Half-Life 2 Fear Journal - Part 0: Knowing the Unknown

"There's a headcrab around that corner."

Those were the last words I uttered to Half-Life 2.

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I am almost never affected by horror films. I don't know if it's an inability to suspend disbelief or a general desensitization to media violence, but I've always found the genre to be more comedic than frightening. Of the dozens of horror flicks I have seen, only one has really gotten under my skin. I react more to the disturbing nature of something than the types of fear shilled by the typical Halloween movie season.

Games are different. Games scare the shit out of me.

Fourplay: You Just Got Beat by a...

I have always been competitive when it comes to video games. I can let just about every other adversarial activity slide without a second glance, but something inside me demands my best once you set a controller in my hands. Maybe it's because games are something I'm good at, so I demand to be better. I'm not the best, but I feel like I hold my own. I would wager I sit in the 80th percentile of 'general player ability' when spread across all genres. I say this not to brag. I bring it up because there is a fact often neglected when considering my skill of play, a truth no one on the other end realizes when I lap them in a race or capture their flag.

I am a quadriplegic.

Dirt 3, Games for Windows, and the Meaning of Progress

A few weeks ago, I wrote an article on Games for Windows as a sample for a job application. It centered around a small pet peeve in GFW Live integration in Codemasters' exceptional rally racer, Dirt 3. A few things have changed since then and now, making the old piece slightly outdated. Even so, the problem persists.

And it all starts with a triangle...