This does cause an issue for less discerning folks, though.

I suppose my problem with "artistic" is that, as the term stands, it's usually a vague something-something that everyone kinda knows what it means and stands for, but could easily be replaced with something more informative - which is ultimately the point of a critical analysis.

Mostly work by the Surrealists, some quasi-Oulipo stuff. I mostly recall the "exquisite cadaver" stuff that the Surrealists worked on - which was mostly a parlor game, but has established itself as "writing by committee" in some workshop spaces. I know there's something else - it's eluding me now - but there's at…

"Type of game: Artistic, interactive adventure game."

"I don't think I ever noticed that detail, which is weird, 'cause I tend to. What are you referring to?"

The idea that a bunch of scientists can't find a sympathetic communications expert to set up a secure line and simply talk over a freakin' phone is what's always confused me about HL2... I suppose I could suspend my disbelief for the sake of the game, but I'm not particularly sure why Valve asks me to - I'm definitely…

Well, I've sat through Austin, Chicago, and San Francisco traffic - and I've never been so afraid that someone was going to hit me than in Austin. I know the danger level of traffic's worse in places like India and Vietnam, but, in the U.S. at least, Austin drivers' lack of common sense is the worse I've seen. (By…

That's in Austin. People down there jump out in front of traffic (albeit usually on bikes) all the time. I'm not sure what's wrong with them, but Austinites have little to no concept of "traffic laws" or "common sense" whenever they get around a road. (Although, actually, the drivers are worse than the pedestrians...)

I think Yoda Stories and the Indiana Jones one actually were released in a two-pack - both awesome, simple games that were well-worth the hours I put in 'em.

No Dark Forces? No Yoda Stories? Blasphemy.

Games journalism would be good if you could hear back from some people - but, if that doesn't work out:

I'll see if I can't check it out tomorrow, if not the day after. I'm actually in the process of moving, so the internet goes out tomorrow, and I'm not sure if the hotel's going to have a wireless connection/I won't by half-passed-out by the time I get there.

"I would argue that gamers are a) smarter than people give them credit for, and b) a larger portion of games are "smart" when compared with other media."

Ah - so that's the inspiration for Kilgore Trout. Good info to know.

Blegh. Car repairs. It makes me paranoid every time I go into a garage for repairs that someone's going to do that sort of thing, and make it worse instead of better.

They're a lot cheaper. You can get Space Marine or Kasrkin lookalikes for a fraction of the cost.

Ah, Chaucer's awesome. 'Nuff said.

Find a group of people who don't mind if you use non-GW models. Some 40k players are stingy about this sort of thing.

That's why I love the old Final Fantasies so much - before they were mostly about the spectacle of the game and, instead, much more focused on presenting a quasi-operatic, overblown narrative with tight JRPG gameplay. The difference between FF4, FF5, and FF6 is enough to make those games interestingly unique. The…

I hate to be snarky, but I get the feeling that Fez stopped short, in a sense, because Fish'd been working on the thing for a half-decade and needed to put it out if anyone was going to listen to him at developing conferences any more.