Like any other "interactive experience" from thatgamecompany, it doesn't take a long time to "consume" Journey. This sort of thing used to bother me a lot. I think it's valid to assess how much entertainment you get out of something per dollar, but if it's the only metric it privileges a very specific type of genetic in our discourse. Dear Esther might be a "bad investment" on this classic and utterly pragmatic axis, but it must exist. And we can ensure that it does exist, by being the kind of ecosystem out of the way ideas can grow in.

We got lots of 'em. Lots and lots.

1. Erika and Kenneth redid the PAX Site, and it's awesome. Check it out.

It occurred to us that, like the Council of Elrond, we had the power to unite the mortal races against a common foe. We could just make our own new ending everyone could rally around.

I will be discussing my thoughts on the ending of Mass Effect 3.

Gabriel's Windows Phone started a kind of chain reaction whereby Microsoft slowly began to repossess all of his apostate computing. You come to realize after awhile that you've been taking a kind of half-breath each time, and suddenly all those crazy/interesting/free experiences that were out of your reach can be accessed through the equivalent of a mystic portal right on your desk.

As my Mass Effect conversations with Gabriel became more and more detailed, it became clear that even if someone or something showed up in both our games the particulars could have radical distinctions. Radical really is the word: there are scenes, thousands upon thousands of dollars worth of work, I will never see. The same is also true for him.

To be fair I don’t honestly expect to be killed by a psychopath anytime soon. But the tweets from Mr. Paul Christoforo have certainly been...interesting. I think that anytime someone says they are excited to meet you and that “the police will not stop me.” you should probably pay attention. Honestly as someone who truly enjoys making people angry, the fact that I have now driven another human being to say those words is sort of an achievement.

He's really done it, or perhaps I should say he's done it again: driven a person so absolutely crazy that the weird threats and even disparaging nicknames are free-flowing.

You would think that, after doing almost nothing but play Mass Effect for a week, I would know how to spell the name "Shepard." After the shame of the last strip, I pored over every word in the script with my full consciousness, discovered errors and resolved them; I felt like I was truly at the tiller of my life. But no! I maintain that it is they, they who have spelled Sheperd wrong (they!) but that might not be a strong play rhetorically.

Robert's got a new survey up, a kind of readership Census. Do you have a second? Or a few seconds? It's a huge help.

A Gay Sex Leak is generally something you would attend to with a citrus wet-nap or, in very some instances, a mop. But the (apparently scandalous) scene uploaded from Mass Effect 3 features no residue of any kind. Nothing happens! It is as sterile as a surgical kit. I scooched my pants halfway down for this?!?!

I'm kind of a Kirkmophile, and certainly an Invinciblist. I devoured all the trades of The Walking Dead. Not literally! They're fine; I just read them. The show, though, maybe not so much.

NEWSFLASH, I made some people angry. I know it’s hard to believe. It seems a lot of people are upset about my post regarding the TERA beta. I’m a little surprised considering I talked for three paragraphs about how amazing the game is and then gave one paragraph about how I didn’t like the quests. If your take away from that was that I shit all over the game I think you’re probably just spoiling for a fight.

Scott's going to put us in charge of the shop while he's off on some kind of adventure. This seems like a very dangerous business, and I suspect that he knows that all too well, given his attempt to mitigate the damage pre-emptively.

I played a bunch of Tera this weekend during their beta test. I was able to get an archer up to level 12 and I had a great time. I wanted to share some of my thoughts about the beta with you guys. I should mention that I did not try any of the PvP and I’ve heard that’s something Tera does very well. My take on the beta is based on a purely PVE experience. I’ll start with the stuff I liked.