There are a couple opportunities to PAX it up with our partner ReedPOP. Here are two jobs in Norwalk, Connecticut, which you should absolutely check out:

Gabe is playing an Xbox game at home, alone, and without compulsion - specifically, Forza Horizon 3. I don't know what caused this to happen, but it's happening and we have to deal with that. Specifically, I have to deal with that.

I never waver on whether a computer is the best place to play games; that's a given for me. Consoles will always be like a weird friend of Gabriel's I am forced to endure. Where I do occasionally wander, where my position does occasionally vibrate ever so slightly, is how much I like engaging in Satanic rituals as a prefix to my leisure activities.

I like to give Tycho a hard time about PC games but I actually spent some time this weekend playing on mine. I do not have a dedicated place to play PC games and I think that's part of the problem. I spent some time this weekend working on resolving this problem. For my birthday on Sunday I got a Razer Turret. It's a little wireless keyboard that is built into a lap desk. It also comes with a mouse to use along with it and both of them fit into a slick charging station when not in use. I hooked my laptop up to the TV and sat back with the keyboard and mouse on the couch. I played some Battlerite and a few other Steam games I've been meaning to try. I really enjoyed playing this way as opposed to sitting at a desk in front of a little screen. I was super impressed with the Turret as well. The keyboard feels great and the magnetic mouse pad is so smart. I know there's lots of solutions out there for playing PC games from the comfort of your couch but I played with the Turret a bunch this weekend and came away really impressed.

I'm working through Destiny's Rise of Iron campaign, as one does, shoveling savory collectibles directly into my craw. I saw Gabe in orbit last night and thought it might be nice to wrap things up with another human; what wasn't immediately clear at the time was that he was upstairs watching Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping and not actually there. Our ships wobbled in intimate proximity for a long while; no words were said. I feel like there's a metaphor here. Or maybe a literal?

I had played Paladins at an earlier point in its development, a couple months ago I believe, and while Overwatch was definitely front of mind as a character shooter for some reason I pulled something else out of it - like a mad sommelier warbling about "catcher's mitts" and "seafoam," I was catching hints of WoW Battlegrounds, Tribes, and peppercorn. Because of my sophisticated palate, you see. Grob Grob has another position, the position of people generally, which is that Paladins is Overwatch not with the serial numbers filed off, but with the serial numbers worn at a jaunty angle like a hat.

I don't know about you all, but my family had a blast playing Rise of Iron last night. I had to make Kara promise not to do anymore story missions until I get home from work. My son Gabe was worried and asked if his Mom and I planned on doing quests after he went to bed. It was clear he thought this would be unfair. I smiled, messed up his hair and said "of course we are son."

I feel like there has to be a voice for that position; mine will suffice for now, even if it is a fragmentary enunciation of my coordinate. Sorry; if I haven't written all weekend, my initial paragraphs come out like this. It's like a clearing of the throat.

Gabz was talking to his dadz the other day, and it goes like this a lot. At root, his father was party to the manufacture of a creature whose most ordinary mode of operation is completely alien to a person like himself, one who excelled in the doing of useful things.

It was important to us that we get a print and play out so that folks could check out the game. I was nervous about this because while I felt like the mechanics were solid, the art still had a long way to go. I’m glad that people have been downloading the print and play and enjoying the game but it’s also important to me that you all get an idea of what I intend for the final game to actually look like. Thornwatch is designed to feel like you’re playing through a graphic novel and so obviously the artwork is going to be a huge part of the experience. With that in mind I wanted to show you some behind the scenes stuff as I work on the storyboards.

I think they might have seen Tycho Tries over at Ubisoft, because they came through and asked us if we wanted to do something similar on a sponsored stream featuring For Honor - we'd done it once before, and I thought it was pretty fun, because I love talking. Essentially, did we want to talk to the developers, get questions answered, check out the factions, that kind of thing? Yes. I would have done this anyway, but I'm happy to do this type of stuff as long as everybody knows it's "sponsored" in capital letters.

I don't have any space in my life for Titanfall CCG, but that doesn't mean I won't get it and play it. It just means that something else will have to go, something useless that I can probably get by without.

I thought I'd be able to make a psychic meal out of some maritial strife over at Gabe's house, but the whole thing was distressingly ordinary and I derived zero nutrition. I unfurled my proboscis for nothing.

During one of our Q&A’s at this most recent PAX, we talked about how Tycho has never read any of the books I have recommended to him. We’ve been friends for 22 years now and in that time I have read countless books he has suggested, but not once has he cracked the cover on one of my recommendations. During that Q&A he told me to pick a book and he would remedy this situation. I have a book in mind but I don’t think just reading it is enough. I also think he should have to do a book report on it.

As happens so often at a PAX, a game gets lodged in Gabriel's mind like a seed in a pavement crack and then all hell breaks loose.

I did not win my Gears of War 4 match, even though I should have, and the stars were right and there was a grand conjunction etcetera. So now I'm on the prowl for a game that leverages the substantial delta in our relative physical strength. And while I might not have won in the traditional sense, I did win in another sense and maybe that's the most important thing.