I’ve been playing Bioshock 2 and in almost every way it’s an improvement on the original.

The new weapons are fun and interesting.  Very rarely have I played a game where you get to take a huge f-ing drill and rip a man’s stomach out with it, and this game definitely delivered on it!  Even if you don’t want to get that close to someone, the game lets you pin them to the wall with a FLAMING ROCKET SPEAR or lets you fire ELECTRIC SHOTGUN SHELLS into a Spider Splicer.  It was very satisfying to do so.

My only complaint was the lack of an actual terrifying element to the game once you get past the first few levels.  The Thug Splicers, who are called so because they try to beat you to death with random blunt instruments, would be absolutely creepy because if you were focused on something in the game and not looking around they would try to sneak up on you.  There were several times when I turned around to see one with a wrench trying to get the drop on me.  These disappear halfway through the game and are replaced with an endless series of Leadhead Splicers, who while are fun to defeat they lack any sort of fear.

The protagonist of the game, an old style “Big Daddy” protector named Delta, is interesting.  For those that played the first game, the transformation into a Big Daddy is something terrifying to behold.  Here we have one of the first Big Daddy’s and as you struggle to get your daughter back you are forced to deal with murderous Splicers, the vindictive Sofia Lamb and her Rapture Family, and numerous mini bosses who want to crush you.

Penny Arcade was spot on with how some of the propaganda in the game did get on my nerves:
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2010/2/12/

In case you missed it, Chuck Wendig wants you to focus on your writing.  Check it out!
http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2010/02/15/you-cant-write-everything-all-at-once-so-please-stop-trying/

Jess Hartley will be working on a new fiction project for Mind Storm Labs called the Adventures of Little Yoshida!
http://www.alphaomegathegame.com/index.php/permalink/the_adventures_of_little_yoshida/

The Conqueror’s Shadow by Ari Marmell  has been released and is getting some good reviews!  I haven’t had a chance to read it but if the reviews are right, it can cure baldness, improve vitality, and is a certified cure for whooping cough!