Fellow Bus Riders,

I am new to the bus riding scene. As someone who grew up in a small town I never needed this seemingly barbaric form of transportation. In those days a mid-sized SUV was my vehicle of choice, complete with adjustable air conditioner and complete lack of graffiti. Now, after spending a few months in the Big City, things have changed. I have learned a lot about how to conduct myself when riding the bus, and I owe it all to you people. Thank you. For those of you who are novices like me, I would like to share all that I have learned.

The first, and perhaps most important, thing to know is that the next bus is the last bus. Ever. Do not be fooled by the electronic sign displaying an updated list of future bus arrivals. Heed not the bus driver's shouts of "There's no room!" and "There's another bus right behind me!" And disregard the bus plainly visible only one block away. These are all lies and illusions meant to tempt you from your journey. You must be resolute. No matter how full a bus may look--even if people are spilling from the stairwells and are packed not only shoulder to shoulder, but cheek to cheek--there is always room for one more.

Second, moving to the back of the bus is important (within reason). Just like the automated messages says: the front seats should be reserved for the disabled or elderly. You should move as far back as you can once you get on. However, once you find a spot to stand you should hold onto that spot as if your life depended on it. No matter how many people elbow their way around your stupid backpack or trip over your giant boots, you hold your ground. There may be a brave new world of space that opens up, as if by magic, after the next stop, but you don't move. Three feet is a long way to go. Plus, you are tried. Why should you even bother?

On that same topic, if you are fortunate enough to grab an empty seat then you need to make the most of it. This is especially important if the seat next to you is empty. For seats that are facing perpendicular to the aisle, sit on the outside and glare at anyone who might make a pass at that inside seat. Think of yourself as a fleshy, human-shaped wall that wards off others from your personal nirvana. It is your precious. For seats that are horizontal to the aisle, it is a bit trickier. You could try spreading your legs out really far so that you bleed into the seats next to you. If you have a backpack, shopping bag, or dog that's even better since you can sit it in the seat next to you. Bags get tired to you know.

Third, if you are dissatisfied with the religious views or sexual preferences of your fellow bus mates, feel free to let others know. Chances are the people in your immediate vicinity are of a similar mindset and would love the opportunity to vent their frustrations as well. However, some people are shy and will try to politely break off the conversation before it has truly begun. This is not because they don't agree with your preferences of skin tone. They just need some extra encouragement to overcome their personal anxiety. Be tenacious and press on through all the nervous laughter or slightly terrified expressions.

Finally, if the bus has stopped then you must be at a bus stop. That is were the name comes from. If the door does not instantly pop open then yell at the bus driver. Feel free to call him something vulgar if you think it will get his attention quicker. Sometimes the little green "Door Open" lights comes on, sometimes it does not. It is totally random, so just ignore it. If all else fails, pry the door open with your hands. The door really isn't that strong and people have done it before. Sure it may lock up the whole bus--thus forcing the bus driver to shut it off, fix the door, and restart the bus--but what do you care? You needed to get off the bus RIGHT THERE, not one or two blocks away. That's too far.

I hope some of you can take these lessons and apply them to your own bus riding experiences. Together we can evolve this form of public transportation into a forum where people can passive aggressively take out their frustrations on others. The key thing to remember is that you want to get off the bus. Other people want to do the same, but you want it more. And if that should come at the expense of others than so be it. Safe travels, my friends, and thanks again.

See you tomorrow,

Maxwell McGee

Inspiration for this piece came from Timothy McSweeney's "Open Letters" series, found here. Artwork by Alvarez Cabrero, found here.

From Street Fighter to SoulCalibur, over the years there have been numerous games which have evolved the way two people can whoop the tar out of each other in the ring. With so many exciting new fighters on the horizon, a few of the GameSpot staffers decided to get together and pen this series detailing the fighting games and characters that have shaped their combat career over the years. We hope you enjoy this trip down the rough backstreets of memory lane.

Andrew Park

Brendan Sinclair

Giancarlo Varanini

Kurtis Seid

Randolph Ramsay

Tom McShea

Maxwell McGee

Van Nguyen

Dan Chiappini

Jonathan Toyad

But what about you?

Which fighters have made the biggest impact with you, and what made those games so special? It could be a particular move, character design, or something more...abstract. Think back and let us know who your fighting game mains were and why.

TMNT Tournament Fighters | Super Nintendo 1993 | Chrome Dome

I didn't grow up hocking hadokens in a smoky arcade after school. Instead, my friends and I traded blows as Leonardo and company in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Tournament Fighters. Like so many others, TMNTTF was an unabashed Street Fighter II clone--right down to the destructible bonus stages. And while the turtles all packed their heroic appeal, only the villain Chrome Dome resonated with me.

Aside from his epic theme music, Chrome Dome's go-go-gadget appendages allowed me to control a lot of space with only normal attacks. Once I mastered his low-hitting fireball, I was able to move past simple button mashing and start applying a little strategy to my attacks. Chrome Dome was unique, accessible, and widely ignored by my friends. Ultimately, these would all become traits I'd look for in future fighting mains.

Guilty Gear X2 | PlayStation 2 2003 | Millia Rage

Hot off the heels of Capcom's Vs. series, Guilty Gear X2 was the second game to tap into my fighting spirit. Fast and complex, the game had a kicking soundtrack and played to my teenage obsession with anime. Most importantly, however, it had the attention of all my friends. Together we cut our collective teeth on the traditional fighting game mechanics of combos, counters, and canceling.

For a main, I fell for Millia Rage. Quick and nimble, she had several methods of getting behind an opponent. Once there, a few quick and easy combos allowed me drop the hurt. For me, Millia was also an admission that I didn't have the spare months needed to learn one of the more complex characters. I needed someone practical I could wrap my head around quickly and still hold my own with. Not to mention we both had really long hair.

Super Street Fighter IV | Xbox 360 2010 | Cody

Having never spent much time with Street Fighter II, when Street Fighter IV was announced I decided not to miss the SF bandwagon a second time. By this point, however, Capcom and Aksys had spoiled me with their fast and frenetic fighters, so the slower-paced SFIV took some getting used to. In my mind, Street Fighter had always been a thinking man's game--slower, more calculated, and less margin for error.

I started out with Zangief, but decided to turn the beat back when Super Street Fighter IV came along. I've always been a casual contender in most fighters, and crave a unique simplicity from my mains. Cody seemed unpopular, yet accessible; fun, but also not a shoto scrub. With a good set of normals and a strong rushdown game, he tapped into my affinity for faster-paced fighting games. Plus, Cody was hilarious; he didn't take anything seriously, just threw rocks at people and yelled 'Bingo!' all the time.

ClayFighter 63 1/3 | Nintendo 64 1997 | Sumo Santa

Everything about this game was awful--a fact so painfully obvious now I'm ashamed to recall the time I spent with it. What little creativity this game showed through its visual style and voice talent--comprised mostly of Animaniacs alums--was overshadowed by choppy visuals and sloppy controls. Any semblance of strategy took a backseat to button-mashing, perfect for a spastic 10-year-old but dreadful for any serious combatant.

Sumo Santa was my childhood fighter of choice, simply because he made the most poop and fart jokes. To my recollection, there was no practical difference between any of the characters. I just smacked the controller against my forehead between spoon fulls of Cookies Crisp cereal and they would spaz out on screen. The game didn't reward a player's skill, or their ability to strategize under duress. It was hollow, and has earned its place in obscurity.

I've poured more hours into Cosmic Encounter than any other board game to date. With the upcoming release of its second expansion, Cosmic Conflict, I'd like to take a moment and bring the uninitiated up to speed on what makes this game so rad. Cosmic has changed hands, and gone through several different iterations, since its initial release by Eon Games in the late 70s. Today, it's published by Fantasy Flight Games who has thus far done an excellent job of updating this classic for the modern era, while still maintaining the depth and complexity of the original.

Cosmic itself is a combination of split-second diplomacy, cunning, and strategy. I won't go into a full rules breakdown here--check out the very informative Board Games with Scott for that--but in brief you play as an alien race battling for control of a turbulent universe. Where things start to get crazy are the different powers each race has. Some alter exiting game rules, some break those rules completely, while others add whole new mechanics to the game.

The interplay between all these drastically different abilities (and there are a lot of them) is what makes this game so wild. You'll read one card and think "Wow, that seems way overpowered" only to pick up the next and have the exact same reaction. To use a tired phrase, no two games are ever the same.

Games of Cosmic are also quick to set up, last around 20 to 30 minutes, and require at least three people to play. The whole 'needing three people' requirement can get in the way at times, leading to a few fan-generated two player solutions, but Cosmic is really a game that shines the more players you have. This is due in large part to the aforementioned alien powers, but also to the heavy role of diplomacy.

In Cosmic, you battle for control of other people's planets. Each side can invite players not in the conflict to help attack or defend with them (and thus share in the spoils if victorious). You win once you've captured a certain number of enemy planets, and it is possible to have multiple players cross this threshold at once. Being able to sweet talk your competition, and not get left in the galactic dust, is key to victory.

Cosmic is a game in which you have to make your own luck. It does an excellent job of getting all the players invested, and soon everyone at the table will be laughing, talking, planning, and scheming. I can't recommend it enough for board game enthusiasts of all varieties; look it up and take to the stars.

Thanks for reading, now here's a silly comic.

I once spent a long afternoon in college playing Amtgard--a medevil combat sport--for a news feature I was working on. I had a lot of fun running around and clobbering fools with a foam sword, not to mention picking up some nasty grass stains. For the curious, I've decided to reprint that story here. Lay on!

On any other day Finger Park would be just another patch of grass squatting in the shadow of a Walmart. Every Sunday, however, this quiet corner is transformed into a battlefield as eight warriors strapped in leather armor and brandishing foam weapons take to the field. "Lay on!" they shout in unison and advance in two lines, each sizing up the other.

As they near, the lines break. Some cut up the middle while others flank to each side and provide support. Skirmishes like these are all about speed. Individual battles are over in seconds, characterized by a few moments of stiff tension releasing into a flurry of blows. Warriors fall one after the other until one side emerges the victor.

Then the dead rise, brush the mud off their jeans and line up for another round. This is the essence of Amtgard, a live-action role-playing game centered on combat and medieval culture.

"Amtgard is a combat sport with a culture," says Caleb Heath, "and the more people you have the more fun it gets."

Men and women, young and old, running the gambit from nerdy to not-as-nerdy are all drawn to Amtgard. "Some are here just to play the game, we call them 'stick jocks,' some find it's good anger management and some think it's a fun way to get out and get exercise," explains Laura Yates, an Amtgard veteran since 2003.

Heath, Yates and several others have been storming the fields at Finger Park, renamed 'Razorhills,' since January 2010. "We had 30 to 40 people out here to help kick start our opening session so we ran an 'assault the castle' scenario," Yates says, pointing to a children's jungle gym. "It was a blast."

Being only a few months old, Razorhills is considered a 'shire' in the Amtgard world and needs sponsorship from another kingdom before it can advance. From the group to the individual, Amtgard has rules in place for running governments, hosting tournaments and waging war.

"We have a system in place to award players for specific achievements. You could receive an award for anything from performing well in a game or a tournament to being skilled at crafting weapons or armor," explains Yates. "And if you're really good you could be knighted, that's our highest honor."

"As a newer player, building your first weapon is a sort of rite of passage," says Heath, "and if you do a good job we want you to be rewarded for it."

Combat in Amtgard is divided into two main categories: ditch battles and battlegames. Ditch battles are simple, forgoing many of the game's mechanics in favor of pure combat, whereas battlegames are complex, with each player having an assigned role that dictates their weapons and equipment. "There's even a peasant class," adds Heath, "so if you forget all of your equipment you can still play."

For today's battlegame, Yates is adorned in a full suit of handcrafted leather armor lined with metal studs. "I taught myself leatherworking after I started playing; this entire suit I made myself with a little help on the studs." She is playing a warrior, a frontline skirmisher, while Heath is playing a healer, a magic-user with the ability to heal crippled teammates. Both have equipped swords and shields.

The warrior lines up with her team of four soldiers, while the healer musters his three troops around him. They each nod in confirmation before shouting "Lay on!" to start the game.

Yates' team presses hard and fast, but are soon down a man when an arrow finds its mark. They quickly break formation and space out.

Heath's troops take this opportunity to move in and outflank Yates herself. She takes a hit to the leg and drops to one knee, having lost the use of that leg.

With their leader down the rest of Yates' team finds themselves trapped in desperate 2-on-1 and 3-on-1 battles. Soon they are all overwhelmed. The match is over.

Back on their side of the field, Yates and her team huddle up and talk strategy. After a few moments of deliberation they're back in the fight, marching in single file behind the warrior's protective shield. "Break," Yates cries and the four warriors scatter from behind three left, one right. The surprise works. Heath's troops are caught in the pincer attack and are soon routed.

Amtgard's origins can be traced back to El Paso, Texas, in 1983. There a man named Jim Haren Jr. took out an ad in the classifieds section of a local newspaper announcing "Attila the Hun's Birthday Brawl" at Ponder Park. A handful of curious people showed up to find Haren, now calling himself Peter La Grue, with a collection of homemade weapons. Haren announced that he had invented a new game, Amtgard, and invited everyone to an afternoon of open warfare.

The event drew a lot of attention from the community and quickly spread over the years through Texas, the United States and across the globe. Amtgard's central leadership stems from the Kingdom of the Burning Lands. Located in El Paso, the site plays host to many large-scale tournaments and competitions. Despite his game's success, Haren, infamous for his overbearing personality, soon found himself ostracized from his own community.

Today, Amtgard is not without its share of misconceptions. "People hear about how we run around attacking each other with weapons and don't realize that everything, from the weapons and the rules of the game, is designed with safety in mind," explains Yates.

In addition to leading armies and besting foes, Yates works with the Medicaid Waiver Services program where she provides assistance for the intellectually disabled. "I've even had some of the higher-functioning individuals come out here and participate with us." Together with the rest of the Razorhills shire, Yates is working to change how we view this combat sport. "[Amtgard] is something we love to play and we invite anyone who's interested to give it a try!"

This blog is a part of the scavenger hunt.

Share a couple of items on your Christmas wishlist this year.
John Dies at the End by David Wong (book), Imperial 2030 (board game), and a bicycle (bicycle)

What games will you play during the holidays?
Donkey Kong Country Returns, Civilization V, and all the Mass Effect 2 DLC

What are the kinds of food or drinks you must have during the holidays?
Bacon-warped green bean bundles and peppermint cocoa

ORNAMENT HUNT ANSWER - CLUE 21

Hi

You and I are going to have a relationship. No, not that sort of relationship, this is strictly professional. I know your heart begs to dive into the unknown, to yield to the sweet callings of those forbidden fruits. But I'm still new here, and we hardly know each other. Plus, you're kind of freaking me out. I think I'll just stick to writing about video games and you can stick to reading about them. Anything more might be a human resources violation, and those human resources people are crazy.

A bit about me, I grew up zipping through loops as Sonic the Hedgehog, helping Ramza end the (baffling) War of the Lions, and smashing dozens of empty crates as Gordon Freeman. In brief, I've always tried to stay abreast of gaming's latest and greatest across all major platforms. Now, with equal parts hard work and good fortune, I have arrived at GameSpot as the new associate PC games editor.

As a recent graduate, uprooting my entire existence and moving cross-country has been a bit chaotic, but I'm honored to be contributing in a medium I've been invested in for so many years. However, know that sometimes I'm going to like games you don't, and worse yet I'm going to detest game you love. But hey, if this relationship is going to work, we have to be honest with each other--otherwise we'll be the crazy ones.

Thanks for reading, now here's a story about a cat.