Recent content by Sam Machkovech

Listening to this recorded phone call sickens me. I once worked in phone farms on a customer service basis and would've been delighted to get a call like yours, from someone who knew their situation well and was polite in spite of frustration. On the other hand, this guy doesn't communicate...

...you know I write for The Escapist, too, right? Hiya! Also, while I'm here, here's the addendum I posted at The Atlantic, which I hope clarifies a few points. Thanks for readin'. "I'm not typically in the business of writing corrections or follow-ups -- I already get my say in the...

Notorious R.O.B. Nowadays it's assumed that Mario has always been Nintendo's chief mascot. But for a brief period in the mid-'80s, that duty fell to an unlikely character: Nintendo's Robotic Operating Buddy. Sam Machkovech explains what went wrong with the ill-fated robot, and how his influence...

Thanks for your take on this. I'd have gone further/deeper with early games research if it didn't distract from the main, modern point of this article, and I still believe four-player games didn't get their mainstream push until Gauntlet. If you attend any retro gaming show these days, such as...

Split|Screen In the days of Steam, Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network, it's easy to lose sight of what multiplayer used to be: you and a few of your buddies laughing and trading insults from across the room. Sam Machkovech catalogs the rise and fall of local multiplayer gaming. Read Full...

@Tenmar: Thanks! My profile has links to other Escapist things I've written, among other links.

And, of course, this article wouldn't be complete without its entries on Reddit.

The Top Ten Reasons Top Ten Lists Reign The web may have reinvented the way we write about games, but one format continues to dominate the conversation: the top ten list. Sam Machkovech catalogues ten reasons of his own why lists are so popular - and why that may not be such a bad thing after...

Your hopes may come to pass with the DSi's online store. That store should allow you to save games to an SD card; for piracy's sake, those SD games would have a console-specific encryption key, just like on the Wii. Seems Nintendo has finally stopped fearing selling games that go directly to an...

The Slot-1 Secret Simple, cheap methods of piracy have made the Nintendo DS the most vulnerable portable console ever. There's a reason why Nintendo doesn't care. Read Full Article