Rampancy

[image:4041 left hspace=5 vspace=5 border=0]Reading the news today on Penny Arcade I was struck at just how much gaming has changed-- some for the better, and some not. Mostly I just enjoyed reminiscing about Sierra On-Line a little bit, and hearing somebody find a more eloquent way of voicing one of the concepts I was trying to get across in my They Better Be Art blog:

This is history, and listen up, because it's Goddamn important. If people can recollect and deify people for wearing jerseys and hitting balls, or jumping very high let's say, then you and I can catalogue the moments particular to our own fascination and invest them with gravity and power.

Amen, Brother Tycho. He also pointed out an outfit called Tierra Entertainment, which while "not endorsed, sponsored, or affiliated with Sierra" (which used to be the Sierra On-Line mentioned above) are working on free re-releases and sequels to original Roberta Williams games like King's Quest 1 and 2 as well as Quest for Glory 2.

[image:4308 left hspace=5 vspace=5 border=0]Steve at Forerunners.org tipped us off to what Microsoft's Game PR department just sent him: the box art for the upcoming release of PC Halo.

[image:4283 left hspace=5 vspace=5 border=0]HBO's rounded up a couple new PC Halo previews/reviews: GameGossip is the class of the previews, Gamers Hell packed a walloping 33 new screenshots. You know where they went.

[image:4307 left hspace=5 vspace=5 border=0]Word has it that Xbox Live subscribers are starting to see the updated dashboard as of today, with all new features including access to the Friends list and to voice chat in the dash itself, without loading a game.
UPDATE: I've managed to get and try out the update myself; it seems to me that the voice quality is better. The in-dash voice chat does indeed, work. There's a new feature to play the voice output through the speakers instead of just through the headset, which, given the subscription fee and internet costs, makes Xbox Live a passable and inexpensive speakerphone.