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SXSW, or South by South West for those unfamiliar, may be known by many in Texas as being an event about live music, has become a hotbed for creators and fans of all things interactive, innovative, creative, and entertaining. When this festival takes place in Austin, it takes over the city, as thousands come to experience the talks, see the newest offerings from creators of all types, network with like-minded individuals, enjoy the parties, and everything in between. The festival has been split in recent years into three major categories, music, film, and interactive. SXSW Interactive, in the past decade...

Art work and design have an interesting way of creating an initial dialog about a game. Often, one finds that the game is nowhere near what was expected, and sometimes it delivers something above and beyond. Recently, I had the opportunity to play Smash Up for the first time with my cousins, age 15 and 13, and Ravenshire manager Grant, age 40-something. I, at age 26, was the one to open to the box for this genre mash up game, and became the one to lead play by reading the rules. This would be a true stress test across very...

Over the past few weeks I have had the opportunity to play Boss Monster with several different groups of people. The game was first brought to my attention by a friend who became interested in the classic 8-bit art style of the box that is reminiscent of classic NES games. The cards displayed on the back, as well as inside the box, all bring to mind fond memories of these classic games as well as having many references to current geek culture. The point of the game is that you are a boss, similar to classic boss monsters of the...