Very few games have truly captured that same tactile feeling for me, that feeling of physicality that makes you wince when under fire, or turn up your speakers to really hear the tinkle of a shell casing hitting the floor.

I tend to look for things like this in games much more now than I do ultra high resolution specular gloss bump mapping!

Similarly, “graphics” is far too vague. I played ‘Call of Pripyat’ recently, and although the models and some of the landscapes were quite average, some of the use of specular and bump maps created some really great effects – watching the rain running down a brick wall was one of the prettiest things I’ve yet seen in a game.

There are also, which I think Tom is driving at, a bunch of things that no-one really seems to know how to describe or discuss – most notably to me the feel/kinesthetics/weight/solidity/presence of a game: how satisfying it feels, whether you feel like your character is gliding, whether the guns feel meaty or not, that sort of thing.

Then again, you are the professional reporter. So we shall see.

Also, setting deadlines is always good. As long as its reachable.

More amateur hour please… And perhaps some posts on classic, little-known games? (e.g. Oni?)

Lookin forward to some more philosophy, though.