Moore/Shivah/Indie
I thought I was pushing it when I reviewed The Shivah in the Onion this week – not because it doesn’t deserve it, but because it came out last fall and I didn’t move on it then. Only after seeing Dave Gilbert’s panel at the GDC did I really get around to trying it out and pitching it. But I was also worried about covering a retro-looking indie game. I cover indie titles fairly often, either because they’re great (DEFCON, Eets), or because they’re not (Big Oil, Prison Tycoon 2). Personally, I like a mix between games everyone’s heard of and games that get no press, especially if the unknown games have a broader hook – whether it’s a mystery steeped in Jewish culture, or a pseudofascist game about privatized prisons.
But I didn’t know if anyone else liked it until today, when most of the commenters seemed to like reading about a nontraditional, budget-priced and ancient-looking game that also happened to be really good. That was a real boon. My instincts are often wrong about what’ll sell and what won’t. But I’m worried about next week – my review of Bus Driver is really going to push it …
Also new today: my interview with Ronald D. Moore is up. Props to the Onion reader who said, “Oh dude! You interviewed Eddie Rabbit!”
