New Review: Tiger 12

OK, I’m going to say those words we all dread to hear on a blog: I’m going to make an effort to post here more.

I know, I know.

But I mean it this time! Really! Here’s an example: I’ve written a review for Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters for my friends over at GamePro. You can find it here.

It’s funny, I reviewed my first Tiger game for OPM something like 10 years ago, simply because we didn’t have anyone else on staff who could be persuaded to do it, and we didn’t have a freelance budget at that time. I was never really a big fan of golf or golf games, but something about it hooked me in a serious way. So I reviewed the next year’s version. And then the next. And the next.

Now I’m kind of the go-to guy for Tiger reviews. All because of basically random chance.

Merry Christmas

ChristmasHey, did you get an iPhone or iPod Touch for Christmas (or your winter gift-giving holiday of choice)? If so, you might be interested in this writeup I did for Mac|Life: 10 Things to Do With Your New iPhone or iPod touch.

And while I have your attention, I might as well point you once again to my Wigilia story, which I still haven’t been able to top. Enjoy — happy holidays — and I hope the coming year brings you everything you desire.

How-To: Secrets of Professional Podcasting

Boy, I am way behind on this one. Nearly a year ago now, I wrote up a how-to piece for Mac|Life with four easy steps to dramatically improve the quality of a podcast. And I kept forgetting to link to it here.

But then I remembered.

So here it is.

Now It Can Be Told

guitarsmall-540I’ve been hinting at a big project for months now, and it’s finally done. Well, by “done” I guess I mean “begun” — I’ve just launched a new website: Plastic Axe.

See, I love music games. I mean, I really love them. This is in part because I love music in an embarrassingly wide variety of genres, and in part because I’m a musician myself (I sing and play bass, guitar, and drums, in case you didn’t know). So these games sort of hit me right in the sweet spot.

Anyway, I’ve been spending the last few months putting this site together. This is a solo project; I’m doing all the writing, design, coding, PR, administration… Suddenly I’m very tired. Where was I? Oh yes: This site is all me. But I’m also hoping it’ll be useful to other fans of music games, who can keep up with the latest news and releases, and find lots of new music in The Vault.

So there it is, my Big Secret Project: Plastic Axe — Music games for music fans. Go have yourself a look around, and let me know what you think in the comments (over there rather than here, please).

New How-To: Bring GarageBand Tunes to Life

Nope, I’m not ready to talk about my big news yet. At the moment I’m aiming for August 24 as the big reveal, but it could be sooner. It could be later. HEY LOOK, LIFE IS UNPREDICTABLE, OK?

Ahem, sorry. Anyway, the reason I called you here today is to let you know that Mac|Life has posted a how-to I put together many months ago, which aims to provide tips for home recording with GarageBand. You Mac owners may enjoy it — and for anyone on Windows machines, I tried to make these tips as general as possible, so many of them can be applied to any recording situation.

So I hope you enjoy them.