[Editor's note: Poor Shipero! -- CTZ]

I pre-ordered inFAMOUS months ago and I've been anxiously anticipating it's arrival since then. I played the demo multiple times, watched all the pre-release videos, and even bought a new 46 inch LED TV in preparation for it's arrival.

Little did I know that inFAMOUS was also excited about coming home with me. It had spent weeks trapped in a box with it's siblings, dreaming of the day when it could come to my apartment and play with me. Finally the day came when it could leave the cold, sterile, confines of the GameStop and taken into a loving home. Alas, the day, as it would turn out, would not be a joyous occasion ...

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The world of fan fiction has always been something of a mystery to me. My old roommate used to spend hours pouring through these non-canonical side stories to his favorite games and anime series, but I never saw the point. What do I care what some overly compulsive super-fan thinks would happen if Ash for the Evil Dead films had wandered into Raccoon City, or would have happened if Shinji and Rei would have hooked up at the end of Evangelion instead of whatever the hell was supposed to have happened at the end of that mindf*ck. I would sit there and listen to him ramble on for hours about his favorite stories and authors, how much he enjoyed so-and-so’s work or how he’d wished to see a new chapter of the Harry Potter/Simon the Sorcerer crossover piece he really liked.

I was surprised to discover that not only did people willingly read this stuff, they actually ate it up. It seemed that fan fiction writers enjoyed a level of Internet fame normally reserved for videogame bloggers and people who make goofy YouTube videos. As someone who has aspired to be both of the former, the prospect of finally getting the love and respect I so rightly deserve really appeals to me. So I now present to you some excerpts from a few of the stories I am currently working on that will hopefully catapult me into the upper echelon of fan fiction stardom.
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[Editor's note: I, along with shipero here, was wondering when someone would do a Hentai game. Well, shipero finally got tired of waiting and took it upon himself to tell us why this is a Guilty Pleasure for April's Monthly Musings. -- CTZ]

When this Monthly Musings theme was announced, I was sure I’d see at least one blog about the subject I chose to look at today. As the month continued on I saw blogs pour in for some interesting, yet relatively tame, subjects. While most of these were great reads, I was just waiting for some someone to step up and write about one of the seedier sides of gaming but alas, no one seemed to want to stick their neck out.

I can’t really blame them. It’s a hard thing to admit to doing but I’ll go ahead, stand up and not only admit to playing Hentai games before but also take a look at why they appealed to me and those like me.

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[Editor's note: Shipero is old school ya'll (y'all? yoa'll? Whatever, I'm not gangsta enough to know the right way). He loves the era of classic PC gaming. On this edition of C:\DOS\RUN, he talks about a game that looks like a hell of a lot of fun. Who knows, maybe if this game became more successful than Doom, then maybe The Rock would have starred in a RoTT movie. Now there's something to think about. -- CTZ]

One thing I realized looking back my early computer gaming experiences is that I have played a lot of Wolfenstein 3D clones. Some were good, some were bad, but all of them were usually nothing more than Wolfenstein in a different setting with some new sprites. You can’t really blame developers, when a game that popular comes along, it just makes sense to copy the core gameplay and change a few key elements to distinguish your game from the rest. Sometimes, however, a game rises far above the others and can even outshine its predecessor by adding a slew of unique features that make it stand out not only as a good clone, but a good game in its own right. A great example of one of those games is 1994’s Rise of the Triad.

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