Denis

What a great article! Nice one Joystiq.

And it's always great to hear about people who get to live their dreams. There are just so few of us per-capita. I loved Z0MB1ES. Far too much fun, and Dishwasher is a joy to slice through. Great work, Mr. Silva and team.

Used to own a Toyota Corolla, drove it at least twice times a day, mostly to and from work. Once drove a beautiful 3 month old Chevrolet Corvette across the desert from San Diego to Las Vegas as part of an Epic Holiday[TM]. I miss that monster.

Mine: http://oneterrificday.blogspot.com/2008/08/las-vegas-special-guest-post.html

"Basically, they'll be the Justice League to the free players' Alpha Flight."

Oh snap! Hahaha! Nice one.

+1 Int (Geek)

@Starcade Ha! I was thinking the exact same thing. I'm pretty sure I use a lot of the same feature choices. Definitely the same hair at least!

I know there's no use in complaining, and I'm certain that time heals all wounds, but I just don't like the new Avatars. I like the cartoony versions. Would it be too difficult to give each account a choice? Like a "Cartoony/Lifelike" option in the Avatar Creation menu?

VGL! are also (finally) coming to Ireland this November! We have a strong group of 15 heading to Dublin together to be there! My wife and I saw them at San Deigo Comic Con 2008, and even had VIP tickets. We got to meet Tommy and Jake, as well as Martin and the evenings guest, including the hilarious Dee Bradley Baker!

The Video Games Live! events should not be missed by fans of computer game scores, as well as fans of good symphony orchestra music in general! It's an experience I will happily repeat as often as I am lucky enough to be able too.

My brother has a reading problem that hindered him greatly in school. At first, we thought it was something like dyslexia, but after several consultaions it turned out to be a short term/long term memory issue. He won't remember his spellings from yesterday, but in a years time, he'll know them all perfectly. Because of his difficulty with reading, he didn't like reading books. In fact I don't remember him ever reading books for leisure.

When I went to college, I didn't see him as often, but remember coming home one Christmas and sitting in the living room while he played Legend of Zelda. He played along, and I was watching. He's fantastic at games, far better than me. And then he got to a "talky bit". Zelda, as most of you know, favours text over voice acting, so I assumed he'd skip over these bits to get back to the game.

Instead, I heard him slowly read through the full piece. There were a few words here and there that he struggled with and had to skip over, but he got the gist, and continued on.

I remember this, because my mum cried when I pointed it out to her. I guess partly she hadn't noticed the slow, gradual improvement, and partly because, well, she was mum, and didn't bother us while we were playing our games. Since then, my brother has read comics, books, magazines, you name it. Mostly about computer game characters or super heroes, admittedly, but still.

So do games steer interest in reading? Yes. Definately. And long may they continue to do so.

That was incredibly informative and enjoyable to read. Well done on writing a very good article. Thanks for the info!!

Four years?!?! Really?? Wow!! That's incredible. It certainly doesn't feel that long ago. Congrat's to all the hard working staff, both those here now and any that may have left over the years! You've all done a great job and deserve to bask in the praise of the fans!

Genius!