Back when I wrote for the now-derelict Idle Thumbs, of which I was a founding editor several years back, I was pretty hooked in to all of the uber-hip things happening in video games underneath the mass market surface--indie games or lesser-known commercial games, designer interviews, game design trends, what's going on in the development world, and, more simply, wacky video game-related crap.

Anyway, I've had less of a focus on that since I've been at Shacknews, which mainly focuses on the "AAA" segment of part of the industry. Part of the aim of this blog is to get me back into that more offbeat mode.

To that end, we've set up a new email address: tips@shacknews.com. If you come across any interesting links, news stories, articles, quotes, downloadable or online games, cool PC or console demoes, noteworthy commercial games, or whatever else, pass them my way.

On the other hand, if you are a major publisher or fellow online publication and you wish to send us press releases or keep us updated with the stories you have posted, do not send them to this address. We already maintain an address for those purposes, news@shacknews.com, and sending to the tip line is more likely to get your address blocked than your stories posted. The tip line is not for mailing lists, it is for gamers or smaller or unsigned developers who want to specifically point out interesting content.

Thanks!