NICE GRAPHICS. The spell effects, the terrain, the weather, the nice fog-of-war fade effects and the units are all very well done. The sheer amount of perspective in the game is awesome.

NICE SPELLS. Haven't gotten very far yet in those, but the ones I've played with are nice. Plus, I'm a sucker for "Chain Lightning" spells.

NICE TOUCHES. Idle Peons (and how many there are) are listed on your screen so you don't waste time hunting for them (clicking on their icon takes you right to the idle peon!). Multiple peons can work on the same building to construct it faster. Magic-using units autocast spells until they run out of mana... priests auto heal, etc. Very nice.

Origins 2002 was our third consecutive year at the Columbus, Ohio-based gaming convention. We think it's safe to say that it was our best year ever. Rhonda and I spent the 4 day event with our pals Mike-and-Noelle and Scott-and-Shannon. We played in more game tournaments than ever, demoed a lot of great games, bought a lot of great games, and met a lot of cool people. (Mostly.) I'll put together a picture gallery soon, but in the meantime, I want to present a great letter we found in a local free newspaper, Columbus Alive. It's the kind of thing that 99% of the populace doesn't think about, which is usually exactly the kind of thing my posse is interested in.

Speaking of posses, here's a quick rundown of how we did in our tournaments: Rhonda won one game of Chrononauts in the preliminary rounds, but that was not enough to continue. Scott similarly won a single Chrononauts game. Rhonda also reached the Apples to Apples semi-finals. Noelle and Mike both bailed out of a Scrabble final (for reasons I'll speak on later.) Mike got all the way to the last game in a Hearts tournament. I reached the Doomtown quarterfinals and was mowed down by previous Doomtown champ Killer Kerry.

I think we'd all be shocked dead if our small human brains could comprehend the totality of how society works. Basically we all live in an enclosed sphere that, geographically, stretches about 20 miles from center, and, mentally, lasts about 60 minutes. Our own personal self-delusion about our place in the universe is all that's responsible for keeping us from stabbing our own eyes out and raping children.

Take surveys.

A monstrous amount of businesses live and die by surveys. They decide what products and services will be offered. They control how corporations choose their investments. In my case, working for a television station, surveys decide the quality of my life... if my station is doing well, I get a raise.

This is a fantastic idea.

It may seem small, but this new secret for Super Smash Bros. Melee harkens to cool new direction for video games. Games that grow over time - a gamagotchi - without any additional cost or download. If you haven't read the article, here's what's happening: if you have a Metroid Prime and/or Super Mario Sunshine saved game file on your memory card when you boot SSBM, you'll get a hidden Samus and/or Mario trophy for your collection.

Part 1: First Impressions, Part 2: Coolest Moments. Part 3: The Fett Family. Now we dive into the Jar-Jariest, Ewokiest, most annoying, absurd and asinine portions of the film. What we hated.

In the PC/Mac games world, Matt has always been a bit more bleeding edge, so his first impressions of Warcraft 3 are already posted. But - and I say this without fear of reprisal because Matt's away for the week - his trouble is that he lives in a box. Matt plays, maybe, four games a year. Now, the few he does play he plays hardcore and I have to recognize him for that... but this just means that he is easily swayed by the few games he does play and doesn't have an awful lot to compare them to. To wit:

So far, I'm not particularly impressed by Warcraft 3. It's nowhere near the leap in quality from 1 to 2 as it should be. It's basically just More Warcraft, which, honestly, is no bad thing. The Warcraft series on a bad day is ten tons better than most games on their best day. But I'm only a couple levels in, and I haven't delved into multiplayer. Hey, I said this was a first impression.

My Grandmother's home is being systematically disassembled over the next few weeks (months?) because she has been moved into a nursing home. I know that's somewhat of a dirty word, but that's what it is, and that's what I'm calling it. The whole situation is ugly, and now her kids have the ghastly task of ransacking her home of the past 20+ years.

Rhonda and I have been over to loot. Going through her stuff - and, by extension, the stuff of the entire family - is at once comforting, hilarious, and depressing. I mean, it's great to see old games/books/items that I remember from years ago... some of the stuff that has been unearthed is crazy funny... and then there's the sad finds, like a small stack of books with titles like "Coping With Loneliness: Creating a New Life."

When I tell people that Rhonda and I go to an annual gaming convention, they usually figure it's casino-based, like we're going to play poker or something. I guess that's what leaps into their minds when they try to combine "grown adults" and "gaming convention" into a reasonable assumption. Well, Origins is one of several big conventions in the US for games... card games, board games, miniature games, role-playing games. So, yeah, you could play poker, I suppose. There is a huge vendor hall, several ballroom-size areas for 24-hour play and official tournaments, lots of semi-private areas for role-playing and such, and tons and tons of gamers looking for fun. Here's a very small photo album in case you still can't fathom it.