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Just heard that the spanking-new iPad had SnoCross demoed on it.  Is it true?  More casual gaming for all?

Update:  And here’s the info.  Is that Cyan Mini Cooper from the same game?

When did The King of Games get this T back in stock?  And why didn’t they call me?  They key to this shirt’s awesomitude is the lack of the world Zelda.  Gamers are a private crowd, and we like to be recognized by others of Our People without broadcasting our nature to the world. 

“Join hosts Mark and Jessie as they journey Across the Nerd-a-verse! Join us each episode for nerd talk that hits you like a zerg rush! We cover video games, comic books, all things sci-fi, movies, television, books and more.”

• When Jessie and I got together and started to plan out ATN we both envisioned the show as a place where we could discuss any subject matter that happened to be tickling our fancy. So, in that respect, I don’t think that we have any topics that we consider expressly taboo. ATN is actually our second attempt at producing a show. Our first attempt was a revival of a Team Fortress 2 focused podcast known as “The Fortcast”. As Jessie and I got deeper into our planning for that show we came to realize that we had a lot more that we wanted to be able to talk about and that a TF2 based podcast would become a bit restrictive. We basically wanted to talk about “all things nerd”. In general, we’ve tended to avoid political topics, and music discussions. I think that the biggest factor that determines our choice of topics is if we feel that we have something worth saying about a particular subject.

• Jessie and I are both members of the Team Fortress 2 Fort (http://www.teamfortress2fort.com) community clan, which is really where our friendship began. Sadly to this point our friendship is still very much a virtual one as we’ve never actually met in person. Through discussions on the community’s forums is where we began to form a friendship. It didn’t hurt that in game Jessie and I made a quite potent Heavy + Medic combo. When “The Fortcast” took a break due to some staff changes Jessie was one of my first choices to try and revive that show. The revival of “The Fortcast” didn’t happen, but we came away from that attempt with ATN so I guess it worked out okay. The fact that Jessie originally hails from the Western NY area as I do certainly helped solidify our friendship as we could bond over the common Western NY touchstones of chicken wings and the Buffalo Bills.

• In general, I think that we are currently in an era of gaming where more things are going right then wrong. I think it is great that videogaming as a medium is becoming a larger part of our popular culture landscape then it has ever been. It has been great to watch the medium grow over the course of our lifetimes, and I think we are finally entering an era where our long time claims that videogaming is as valid of a medium as say movies are finally being validated. It is even more exciting when you consider that we’ve yet to even see platforms like the PS3 taken full advantage of. When you combine that with the fact that independent development is now far more viable due to online distribution services such as Steam and Xbox Live we are in a great place to watch people really push our hobby into new and interesting places. If there was a negative trend that was bothering me, I think I would say that it would be the development disparity between the console platforms and my platform of choice the PC. The PC I think has had a great resurgence as a platform, but it still makes me sad that I have not seen console titles that I am interested in such as “Castle Crashers” or “Bayonetta” make their way over to my side of the fence. However, this is a trend that I have seen become less and less as of late to the point where a game not having a PC version appears to be more the exception then the rule.

• First off, I’m going to take this question as a bit of a compliment, because I think one thing that I’ve always wanted the show to strive for was to provide that same type of talk radio feel. I’ve long been a fan of talk radio in all its formats be it sports, politics what have you. If you get into my car the radio will usually be tuned to some talk radio station. I’ll listen to just about anything from Rush Limbaugh to “sports” talk such as the Tony Kornheiser show, and the technology programming being produced by Leo Laporte and the TWIT network. I think if I take my inspiration to how I approach broadcasting from anyone it would be from Mr. Kornheiser and Mr. Laporte, who both do an excellent job of making a show be about more then just sports or technology and more about our current social culture in general. The really exciting thing for me about the emergence of new media such as podcasting and blogging, is that it has allowed for a wider array of cultural topics to enter the arena of public discussion. On ATN we happen to focus on subjects such as videogaming and movies because they are not only near and dear to our hearts but are becoming a growing factor in the general cultural discussion of our era and it is great to contribute to the dialogue relating to these items. I guess the old English major desire to be involved in the analysis and discourse of these cultural artifacts never really dies.

• I’ve been spending a good bit of time recently with Bioware’s Dragon Age: Origins, as well as another Bioware title Mass Effect. I still do find time to put in a few rounds of Team Fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead 2 each week as well.

Congrats to EA2D for some great showings in the Jayisgames.com Best of Casual Gameplay 2009 Awards.  Jay Is Games is well worth the italics in the place for casual games, and the users gave Mirror’s Edge 2D the #1 for action and Dragon Age Journeys #3 for strategy.  Here’s hoping for more awesomeness on the way.

This illustration reminds me of a puzzle!

Layton and Luke at the Busstop by ~wredwrat on deviantART

 Any lover of logic loves Layton, and the added bonus of excellent art and animation makes both of the games must-haves.  Found this very faithful bit of fan art of deviantART —  if you use it, just remember that a gentleman always gives credit where it is due.

By now, I’m sure you’ve noticed many of your friends posting their PS3 trophies on Facebook.  Want to join in the gloating?  Easy peasy:

Turn on your PS3.
Select the Playstation Network menu.
Select Account Management.
Select the aptly-named Facebook icon.

From here you can choose to Share Trophy Information, Share Purchase Information, and Share Event Information.  Click one, say Yes, and enter your FB info at the prompt.  And whoomp, there it is.  Next time you sync up the PS3, your latest awesomeness will be posted to The Book of Faces.

This video from the firmware v3.10 preview will walk you through it as well.

That’s the program — now get with it.

Here’s a nice pic for your desktop.  Remember fl0w?  I played it when it was Jenova Chen’s MFA thesis, but have yet to free up the PSN points to pick up the flashy PS3 version.

Turns out I’ve been a fan of this guy for ages without realizing it.  I loved Cloud.  I used to leave fl0w up in a window on my desktop for the chill factor.  And Flower was the second game I bought for the PS3. Maybe I should send him a card or something.  A very… relaxed… card….