So, you may have noticed my earlier plan to take my column biweekly didn't quite pan out. Was sad to learn that Suicide Girls is cutting content, including my column. Which bums me out - we were all just getting to know each other! In just a couple months I felt like I'd made a lot of friends and found some great conversations about gaming, morality, death, life, you name it. I'm going to be really sorry not to publish here anymore.

Truth be told, this might be good timing. I've put my main blog on hold for a while too, and I'm planning to take time off from my day job. An opportunity came up to go to Japan for the rest of the year, to teach English and hang out in arcades. I've never been on that side of Pacific, and I don't speak the language. I couldn't be more psyched.

Thanks again to all of you for welcoming me and swapping ideas here. Several of you have said you've been looking for smarter and wonkier game crit. Here's my tips:

GameSetWatch - A smart snapshot of what the industry's thinking. The columns and daily links are fantastic.
Critical Distance - One-stop shopping for the smartest game bloggers in the blogosphere
Offworld - A dozen or more updates of fun every day; great indie resource too
Rock Paper Shotgun - Smart + British. Good read.

Thanks again to you all for making me feel welcome and playing along.

Love always,

Rach

So some news about Hit Play. I've written a few columns here, and had a blast. You readers are awesome - both the gamers and non-gamers keep piping up with something to say, and it's a privilege to write for you all. So good news/bad news: I got picked up and I get to keep writing! And the bad news ain't that bad: I'm going to go biweekly, so the next one runs next week.

Meanwhile - what's everyone playing? I'm going through, believe it or not, my first runthrough of Final Fantasy VII, and I'm kind of digging it, even though I knew a pretty giant spoiler going in.

Like I was saying on Twitter earlier, this has been a strange day. I've had this eerie feeling, like people are watching me brush my teeth or something. I'm sure it'll pass.

But that's not why I blogged. I have a question: this week, I'm running a column on an indie game, Blueberry Garden. And I'm still feeling out the audience here, so I wasn't sure how to present it. SG attracts a very alt.culture/indie/underground following. But I've gotten the feeling that indie games and indie gaming doesn't have the same reach as say, indie music or indie films. Also, while music fans might skip the Top 40, gamers generally play the big games. My hip, in-the-know game blogger pals still took a spin through Far Cry 2 and Halo 3. We can always talk about inFAMOUS, but freeware shmups are kind of a niche.

But forget about my assumptions. I'm curious: do you guys check out indie games? Where do you go to read about them? What do you look for? What are your faves? What are your recommendations? And have you ever gotten burned, shocked, or alarmed?

Quick thank you to everyone who didn't make fun of me for not making it to E3 this year. (Or any year, actually.) I blew my travel budget on GDC - and I think I made the right choice - but now I don't get to see Harmonix's 10,000 square foot recreation of Abbey Road, or the now famous Microsoft presser, or catch any of the other buzz first-hand.

I'm just getting my reports second-hand via Twitter, where I follow about a hundred great and almost-great game journos. Personally, I'm most curious about Project Natal; most disturbed by Milo; most excited about Left4Dead 2; and once I get my mitts on it, I'll probably spend the most time on Beatles Rock Band.

Oh, and downloadable Final Fantasy VII gives me a reason to keep my PSP. But I laughed and laughed and laughed at the idea of blowing $250 for a PSP Go.

That's my two cents about an event I didn't go to. What else is everyone excited about?

So I asked my friend Annika for help solving a mystery my boypal Zach's been working on. We're sorting through some documents and clues to a case that he worked on last November. She enlisted her friends Lumi and Zoetica, and promised me she'd get right on it.

Well, turns out they got a little distracted. Peek here to see what happened. I don't know if we got any useful intel out of this, but it looks like they had plenty of fun. Still: any chance I can get some help now ... ? Those clues don't solve themselves, no matter what you do to encourage them!

So I'm new here, and I hate to ask for favors. But I have a problem that you folks could help me with.

About a month ago, I made a bet with my dad that by the end of May, we could track down a very particular coin-op - the first video game I ever played, when I was growing up in Sacramento. (You can read the whole story here.) This seemed like a pretty stupid bet at the time, but in the last few weeks and with a lot of help from friends and strangers, we've gotten really close to finding the same Mr. Do! I played in the late '80s. In fact, we're one step away from locating it.

Trouble is, while I found a game collector who can tell us where it is, he asked me to do something before he gives up the intel. Specifically, he needs me to round up as many scores on coin-op video games as I can find. So I'm asking all my friends and acquaintances to go out and play video games - real, out-in-public, pay-for-play video games, just like we had in the '80s. All the scores will be added up into one big sum, and we'll get clues at 100,000, 500,000, and 1 and 2 million points. And if we make it to 5 million points, my source will just hand us the answer.

So I'm asking anyone who reads this to do me a favor. This week, and this Memorial Day weekend, keep an eye out for a coin-op. Retro and classic is better, but I'll take anything. Pop in a quarter, play it, and write down your score. A camera phone pic would be ideal, but I'll trust you if you tell me the place, the game, and the score. In return, I'll be your friend forever, I'll print your name on my blog, and most of all, you'll help me track down this machine - and oh yeah, video games are actually fun! When's the last time one quarter meant this much to you?

Hey everyone - thanks for welcoming a noob to your site. I'm a longtime fan but first-time member. I'm an all-around pop culture nerd but my passion's games. I play them and write about them and stay up all night with them. My boytoy Zach is great too, but whatever about him - he's just glad I subscribed so he can sneak in for free.

Can't wait to start meeting you all and sharing some writing. Be kind and don't be shy!