I Fight Dragons…well, no, really I fight mostly creepy crawly creatures and Orcs, but I love when I find musicians like I Fight Dragons who combine my love of gaming and my love of music into one nice package. Using chip tunes and good old fashion pop awesomeness, I Fight Dragons has 3 albums under their belt and their new 3D video “Save World Get Girl” premiered on Nintendo 3DS’s video app this week.
Adding your name to their mailing list gives you 4 free downloads. Yay, free stuff! Check them out and subscribe to their YouTube page, then like them, and then as they say on their website, “go tell your friends about them. Or if you don’t have friends, tell your mom. Say hi to her for me. She’ll know who you mean. Trust me.”
Here’s one of my favorite tunes by I Fight Dragons.
It’s official, G4 is no longer worth the extra money I have to pay for my Dish subscription. The news that Adam Sessler is leaving X-Play has confirmed my belief that G4 has no clue what talent is worth saving. According to Sessler’s reps, the separation is not amicable.
When the programming began to be bogged down with reruns of Cops and Cheaters I was pissed, but I still had X-Play and a few good episodes of Attack of the Show that didn’t showcase Sara Underwood’s breasts as the main feature. If it weren’t for Kevin Pereira’s wit, I probably would have ditched AOTS when Olivia Munn left, but I have stuck it out. I can’t imagine who could possibly replace Adam or be nearly as perfectly fitted to bring me my gaming news. Morgan and Blair are wonderful, but Adam is Adam and he will be missed.
On a brighter note, the G4 staple did mention on his Twitter feed that he can now finally take a nap and his reps say he has much in the works.
His current projects include starring as himself in the Summer 2012 movie “noobz” and consulting with a film production company on theatrical feature adaptations of video games. Adam intends to stay in front of the camera and continue as a key voice within the games industry. He also sings and is available for weddings and bar mitzvahs.
Ubisoft is being sued by an author who claims his idea has been stolen and used in the Assassin’s Creed franchise. John L. Beiswenger, the author of Link (I’m sure he’s huge in Japan), a 2002 novel which is based on the same idea that Assassin’s Creed has become famous for, accessing and recalling ancestor memories through the use of scientific process, is suing for “no less than $1.05 million”, and that amount rises to $5.25 million if the ruling finds that Ubisoft willfully infringed upon his copyrights.
I love that it has only taken 3 games before this guy found his cash cow. A gut feeling says that Ubisoft is going to settle on this one, but I really think we should start blaming morphic fields, if lawsuits like this are going to continue to pop up. No, I’m not a paranormal conspiracy theorist, I just watch too much Torchwood; however, if we are going to allow such ideas as The Hunger Games to be stolen away from Koushun Takami without even a question, then morphic fields it is.
Felicia Day, the geek goddess we all love to love, has brought us new information on her project Geek and Sundry. Not only does she give us a preview of the new shows that premiere starting April 2nd, but there’s news about The Guild. Watch and subscribe, so that Wil Wheaton doesn’t have to set any interns on fire. (He’s got a crazy look in his eye.)
Guest post by Chris Nelson- Boise Card Games Examiner
Being a gamer living in a house full of gamers has perks. For example, I never have a shortage of willing opponents when it’s time to check out a new game. Having a roommate who is also a fan of the writing of H.P. Lovecraft is especially convenient when playing Call of Cthulu.
Published by Fantasy Flight this living card game has everything a Lovecraftian horror fan needs for a good time; mafia thugs, G-men, insanity rules, and antagonists with unpronounceable names. Players build decks out cards which are split between 7 factions, which can be mixed in any combination. Once both players have drawn their hands battle is done to control story cards which are laid out in the middle of the table. Resolving battles is a fun process of engaging some writhing mass of tentacles, horns, and teeth as you try to figure out what the heck is going on and maintain your sanity.
Call of Cthulu comes with a good mix of cards for each of the factions which my roomies and I had little trouble combining into three reasonably competitive decks for round robin tentacle waving. Instructions are clear and easy to understand for the first timer and if we can figure them out anyone should be able to.
If you enjoy doing battle with, or hanging out with the things that go bump in the night then Call of Cthulu (we think the call is “fwoop”) is definitely worth a look, and if you play your cards right you can even bring forth the great old one himself to send your opponent running for a padded room.
I want to preface this post with a little tidbit. The name KARA is said like karat, as in “Look at that 24 karat gold sparkle.” Think Kara Starbuck or Supergirl. The name CARA is said like CAR-uh. As in “Hey mechanic man, about my car… uh why is it making that noise.”
PlayStation released this amazing new video a few days ago. “The KARA video was created by Quantic Dream solely to show the jump in development technology they have made since their last game Heavy Rain.” This little technology exploration plays like a movie. The imagery is beautiful and I would love to see more. A few years ago, I read a novella called His Robot Girlfriend by Wesley Allison.I think if that book were to come alive it would look very similar to KARA.
I totes feel like a jerk for canceling my WoW subscription, after reading the news that Activision Blizzard Inc. is laying off 600 employees. The layoffs will occur in the Blizzard Entertainment sector, but it is reported that most of the cuts will come from non-game development departments. Sadly, the number of active subscribers to World of Warcraft, Blizz’s cash cow, have dropped since the release of Trion’s Rift last year and EA’s Star Wars: The Old Republic a few months ago.
As an avid WoW player, I’m not surprised by the decline in subscriptions, as the standard of gaming is getting rather steep and gamers want more. After patch 4.3, which was anxiously awaited and was met with a resounding “meh” by players, defecting to greener pastures, such as Rift and SWTOR, wasn’t a far leap. Fans of SWTOR were waiting years for its release, and there was no way Blizz was going to be able to keep those fans from leaving. Rift is a far superior game play experience for mature WoW players. When I left WoW to play Rift, I found that trade chat isn’t filled with obnoxious teenagers mudslinging and generally showing why it sucks to play with immature teenagers. Yes, I miss the beautiful music and gorgeous artwork in World of Warcraft, but I’m satisfied with what I’ve left behind because of the game play experience I’ve gained. Also, as a loyal Blizzhead and WoW player, canceling Blizzcon 2012 was bad for fan morale, and making me wait until quarter 4 of 2012 to release Mists of Pandaria is just not going to satiate me. There are too many ways I can get my fix now, especially with the news of Free to Play Everquest and DC Universe. Blizz, you became complacent and then figured out you needed to scramble to catch up. I think it’s sad that people have to be laid off, but something had to give and it hasn’t been Blizz giving to their fans.
BioWare and Electronic Arts have a treat in store for die hard Mass Effect fans. They will be launching copies of the game into space, well maybe just into the atmosphere, but either way it’s way cool. Starting Thursday, copies of the game will be launched via high altitude weather balloons from different locales around the world, starting at 7am Pacific time in San Francisco, then followed by Las Vegas, New York, London, Paris, and Berlin. Bioware’s marketing director for Mass Effect 3, David Silverman, said, “Depending on weather conditions, it could take anywhere from 2 to 3 hours to land back on the ground and the landing site could be anywhere from 50 to 300 miles of where they are launched from.” So those not in the direct path of the launch site still have a chance of nabbing this awesome collectible. The launched games will be hooked up to GPS tracking and an HD camera, and the location of the games will be trackable on the Mass Effect website. You will need to register as a user in order to access the tracker, unless you already have an EA account. If you have ever played an EA game more than likely you have one already. The game tracking site will be live starting Wednesday morning. So get your tracking shoes on and be the first one to grab this game before the release date on March 6th. Good luck! In the meantime, here’s the new extended trailer for the game. It looks so fantastic. I’m not sure if Shephard did do a butt clench to get that assault rifle to pop up, he is so much of a bad ass he can just think “come to me” and that thing can appear.
Most of the time when a game is trying to break a world record one would think they were going after the most players or the most raiders, but not Trion. The hugely popular gaming company that created one of the top MMOs, Rift, went for the world record for in game marriages, on Valentine’s Day. Succeeding with 21,879 couples tying the knot in a 24 hour period, the entry will be made in the Guinness World Records Gamer Edition for 2013. Additionally, everyone in game who got in on the fun and married their Ascended love was given the in game title of “The Avowed.”
Trion also went above and beyond for a few lucky couples, who sent in their love story. The winning couples were given special in game ceremonies by the Game Masters themselves, announcements were made game-world wide, and their love story was featured on the Rift website. Also on Rift’s website, Scott Hartsman, Executive Producer on Rift and Trion’s CCO said, “Establishing this record was a monumental achievement for our development team and community of passionate players, and I couldn’t be more proud. Ascended Weddings were a great way to lift the veil on Rift’snew ‘Gatherings’ feature, social experiences that bring players together in new and interesting ways. We look forward to expanding this great new gameplay element in the always-evolving world of Telara.”
This isn’t the first time loved has bloomed in an MMO setting, but it certainly was the biggest expression of love so far. Check out my wedding photos from Valentine’s Day in Rift. “Grats” to all the happy couples!
UK Channel 4 has created a new reality show of sorts, directly aiming at PC Gamers, or more specifically Sims fans. I personally love The Sims, played through Sims 3, before realizing I wanted some social interaction in my life. Where else could I be a successful and well-paid writer with the click of a button, have an abundance of free money and own a speeder bike as my first car? The new web series, SuperMes, is exactly like playing the Sims, but with a witty writing team and a perfectly timed narrator to point out the odd idiosyncrasies of all that is Sims 3.
Creators of the show set four Sims up with a nice house, gave them individual personality traits, and hoped for the best. What they got was very similar to reality TV. The two main female characters get into a fist fight, because one is away from home for the first time and not adjusting well, while the other is a self centered egotist who only wants to talk about herself. The male leads are oblivious to any issue in the house and seem to enjoy cuddling with each other.
Three episodes are currently available and watching the progression of the personalities is amazing. Remember, these Sims were basically set it and forget it. The actions they take and the decisions they make are completely of their own Sims will. According to the production website, “We hoped they’d all get on okay. We knew sometimes they’d all hate each other. What we hoped was that, whatever happened, it would be crazy, exciting, sad, happy and – of course – funny.”
To add to the experience, there are games that you can play, a Facebook page to interact with and a page of cheat codes for life. Apparently, these are supposed to help you outside of game. It’s big fun over at the SuperMes website and a bit easier to digest than Jersey Shore.
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