Picking my way through Nixonland which is a scary read with regards to how little has changed in the intervening fifty years. The letters to congress of the time are particularly eye-opening. I guess the all caps ALL LIVES MATTER screeds are not exclusive to this digital era.

Welcome to Steam, beware the Winter/Summer sales…

I've never played Psychonauts. But the critical admiration, recent sequel hype, and $0.99 price was the universe's subtle way of encouraging me to do so.

Steam Winter Sale is always an exercise in restraint and I managed to get by relatively unscathed by spending less than $10 on 3 games: Psychonauts,Knights of the Old Republic 2, and Transistor.

I'd say Splatoon, but it's been covered already for the right reasons: great online shooter that strips away the more annoying elements of online play, extended free DLC, colorful, addictive.

I feel obligated to play the Splatfests to help my team. But I never come back until the next one is announced, missing out on my sea snail rewards. Oh well, I never use them anyway.

I'm tempted to start FFVI over winter break, too. Hear, hear on preferring it to VII. They both take place in dystopian worlds, but the camaraderie and optimism of FFVI hits that perfect balance.

With the semester over I can finally post without the guilt. I've been wanting to dip into some JRPG goodness, so I purchased Dragon Quest V Hand of the Heavenly Bride for the DS. Less than an hour in and the "accents" for some of these characters have me very uncomfortable. I'll stick with it but…yeesh.

Librarians unite! Congratulations. I'll be done with my own MLIS degree in spring. This semester has been rough. But just a few more days and then it's back to what's truly important, videogames

"High Enough to Carry You Over" has the perfect vocals to match the mopey lyrics and self-pity synths. It's a highlight for me as well. That and "Leave A Trace" are my favorites.

"Let It Happen" - Tame Impala. Those hypnotic layers are so meticulously intertwined I'm still hearing something new with each listen.

The delay probably had more to do with Nintendo's anemic end-of-the-year game release schedule than anything else. Probably an even better move considering Star Fox was pushed back, too.

I was concerned about the "not-hard-enough" reviews, but I've been thoroughly enjoying this game. Geraridi's review is spot-on, if you want to blaze through levels, there isn't much that's going to stop you. But this is a detailed world made to luxuriate in and to immerse yourself.

Thank you for mentioning the music. I'll admit that quality game soundtracks are usually low on my priority list, but Nintendo keeps acing it with the Wii U. Every top tier game has something fun and unique (Mario Kart 8's driving melody and beats, Splatoon's kinetic punk, Super Mario Maker's playful layering) The…

"Whoa! You know, if you wanna last in this business, you gotta stay fresh. *Honking Horn* "

"Stop saying Hawaii in there!" always comes to mind whenever somebody mentions the 50th state.

This could be stretching it but Harvest Moon: Back To Nature. You are responsible for a farm, then animals, then a marriage, and then a baby. All this requires you to squeeze some semblance of extracurricular activities with overwhelming responsibility in a very limited amount of time. I'm not a parent (yet), but…

How did I miss a full article about Yoshi's Island? School is the worst! A little late to add my two cents. First this game is 2D platforming nearly perfected: art direction, music, controls, build-your-own difficulty, unlockable content. Unimpeachable. Second, the TV commercial for this game was the opposite of…

My wife and I were doing the same thing…then we ran into the cap. At around 20 unlocked characters the game requires you to up the difficulty level to unlock more. She picks at normal and I tackle expert. We should have everything unlocked in about a year or so.

The jumping scheme in Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows is really throwing me for a loop. More practice is required or I, too, will lose more gold than I will spend.