From the emails I’ve been getting so far, the wonderful smell of a new video game is something many gamers savor. I’ve heard a few different theories, that the smell comes from plastic softeners used on the case (what?), or the chemical residue from pressing the disc with bountiful digital entertainment. Or perhaps the ink on the instruction booklet. Maybe all three chemicals combine to offer us that sweet, sweet smell, that is probably killing our brain cells slowly. Really, who care? It smells wonderful.

This is a really busy week for me, I have a lot going on in my personal life. So I apologize if I don’t seem quite as present online this week. Not a huge deal concerning the front page, I’m sure, but it will be noticeable over in CADMedia. This is why I won’t be able to run that project myself. It’s not a one-man operations. If that one-man has other stuff to attend to, no gaming news is being posted. So I’ll be looking for contributers soon. Perhaps as early as next week. In regards to that, please refer to this post, so I don’t have to type it again (and I know most of you will email me without reading it anyway).

The Tomb Raider: Legend demo is up on the XBL marketplace. Check it out, I enjoyed what I played of the game, and am looking forward to grabbing it next week.

I caught the trailer for the Simpsons movie. What can I say? Finally. I’ve been rewatching some older episodes, particularly around season six, seven and eight when the humor really hit the stratosphere. Such genius.

I guess I’m not really surprised that people are getting bent out of shape over the pay-for-Oblivion-content thing. Most people are cheap and feel they deserve stuff for free. Personally, I don’t have a problem with it. I paid for the game, and I got a hell of a lot for my money. That transaction is over and done with. If Bethesda turns around and says “look, you can purchase more content for your game”, that’s perfectly within their right. It’s a business, people.

It’s not like Bethesda put out a game, and people played, and after 15 hours the game stopped working, and Bethesda said “ok, now if you want to be able to finish that quest, you’ll need to pay us extra money for this patch”.

Horse armor wasn’t in the game you bought. It’s not something that was listed as a feature, and you didn’t get it with your main purchase. It’s additional. You don’t go into a restaurant and order a dinner, and then expect dessert for free just because you paid for dinner. Unless the menu lists dessert as included with your dinner, you expect that it’s going to be an additional charge. Why is it different for paid content in video games?

Anyway, that’s just my take on the matter. I guess if I had to gripe, I’d complain that the additional content didn’t come packaged in a box. You know, so I could smell that smell.