Amusing, engaging, and downright hilarious links from my travels across the web this weekend.

• Amazing game peripherals from the stupid ages.
• 6 albums by rock legends that were thinly veiled “F#@k You’s”
• I personally started a Facegroup group. It’s the ironically named “Why are people compelled to join facebook groups just to make a witty observation?” (I was amused with me)
• 94 randomly chosen video games were each reviewed in only FIVE WORDS. It’s hilarious for old school and new school gamers alike.
• And finally: Some tasty rumors about the Nintendo DS2…

I just spent a few hours with my partner in crime finalizing the look of Indie Arcade, and I’m damn excited about launching the site.  My A.D.D. kicked in multiple times, and I went cruising around the interwebs as well as the cobwebs in my brain looking for a mission statement of sorts.

Found this:

“Basically, the indie scene made me love games again! It’s where the passion is, it’s where the most interesting games are, and it’s where the most interesting people are. For the mainstream industry, everything goes in one direction: bigger, shinier, 3D-ier. Indie games go in every direction, and it’s exciting as hell. We’ll keep ‘em honest.” - Derek Yu, Bit-Blot (Aquaria)

This resonated with me, much the same way running Insomnia Radio has. The passion bottled up inside indie games – as with indie music – really does rise to the surface, and the original vision isn’t tainted by budgets or dozens of conflicting interests, or day & date release deadlines, or common denominators. It’s a bit less polished, maybe, but it’s got heart.

All gushing aside, it’s thrilling to be creating something brand new, and rejoining something established. Here’s to the continued rise of indie games, and indie music.

Have a killer 2010. see you there.

Earlier this year I disappointed a bunch of people, self included, when I charged out of the gate with a vengeance and finally dropped episode #165 of Insomnia Radio after being absent for over a year.

Then, of course, chaos and drama ensued and podcasting – much less a semblance of normal life – became impossible to produce.

So that said, I’m working on the newest episode of IR. No, wait, really!

Kicking off 2010 IR proper style.

Now, I’ve learned over the years not to make promises I can’t keep, but I’m going to do my damnedest to reboot Insomnia Radio into a thriving, prolific podcast network once again. I’ve secured some quiet, secluded podcasting space, even!

The past two weeks I’ve been weeding through literally 100’s of submissions, and paving the way for future episodes and future partnerships.

Been preparing the new adventure, Indie Arcade, too. I hope to get much noisier in 2010. Things have been too quiet :-)

I just finished playing Tornado Outbreak, a new game by Seattle developer Loose Cannon that blends elements of the timeless Katamari Damacy with Saturday morning cartoons. What can be more fun than not just the collection of, but wanton destruction of cows, ferris wheels, double decker buses, silos, tanks, and hotels with well produced, light-hearted animated intermissions?

The game was genuinely fun. Not an experience to philosophize over and draw inspiration from, but just an enjoyable gaming experience with decent replay value. And it’s published by Konami, you know this little company responsible for Castlevania & Metal Gear Solid? What’s baffling me is just how far under the radar this game has slipped. It’s been available for over a week (almost a retail eternity in this industry!) and has only garnered two reviews via Metacritic.

At first it would lead me to believe Konami’s PR agency slipped up. But, they contacted little ole’ me so certainly they reached out to the big boys and girls, right? The IGN’s, the Gamespots, the 1UPs. Not to mention the literally 100’s of medium sized gaming sites. So I’m left wondering what went wrong? This industry loves to “encourage” avoidance by bashing terrible games, but Tornado Outbreak is a decent game (not earth shattering, but worth playing) that just got lost somewhere between its conception (Development) and its birth (retail) and that’s a shame.

I’m writing this meandering rant before penning my review over at Examiner, because I need to filter out some of the personal feelings I’ve attached to this game. I spent years of my life promoting the independents and underdogs of the world so I feel obligated to push Tornado Outbreak under people’s noses and insist they give it a chance. Not because it’s the underdog being overshadowed by the upcoming holiday monster releases, but because it’s a GOOD underdog.

It’s also only $40 instead of the usual $60 which is a trend I hope more publishers will adopt.

Feel free to hold out for my review, but if you’ve played and enjoyed Katamari or Loco Roco, give Tornado Outbreak a second glance, especially if you’ve got little ones who play by your side. (Yep, it’s co-op!)

Ok, rant over. Enjoy your weekend gang!

Today, it’s 1/3 shameless self-promotion and 2/3 high praise for a couple respected writers.

1) An intelligent discussion about Halo? http://www.brainygamer.com/the_brainy_gamer/2009/09/odst.html (scope the comments for an example of REAL comment thread conversations)

2) Day-ee-tona! http://bit.ly/l5gPg

3) How Possibly To Do Good Games Journalism, Maybe – An Introduction: http://lewisdenby.wordpress.com/2009/09/28/how-possibly-to-do-good-games-journalism-maybe-an-introduction/

I'll review it, as soon as I can stop playing it!

As I wrap up a weekend full of impromptu – and gleefully geeky – Halo 3: ODST LAN parties and endlessly blissful sessions of DiRT 2, I’m haunched over my laptop trying to find the on-ramp to my latest game review.

I’ve been sitting on the aforementioned DiRT 2 for just shy of a week, and my personal policy with game publishers and PR companies is to turnaround my review in 7 days or less. Tomorrow morning is day 7. I haven’t necessarily been procrastinating so much as constantly waiting for some flaw to jump out at me. Just one major or minor mistake Codemasters let slip. God forbid I publish a glowing review without finding fault ;-) The Gran Turismo or Forza fanatics will slap a sellout/fanboy label on me, and that’s fine. The review-absorbing audience out there can be harsh.

But honestly, before FortySeven PR sent out a press copy, I was prepared to plunk my hard-earned $60 down on DiRT 2 based on the demo alone. Hell, based on the MENU SYSTEM alone. It’s that sexy. What annoys me, however, is that I can even find faults with my all-time favorite video games, but seriously gang: DiRT 2 is a flawlessly produced off-road racing title that just drips adrenalin, style, and challenge.

I’m not sure if my critical acuity is slipping, or if this game really IS that perfect. I do know this much: I’m falling asleep thinking about the perfect racing lines to follow in the Battersea Rallycross event.

(Frickin’ Dave Mirra steals my 1st place sweep every time, man.  When did he stop riding his bike?)