Friday afternoon tidbits

Don't know what it's like where you are, but here in the Northeast we've been having January-like weather all week. The unexpected bonus: ski resorts are opening early.

-Downloaded the New Xbox Experience last night, as I'm sure you all have. Snap judgment: it seems just fine. The interface is a little smoother and easier to navigate than the old one. I don't think avatars were necessary, but other people seem to like them. Otherwise, the functionality seems the same, which is okay by me. What do you think about it?

-Brilliam has a request: Let's all stop saying "retro." Games like Braid and Ikaruga do interesting, new things, and it's dismissive to refer to them as throwbacks. As a fan of using words correctly, I'm intrigued by his argument.

-Duncan makes a point that I tend to agree with, that attempting to write completely neutral or objective game reviews is a fool's errand. I don't know if that's always the case. For all the grief I give the big outlets, their main goal probably should be to write product reviews bereft of interpretation. There's a place for that. But if you're writing a more subjective, incisive essay -- the kind of game review I'd like to see more of -- then it may not be necessary to include a token complaint just to show you're unbiased. It really depends who you're writing for, and what you're trying to tell them.

-I missed Kotaku's feature about Xbox Live trolls, so thanks to Julian for posting it in comments. It's pretty interesting stuff. I'm surprised no one has yet undertaken a full-blown study of Internet-based douchebaggery. Or, if they have, they should publicize the results better.

-Typealyzer is a site that looks at your blog and instantly psychoanalyzes you. Here's how it classified me, through the prism of Insult Swordfighting:

ISFP - The Artists

The gentle and compassionate type. They are especially attuned their inner values and what other people need. They are not friends of many words and tend to take the worries of the world on their shoulders. They tend to follow the path of least resistance and have to look out not to be taken advantage of.

They often prefer working quietly, behind the scene as a part of a team. They tend to value their friends and family above what they do for a living.

Is that accurate? Seems like it, but I don't know. It could also be so general as to apply to anybody.

By the way, that same site tells me that Iroquois Pliskin and Leigh Alexander both "enjoy adventure and risk such as in driving race cars or working as policemen and firefighters," Michael Abbott and Duncan Fyfe "come across as arrogant, impatient and insensitive to people that need some time to understand what they are talking about," and N'Gai Croal "might be very impulsive and more keen on starting something new than following it through."