1. My two most recent articles for the Boston Herald:

The Sims 3 preview
a joint review of Space Invaders Extreme (XBLA version) and Bit.Trip Beat

2. Here are a couple of recent pieces for Creative Loafing:

King of the Demo: Infamous demo review
Punch-Out!! review

and now off to Los Angeles, and my first E3 since '98.

a return to love

Oh right, this thing. Didn't mean to let the ol' gal die, just didn't have much time for her among all my exciting writing and investment opportunities. I'll probably hit you up about the latter at some point soon, after plying you with drinks and multiple buffet options all night. Right now though here are a number of scintillating links to prescient and illuminating thoughts I've had on a variety of video games. Feel free to bask in their enlightening glow.

1. Boston Herald reviews: I started writing weekly reviews for the Hub's scrappy underdog of a daily paper back in March. Some of these reviews might already be locked up behind the online archive wall:

MLB '09: The Show / MLB 2K9
MadWorld
GTA: Chinatown Wars
WWE Legends of Wrestlemania
The Godfather II
New Play Control! Mario Power Tennis and Pikmin
DSi, Rhythm Heaven, and Art Style: Aquia
Left 4 Dead: Game of the Year Edition
Velvet Assassin
Excitebots

2. I'm the Games & Tech Coordinator for Creative Loafing Culture Surfing blog. Which basically means I'm the only guy writing for it, and occasionally linking to game-related news stories. Recent posts:

X-Men Origins: Wolverine review
Fable II: See the Future DLC review
King of the Demo: Bionic Commando multiplayer demo review
Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena review

3. Finally, capsule game reviews run every week in the Weekly Dig, which for five straight years has been voted Boston's second-most useful weekly paper by the city's homeless. Recent pieces include:

Summer gaming preview
Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 [Wii edition] review
Major Minor's Majestic March review
Legacy of Ys review
Star Ocean: The Last Hope review
Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard review

So yeah, this should keep you busy for a while.

totally content free link dump city

1. Creative Loafing review of GTA IV: The Lost and Damned
2. Weekly Dig review of Halo Wars
3. Creative Loafing review of MLB Front Office Manager
4. Weekly Dig review of Rygar: The Battle of Argus
5. Creative Loafing preview of DC Universe Online

I've got some elevated smarts

Seriously, and it's kind of worrisome. I went to a state school, for God's sake, how'd the hell did this happen?

1. The New York Comic Con was a thing, and I was there, and so were many video games from many different video game companies. I played as many as I could, and will be writing about 'em for Creative Loafing's weblog. The first post is now up, with quick looks at Sega's fine 2009 Wii line-up. And oh, you can probably tell, but those screenshots are definitely not photographs taken by me; that false credit will be down pronto.

2. My review of Moon appears in this week's Weekly Dig. What a great first impression this DS first-person shooter makes. It runs out of inspiration four or five hours in, but if you've been dying for a stylus-centric FPS, this is your single greatest opportunity. I recommend it conditionally and semi-heartedly.

a second, far briefer take on Skate 2

And this time it's for the Weekly Dig, who ran this review in last Wednesday's issue. If you're in the Boston area and act fast you might still be able to find a copy somewhere. Most distribution boxes I've seen are empty by now, though, so I recommend looking in trashcans, beneath bus seats, and in the pillows of the city's homeless.

I've played games like a madman this last week, and have many illuminating thoughts about all of them. Like Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon - is every game in this series named after an amazingly awesome but rarely executed Japanese wrestling move? Some of these thoughts shall appear soon, in print or online, at the usual places. Others will never escape, remaining trapped within the gradually deteriorating glop of meat inside my skull.

bored of bad puns

1. Here's my review of Lord of the Rings: Conquest. It's kinda harsh, my harshest thing yet. It don't get no rougher. If absolutely anybody can guess what that last sentence is a reference to, I shall give up this writing nonsense forever.

2. I headed down to the New York Comic Con over the weekend and spent some time with a number of upcoming games. I'll be posting thoughts about 'em over at Creative Loafing later this week. Nothing too especially exciting, other than Madworld and maybe Ghostbusters 3.

I'm always so proud of my opinions

Less so my words, but even those are worth a moment of two of your time. Two reviews this week, including a Skate 2 / Skate It head-to-head for Creative Loafing, and a brief run-down of Left 4 Dead in the Weekly Dig. There'll be more of this nonsense next week, and every week after, until my editors and/or various games industry PR people come to their senses.

Meanwhile, I'll be headed down to the New York Comic Con this weekend, blogging that biz for the Dig, the Loaf, Shazhmmm, and also maybe even this place here. If you're like me you probably can't wait to hear what Colleen Coover really thinks of Little Big Planet.