Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a sports nut (but in no way associated with nuts called Buckeyes). For me, it really doesn’t get any better than March Madness. The buzzer beaters. The upsets. The Cinderella teams. It’s AWESOME, baby!!! Awesome except for the fact that my alma mater hasn’t made the Big Dance in the past decade. You can see just how bad things have gotten by looking at the score of their final game played today.

The good news for me is that misery loves company. My fellow Bethesda Blog pals, Pete and Ashley, won’t have much to cheer for either. Pete’s Demon Deacons showed promise at times this year while battling adversity, but ultimately, they were outmatched in a very competitive conference. As for Ash, his alma mater, the Unversity of Maryland, has definitely seen better days. Their loss yesterday in the ACC Tournament pretty much sealed a trip to the NIT.

I suppose we can still hope for exciting games to watch in this year’s tournament. And if the games get boring, there’s always plenty of videogames to play.

Here’s what we’ll be playing this weekend. Let us know what you’re playing, and if you’re into college hoops, tell us who you’re rooting for.

Angela Browder, Associate Producer: Lost Odyssey, Professor Layton and the Curious Village, Transformers: The Game

Sam Bernstein, QA Tester: Carcassonne, Catan, Eternal Sonata, and Fallout 3

Orin Tresnjak, Graphics Programmer: Pata pata pata pon. Pon pon pata pon!

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For those Wii owners out there, you’re probably well aware that on Saturday night at midnight, the much anticipated Super Smash Bros. Brawl goes on sale at thousands of stores across the country. Like others at the office (I’m looking at you, Mike Dulany), I’m definitely looking for forward to picking it up as soon as possible. Not sure that I’ll brave the midnight crowds though, especially since I’m already going to lose an hour of sleep because of daylight savings.

Whether you’re playing Brawl or something else, feel free to share what you’re playing this weekend as well.

Mike Lattanzia, QA: Hellgate: London (always!), Patapon, Rock Band (spending way too much money on DLC), and Super Smash Brothers Brawl finally!

Mike Dulany, Programmer: Smash Brothers Brawl

Jabarie “Pokemon Trainer” Brown, Quality Assurance: Rock Band (I challenge you to a rock off!), World of Warcraft (I wish I could quite you…no, seriously I do.), Halo 3, and SUPER SMASH BROS. BRAWL (this is going to be amazing)!!!!!!

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So this week we’re back to talking about games, and I’m starting to wonder if guys at the office actually spend more time watching stuff, listening to music, and reading books — you’ll see the response level is about half of what I got last week. Could be that everyone’s busy, or maybe they’re just playing the same things they were last time?? I’m guessing it’s the latter, and that when I turn on my 360 or PS3 over the weekend, I’ll see guys from the office playing plenty of stuff

At any rate, here’s what some of the office is playing. We’ll kick it off with Jeff Gardiner, since he whined that he never gets to be “on the front page.” Congrats Jeff…you made it!

Jeff Gardiner, Producer: Sins of a Solar Empire

Chris Esko, System Programmer: TF2, Mass Effect, Descent the board game.

Pete Hines: Just finished Professor Layton. Playing Brain Age, Tiger Woods 08, Picross, Zelda

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Sometimes I get the impression from parents, politicians, and Fox News that if you’re playing videogames, you’re not reading. So when I decided we should do a “What we’re reading” post this week, I was pleased to see so many responses. It’s worth noting that a handful of folks relate reading to videogames in their answers — but I suppose that’s fair game. On that note, I hear there’s tons of optional reading in Lost Odyssey. After getting an email from Gavin, I’m think it’s one game I need to read up on:

“The plot (at least so far) revolves around one character trying to build this giant station called. ‘Grand Staff.’ So you get lots of lines like ‘I must complete work on Grand Staff!’ or ‘Grand Staff will make our magic stronger!’”

I couldn’t agree more. On that note, let us know what you’re reading. Have a great weekend!

Erin Losi: Gluten Free Girl, A Thousand Splendid Suns, Grazia (my new favorite British gossip mag)

Steve Meister: Just finished The Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss, which was extremely good. I also recently finished Scarlet, by Stephen Lawhead, the second in his re-imagining of the Robin Hood legend, which was also very good. I am now reading The Wanderer’s Tale, book one in the Annals of Lindormin by David Bilsborough, and I’ve got to tell you, this is one of the worst books I’ve read in a long time. It really has no redeeming qualities. Avoid it.

Brendan Anthony, Programmer: Thomas Paine’s Age of Reason, The Pillars of the Earth, Michio Kaku’s Visions.

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