My Usual E3 Wrap-Up Post

It's been pretty quiet here. Excuse me while I clear out some of the cobwebs.
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Ah, much better. Now, onto the business of content!
I've been pretty busy for the last couple weeks. Following a pre-E3 camping trip up to Wellsboro, PA, I had to deal with the hell that is the Electronic Entertainment Expo and a subsequent weekend vaykay in the wonderful San Francisco. The before- and after-show were fun, but I kinda have a love/hate relationship with E3 -- it's incredibly exhausting but, uh, helps keep the bills paid.
In Pursuit of Super Street Fighter IV Skills: Fei Long
The Street Fighter series has been a mainstay for me throughout my entire life. Heck, I love it so much, some of its damn fictional characters have shaped my life (I feel a little weird admitting that). So when Super Street Fighter IV was announced, I was determined to get back to a respectable skill level. I'm getting there, one character at a time.
Sure, things like Hadokens and Dragon Punches are so ingrained in my DNA that I'll never be able to forget how and when to use them, but I want to branch out. I want to establish a deeper skill set and I want to be less of a one-trick pony in the game. So I decided to start playing with characters I have little-to-no experience with. First up: Fei Long.
I’ll Be A Guest On The Incredible Podcast Of Amazing Awesomeness This Sunday
I'm pretty new to this whole podcasting thing, but I think I've been very clear about my love for it. Even though it's a fresh medium for me to express myself, others have been rocking the mic and doing a great job at it. One such duo consists of Mike Schramm and The Turpster -- I was told that trying to find out the legal name of the latter would only result in physical pain, so I let sleeping dogs lie -- who produce The Incredible Podcast of Amazing Awesomeness.
It's a great show and I'm really pumped to go all Chatty Cathy on it. I'll be on their show this Sunday, 1pm PST (4pm ET) for the live chatting -- a first for me in podcasting. I'm pretty scared about that part, but I'm doing it anyway!
For all of the pertinent details (get down on this, guys!), you only need hit up this convenient link right here.
PAX East 2010: The Link Dump

So I went to Boston for PAX East as part of my gig at Joystiq and, man, it was super fun. Getting to meet some fans of the site (I'm floored anytime somebody knows who the hell I am) and, even better, fans of the X3F podcast and JPAG-ers (all super nice dudes, believe me) -- it's just crazy to me. Hugging strangers after the live Joystiq Podcast panel was one of the most pleasant experiences of my life. It's an affirmation that humanity may not be so doomed after all.
Of course, I can't neglect my Joystiq coworkers. To give you an idea of how close we all are, you can't escape seeing anyone from staff without a hug. This is the first job I've ever had like that, where I was not some number on a piece of paper but an actual person. God bless those dudes!
Anyway, I just wanted to put up this post as a thanks and also use it to dump links to Joystiq stuff I wrote and participated in over the last week. That's pretty much the underlying tone of this site 'O mine, after all.
Preview: Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake
I put up a hands-on writeup for upcoming PSP game, Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake, on that Joystiq site I write for. Here's an excerpt:
Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake is a great match for the PSP. The game's structure, its very nature, means it can be segmented in a most effective way on a handheld platform -- a quick match during your morning subway ride or while taking a break from work is when Fistful of Cake works best.
Hit up Joystiq to read the whole thing!
Ethan Mars Gets Crunk With the Kids
I wanted to do something cool for my 2,000th Tweet -- the jury is still out on that, but, hey, it's an hour of work you got out of me. In the high stakes world of ridiculous internet videos, I hope that sixty minutes will at least equate to one individual's enjoyment. If I've succeeded there, then I can feel good about this three minute long attempt at humor.
I'm going insane, aren't I?
[Free beats provided by LoopsKiller]
Quick ‘n Dirty Review: Heavy Rain (PS3)
Heavy Rain is way more grounded than Indigo Prophecy and never takes the weird, out-of-left-field twists and turns Cage's previous title did. Because of that, Heavy Rain ends up being a far more compelling and interesting narrative -- but there's still plenty of problems here.
The Secret Armory of General Knoxx
I wrote up a piece for The Secret Armory of General Knoxx -- the latest DLC add-on for Borderlands -- over at Joystiq. The biggest issue I had with it was just how crazy tough it was, for even my level 50 Siren with all of her SMG and melee buffs. I died so many damn times. Here's an excerpt:
I was in for a surprise as I set out for The Secret Armory of General Knoxx with a level 50 character, because as beefy as I thought my Siren was, she couldn't stand up to what was waiting for me at T-Bone Junction and beyond. Basically, I died. All of the time. I went from having around four million dollars in my bank account down to under a million before I even gained my first level in the DLC -- the hefty cost of respawning in the wilds of Pandora. And that's what made this whole thing so odd.
Head on over to Joystiq to read the whole thing.
Quick bio: