Notebook Dump: Excuse Time

Today’s Notebook Dump is different.

I usually use the Notebook Dump as a place to tell readers about facts I’ve picked up that don’t merit their own posts. Today, however, it’s more relevant to talk about why I don’t have as much to share this week.

A game reporter spends some weeks… distracted. This week was like that for me. I spent a chunk of Monday completing Assassin’s Creed II. I spent part of Tuesday sitting for a gaming-related interview for Spike TV (extending my streak of weeks during which I’ve worn make-up to two). On Thursday, I was indisposed for a couple of hours at one of those secret-for-now preview events for a game that comes out next year. All of this, in addition to spending a few hours chipping away at the Modern Warfare 2 campaign to keep pace with our Game Club, keeps a game reporter from doing that much, well, reporting.

That’s not ideal for me, mind you. For years, people have replied to my description of what I do for a living by asking me what it’s like to play games for work. They assume I play games from nine to five, but that’s something I’ve tried to avoid. It’s less easy to avoid that this time of year. Playing games spills into working hours. Working hours become added gaming time. Less reporting gets done. That’s yet another sign that the job of the reviewer and the job of the reporter aren’t made to overlap. Some would argue that they should not — or even that one person shouldn’t do both. Tell that to all the people who conflate games journalism with games reviewing.

Enough of this irregular Notebook Dump. By the way, that’s an image up top of a Mario t-shirt that I photographed at the Nintendo World store this past weekend. Say hello to his little friends.

Games I Got But Didn’t Write About (Yet?): NCAA Basketball 10 (Xbox 360, PS3), Assassin’s Creed Bloodlines (PSP), Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles (Wii)