Yeah, um, Disbarred.

Jack Thompson was finally and permanently disbarred yesterday. It's like there's no reason for this site to exist any more. Almost sad, really.

New Job: Blogcritics.org

Now that I'm back I guess I can take a break and write somewhere else again. I'm now going to write basically everything for blogcritics.org, which is obviously a lot more high-profile than what I've got going right here. Here's my profile page, so you can keep up with articles I write. My first article was Spore in Retrospect.

I've Been Gone for a While, But Hey, T-Shirts!

Yeah, I haven't written here for a while. I had, you know, stuff to do, sort of. Anyway, I'm now going to start putting some merchandise on Zazzle in case someone actually wants it. I've already posted a Legal Arcade shirt. So, buy it, if you'd like.

My New Column: Nate's Blank Slate

I've started up a column on playstationdirect.net called Nate's Blank Slate. My first post is here, and it's about the potential over-hype that could cause fallout with fans over LittleBigPlanet. I'll be putting down a new post there every Monday, so check it out.

PS3 Trophies Are Really Here

Super Stardust officially introduced the Playstation trophy system, but the combination of Uncharted and Pixeljunk Eden makes us now firmly in the era of PS3 trophies. I always had Uncharted, and I've purchased Eden, so both are competing with Civilization: Revolution and Metal Gear Online for my time. Rejoice Sonyites, we are all also now Achievement Whores!

Movies vs. Video Games: By the Genre

This post will discuss which medium has the expressive advantage in each common genre, movies or video games? I'm going to go by the genre, with possible other matchups in later posts.

Horror: Adv. to Video Games
In my opinion, video games have a slight advantage from the interactive nature of games. There is horror in asking "Why the hell are you goin' in there?" to characters in movies, but there is perhaps more horror when you know that you have to go in there, and you probably won't like what you find. Also, game cutscenes can use movie techniques to control where the camera can see if that's better. Oh, and in games you CAN actually die, while movies pretty much have to keep at least the main character alive.

Comedy: Adv. to Movies
Comedic timing is theoretically impossible during regular gameplay in a video game. Games can still use jokes and have funny cutscenes, but the expression is somewhat limited. The only redeeming factor is the extra hours of entertainment games give you and branching storypaths that can make a second time through better.

Action: Adv. to Video Games
Would you rather watch some badass cop on the edge shoot an explosive barrel between two terrorists that blows them up and directly into the dump next door, or would you rather be that badass cop? I think games win that one.

Documentary: Push
Right now, movies definitely win in the documentary category. However, games could make a better point by actually making a simulation of their situation and allowing players to simulate to better understand what's going on, sort of like Darfur is Dying.

Romance: Er... Movies
I'm just going to let movies have this one, both for balance and because I don't think Japanese dating sims really count.

Clearly, this blog has a bias, but I think I argue the points.

Universal Acclaim for Ping Pong RPG

A few days ago, I posted my rules for a Tabletop Tabletop Tennis RPG based around Penny Arcade's Paint the Line 2 series of webcomics. Today, I posted these rules to the Penny Arcade Forums (though likely in the wrong section) to "critical" acclaim. Here are some quotes on its reception in the forums:

"this... is... fucking... awesome. Seriously, dude who made this? Forget these other assholes. You you can keep on rockin' in the free world, this is some groovy shit you got going." - Rankenphile

"Holy hell. Keep on keepin' on, I will play the shit out of this game." - YaYa

"Wait, actually, yeah, this is pretty great." - Framling

"...I have to say that this is pretty fucking cool." - Insufficient Postage

"This is pretty fucking sweet. I have never played a tabletop card game, but I would play this." - Ten0101