My benefactors want Lady Boyle eliminated. Her crime? She is an ally to the corrupt Lord Regent. I was not told how to carry out the deed, just make sure she was out of the way. Tonight posed the best opportunity, as the Boyle family was having a costume party, allowing me to easily fit in with this mask I wear. Convenient. The problem, however, is there are three Lady Boyles, a mother and her two daughters. I must decide how to get into the estate, find out who my target is, and eliminate her. All in a night's work.

Such was the quandary posed by the new Dishonored mission I played at QuakeCon 2012. I had to get into the Boyle estate, mingle with the guests and not only find out the correct identity of my target, but also the costume she was wearing. The good news is that I was given pretty much unlimited time to play through the mission, allowing me to try numerous tactics. When I was finally done, I had played through the mission three times, and each playthrough was completely different. And in talking to others who gave it a try, I found that their tactics were even different from mine.

Read more: Randomness and level of choice »

I really wasn't sure what to expect when I entered John Carmack's virtual reality demo suite this weekend at QuakeCon. I had missed his VR presentation at E3, so in my head, the only experience I could pull from was in my teenage days, strapping on a huge heavy headset and shooting at wire-frame monsters and vehicles.

I had heard Carmack's keynote where he talked about his attempts with VR and I had watched Palmer Luckey's Oculus Rift Kickstarter blow through its goal. But, neither prepared me for what I saw on the table next to the computer running Doom 3 BFG. Held together with hot glue and duct tape was a device with numerous thick wires running from it, reminding me of high school science project. It was indeed a lot smaller, and it was a Carmack science project, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't skeptical about what I was about to see.

Read more: VR tech in Doom 4? Quite likely »