Hey kids, look! Rebuses!

Occasionally, I'll have to take a short leave of absence, so we can justify all the "Ken B.'s Back!" jokes. Hey, what can I say--I'm like that dude in the movie Summer School who gets up for a piss break on the first day of class and isn't seen again until the final exam. Then he ACES it, baby. That's all I'm sayin'. Ready for part 2 of my 2012 gaming review? If you're not by now, you...

Conquere the furious river with swift swimming strokes! mind control bears and bald eagles! Get your fish laid! Wait, what? Come in friend and let me explain...

I'm a dyed in the wool Marvel man from way back. Never read DC comics growing up but somehow I got a hold of a copy of Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns in a graphic novel format. I was blown away. It... I almost put in the word "perhaps" here but I realized how ridiculous that qualifier is...IT IS one of the best comics ever written. First published 27 years ago, it retains all its power today. The two disc animated adaptation is the comic put in motion. It looks like it should. It sounds like it should. And...

Have you ever noticed how so many games put the player in the role of a tycoon? It’s one of the oldest settings, going all the way back from Monopoly to classics like Acquire and the 18xx series. It’s a simple concept: the most money wins. In modern designs, it’s more common to represent amassed wealth and power in the form of some kind of victory point, like in Imperial. So the structure changes, the settings shift, but the message is always the same: financial success translates directly to victory. Of course, most of these games aren’t really interested...