Hello, my name is Justin McElroy, and I play a character called "Justin McElroy" on the popular Joystiq web site and podcast. I hope you'll indulge me for a second as I regale you with a story of my misspent youth. When I was growing up, I was always transfixed by FMV games. I begged and pleaded for a Sega CD, I've finished Dracula Unleashed more times than I care to admit ... hell, I own two copies of Wirehead. To this day, I don't understand the draw of these oft-clunky classics, but it's nothing I can escape or reason away. Before I'd reached my 15th birthday, I swore to friends, family, anyone who would listen that I would one day be the "world's greatest FMV gaming journalist."

You, with the privilege of a dozen years of insight on my younger self, know how this story ends. FMV games have, for reasons beyond me, fallen by the wayside. You now know that the deviant, cretinous masses would prefer to see digital puppets dance on a screen than real humans -- their brethren -- leading out real, interactive drama in front of real, low-quality cameras.

But today, if only for a moment, I have managed to wash the bitter flavor of unfulfilled dreams from my palate. For today, I have written a post about The 7th Guest on iPhone, and I'm following it up with this:

An HD version of Dragon's Lair is now on iPad. It costs five dollars.

That's two FMV posts ... in a row. Maybe a drop in the bucket to 15-year-old Justin, who dreamed of visiting the set of Sewer Shark 3 and sitting down to heartfelt, career-spanning interviews with Rusty Dillen. But today, for nearly 30-year-old Justin, it's enough.

God bless.