Review: Mario Party 10 (Wii U)

If you haven't played a Mario Party game I would be surprised. Starting out with three releases on the Nintendo 64, four on the GameCube and two on the Wii, Mario Party has seen a consistent release schedule since 1998. I'm not even counting the portable releases over the years on the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS and Nintendo 3DS. There was even Mario Party-e for the e-Reader, but that's more obscure than finding game cheat codes in modern games.

Review: Splatoon (Wii U)

Splatoon is the new property from Nintendo with a cute premise: anthropomorphic squid kids participating in an ink fight. The colored ink you shoot, spray, and splatter actually paints the terrain of the combat area. Your character is able to "swim" in your ink color to not only fast-traverse across the map but refill your ink ammunition. This basic game control makes for a very different experience compared to other games where proper ground control will dominate lone-wolf or sniping tactics.

Doing All the Things: Skyrim Edition Pt. 6 - Doing All the Things Was a Terrible Idea

Sometimes I wonder just how much initiative the average inhabitant of Skyrim has. Sure, they get up, got to work, and stop by the tavern on their way home before turning in for the night. However, when they have some sort of problem they come running to me for help. I can't be bothered to count the number of times I've been asked to retrieve something from some ruins, deliver a doodad halfway across the realm, or deal with the town drunk. Surely these people can do at least some of these things on their own. It's enough to make me wish one of the perks in Speechcraft was Motivational Speaker. Then I could ditch my armor and bow, dawn my finest clothes, and embark on a tour of self improvement, encouraging the locals to better themselves, and not just pester the first adventurer they see to do the work for them. Who knows. Maybe it would catch on, and a century or two later some thief would be stealing one of my self help books from a local noble along side copies of The Cake and the Diamond and The Lusty Argonian.

A Trio of Triple A Games from the Triple E Show that Made Me Go "Ooo!"

Normally I'm not the sort who gets terribly worked up when E3 comes along. The thick corporate veneer, lingering stench of focus groups, fake smiles, and cacophony of talking points are enough to make me want to flip tables, kick puppies, or in the very least pen a strongly worded introduction to an article discussing the event. This year was actually a bit of a surprise. There were three games that I actually thought were interesting enough to set aside my unbridled hatred for big business, and start to drift ever so slightly towards actually being excited about something.

Review: The Witcher III: Wild Hunt (PC)

Everything you've read or heard about The Witcher III: Wild Hunt is true.

Those weird bugs, game-crashing or otherwise, you heard about from your second cousin; the glowing reviews by the vast majority of players and the enthusiast press (groups often on opposing fronts); the nudity from that weird guys you shared a bus ride with through a questionable part of town; the gritty violence of careful rolling and parrying; storytelling that actually weaves the world and it's inhabitants into an interesting whole; alchemy and magic; and the sweeping vistas of a game that packs a "Wow!" Factor of at least 70 when it comes to detail and texture.

Review: Slow Down, Bull (PC)

I have to say, I was pretty bummed out that Slow Down, Bull l had absolutely nothing to do with a Night Court reboot. If you'll recall -- if you're old enough -- Night Court was a sitcom that ran on NBC for 9 seasons starting in the mid 1980s and Nostradamus "Bull" Shannon was the towering bailiff that featured prominently in nearly every episode I can remember.

However, once clear of that particular "Hurdle of Disappointment," I was pleasantly surprised that a game so "cutesy" and obviously designed for mobile devices or touch screens could be so engrossing for quick play sessions.

Doing All the Things: Skyrim Edition Pt. 5 - Parenthood

Earlier today, I finished off the Thieves' Guild main quest line, and with that was leader of of the Companions, the College of Winterhold, and now heading up this group as well. I was feeling pretty good, with a swagger in my step. Figuring it high time to head to my homestead, I made my way there. While dumping an ungodly amount of gems and ebony items into one of the nearby chests, my adopted daughter Lucia ran up shouting, "Mama, you're home!" She does this every time I swing by, and on this occasion she wanted to give me a flower she'd found. Such a sweet girl. It was while she was beaming at me, radiating an aura of unconditional love that a rather unsettling thought occurred to me: Am I an absentee parent?