Soo … for some unknowable reason, I’ve been invited to participate in a chat over at XFire. You know, the gaming service with the stats Raph likes? :)

They hold semi-regular debates about topics of interest to the gaming community at large, and on June 7th at 4pm CDT I’ll be on a panel talking about one of the biggies: The Console Wars. It’s going to be moderated by Dan Hsu from EGM, and the other folks on the panel include Chris Grant from Joystiq, Peter Rojas from Engadget, Brandon Sheffield from Gamasutra/Game Developer, and Niels Keurentjes from Xboxic.

A few things:

• I’ll admit it; this makes me a bit nervous. I’ve met everyone but Niels, and they’re all wicked, wicked smart. At least it’s not televised or anything, so I can’t ‘um’ and ’so’ my way through things. When I’m public speaking in a formal setting I’m actually really good. Not so much with this format. I just worry I’m going to misspell something unintentionally hilarious.
• About the picture. I have precisely 0 good pictures of me. I don’t have such a bad self-image that I think I really look like trash; I’ve just very rarely had a picture taken of me that didn’t look awful. So, my Taru-Taru Black Mage avatar stood in for me on the page. Cowardly? Yes. Appreciated? Yes. I think he looks rather dashing, actually.
• If you’re interested in a preview, my outlook is pretty much just like it says there on the site. I’ve got a Wii and a 360, and if didn’t have to sell my plasma or something I’d own a PS3 as well. They’ve all got games I either like already or am looking forward to. I need to think of something controversial to say; otherwise I fear I’m going to be the ‘boring guy’.

There’s going to be an ‘open chat room’ to debate around what we’re saying on the main floor, if you’re intersted in this sort of thing. Come on out and be a MMOG Nation supporter, eh? I think the other guys are likely to come with bigger posses. :D

… totally unrelated to this: The Wordpress 2.2 upgrade has made this thing’s backend absolutely lovely! Nice job, guys.