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  • Horror and Gore in Gears of War: E-Day

    <Act 1 spoilers ahead>

    The Gears of War series has always had elements of horror (I still think of the original game as a lovechild between Doom and Resident Evil 4). But the horror has never been as present as it is in the opening chapter of E-Day. The game begins with cutscene of a worker discovering bodies torn to shreds in the tunnels underneath the city, and then what was responsible discovers him. It’s a harrowing scene, and the tension continues to ramp up with the following cutscenes counting down the hours until The Locust Horde emerge from beneath the surface.

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    October 7, 2026
  • World of Warcraft: Forever Beta Impressions

    Less than a week after the announcement, the WoW: Forever beta has begun, and I have been playing it whenever I have the chance. My background with Warcraft goes all the way back to the original strategy games (you can listen to me wax nostalgic on this episode of Flashback 64). I participated in the original beta for World of Warcraft and was there day one for the launch of the game in 2004. Since then, I’ve played WoW casually (Classic and Retail) on and off, relatively consistently. Despite everything, World of Warcraft is a top-5 of all time game for me, so needless to say, I was stoked for Forever.

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    September 19, 2026
  • EverQuest Legends Preorder Beta Impressions Part 2 – My Own Private Blackburrow

    After getting acquainted with the systems and quirks of EverQuest Legends, I decided to give instances a try.

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    July 14, 2026
  • Quick Hit: Grand Prix Challenge (PS2 / Infogrames Melbourne House / 2002)

    I’m a relatively recent Formula 1 fan, so I missed the era of “every company making their own F1 game.” In the past couple of years I’ve dug into the good (Bizarre Creations’ PS1 games) and the OK (Human Grand Prix and F-1 World Grand Prix on N64), but it wasn’t until an episode of the Time Extend podcast that I had even heard of Grand Prix Challenge.

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    July 8, 2026
  • Quick Hit: Futari no Fantavision (PS2 / Sony Computer Entertainment / 2002)

    The original Fantavision was the most (unfairly) dunked-on game at the the PS2’s North American launch. It may not have been the “next gen” experience people were looking for, but it was a fun, chaotic, get-in-the-zone puzzle game with a cool aesthetic. It’s not terribly surprising that the multiplayer-focused sequel, Futari no Fantavision didn’t release in North America. While third parties would go wild releasing all manner of Japanese games on PS2, Sony was weirdly reserved about first party releases- it’s honestly a wonder that the original Fantavision released in the West at all.

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    July 4, 2026
  • Lakeside Amusement Park (Lakeside, CO / Silent Hill?)

    Despite living in Denver for a decade and a half, I had never been to Lakeside Amusement Park. My wife and I finally went yesterday and, wow.

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    July 3, 2026
  • EverQuest Legends Pre-order Beta Impressions Part 1

    It’s finally here, something I have wanted for years: a single-player friendly version of classic EverQuest. I pre-ordered and I can play it right now, I just have to get past a major mental hurdle. This is a beta, and one where your character is wiped at the end.

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    July 2, 2026
  • EverQuest Lore: The Ruins of Kunark Manual and Official Strategy Guide

    Last week I began diving into EverQuest lore via primary print sources with the base game’s manual and original strategy guide. Now it’s time for Ruins of Kunark. Previously I had photographed all of the materials, but this time I opted to go with the scans on Archive.org. I own the original books (see pic above!), but using the scans makes it all much more readable. And there’s *a lot* to read here! Enough table setting- let’s dig into some EQ lore, starting with the manual.

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    July 1, 2026
  • PS2 in Print – December 1999

    Now that the PS2’s proper reveal at 1999’s Tokyo Game Show has come and gone, we’re in the print era’s wild west of hype, doubt, and misinformation about the console. It won’t be until magazines get their hands on the Japanese console in March (so April / May 2000 issues) that people’s expectations of the hardware will become reasonable. Let’s enjoy this chaotic, lost time period.

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    June 30, 2026
  • Quick hit: Bujingai (PS2 / Red Entertainment / 2003)

    Owning a copy of a game for many years and not playing it is bad. Owning two copies of a game and not playing it is even worse. This was the case for me and Bujingai. I have owned a Japanese and a North American copy for years and it wasn’t until a few days ago that I finally played it.

    Japanese and North American Bujingai
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    June 28, 2026
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