If this is Syndicate, shoot me now.It's a smorgasbord of topics this week as I take on the question of "What the hell happened to modern CRPGs?" Why is everything becoming a first-person shooter game? The excrement begins to fly with the upcoming Syndicate and X-Com games. I explain why you should avoid any game "with a great story" and why I couldn't care less about Skyrim and Diablo III. I also talk about my experiences with Baldur's Gate and what I'd really like to see in future CRPGs. Hint: it ain't better narratives.

Download the mp3.

Here's part IV of my John Romero interview series, this time on Quake.

Here's the latest Matt Chat, this time with rockstar designer John Romero!

THQ Collector Pack now on Steam, this is bound to make quite a few Steam subscribed PC gamers happy.

There are few games in recent memory that have had as great an impact on me as Bethesda's Fallout 3. I just finished the game a few minutes ago and am simply stunned at the quality of the storytelling, gameplay, and aesthetics. While the game has a few minor faults, these pale in comparison to its masterful production.

I've been slogging through a lot of games lately and thought it was time to try to post some thoughts on them. Instead of posting about them individually, I thought I'd discuss them together, comparing and contrasting.

Baboom!

id Software recently has a deal going on where they are offering a dozen of their classic games, plus all the expansion packs, for $69.95 via Valve's online distribution system, Steam. It's a pretty good deal for those who enjoy classic FPS PC games and even includes recent games such as Doom 3. The titles are also available for individual purchase or in smaller compilation packs as well.

Here's a partial listing titles available in the id Super Pack (not including the expansion packs): Commander Keen (episodes 1-5), Ultimate Doom, Doom II, Doom III, Heretic, Hexen, Hexen II, Quake, Quake II, Quake III: Arena, Wolfenstein 3D, and Return to Castle Wolfenstein. It's a good deal for that price, to say the least.

John Carmack - one of the Id software founders - has shown interest into the possibility to create a special Quake-Arena version for the Nintendo DS. He was inspired by playing Metroid Prime Hunters - which is quite a good fps on the Nintendo DS btw! - read more.