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In our previous episode, a stalwart hero named Steerpike (actually his name is Ste, because it’s really irritating entering letters into the PS3 with thumbsticks) died 133 times while accomplishing essentially nothing at all. That installment took me to about October 12, so an even week of play since Dark Souls released. I’ve been writing …

I’ve got this trudging, bloviating, pedagogical article about the Souls games cooking, one that includes references to Kierkegaard and “Non-Campbellian Heroism,” but I figured I’d start with a series you guys might actually find fun to read. I have a bit of a thing for Demon’s Souls, and for Dark Souls, and I’ve been keeping …

So we knew that From Software, creators of the glorious Demon’s Souls, were working on a “sequel.” Now we know its name: Dark Souls, to be published in the west by Namco-Bandai. That’s a bit of a surprise, since Atlus did so well with the original it seems they’d want sequel localization rights, but there …

This will probably come as a surprise but I kind of like Demon’s Souls. “Kind of like” in the sense of a genuine epic man-love involving dirty sex and lots of touching. I wish Demon’s Souls could bear my children. I wish Demon’s Souls could love me as I love it, but it doesn’t. But …

While the rest of the T-R silo dwellers are wandering the wastelands of Fallout 3, painstakingly making their way back to a bloodstain in Demon’s Souls or negotiating the jump mechanics of Portal I decided to go retro with Cranberry Production’s new point-and-click adventure Black Mirror II, the sequel to the reasonably well-received Black Mirror …

During a conversation over one particular weekend, our beloved fellow columnist Gregg B announced to me that he had, during one particular Demon’s Souls boss encounter, utilized an artificial intelligence (A.I.) glitch to his advantage.  Shame on you brother I said, without inquiring for the full story.  However, it did get me thinking about A.I. within videogames…

Kotaku’s Mike Fahey has written a candid and powerful article about his Everquest addiction – one of the worst cases I’ve seen – and how it nearly destroyed his life. It takes a lot of strength and courage to write something like this about oneself, and Mike’s story is as heartrending as it is personal.

Atlus-published From Software’s Demon’s Souls arrives at retail in North America a la mañana, and the raves continue to pour in. I’ve seen nothing below an eight and plenty of 9.5s (and higher), all incongruously paired with statements like “the hardest game I’ve ever played,” “I’ve never felt frustration on this level,” and “brings new meaning to the word ‘grind.’”

So, I’m a bit of an arachnophobe. I spotted a spider making its way from my living room’s ceiling to my living room’s floor the other day and while I managed to throw it out the window eventually, it involved a lot of screaming and panicked jumps all over the room. To be clear here: …

Call them addictive or don’t, but games have the power to enthrall like nothing else on earth.