Post Xmas Glut Reading

The end-of-year gaming glut has come and hopefully is done with for yet another year, but it also means that the gaming blogosphere in general has settled down and started writing about other things not related to any of the games that have come out recently or at least thoughts on these games without all the hype associated with their releases. Obviously Some Kill Giants is not part of this trend as I have a mega Left 4 Dead post coming up from our experiences with four-player co-op and unfortunately only four-player versus, which WILL be filled with hype, but I digress.

Anyway, been hitting up the ol' Google Reader and going through some of my feeds that I have neglected and I have unearthed some serious gems.

First up is a post by Jim Rossignol on rockpapershotgun on the PC gaming scene in Korea and how it has literally made the country like no other place on Earth in terms of gaming and player culture. It has always fascinated me that they have been able to take computer gaming to the next level and have it as a cultural institution in its own right. I guess the equivalent in America for example would be...uh...er...reality TV stars? Uh...yeah. Anyway, go read the article, it is quite awesome and makes me think that my mad idea to make a nationwide Nigerian gaming intranet for high-speed gaming would be a great idea!

Secondly, over on Ludus Novus, Gregory Weir talks about games that are from parallel dimensions where gaming technology evolved along different lines. I wish I lived in the one where games like Odin Sphere were the norm instead of the exception. He also provides a link to a modern Mode 7 game and coins a new term that I really, really want to see gain traction - pixelpunk. Cool eh? I am sure that you want to see it gain traction too. Let us push it out there and make more games that fit the description.

Cactus, who I have written about before on here made a list of games that he hadn't finished developing, but were playable. The ideas behind them are awesome and messed up as always. You should check out the link if you are tired of high end gaming and looking for something interesting.  The rate he comes up with and discards ideas is quite frankly oppressive!

I think that should be enough for now. Need to go finish working on that L4D multiplayer article. I can give you a text-based trailer though.

Two people die a lot and get incapacitated even more! An example is made of traditional FPS players. Two make a run for the helicopter on the roof, Niyi cries for help as a hunter gouges out his insides. About 100 litres of Boomer vomit was spilled. A witch shrieks and burns as the world goes black and white. Left 4 Dead.