The Sunday Papers

Sundays are for sitting in a darkened hotel room with your comrades in arms still snoozing, trying to compile a list of the interesting reading from across this week - and since I've been away, that's a relatively sleight one - for the RPS readership's delectation while trying to avoid sliding in a link to some manner of pop song. And then throwing some clothes on and heading back to my table on the Image stand at Comic-Con. Yes.

• Reading through this gamasutra piece on the charts about consumer research into buying upcoming games, and I hit an particularly eyebrow-raising snippet: "Elsewhere, Left 4 Dead 2 now ranks fifth among all upcoming titles, with the ratio of awareness to purchase intent the most notable statistic: six out of ten gamers who have heard of the title say they plan to buy it. Only Alan Wake, God of War III and Modern Warfare 2 have higher ratios. "This data point is the best indicator of franchises that have a passionate and loyal fanbase, and Left 4 Dead 2 has accomplished this feat in a remarkably short period of time," says Williams.". In other words, that boycott isn't exactly catching on.
• How annoying. The piece where someone got very, very angry about the font on the Prince of Persia poster appears to have been deleted. I've rarely seen such fury over such things.
• The Reticule on Facebook games.
• Craig Lager on Empty Shell Protagonists. His point mainly being, with characters who are so empty the primary characters - and personalities of the game - become the supporting cast.
• Are games art? Are some people taking the piss? Yes and well done.
• Oh - the Runner. Week by week hyperreview of the divisive Parkour game.
• As Hit Self Destruct inches towards its close, he gets a bunch of games writers to write about any single moment which justified doing this crazy thing. I contribute, because I'll contribute to pretty much anything. I an tres slutty
• Games journalists whining about games PR blog.
• Away from games, did you see Tom Wolfe writing about the moon landing anniversary? I read this and (re-read) Warren Ellis/Chris Weston's Ministry of Space within a few hours and was left terribly depressed.
• Con hysteria reaches a peak when I find myself singing most of this at a passer-by. Who buys a comic. In fact, every time we sing, we sell a comic. Music totally is magic.

Failed.