SeanB

I just want to make a correction to the description of Spectre: the team comes from the University of Southern California, from the same department that produced Flow, P.B. Winterbottom, and IndieCade Voter's Choice winner Minor Battle.

I'm always late to the party whenever someone starts an ARG, and it's so hard to get caught up once the thing has momentum. I want in on the ground floor for this one. That's what this is, right? Too bad there's so little to go on.

Reading these comments is a little disheartening. "Playing Dirty" is about presenting a different viewpoint. I think this column does a great job of exploring ideas that most of us haven't considered before. Bonnie does a fantastic job because she doesn't demand that her readers agree with these unexpected ideas; she just asks that we consider them. I, for one, enjoy the intellectual exercise.

I may ultimately reject the idea of Tetris as a metaphor for sex, but along the way I've been forced to consider the role of sex and metaphor in games, the abstract and concrete qualities of Tetris, and the phenomenon of emergent narrative in puzzle games.

For those of you opposed to differing points of view, well... You know what to expect from the column. You don't have to read it.

As for me: I love your column, Bonnie! Keep it up!

@Steve:

Unfortunately, I've never played any of the Castlevania series, so I don't feel qualified to make specific comments about the games. I have to say, though, I don't understand your perspective of the American entertainment industry as "heterophobic". The vast majority of games, movies, and all media cater to a heterosexual audience. Most stories produced for these media have heterosexual protagonists that the audience is expected to identify with, or even an arc that presumes heterosexual values. I'm not saying that all these characters should be queer, or that heternormative movies don't have value. I'm just pointing out that heterosexuality is very much the norm, and I'm not sure what you're trying to say with the concept of "heterophobia".

Still no Beyond Good & Evil. I won't cry about it - I went out and bought another copy for the GameCube a few weeks ago. But damn, that game deserves more love.

I hope Psychonauts makes the final cut. It would give me an excuse to finally play it. That and Indigo Prophecy.

A friend of mine did a remix of the Tetris music: http://www.brasslanternaudio.com/djb/audio/Dj%20Beyonder%20-%20Tetris%20Remix.mp3.

@5: BEYOND GOOD & EVIL. Seriously. One of the best games I've ever played. WHERE THE HELL IS MY BGE 360!?!?