Based in Portland, Oregon, Scout – aka Mike Gust – works in the film business, writes reviews for Tap-Repeatedly and doesn’t mind the endless, ceaseless rain. He reads, hangs out with friends, plays video games, drinks too much coffee, listens to old records and watches lots of movies. He enjoys baffling performance art, getting checks in the mail, and looking for his glasses. Scout has yet to have his photo taken with a famous person.
Review by Mike “Scout” Gust The Beaver Director Jodie Foster Writer Kyle Killen Starring Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, Anton Yelchin, Jennifer Lawrence Released May 19, 2011 By Summit Entertainment, Participant Media Verdict: 2/5 Rotten Egg “This whole damn thing left me scratching my head. Foster directs and acts with a five foot wide brush. “
Portland, Oregon fiction writer, writing professor, and gamer, Tom Bissell, was interviewed in my local alternative weekly concurrent with the release of his book, Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter. It’s a long, rambling interview that touches on, among other things, why Portal is so important, why most game reviews aren’t very good and how tedious it is actually writing for a game developer. Those who still love playing PlayStation games may use these ps1 …
Developer: Piranha Bytes Publisher: JoWooD Productions Software AG Released: August 21, 2003 Available for: Windows Time Played: Finished Verdict: 5/5 Gold Star “Imagination is one of the main reasons we play games. As the saying goes, our imagination can contain worlds, but it’s also nice when it can frolic in a place already made whole by other, perhaps better imaginations. It’s a two-way street this imaginative back and forth and the people who create these games know that, or …
I love Dragon Age Origins. I really do. And Mass Effect too. They are slick, engaging games that hold my attention, more or less through to the ending sequence. BioWare has delivered the goods recently, ladling out Mass Effect 2 and threatening to release a followup expansion to Dragon Age. What is there not to like? Well, a lot of things. The silly dialogue with its stilted choice system. And the story. Snort. Right. But …
Facebook is evil. Google is evil. The internet is evil. And here is why. I have a rule I go by that if something comes in threes in a short period of time it must mean something. I’ve suddenly come smack up against the writings of Jaron Lanier, an iconoclastic thinker whose subject is this. The internet. Blogs. And doing stuff for free because it’s supposed to be cool but isn’t really.
Review by Mike “Scout” Gust Risen Developer Piranha Bytes Publisher Deep Silver Released October 2, 2009 Available for Windows (version reviewed), Xbox Verdict: 3/5 Middlin’ “I think I feel so let down by Risen’s ending because my first impressions had been so positive, the first half so satisfyingly realistic, especially for a fantasy RPG. Risen had purred along like a nice mid-sized sedan, like a Camry shuttling me around town only to be hijacked out …
I’ve been in a bit of a gaming slump over the summer and into the fall. Nothing has really caught my attention. I drove a Fallout expansion around the block earlier this summer but it just didn’t stick. I made another run at Guild Wars, buying up the last two releases, Factions and Nightfall, killing a couple of weeks grinding away before sputtering to a stop. Korsakovia was an interesting foray into the Half Life …
Take-Two has finally announced a firm release date for the highly anticipated BioShock 2. February 9, 2010. Checking my calendar and I see nothing else booked that date so I just made a big X for the whole day.
Ben Heck continues his reimagining of gaming hardware with this nifty little laptop version of the Atari 800. This is making me seriously reconsider my upcoming iPhone purchase. Too bad there is only one of these in the world.
Recent game industry trade articles have been bandying about the very real possibility that GameStop’s lucrative used game sales are going to begin to tank as the digital distribution model grows. Is all that yummy buy low/sell high action going to just fade away? GameStop doesn’t seem to be too concerned. IndustryGamers reports on a recent study by Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia that claims that digital download technology won’t reach a critical threshold of …
Few things are more immersive than visiting a fully realized universe. This doesn’t mean we aren’t looking for great story or boffo gameplay. But often as not, the world that keeps us playing, drawn to that altered state that only gaming can provide.
One of the more interesting tidbits to come out of Gamasutra’s recent analysis of the state of GameStop was the huge profit GameStop makes selling used games. It’s not rocket science how they do it. They buy back nearly mint games from gamers for pennies on the dollar, slap a big price tag on the units and stick them up on the used game shelf. GameStop makes 48 cents on the dollar on used games, …
Review by Mike “Scout” Gust The Path Developer Tale of Tales Publisher Tale of Tales Released March 18, 2009 Available for PC (version reviewed)/MAC Verdict: 4/5 Thumbs Up “I soon came to realize that this was not your typical video game. In fact, it can reasonably be argued that it’s not a video game at all though I would claim it is. Most games take you by the hand and teach you how to play …
The developers for The Path, the new game that has everyone scratching their head, has just announced the release of the Mac version. TransGaming did the honors and you can read about it here. As is typical whenever PC and Mac rub up against each other, there are a few sparks. (Get a room already Mac and PC! Oh wait, they already did.) According to the Tale of Tales blog, sales have been charting steadily …
Check out this mini-interview. Valve’s vice president of marketing, Doug Lombardi, fills in Doug Kuchera of Ars Technica on the ins and outs of keeping it fresh with their customers. In a word…UPDATES: “The updates cause an incredible spike in sales. And when the update is offered in concert with new Achievements, new media, such as a new ‘Meet the…’ movie, and a promotion, such as a Free Weekend and/or limited-time price drop, the spike …