Word of the day: "ratiocinate"

LUCKY BASTARD!

In all my 6 years in Australia, Terry Pratchett came to Melbourne about 3 times; and EACH FRIGGING TIME I WAS EITHER UNAVAILABLE OR OUT OF THE COUNTRY. Argh. Am tempted to send over my copy of Good Omens to you to get it autographed; maybe I should(!).

Not that enthusiastic about Ray Feist; although I like his books, I think that he's overrated, much like David Eddings. Lightweight fantasy, but readable.

Incidentally, I just found out that the executive chairman of Eidos Interactive is none other than... Ian Livingstone!

*pauses as all the non-RPG/fantasy-gamebook/computer game serfs watch on blankly*

Am ambivalent - Livingstone hasn't done anything since Fighting Fantasy (*Steve Jackson* is the mastermind behind Games Workshop), and Eidos is a monster publishing house second only to Electronic Arts in the "We fuck over small developers" school of computer game marketing. They also represent a postentially disturbing trend in the movement of the industry towards games with slick production values and "sure-win" formulations as opposed to genuine innovation that mostly come from the smaller, independent houses. Granted, Eidos tends to take more gambles on "concept" games; as opposed to Electronic Arts whose focus is on their bread-basket sports simulators, slickly produced menus (EA games have the best main menu interfaces on the market, I'll give them that), intelligent franchising, and desecration of the various smaller houses it's consumed - witness the ongoing rape of Origin Systems.

I have mixed feelings towards Eidos - they waxed fat on the back of the Tomb Raider phenomenon. And they kept the abomination company that was Ion Storm long enough to create the horrific Daikatana. They were also in part responsible for the death of Looking Glass Studios due to incompetent marketing and misallocation of resources.

But on the other hand, sustaining Ion Storm meant that the *good* part - Ion Storm Dallas - was also kept around to produce Deus Ex (and so cement Warren Spector as among the greatest game designers of our era). They've also produced Project Eden, Legaia, the PC ports for Final Fantasy; they took gambles on small companies which produced conceptually brilliant sleeper hits like Commandos, Hitman: Codename 47, Startopia. They were also responsible for the Blood Omen/Legacy of Kain sequels; and despite the horror of the Tomb Raider franchise, it can be argued that the 3d-graphics-fest that characterises mainstrem computer gaming development (for better or worse) was in part birthed by the drive to have better texturing for Lara Croft's breasts.

Incidentally, for more gaming affocionados, Tom Hall and John Romero (of Doom, Anachronox and Daikatana infamy) have produced.. this. I have to admit; when they choose to depart from type, they go *all* the way.