Album Review: Infinite Spectrum - Misguided

What are you to do if you like rawk but you also like long intricate songs about medieval things and don't abide by any of that namby-pamby folk music?

Well progressive metal obviously.

The Man With The Star In His Hand: A Fairy Story

And not a fairy story in the ironic way like Animal Farm!  I wrote this for my Children's Lit class.

Once, a long time ago when there weren’t so many people in the world and the great cities were quite a bit smaller, there was a family that lived next to a great forest. They were not a particularly unusual family, really. The father was a stocky man, stoic and proud, but kind, the mother fair and vibrant. They had two children, twins, a son and a daughter. The son was named River and was a wild thing, but he loved his family. The daughter was named Sky and she was a curious thing, but she loved her family.

Artist Retrospective: Broadcast

O_O

Bandcamp Round-up Number One: Folk-rock, Post-rock, Skafunkrappop-rock, and more

Bandcamp is a weird and wondrous place, filled with lots of cool but often hard-to-find music.  So let's spotlight some!  Woo!

Kentucky Route Zero: Limits and Demonstrations

Cardboard Computer, creators of the really great Kentucky Route Zero Act 1 have just released a teaser of sorts for Act 2, titled Limits and Demonstrations, featuring a set of new characters at an art installation.  It's quite short, but it's also quite good.  It's got the same off-kilter melancholy of Act 1, and some conversation options that'll have me going back to play it through again.  If you played Act 1 and are waiting excitedly for Act 2 like me, check it out.  It'd also serve very well as a "demo" for Act 1 if you're not sure whether you'd get into the game's atmosphere or not.

You Should Probably Play This: ASA: A Space Adventure Review

You Should Probably Play This is my positive review column. In it, I'll review a game that I think needs more attention. It may be an obscure oldie, something that was released recently with little fanfare, or something that was badly received on release but has since been made better. This time: An adventure... in space.

You know what the main failing of Myst was?  It wasn't set in space.  I know, it's an obvious flaw, but I guess Cyan just didn't playtest their game enough.  Luckily, a Frenchman from France has come out of... France to mend this issue with ASA: A Space Adventure.  At this point in the review you probably already know whether you're interested in the game or not, but I'll continue just for the heck of it.

You Should Probably Play This: Kentucky Route Zero - Act 1

You Should Probably Play This is my positive review column. In it, I'll review a game that I think needs more attention. It may be an obscure oldie, something that was released recently with little fanfare, or something that was badly received on release but has since been made better. This time: A strange and surreal odyssey through a mystical land called... Kentucky.

Kentucky Route Zero is a surreal, poignant five-part point 'n click adventure game by Cardboard Computer.  Act 1 was released this month, with the following acts to be released over the course of a year or so.  Cardboard Computer is best known for making other surreal, poignant games such as Ruins and Balloon Diaspora.  Kentucky Route Zero is their first fully commercial game, and by far their largest production (once all five episodes are done, at least).

Bringing Down The Moon

*Le gasp*  A serious short story?  From me?  HAS THE WORLD GONE MAD?!  Well, I dunno.  Ask someone else.  I'm just a blogger.

2012 In (My) Gaming

I played a lot of games this year, but very few were actually released this year, so I can't do a traditional GOTY sort of thing.  So let's instead talk a bit about all the games I finished this year (although I may be forgetting one or two), ranked from best to bester.  Obviously this list should be taken as completely subjective.