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ghostbusters.party.@.bourbon.and.branch.

nobody@vox.com(.tiff) — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 14:11:19 -0700

The gaming companies are hitting up the streets in San Francisco this week. With M16 bringing in the first flux of the gaming types, Tuesday kicked off my first gaming event with a sit-in preview of Fallout 3. Amidst the preview I had the pleasure of partaking in some The Wire humor with the very personable N'Gai Croal. I thought it was pretty great.

The room was the color "Slimer"

Last night Forty Seven threw an elaborate Ghostbusters party at the highly esteemed speakeasy Bourbon and Branch. Instead of the bar's typical candlelit atmosphere, the interior was splashed with red light in the main room and green light in the secret library room. With a buffet of ingredients for smores to the right and delectably mixed drinks to the left (Such as the Stay Puft drink with vannilla vodka, chocolate liquor, and marshmallow cream with a graham cracker rim), CTZ, Dyson and I got a wee bit sauced. It was, very fun.

Duty eventually called and I fled the scene, sobered up with a quesadila, and wrote that Fallout 3 preview until 5 in the morning. This leaves me in a present state of delirium, having only gotten 4 hours of sleep, but hopefully all will be well with a few more cups of joe and a solid nap later today.

Speaking of delirium, isn't it crazy that the blur of green light to the right of Hamza's ecstatic face looks like a toothy, open-mouthed Slimer with a furrowed brow?

Holy Crap, Slimer made it in this photo

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barkely.shut.up.and.jam:gaiden.

nobody@vox.com(.tiff) — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 17:44:08 -0800

Reverend Anthony is known at Destructoid for his scathing yet intelligent reviews of video games. A prodigy in his manner of criticism, I have yet to completely disagree with him on any of his opinions, with the exception of a certain jam we ran into about Nicole Wiebe's levels of attraction (I nay, he very yay, in a gross way).

That aside, Anthony is also an avid advocate of the Indie games industry, seeking out and playing some of the rarely seen gaming gems. This week in his feature Indie Nation, Anthony discusses the game Barkely, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden. An RPG parody, much like what we saw with Lasagna Cat but actually playable, the premise of this Tale of Game's studio project can be described as such:

The Great B-Ball Purge of 2041, a day so painful to some that it is referred to only as the "B-Ballnacht". Thousands upon thousands of the world's greatest ballers were massacred in a swath of violence and sports bigotry as the game was outlawed worldwide. The reason: the Chaos Dunk, a jam so powerful its mere existence threatens the balance of chaos and order. Among the few ballers and fans that survived the basketball genocide was Charles Barkley, the man capable of performing the "Verboten Jam"...

Not enough for you? Check out the full blown trailer below. I'm dying to play it myself... but sadly waiting for a PC to play it on. Dumb.

The Official Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden Trailer

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do.want.little.big.planet.

nobody@vox.com(.tiff) — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 10:43:42 -0800

Since the chances that I'll be promenading down the block and suddenly trip over someone's castaway PlayStation 3 are very slim, I'm sad to say that my ability to own the upcoming exclusive title Little Big Planet rests on the same probability. This is a grievously missed opportunity for sweet looking game play and horrendously cute overload, as is demonstrated by the following videos:

CES 2008 Demonstration: Character Emotions

CES 2008 Demonstration: Level-Building

Note: If anyone needs a loving home for their respective next-gen Sony game console, I'm waiting here with open arms!

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zelda.games.&.phantom.hourglass.

nobody@vox.com(.tiff) — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 17:50:45 -0800

Genesis Represent

While I will always stand firmly besides my gamer upbringing as a Genesis child, there were certainly moments of console weakness when it came to the Nintendo and the exclusive titles it kept close to its bosom. Upon occasion my siblings and I would trade our Genesis with our friend's respective Nintendo system for a week long liaison. Naturally our inbred gamer instincts drew us to Mario, but what really set my geek-genes ablaze was when I played Zelda: A Link to the Past.

It wasn't until middle school that I finally completed Link to the Past and abruptly became hooked to the entire Zelda franchise. Despite the fact that the main gameplay, story elements, and characters only change slightly from sequel to sequel, Zelda is dependably comfortable while simultaneously manages to enliven its classic content with new environments and features in every additional release.

Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

With all that being said The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass is a fantastic addition to the Zelda lineage, one which I've only recently been able to fully appreciate while commuting from my house-sitting home to work. Nintendo knows the meat, bones, and heart of its platforms, and in the case of the DS they would not disappoint by making Phantom Hourglass almost entirely stylus oriented with a few bonus DS-savvy actions to boot.

I love managing my stylus like I would a sword, prodding and swirling it around the screen to skewer baddies, but the adventure for me really started when I had to tackle the more unique challenges such as yelling through a door or blowing out a candle. As you might imagine, this involved the microphone proponent of the DS and my voice and/or breath ... applied amidst a large conglomerate of Muni commuters. I had a choice in both cases: close the DS and keep my interjections to myself or solve the puzzle as necessary despite the fact that there were a good 5 faces aimed at my direction who would witness what could seem like a brief instance of insanity.

Of course, I chose the latter. What else could I do to get the fortune teller's attention from the other side of the door? I elegantly brought the DS up to my lips and spoke as quickly and as loudly as I could to solve the puzzle.

HEY!

A few awkward glances, (a puzzle unlocked!), a following round of awkward re-glances, and then it was back to the crabby commute home. I laughed to myself and thought If only they knew how much farther I got in the game after that, only then would they understand.

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passage.

nobody@vox.com(.tiff) — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 12:34:28 -0800

Please download this game Passage and play it. It takes five minutes to play, and the results are stunning
.

passage

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shellacked.graphics.are.too.shiny.shiny.

nobody@vox.com(.tiff) — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 17:15:58 -0800

Is it just me or does it look like every object in GTAIV has a bucket of corner-store shellac dumped over them? Sure sure advances in real-time light-refraction and yes it does look more realistic than its predecessors, but frankly I think it makes everything look a little more kitschy than necessary. I'm underwhelmed here. There must be some sort of middle ground ... and don't even get me started on Street Fighter IV's new makeover. *shakes fists*

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rant:the.phenomenon.of.grrl.gamers.

nobody@vox.com(.tiff) — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 09:11:52 -0800

Note: This post was written in context to a current discussion being held within the community blogs at Destructoid.com, initiated by Reverend Anthony's recent podcast rant about the phenomenon of 'grrl gamers'. To get the full story, listen to Anthony's argument here a little before midway into the show and read VirtualGirl's response post here.

grrl gamer?

I have strong opinions about the grrl gaming phenomenon, very strong opinions. While I've discussed such sentiments privately amongst trusted comrades and cohorts in the gaming industry, I frustratingly tend to bite my tongue when it comes to expressing myself within the larger Destructoid community. The reasons are the general dissonance in discussing the matter as though it's a STFJPG instance (which it's certainly and most definitely not given what the industry is veering towards in this day and age), and the mere fact that I tend to get angry and frustrated rather than articulate when I attempt to describe what I think.

After listening to the good Reverend's rant and reading Virtualgirl's response I felt the need to just skim the surface on my personal thoughts in regards to the grrl gamers out there. I'm going to try to keep it simple and short so as to potentially develop my argument later, so here goes nothing:

Media scholar and philosopher Marshall McLuhan coined the quintessential expression "the medium is the message". Taking this into consideration with grrl gamers, the particular ailment of these female gaming communities is the dependency on the image as their first and foremost means of communicating their apparent plight for 'respect'. As Rev. explained, when these girls slather prolific amounts of photos of themselves the message they are projecting is very particularly and exclusively oriented towards distinguishing themselves as 'female' or 'not male', thereby immediately debasing whatever idea of equality they were supposedly demanding.

Why is this message so inherently black and white? Because these photos are circulated within and are part of the mass media in which personal intentions, general goodwill, and individual personalities behind the image are altogether ignored, erased, and replaced with the surface level meaning. Period.

I want to reiterate that the key phrase of this statement is 'mass media'. Personal stories such as VirtualGirl's reveal to us that there is a large level of devotion and meaning within such cultural acts as dressing up as Lara Croft at a convention which I can respect to a certain degree on an individual basis. Her passion and confidence for something that she loves are to be envied. But the mass media cares only what the masses want, and within this largely masculine gaming demographic the masses want to consume stereotypical, sexualized fantasy women, so thats what they will see.

My advice? If you want to discuss how you want to be treated equally as a gamer because you think that you are somehow alienated by your sex then write about it instead of posting photos of yourself. What you look like has absolutely nothing to do with how passionate you are about gaming or games.

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rock.band.genre.

nobody@vox.com(.tiff) — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 11:38:58 -0800

Do you tend to like music in particular genres, or are your tastes all over the place? What are your most and least favorite musical genres?

wanted - rock band

My favorite genres of music tend to be the ones that I can play on Rock Band, you know, the kind I can paddle away at obsessively with a gaming guitar peripheral.

So I'm shamelessly manipulating today's QOTD to fit what pertains to my current and only interest, Rock Band. This is an entirely legitimate answer however, given that just about every song of any genre becomes awesome when you are performing it in the game. For instance despite my typical disregard for most varieties of hard metal songs by my day to day musical standards, when I'm fiendishly pumping out arpeggios and I can hear the virtual crowd sing along to my music all those standards instantly melt away.

In other words, I've had it for a day, I've been playing it occasionally for over the past few months and I'm obsessed. Plus, my avatar has a shaved head and looks like Tank Girl. I spent $1,000 dollars in gig-money to get that look, and she kicks ass. Kudos to Raf and my singing little sis for the awesome jam session last night!

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mario.+.buzz.=.bff4evar.

nobody@vox.com(.tiff) — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 09:57:50 -0800

MARIO + BUZZ = BFF4EVA

Don't get me wrong. It's a little more than obvious that I heart video games, and I also happen to have an ingrained admiration for early space heroes such as the below pictured Buzz Aldrin. But somehow the below press photo seems to ooze all sorts of weird science to me.

The photograph was recently taken to promote Nintendo's upcoming game Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii. Seeing as in this game Mario takes to the universe and defies all common concepts of gravity by whipping himself from planet to planet, it would only make sense to put a humanoid version of the character in an anti-gravitational flight. But why is Buzz Aldrin there?

And I have more questions! Does this photo initiate the seamless bond that now exists between the world of science and the world of cherub-faced video game characters? Who is the man behind the Mario mask? Is it just me or does it look like Mario is actually doing a malicious flip-up attack on Dr. Aldrin? I can only assume...

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day.of.the.tentacle.pumpkin.

nobody@vox.com(.tiff) — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 10:28:19 -0700

day.of.the.tentacle.pumpkin.

http://kotaku.com/gaming/pumpkin/day-...

Via Kotaku: So. It's actually Halloween now. Time to celebrate by busting out the truly special pumpkins. Not special as in "damn, this is a fine piece of pumpkin crafting" (though this is still great!), but special as in "thank you, someone thought to carve a Day of the Tentacle Pumpkin". No, really. Thank you, Nert.

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