Child’s Play

I am fortunate enough to know some extremely talented people. Right now these folks have put their best feet forward for a good cause, a charity called Child’s Play created and sponsored by the guys behind Penny Arcade.

This year I was honored to be asked to create some photographs for the legendary Harrison Krix of Volpin Props as well as a new friend who’s talent is equally unparalleled, Catherine Jones of God Save the Queen Fashions.

Half Life 2: Gravity Gun

Street Fighter: Chun-Li Corset Top

These two photos are just a sneak peek, I will have the more images from each shoot with a brief writeup on how you can possibly own these items very soon!

Top 10 Games of 2010

Mass Effect 2 (XBOX 360)
Alan Wake (XBOX 360)
Costume Quest (XBOX 360)
Limbo (XBOX 360)
Words With Friends (iPhone)
Darksiders (XBOX 360)
Halo: Reach(XBOX 360)
Metroid: Other M (Nintendo Wii)
Might & Magic Clash of Heroes (Nintendo DS)
Just Cause 2 (XBOX 360)

What an incredible year for games! So many great experiences. New leaps in hardware with Kinect and Playstation Move, it’s going to interesting to see what the future holds. In any case, Mass Effect 2 won for me hands down. This is simply the best written, best acted and best developed video game I’ve ever played. The gameplay was fun, the story was compelling and the characters were so rich that it made you care about what was happening at every turn. I’m salivating for Mass Effect 3!

Alan Wake was a bit of a surprise. Take a Stephen King novel and infuse a sort of Twilight Zone atmosphere and you have something close to Alan Wake. I really enjoyed the episodic nature of the game and the subsequent DLC that continued the story. If you want to ‘experience’ a dark fiction tale with fun gameplay and a solid story, this is right up your alley.

Costume Quest! This is the most adorable game ever created, it could definitely be suitable for young kids but I completely fell in love with this game. A quick downloadable from Double-Fine (the folks behind Brütal Legend and Psychonauts) this game oozes personality and fun, it really transported me back to my childhood and the days of dressing up for Halloween and pretending to go on adventures.

Limbo is one of those rare games that challenges what a video game can be. Beautiful to watch in stunning black & white, fun to play due to it’s puzzle-based level scheme. Such risk-taking with this game but it really pays off.

Lastly, Words with Friends snuck into my top 5 simply due to how much time I spend in this game. What a genius idea, a non-stop running Scrabble game with your friends. Great work.

GoodGameGuys

I’m really excited to announce the launch of GoodGameGuys, a community for gamers.

GoodGameGuys has been something that’s been kicked around for about 2 years, and we just didn’t have the time or resources to get it going until now. I went with Ning as the platform because it offers the most features and flexibility for zero-dollars. If things really take off, I plan on moving the entire platform over to BuddyPress, a social networking platform based on WordPress. In the meantime, Ning offers some really great stuff.

Here is the corporate mission statement that explains in detail what we hope to accomplish:

GoodGameGuys is a gaming community that aims to bring gamers together in an environment similar to MySpace and Facebook.

The community hosts advanced features with customizable profile pages, personal blogs, Flickr photo importing, and the ability to interact through chat and forums.

Bi-monthly “Game Together” nights are scheduled via Microsoft’s XBOX Live and the Playstation Network (Wii support available in the future) for popular games such as Halo 3, Call of Duty. More specialized events like meet-ups and LAN parties will be co-ordinated by members, and will happen at various times throughout the year.

GoodGameGuys also brings members the latest in gaming news though the use of RSS. The top-stories from the most popular gaming sites in the world can be easily accessed on the front page of the site.

GoodGameGuys is a great place for gamers to connect, find friends and discuss gaming in a mature but laid back environment, with many plans of expansion for the future.

If you’re interested in gaming at all, or just want to placate me, head on over and sign up 🙂