Christmas is past... The new year approaches.

Okay, everyone... take a deep breath, hold it... and let it out... let it all out...

Whew! Christmas time is a busy season at GameVortex, with a pile of games to review, and movies, to boot! Now that Christmas has past, however, things can begin to calm down a bit, and we can start thinking about the new year ahead of us.

Which is kind of a big thing for us, since 2009 will be GameVortex's 10th Anniversary! Wow, the big One-Oh!

I would love to say I've got lots of things planned for 2009, but, at this stage, I have a few ideas here and there, without a solid gameplan. However, I am making my plans now, as part of composing my New Years' resolutions, so I think people will be pleasantly surprised at some of the changes we make... and that includes myself.

One thing I have been doing is answering questions on Yahoo Answers. I had been considering adding a Q&A section to GameVortex, but I might direct readers to Yahoo Answers, instead, where more people could benefit from the answers, what with Yahoo being the most popular website on the planet, right now.

Well, I'm off to work on my list.

The Snowman Cometh

Long time, no talk, but we've been busy, what with Christmas just around the corner. The latest noteworthy thing is that we actually got snow at the GameVorplex. I know, I know... a lot of places routinely get snow... and in much greater quantities than this, but this is LOUISIANA. I've seen, maybe, four or five snowfalls in over twenty-five years. Also, none of those occasions did we get this much snow. In all, we got between one and three inches of snow, but for those in Louisiana or familiar with Louisiana, pics of the snowfall we got in Baton Rouge may be interesting.

(The yellow car is Psibabe's, the Green car is mine (Geck0's) and pictures are courtesy of J.R.Nip.)

We lost power for a total of, maybe, a couple of hours, so this isn't going to slow our publishing or anything.

Smoke and Mirrors (and Lights)

So, I got the Rock Band Stage Kit in for review. You know, the fog machine / strobe light / LED lighting effect kit that says, "Hey, I take Rock Band waaay too seriously."

Well, you can see my review of the Rock Band Stage Kit at GameVortex.com, but in summary, I'll just say that it really does change the feel from simply playing a game to much more of a performance. This is just the desired effect for parties that I go to, so I'll have to tote it along.

I tried it out at a "Gaming Day" at work, with Rock Band 2 (Xbox 360), Guitar Hero World Tour (PS3) and some various Wii games and it was a big hit. The gaming session lasted from 4:PM to 8:PM and, at the end of the day, we were down to five people rotating in and out of a Rock Band 2 game, with the Stage Kit going... well, without the fog, since you can't lower the amount of fog to reasonable amounts... and we wanted to actually see the screen.

Post PAX, Post Gustav, Post Guitar Hero World Tour Press Event, Post Ike Update

A lot has transpired in the past few weeks, and thank God, it seems we've lived through it all. J.R. Nip and StarScream did, eventually, make it back from PAX, the GameVorplex wasn't blown away by hurricanes, I made it out to participate the Guitar Hero World Tour press event in Santa Monica, CA (and will be posting a report on all of the coolness that entailed) and I've gotten sick and (as of this writing) just about over it.

Due to the hurricanes and the resulting power outages, we've gotten a little bit behind on things, as it's difficult to play games or even movies when you have no electricity, but we're working hard on catching up. Check for lots of updates... soon.

"How are you going to get them back on the farm once they've seen PAX?"

And I think it's gonna be a long, long time...

Going TO Louisiana is rarely a problem for people interested in the gaming industry. Typically, people from Louisiana are trying to go elsewhere to be where the gaming industry is... such as going to Seattle to attend PAX. Take, for example, J.R. Nip and StarScream, both of whom are currently in Seattle, for PAX.

The problem is, with Hurricane Gustav barreling through the Gulf of Mexico straight toward the GameVorplex, our esteemed comrades are unlikely to be able to fly back into Baton Rouge until, well, I don't know when they'll be able to fly back in. I assume it won't be until the storm is done, according to the FAA or whoever determines that for the commercial airlines.

StarScream was coming back a day earlier than J.R.Nip, and we were assuming that it the weather wouldn't effect StarScream's flight, but now it's looking like both flights will be affected. What does that mean for our reviewers? I wish I knew. Time will tell.

A Wing and a Prayer

So, the Penny Arcade Expo (or PAX, for short) is upon us and I, for one, don't get to go. J.R. Nip and StarScream will be covering the event for us, so they're flying to Seattle today. I know that J.R. Nip is in the air as I write this, and has been in airports and in the air since 4:30 a.m. this morning. I don't envy a day wasted with commercial flights, but I do wish I was able to go to PAX this year. Oh, well... hopefully I will be able attend next year.

...That is, of course, supposing that I live to next year. Not the kind of thing that one would typically say, but I'm scheduled to help Kambur O. Blythe and Psibabe in batting down the hatches to prepare for Tropical Storm Gustav, which looks like it's expected to be a Hurricane by 8:00 p.m. tonight.

So, either this evening or tomorrow morning I will be in a tree, wielding a chainsaw, which I have had no practice at using. I will be doing a fair bit of praying, I think, and trying to think of a way I could practice.

Hmmm, perhaps there's a game that I could train with... Maybe a Resident Evil or some FPS, perhaps?

Meeting "Chuck"

So, we got a TV series, "Chuck" in for review. I wasn't reviewing it; Psibabe did that one, but I got to watch it with her. Perks of being married to the boss, I suppose. Anyway, Chuck is an awesome show. I loved the blatant parody of "Best Buy" - "Buy More," as they called it in the show.

Chuck is part comedy, part espionage and often has the feel of a show from the eighties, with the occasional flub of the way technology works. It's laughable at times, but that somehow works for a comedy.

Anyway, if you watch Chuck, then I'm sure you're waiting anxiously for a fix, as I am. If you're not familiar with it, check out Psibabe's review of Chuck: The Complete First Season.

CSI gets a "Dexter" injection by "Professor Morpheus"

So, I was looking around the net for something or other when I saw a story posted somewhere (CNN?maybe?) about Laurence Fishburne joining the cast of CSI. As a fan of CSI (the original - Las Vegas only), this was big news. I figured that, since we will eventually be reviewing the DVD of the upcoming season, it's germane to what we do and of interest to our readers. So, I found the original press release to write my story.

I couldn't have been more surprised when I found out that there was going to be a conference call a little over an hour from the time I found the press release. I waited, then took a thirty minute lunch break during the conference call, so I could listen in.

I didn't get a chance to ask any questions, personally, but that's good, because after I indicated that I had a question and before the call was over, other people asked the questions I was going to ask, anyway. It would have been really embarassing to get to ask a question and basically say, "Laurence Fishburne, Do you like toast too? As do I. It is warm and crispy, and a perfect place for jelly to lay... Now get away from me, I've got nothing to say to you!" - to paraphrase Mitch Hedberg.

At any rate, I think the news story about Laurence Fishburne joining CSI came out pretty good, when I weaved in the quotes from Mr. Fishburne and the CSI producers. Some of the quotes were pretty cool, especially to hear Laurence Fishburne say, "Hey, this will work!" excitedly after seeing how dark and moody CSI can be.

The SoulCalibur IV Character Doppelganger Files

So, I consider myself to be somewhat of an artist. I also am fairly impressed with the Character Creation mode in SoulCalibur IV. I also wanted to find a reason to continue playing SoulCalibur IV, so that my wife and editor, Psibabe, wouldn't get upset when I try to play it some. (Typically, once a game is reviewed, our time is reserved for other, yet-to-be-reviewed products and, even if I'm taking a break from that, she needs the consoles or the TV for other reviews.)

I thought it would be cool to create some look-a-like characters, mimicking characters out of popular fiction, movies and other videogames, and then post little stories that show what the character looks like and what settings make up that character. I figured I would capture some in-game video of that character in action and capture some screenshots, as well, to accompany the piece. I had planned to use the PCTV HD Pro Stick to capture the video and drop some screenshot from the video as well. However, I'm trying to capture Xbox 360 output using composite signal and it's looking like utter crap. Ug.

The next step is to try to get my hands on a Xbox 360 to S-Video display cable and see if that looks better. In the mean time, I was able to get some passable (but just barely) video out of the composite signal. I really need to set up a lab for capturing screens and videos for this sort of thing... I guess I'll put it on the incredibly long list of things-I'd-like-to-do-when-I-get-free-time-and-disposable-income.

How I wish I was going to GC (Leipzig), let me count the ways...

E3 is dead. I know, because I walked in its funeral procession last year, along with the Gamecock folks. At the time, I thought, hey... I can participate and be there to cover the event and keep the little publicity nick-knacks as souvenirs... if E3 bounces back, then whatever... but if they're right... if E3 really is dead, then I could frame them as a display - a piece of history.

Well, despite the fact that E3 was held this year, it was definitely dead. It hurts to see the body of a close friend defiled. You can see that everyone is looking for where to jump, what to replace E3 with.

...which might be why I'm hearing more about the Games Convention in Leipzig than I ever have before. And there's going to be a lot of companies attending. I, sadly, won't be there, but I am hoping to try to cover some of the goings-on remotely, although I must say I'm not happy with my experience of attempting to do that for E3 this year. It simply sucks not to be there... wherever "there" is.

So, when I saw that SplitFish is going to show the new FragFX for the PS3 at GC in Leipzig, I posted a news story about it. We've had a good relationship with SplitFish and I'm hoping to be able to get a FragFX unit in-house for testing... what would be awesome would be to actually get one in-house in time to do a "first impressions" article for GC, then to follow up with a full review... I'll have to run that by my Editor-in-Chief and see if we can make that happen.

- Robert "Geck0" Perkins

One Strong Bad Demo!

So, if you're familiar with the Internet Flash-based comic, "Homestar Runner," then you know who Strong Bad is. I used to frequent the HomestarRunner website and watch the various cartoons. I would even go so far as to view the source of the page to see what the flash file was and then go to that directly, as this allowed me to watch it full screen and see outside of the intended "viewable" area.

Even back then, there would be little interactive surprises, if you could determine where to click. Little bonus content, if you will... extra jokes, simple games, that sort of thing.

Well, Strong Bad is now being featured in his own game that is coming out for the PC and Wii, and the demo (called, "Homestar Ruiner Demo") is available for download. I wrote a quick news article about the Strong Bad Demo on GameVortex.com yesterday, but I wanted to test it out to make sure it wasn't virus-infected, that it actually launched and to see how it played before posting the news story.

It was pretty cool to see Strong Bad and friends in a game, which basically felt like a less-linear version of the old Homestar Runner content. The only thing that irked me about the demo was that when you are talking to another character, you will say some different things based on whether you are trying to be nice or mean, but you won't know how many different things you can say until you've cycled through them... and then you end up hearing the same conversation again, without being able to break out of it... which can be annoying, since some of the conversations are lengthy exchanges.

Much like the original Homestar Runner comics, the videogame is intended to be served up in periodic installments. Homestar Runner makes a perfect license for episodic content, as it was originally done in an episodic manner. The first episode is around nine dollars, but you can buy the first season for thirty-something, I believe. there are links to purchasing the game or the series inside of the demo, so that's probably the best way to check-ity check it out.

- Robert "Geck0" Perkins

Taking over the world from a small bedroom in the mountains

I recently took a vacation with my in-laws. I know, most people immediately think, "big mistake!" Actually, it wasn't all that bad; yes, there was some friction, but we all lived through it.

My mother-in-law (and for that matter, my brother-in-law) didn't seem to want to do as much "active" stuff as I would have like… I could have spent most of my trip divided between walking up and down the strip in Gatlinburg and riding go-carts and playing mini-golf in Pigeon Forge. Of course, since the 18-wheeler incident, Ashley can't take that kind of walking, either. So, instead of having someone else to run up and down the strip with, I had a group of people who didn't want to do much. Although Ash and I were up for it, they weren't even interested enough in the Incline Railroad (Chattanooga, TN) to wait to ride it. True it was a projected one hour wait (how?!), but still, it's not like we go there once a week.

Regardless, there were several early evenings and late mornings that I found myself in a bedroom with my PS3 and Civilization: Revolution to keep me company. We didn't even have Internet access in the room! Luckily for me, Civ Revolution is certifiable crack. I could have played that game holed up in a room for another week if there was somewhere comfortable to sit. I was playing it to review it for GameVortex, so I was quite sad to finish the review and turn it in, as that usually means I won't find another chance to play the game.

Actually, I'm considering writing a strategy guide for Civ Revolution, to give me a "reason" to play it some more. It's really fun. I highly recommend it if you're into that sort of thing… or for that matter, if you're curious about Turn based Strategy games. If you're interested, check out my review of Civilization Revolution on PSillustrated.com.

- Robert "Geck0" Perkins

Welcome to GameVortex, behind the scenes...

GameVortex is not just another website. It's a network of friends who love videogames and movies, watching, playing and researching what they love and doing their best to share their excitement and knowledge with gamers the world over. Everything we do is on a volunteer basis... we don't get paid to review things, the only "payment" we get is that we get to keep the product we reviewed.

I guess that's why I, for one, love each and every one of our reviewers. They have something special about their characters, something distinguishing about their abilities... they have a way with words, an eye for analysis. They are quite often regarded as "experts" in their favorite genres. And, they're genuinely likeable people. Yes, I love every one of our reviewers.

Especially the girls. They're hot. No, seriously. Gamer girls are hot by definition. Yum. Luckily, I'm married to the Queen Bee, Psibabe.

So, this blog is intended to be a glimpse into the lives of GameVortex's staff members as we go about the business of play. Hopefully you'll get to know us better. Perhaps we'll get to know you a bit better, too. Maybe... just maybe... you'll find that you belong among our ranks.

Until next time,
Game On!

Robert "Geck0" Perkins,
Director of Creative Development,
GameVortex.com