By the time we were able to acquire our own copy, the interested reviewers had other things on their plate. Given the time commitment required to review a game, setting the schedule often involves a little triage.

We wanted to run a review when it was released, but the PR outfit first promised to send us a review copy and then refused to send us one, saying that they were only sending copies to horror-focused websites, which was an obvious lie. It was a weird exchange.

I have been playing the shit out of that game.

@Chartex — I didn't write that review, but I have definitely heard people talk about their original NES as a way to earn some geek cred. I agree — it's like saying that you owned a color TV.

We tend to only review new games on Sawbuck Gamer, not re-releases or discounts, but that is indeed a very good deal. And hooray for Steam on Mac.

When the question is "Where do dirty jokes come from?" and the answer is "the dirty-joke headquarters," yes, I have to say that the possibility occurred to me. Seems like pretty much the first idea you'd toss out at the brainstorming meeting, no?

Here's the joke
A Google search turned up this joke with the punchline "your vagina's in the sink":

I like 30 Rock quite a bit (and South Park, for that matter), but there's no denying that this is the show's m.o.

I heard the name of that volcano is humorously difficult to pronounce.

The bumpers were awesome.

Yup, I'm fearing the same thing. Here's hoping we're wrong.

Ah. I had "Bedelia" in my notes, but when I played the sketch back, Baldwin said "Belinda." Turns out he just screwed up the first time — it is "Bedelia." Stick to the cue cards, Alec.

Erik E Erik — No, I know you weren't harping on anyone. But nobody has the game in today? Your local game store is letting you down.

Turns out there actually are two users who go by the name of "chunkylover" on Twitter.

Probably as good a place for this as any
Do any of you regular AV Club game commenters have Twitter things? I know I'm following a couple of you, and I have been pleased with the results. So now I'm looking to subscribe to more newsletters. Turns out this Twitter business is a good way to keep in touch. Who knew?

A perfectly reasonable question, and I'm happy to fill you in, but your premise is incorrect — we get advance copies on 90% of the games reviewed here. AVC reviewers are on the same lists as everyone else. Our reviews are filed well in advance of the publication date (typically a week or so), so it would be really…

Sounds like I'll go with Risen. I don't have Resonance Of Fate; perhaps I'll give that a go when the price comes down. (Sega didn't send me a copy.) I did go to a couple ROF preview events. I have never heard the word "gunplay" used so heavily. So I take it there's plenty of gunplay.

I have both Darksiders and Risen sitting on my shelf — which one should I play next when I get some free time to catch up on games I've missed this year? I've been looking forward to both, but leaning toward Darksiders.

Some schedule juggling means that the SSF4 review will run next Monday.

Huh, interesting. I wouldn't have guessed. Thanks for the info!