First there was Insert Credit, which is still going, of course, and then the forums sheared off in a 'giant glacier falling into the sea' stylee and formed SelectButton, and now, it seems, Tim Rogers and some like-minded folkses have set up ActionButton.net.

The site, it appears, is "...a kind of web-log website thing about videogames. Our mission is basically to review videogames. Our reviews, between 800 and 1200 words in length each, can and will employ wordplay trickery and sometimes actual, absolute anger." Sounds fair enough to me.

Obviously, hanging out close to RogersSpace(TM) means that there will be disgruntled people trying to poke holes in this effort - to which I would say, check out Eric-Jon Waugh's Donkey Kong 3 review - "It’s been said that each of us only has one tune to play; all we ever do is change the way we play it. It’s also been said that Donkey Kong and Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto’s tune originates in his personal hobbies, filtered through a love of Japanese and Western fairy tales. The Legend of Zelda has its roots in the fields and caves behind Miyamoto’s childhood home. Pikmin comes from Miyamoto’s garden. And Donkey Kong 3 is based on the premise that it is fun to spray DDT up a gorilla’s asshole. While being attacked by bees."

Or, if you will, peruse Tim's review of Crackdown: "Jumping and bouncing and shooting. Oddly colored sky. Really weighty vehicle physics. Industrial, angry, mediocre soundtrack that, if little else, communicates the feeling of two or three pounds of cocaine sprinting through your futuristic bloodstream as you hurtle toward the next guy the boss says needs to stop living right now. The game’s got atmosphere, and it loves it."

Bottom line - this is great writing, even through the self-conscious metacommentary which tends to characterize Rogers and some of his compatriots. But that's what makes it readable, for me - context and a little lightness of tone. Imagine if video game reviews weren't something you had to read through in order to work out if you wanted to spend your money on a game? That'd be ActionButton, then - and only a very few other sites out there manage that.