Summer vacation is not a thing, it is a state of mind.

As I slowly come back to the intellectual life of videogame studies from my self-imposed mental vacation of beer drinking and late night carousing, I realize that I've been remiss in posting about really cool things like The Escapist.

This new online mag is a nobel experiment in journalism that aspires to raise the bar of game writing in the vein of Harpers or the New Yorker. At the very least, they aim to bring us something a little different.

Anyway, this might all seem a little self-serving, so I'll just admit it: This week my article about fantasy and real life as a mirror of the most excellent game Second Life ran in the article, "Architecture and Vice."

Check out the mag. It's online and it's free.