It's Finally Over... Democratic Primaries '08

Legal Arcade Jumble of the Week #1

I've decided to start a precedent for gaming-themed jumbles. Why not? Here's my first Legal Arcade Jumble of the Week, presented in some just horrible looking handwriting when it's so zoomed in like this. Click the picture for a closer look if you need. A transcript follows.
Q: "What Gordon Freeman brought back from the party --- forever."
A: "_ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _"

Clues:
O T R S O E H - game genre
I A R T A L - gaming assassin
A D K R O
V C B I E R - GTA traitor

Two word jumbles are independent of one another, so letters above one word stay in that word, they don't all go together in one letter pool. Anyway, you take what you get in the first three jumbles and use the letters that end up in the spaces with circles in them to create a jumble for the answer. Email me (link on the sidebar) with the answer, and I'll... uh... Create a hall of fame or something.

Echochrome Review Diamante

There has been a lot of talk about corruption in video game reviews recently with Konami's reviewer contract for Metal Gear Solid 4. Let me just quickly say that this story falls into exaggeration too easily. Konami basically asked reviewers not to reveal story details, then slightly more controversially asked that they not talk about the mandatory install or cutscene lengths. That doesn't mean they sad no bad reviews at all, and reviewers didn't have to agree or anything, either. I'm not defending what they did, I'm just basically asking everyone to calm down. Anyway, I want in on this reviewing world, so here's a diamond poem review of Echochrome from last week when I was obsessed with it:

Echochrome

Creative Puzzler

Perception Is Reality

Calm Experience, Frustrating Hell

How Much Time?

Haunting Violins

8.5

Pros: Great idea for a puzzler, level-sharing and world leaderboards good use of network. Some will love the music.

Cons: No idea how much time is left, only one look to the game, some will hate the music.

Two thumbs up, because I have two thumbs all to myself.

Small Break to Write Walkthrough for DMC 4

Sorry, complete lack of loyal readers this site attracts, but I have to take a couple of days off to write a walkthrough for Devil May Cry 4 at Mahalo.com. I'll link to it once it has been completed, which should only be a few more days. I'll leave you with this Al Qaeda demonstration- no, sorry, that's a screenshot for Fallout 3.

Common Sense Media's Reply

I emailed Common Sense Media about their previous fearmongering, and here's what their likely automated response said:

Thank you very much for writing and sharing your concerns. Our mission is to give parents the information they need to make decisions about what media is right for their family. We do hope we can influence the choices kids make, and as an added precaution, we can raise awareness with parents and also within the industry. By raising awareness with parents, by reinforcing what an M-rating means, and by recommending that M-rating sales policies are enforced at stores, we felt we were helping to keep violent games from children. Our aim was to show that change can happen, if the conversation continues.

Again, thanks for writing. We appreciate your feedback.

Not especially enlightening, was it? Oh well.

Echochrome Video Walkthrough

Well, in my new-found discovery of recording video game play, I have now begun work on a new video walkthrough of my recent obsession, Echochrome. As of this posting, you can see both A and B courses solved fairly efficiently on my YouTube channel. I've got D nearly done (C is harder for some reason) and I'm going to keep adding to the walkthrough as days pass. Just trying to give back to the community...

New Legal Arcade YouTube Channel (also, free Echochrome puzzle)

I've started up a new YouTube channel for the Legal Arcade. Why not? Friend me or subscribe there if you happen to follow me on this site. At some point, I'm going to post a video of my custom Legal Arcade Echochrome puzzle there. If you'd like to get that Echochrome puzzle, tell me either here, there, or anywhere what your PS3 ID is, and I'll send it to you.