The reason I say it has to be my pick is simple: I had more fun playing that game than any other this year. Throw out production values. Throw out the “games as art” debate. Throw out writing. It’s not that ‘Splosion Man didn’t excel in any of those areas — it did — but the simple fact is I enjoyed it more than anything else this year.

I’ll save more commentary for later, when I get my thoughts in order, but I had to share. Please, give me your thoughts on the best games this year. I could use the help.

Tomorrow: Time to buckle down.

Oh, on a side note, the Halo Wars review should go up tomorrow. Hint: I like it.

The point is, I just dropped almost 200 bucks on Tom Waits tickets. He’s playing at the Brady Theater in Tulsa. The Brady is a pseudo legendary venue where I live. It’s played host to acts ranging from the Marx Brothers to Frank Zappa to U2. I love me some Tom Waits, and it’s been a while since I’ve been to a decent concert. It might bankrupt us, especially with Annie and me going on vacation next month (after E3), but I figured you only live once and it could be a long time before Tom Waits heads back this way again.

The guitar quest is going apace. The fingertips on my left hand are beginning to develop the thick carapace prized by guitar players the world over. Said carapace has advantages and disadvantages. Advantage: holding down guitar strings doesn’t hurt like hell. Disadvantage: in addition to dulling pain, all sensation is deadened. I guess I’ll get over it.

Someone asked me about my opinion of the whole GameSpot / Jeff Gerstmann issue. If you’ve been living in an internet-proof shelter for the last few days, GameSpot fired its Editorial Director under some curious circumstances. Essentially, he trashed Kane & Lynch. GameSpot, as it happens, had loads and loads of Kane & Lynch ads plastered all over the site. There are other pieces to the puzzle — feel free to sift through them at the link above — but I’ve given you all you need to put together where “the story” began.

Anyway, do I think he was fired because of a negative review? I honestly don’t know. What I do know, is that it looks damned shady. CNET and GameSpot have done very little to assuage the fears of gamers and game journalists everywhere. The fact that plenty of former and current GameSpot employees have spoken about the issue says volumes as well.

I’ve seen a range of comments on the subject, one of the perks of running a site about such things. I’ve seen comments against GameSpot and I’ve also seen plenty of blasé comments from people asking why we should care. So someone got fired, who cares, right? Happens all the time. Comments like that are really missing the point. It’s not that he was fired, it’s why. Granted, we don’t have any proof, and it’s likely we never will, but if the story is true, it puts a mighty black eye on game journalism. Then again, it’s not like all critical fields aren’t fraught with problems anyway. Websites are given bribes (i.e. games, swag, etc) by the companies they write about, they’re whisked away to exotic locations to play fucking Dead or Alive Extreme 2, and so on and so forth. It’s the same in the movie industry, and probably every entertainment industry. Don’t misunderstand me, companies give stuff to X3F, but we turn around and give it to the community. We also get offers for junkets, but refuse them out of policy.

Frankly, I never visit GameSpot anyway, apart from finding the occasional news story. Most of my need for reviews is more than satisfied by Metacritc (update: I’ve learned Metacritic is also a CNET company. Small world.).

Anyway, rambling a bit. The point is that the critical field is crooked. Blogs are a little less crooked (especially the fine establishments found on the Joystiq network), but they’re susceptible to the same temptations. This GameSpot issue really just throws the whole problem into sharp relief, with the possibility of bringing it into the public eye. If GameSpot does go down because of this, don’t go thinking that any other site is any better (again, except for the integrity-ridden blogs on the Joystiq network). Finally, the fact that the industry is crooked isn’t exactly news, but someone actually getting fired because of it … that’s bad.

In other news, you may have heard over at X3F that I’ve begun a quest. My quest is this: I am going to learn to play a real song on a real guitar before I allow myself to purchase Rock Band. I would describe my progress as swift, except for the fact that I really have no basis to make such statements. All I know is that I’ve learned a lot of chords and my fingers fucking hurt. Initially, I had intended to learn “The Swimming Song” by Loudon Wainwright III. He’s an excellent singer songwriter and I’ve loved his music for years now. Whilst learning my chords and whatnot, I unwittingly uncovered the chord progression for another of his songs, “The Man Who Couldn’t Cry.” That one may actually be familiar to you, as Johnny Cash covered it a few years back (note the video above). A lot of people actually think it is a Johnny Cash song, so you can blow their minds with the real truth the next time someone starts spouting lies.

Anywho, I’ve decided to concentrate on “The Man Who Couldn’t Cry” as it’s a little simpler and one of my favorites. I love “The Swimming Song” as well, but I prefer a slower recording that I can’t find the chords for anywhere.

And there you have it. I’m really digging guitar and I’m looking forward to getting better at it. I’m a bit worried that it’s going to cut into my game time. I’m also a bit worried that I’m worried about that. Priorities and all that.

Finally, thanks to Eric for pointing out that my comments were defaulted to “off.” I fixed that, so comment away if you wish. And thanks to JaySlacks for sticking my blog on his blogroll. Been a long time since I cared about the incoming traffic here :)

I’ve been tremendously enjoying my Wii. I picked up Super Paper Mario, which has been a lot of fun so far. I’m a bit worried though, as a colleague told me that the game becomes disappointing by the end. We shall see about that. I also nabbed Kid Icarus for the Virtual Console. It is easily one of the hardest games I’ve ever played. If you’ve never played it, know this: you will fucking hate Eggplant Wizards.

Oh, by the way, if you haven’t figured it out, I decided to go ahead and open up my Wii. Perhaps you remember the conundrum I faced last week. If not, I suggest you scroll down a ways and find out.

It’s Thanksgiving this week, which is wonderful news. I’m looking forward to the day off, even though it may not be a traditional day off. Such are the hazards of freelance work, folks. Grumbling aside, there will be food, fun, and hopefully, families enjoying Wii Sports. I say families because Annie and I are now faced with the ever awkward family holiday shuffling. In other words, we’ll be eating two Thanksgiving dinners. The reality of it is actually pretty daunting. Imagine, if you will, how many rolls you will consume this Thursday. Now double that number. See where I’m going with this?

I have a horrible feeling that I’m treading a slippery slope. My desire to start grabbing up all the pieces of my childhood that I missed (or lost) is growing at a rapid pace. I’m halfway toward putting in a bid for Panzer Dragoon Saga for the Sega Saturn. There’s a lurking fear that someday I won’t even be able to find it for exorbitant prices on eBay anymore. And now I know that I have to grab more of my old consoles from my parents’ place.

So what sparked all this? Behold:

My collection fit into the entertainment center perfectly.

Do your best Richard Dreyfuss with me: “This means something.”

On a side note: my wife bought me a Wii today. She wanted to get me one for my birthday/Christmas. I found one and know how hard they are to find, so we went to Target and bought it. Now I’m stuck with a dilemma: wait until my birthday next month to open it (what my gut says is right), or open it right damn now (what my gut says is more fun.)

I guess there are worse problems to have.

I was lucky enough to do just that. If you are a gamer, then you’ll know that this year’s E3 marked a change. It was smaller, more intimate. Merely a shadow of the massive trade show it once was. I can tell you right now, I’ve never been to an E3 before and I don’t care. What I experienced was incredible to me. While I was there, I heard the complaints of wizened journalists lamenting the E3 of yesteryear and I didn’t care.

I got to play Rock Band before anyone else. I even got my performance forever captured in the workings of YouTube. Now everyone on the planet can see how much I looked like a tool while singing the Stone Temple Pilots song “Vasoline.” Suffice it to say I felt much cooler while singing it. Again though, I don’t care. I had a fucking blast. My only regret is that I focused on my particular avenue of coverage, the Xbox 360, and didn’t take in the other gaming goodness on display. I should have played Metroid Prime 3, damn it.

This very blog was started a little more than a year ago with the single-minded purpose of going to E3 under the auspices of game journalism. I never thought I would actually be employed for such things but there you have it. I’ve been doing it for over a year now and I haven’t soured of it. Hopefully, that remains true for a good long while.

If someone told me I’d be doing this for a living when I was a child, I wouldn’t have believed them. I only hope that the drive to keep it up is still here a year from now, and for many years after that.