Come See THE GAME OVERTHINKER at MAGFEST 2014!

Hey guys! Just a quick FYI: I will be at MAGFest from Jan 2nd to Jan 5th this year, and should you see me on the floor your invited to come up and say hello (unless, y'know, you can tell I'm in the middle of something like or phonecall or whatever.)

Officially, I'm scheduled (you can see the whole MAGFest Schedule Map HERE) to appear at four panels on what they call the "MAGES" circuit:

"THE POLITICS OF GAMING" (Friday 1pm-2pm)

"ARE AAA STUDIOS STILL CREATIVELY RELEVANT" (Saturday 11:30am-12:30pm)

"PROMOTING GOOD GAMING COMMUNITY" (Saturday 5:30pm-6:30pm)

"GAMES AS A NARRATIVE MEDIUM" (8:30pm-9:30pm)

I'm also planning to bring copies of SMB3: BRICK BY BRICK with me to sell (probably cash only, but we'll see how my Square Reader is working) and sign on request, for anyone whose interested.

Look forward to seeing folks there!

YEAR END SPECIAL

UPDATE 1/22: As mentioned in the New Year Special, this Friday 1/24/14 will be the cutoff deadline for "ASK IVAN" questions. Plan accordingly.

Here's some lightheartedness for the end of the year, and a nice lil' announcement about the actual Episode 90: ASK IVAN is back, and anyone so inclined can start submitting questions in the Intense Debate comments below this post. I'll crosspost a YouTube version later in the week and comments under that will also be considered; but this is the primary spot. Happy Holidays!

Everyone Is Better At Selling XBox One Than Microsoft

Microsoft and Sony are both basically running with the same theme for their Now-Gen console advertising: People in their mid-20s/early-30s being blinked into live-action versions of game scenarios. They're all pretty-much the same in one other regard, too - most of the "This could be you having this much fun!" audience-identification characters are overwhelmingly young white dudes.

Only a Game

Will there be a new episode - or a new OVERBYTES - before the New Year? I dunno - anyone got any extra hours in the day to spare? (Working on it, though - seriously.) Until then, here's a gift for the Holidays.

This being "GOTY Season," a lot of people are angry at this or that swath of Games Journalism. Well, take heart, kiddies - whatever Games Journalism may or may not be... at least you're not dealing with Sports Journalism.

Happy Holidays.