Downloaded and played the new demo for Red Faction: Guerilla last night. It was surprisingly fun and all kinds of explodey. Of course I was gunned down a few times before I realized I couldn't play Rambo-style. Hint: That's why it's called "Guerilla".

So I finally got around to:

1. Writing another blog post, and
2. Making an 8-Bit Art Facebook group

Please join!

It may be the equivalent of a mindless summer blockbuster movie, but I'm not complaining. The gameplay has been improved over the first installment, the visuals are even better, and the Locust are even meatier when they get blown up.

Good stuff.

As a triathlete, I often wonder why there are no games based on my favorite sport (or multi-sport). There are videogames for just about every sport imaginable - there's even videogames based on "sports" like NASCAR and "professional" wrestling. So why no triathlon videogames?

Of course if there was a triathlon videogame, it would probably be as lame as all those 2008 Olympics videogames.

It's the most wonderful time of the year...well, almost. The videogame drought is over and we're starting to see more and more big releases in the run-up to the holidays. I always look forward to this time of year, but I've been disappointed so far because some of the big releases have been getting poor reviews. For example, I was excited for both "Alone in the Dark" and 'Star Wars: The Force Unleashed". Now that the games are out and the reviews are in, I've seen a common thread in all the reviews: The games show a lot of potential but they lack polish; they could have used another six months of work prior to release.

As much as I want the games I am looking forward to playing to be released, I would rather they be polished and bug-free. I realize that developers and publishers have a product to sell and therefore eventually have to ship a game, but they might sell more copies if the game actually turns out to be good.

In interest of full disclosure, I have not played either of the games mentioned at the beginning of this post. At the very least I should have at least played the demos. Unfortunately, I'm so busy with family and work that I tend not to purchase games unless they receive glowing reviews.

There are still many games I'm looking forward to in 2008 - "Fallout 3", "Fable II", "Dead Space", and "Mirror's Edge" just to name a few. I hope one or two of these games can live up to the hype and provide me with gaming fun.

Wasn't there a console version (Xbox 360, PS3) of Spore in development? Maybe it's just wishful thinking, but I could swear I remember reading about it.

Yes, I have a Mac that I could play it on (if I was willing to deal with the annoying DRM). However, I prefer to play console games. I know many people out there that would not understand this. This is just my personal preference.

Maybe si, maybe no. You make the call.