Let's do this, fools!  
 
--You know why I like the Starcraft 2 coverage last week, even if I never pick up that game?  It was fantastic to see some genuine enthusiasm and good spirits about a game around these parts again.  In a time when all I see (and feel) is cynicism, Brad's happiness over a game gone terrifically right is a breath of fresh air.  We should all be so lucky to have a game in the near future that gives us all that feeling.  Me, I'm hoping Fallout New Vegas is the ticket.  Man, do I love me some Fallout.   Seriously, Internet compadres, take a break from the cynicism and the hate for a while.  After about ten years of seeing the Internet become the home of callous douches, I don't want to see Giant Bomb turn into that place too. 
 
--No review will be forthcoming on Wolfenstein.  After the mission to save the resistance leader, my loaded games now won't let me fire a weapon.  Great.  I liked the game for its relatively fun (if slightly generic) campaign and excellent weapon upgrade system, but honestly, I'd never pay more than $20 for this game.  And don't even bother with multiplayer.  Yet another example of a game passed by others doing it bigger and better, which is too bad - some of these weapons and abilities could have been a blast in multiplayer. 
 
--Finished Sam and Max Season 2.  As a whole, I liked it a lot better than the first season.  I've started season 3, and I've got mixed feelings about it.  I don't like the new menus or the click-and-drag walking, but I like the variations in the environment and basic gameplay from the first two seasons. 
 
--I lost my slap bet to my brother on my Gamerscore bet, though I ultimately came within about 600 points of matching his.  I made up a hell of a lot of ground, thanks mostly to Lego Star Wars and Banjo and Kazooie.  I'll still overtake his score, perhaps in the coming month as I've borrowed a few games from him (including the afore-mentioned Wolfenstein).  I'm going to start Red Dead Redemption soon.  Hopefully I can play it without having to read the text or be able to see the map, though I'm a little doubtful.  After that is Left 4 Dead 2. 
 
And that's it.  What are all of you playing?  Up to anything fun in these crazy summer days?

I didn't buy StarCraft 2 either, but felt kind of happy for everyone. That's not to say I wouldn't try it, but I've got other games missed on my mind.

What I like is that Starcraft 2, despite its lack of innovations in places that would make me more likely to purchase it, managed to stick with core gameplay elements that others might think are passe.  As a person who thinks a lot of older generation games took interesting paths which were too quickly abandoned, I'm all in favor of slower innovation so all the ideas of a given system can be explored before moving on.
 
As for stuff I'm playing, I pretty much lay this all out in my latest blog entry. 

I'm off in Tacoma, WA right now so DS is all I've got with me.  Working on Sands of Destruction right now.  Pretty standard RPG so far, but not bad.  I wish I could do some Starcraft II, but I don't have the comp for it.