I have a total man-crush on Lord of the Rings Online. I wasn’t able to score a freebie copy—boy, all my industry juice evaporated overnight, sheesh—so I’m a paying customer just like all of you. (Or at least most of you.)

But man, I’m loving being a Hobbit and running around the Shire delivering mail. Seriously, I even have my “Friend of the Post” title, or whatever the hell it’s called. (It also gave me a pretty swank cape.)

I love that there’s more to do here than just “go kill 9 goats,” even if it’s pretty simplistic. (“Deliver mail while avoiding nosey Hobbits.”) And it’s gorgeous, and runs incredibly fast.

Turbine really hit one out of the park here, at least in its first X hours. I’m not sure how long it’ll hold up, but I paid for three months of play. If I’m satisfied with that, it’s worth it to me. (I’m not sure why people have expectations of playing forever in MMOs; just enjoy the thing and forget about it when you’re sick of it.)

Or to put it another way, my World of WarCraft press account ran out of time in March (and I couldn’t get Blizzard to extend it; see, no one wants to help the unemployed guy) and I don’t care. LOTRO is better than WoW… right now.

300 is one of the gayest movies ever made, not that there’s anything wrong with that. It’s about a bunch of sweaty, half-naked steroidal men fighting an enormous army led by a drag queen who sports all manner of body piercings and a giant codpiece.

It’s also a videogame, full of in-engine, 360-degree spins and pre-rendered backgrounds. Gamers may reflexively reach for their mouse, keyboard, or gamepad to reposition the camera for maximum viewing impact. It shares with games an obsession/fetishization with cool violence, cheesy macho posturing, and an adolescent view of sexuality. (Most women are useless unless they’re lesbians, in which case they’re awesome! The oracle has nipples that could cut glass!)

It’s a giant comic book… oh, wait, that’s intentional. Never mind, then. (more…)