Hot On The Press

It's hard to believe another six months has passed since the last time I reviewed the top 10 hot topics on HeroPress.

(1) TELEVISION (up one place): However much I try to find other means to entertain me and stimulate my mind, everything usually comes back to 'television'.

(2) DVD (down one place): Of course, a mainstay of HeroPress is my obsessive need to pass comment on things I have watched and how better to do that than weekly DVD reviews?

(3) DOCTOR WHO (non-mover): No solid news about the Doctor Who RPG (see below) and no regular Who on the TV, but that hasn't dampened my enthusiasm for the show, with old episodes still coming out on DVD and the fan community heading towards fangasm meltdown as speculation builds over the departure of David Tennant at the end of this year and the arrival of Matt Smith.

(4) COMICS (up two places): I still haven't managed to slim my monthly pull-list down to a respectable level, but the movement of its emphasis from Marvel to DC has seen a rise in the qulaity of superhero yarns I'm following. I'd like to trim it further (for financial reasons), but there are just so many good stories being told at present that I'm finding it hard to contemplate dropping any more titles.

(5) FILM (non-mover): Solid, mid-table respectability for the medium that, more than any other, has shaped my geek life (don't forget at age 28 I gave everything up to go to university and study Scriptwriting For Film & Television). I might not get to see as many films at the cinema as I did when I was fully healthy, but that doesn't mean my enthusiasm is any less.

(6) RPG (down two): With my own, monthly, RPG campaign rumbling along nicely and my recent embracing of the whole "old school renaissance" movement, I think I have become more 'careful' about what I write about gaming as I know now that it will be seen by the readers of the RPG Bloggers Network and I have no great desire to come across as some sort of ill-informed, backwoods hick.

(7) REAL LIFE (up one place): I guess it's inevitable that 'real life' would continue its steady, methodical rise up this chart, despite my best efforts to remove myself from it completely. Must try harder to disassociate myself from reality!

(8) RACHEL (down one place): As I say every time I do one of these overviews, she's the centre of my world and without her I wouldn't be here to share my geekery. She may not be "in to" all the strange nerdy stuff I love, but that makes her support of my hobbies all the more impressive.

(9) STAR WARS (non-mover): The appearance of The Clone Wars on television has certainly helped keep this topic in the Top Ten.

(10) HORROR (non-mover): This reminds me that I haven't reviewed Supernatural Season Three on DVD yet (with Season Four already half-way through on TV) and must really find time to do that. My zombie project may have come to little more than a collection of lovely, painted miniatures and a single game to date, but that doesn't mean zombies won't be returning in whatever future gaming projects I cook up out of thin air.

And speaking of role-playing games, what's become of my Six Most Wanted for 2009?

Doctor Who: Easter came and went. Cubicle 7's site was down for a very long "spring clean" and returned on April 14 with a list of forthcoming product from which The Doctor Who RPG was conspicuous by its absence. Word is, behind the scenes, they are still beavering away on the game but while there is, now, no set date for release an announcement is due in the next week or so (presumably this is to do with contracts with the Beeb or somesuch legal jiggery-pokery).

Pulp Cthulhu: No more news.

Traveller - Judge Dredd: On the cards for a July release - with a £30 price tag.

Supernatural: Margret Weis Productions has seemingly vanished from the web, although it has a blank Wordpress blog and recently produced a supplement for its Serenity RPG and its Cortex rules book. Of Supernatural, the only clue is a publication date of December 31, 2009, listed at Amazon. com.

The Dresden Files: Work is progressing on this project, with Evil Hat offering almost total transparency on their development process though their very informative game blog.

Ghosts Of Albion: No further news.