Interesting Dead Island Review

This is an interesting take on Dead Island.  I agreed with many of the points the author made regarding his frustration with the characters, the inventory, and the endless weapon names, none of which seem to make much sense - to say nothing of the economy where you can sell duct tape for $3 and buy it for $150. 

I do disagree with his distaste in Gamification.  When playing Battlefield 2, I found myself jumping on to Statsverse daily to check my progress. I have no idea why, but I love stats. 

When reading this, I had to look up the word 'bathykolpian'.  I had a chuckle, and I'll have to use that word in a sentence soon.

Video Games Killed the Video-Game Star (On Dead Island) by Tom Bissell  [Grantland.com]

Cartoon Reveals the True Reality of the Grown Man Gaming

A friend sent this to me recently, and it's a gem. For guys our age it's all about perspective.

What it's like to play online games as a grownup. [TheOatmeal.com via Dr Fierce]

Trucks & Skulls Is A Great Time-Waster on the iPad & iPhone

The game I've been wasting the most time with on my iPad lately is an Angry Birds clone called Trucks & Skulls. While the cosmetic changes from Angry Birds are a little more manly (skulls instead of pigs and trucks instead of birds) the gameplay is mostly the same. Which, considering how good Angry Birds is, isn't a bad thing at all. The puzzles are both fun and challenging, and just like Angry Birds you'll find yourself replaying the same level over and over again just to get that right combination of destruction.

There are some additions too, like a reward system that lets you "buy" new tricked-out trucks and periodic challenges for more "coins." And like a lot of casual games these days, you can buy the coins with actual money. So if you're letting your kids play it on your iPad, make sure you've locked in-app purchases.

I paid for the game itself, but apparently now you don't have to. Trucks & Skulls NITRO HD for the iPad and Trucks & Skulls NITRO for the iPhone is now free in the iTunes App Store.

Stats Verse Feeds Your Battlefield Addiction

If you're playing (or have played) any of the Battlefield franchise games, you really need to check out Stats Verse. It's everything the official Battlefield website on EA should be - a simple interface that keeps track of your progress during the game. In a way it's too easy, because once you check your stats after playing for a while the chances of becoming obsessed with your progress in the game grows exponentially.

There's a "community" (read: forum) that's decent, but it's really about the stats. They track XBOX 360, Windows and Playstation 3 play for all the Battlefield games, and will presumably also cover Battlefield 3. I also found the ability to check what the top players of the game were using (favorite weapons, classes etc.) really helpful in trying to figure out my own gameplay.

It would be great if it worked with all shooters, but for now it only works with the Battlefield games and Medal of Honor. You can check out the list of all the games at StatsVerse.com or you can get obsessed yourself at the Battlefield Bad Company 2 version here.

Hooking Up Your XBOX 360 To A Computer Monitor

I had to move the XBOX 360 downstairs to my office for about a week, so I had to figure out how to connect it to my second computer monitor (a Samsung with DVI inputs). After a little trial and error I finally got it working. Here are my three tips for getting it done.

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