Justin Hall

Yes, I have to echo what Hamsterbaffle wrote - this is one of the most thorough and considered examinations of upcoming games I've read recently. James Ransom-Wiley's impressions seemed more honest than promotional. The guarded optimism that he shares for Bully stands in marked contrast to the naked buy-in commonplace for most previews. Quite refreshing! Thank you.

Awesome post - there are huge and growing parallels between life online and MMOGs.

Dating sites allow us to present ourselves as characters! Choosing skills, interests, languages, abilities. A bit like D&D, with punk/goth/hippy/jock/artist instead of fighter/mage/rogue/cleric. I hadn't thought about levelling up, but clearly forum participation allows someone to level up as an active user and community member. To have a stake. Otherwise, levelling up would be something like, "number of searches, number of replied messages" - tracking stats within the communications of the dating site mechanics.

Right on - I've bookmarked this as part of my research into Passively Multiplayer Online Games - http://www.passivelymultiplayer.com/ - thanks.

Hear, hear Alex Keen - I agree wholeheartedly. Between this post and the defense of Rumbling Roses a few days ago, I'm beginning to have a somewhat dismal view of the Xbox 360 Fanboy as a drooling silicon boob chaser. I like reading news about the XBox 360. Ken Weeks here has got his hands in his pants, not on the controller. Thumbs down.

Thanks for this link - a game like Oblivion demands this kind of OCD web site.

I'm fond of the Wiki approach - the Oblivion GameWiki has a ton of content submitted and continually improved by the users. I keep it open as I play, and add my wandering wisdom as I find it! It's the game along with the game - http://oblivion.gamewikis.org/wiki/Main_Page

Ken - there should be a place in gaming for sexy girls and kink, sure. Also, there should be a place for reviewers to demand quality in their sexual media as well. Why can't he speak his mind? Maybe he's not straight enough -

If you assert your preference for heterosexual, male-dominated media, you're not likely to have many real women men reading your web site. Maybe it's better that way? I, for one, would like to see more women in gaming - that would be infinitely sexier than Rumble Roses.

The Xbox 360 is painfully lacking any "shuffle" mode for randomizing through large song archives. That's a standard feature on digital music players now!

And, you can't store playlists for songs on remote computers.

I hope they add these features in future updats!

Dan Hsu's interview was an important "shot across the bow" of game evangelism. We all love games; that's why we read sites like "XboxFanBoy". But we have to be more critical. Most Xbox 360 launch games were weak ports. They weren't the touted future of entertainment, yet. They certainly weren't worth $60.

Yes, we should understand and be patient with the Xbox 360. But the role of the journalists in society is to hold people in power accountable for their statements. Dan Hsu may seem to have a chip on his shoulder in this interview, only because so many game journalists softball questions and interviews.