Saw this one in a magazine. Put the letter Pi on an orange shirt- you are now Pumpkin Pi.

Not sure, but it might do you good to go jog or something.

Getting my sis' old Android phone, are there any cool indie apps I can snag for it?

Rondo of Swords. It's fun, but hard as hell.

I recommend Wurm Online or else Morrowind or Fallout... possibly even a Grand Theft Auto game if you haven't experienced any of those.

I suppose tactical gameplay, rather than using it purely for combat, could also apply to finance or politics. In that case, SimCity and The Political Machine would be examples, although they're more on the 'sim' end.

I remember playing Ocarina of Time a ton as a kid, but rather than complete the quest, I loved just running around Kokiri Forest and exploring Hyrule Fields. True terror was felt when I'd just barely miss the gates into Castle town as night fell- I knew those monsters were out to get me. It wasn't until this year that I actually completed Ocarina of Time, as I now actually own an N64 and a copy of the game.

On that note, I'm wondering if a key characteristic of good kids' games (and good games in general) is interactivity. One of the reasons I loved adventure games was that I could click on everything on-screen and something would happen. Even if it had nothing to do with finishing the game, getting to see some silverware burst out into song or a character comment on some alien hieroglyphics greatly pleased me.

Another anecdote: When I played my first adventure game, I must have spent ten minutes fiddling with the keyboard before I realized that the whole game was played with a mouse. My prior experiences with games had primarily been platformers, even on PC, so I was used to the idea of controlling a character with the arrow buttons. Needless to say, I felt a little silly when I figured it out.

Accessible controls + open "playground" environment + high amounts of interactivity = profit?

I remember loving the hell out of Humongous Entertainment's games, including the original Backyard Baseball. My favorites were Pajama Sam (in There's No Need To Hide When It's Dark Outside), Freddi Fish, and SpyFox. I later found out that the company was founded by Ron Gilbert, co-creator of Monkey Island. Those kid's games are probably the reason I got into adventure games at such a young age. My babysitter introduced me to The Dig and King's Quest, among others, which certainly made a big impression on me.

Ahh, I see what you mean. I'll be more careful about it in the future. As for the colors, I sampled the original photo refs to get the general palette, then started tweaking the colors and adding more blue based on a peer's recommendation.

Oh, and here's another one I did today. I wish I had something better than my cameraphone to take snaps of these sketches, but that's really my only regret.

Thanks, you guys. C: What do you recommend for improving the leaves?

Looks great dude- like the contrast between the background sprite and your stylized take on Vivi.

Did some pen sketches of nature photos I have on my computer, decided to color one in Photoshop for fun.

Probably straight.

10 times and there is a block so that you win the level! Yay!

... I think Nintendo has forgotten what game design is.
Maybe it will be okay as long as there is challenge for those of us who want to have fun

So long as it's only an option, I'm okay with this. After all, Mario games are meant to be as accessible as possible- if they can accommodate hardcore gamers as well as newbs, I'm fine with whatever features they need to implement.

Phoenix Wright in general has some of my favorite love-to-hate characters. Perhaps it's because they are so blatantly lying and/or evil that it compels me to do everything in my power to slap their lies right back in their stupid faces.

Can't say too much, except does anybody remember Future Tactics? There was a game that had some decent potential in its combat system. Pity the multiplayer was so barebones.

Seriously, my interest in this game has jumped higher and higher since they've started detailing the gameplay mechanics. The stamina meters and MotionPlus combat alone could allow for some brilliant gameplay sequences, and the fact that they're offering boss rush mode and item upgrading seems to indicate they're aiming for more 'hardcore' gamers. I for one am even more excited than ever.

To become the new boss, of course. ^^" Forgot to mention that.

Came up with this idea earlier today. Story game where players are employees at a powerful corporation, trying to win the favor of their boss before he retires in seven days and selects one of you as their replacement. Game mechanics are dice, story scenes, and Bible verses selected at random and interpreted to suit events.

EDIT, durp.

I personally would love to see some stats on how often players choose a human avatar when given the option; are there any places that collect this kind of data?

Another webcomic tribute, this time for Gunnerkrigg Court.

Everybody's allowed one cryptic vent piece. This here's mine.