Gaaaaaammmmmeeessss

Oh my dear sweet Flying Spaghetti Monster, why must you make Fall so horrible on my wallet? There are way too many delicious games out there. What? You didn’t know I was a gamer? That much should be obvious. Anywho, I digress. We must talk games.

First, there’s X-men Destiny by Activision due out on September 30th. I was kind of hoping this would be an MMO, but it still looks pretty awesome and I do like the “choose your own destiny” type games. Here, watch the preview.

Then, they’re re-releasing Halo: Combat Evolved (Microsoft) for the Xbox 360 on November 15th. I’ve been playing Halo since number 2. Granted, I was just playing online, I wasn’t playing the actual story, but it will be nice to play it from the beginning and see how it all began.

Also, there are going to be two new Sherlock Holmes games, The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Focus Home Interactive) some time at the end of this year and The Testament of Sherlock Holmes (Ubisoft) in early 2012. Now, I’m sure some of you are like, Sherlock Holmes, so what? They’re fun little puzzle games, and I’m a sucker for puzzle games. I like games that make me think and I really do kind of like Sherlock Holmes, though I’m more a fan of the gritty, drug addict Holmes (read original Holmes) than the prim and proper, upstanding Holmes (read Data of TNG).

Now we’re about to get really nerdy because Lego Harry Potter: Years 5-8 (Sony DADC Austria AG) comes out later this year too. I played through the first game and had an absolute blast. The Lego games are way too much fun and really funny. I expect this game to be just as much fun. The regular games after about 5 were such a disappointment. It’s nice to play a game based on the books and the movie that keeps the spirit of the game and is enjoyable. Don’t get me started on the game for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 1. Ugh.

Okay, super, fan-girly squee moment. Assasin’s Creed Revelations (Ubisoft), also November 15th (omgomgomgomg). When these games came out originally, I never really picked up on them because I thought they were hard and they didn’t look like much. Then I saw my boyfriend, Kevin, playing the second one and I thought, what the hell? It’s something to do. Holy hell are these games fun. You get to sneak around and assassinate people, steal stuff, and do puzzles. What’s a gal not to like? Not to mention that Ezio has a sexy voice. Hehe. Yes, I’m bad. Here’s a preview to salivate over.

Second, super, fan-girly squee moment. Mass Effect 3 (EA Games), due out March of 2012. Yeah, yeah, not technically fall, but I’ve been looking forward to this game for a while and, truthfully, it was supposed to come out in November, but I guess they didn’t want to compete with all the other drool worthy games out there. And, well, who doesn’t like a completed game? Anyone wanna talk about Duke Nukem Forever? Yeah, I didn’t think so.

Notes on the go

One of the biggest problems I run into as a writer is that odd idea that comes up when I don’t have access to a computer or a notepad. I know, I know, a responsible writer should carry a notebook or some other writing implement, but let’s face it, it’s not always convenient or feasible to carry something like that around.

Enter, Evernote. It’s a cool little application you can save to your PC, attach to your browser, and even download to your phone that saves notes, pictures, files, websites, etc. so that you have access to them wherever you have Evernote.

So, say you’re out at the grocery store, and you suddenly have this idea, you can whip out your phone, jot it down in your Evernote application and it syncs with your other Evernote apps. When you get home, you can pull up Evernote on your PC and use the notes to add to your story. You found a recipe surfing the web, but you don’t have all the ingredients? Add it to web-clipper, sync with your phone and use the phone app as a shopping list. And finally, my favorite. Carrying a crafting project that needs a pattern? Stick the pattern in Evernote and have it wherever you go, on your phone or PC. I love it, really, I do. I haven’t had a chance to use it much, but you can believe I will. Bonus, there’s a Linux version.

I will let you know how it goes, but I have a feeling, this is going to be incredibly useful. Or a huge pain. Time will tell.

GlitchCon and Writers of the Future

So, I spent this past weekend in the beautiful, vast metropolis of Bentonville, AR. Those of you who are from Arkansas get the joke. In all seriousness, it was a lot of fun. I saw tons of great costumes, sat in on some cool panels and got to geek out the whole weekend with a fabulous group of writers. Add to that, we had the world’s coolest roommates. I didn’t take any photos, but shutter bug David Michael did and he got some great shots of all the costumes and vendor tables. Really cool stuff. You can check it out here. You might even see some familiar faces.

Also, the Writers of the Future finalists, semi-finalists, and honorable mentions have been listed, including yours truly. I wish I could say I was happy with an honorable mention, but I’ve got a stack of them. I really want to win. I’ve been submitting for four years. Something has got to give. All the same, I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. It beats a straight rejection any day. Back to the grindstone.