I logged in and updated my games list to represent my recent game-buying spree.  I added the following games:

• Audiosurf (only $2.49 this week on Steam, thanks for the heads up, Xot!)
• Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3
• Commander Keen Complete Pack
• Fable 2
• Gears of War 2

I’ve still got one or two more I want to pick up, and like I’ve mentioned before, a couple others I’m putting on my Christmas list, but I’m really starting to get progressively angrier at game publishers for this mess.  Seriously - I know everyone wants to have big sales for the holidays, but pace yourselves please!  We can’t all go out and buy a dozen games in one month, and many great games are going to suffer from poor sales because of this ridiculous overlap.

Penny Arcade summed it up pretty nicely here.  It’s eerie how similar this comic looks to my Google calender where I’ve marked all the upcoming games I’m interested in.

Oh well.  That’s all for now.  I’m feeling a bit under the weather and I need to recover…  which means less time spent blogging, and more time spent laying on the couch, complaining to my girlfriend, and of course, playing games.  Just gotta make sure I fit some rest in there somewhere!

This is just a short post - I hope everyone had a great Halloween this year!  I know I did, and I didn’t even go trick-or-treating!

I was quite surprised when I fired up Steam yesterday and found that on Halloween, Valve released the intro movie for Left 4 Dead, a game which looks like it’s going to be tons of fun.  The video looks good and scary, and it makes the wait for this game even more tough than before!

There are so many games coming out lately though…  it’s getting difficult to spend time on all of them.  Hopefully after the holidays are all over we’ll get some sort of reprieve while game developers get back to working on next year’s line-up of hits.

I’ll be back here later to post about tomorrow’s elections, I think.  There’s just too much going on not for me to comment about it at some point.  Until then, thanks for reading, and enjoy the L4D video above!

With the latest Team Fortress 2 update, which includes the new Heavy class achievements, weapons, and a new game mode, Valve has also released another short trailer for the game: Meet the Sandvich.

The “sandvich” made its debut in the Meet the Scout video, where it changed hands between the Heavy and Scout after a scuffle, and continues to be the source of conflict in the newest video.  It’s also a new unlockable item for the Heavy class. It can heal 120 health, and the Heavy who has it equipped has an unlimited supply.  The downside is that eating it makes a considerable amount of noise, and leaves the Heavy vulnerable for four seconds while he consumes it.

Watch the video below!

Thanks to everyone who entered the raffle to celebrate Marty Blog’s 50th post, and congratulations to the winners, listed below!  And no, that’s not a picture of me up there.

Runners Up ($5 game via Steam):

• CoolGmrSms
• Xxypher

Grand Prize (Team Fortress 2 or $20 equivalent via Steam):

• Xot

I will be contacting the winners via email.  Hope to see you all around the site again soon, and thanks for helping to make this a successful raffle!

Image courtesy of the Marin County Bicycle Coalition

Well, it’s finally happened - Marty Blog’s 50th blog post is here!  Not too shabby for a project that sprang to life as a mere experiment to organize my thoughts on gaming, art, developing, and the rest of that fun stuff.  I’ve gotten a lot of enjoyment out of Marty Blog so far, and I’ve got some neat stuff planned for the future, so I hope that you’ll join me as I add more content and features to the growing pile o’ stuff here.

To help celebrate the continuation of Marty Blog, and to give back to everyone who’s helped make the blog fun for me, I’ve put together a little raffle - which I’ve dubbed Post & Win!

What can you win?

The grand prize for the raffle is a brand new (digital) copy of Valve’s über fun frag-fest Team Fortress 2!  If you’ve already got a copy of TF2, or if it’s not really your thing, I’ll also let you sub in any other single game of equal or lesser value that’s currently on Steam.  Here’s the list.

Additionally, two runners-up will be able to choose from any single game currently on Steam for $5 or less.  You can find a list of these games here, which includes such classics as Commander Keen, Day of Defeat, and Silent Hunter III.

How do you enter?

Simply post a comment below (make sure to enter an email address I can contact you with in the appropriate area of the comment form) and tell me what you think about Marty Blog.  Suggestions, criticism, and long manifestos of support and encouragement are welcome!

Your name will only be entered into the raffle once, no matter how many comments you leave, and registered users of the site who comment will have a slightly higher chance of being chosen.

Entrants must have a Steam account, or must be willing to register for one if they win.  Steam is free, it’s a great service, and I am happy to promote it.  If you win and I am unable to award you your prize within a reasonable amount of time, the item will be re-raffled.  Apologies to anyone who lives outside of the U.S. or who doesn’t have access to Steam or it’s catalog of games.

Attempts at entering your name into the raffle more than once (or any other kind of cheating) will result in your name, and all aliases thought to be associated with you, removed from the drawing.  And of course, Marty Blog reserves all rights to make the final decision on the validity of any entry.

Entries close at the end of the weekend - Sunday, August 3rd at 11:59 PM PST - so be sure to make your comment before then!  Winners will be announced the following day.

Thanks again to everyone out there who reads Marty Blog now and then.  I truly appreciate your visits to this site, and I hope that the site remains fun and enjoyable to you as we move into the future!