COD: World At War and the Wii Problem

Recently a friend and I sat down with Call Of Duty: World at War for the Wii, Wii Zappers in hand, we couldn’t wait to dive into the update we’ve all been waiting for to the series, the coop mode. But after a few minutes in, we realized that this wasn’t what we had been waiting for at all.

The coop mode we played was nothing short of a sham. As second player I felt a lot less like I was with a squad mate helping take out enemies in the jungles of the Pacific theater and more like I had been on some retarded version of Mr; Toad’s Wild Ride. There was no split screen, there was no freedom of movement, no health bar. In fact the only reason I knew I was there was the little red aim sight that popped up when I pointed my zapper at the screen. This compounded by my friend’s aimless firing and turning as he tried to get a handle of the controls made for a very aggravating experience and some grumblings about how we should have gotten the game on the 360. That probably would have been the smart thing to do because a game like COD: World at War was made for the 360. The Wii’s unique control scheme does not really lend itself to it.

The huge sales figures of the Wii have convinced gaming companies that they can simply convert their old go to franchises and open them up to a new audience. The problem is that these games can’t be converted to the Wii and continue to be fun. They need to come up with innovative ways work with the Wii experience. Some companies have and you’ll see games like De Blob, which actually uses the Wiimote as a Wiimote instead of as a 360 controller.

It’s fun to think that you and your friend can digitally hit the shores of the pacific together with little plastic guns in concept but when you actually experience it, it’s a bit of a failure. As a rule I would probably leave the games that were made for the Xbox 360 to the Xbox 360.

The Feast, It's Ruint

This is one of my favorite commercials. So silly, so quick and so funny. That is all.

Black Dynamite

Ok, so this gag of intentionally bad, striaght up 70s movies is getting a bit played out by now, but this still looks pretty tight.

Gmail Themes

Google didn't need to do this. We ALL use Gmail. But then they go and sweeten the pot with customizable themes, including one bad-ass theme that makes your inbox look like an Apple II or something equally archaic. ROCK. Not everyone's got themes yet, so if you don't, Google hates you.

EGMasaurus Rex May Be Extinct

Ziff-Davis has declared bankruptcy and, as we all know, print is dying a slow and very painful death. So good old Electronic Gaming Monthly is probably on the chopping block. Nothing's official, but it's looking that way...

http://kotaku.com/5095112/print-version-of-egm-may-be-on-its-way-out

Bike Hero!

Guitar Hero, recreated with a bike, 5 flashing LEDs, tons of chalk and probably some whippets. Remember when you were young and had time enough to pull off crazy ass $hit like this? Ya, me neither.

TeachStreet: Interweb street smarts, fo' real

Former JibJab mentor and all around awesome start up guy Dave Schappell has expanded his site, TeachStreet (camel casing FTW!) to the Bay area. TeachStreet, also available in Seattle, is like eHarmony.com for continuing education. Meaning, they provide the means to hook up people looking to learn with people looking to teach. One big difference? TeachStreet's cool with jews.

TeachStreet's not in LA yet, but as soon as they are I'm going to try to sign up for some coding classes or video game design classes, you can bet yo ass. Here's that URL, for those that missed it:
http://www.teachstreet.com/

Dues Ex 3: Those French Bastards May Be Onto Something

First few morsels of concept art from Dues Ex 3 have hit the inter-tubez thanks to Game Reactor. Not much to say, except that the second shot is looking like Tyrell's office from Blade Runner, at least in terms of color and composition.

The Oozinator

Goyuken - Reason Alone to Get SF IV

Some of us old timers may remember Sheng Long, whom EGM cruelly teased as being a secret playable character in SF II as an April Fool's joke in 1992. Disillusionment with the magazine, and the world as a whole, served to crush the fragile souls of many children when they learned the truth. But Capcom has offered us salvation! I'm already psyched as all hell for Street Fighter 4, but the fact that you can finally play as Ryu and Ken's master, Gouken, is amping this my anticipation for SF 4 from "Hard on" to "Ultra Stiffy" on the boner index. Watch!

Street Fighter 4 'Gouken' trailer HD

The JibJab Fanbase

We just released our ElfYourself content this past week (http://www.elfyourself.com/) and it's had quite an effect on one fan. Wait, does he count as a fan of JIbJab if he thinks we're actually a cadre of wizards who project movies onto the back of his eyeballs? Just watch.

Jibjab should be a Facebook app

Street Fighter Four release date announced

Capcom has finally announced a release date for the long awaited fourth (or is that four hundredth?) Street Fighter game. It will reach US shores on February the 17th (hitting the UK a little after Feb 20th). If you have not seen or heard about the next installment of the series you'll be surprised to hear that the usually hand drawn esthetic is being replaced with 3D modeling. The action is still pretty linear though. Don't know about the rest of you, but I'll be tearing shit up with Ken Masters come February.

Eat, drink and play multiplayer with the touch of a button!

... or maybe not. Uwink is Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell's new interactive restaurant that all you Hollywood socialites can visit at the Highland center. The premise is pretty straight forward: with uwink you are able to order your food and drinks with the touch of a button on the flat panel monitors that adorn every table (This takes away all that awkward waitress talk). As an added bonus, each person can play multiplayer games with the other patrons on those screens. The games look fairly simple, almost like those trashy trivia/gambling games you see in your local dive, but the prospect of playing with other players is tantalizing. Unfortunately (according to correspondents of the MTV multiplayer blog) it doesn't exactly work. The service buttons don't exactly get you served and the games suck. Below is a link to the restaurants home page and a link to the blog all about it. I know a blog linking to another blog, it's lame. But what do you want for free?

http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2008/11/13/atari-founders-restaurant-debacle/#more-13544

http://www.uwink.com/restaurants

AWESOME

Actual Iron Man Suits

Those nutty Japanese have done it again. Apparently robotic help with picking up items is already available for Japanese consumers, but the tech is getting better. Below is a link to an article about a Japanese company, Cyberdyne(!!!), which has created robotic suit-ish things to help the elderly with all of those pesky stairs. The suit is called HAL (Hybrid Assisted Limb [hard to shake those 2001 vibes]) and it is an exoskeleton that supports its own weight and some of yours. Good news everyone. You can rent two legs for a cheap $2,200 a month (if you live in Japan)! So quit bitchin' about how 2008 eight isn't the future of flying cars and robots, and remember when you're watching most sci-fi movies from the 70s-80s that suggested our ultra future by 2005 (or 1997 in the case of escape from NY) that it's just around the corner. Pick one up today. I mean if this can help old people up stairs, imagine what it will be ale to do with young, vibrant people...

http://scitech.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/24/real-life-tony-starks/

Crayon Physics

Crazy busy and don't have much time left on my lunch, so i'll just say that this game is incredibly ground breaking. To put it simply - it lets you draw gameplay elements (platforms and such) in order to get a ball from one side of the screen to the other. Only this video can do this amazing game justice:


Crayon Physics Deluxe from Petri Purho on Vimeo.

The Fallout Warrior

The Fallout series kicks ass. Since the first one hit shelves in 1997 it's style made it an instant classic, inspiring the creation of great games like Bioshock. But we can't forget what inspired its look, mainly Australia's Mad Max movies. Bellow is a clip of one of my favorite Road Warrior moments. I guess you could say a group of "raiders" confronts a "Megaton" type settlement. Oh and notice the leather jacket on Mel which Black Isle took outright for the first Fallout.

Show me your Persona

So recently I've been living under a rock and I completely missed this little announcement from Atlus. Another Persona's on the way and if you basked in the presence of Persona 3 this should give you a straight up boner. For the uninitiated, the Persona (shin megemi tensie [totally spelled wrong] in Japan) series spans back to the snes and is a classic amongst Japanese console RPGs. The most recent installment, Persona 3, was an insanely expansive game which was basically like Pokemon, the Sims, Diablo and FF rolled into one. You create relationships with people in a strange life simulation mode but after each day it's straight into the RPG in which you can persuade the monsters you fight to be on your side. It's an insanely fun experience, if you're ready to deal with the Japanese-ness of it all. However, I'm informed that the forth installment will becoming to the PS2? The third one was released on the PS2 march of this year. Really? I think it's about time to change platforms. Anyways below is the trailer video for it which is actually pretty lame because it's just a little anime thing... but at least you can laugh at it... or I don't know maybe you're into that sort of thing... Uh, enjoy!

Snuggie - The Blanket That Snuggles!

Christmas is only weeks away, and if you're anything like me - your present prayers have been answered by the Snuggie. Besides looking like an awesome druidic robe, the Snuggie also grants the wearer +5 to Snugicity.


Find more info at http://www.getsnuggie.com. Find the Snuggler HERE.

VOTE!

Just a friendly reminder. The title screen below is all that exists of an election video game I wanted to make. I never got past this point. Why? I was playing games.

Thanksgiving with the Boys from Brazil

I gave my standard treatment to our newest Thanksgiving Starring You video that I do for most of them: cast Hitler in every role. It makes for a surreal and oftentimes awesome video. We've got tons of awesome, funny Thanksgiving eCards at JibJab, many of them written by me! Click here to check 'em out. Enjoy!

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Making Movie Magic, with a Game Boy

I don't have much time to post this, but here's an amazing little thing I saw this morning. Both the animation and music were created with Game Boy. Not sure how the animation works exactly, I don't think it looks nearly pixel-y enough, but the music is 8bit all the way. Check out Kotaku's post for more info.

Hasselhoff Flogs Self for C&C: Red Alert 3

Ironic humor and retro kitsch are damn near reaching critical mass, and are in danger of imploding completely if this recent campaign for Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 is any indication. Featuring an obviously soused David Hasselhoff, this fake infomercial features plenty of self effacing comedy, irreverent explosions and dolphins. Try as he may, Hasselhoff will top this. These do have some funny stuff and are worth it to see if you're tracking the gaming industry:

http://www.conquerthislife.com/

Here's irony and nostalgia done right. It's from a pilot by Ben Stiller, Rob Schrab, Jack Black and Owen Wilson about a super intelligent astronaut (Black) and his only friend - a talking motorcycle (Wilson). Enjoy.