A Command & Conquer: Generals map I did a little while back. Too few of the default C&C multiplayer maps take advantage of the urban objects and scenery. So I made this one, a four-player non-symmetrical map that should still be pretty balanced: Umbria

Interplay recently sacked the entire Black Isle Studios development team. These are the guys who worked on Fallout, Fallout 2, Planescape: Torment, Baldur's Gate, Baldur's Gate 2, Icewind Dale, Icewind Dale 2, various expansions. To make matters worse, Interplay did this as BIS was finishing up its work on Fallout 3, a game I (and others) have been desperately anticipating for years. The reasoning behind this? It seems to have been nothing more than a short-sighted cost-cutting maneuver for withering Interplay. The publisher has apparently decided to change its focus to console games... even though its current crop of games seem to struggling. Both Galleon and Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel have slipped their original release dates. Its only other game on the horizon is Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel, a sequel to a game that hasn't even released! In the end, I believe Interplay has seriously shot themselves in the foot. If the publisher is still around in two years, I'll be surprised.

Some people hold the belief that a bad Fallout 3 is better than no Fallout 3 at all. I can sympathize, I really can. Unfortunately, such a sentiment is thinking with your heart and not your mind. I can never forget the horror that was Dungeon Master 2. Guess who brutally mangled that franchise? That's right, it was Interplay. The fact is, a bad sequel is worse than no sequel at all. With a bad sequel, any reminiscing about the glories of the original is tainted by creeping thoughts of unmitigated disaster that followed. Don't believe me? Try asking Highlander fans about Highlander 2. Watch them wince in almost physical pain. And then try the same with Alien 3. "Alien 3? Never heard of it. Now Alien Resurrection wasn't too bad, up until the end that is..." RoboCop 3 anyone? Five minutes of that abomination and I was trying to gouge my eyes out with a particularly pointy corner of my remote. (My wife suggested the remote would be more useful changing the channel. Ha, silly woman.)

I say, better to allow the Fallout series die than to let it suffer the ignominious fate of a loathsome sequel farmed out by Interplay to some half-assed development group that just doesn't care. And I say it with a (radioactive) tear in my eye.

Something I didn't expect to read on CNN, but was pleasantly surprised: Cowboy sport combines history, gunsmoke

Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne: It's like they designed the game to piss me off. Look, I'm an RTS player from ages back. Since Dune 2. I've played RTS games you've probably never heard of. And frankly, I haven't any idea what people see in Warcraft III. As a game, I don't care for it. Sure, the full-motion video cut scenes are exceptionally well done. But the game? Annoys the hell out of me. The game requires an extensive amount of micromanagement, and at the same time, is designed to split your attention between two or more groups simultaneously. And this is in both the single- and multi-player aspect! How kind! Thank you, Blizzard!