Here’s one of two huge recent Polygon features that I spent months planning, though most of the actual reporting and writing was done in the month before my son was born (and it posted the morning of his birthdate). EA Chicago was working on a Marvel Comics fighter before the studio was shut down in late 2007, and I spoke with several people who were involved in the project to find out exactly what went wrong. It came down to scale issues, a lack of direction, and poor leadership, and there’s a ton of really interesting tidbits in there about this hugely ambitious project.

A couple years back, I did a similar behind-the-scenes feature on Tony Hawk RIDE, a game that tried big things and wasn’t well received. Here’s the thing: In most cases, people don’t like to talk about failure. And some worry about being the person to speak up, or getting in trouble for doing such things. And so finding such people and getting them to talk can be a real challenge. But it’s really fulfilling to bring a story to light that otherwise wouldn’t have been told, even if many gamers probably hadn’t had this game on their minds for years.

It’s really interesting to me. This was a project that dozens of people spent more than a year of their life on, and then it was killed in an instant, along with the studio and team that former members can’t help but lavish praise upon. It’s sad to see such a huge investment of time and effort be thrown away, and clearly there was something to the project. I’m happy to have the opportunity to build and share stories like these when possible. They’re a lot of work and difficult to do right, but I think I did it justice here.

Here’s a feature that I wrote for Mac|Life in late February about how OverDog, an upcoming app from a new startup, aims to connect professional athletes and their fans via video games. Subscribers will get alerts that an athlete wants to play a certain video game, and the fans can put their name in for the opportunity. Within minutes, if chosen, they’ll be able to play Madden or Call of Duty (or whatever) against a star athlete.

For this piece, I spoke with ex-Chicago Bear Hunter Hillenmeyer and his colleague Steve Berneman about their plans for the app and the Kickstarter campaign that launched the day that this piece went live. The Kickstarter did not get funded, but as I understand it, they’re launching in beta very soon and are still going ahead with the release.

Here is my second feature for Joystiq, which posted back in January, and it’s about how several members of Japanese studio Q-Games (PixelJunk series) maintain an in-house band that generally only plays during their lunch breaks. The members of The Electric Bends play most days, record freestyle jams, and post them freely online, but they’ve also released multiple albums of their best work.

Such a cool story. Most of the features I’ve been doing for Joystiq have been about Chicago-related subjects, but this one’s clearly well outside that realm. When I hear about a cool little tidbit in this industry, I try to figure out how I can tell that story somewhere and share it with more people. I was really happy to be able to do this here.

Recent Official Xbox Magazine work

As with my Mac|Life and TechRadar link dumps, I’m just going to round up all of my recent Official Xbox Magazine web work and put it all here. I’ll be posting about the recent magazine work soon, but here’s everything that posted on the site so far this year (newest first).

Review: Call of Duty: Black Ops II - Uprising DLC

Review: Defiance

Review: Terraria

Review: Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14

Review: Major League Baseball 2K13

Review: Need for Speed: Most Wanted - Terminal Velocity DLC

Review: Special Forces: Team X

Review: Heavy Fire: Shattered Spear

Review: Call of Duty: Black Ops II - Revolution DLC

Review: Hitman HD Trilogy

Recent Mac|Life work

I do a lot of work for Mac|Life these days. A whole bunch, really. And that’s a wonderful thing.

I’ve been editing the games and apps coverage for just over a year and a half now, and have done steady writing during that span (and for a couple years prior), but I really decided to refocus myself on doing a larger share of the writing in my sections some months back. I’m assigning more work than ever before, but I want to spearhead the games coverage and make sure I’m setting a tone for it. Plus I’m doing regular work in the other sections of the magazine and the site, so between editing and writing, it’s really dominated my workload the past few months.

What that means is that when I don’t keep up with sharing links here for a few months, the resulting list is just absurd to look at. My bad. But I’m going to rectify it all at once with this massive link dump. Please forgive me. (Thanks for forgiving me!) Newest links first!

Review: Draw Something 2

Review: Iron Man 3

Review: Robot Unicorn Attack 2

Review: Cut the Rope: Time Travel

Review: Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing (Mac)

Review: Fish Out of Water

Review: Little Printer

The 10 Best iPhone Racing Games

8 Apps for Following the 2013 MLB Season

Review: Lie Swatter

Review: Solitaire Blitz

The 25 Best Free iPad Games

Review: Nimble Quest

Review: Marvel Unlimited

Review: Super Stickman Golf 2

Review: Ridiculous Fishing

Review: Sonic Dash

Review: Temple Run: Oz

The 25 Best iPhone Puzzle Games

The 10 Best iPhone Endless Runners

Review: Proteus (Mac)

Review: Mailbox

Review: Star Wars Pinball

Review: Real Racing 3

The 25 Best Mac Games Today

Review: Philips Hue

Review: Kentucky Route Zero: Act I (Mac)

Review: Vine

Review: ESPN SportsCenter Feed

Review: Little Inferno

Review: Wave Trip

Review: Temple Run 2

Review: ShaqDown

Review: Pudding Monsters

Review: Hundreds

Review: Awesomenauts (Mac)

The Best iOS Games of 2012

The 25 Best iPad Games

The 25 Best Free iPad Apps

The 25 Best Free iPhone Apps

The Best Mac Games of 2012

Recent TechRadar work

I couldn’t possibly chronicle 4+ months work of recent web work for my various publications without affecting my actual current work, so I’m going to do a couple of mass posts by publication for reviews, round-ups, service features, etc. And then I’ll break out specific individual researched or interview-based features in separate posts since those warrant some explanation and additional attention. For now, here are the pieces I’ve written for TechRadar so far this year:

Review: Nokia Lumia 810 smartphone

Review: Samsung ATIV Odyssey smartphone

Review: BlackBerry Bold 9930 smartphone

Review: LG Venice smartphone

Review: DriveNTalk Coda One

Review: Jak Multishare USB

I’m on a C2E2 panel tomorrow. Details!

It’s been three months since I posted anything here. There’s a good reason for this! It’s not that I’ve been unproductive; in fact, I have a stack of magazines with my work in them that I need to round up, and some links to share for interview-based features that I’m super proud of. Actually, I have been a bit less productive. That’s because seven weeks ago, my wife gave birth to our first son, and that’s been a crazy, all-encompassing, and pretty amazing thing. But it’s made things like updating this space seem not just secondary, but like seventh… dary. You get the picture.

Anyway, I’m going to hop the line on posting things in order here to drop a quick note about the panel that I’ll be on tomorrow evening at C2E2, the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo. It’s being held at McCormick Place again, and seems to be getting bigger and flashier with each passing year. This time around, I was drafted onto a panel called The Future of Gaming, From Consoles to Online.

Based on the most current listing, it looks like I’ll be joined by Eugene Jarvis (Raw Thrills), Denny Thorley (Wargaming West [Day 1 Studios]), and Chelsea Blasko (Iron Galaxy), and I believe fellow freelance journalist comrade David Wolinsky will either be a panelist or the moderator. I’m a little short on hard details right now, to be honest, but I’m hoping it’ll be a lively and interesting conversation. I also hope that I don’t make a fool out of myself, but hey, anything’s possible (probable).

It’s at 7pm tomorrow evening (Friday, April 26) in W470b, and if you come out and know who I am for some reason, say hello!

PlayStation: The Official Magazine: Oct.-Hol. 2012 contributions

As with Nintendo Power, PlayStation: The Official Magazine was another print publication that I’d written extensively for and over a long period of time. It wasn’t a magazine that I grew up reading as it only debuted in late 2007, but I did read and love its predecessor PSM as a kid.

But PTOM was particularly important to me because it was my first ever chance to write for a magazine. That was the dream. I adored video game magazines starting as a pre-teen. I’d cart around my GamePros and Nintendo Powers in middle school, talking off whoever’s ear about how awesome the N64 was going to be. I made my own game magazine for an English class project, which I still thankfully have. I worked in video game retail in high school, and when the time each month came to discard the old issues of the magazines, you can be sure that they ended up in my car. And I certainly pored over the new issues during my meal breaks.

Back in January 2008, then-EIC of the mag Rob Smith posted to an open video game journalists group that he needed a freelancer ASAP for a quick-turnaround weekend project. I didn’t hesitate. Less than a day later (on a Friday), he wrote back offering me the assignment: amass a list of all the games slated to come out that year for PlayStation 3 and write a sentence description of each — due on the other side of the weekend.

Of course I accepted it. I spent 15+ hours that weekend staring at a spreadsheet, searching every release list and blog post I could find to add games to the list. It ended up being 170 or so, in total. The money was the most I’d received for anything at that point, by far. But I cared more for the opportunity. You have to start somewhere, and if a weekend spent grinding on the piece got my foot in the door, that’s fine by me. When the issue came out, I remember a magazine roundup feature at the time lambasting it as being filler content or something to that extent. No matter. PTOM came back to me for a PSP version of the feature a couple months later, and then I started doing reviews and features and such.

(Fun fact! Before I embraced the freelance lifestyle and was sure I’d be staying in Chicago, I interviewed for a postion at the magazine in person in South San Francisco. Unfortunately, I hadn’t actually been told that it would be a formal interview until about two minutes before it took place, and I was both nervous and sick with a sinus infection, not to mention unconvinced that I wanted to move out there. My recollection is that the interview didn’t go so well, but whatever the case, I’m quite pleased with how everything worked out in that whole situation.)

My work for PTOM over the nearly five years wasn’t quite as consistent as that for Official Xbox Magazine or Nintendo Power, but there was also a lot of movement during that span; I worked under four Editors-in-Chief during that time, along with myriad other editors. But they gave me some of my biggest and most memorable opportunities, including that first print work, last spring’s coverage trip to Iceland, and the cover feature you’ll be reading about momentarily. The Holiday 2012 issue is sadly the last, but I had several contributions in the last few issues.

Starting with the October issue, I wrote a one-page news story about Sony’s acquisition of Gaikai on page 17. And then on pages 56-63, I put together a sweet eight-page feature called Big (Little) Games, which looks over the most notable indie releases on the horizon at the time, with new interviews with many of the creators used for much of the content. Flip back to reviews and I wrote the one-pager on the excellent Papo & Yo on page 82, followed by a half-pager on Dyad on p83.

On to November, I had a small stack of assignments here, as well. On pages 8-9, I have a spread news story about announcements of games like Tearaway and Rain, which is followed by another spread on various PlayStation Vita game and feature announcements on p14-15. I then have a two-page preview of PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale on p38-39, and finally a one-page review of the wonderful Sound Shapes on p84.

December 2012, the next-to-last issue, is the big one for me. It’s my cover story on Far Cry 3! I flew up to Montreal to play the game for a few hours, but rather than put together a traditional preview feature, we went with “100 Ways to Die in Far Cry 3.” It’s a looser series of descriptive captions to large screenshots noting the myriad opportunities in the game to either kill or be killed, and the in-house staff filled out my actual observations from the demo with some jokier entries. It’s a different kind of approach, to be sure. That’s on p60-71.

And it’s part of a larger editorial package on open-world games, with a supplemental feature on p50-59 that a wrote a chunk of. I wrote the spread on p58-59 that includes preview bits on Yakuza 5, Watch Dogs, and Saints Row 4. Elsewhere in the issue, I also did a two-page preview of LittleBigPlanet Karting on p44-45.

Compared to that bounty of work, I’m a little bummed that my only work for the final Holiday 2012 issue ended up being a tiny review of the lightly charming Derrick the Deathfin on p73, but that’s the ebb and flow of freelancing. They actually sent me up to Toronto a couple weeks before the closure was announced to see Defiance for a feature, but before the time came to actually write it, there was no need. Sad.

All told, it was a wonderful run, and I really appreciate the opportunities tossed my way by Rob, Eric, Gary, Roger, and others over the years.

Nintendo Power: Oct.-Dec. 12 contributions

I’ve been putting this post off; this one and the next, actually. When a publication closes, it’s always a really distressing feeling. It’s the loss of work and opportunity, especially when it’s a reliable outlet that you’ve built up a great relationship with. But when it’s one of your primary gigs, and a print magazine, and a magazine you grew up reading, it’s a bit closer to a steady series of punches to the gut.

Writing for Nintendo Power has been one of my favorite opportunities thus far in my career, in part because it was a magazine that I read and dug as a kid (and had that amazing legacy), but also because of what kind of writing I did for them. From mid-2008 through the end, I was perhaps their most common contributor for the Community section, wherein I’d talk to fans about the myriad crafts, costumes, and tributes they’d created based on games on Nintendo platforms. It was unlike anything I’d done regularly elsewhere, and seeing the enthusiasm of fans — not only for what they made, but an opportunity to be in the magazine — was really fulfilling. I did other bits for the magazine over the years, with my work ending up in probably just over 50 total issues, but that was a part of my workload that I always enjoyed.

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Sadly, Nintendo opted not to renew its contract with Future US, and thus Nintendo Power shut down with the December 2012 issue after 24 years. The final issue is a wonderful tribute to its legacy, from the cover image — which reimagines that of the debut issue — to the intensely beautiful comic near the end. Quite luckily, I had a chance to do a good bit of work for the last three issues, which were the ones still on the horizon when the end was announced. Here are my contributions:

I have just one piece in the October issue: a one-page Community piece on p92 about Super Mario airship bookends made by Donald Kennedy, whose work I covered several times in those pages. Really creative guy, and always up to chat about his work.

For the super-sized final Community section in the November issue, five of my pieces made the cut. There’s a one-pager on p92 about 2D pixel-artwork cosplay based on Ridley from Metroid, plus two smaller pieces on p92 about a homemade Kid Icarus greeting card and an amazing Amaterasu plush inspired by Okami. And then p94 is split between my articles about a fan’s game-inspired dioramas, followed by a piece about game-inspired comics. In one snapshot, that’s a solid sample of the breadth of my Community coverage, and I believe I did just over 100 pieces for the section in the 4+ years writing for NP.

In the last issue, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to review a couple of Wii U launch titles, including one of the biggest of all: Nintendo Land. My one-page appraisal of that is on p72, which is followed by a much shorter review of Rabbids Land on p73.

And with that, it’s a wrap. I greatly appreciated the continued opportunity to write for Nintendo Power for such a long span, and particularly need to thank Justin Cheng, who took a shot on me back when and was my point of contact throughout. Hope to get another chance to work with him!

Official Xbox Magazine: Oct.-Hol. 2012 contributions

My work appears in the final four 2012 issues of Official Xbox Magazine — October, November, December, and Holiday — plus there’s a very special extra in one of those issues that’s unlike anything I’ve ever been a part of before.

My first piece in the October issue comes in page 16 with a full-page preview of Medal of Honor: Warfighter, which was originally written for the website during E3 this year. Push back into the reviews section and you’ll find my two-page appraisal of Sleeping Dogs on p64-65, followed by a one-pager on NCAA Football 13 on page 74.

Flipping to the November issue, my own contributions include a two-page review of Darksiders II on p78-79, followed by a full-pager on Rock Band Blitz on p86. Later on in the issue, I have a half-page review of the Hori Fighting Edge arcade stick on p95. What’s particularly interesting and surprising about this issue is the “Breaking Into the Games Industry” feature from my freelance comrade Nathan Meunier on p40-52, which details a number of possible careers in and around the games industry. If you flip to page 46 and happen to know what I look like, then you might see a familiar face staring back at you.

I’m the example and interview subject for Freelance Writer “(a.k.a Word Ronin),” for which I answered a bunch of questions and provided about 30x more in response text than could ever be used for a piece like this. I was really honored to be included in the piece, particularly as someone who has written for OXM almost constantly for 4+ years, not to mention numerous other publications under the Future US banner. It’s startling to see such a large photo of me in there (taken in my bathroom; classy me), but in all seriousness, it’s very fulfilling to be thought of in such a manner.

Regular readers may notice the slight font and design shifts that began in the December 2012 issue; I’m a fan, personally. You’ll also find a trio of pieces from me in the issue, beginning with a full-page review of Tekken Tag Tournament 2 on p82, which is followed by another full-pager on Mark of the Ninja on p88. And near the back of the book, my Resident Evil Rewind two-page spread offers an overview of the four live-action films in the series released at the time of its writing, along with a preview of the fifth one. I pitched this piece because I’m a glutton for punishment (and had a lot of fun doing a similar piece on fighting game flicks earlier last year). Terrible as most of the films are, I enjoyed doing it.

In the year-end Holiday 2012 issue, my biggest contribution is the five-page feature on Xbox Live Arcade’s first free-to-play games (“All Play, No Pay!”) on p30-34. Digging into the reviews section, I wrote the two-page Need for Speed: Most Wanted appraisal on p70-71, along with the half-pager on Dragon Ball Z for Kinect on p73. I also wrote the half-page review of Scott’s Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life: Color Edition on p94. The January and February 2013 issues are already out, and I have pieces in both, but I figured I’d wait to get the last of my 2012 issues posted before I push into the next round. More on those soon!

Mac|Life: October-December 2012 contributions

And the great catch-up continues! I have a fair amount of work in the October, November, and December 2012 print issues of Mac|Life (where I’m an editor on a contract basis), including a co-written cover story, so here’s a quick chronicle of what’s in those volumes.

In the October 2012 issue, I wrote my Editors’ Picks blurb on Tiny Wings HD on page 52, the half-page review of Kingdom Rush for iPhone on page 54, and the full-page app narrative on page 55 about apps that help you get ready for a baby. I don’t think I’ve mentioned it in this space, but my wife is due with our first child in March, and I wrote that piece right after we found out!

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Flipping back to the standard reviews section, I wrote the full-page joint appraisal of the iCade Core and iCade Mobile devices on page 63, as well as the full-pager on the excellent Nexus 7 tablet on page 68. The full-page review of the wonderful Bastion for Mac is also mine, and found on page 78. In addition to my ample writing in this issue, I also assigned and edited the full App|Life section from pages 50-55, as well as the Tiny & Big: Grandpa’s Leftovers review for Mac on page 79. Also, the List View piece on page 96 about apps that desperately need updates (from Michael Simon) is a condensed version of a web gallery that I assigned and edited.

Moving on to the November 2012 issue, I wrote the full-page opening review of Next Issue for the App|Life section on page 52, followed by my Editors’ Picks blurb on Jack Lumber on page 54. My half-page review of Fieldrunners 2 is also found on page 56. And then on the List View page on 96, I contributed the blurb about the Fitbit Ultra fitness tracking device, which I have… recently misplaced. Fingers crossed that it turns up! That’s all for me for writing in this issue, though I assigned and edited the contents of App|Life (p52-57) and Matt Clark’s Mac reviews of Babel Rising and Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy.

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December 2012 is where I wrote a chunk of the cover story — iPhone 5 Owner’s Guide — along with our executive editor, Susie Ochs. I contributed the FaceTime, Carrier, Camera Showdown, and Bigger Screen, Better Apps pieces of the feature, which runs from p24-38. Beyond that, my only other writing contributions are my Editors Picks’ blurb on Time Geeks & Friends on page 60 and my quarter-page review of Wonderputt for iPad on page 62. I also edited and assigned App|Life (p59-63) and the Mac game reviews of LEGO Batman 2 and Empire: Total War later in the issue.

Starting with the January 2013 issue, my new contract began where I was given a couple extra pages in App|Life each month for additional reviews or other pieces, which I was very much in favor of. So you’ll see many more app reviews starting with that issue. And while I’d often deferred to assigning out the largest chunk of the iOS reviews each month in the past rather than writing them myself, I decided to start moving the needle back in my direction, and have been writing a lot more of the app coverage myself. So while I’ve had a hand in every iOS app and game review at Mac|Life for the last year-plus, you’ll catch my byline more often on the pieces as of a couple months back. Been really happy with that decision, even if it means that I have a bit less work to assign out as a result!

@Gamer: October-December 2012 contributions

I have a fair amount of work in the last three print issues of @Gamer magazine, so please bear with me while I play catch-up on these. For the October 2012 issue, I had the opportunity to write the four-page review of Resident Evil 6 found on pages 62-65, plus there’s a little blurb from me about what I think is the “scariest video game character” on page 61, and they included a random tweet of mine on page 5.

Flipping into the November 2012 issue, I’m quite pleased to say that I’m back on the Tablet Games beat permanently starting with this edition. I’d previously covered it for a few months while the previous writer was on leave, but she opted to no longer tackle it and I’m very happy to continue on with the monthly spread. It fits perfectly alongside my Mac|Life editing responsibilities, and in this issue, the column on pages 8-9 includes such titles as Rayman Jungle Run and Tiny Wings HD. Elsewhere in the issue, I wrote the one-page appraisal of Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation for PlayStation Vita on p76, and there’s another blurb alongside my avatar on p57, this one about the game I’m “most thankful for this year.”

It’s the December issue that I really had an opportunity to contribute a ton of work for. It begins on pages 8-9 with the Tablet Games column, which includes The Walking Dead and Super Monsters Ate My Condo (among others), and is quickly followed by my four-page preview of BioShock Infinite on pages 12-15. It’s something of a catch-up preview that goes over the myriad developments in the near two years since their last preview on the game, and I’m plenty excited for Infinite, so it was fun to have the opportunity to dig through the trailers and such. Following that preview, I also did a two-pager on South Park: The Stick of Truth on pages 20-21, which similarly gives an overview of the game and its features.

In the middle of the issue, there’s a large Wii U Revealed feature that reviews the system and many launch games, for which I contributed a brief appraisal of Just Dance 4 on p50. Later, I’m responsible for the four-page review of Far Cry 3, found on p58-61, as well as a two-pager on PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale on p74-75 and a half-pager on Sports Champions 2 on p82. There’s another blurb alongside my avatar on p57, as well, plus a blurb from me on Spy Hunter for PlayStation Vita, which did not make the cut for inclusion as a full review. I also wrote a brief update to my ACIII: Liberation review from the previous issue on p5, since the online feature wasn’t available during the review process.

I’m extremely excited to see the upcoming January/February 2013 issue, which includes my most notable contribution to @Gamer to date, along with several other bits. More on that in a couple weeks or so…

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Themed by: Hunson