fred beukema is a being a serious pussy.

as any reader has gathered, i have been playing through half-life 2 recently, and have, for the second time, realized it might be one of the best games ever. right up there with the super mario bros., ocarina of time, and starcraft.* it’s an amazing feat that just keeps getting better and better. it also gets very creepy and atmospheric at just the right moments. and it’s in these right moments that you run into the poison headcrab, which looks like a giant spider. now, it’s no secret that fred is afraid of spiders; he’s made this clear many times. Read more »

i arrived home from new york early on monday afternoon and, to no avail, found myself bored to tears by 4:00pm. not surprising given the amount of activity i partook in the following weekend, it’s only natural that i want more once i found myself in a “doing” groove. so, rather than traipse about or complete something productive, i installed half-life 2 and played through and a good portion of it.

the name of the game (no pun intended) is immersion. personally, that’s what draws me to gaming and film. the prince of persia series revels in well-crafted story-telling, the metroid prime games replicate the feeling of physically being the main character, shadow of the colossus makes an absolute art out from it’s feelings of isolation, and half-life 2 excels at making you care about it’s supporting npcs and actually invest in their well-being. Read more »