All of this waiting for when Valve is ready is just silly, so I recently decided to take matters into my own hands. I have offered the company that Freeman built something that they can’t possibly refuse, that awesome lamp I made. Now, don’t ask how I did it (after all I wouldn’t want everyone flooding the market with them, and, thus, lowering the value of my offer would I?), just accept the fact that the process lands somewhere between making cookies, and alchemy.

I have approached Valve with an email, and I have to say, I like my chances. Click on to read the email in full.

Being a fan of fighting games, I usually harp on the pre-order and anxiously await the release date following every possible article that comes out about it until the game is finally in my hands. Where some gamers pass over the genre in lieu of the punch, kick, uppercut stigma, I always found myself drawn into the back story of it all.

For me, reading through the character profiles leads me into choosing who I will start the game off with, solely for the fact that I want to see how their part in the game plays out. I think about the good ol’ Street Fighter games and seeing Blanka as this green dude with orange hair and, wait… he has electricity powers?! Come to find out, he was in the plane crash and was subsequently shocked and mutated — oh now it all makes sense.

There are literally hundreds of video games released every year, so it’s impossible for gamers to take part in every new gameplay experience available. Even if you were to focus solely on playing high-quality well-reviewed blockbuster titles, there’s no shot you could find the time to play them all. This topic marks the perfect start to a new feature segment here on Daft Bit, called Confession Booth.

Confession Booth will allow our staff to expose a long-hidden personal confession, one which will likely cause high levels of embarrassment or shame. To kick off the new feature, I’m picking a topic that has shame written all over it, one I am confident that every gamer can relate to: lying to friends that you’ve played a game.

Earlier this week, I booted up the ol’ Xbox 360, as I wanted to play Black Ops one last time before placing it in a dusty box as a result of an inevitable Modern Warfare 3 addiction. First thing I noticed after boot up was a different looking dashboard, where only two rows of content were displayed — I quickly realized it was because I was no longer signed in with my gamertag. No big deal. As expected, I booted up Black Ops and figured I’d just sign-in within the game. That is until I was told my gamertag was invalid. Womp.

I’m not sure if I’ve made it clear before, but I’m a huge Zelda fanatic. One of my earliest childhood memories was playing Zelda II: The Adventures of Link on my yellow and white checkered linoleum floor, in a room in my house my brother and I dubbed the “Playroom.”

I was born in 1985, the birth year of the Nintendo Entertainment System. Before I even knew what a video game was, my parents awesomely purchased an Atari and a NES, effectively starting my gaming obsession, at around age three. Sure, Atari had some great arcade games, but NES gave me the Super Mario franchise and two Zelda classics, games that shaped my imagination, creativity, and taught me the ability to conquer any quest. It was Link, however, who would become my personal hero for the next twenty-something years.

I’m not a huge fan of people. Being around the general population for an extended period of time often leaves me feeling irritable, frustrated, and annoyed. After all, it’s the general population that made Susan Boyle relevant, voted Bush into office twice, and thinks “Global Warming” is an actual threat to our future — it’s not. People are the worst.

And while I love conventions that cater to my inner geek, it seems they often bring out thousands of the aforementioned. Even in a city as progressive as New York, the numbest of numbskulls seemingly flock with delight when the Comic-Con circus rolls into town, raining on my parade. Personally, I attend Comic-Con for the video game exhibits, always eager to play the latest builds of upcoming titles from the publishers themselves. I also love seeing the legions of devoted fans dressed in their very best cosplay garb. But it’s around those confined quarters on the show floor that you truly learn about the general population’s take on the industry. Not press, nor cosplayers, nor enthusiasts. I’m talking everyone else, the “casual” crowd if you will.

Thursday afternoon, Capcom hosted another Fight Club event, this time taking over New York City’s Eyebeam Art and Technology Center to show off some upcoming titles. On hand were next week’s Street Fighter III: Third Strike Online Edition, November’s Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, and next year’s much anticipated Street Fighter X Tekken.

You really have to hand it to Capcom for putting together these community events. In an age of online multiplayer, Capcom can rally together hundreds of fans on short notice, all for a chance to play some of their games in development.  I was able to play all three titles for a fair amount of time, and grabbed some pictures of the event. Check out the full gallery below, and my game impressions below the break!

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We’ve been called a lot of names by the mainstream media: anti-social basement dwellers, zit-faced slackers, unemployed mama’s boys. Those obvious stereotypes have been around since the beginning of the Galaga days, ringing true for many at some point in our adolescent lives — including my own.  But a new stereotype that’s emerged seems to present a more accurate description of the gaming community. It appears, seemingly overnight, we’ve all become a bunch of assholes.

The invention of the message board probably add fuel to the flames of this epidemic. Gamers everywhere were given an outlet for discussing the games they love, the good and the bad. In turn, it seemed bitching became the top priority, and nothing was off limits. From poor voice acting, to crappy remakes, to an apparent inability to release a god damn DuckTales sequel, we point it out and complain like hell. Why? Because we actually feel a sense of pain from the design choices of the developers. Although expressed in anger, we usually feel a deep sadness, almost like the developer has intentionally set out to hurt us. We feel a sense of betrayal and neglect.

If you don’t already know the name Simon Curtis, you need to. Some of his younger fans may know him from his role on Nickelodeon’s Spectacular!, and a spot on a little known Disney show called Hannah Montana. Since earlier this year, the 24-year-old has focused his multi-talented efforts on his first album, titled 8Bit Heart. Released in March, the 13-track electronic collection contains tunes that range in topic from Simon’s Atari-playing days, to an Android love affair, effortlessly flowing from bass-driven pop, to sweet love songs. With the occasional voice-over track laid over chiptunes to serve as narration to the audio adventure, 8Bit Heart ultimately serves as a cohesively crafted piece of musical pop perfection. And did I mention the entire album is free off Simon’s official website? If there is any new singer/songwriter/performer to keep your eye on right now, it’s Simon Curtis.