Burke's Joystick

If you wear glasses, you are well aware that there is no worse feeling in the world than when your glasses break.  Unfortunately that is what happened to me two weeks ago.  They just snapped in half for no apparent reason.   The eyeglass shop I go to was kind enough to give me a lender set while mine were in the repair shop, but as anyone who wears glasses also knows, even a near identical set of frames adds enough variation to your prescription that it still takes a bit of time before your eyes adjust.  Hence the reason why I haven't been writing much. But now I am good to go.  Phew! Fortunately, it doesn't appear that I have missed much in terms of gaming news, especially political gaming news.  I guess this is a sign that gaming is definitely cooling off for longer and longer periods of time in the wake of the pre-Christmas rush.  Makes you wonder about the long term health of the hobby.... One story that did recently catch my eye is th...

It would seem that my fantastic orgy with Treyarch's superlative Black Ops 2 has come to an end.  All things considered, it was a good run for me - and I will be returning sooner rather than later.  However, it was time to take a break and move on.  Interestingly, instead of switching to a different genre, as I am wont to do after burning out on a title, I continue to remain on a shooter kick.  When I saw an ad for the critically-acclaimed Borderland 2 , I recalled that I really loved the original, but never finished it (as is often the case with me; I eventually lose interest when some other shiny bauble is released).  But now I have returned in a quest to finally find the Vault so I can move on to the sequel.  After spending a few hours in it again, all I can say is:  "Man, I forgot just how great a game this is!"  I love its wonderful (and daring!) shaded-cell art direction (Gearbox will forever have my respect for being the first game de...