The Sunday Papers

There are many things to love about Sunday. Not having to go to work, unless you've got a horrible job which you have my sympathy for. Keep fighting, punks. Lying around. Not doing much. Compiling a list of thoughtful pieces from the grist of the games journalism mill and trying not to include a video link of my favourite indie-lust object at a dog show. Well... the compiling thing is just me, but you can read it. Go eye-readings!

• This is fun. Bill Harris does a two part interview with Vic Davis about Armageddon Empire's post-release sales curve and similar. While Vic avoids the actual hard figures, reading what percentage of his total sales were achieved at which points is... well, it's illuminating. And seeing the uptick on a graph after my Eurogamer review makes me feel as if this games critic thing isn't totally useless, y'know. Part one here. Part two here.
• US RPG specialist Desslock wonders where on Earth all the M-rated RPGs have gone. Putting aside the Witcher, I see the point - and the disconnect between M-rated shooter (and action games generally) success and the fade-to-biege of the RPG market as it inches for a teen-friendly rating is saddening. My gut feeling is that it's a fear response - they feel more niche, so don't want to lose any possible sales by going for the higher rating, though any RPG devs out there should feel free to correct me.
• Okay, almost completely off topic, but this Daily Mail piece on the Horror Of Emo is one of the funniest pieces of journalism I've read for ages. The next time the Mail takes a swing at games - which can only be a matter of days - bear it in mind.
• Ultra-retro. Konstantinos Dimopoulos pointed me in the direction of this interview with the Rochdale Balrog of Brit-Text-adventure specialists Zenobi. I'm both pleased and amused that the one-room (and the smallest room in the house) comedy advebture Behind Closed Doors was written and tested in a day. For the record, I believe it was the first text adventure I ever completed.
• Simon Parkin continues his new series of columns for Game Set Watch with... poetry. About being a games critic and the problems thereof. Fun.
• The Long Blondes - Guilt. Probably the definitive Long Blondes title, which could only be trumped by lobbing out a single called "I feel bad about the people I've had sex with, yes, yes, I do". Also: Kate Jackson. Ying!

Failed.