So it's been a couple of weeks since the sharp increase in my games to work ratio (Halo 3), and now with the release of Orange Box, there are three new impending threats to further separate me from my productivity. For those of you not "in the know," Orange Box is Valve's continuation of the Half-Life 2 series, which includes Half-Life 2: Episode 2 (with HL2 and Episode 1 if I remember correctly), Portal, and Team Fortress 2. I've already written some kind words about TF2, which is one of my new favorite online games, and from watching all the videos of Portal, I think Orange Box is going to be an awesome purchase. But I'll save all the gushing comments for Valve's latest for another blog - I have a few things I want to talk about related to Game Maker and Reflect Games!

First, I wanted to announce that the second Reflect Games Game-In-A-Month contest is officially underway! I am sorry for announcing this here a week late, but there's still plenty of time for anyone interested to throw their hat into the ring. Game makers are challenged with creating a game in a month which follows a specific theme and control scheme. The games do not have to be finished to be entered, so there isn't a whole heck of a lot of pressure to actually finish... more so, you are encouraged to come up with a good idea, implement it in a fun way, and polish it. The competition is over on October 31, 2007, and there's $20 worth of goods at stake, so get to work!

Secondly, I've finally found the time to work on a little pet project of mine, which if it turns out alright, could be a nice, smallish game to add to the collection. I don't have a whole lot to say about it right now, since the project is still in it's very early stages, but it is a 3D game, and involves driving, and probably traffic. More on all this later though, and maybe a screen soon (if I can pull myself away from my gaming addiction for a few minutes). Of course, I've also got Falcon Squad getting cold on the back burner, as well as an unannounced, unnamed platform game, and a Tycoon-style game all bouncing around in various states... if only we had 36 hour days.

Anyway, that's all for now. I'll try to update a bit more frequently in the future, and if you have anything you'd like to see me write about, leave a comment or drop me PM at GMC or Reflect Games. Thanks for reading!