Hello everyone, Certis here. Sway emailed me to geek out a little about meeting Sid Meier at a book reading a few days ago. He really should have known better because I immediately demanded an article about his experience and what the authors of the book had to say. The full title of the book in question is SMARTBOMB: The Quest for Art, Entertainment, and Big Bucks in the Videogame Revolution and it's all about gaming and how society views it.

Read on for the article and a big, big thanks to Sway for coming out of seclusion to grace us with some of his excellent writing! We miss you, homie.

Certis sent me a screenshot from the World of Warcraft beta he's been...well...beta testing. He told me he was using it as his desktop wallpaper, and the minute I saw it, I understood why. In one simple image is captured the promise of extraordinary adventure. He who said a picture is worth a thousand words must have been bidding low. In this picture I see a thousand stories. I've made it my own wallpaper and have stared into it for a very long time. I am, at once, both hungrily excited and wistfully sad. I'm eagerly anticipating my own first steps into Azeroth, but know even Blizzard's world will not be the immersive land of lore of which I dream.

I just wanted to take a moment to thank all of the armchair reviewers out there who are doing their best to help us make educated consumer decisions. Perhaps my favorite reviews are for the games that have yet to actually be released. I thought I'd offer a few of these to you to help distribute the vital information that these gamers felt compelled to share.

Please note that I found these customer reviews on Amazon.com. As I don't want to be accused of stealing their content, I wanted to make it clear that these are directly from their fine Customer Reviews.

So ever since I started reading gaming forums regularly, Baldur's Gate 2 has been one of those games against which all other similar games are judged. It constantly shows up in gamers' top 5 lists and every review I've read about it has been absolutely glowing. So well over a year ago I began to keep an eye on it in the stores. It was still being sold in the big boxes and was still selling for $40-$50. I never wanted to drop that kind of coin on an old game when there were so many new releases that deserved that kind of cash. I eventually grabbed it on eBay for a decent price and gave it a whirl. I played through the tutorial, started the actual game, trudged through the opening scenes and dialog, quit, and uninstalled.

Read on for a story of true redemption.

You guys started a thread in the forums about gaming nostalgia. It is a wonderful collection of those little moments that keep us at this hobby. I haven't posted in it yet, because I couldn't choose one to tell. My earliest gaming memories were probably from the Atari 2600. My first arcade game was Pac Man. I've got stories about both of them, but since it happened so long ago, I had a tough time remembering details. However there is still one gaming moment that is forever burned into my brain.

Okay, guys, I have something to admit. I don't know if I'm saying this in an attempt to receive some sort of support, or ridicule, or just to get this off my conscience. See, I don't play games anymore. I know that statement probably doesn't even compute for you. You're thinking, "What he means is he's probably down to only a couple of games of CounterStrike and, you know, like maybe two hours tops of Civ3 a night." But let me be very specific here. Apart from playing fifteen minutes of Population Tire (my high score is 341) yesterday, I haven't played anything. No GBA...no Cube...no PC...no stupid Java game on my phone.

I saw this over on Slashdot Games and am struggling for words (no, not really, read on). Apparently Phantasy Star Online users, not content with cohabitation and fighting bosses together, will now be able to marry each other in a specially designed lobby. The new lobby will be decorated as a wedding chapel complete with Wedding March theme music. Those lawfully wed will also receive a marriage certificate in their inventory. I wonder if you can collect these like ears in Diablo PvP?

I played some more PlanetSide last night, before they gave us the "fully optimized" patch that "fully crashed" every five minutes or so. Hey, it's a free beta right now, so it didn't even upset me. And I got to go to bed on time. I posted my impressions from my first day in the forums, but I've cleaned them up a little and I'm running them up the front page flagpole now.

By posting under the Sway Speaks banner, I sort of relieve myself of the responsibility of certain aspects of journalism such as professionalism and research. I find it's much easier to write stuff that way, so here's another. This time I more or less ramble on about something I received from Sega. I figure that's all the disclaimer you guys really need. By now you should know which link to click if you want to Read More (that was a hint for those of you who don't).

It's okay not to feel too much like playing videogames right now. There is some pretty serious activity in the real world that probably deserves our attention, anyhow. We find ourselves lingering over the news just a little longer before we hit the remote's Input button and switch the picture over to our console. CNN.com gets just as many refreshes as GamersWithJobs.com. And there's a pretty good chance that you might not even feel like playing a game at all! It's shocking I know, but I'm willing to take a stand here and say it's perfectly okay.