I’m a value gamer. Despite the fact that hype works on me in most cases, I’m very mindful (too mindful) about which video games I spend my money on. I’m always in a value debate with myself. What’s more important, the replay or one-time experience?

Outside of a house and couple cars, the new TV we bought over Thanksgiving is the single most expensive purchase we’ve ever made. Last year we wimped out. This year we were determined. Best part is, no one had to get up at the crack of dawn to get a good deal.

Back before everyone had a “blog,” they had “home pages,” and GeoCities was the place to have your own little soap box. My on-line life started with GeoCities, so it is kind of sad to learn that Yahoo is shutting down the service after more than a decade. GeoCities was awesome at the time, but it wasn’t without its problems. Nonetheless, I owe GeoCities a lot.

I’ve been writing on the web, most call it blogging, for probably over 10 years now. And if you ask one friend I came damn well close to inventing blogging…although I won’t quite claim that title (but wish I could!). I’ve always enjoyed writing about the things I enjoy, and if you’re truly passionate about something, it is your duty to share and impose your happiness onto others. And even if no one is reading (so you think), it’s good to get your thoughts down because you never know what …

When I saw Lord of the Rings I said it would be the movie by which other movies would be compared against when it game to visual effects. I said that would stand for 10 years. I was wrong, because Where the Wild Things Are is the new bar to reach for future movies. But the best part…this wasn’t an effects film.

A while ago I discovered Military Madness for the (retro) TurboGrafix 16. It’s a turn-based strategy game that had me playing for hours on end. It was a game that hit the sweet spot for me when it came to strategy games - not too complex yet not too easy. Well, Hudson recently remade Military Madness for XBLA and it’s I could have hoped for in an Xbox port.

As is somewhat normal, one night Jen was talking about one of her favorite Brit bands, the Manic Street Preachers, telling me tales of when she saw them long ago and how awesome they are…well, awesome in Britain but not really known here. The Manics were releasing a new album and I mentioned she should see if they’re touring the States. Lucky enough for us, they were and we were going…to Detroit.

After we got an endorsement for Scribblenauts for the DS on a recent CAVEradio episode, I figured I’d give it a chance. It was sold to me as a “you can make it anything” game, but historically speaking those require too much brain power with little pay off in the fun/action department. Scribblenauts, however, I’m happy to say finds a sweet balance…but it does make you think.