This week I FINALLY got confirmation that yes, I could have the Saturday of Labor Day weekend off, so it looks like I'll be able to attend PAX this year again after all. I feel as though I had to sacrifice a virgin-birthed-baby on an altar of human skulls... it was without question the most difficult day of vacation I've ever had to bargain for. One of the effects of the faltering economy is that my company has trimmed fat wherever it can... unfortunately, once all the fat is gone, your body starts burning muscle for fuel. To put a point on this increasingly labored metaphor... there are no longer enough people working Saturdays at my place of employment for more than one person at a time to take a weekend off. Since vacation days are decided by seniority, this means the one guy who's been workin' there for 20 years can (and has) taken pretty much all the weekends for the whole year off. It goes without saying that a holiday weekend was one of the first to go, hence my difficulty.

But screw that, it's all in the past now, and I will see the lot of you in Seattle. I will of course be rocking the Blue Shell hat. I've been told it should grant me free passage to the front of the line, but I was too much of a weenie to try it. Perhaps an influx of adult beverages can belay my inhibitions long enough to try it this year?

It was fairly light for a Monday in the Cblogs, but there's still some great stuff on display here. The Articles in Wordtoid merit special attention, there were several thought provoking pieces by our amateur bloggers. Let's get those recaps rolling, shall we?




*-Suitcoat Avenger designed a road sign for Rapture.
*-jkh13 shows off his custom fightstick with a most peculiar (or perhaps "pikauliar?") theme.
*-Tascar's response to Jim's "NOA needs to STFU" article does a brilliant job of comparing Nintendo to Apple, and how the latter hasn't let down its hardcore base.
*-TSuereth used JOURNALISM to look deeper into that Southpeak/Gamecock story that was posted on the front page earlier. Speculation on Terry Phillip's baby-eating habit follow.


A-Canti-Sama started a new series called "Post-mortem Monday" where he intends to inspect a game's DLC offerings and analyze them. Sounds like a good idea for a series, and it's off to a good start with this look at TF2.
A-Etirflita ponders the contents of dark alleys and emerges with this list of game characters. How do the two intersect? You'll have to click the link and see.
A-AndrewG009 wrote a great article concerning game piracy that sparked some intelligent discourse in the comments. Don't be frightened by the wall of text; it's worth reading.
A-Blindfire wrote lucidly and longingly, remembering the time when "beta" didn't actually mean "preview" or "demo."
A-Etirfilta wrote about some game concepts he'd like to see made real, and the unreasonable facsimiles he's forced to accept in stead.
A-In preparation for the upcoming Dante's Inferno game, Tsuereth takes a tongue-in-cheek look at the source material.
S-Tone Marley has been going into exquisite detail discussing his playtime with Forza 3. Episode 4 looks at some of the Sport Coupes.
S-Tanukitsune checks a couple more games off his backlog list. This week: Banjo Tooie and a buncha iPhone games.
S-NihonTiger90 is constantly asking What'd You Get?
P-Backwards Compatible put up episode 21 today, with special guests Agent MOO and PowerGlove.
P-Drunkcast episode 5 is recording pretty much right the hell now.
P-Refused Classification is recording tonight as well.


E-Cadtalfryn drew something cool for Ignition's contest, and shared it here.


C-Laird fellates Jim Sterling... with LANGUAGE.
I-Greetings to Trebz, who made an introduction with a list of 10 great games. Bonus points for the Futurama reference. Welcome to Destructoid.


N-Krow has the news that Persona 3 Portable may have been revealed in Famitsu today. File this one under rumortoid for the moment.
V-Crunshii posted a new video showing off StarCraft 2's campaign mode.
R-ErbilT reviewed one of the Xbox's community games, "I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES!!!1" Typing that title out made my brain whimper.
R-Bulkmailer did some rapid-fire reviews of some non-backwards-compatible Xbox games.
R-BileSoup spent some time with Gradius Collection for the PSP, and here reviews each game individually.
R-ArtificialMonk really enjoyed Dead Space and took the time to savor it. Here he shares his afterthoughts on the creepiest game of last year.
T-JehutyFromHell recently replayed Comix Zone on XBLA. That's a good game, but it's awfully hard to play without a NOT emulator and save states...
T-John B thinks the lack of a manual save in Bionic Commando ruined the game.
T-NTSC U wonders where all the game rental stores are going.
T-To paraphrase de BLOO: Scary Womanizing Pig Mask may be a whore, but he's OUR whore. <3


A-Shadowsinthenyte will be rocking at 64-bit genocide in Baltimore this Saturday. That's a pretty flippin' cool poster you have there.
A-Suitcoat Avenger is learning how to use his Wacom tablet without crippling his hand. In the meantime, here's some neat doodles.
M-Kauza's the guest DJ on dTunes this week. Spin those stacks of laughin' wax.
F-Fyodor Douchetoevsky did a pop culture roundup for the week, mostly movie related.
F-DronkMonk went all comprehensive describing District 9. I didn't read this since I haven't seen the movie yet.
L-ItemForty provided a link to a comic where Jesus flash kicks Nazis in the face. What are you still doing here?
S-Shirt.woot has had one of their first ever designs reprinted, and it has a gaming motif. JTIcefire recommends having a gander if you are so inclined.
S-ErbilT found some vintage videogame trading cards that are probably older than most of the people reading this sentence.


R-NTSC U beat multiple games today. Congrats, sir.
R-Tgammet finished up a couple Halo games over the weekend.
R-Mave's Street Sharks pictures have been popping up in some strange places lately.
?-Something about rugs? Or something.
?-Is this about Persona? I don't understand.
?-I'm never sure how to categorize Altered's Pathologic writeups, but they're consistently well written. Have a look.
C-This doesn't really belong in the blogs. As Blehman pointed out, there's a dedicated place for this kind of thing in the Forums.


F-Return to 4chan from whence you came.

-(Qalamari)

FPoTD