Video Games and Pumpkins: Together at Last!

Happy Halloween! Here's pumpkins from some people who nerdliness makes me look like George Clooney:

Mario, Mega Man, Portal, the Red Ring of Death and more

Bowser, Castle Crashers, Final Fantasy's black mage and even more/

Obama vs. Palin: The Game

Mercenaries 2 just released some new DLC, and it seems that even gaming isn't safe from election fever. For a small sum, you can make Sarah Palin and Barack Obama playable characters in Mercenaries 2. It's a little late in the game to introduce this, but you gotta admit that the idea of shooting a terrorist with a bazooka point blank as the future leader of the free world is pretty damn tits. I best be hitting the sack, so here's a link to Kotaku since I can't get G4's vid to embed: http://kotaku.com/index.php?refId=5071531&prevPage=true

ALF Fuckin' Rocks

There is nothing else to say.

The Beatles: The Game: The Horror

It all started with The Wall Street Journal reporting the MTV and Harmonix have struck a deal with Apple Corps (the company that handles Beatles IP, not the people who make iPhones, dumass) to include Beatles songs in a future edition of Rock Band. It then turned that MTV, Harmonix and Apple Corps are actually developing a stand alone Beatles game outside of the franchise. WOW. Considering that Beatles tracks aren't even available on iTunes, this is a big, big coup for the gaming industry. Suck it, Steve Jobs!

Here's Kotaku's post:
http://kotaku.com/5070885/mtv-and-apple-corps-join-forces-for-beatles-music-game
And here's the WSJ story:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122531701276881747.html

I love the Beatles, and I love video games. So it stands to reason that I should love this too, but I just get a bad feeling from this. Kinda like when I heard that The Who were going to jump on the Guitar Hero/Rock Band bandwagon. With half of both these bands dead, it just kind of seems like they're digging up the dearly departeds' corpses and giving them all a good humping. To quote John Lennon: "Imagine all the people...raping my rotting corpse."

Big Daddies, Samus and more - Awesome Game Costumes for H-ween

That's right, H-ween. I'm a busy man. Check out the video below first for an awesome father-daughter Bioshock costume, and then hit this link for some more inspiring masterpieces.

Louie Armstrong Sings 'Super Mario World'

Big thanks to fellow JibJabber Dan Milano for this one. If you're tracking Ghostbusters III, Dan's got just the blog for you.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Happy Fallout 3 day!!!

I just picked mine up just before work now I just have to wait 9 hours. Expect a post around 2AM eastern after I've gotten some play time in.

ANDY UPDATE:
I've just received mine at the JibJab offices and am considering faking AIDS so I can go home and play right now. But I've got more class than that - I'll just wait until shortly after 7 to race home, boot my girlfriend off the TV, hook up the 360 and just wail on irradiated zombies for hours on end. In the meantime, here's some tasty Fallout 3 links.

Fallout 3 Collector's Edition (Kotaku): http://kotaku.com/5069898/check-out-my-sweet-pip+boy-watch

Fallout 3 Reviews:
IGN: 9.3
1up.com: A
Sweedish PC Gamer mag: 81%
PC Jeux Magazine (French): 93%
Gametrailers.com: 9.4
Wired: No score, but seems like an 8 out of 10.
GameSpot: 9.0
AVERAGE: 89.5

I refuse to count that 10/10 OXM review. The smell of dirty money's all over that thing. Fallout 3's not gonna win game of the year, but shit - it's good enough for me to feel excited for tonight. Strangely, GameSpot's not featuring their review...maybe because it's plastered with Fallout 3 ads right now? Review to come!

Bejeweled is Gay, But This is Cool

I think that game Bejeweled, which is on work computers everywhere, is game (gay AND lame) but this is an interesting article. If you're at all interested in game design, this is important information. After all, if you really want to understand the combustion engine, then you need to understand fire. Plus, the picture with the article was cool. And ya, a little gay.

http://www.wired.com/gaming/gamingreviews/magazine/16-11/pl_games

Norm Mcdonald mocks roasts

The recent Bob Saget roast on Comedy Central was typical for the event. Everybody tried to be as crude and 'edgy' as cable would allow. But then Norm McDonald took the stage and made a mockery of the whole thing. This is hilarious, no matter what your frat brother tells you.  

Gameplayboy

If it wasn't official already, it is now: gaming is main-fuckin'-stream. Grace Kim, a former Activision employee and certified boner goddess, is going to be none other than (drumroll please) . . . Miss November. Now, I haven't bought a playboy for YEARS, but I just may buy this one. Eh, who am I kidding? No I won't. That magazine's an f'in rip off anyway and with so much porn on the web...I can't believe anyone buys it anyway.

Here's her page on Playboy's site: http://www.playboy.com/playmates/galleries/playmate-of-the-month/grace-kim/grace-kim-gallery-3.html

Here's Kotaku's post: http://kotaku.com/5067776/activisons-ex-is-now-playboys-miss-november-and-she-prefers-rock-band

COD: World At War Gets Zombies

It seems that the world of gaming is experiencing quite an outbreak these days. First WoW's new expansion is overrun, then GTA 4 gets brain fever, Saints Row 2 has a hidden zombie mini-game, and now COD 5 has officially succumbed to the plague. Here's the deets, taken directly from Kotaku, because it's Saturday, Ann's parents are in town, and I have clean the damn house:

"It's a four-player co-op mode pitting you against endless waves of Nazi undead. Man, that sounds cool just saying it. The mode features its own economy economy in which things like buying weapons as well as making barricades and moving obstacles cost money. Yes, flamethrowers are involved."

I have to admit that the whole economy part might have sold me on it. Here's Kotaku's original post on the subject:
http://kotaku.com/5068751/because-zombies-%252B-anything--more-awesomer

Chrono Trigger on the DS!

If you're an avid game player than you probably have already heard about this. Chrono Trigger is making its way to nintendo's hand held system! That means sweet 3D graphics and kick-ass stylus game play right?! .... Right? Nope. Too bad this one is just a straight up port. It kind of pisses me off that Square Enix would put all there efforts into making average FF games all new and cool and not do the same for one of the best games they've ever come out with. Hey I'm a huge fan of the game, don't get me wrong, and I understand not messing with the something that's awesome but it's been a good 12 years or so. I've played the game so many times, I don't need to play the same thing again. I'd rather shell out $30-$40 if they had at least attempted to change it around a little more. Well the guys at IGN got their hands on in and here's what they have to say:

http://ds.ign.com/articles/923/923277p1.html

Epic Games Going Hollywood?

Variety reports that Epic Games may be gobbled up by Legendary pictures. In case you don't know whoLegendary s, they're one of the companies behind the Dark Knight so, you know, they've got some catch right about now. Dude Huge is gonna be able to buy all of North Carolina. Here's Kotaku post on the original article. How many degrees of laziness is that? Jeez.

http://kotaku.com/5068101/epic-games-to-be-bought-by-movie-studio

Grand Theft Auto of the Dead

Zombies in GTA 4? I have to admit that this probably the coolest DLC I've seen yet.

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/10/23/rumor-gta-iv-dlc-brings-quarantine-zombies/

Looks like Grand Theft Auto 4 owners may get a chance to put eratic driving and spontaneous acts of homicide to work for the Lord. Now if they can just release a patch that lets you kill Michele. And then wait until a zombie epidemic - and then kill her again.

Wanna Start a Diablo 3 Fansite?

Sure ya do. C'mon, man - do Blizzard a favor and help them canvas the internet with Diablo 3 news/advertising/newsvertising. Just take the materials you find at the link below and whip something up - you know you want to.

http://www.blizzard.com/diablo3/media/index.xml#fansitekit

Snark aside, this is a pretty great idea. I'm sure it's been done before, but this is the first time I've seen it in the world of gaming. Very clever, Blizzard. VERY clever.

Facepalm!

Here's a little diddy Dan Milano, my cohort here at JibJab, wrote about the current financial crisis - I provide guitar and madness.

Sorry PS3 Owners, Pt.2 - Fallout 3

So...apparently Fallout 3 looks pretty inferior to it's 360 and PC counterparts. Bummer - glad I waited to buy it though. Now I can go ahead and buy the 360 version. To put it in terms we all can understand, the 360 version is Alec Baldwin, while the PS3 version is Danny Baldwin - same-same but different. Click here for Koatku's article on the subject.

Sorry PS3 owners

Came across this article on IGN.com. MGS 4 on 360? Oh my! 

It's a little speculative but I'm sure it boils your blood if you're a PS3 owner. Right bro?

Lost Season 5 Trailer!

Couldn't find the embed code, so click below to bust on through:

http://spoilerslost.blogspot.com/2008/10/first-real-promo-for-season-5.html

Nostalgia Supreme!

With all the mention of Megaman and Castlevania SOTN and other classics on this blog I became a little nostalgic for the games of the past. If you ask me, game play has definitely gotten better but what's really suffered with the next generation of gaming is the music. Orchestrated music composed by Danny Elfmen? I don't want to say that games like Fable over played the value of music, but I think they missed the point. So here's a link to a site that explains exactly what I mean: 

www.vgmusic.com. 

It's filled with classic video game music that you're guaranteed  to spend hours upon hours sorting through. The best thing about it is that it's pretty much all old midi sounds that duplicate the old vg music you're used to hearing. God bless Nintendo for keeping the midi game strong. So here are 5 songs that will rock your socks: classic, midi, retro style. 

They are:

1. Super Mario RPG- Marrymore

2. Earthbound- Drug Store

3. Zelda: Wind Waker- Below Deck (pirate ship)

4. Castlevania: SOTN- Marble Gallery

And (of course)

5. Final Fantasy- Battle

Bioshock 2: Bioshockier Trailer - HI RES

So I gave y'all the Bioshock 2 teaser in crappy handcam during this weekend, but IGN's gone and posted a high res version. (Shakes fist) IGN!!!! Enjoy, and let the speculation begin!

`

And here's the other links I posted on Saturday:

Trailer speculation: http://www.gamesradar.com/f/what-secrets-does-the-bioshock-2-trailer-hold/a-20081016133817404072

Bioshock 2 is both sequel AND prequel: http://www.gamercenteronline.net/2008/10/17/bioshock-2-is-both-sequel-and-prequel/

Totally unnofficial but completely awesome Bioshock 2 art from artist Ben Mauro: http://benmauro.blogspot.com/2008/02/mid-term-update.html

And, since the sequel is rumored to tie in with the film adaption Gore Verbinski is readying, here's an article on that: http://www.joystiq.com/2008/05/08/bioshock-movie-in-development-gore-verbinski-directing/

Dead Space and the Mechanics of Fear

Dead Space is supposed to be the scariest thing since Steve Balmer, and apparently for good reason. Popular Mechanic's got a great story on their site about some of the particular design and gameplay decisions that EA Redwood Shores made in the interest of spookifying this thing to the max:

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/reviews/4288269.html?page=5

Star Wars MMORPG!!!!

Here's the link: http://www.swtor.com/ Haven't gotten to check out the site much yet, but take a gander - woo hoo!

Samuel L. Jackson Confirmed for Iron Man 2

Apparently he'll have a bigger role in it. Here's AintItCool's post on it: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/38802

But the real reason I made this post is to show the video below. It's from the mid/late 90s TV movie adaptation of Nick Fury, starring none other than David Hasselhoff! David Hasselhoff in an eye patch is even better than you're imagining:

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and Other Greats

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is one of my favorite games of all time (I'm playing it for the third time now, in fact). Racket Boy's done an interesting post on the subject of PS1 games that defined the history of Playstation and guess what? Castlevania: SotN made the list. It's an interesting retrospective, fo sho. A little too heavy on RPGs, if you ask me, which you didn't. Oh, and they only gave "honorable mention" to the GTA series. Questionable. Check it out here:

http://www.racketboy.com/retro/2008/10/games-that-defined-the-history-of-the-playstation-ps1.html

More Mega Man 9 DLC - Fake Man

Mega Man fans must be very happy lately, what with the release of Mega Man 9 and all the sweet DLC they've been throwing their way lately.  

DLC like this guy: Fake Man.  "But wait," you're thinking "That's obviously a cop, Andy.  Shouldn't he be called Cop Man, or Police Man, or Localized Law Enforcement Individual Man?"  Ya, I guess, but that would have Mega Man shooting up the Po-po, which is a serious no-no here in the states.  Mega Man as a cop killer?  Sounds like an assload of litigation for Capcom.  Now I understand why they rejected my ideas: Junkie Man, Pimp Man and Stereotypical Italian Gangster Man.  See a bunch of Mega Man robots over the course of original 7 games HERE. 

Fake man's only available on Time Attack mode and Time Attack mode's only available if you no job, and no desire to play the other dozens of great games that came out this year. Capcom's also releasing two harder difficulties, in case you like to torture yourself.  They release today, tomorrow and wednesday, for the Wii, 360 and PS3, respectively.  More updates on Mega Man 9 DLC as they happen. 

Thanks to Kotaku for posting this news.

50 Cent and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

I read about this game in EGM a few months ago, and could hardly believe it was being made. Here's the scenario:

"50 and his buddies fly to some vague Middle Eastern country to play a benefit concert, get stiffed for their payment (a diamond-encrusted skull, no less), and end up embroiled in a massive firefight with several warring factions over the aforementioned bling."

HA! I'll finish the rest of the story for you: 50 kills a bunch of Arabs, personally firebombs the cave of Osama bin Laden, takes a dump on the Koran and releases a new line of sneakers. This makes me wonder why we ever sent troops into Iraq in the first place when we could have just told 50 that Saddam owed him 20 large.

The game fell off the map for awhile, and then came back with a new publisher: THQ. Not that I've ever held THQ to any standards of excellence, but this is just hacky, irresponsible publishing. Do we really need another game about making the Middle East a smoldering crater? One with 50 no less? God save us all.

Here's Joystiq's post on the subject:
http://www.joystiq.com/2008/10/19/bbfc-seriously-thq-is-publishing-50-cent-blood-on-the-sand/

Here's 1up's preview: http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3167181

Bioshock 2: Bioshockier

A little game named Bioshock made quite a splash last year (pardon the pun) and it's Big Daddies are set to make Playstation 3 owners everywhere their bitches on Cocktober 21st. They also had another treat for the PS3 owners patient enough to wait - an exclusive preview of Bioshock 2's trailer.

Guess what? Someone on the internet went and blew 2k's load. All over YouTube. And now it's here too, along with dozens of other blogs I'm sure. Enjoy...



This is a mildly hopeful teaser. I could debate the meaning of it, but I gotta get a start on my day so here's another bunch of people doing it for me:

http://www.gamesradar.com/f/what-secrets-does-the-bioshock-2-trailer-hold/a-20081016133817404072

http://www.gamercenteronline.net/2008/10/17/bioshock-2-is-both-sequel-and-prequel/

Totally unnofficial but completely awesome Bioshock 2 art from artist Ben Mauro: http://benmauro.blogspot.com/2008/02/mid-term-update.html

And, since the sequel is rumored to tie in with the film adaption Gore Verbinski is readying, here's an article on that: http://www.joystiq.com/2008/05/08/bioshock-movie-in-development-gore-verbinski-directing/

And, lastly, a conversation between Puff Daddy and Bjork: