My father was born on the Greek island of Zakynthos, which puts my chances of being Spartan at just about 0. It doesn't bother me, I'd prefer to think of myself as the descendent of philosophers or the great King Ulysses, but I have spent the weeks since 300's release waxing Greek nationalism just the same.

What a movie! If I were to sit down and brainstorm all of the things I would want in an action movie, I would have probably ended up with 300. Visuals. Fighting (Real fighting, not that pansy Troy stuff.) Sexy. Visceral. Greece! Many muscular half naked men.

I left the theatre so pumped that I was literally growling and jumping up and down and flexing at people. (Yeah, you had to be there). I was so energized that when I returned home, I started to look up reviews online so that I could feel more validated about it.

Only, I wasn't.

What was interesting to me, of course, was that so many critics (while giving it poor or mediocre scores) negatively compared it to a video game. They used words like "adolescent video-game inspired gorefest", and I thought to myself "That's a bad thing?"

Not to me, of course. And so it was with great glee that picked up God of War II a few days later, a visceral, sexy, Greek gorefest in video game form. I beat it last weekend, and intend to spend this one playing through a second time. Aside for the cliffhanger ending, I couldn't have been happier with the whole thing.

It's a great time to be Greek, I tell you.

When I first revealed and described my new job as a content developer on WAR, I explained that I was just one of the many different types of designers on the project.

As of next week, I will be another.

I'm leaving content development behind and going in to full-blown conceptual design, as a designer on the game's Tome of Knowledge.

While getting the chance to learn how things are put in the game and actually impact where everything goes (look for my name spelled in the shapes of trees everywhere *WINK*) has been invaluable, I'm extremely excited about this promotion.

Ironically, do you want to know what my great qualification for this new position was? My work at GameSpot, the ability to assemble well-researched documents (features) that were flexible to people's needs. Though at GameSpot it was attempting to tap into audience interest, here it's... well, I guess also attempting to tap into audience interest.

[Unintentional Segue]

I've been playing WoW pretty much non-stop since Burning Crusade came out. Instead of playing one of my characters to 70 or starting one of the new races, I've taken the opportunity to jump on a level 30 character on a PVP server and get up to 60 before all the gankers get tired of the new content. You've never seen Stranglethorn Vale so empty, I swear.

Being a game developer has also given me a new perspective for how other games are constructed, and while I think everyone's probably tired of hearing me talk about how one mongen is linked to another, or babbling on about respawn timers, this new perspective has made the game that much more fascinating to me in the long run.

Until I realize I can't turn on no-kill, that is.

...this funny feeling inside.

Seriously, is that not the most hilarious interview you've ever read?

YES!

YES!

You may be wondering why my 360 achievement points have not been increasing very much as of late, but there's a very good reason for it, I assure you.

I'm stuck at this part in Open Season.

Seriously.

At the recommendation of a friend who I trust implicitly, I rushed off to see Pan's Labyrinth the first night it opened in DC.

It's the most deeply uncomfortable, heart-wrenching, beautiful, and amazing movie I've ever seen.

I'd recommend it to pretty much anyone with this caveat. While movies are a form of entertainment, I wouldn't say I was entertained so much as I was changed.

And also, make sure you don't have anything to do following the movie, so that you can sit somewhere and be a little ball of emotions. I had to cancel plans because I was so completely eviscerated afterward.

Last night I had just talked myself out of buying a TiVo because I declared "I am not an impulse shopper", when I ran smack into twenty 60 gig PS3s at Best Buy.

You can guess what disastrous decision was made next.

Fortunately, with this post I will bump off the last of the entries in which I vehemently declare I won't buy a PS3 because there's nothing I want to play on it. So we'll all just pretend like I never said it... capisce?

[Edit: This is the second time Vinny has played the Italian card on me. Fine! It's spelled capisce!]

I think the most difficult thing in this life is to step away from something you love.

But sometimes it has to be done.

I met Greg on an internet forum a few years ago, and I believe my reaction to our first correspondence (about the greatness of Ninja Gaiden) was "omg Greg Kasavin is talking to me".

I was completely enamored with his work at GameSpot, which was, even back then, the only website that I trusted for reviews. And specifically it was that little grin he gives about twenty seconds into the MGS video review that just... well, I really felt like he saw video games with the same eyes that I did.

Two of Greg's Gamespottings are my two favorite things ever written about video games. Real Life: The Full Review and Confessions of a Game Addict which both gnaw at the same theme: how we use video games to reflect on other aspects of our lives.

And that is Greg's great strength as a writer, to make you feel like you're part of the same "us", to express things that you're often surprised to see written down, because they're so deeply similar to how you feel.

GameSpot has many other amazing talents, so the loss, I feel, is more my loss than theirs. But I can't help but feel that one day he and I are going to work together again. And I greatly look forward to it.

Best of luck Greg.

Hug more.

Justin messaged me yesterday to say "Love the Warhammer video blog from the Mythic Christmas Party" which sent me straight into a sweat, because I spent half of the Mythic Christmas Party singing very loudly to Shakira.

Turns out that it wasn't caught on tape, so what you get instead is a lot of really interesting information about the things I've been working on, with none of the embarrassing booty-shaking that only comes after you've been around an open bar for more than twenty minutes.

It's almost a shame, really.