My apologies that I've been extremely content-light for the last couple of weeks; I've had a bunch of things I've been playing and wanting to write about (I still really want to do an iPhone roundup, because that platform continues to surprise me with its quality, especially for the asking price of most of its games), but I've also jumped feet-first back into community theatre, and between that, work, and a wedding my wife and I attended last weekend, my free time has been more or less erased.
However, there are a few things that might interest you that I thought I'd share before leaving town again for the Memorial Day weekend. Firstly, I had the chance to interview one of the co-founders of Mode 7 Games for Immortal Machines about their upcoming multiplayer tactical strategy game Frozen Synapse, and I link to it both because I think the interview went well - Paul was a pleasure to talk to, and we got some fun and surprising details about their design process - and because Frozen Synapse is really awesome and I want more people to know about it. It's in beta right now, and pre-ordering will get you two copies, one for yourself and one for a friend. I've been playing a lot of that, and very pleased with my purchase. You can stream that interview over here, and there's a discussion thread on Colony of Gamers if you want to provide feedback.
Secondly: In my virtual absence, Mike Bellmore has started doing a "Best Of" series for our Free and Worth Every Penny column, and he's been knocking it out of the park with his choices so far. To kick off, Battle for Wesnoth, a great turn-based fantasy strategy game that's been in development for a loooong time and is very solid because of it. Then, switching genres, the hilarious adventure Ben There, Dan That!, which will instantly be familiar and fun for anyone who grew up with either the Sierra or Lucasarts adventure game series (King's Quest, Sam & Max, etc). It's well-written, challenging in the right ways, and generally a joy to play. Well done, Mike - I'm going to have to step up my game when I get back.
Aside from all that, I've been putting a surprising amount of time into Red Dead Redemption on the XBox 360. Well, maybe not that surprising, given how glowing its reviews are, but let me echo them in saying I think this is Rockstar's best open world effort yet. I also just got Super Mario Galaxy 2 in the mail on Wednesday, and it's fantastic - say what you will about Nintendo using the same basic ideas over and over again, they still make the best platforming experience in videogames, hands down. Like the original Mario Galaxy and several of my other favorite games from the last few years, it's in no way easy - there are some absolutely devilish challenges in there - but it gives you the tools to master them and encourages you to keep at it until you get it right. It'll be coming with me this weekend so that I can share it with others and watch them get the hang of inverted gravity and all its other perplexing mechanics.
And on that note, I need to finish packing and get out of here; as we've done for the last 2 years, my wife and I are hosting a bunch of friends for Memorial Day weekend up in northern PA at her family's cabin for a party we've dubbed Cabin Con - lots of board games, bonfires and creek swimming are all in store. Maybe I'll take that as an opportunity to write about some non-digital entertainment when I get back. Have a safe holiday, everybody.