I... can't stop... playing Professor Layton...

I've always loved brain teasers, and I would describe this game as a collection of puzzles with some kind of murder plot mixed in. The music and animation style is gorgeous - think a mix of Miyazaki and Triplets of Belleville. There's even a character who looks exactly like the old club-footed woman! Ahh, I have really enjoyed playing this game. I even like the sound effects! The save jingle, the selection chimes, even the text scroll sound is soothing. I really hope video games eventually get rid of the annoying gibberish text scroll noise like in Animal Crossing. It was endearing when old RPG text scroll used to sound like squeaks and computer input noises, but I think we've evolved past that.

Speaking of games with great animation, American McGee, the person who made the awesome computer game Alice back in the day, is back with more demented children's stories! I've been following the Flickr album for American McGee's Grimm for a while now, and it'll be exciting to see it all come together. Here's a commercial for the upcoming game, which will be released on GameTap.

So the Game Developer's Conference just ended, and a fresh batch of games were debuted at the Independent Games Festival. Destructoid mentions an indie game called P.B. Winterbottom that is incredibly unique: "the player is simultaneously hero, villain, platform, and tool."

I think I kind of grasp the concept. There are obstacles in the game that are impossible to accomplish without the help of others, but seeing as you're the only character, you can record previous attempts and layer it with your new attempt, and thus creating a time paradox - it's craaaaazy! I'm excited for this game, but I have no idea if, when, or how it's going to be released.

So the 2D-3D game tactic is all the rage now. First there was Crush, then Super Paper Mario, and now there's Fez:

I'm thinking that they pretty much nailed it with switching dimensions. This was also debuted at the IGF, and I think it won the award for Excellence in Visual Art. And rightly so. Man, I am really loving where video games are headed. Forget all the realism crap; illustration FTW! Also, I am really digging the music in that trailer! I hope it's in the game ^_^