Who’s everyone’s favorite sexy blond?  Yes, it’s Link, the questionally gender-ambiguous star of this week’s “Playing Dirty” column at Joystiq, “Pretty Pretty Princess.”  Archetypal male, or effeminate in tights?  You be the judge.

A class I’m taking on historical Black Death has got me all hot and bothered about virtual plague, which is, quite simply, awesome. The thing that really strikes me–beyond the normal, mind-bending, disease in non-physical environment discussion–is the way that plague can be broken down into a game mechanic: this close promixity causes infection, this [...]

Happy Turkey Day to all, especially those of you who, like me, are veggie, or just generally despise Thanksgiving dinner.  Why can’t there be a national holiday where we all sit around and eat Chinese food? There is one thing the Thanksgiving break is good for, and that’s four straight days of Twilight Princess.  80+ hours?  Now that’s a [...]

Yes, as of 9:00 Sunday morning, our Wii moved into it’s new home.  Or, really, as of 8:00 Saturday night Scott camped out in the freezing cold and crawled home past dawn with the console clutched in his cold, exhausted hands.  Anyways, that’s what loved ones are for. At the moment, we’re populating the earth [...]

After last week’s studio tours, we also stopped by Arcadia, the consumer games festival.  Having never been to E3 (yes, I know, now I never will), I can’t say I expected the laser lights and fog machines.  Shouldn’t that stuff be at least partially lethal? Since I’d already played the Wii at MIGS, and I’m really not a LAN tournament [...]

Another two weeks, another column for Joystiq.  This time, it’s “Women on the Wii,” a look at Nintendo’s marketing strategy to attract new female gamers.  Thumbs up for equality?  Thumbs down for condescension?  Or are our thumbs too busy getting in shape for launch day?