Yeah they really need one, so apply now!

The Guitar Hero 3 demo, which is apparently downloadable, played with a standard game controller.

In some ways it’s easier, because you don’t have to hold one button down and strum at the same time. But the fantasy aspect is lost.

I wouldn’t know anything about it being downloadable, though. Just that it’s not very satisfying.

I’ve had four or five offers to take Half-Life 2 and/or HL2:Episode 1. If you already purchased those games before buying The Orange Box, which includes those two plus three other games that are still a pretty good deal for about $50, Valve will let you “gift” them to someone else through Steam. I expect many gamers are going to have to find friends who never played HL2 before but suddenly want to (beyond most people, including myself) or they’re going to eternally have the “1 Gift” highlighted on their Steam panel.

“Still Alive” is a wonderful little song of robotic abandon and cheery indifference. It’s a Jonathan Coulton joint, the “Code Monkey” and “Re: Your Brains” guy, though he’s reluctant to take public credit for it yet, even though his visitors already know what he did. (Don’t watch the video if you don’t want spoilers to the end of Portal, but you might be tempted anyway.)

TF2 isn’t much fun solo.

Game isn’t officially out of beta yet, and already it’s got good machinima. Wonders may never cease.

Been busy. Bullet points:

• Team Fortress 2 is a whole lot of fun, even if you’re not doing things quite as intended. “As intended” is still a pretty fluid concept, after all, as the game is very much in beta. Hell yes I dropped $45 for preordering five different games, even if I already have two of them.
• Gamecock’s first game, Dementium: The Ward, apparently turns you gay, according to the commercial for it. (Dude, when you’re in a hot tub with two bikini babes on your arms, put down the fucking game.)
• Watched enough YouTube videos to know I have no interest in going back to Bioshock. Achievements be damned. I like games that don’t make me want to die.
• I’m really getting tired of the IGDA forums. If it wasn’t for the occasional douchebag, there would be nothing there for me. Despite appearances, I really don’t enjoy being a jerk, no matter how full of assholes the Internet is.
• Burn Notice is an excellent show. MacGyver if he was a near-sociopath ex-spy, Rockford Files if he was a lot smarter, smoother and more resourceful.
• Yeah, if my dad was an astronaut, I’d pretty much have to get into space, too. Don’t know about the castle, though.
• Oh, and advertising occasionally works on me, and I’ll allow myself to anticipate entertainment. Mac Lethal’s new album on the Rhymesayers label is coming out later this month, and I’ll probably buy it. He’s from Kansas City. Represent.