Opening up, we’re spending some time on some rapid fire news, get it out of the way with the few minor things going on in the gaming world. The news that Valve is putting everything out with Mac-friendly formats is a major subject for tonight. We’ll also hit on a few other things, like the top 10 games so far in the month of March.

All that and more news, opinions, and a whole lot of banter coming up tonight on R&D, live at OMFG.FM!

Go over to http://stickam.com/bigbaldbroadcast to listen live, or hit up http://the.newgeekorder.com to hear the podcast!

There’s one thing that I don’t like about Kotaku though. They tend to go a bit overboard with things. One major recent example of this is their most recent comprehensive article on Star Wars: The Old Republic. The article as a whole isn’t bad, but their opening to it really turned me off to it as a whole because of the horribly negative opinion of what a Sith Inquisitor actually is versus their confusingly good thoughts on the Jedi Consular…

I get that they’re (The Sith Inquisitor) supposed to be a more badass version of a Sith Warrior with different ranged abilities. But if that’s the case, wouldn’t all players playing as Sith Warriors graduate to Inquisitors after playing long enough?

Is the Kotaku writer, AJ Glasser, who hasn’t had a great track record already in my opinion, not intelligent enough to see that they’re simply taking different archtypes in the Star Wars universe? It’s almost as simple as saying the Inquisitor is like playing as a young, even more psychotic Emperor Palpatine. I don’t like putting it in that simple of terms, but that’s a very good way to set things up for people that don’t pay attention to any extended universe or pre-movies Star Wars material.

I’m not about to take a big, steamy dump on the quality that Kotaku gets out, or say that I don’t use them on R&D for a good chunk of news, but I am willing to say that THIS article really rips on the Sith Inquisitor in a way that turns me off from the article right off the bat. It’s a tragedy because the article’s not bad at all, besides the fact that he spends a LOT of time talking about boobs, but oh well.

Maybe Glasser felt that the actual in-game mechanics were simply similar between the Sith Warrior and Inquisitor, which is very understandable considering the first few levels in any mmo seem very generic and similar between most classes, even in an extremely well-developed MMO such as World of Warcraft.

Extraction’s gameplay is set apart from the original in a number of respects. Dead Space was a third person shooter where the main character, Isaac Clarke, was nearly always in view and rarely talked except to say “ouch” if you were playing badly. Extraction is a First-Person “On-Rails” shooter where you play the role of a number of different characters through the course of the storyline. On-Rails shooters, much like House of the Dead Overkill, seem to be right at home on the Wii. With the advent of HDTVs and the mass exodus from CRT televisions, light-gun games have nearly become of thing of the past due to technological limitations. The Wii, however, facilitates this genre of game perfectly due to the combination of the Wiimote’s built in IR-camera and the Sensor bar.

The best parts of Dead Space make their return. Each weapon has an alternate fire mode, activated by tilting the Wiimote 90 degrees, aka “Gangsta Style”. Some of these alternate modes have been changed to better serve the new interface, such as the Pulse Rifles Alt-Fire, and new weapons have been added as well, such as the Arc Welder and Rivet Gun. Equipment Upgrades also made the transition as pick-up items and not requiring the use of the Bench like in the original.

Going into the game, I knew that I would revisit locations from Dead Space, such as the “Planet Cracker” ship the Ishimura, though I did not realize that I would actually be setting the scene for when you return to the ship as Isaac. From deactivating the filtration systems, blocking off access to sectors of the ship all the way to the shut down of the ADS (Automatic Defense Systems), forcing Isaac to play thru the worst part of Dead Space, in my opinion.

One of the nice additions to Extraction is the “Hacking” mini-game. Rather than take a cue from Bioshock’s Pipe-Dreams style of hacking, we are instead presented with an altered version of the Metroid Prime “Welding” mechanic, that being Connect-The-Dots (la la la la). Early hacks are quite easy. Further into the game, however, hacks become much more difficult, requiring both steady and timed connections as to not touch or get caught between “bad segments” of the circuit that glow red and losing health. To increase the difficulty more, some hacks take place in the middle of gun fights, with the shooting happening to the left and the hacking on the right. During these specific hacks, the actual gunfight does not end until the hack is complete, so there will be an endless spawning of monsters until you finish the job. In a single player game, this can prove to be quite the challenge from a multitasking perspective. In a Co-Op game, however, this becomes very much like an “Aliens” moment, where one player fights off the baddies while his partner works on the hack.

The character development was very well handled. You play the game through the eyes of four different characters throughout the course of the game, yet there is enough down-time to flesh out each one. The first character you play as was perhaps the least developed overall since you only get to experience his story for the first chapter before SPOILERS happen, however, the way SPOILERS happen was a very nice plot point that brought a smile to my face and set the mood for the game as a whole.  For the remaining three characters, two of them are with you from Chapter 2 until the final chapter, and the third character adds that much needed amount of “Survival Horror” and “playing as a non-soldier/badass” feel that was lacking in even the original game.  Also, much like the first characters story, HER story and eventual SPOILERS was quite poetic, if not complete BS.   The fun BS, not the “I hate this game” BS.

Overall I was highly impressed with Dead Space Extraction.   “For a Wii Game”, the graphics were far beyond what I was expecting and then some.  There were some frame-rate drops, but these were expected, brief, few and far between and never ruin my experience.  This game simply raises the bar for any future Wii games in this style, even those made by Nintendo and it’s First-Party developers.  In this reviewers opinion, Dead Space Extraction is the best thing the Wii has ever had.

]]> http://www.thegeekmedia.com/gaming-entertainment/most-impressive-dead-space-extraction-for-wii/feed 0 http://www.thegeekmedia.com/entertainment/2637 http://www.thegeekmedia.com/entertainment/2637#comments Fri, 13 Nov 2009 07:14:22 +0000 Candace Holly http://www.thegeekmedia.com/news/2637

Everyone loves a nice pretty website. The design pops on the screen and it invites you to settle in and enjoy the experience.  Often designers and/or their clients take two approaches to catch the viewers eye:  some choose sleek minimal ideas and others go hog wild with bright colors, animations and a deluge of information.  Many times the result ends up being too extreme in either direction and the poor web surfer is given a case of eye poisoning, but that is not the only issue to contend with.  There are articles that address similar things strewn about the net, but apparently their are not enough.  So, here are a few reasons why some people think your site is evil.

1.    Videos that autoplay

Contrary to popular belief, the entirety of the internet community is not on a connection bulky enough to accommodate the downloading of high definition video.   That aside, folks hate when you have some advertisement laden video that wants to skip and buffer kick up when they go to your website.  I NEVER return to sites that do this. I had to once to pay a bill and went to the mobile version instead.  I will hold onto those grudges forever.

2. Advertisement overkill

Let’s say someone really, really wants to read your article, but they can’t find the damn thing.  You get upset because after that first surge in advertisement revenue it dwindles down to nothing because your audience became fed up with playing hide and seek with your content.  Guess what, there are plenty of other places to find similar content that aren’t covered in crap.  Some ads are understandable, but don’t make your place into an advertisement minefield.

3. Your code sucks

Yes, your website is very, very pretty . . . 3 days later when it finally loads because your code is jacked up.  This problem may have been one of the reasons that RSS is where it is today.  I read tons of webcomics, many only by feed reader because it takes 5-10 minutes for the comic to even load on the website.  This is mostly separate from the problem with connection speeds because crap code slows your load time no matter what.  There are some websites I will never see the full page for because I just gave up while it was thinking. There are tons of free validators out and plenty of people willing to help you clean the mess up (myself included). With all that gunk, how would you even notice if there was malware thrown in there?

4. It has an ugly, non-matching, gross, pastel/neon/tacky color scheme

People can’t buy what you are selling if they cannot see.

5. You pester the reader to do something

It is cool and all that you want the reader to come back. Nagging is not cool. You cannot make someone subscribe to your content by bullying.  I am not going to join anything if you tell me to eight times on the main page.  Things like little unobnoxious  share buttons on posts are fine.  Don’t beat the reader over the head with the fact that you have an e-book every paragraph.

6. Something on the page is blinking

Just last week I saw a site that had some blinking marquee. I wanted the webmaster (because I know that is what that person calls themselves. I am sure they still wear Izod and have a big collection of cassette tapes lying next to their original Walkman. )

7. Navigation to nowhere

Honestly if you are still working on your site that is fine. But if you are trying to provide someone a service and they have to click through enough links to fill a novel, someone else will be much happier to help them out. No one should need a GPS to find your contact information

8. Extreme minimalism

There needs to be more than just your domain, a jpg, and a copyright. At least one link or sentence should be there to give the readers something to go buy.

9. You try and trick the visitor with a bait and switch

If I can’t just read your article, why am I here? Why do I have to sign up to pay for something to get one little tidbit of information that you could provide free without damaging your drive for revenue? At least throw out an excerpt or summary.  3 links ago there was no obligation to pay, there could at least be a disclaimer somewhere else on your site.

10. Useless back button

I cannot directly vouch for anyone else’s level of annoyance at a website that just reloads when you try to navigate back to the one you were on before it, but it irritates me immensely.  It insults me when a page decides I am not allowed to go back the way I came in.  Subconsciously you have associated your site with a little kid holding a glass door closed from the other side. Good job.

11. Resizing windows

Hire somebody who knows how to design a website that is standard size.  It is not that hard.

12. Music that autoplays

Resource-wise, it is not as bad as the videos.  We still hate it. The mute/stop buttons are usually not very responsive and frankly nobody asked you to be their DJ for the evening.

13. Tons of flash/flood of ajax

Netbooks are quite popular. Netbooks do not play nice with a pile of flash. Not unlike many people that will stop by your site, my old notebook wheezes in pain anytime I get to a site with this.  Even with browsers that are better equipped to handle the onslaught some computers just freeze at the thought of loading these pages.

14. You still have the same webpage from 1990

People will not be sure your company/product is still relevant if it looks like it predates their teenage children.

…

There is a way to avoid all of these pitfalls and give your user base a great experience. It shocks me that there are enough of these sites still around that have all of these problems when there are loads of talented designers and programmers out there who would not stand for this nonsense. Be considerate to your customers and realize that your site is supposed to help them, not drive them away.

It’s unfortunately true, Geocities is finally shutting down, leaving millions of websites without hosting. What will come of this? Who knows, we’ll be talking about it on the next R&D though for sure.

Thank you for your usefulness and function over the past two decades, you will be sorely missed.

Haven’t caught all of the Gamertell news this week?? Here’s your chance to catch up on this week’s top 10 articles!

• Five simple things Nintendo can do to improve the Wii
  ” Nintendo has found unprecedented success with the Wii. Yet, the system isn’t everything that it could, or should, be. It’s certainly a fine console, with quite a wide selection of quality games. But there are things that can, and should…” MORE ?
• Gamertell Review: Wallace and Gromit: The Bogey Man for PC
  “Title: Wallace and Gromit: The Bogey Man Price: $8.95 System(s): PC Release Date: July 29, 2009 Publisher (Developer): Telltale Games ESRB Rating: “Everyone” for comic mischief and mild…” MORE ?
• Top 10 iPhone, iPod Touch games every gamer should try
  “In lieu of digging through most of garbage apps that make up the App Store landfill (I kid, I kid) this week, I decided it would be better to spend my time offering suggestions of gaming apps you’d actually want to try.? Sure, some of these apps are the…” MORE ?
• GamesCom 2009: Sony information explosion includes slim PS3, PSP minis and more
  “There has been a serious information explosion from Sony at GamesCom 2009 today, which rivals, and perhaps even puts to shame, the E3 2009 Sony press conference. After comparing the announcements, I’m definitely feeling more excited now. The main…” MORE ?
• Former LucasArts president trying his hand at politics
  ” The video game industry could gain a powerful Washington ally in Arizona’s 2010 Congressional election. Former LucasArts head Jim Ward, who resigned from the company in 2008, wants to be the next US representative from Arizona’s 5th MORE ?
• Persona 3 gets portable
  “Famitsu is amazing. Let’s hear a big round of applause for the magazine that revealed that a PSP port of Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 is on the way. Not only that, but said port isn’t just your standard…” MORE ?
• Five PSP RPGs you missed the first time around
  ” There’s been a bit of a lull when it comes to PSP releases. Aside from releases from Atlus, NIS, Square Enix and XSEED, the system hasn’t seen a lot of action. This makes now an ideal time to take…” MORE ?
• Gotta catch ‘em all over again next spring in Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver
  “The inevitable announcement has come. Nintendo has confirmed that it is planning to release the latest DS Pokemon games, Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver, to North America and Europe in Spring 2010. The news came during the 2009 Pokemon World…” MORE ?
• Hardcore Wii Franchise #5: Fire Emblem
  ” I picked up my first Fire Emblem game—Radiant Dawn—during one of the WiiGaps soon after the system’s release (WiiGaps being those periods where nothing new of note has been released or will be in the immediate future). I didn’t like…” MORE ?
• Top 5 hardcore Wii franchises (for gamers ready to do more than bowl) – (updated)
  “Maybe you’re young and, when looking for your first gaming console, the Wii was the cheapest. Maybe you saw grandma and grandpa bowling at the retirement home and thought, “Hey, this is for me!” Maybe your mom prefers you play fewer games…” MORE ?

Full Story ? | Written by NEWS for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article ?

In preparation for GamesCom 2009, BioWare and EA have let loose quite a bit of Mass Effect 2 information. We not only are finding out about the PC and Xbox 360 game’s storyline, but we also get to see a brand new trailer.

Once again, Commander Shepard is the hero/heroine of Mass Effect 2. Humans are now an endangered species, and it’s up to Shepard and his crew, which the player will hand select, to take part in what’s being called a suicide mission to find out why humans are disappearing and what can be done to stop it. Players get to choose from a wide variety of potential squad members. The first one revealed was Thane the assassin. The trailer released unveiled the second potential member, Grunt the Krogan.

Here’s the Grunt-centric Mass Effect 2 trailer that has been unveiled for GamesCom 2009. Let’s take a look:

Mass Effect 2‘s mission’s success is based on who you choose as your party members. Make the right choices and combinations to succeed. The wrong choices, however, can lead to a darker outcome.

I’m sure we’ll see a lot more Mass Effect 2 revelations over the next few days, once GamesCom 2009 really gets going.

Read [BeefJack.com] Also Read [Team Xbox] Site [Mass Effect 2]

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Title: Ponyo
Release Date: August 14, 2009 (US), July 19, 2008 (Japan)
Rating: “G” for General Audiences.
Length: 1 hour, 41 minutes. (101 minutes)
Pros: Gorgeous visuals. For the most part, the voice acting is fantastic. Great pacing for the story. A nice mix of active and passive scenes. The music and soundtrack is absolutely wonderful.
Cons: Noah Cyrus’ voice (Ponyo) can occasionally be grating and/or annoying.
Overall Score: 9/10

Handdrawn, 2D animation is an endangered art form. Most films are now made with computers and companies have a habit of releasing everything in 3D. Thankfully, Studio Ghibli is still doing things the old fashioned way. The company’s latest film, Ponyo, is among its most beautiful, and is a new adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid.

A new take on The Little Mermaid.

Brunhilde is a little goldfish who lives under the sea with her father and sisters. All her life, she’s been stuck in and Fujimoto’s submarine, but she wants more out of life. She one day sets out to see what there is outside of the ocean she knows. Unfortunately, it doesn’t go too well and she ends up trapped in a bottle.

She’s then rescued by a young boy named Sosuke. He breaks the bottle trapping her and sets her free. She then licks clean a cut he got saving her, healing it with her magic. He renames her Ponyo and decides to keep her with him and protect her. Ponyo loves her new name and him. However, her father Fujimoto comes to claim her, dragging her home, and the Ponyo and Sosuke are separated.

Ponyo is then determined to not only find a way back to Sosuke, but also find a way to become a human. However, doing so could disrupt the world’s balance.

Ponyo is a reminder of how beautiful 2D animation can be.

Ponyo is the kind of movie you’d have to see twice. The first time, you’d see and appreciate the actual story presented on the screen. The second time, you’re able to focus on the detailed artwork on the screen. In fact, Ponyo sets a new record for Studio Ghibli films – there are 170,000 individual, handdrawn images in the movie.

It also features a wonderful sense of storytelling and pacing. The beginning of the movie is very relaxed, almost leisurely. The audience is able to take this time to get to know and identify with the characters, specifically Ponyo and Sosuke. It then gradually builds in intensity and action, and features a satisfying ending. It never feels rushed, and while there are some fairly intense and dark moments, even those don’t feel threatening. It’s just a trial that must be faced and overcome.

Disney did do a wonderful job when casting the English version, with one exception. Personally, I found Noah Cyrus (Ponyo) to be a tad annoying at times, as opposed to endearing, and I preferred Yuria Nara’s take on Ponyo. Frankie Jonas, on the other hand, does a decent job as Sosuke. Of course, Tina Fey (Lisa), Liam Neeson (Fujimoto) and Cate Blanchett (Gran Mamare) all provide wonderful performances, and so do Matt Damon, Betty White, Lily Tomlin and Cloris Leachman in their cameo appearances. Overall, it’s very well-acted.

A tale all ages and cultures can appreciate.

If you enjoyed previous Studio Ghibli movies, like Princess Mononoke, Howl’s Moving Castle and Spirited Away, you’ll fall in love with Ponyo. It’s an endearing adventure. The English language version is well cast, and it’s a joy to watch. I have a feeling that it will also become the most popular of the Studio Ghibli movies released in America, due to the familiar story and breathtaking visuals.

COMING NEXT WEEK: Important Importables looks at Japan’s Pokemon Centers.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Last week Important Importables reviewed Nanashi no Game for the DS.

Site [Play-Asia] Site [YesAsia] Site [NCSX] Site [Himeya Shop] Site [Strapya World]

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This week’s PlayStation Store update features the game TV Show King for $9.99 for the PlayStation 3, in the style of the more popular television game shows like wheel of fortune, weakest link and others this game will challenge you, your friends and family with questions ranging from history to geography, literature to science and sports to entertainment. Check it out:

Also available for download is Crystal Defenders for $9.99. A defensive strategy game in which players deploy popular job classes used in Final Fantasy Tactics A2 like soldiers, monks, black mages and archers to strategically place them on the map to defend your crystals from a stream of enemy creatures that fly or crawl past your army.

Here’s a list of everything else that’s new:

Qore

• Qore Annual Subscription: August 2009 (PS3/$24.99)
• Qore Episode 15: August 2009 (PS3/$2.99)

Downloadable Games:

• Dynasty Warriors (PSP/$14.99)

Game Demos:

• Rag Doll Kung Fu Demo Demo (PS3/Free)
• Batman: Arkham Asylum Demo (PS3/Free)
• Crystal Defenders Demo (PS3/Free)
• Worms Demo (PS3/Free)

Bonus Game Contents:

• Cross Edge Trial Edition Pack (PS3/Free)
• Cross Edge Additional Dungeon 4 (PS3/Free)
• Cross Edge Enigma Synth Pack (PS3/Free)
• Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires Additional Music Set 3 (PS3/Free)
• Hannah Montana: Rock Out The Show Musicians Wardrobe Add-On (PS3/Free)
• Hannah Montana: Rock Out The Show Moment Maker Special Effects Add-On (PS3/Free)
• Hannah Montana: Rock Out The Show Stage Prop Add-On (PS3/Free)
• Hannah Montana: Rock Out The Show Fashions Add-On (PS3/Free)
• Cross Edge Latest Technology Pack (PS3/$1.99)
• Cross Edge Pretty Little Pack (PS3/$1.99)
• LittleBigPlanet: inFamous Costumes Pack (PS3/$1.99)
• GTI Club Plus (PS3/$1.99)
• Savage Moon Waldgeist Add-On (PS3/$4.99)
• Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2010 Cog Hill Golf & CC (PS3/$4.99)
• Call of Duty: World at War Map Pack 3 (PS3/$9.99)
• Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood Old West Map Pack (PS3/$9.99)

Guitar Hero World Tour Individual Songs:

• “Camel’s Night Out” by Eric Johnson (PS3/$1.99)

Rock Band Music Packs:

• Spinal Tap’s TAP TEN (PS3/$17.99)

Individual Songs:

• “America” by Spinal Tap (PS3/$1.99)
• “Big Bottom” by Spinal Tap (PS3/$1.99)
• “Cups and Cakes” by Spinal Tap (PS3/$1.99)
• “(Funky) Sex Farm” by Spinal Tap (PS3/$1.99)
• “Gimme Some Money” by Spinal Tap (PS3/$1.99)
• “Heavy Duty” by Spinal Tap (PS3/$1.99)
• “Hell Hole” by Spinal Tap (PS3/$1.99)
• “(Listen to the) Flower People (Reggae Stylee)” by Spinal Tap (PS3/$1.99)
• “Rock ‘n’ Roll Creation” by Spinal Tap (PS3/$1.99)
• “Stonehenge” by Spinal Tap (PS3/$1.99)
• “Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight” by Spinal Tap (PS3/$1.99)

Rock Band Unplugged bonus content:

• “Had a Dad” by Jane’s Addiction (PSP/$1.99)
• “Renegade” by Styx (PSP/$1.99)

Free Game Videos:

• TV Show King Trailer (English, French and Spanish versions) (PS3/Free)
• Unbound Saga Between the Panels Issue 2 (PS3/PSP/Free
• Watchmen The End Is Nigh Part 2 Launch Trailer (PS3/Free)
• Watchmen The End Is Nigh Part 2 The Complete Experience Launch Trailer (PS3/Free)
• G Force The Video Game Trailer (PS3/Free)
• Mini Ninjas Futo Gameplay Trailer (PS3/Free)
• Mini Ninjas Futo Vignette (PS3/Free)
• Mini Ninjas Shun Vignette (PS3/Free)

New Movies to Rent or Own:

• Obsessed. Rated PG-13 (Own/SD Format/$14.99)
• Miss March. Rated R (Rent/SD Format/$3.99)
• Miss March. Rated R (Rent/HD Format/$5.99)
• Miss March. Rated R (Own/SD Format/$14.99)
• Dragonball: Evolution. Rated PG (Rent/SD Format/$3.99)
• Dragonball: Evolution. Rated PG (Rent/HD Format/$5.99)
• Dragonball: Evolution. Rated PG (Own/SD Format/$14.99)
• The T.O. Show Season 1. Rated TV Y-7 (Own/SD Format/$1.99)
• Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs. Rated G (Own/SD Format/$1.99)

Wallpapers and Themes:

• College Football Theme: Arkansas (PS3/$1.99)
• College Football Theme: Clemson (PS3/$1.99)
• College Football Theme: Colorado (PS3/$1.99)
• College Football Theme: Illinois (PS3/$1.99)
• College Football Theme: Missouri (PS3/$1.99)

Read [PlayStation Store Blog] Site [PlayStation]

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Playstation was hands-on at Comic Con this year and Sony brought out a few of its best games for the PS3 and PSP to show off. I attended a media party at the Hard Rock Hotel (across the street from Comic Con) and was able to try out a few of the awesome titles coming out. Here are three I was able to extensively play.

Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time

They showed us two different parts of the game, one with Ratchet and one with Clank. Clank’s was a but hard, basically you had to step on these platforms and by doing so it created a clone of him that would mimic everything he did until you stopped the recording. You would use this to your advantage to open a door that required you to stand on two platforms. You press Go and your clone runs over and stands on the platform like you did, while you stand on the other to open the door and run through. This got harder as the puzzles got more difficult since you had to make multiple clones doing different things. It was actually a bit frustrating.

Ratchet’s was basically him running around in this big open field and trying all his gadgets while killing huge machines. You got to try out his hover boots (which allow you to float quickly across the land and over water) and various weapons to destroy all the huge machines that were walking around. Much simpler, but I still didn’t quite know what I was doing. Either way it gave us a sneak peek about what the game would be like. It’s coming out Fall 2009

Heavy Rain

I was excited to try this out since I read about it a while back. The game starts with you being a detective with futuristic gear that allows you to analyze DNA and other evidence simply by touching it. You walk into a junk yard and talk to a rather tough looking guy operating the forklift. You ask him about a specific car and he basically tells you to go stick it. So you are on your own to look for clues. By hitting your controls you activate your special glasses that allow you to see all the evidence stick out at you. By clicking on specific things like a DNA or tire tracks, you can determine if it belongs to the person or car your looking for.

It took a while to figure all this out. I did a lot of walking around, button mashing, and consulting with people around me to get to this point. After you search around for awhile, the big tough guy gets angry and confronts you, eventually grabbing you and dragging you along with a gun to your head. If you hit certain buttons when the icons pop up, you can knock things in his way, or trip him up long enough to get away or grab the gun. This part requires perfect timing and you may need to start over.

Another feature of the game is to know what is on the characters mind and what he thinks about different things. By clicking a button, you bring up several options including mood, sadness, weather, etc. When you click on these, you get a better sense of how he feels about himself and what’s around him. I think once you get the control schemes down, this could be a very fun game. It reminded me a bit of Indigo Prophecy for the PS2. Available sometime in 2010.

Fat Princess

This was an awesome, fun little title. It is a “Defend the Castle” type game that can be played online. I was playing as a character from the red team, defending my castle from the blue team. You can pick from five classes including mage, archer and gunner. You can change these classes at will and each class has different weapons you can switch from by hitting a button. All you do to switch classes to to pick up the different hats. The hats are found at your base (produced by machines) or by finding them on the field. You can even get a rivals hat.

Not only do you have to defend you castle but you have you have to infiltrate the rivals castle and save your princess who is in the rival castle. This is not easy because people will be shooting at you from all over. The best option is teamwork, which was hard for me since I was playing with people I couldn’t communicate with. In order to stop the rivals from saving their princess, you can feed her cake that you find laying around the field. When you feed them the cake, the princesses get fatter and fatter, and it will take several people to work together to save her, making her harder to rescue.

This was a fast paced, quick moving game that had a lot of fun with. If you get killed, you just start back at your base and try again. And you can play with your friends online to team up against the rivals, or be on separate teams for more competition! This title is available at the end of the month at the Playstation store.

Site [Playstation] Read [IGN] Read [Gamertell]

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We just got word from i2TV.tv that our promotional teaser trailer of our upcoming science-fiction film “Transcend” has been selected to be aired on cable television in three states.

It will be available in the state of PA in the cities of VENANGO, WATERFORD, TOWNVILLE, CAMBRIDGE SPRINGS, EDINBORO, SAEGERTOWN, MC KEAN, CRANESVILLE at the times of 2009-06-26 05:07:27, 2009-06-26 20:07:27, 2009-06-25 14:07:27, 2009-06-26 10:07:27, 2009-06-26 15:07:27, 2009-06-25 09:07:27, 2009-06-25 04:07:27, 2009-06-25 19:07:27 Tune in to the TV provider Coaxial Cable TV under the TV Channel of i2TV.

It will also aired in the state of MO in the city of SAINT JOSEPH at the times of 2009-06-26 05:07:27, 2009-06-26 20:07:27, 2009-06-25 14:07:27, 2009-06-26 10:07:27, 2009-06-26 15:07:27, 2009-06-25 09:07:27, 2009-06-25 04:07:27, 2009-06-25 19:07:27 Tune in to the TV provided NPG Cable under the TV Channel i2TV.

And finally, it will be broadcast in the state of CA, in the cities of LOOMIS, CARMICHAEL, CITRUS HEIGHTS, ANTELOPE, GRANITE BAY, SACRAMENTO, ROSEVILLE, MCCLELLAN, LINCOLN, ELK GROVE, ROCKLIN at the times of 2009-06-26 05:07:27, 2009-06-25 14:07:27, 2009-06-26 10:07:27, 2009-06-25 09:07:27, 2009-06-25 04:07:27, 2009-06-25 19:07:27. Tune into TV provider SureWest under the TV Channel i2TV.

This is fantastic news. It only shows us that all of our hard work and sacrifices are paying off. We thank i2TV for this incredible opportunity hope that some of our fans that are in those states and cities will have the opportunity to check out our work! If you can’t check it out on live television, check it out online by clicking the film title above!

Thanks!

Click here to view the embedded video.

In the Kotaku.com article, Stephen Totilo talked about the supposedly fraudulent use of the word Exclusive by Bethesda and Microsoft to describe their releases of not only Fallout 3, but the DLC for the game that continues to follow. He makes a decent point of it until he quotes a former Kotaku.com member, now a member of GTTV, says that the meaning of the word Exclusive has changed slightly in the past couple years, to mean that the release or premier is exclusive to a certain system or consoles. This completely negates the entire article, because it’s a perfectly reasonable explanation as to the change of the use of the word in this day and age.

The article splits hairs, as I’ve been known to do and sometimes enjoy. I think, although, this is unreasonable to the point of being annoying. Words change and evolve over time, and it’s best to just accept change and change with them.

These random thoughts have been brought to you by your local CEO and closet writer, Leto.

You might think we got crazy at GOG.com, but we have just released Heroes® of Might and Magic® and we’re selling it for a special introductory price for only $5.99! Until Thursday, May 21 at 11:59 p.m. EDT you can save $4.00 USD buying this great classic.

Our good friends over at GoG.com have also provided us some great prizes that we’re going to be giving away soon, so keep your eyes peeled to www.TheGeekMedia.com and get on on some classic gaming goodness.

The Sniper Class has been revealed to be what will receive the next upgrade. And the first weapon has been revealed to be…. uh…. bow and arrow?

What could the simple, majestic bow do for a class that already has a high-powered rifle? Well it’s quite simple, stick stuff to walls! Also, any headshot is guaranteed to be a critical hit.

Here’s an excerpt from the article,

Sources said that the Mortal Kombat team has become increasingly “frustrated” with the handling of Midway’s bankruptcy filing. MK staffers also expressed irritation from being in the position of delivering million unit-selling titles on time and on a bi-annual schedule while other projects at the company languish in development.

Midway representatives, when contacted for comment, opted not to discuss the Mortal Kombat team’s plans, saying that the team was in “good shape.” They did, however, want to stress that Midway itself is not withholding any owed payment to the Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe developers.

It’ll certainly be interesting to see how the Mortal Kombat team evolves and moves onto being a full fledged game developer.

I’ve been pushing the sheer joy that appears to be oozing out of screens and videos of Jumpgate: Evolution for a good six months now, and I still believe I’m right. I recently posted up a boss fight walkthrough video up on www.newgeekorder.com that had been put out, and just today I stumbled upon a video hosted by Kotaku.com that’s more or less a short promotional video for Jumpgate: Evolution. The only reason it’s worth mentioning is that it promotes the beta at the end, quite distinctly.

The Beta for this game is close, I can feel it in the force young padawans. Multiple promotional videos released in the same week, displaying different themes for the same game across the internet that’s been widely touted as the spiritual successor to Earth and Beyond? That’s proof something’s brewing I think. Keep your eyes peeled for Jumpgate: Evolution beta invitations in your email boxes soon, and if you’re not signed up for it yet then get on the internet and get that done, because being left out of this is something any good MMO gamer is going to regret.

Here’s the video that was posted recently on Kotaku.com…

I first heard about this over on Kotaku, and followed the internet paper-trail through the internet tubes around in hopes of finding something of substance. I didn’t, of course, as most rumors don’t have much of a basis.

People, please, please I know you’re intelligent (you read this website on some basis), so stop the rumor mongering here. If anyone asks about a possible 5th IP from Blizzard, tell them that there isn’t any concrete information at all on this. It’s not worth the time talking about. When Blizzard Entertainment DOES release any information regarding their next IP, you’ll bet you can find it right here, but it’s not here yet.

Now back to your regularly scheduled blog posts and podcasts.

-Dan “Leto” Hahn, your neighborly CEO

We regret to inform you that due to the current economic conditions we are forced to indefinitely suspend the FileFront site operations on March 30, 2009. If you have uploaded files, images or posted blogs, or if you would like to download some of your favorite files, please take this opportunity to download them before March 30th when the site will be suspended.

We would like to give a warm thank you to all of you who have been part of the FileFront communities we have built together. Your support has had a meaningful impact for all of us here at FileFront. Again, we want to give you a sincere “thank you” for your support over the years and wish you all the very best.

Keep gaming alive,

FileFront Management and Team.

Contact_us@filefront.com

TGM wishes them the best, and hopes that a service can step up and fill the void that we’re sure will be left after March 30th.

As it stands, the current graphics coming out of the CryTEK DPs are already over the top of what the everyday system can handle. It stands that Crysis still won’t run on my system on it’s lowest settings, and I can currently play World of Warcraft on it’s highest settings without any hiccups or issues. With that kind of benchmark, I really scratch my head and ask myself what CryTEK wants to do by advancing their platform, graphics, and tools even more. I understand they’re out to sell copies of their software and prove they’re the premium game developer that they feel they are, but seriously? More powerful graphics? Do they want no one to be able to play their games? This is silly in my opinion, you have to let the general public catch up with what you’re putting out.

This has been a random opinion from your neighborly CEO, Leto.

This will affect the atmosphere on every server in a major way, more than anything because RvR, or Realm versus Realm, is the dominating feature of the game. Low population servers will lack a lot of the RvR activity, while highly-populated servers have an abundance of RvR.

We’ll be looking at the situation on the merged servers, as a total of 63 servers are being closed or merged together. You can find out more about these changes at WarhammerOnline.com

It’s a long letter, probably two or three standard pages worth, so be ready to sit down for ten or fifteen minutes and digest this instead of just skimming over, just click the read more tab to see the letter in it’s entirety. Credit to Kotaku.com and their network for posting this.

An Open Letter to Utah’s Parents and Leaders
March 6, 2009

As you read this, Utah legislators are preparing to pass legislation that risks, perhaps unintentionally, putting an end to hugely successful efforts to prevent children’s access to video games intended for older audiences. I write today in the hopes of averting this grave mistake, and to propose a more responsible course of action instead.

Legislation expanding Utah’s existing Truth in Advertising law (H.B. 353) would require that if a video game retailer promotes its adherence to a policy restricting the sale of video games rated M for Mature – which, like the R rating for movies, indicates it is recommended for those ages 17 and older – and then sells an M-rated game to anyone under the recommended age, they could be subject to a lawsuit, fines and/or the payment of additional costs and legal fees. In fact, all major retailers of video games currently have such policies, which they have put in place voluntarily and with which they are in compliance the vast majority of the time. According to a recent audit, Utah video game retailers enforce their store policies regarding the sale of M-rated games an impressive 94% of the time – without any laws or requirements that they do so. That level of compliance took many years to achieve, and speaks to the strong commitment of video game retailers to do the right thing.

So why is this bill likely to put an end to those very efforts it seeks to support? On its face such an amendment makes good sense; after all, if a retailer says they’re going to do something, they should do it, right? While the intent of this legislation would be to hold retailers accountable for compliance with their stated policies – presumably in that negligible 6% of instances where they fail to comply – the unfortunate reality is that it would introduce a liability that will likely force many retailers to seriously consider abandoning their voluntary policies and ratings education programs, undoing years of progress made on behalf of parents and their children.

It’s worth noting that when the Federal Trade Commission first began measuring retailer compliance with video game sales policies nationwide in 2000, a scant 15% of underage customers were turned away. However, the most recent such study reported in May 2008 found that national retailers refused to sell M-rated games to customers under 17 a remarkable 80% of the time, far surpassing the comparable rates of compliance for movies, DVDs, or music CDs rated for a mature audience. The unraveling of this substantial progress would be a tragic consequence, depriving parents of the assurance and control they currently have with respect to deciding which games their children can purchase and play.

Utah State Representative Michael Morley, the chief sponsor of this new amendment, was recently quoted in the Deseret News stating that, “if they’re one of those places that thinks, ‘Well, as long as they have a heartbeat and some money we’ll sell to them,’ then this won’t have any impact on them.” That statement reveals exactly why this law would
be so destructive. It would effectively penalize responsible retailers that have policies, and provide safe harbor for retailers that refuse to adopt a responsible policy in the first place. That is downright senseless. If the goal is to make sure our children are playing age-appropriate games, there is a better way.

The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), of which I am president, is a non-profit organization created in 1994 to help parents determine which computer and video games are appropriate for their children. Most retailers only carry games that have been rated by the ESRB, and game consoles and handheld devices include settings that parents can activate to block games by ESRB rating. Elected officials across the country, including Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, and groups like PTA have joined ESRB in helping educate the public about the rating system to great effect. The FTC recently reported that 73% of parents regularly use ESRB ratings when buying games for their children; 59% “never” allow their child to play an M-rated game, and 34% only do so “sometimes.”

The bottom line is that parents are more than capable of utilizing tools like the ratings to make the right choices for their families. And there is broad support of ESRB ratings from major retailers and the game industry alike. The proposed legislation is looking to fix a system that is not broken. Instead, we should all be focused on figuring out ways to encourage parents to use the excellent tools already available to them to make informed choices about the media their children consume. Punishing retailers for promoting responsible sales policies is irrational and counter-productive. I write in the sincere hope that Utah chooses to empower its parents with information rather than undo the substantial progress made by retailers to date to serve the best interests of Utah’s children.

With warm regards,
Patricia E. Vance
President

Valve Software, makers of the Half Life series as well as the online gaming service Steam, are no exception to this.  Valve discovered a number of players that have been cheating in the game Team Fortress 2, and as such has enacted a punishment upon them.  Some have lost their unlockable TF2 gear for a few weeks, others suspended from Steam, and some potentially banned from Steam all-together.  This is all well and good, as Valve not only have a community to manage (the Steam community) but a number of online games as well (TeamFortress 2, Left4Dead, etc).  However, statements made on the official Team Fortress 2 blog makes one wonder: was Valve’s head screwed on when they wrote this, or do they really think of us as their “pets”.

On February 25th, 2009, a post made to the TF2 blog by the poster “TF Announcer”, a similarity was made regarding players that cheated.

I feel like a dog owner who’s rubbed her pet’s nose in a mess on the carpet, only to turn around and discover it setting fire to the drapes.

Now, one could say that this statement is just a joke statement, a little off the cuff joke under the guise of “The TF2 Announcer” (which I am assuming is supposed to be a joke on the female announcer in game who always tells me that my intelligence has been captured).  Lets look at this statment a bit.

“I feel like a dog owner” – okay, a person who owns something else, that being a dog

“who rubbed her pets nose in a mess on the carpet” – DON”T CHEAT!!!!  NOOOO, BAD DOG!!!

“only to turn around and sicover it setting fire to the drapes” – this would be in reference to the people who still cheated even after Valve made the first post saying not to do it.

I understand what the statement is “trying” to do.  It is an attempt to make the cheating players look like lame dogs yet at the same time it seems that the statement is calling all players “dogs”, and that the bad ones (cheaters) are the issue.    I could see something like this coming out of a fan forum or even the steam forums from some fanboy doing what all fanboys do, that being name calling.  For an official post from a company, especially a company like Valve that has large investments into Steam as a platform, throwing around statements where you are calling your users dogs, regardless of if they cheat or not, seems to me to be dangerous.

My final word on the matter is this: Attention Valve Software and Gabe Newell, I AM NOT YOUR PET!  I do NOT bring in your slippers.  I am a paying customer who enjoys your products.  Poorly written statements such as this will, if it continues, make me no longer buy your games.  Its not a gameplay/balance or anything those fanboy kiddies like to complain about like there’s no tomarrow.  No, it is about respecting your customers.

And yes, the statement could be “role played” from the perspective of the TF2 female announcer who could quite possiably be having a bad day (the character, not the voice actress), however if that is the case, statements regarding the management of Steam as well as the banning/suspending of players should be made in a more official and proper manner and not some comedy club act.

As for what we know on the topic, there isn’t much that hasn’t been slathered over the internet already. We know that a Director in BoB, on an alt, got suckered into a recruiting ploy by GoonSquad (as they’re known to do on a regular basis). Instead of cussing them out and walking away, the director asked if he could stick around. He showed GoonSquad the private forums for BoB as a good will gesture, and began talks with how to eliminate BoB. Plans were made and, in the end, almost all of the major assets that Band of Brothers had are now in the possession of GoonSquad.

This in turn has caused a chain reaction over the past few hours, chaos has ensued all over the galaxy in Eve as former allies and members of Band of Brothers have begun all-out assaults against known GoonSquad holdings. The Massively article describes it in detail, but in shorthand, there are no battle lines anymore, and even innocent bystandards are being dragged into the warzones.

One of GoonSwarm’s stated motivations from their early days as an alliance was to punish what they viewed as the arrogance of Band of Brothers. If they’ve held true to that ideal, stealing the alliance out from under BoB effectively means GoonSwarm has accomplished what they set out to do years ago. To add insult to injury, The Mittani has stated he’ll be publishing the archived BoB director forums he gained access to for everyone to read. In the meantime, GoonSwarm and many other enemies of Band of Brothers are absolutely storming BoB’s home systems in Delve, and chaos reigns. The political lines in EVE Online have been completely redrawn, and we suspect that the ensuing drama is far from over.

From Massively.com.

At first I thought she was just saying that it looked like a Mii in the picture that was used, but no. This is a Mii, an actual Mii from the Wii gaming system, used as a mugshot to help find a criminal. A Mii, for those that aren’t Wii fans, is the avatar one can make to go along with a player profile, stats, and other options that you have with the Wii.

The article doesn’t say whether the Mii is the actual perps, or just a composite the police put together using a Wii, but either way it’s a sign that people are using new technology in innovative and creative ways. You can read the original article here!

Title: Fallout 3
Price: $59.99 from most retail outlets
System(s): *Xbox 360, PS3 and PC
Release Date: October, 28, 2008
Publisher (Developer): Bethesda
ESRB Rating: “Mature” for blood and gore, intense violence, sexual themes, strong language and use of drugs
Pros: High replayability, great story, beautiful graphics, lots of things to do, makes you think about things statistically and tactically due to radiation or addiction effecting you.
Cons: Opportunities for boss battles are largely ignored, not much in the way of transportation, difficulty can be irritating with radiation or addiction effecting you, endings leave a lot to be desired,
Overall Score: Two thumbs up, 90, A-, * * * * out of five.

Lately I’ve heard a debate of which is a better game. Is Fallout 3 better than Far Cry 2 or vice versa?  Simply stated, Fallout 3 is the better, more solid game.

Hail to the chief

Nuclear war has broken out turning quite a bit of the world into a broken, irradiated, desolate wasteland. Part of the surviving population has figured out how to live and survive on whatever they can. The others live in underground vaults. You are one of the people who grew up in the vaults. One day your father leaves the vault, which means you have to leave the vault for your own survival. Right from the start, you’re gaining good or bad karma, which goes into one of the four endings. Karma is based off of things like whether or not you kill people at random, steal, help people, etc.

When you finally break out of Vault 101, you’re greeted with a beautifully rendered atomic wasteland that used to be Washington DC and its surrounding suburbs. Mutants and raiders wander the landscape, occasionally attacking each other. They mainly raid and kill people in certain towns like “Big Town” or “Arefu.“ Also in each town, usually there is someone or just most of the townsfolk usually have problems that they need help dealing with.

The standard game is Oblivion with guns in Washington DC. Right from the start there are multiple story arcs that deal with situational contexts. While there is the main quest, there are multiple side quests. Even if you don’t go for the side quests there is a massive ruined world to explore. To give you an idea of different paths you can take, one of the side quest story arcs deals with one of the biggest towns in the game “Megaton.“ You can either protect it from those who would otherwise destroy the town or you can join the ranks of those who want to destroy by detonating the bomb that “Megaton” is built around.

The radiation and addiction aspects of the game make you think about things in a more strategic way. This is because drug/alcohol addictions can drop stats while you’re going through withdrawal and radiation poisoning can lead to dropped stats or death itself. Use a drug or alcohol too much and you can get addicted. Eat most anything or drink something other than purified water and you’ll look at an increase in radiation because most things are irradiated. Being that there is a limited supply of purified water, you’d be looking at a rapid increase in radiation and an eventual agonizing radiation-related death.

Even with the amount of side quests the game has originally, the recent expansion Operation: Anchorage, adds to the story as you play through one of the most epic things in the game’s storyline. You play through the missions to liberate a less irradiated Alaska from the grips of Communist China. It also adds equipment that you might have seen but weren’t able to use in the original setting. Honestly though there really isn’t much to in the way of different modes but it follows Oblivion’s philosophy of drowning the player with options, so replayability is not hindered at all.

The VATS system works like a charm showing you your attempts to kill enemies in slow motion. If you do enough damage, or have done enough already, you do get quite a beautiful execution scenes that may have limbs or a head flying off your target. The one complaint that can be made is that it might slow down gameplay, but due to the artistry and how helpful it can be, it’s worth a slight slowing of gameplay.

Just a Little Irritating

There’s a lot of opportunities for big epic boss battles. Unfortunately they’re usually ignored. They still do have some pretty epic moments. It could’ve had bigger, better battles in the game. Game play was still challenging and fun but still there have to be some battles that give you a higher feeling of accomplishment while you’re playing.

While there is the quick travel, it can only work with places you discovered. Otherwise all travel is done on foot. The size of the world can be a bit of a strain on some people’s patience since it’s largely the same broken down, dying landscape with very few variations. Something like a car might be occasionally useful, since it would allow you to travel quicker than your average travel time while admiring the artistry of the landscape.

The difficulty for game can be unforgiving. With radiation and addictions kicking in, most things that haven’t killed you eventually will. This can lead to some pretty cheap deaths that will make you go through a mission or part of a mission that you thought you were done with multiple times. Then again, unlike Far Cry 2, saves and autosaves are closer making this issue a bit easier to deal with things. Then again, if you hit an autosave point while dying or near death, that can lead to problems anyway.

The endings, by far, are the worst things about the game. While it is marginally affected by your actions there’s about four endings that aren’t even that different from each other. They amount to saying either you’re a good virtuous people, a good person missing some virtues, a prick who happens to be necessary or just a flat out prick who doesn’t care who he steals from or kills. They really don’t show the overarching results of the good or evil that you did during the game. With Fallout and Fallout 2 they followed up with results of your actions. The endings are just kinda dull.

Prosperity or desolation?

The game is a great and worth the money. Sure, it does have its rough spots. However, this is a shining example of what a “next-gen” RPG and FPS should be. If you do get it from your standard retail store, the main game will set you back about $50-60.

Site [Fallout 3] Read [Gamertell]

Full Story » | Written by Jonathan Gronli for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

TwitterFriends – joining the dots (fasterfuture.blogspot.com)
50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Business (momblognetwork.com)
TwiTip – Twitter Tools and Resources Round-Up [...]

With all the positive press that Resident Evil 5 is receiving close to its release, it is understandable that most gamers would salivate at the opportunity to finally see for themselves whether this game can justify the considerable hype that it is receiving.

Gamers will finally get that chance today (January 26, 2009), as it was just announced by Major Nelson that the demo is now available on the Live Marketplace for download. Clocking in at 472 MB, the demo is the same as the one has been available in Japan for a while now, containing a pair of levels that can be experienced either via the single-player or cooperative play modes.

As for Playstation 3 players, they will also have the chance to experience Resident Evil 5 but will have to wait a bit longer. According to Eurogamer, Playstation 3 players will be able to have a chance to experience the demo on February 2, 2009. However, a more likely opportunity will probably make itself known during the next Playstation Store update, which will take place this coming Thursday.

I eagerly anticipate the opportunity to play Resident Evil 5. Knowing Capcom’s track record this year, I am confident that they will release a quality product. The only question that I have to consider now is what system should have the honor of experiencing this fine product. Will it be the Playstation 3 or the Xbox 360?

Read [Major Nelson’s Blog] Via [Joystiq] Also Read [Eurogamer]

Full Story » | Written by Jason Townsend-Rogers for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

I’ve spent a lot of time talking about how newspapers and media must move forward – and then, it started.  So now what do I do – that boat left the harbor…or is at least boarding.

I know – time to pick on the sales department!  Here’s the post that sparked this convo:

Revenue growth is priority #1 for most businesses today. So, good salespeople are in demand, and management wants to give them the best possible tools to make them productive. Selling is a numbers game. As long as you do reasonably sensible things, the time invested tends to corelate to revenue earned. Therefore, productivity really does matter. This is not an area to skimp on. If you can make somebody who brings in $1 million in revenue 10% more productive, that would mean an additional $100,000. So, what is happening in the market with tools for those who hustle on the front lines of business, the people who sell the products and services, who get capital for your business and sell it when the time comes, who hire the people who can grow your business? What will they be using in future?

Sales departments must get it together.  It is time to change or be rolled over.  The potential is huge here – the consumer wants to get the best deals they can.  Business’s need education on what their type of business needs and we (media outlets) have to be the people the business’s turn to.

But have we figured it out yet?

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I think my buddy Nick told me about this a while back – I’m 100% sure I ignored him until I found ashort time ago again in Google reader.  The site is called Apture.

Add Multimedia to Your Website with One Click.

• Integrate text, images, video, maps, music, documents, presentations and more from 20+ sources.
• Keep visitors on your site, instead of sending them away.
• Embed media with a single click – no more urls or codes.

My only beef is the cool things they are doing reminds me of those pesky little pop-ups that advertisers have latched onto over the past couple of years.  They are annoying – not apture’s cool ones – but the advertisers el-junko.

I have not plugged this one in yet – but would be interested to hear anyone else’s mileage.

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If you’ve got a Wii, a DS and Wi-Fi internet, you’re in for a surprise today. SouthPeak has released a free demo of its forthcoming DS game Big Bang Mini. The full game’s out January 22, 2009, just a few days from today, so you’ll be able to sample this unique shooter and determine if it’s something you’d enjoy. I can see now that I’m going to have something to check out when I get home. I love when decent demos appear on the Nintendo Channel. Makes me feel special.

The demo is really minuscule, compared to the full game. You get to play three different levels from three of the nine different worlds (Aurora, Hong Kong and Luxor). The goal of the game is partically to detonate fireworks, as well as complete other shooting challenges. The full game has nine worlds and over 90 levels.

Big Bang Mini is fairly affordable, coming in at $19.99. It’s also family-friendly – the ESRB rated it Everyone. So if you’ve got Christmas or holiday money left over and are needing a new DS game, it might be worth a look.

Read [OMG Nintendo.com] Also Read [Destructoid]

Full Story » | Written by Jenni Lada for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

The whole reason I started blogging was to “conversate” about the web, media and how they were (and many time were not) coming together.  The company I work for (Gazette Communication) has been in the “oh crap, people are not reading newspapers like they used to – what do we do now” boat with a lot of other old media companies for a while, realizing the world is changing and it is time to change or be trampled by new media outlets.

I was so glad, and nervous, to hear of the bold moves we have made over the last week or so.  (The process has been going on for over a year – so I was very glad to see the outward push.)  The Gazette has made the decision that it is time to change – or, hopefully, transform.  A part of this transformation is explained in our editor’s (Steve Buttry) post from Saturday:

The changes we are making are no surprise: Chuck Peters, our CEO, began discussing them with the staff about two years ago, long before I showed up last June. He began blogging last April about the need to change.

…

For all of those 126 years, our success has been tied to a packaged product, a newspaper. Even though our customers like that packaged product and many even love it, they aren’t buying it because of the package but because of the content: stories, photographs, columns, graphics, editorials, obituaries, calendars, box scores, lists of information, advertisements.

We’re moving to a way which will allow the content to be much more portable than is has ever been before – and that is hard.  Hard because not only have we personally been doing this for 126 years, but there are not a lot of road maps on making it work.  So we’re traveling in uncharted territory.

And even though all eyes are on the news room – you can rest assured this message is clear throughout the entire organization.  My job is in technical services, in web development.  So although we’re no where near the front line, you can bet our service is something which will be so important and we want to be the best we can be too.

Read more about how and what technical services is thinking here at Mike Coleman’s (my boss):

As we continue as a company to close in on target models for information content gathering and packaged product delivery, one thing is very clear. We still have some distance to cover before a clear path is laid for gathering or packaging content.

This is the first of many very scary, but positives, moves into the direction of content creation for a new media world.  I applaud the Gazette for being aggressive in a time where the easy road leads directly into passive town, but the dirt road leads over aggressive mountain.

We’re building new roads and albeit I am very nervous, most of all overwhelmingly excited to be a part of it.  This is one of those times when you day – yup, I was a part of that.

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Why can't we just hold hands and sing "We are the world"?

Welcome back to the article series that has no business being written from a lowly internet user like myself, Rob [Citation Needed] Shepard.

WKOWTV in Madison, WI reported on a woman named Abbie Schubert who bought a laptop from Dell.  The laptop was going to be used with the online classes she enrolled in for the Madison Area Technical College (MATC).

She didn’t realize, however, that the laptop’s default OS was the Ubuntu distribution of Linux…

Schubert says she never heard of Ubuntu until learning that she accidentally bought it.  She called Dell the very next day and says the representative told her there was still time to change back to Windows.

But she says Dell discouraged her.

“The person I was talking to said Ubuntu was great, college students loved it, it was compatible with everything I needed,” said Schubert.

Since the story was posted, many Ubuntu users (over 100,000 as stated in the linked article) began to send  emails to both the station as well as Schubert via her FaceBook account.  Many of the messages are said to to calling her “lazy”, “dumb” and “not worthy of a college degree”.

I asked TGM Strategist, Dan (Leto) Hahn to get in contact with the news station and the woman, but they simply want all of this to go away now due to the can of worms that was opened up.  Would we like to get Schubert’s full and more detailed description of the events in question?  Yes.  The original article was rather sparce and has been added more to the whole debate.

Adventure horror fans will be able to get a great deal in February, since Paradox Interactive is going to be releasing the Penumbra Collection. You get Penumbra Overture, the first game in the series, Penumbra: Black Plague and Black Plague‘s expansion, Penumbra: Requiem. If the Amazon‘s listing is any indication the game collection will be out February 17, 2009 for $19.99

If you’ve never played the games, they’re nicely done and very creepy, without being overly violent. Both Overture and Black Plague are essentially adventure games with action and horror elements, and you’re gradually moving through each entry, discovering the truth about the environments and characters. Penumbra: Requiem is actually more of a survival, horror, puzzle game, where Phillip has to escape from a tomb/maze by finding keys and reaching the exit.

All three games star a physicist named Phillip who suddenly discovers after his mother dies that his father left them and didn’t die. Without revealing too much of the story here, Phillip goes to Greenland to discover the truth about his father and gets caught up with a mysterious organization’s plot. For the budget price of $19.99, the games may be worth checking out. Especially if you enjoyed games like Silent Hill, BioShock and Portal – since the Penumbra games have some similar elements.

Read [Monstervine] Product Page [Amazon]

Full Story » | Written by Jenni Lada for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

Chief Executive Steve Jobs stunned shareholders and the tech world by announcing that he was taking a leave of absence until the end of June due to health reasons.

“During the past week I have learned that my health-related issues are more complex than I originally thought,” Jobs said in an email to Apple employees.

This comes on the heels of Jobs not giving the keynote at the Macworld expo in California, and only a week earlier, it was revealed as to what his medical issue actually is.

The news came just a week after Jobs revealed that a hormone imbalance was at the root of weight loss that has prompted speculation about his health.

Will any luck, hopefully Jobs will recover speedily and continue to lead one of the most successful and popular tech companies to ever have existed.

For the last few months I’ve been on the WordPress train.  This is a pretty big step from my background as an ASP.NET programmer.  I know,and trust me – the nightmares came back when I found out php was TOO much like classic asp. 

Why WordPress?  I think it is a brilliant platform.  I have never seen anything quite like it.  From the elegance and completeness of the platform to the insane dedication of the community…it’s comm-plee-teet.  And please do not get me started on the plugins.  It took me a month to find something no one else had built yet to learn how to build one?

So what…you like it Tom, ok – I get it.

That brings us to iowa.com.  I work at Gazette Communications in the WebDev group.  We’ve been working with a team of   are trying to break free of the traditional media ties and begin to make new roads (at least of old media people) on the “internets”.

There are many plans laid for what iowa.com will be – basically they can be put into two categories:  content or engine.  The engine part is most exciting for me – we have a calendar engine, a blogging engine and a few more which we have to keep under wraps for a bit.  This is very cool and it is letting the WebDev geeks get some kung-fu going, but that is not the part that has me worried.

It’s the content that worries me.  Yea – content.  Why, we’ll it was my suggestion we used WordPress in setting up the site.  Then I had another brilliant idea – enter all content into the site as pages, I hope that one doesn’t come back to haunt me.  I only figured out a month later that pages in WordPress cannot be categorized.  (Now, in perfect WP community fashion – there is a solution to this problem.)

So here we are – the site is pushing 125 pages now…I used to think think that was big, but then I realized this site has 300+ posts.  If things get nutty – we can always leverage WP-Cache, and that should solve any of the serving issues.

I’ll keep you up to date – just keep me informed if you take a look at the site…please be honest.  Also – I’m looking to talk to anyone else who is using WordPress as a CMS and hopefully with some fairly significant traffic.

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All I have to say is yes, yes and yes.

1. Microsoft makes a very bold play with Powerset technology
2. Semantic Web advertising
3. Semantic apps for managing your finances
4. Semantic apps for health industry
5. A Personalized Memetracker

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This is a cool little product to come out of CES…I think I’ll see how much one is so I can finally put that computer under the kitchen cabnet.

At CES, Asus unveiled a full-sized keyboard with a PC built in. The PC’s desktop can be viewed from the 5-inch interactive display on the keyboard’s right side. The display can also operate media controls in addition to displaying a Windows desktop. The Asus Eee keyboard, named after the company’s line of netbook products, features an Atom processor, USB and video ports, an HDMI port to connect to your HDTV, Wi-Fi, and a solid state drive.

Right now the battery only lasts 90 minutes, but the company plans to up that to 3 hours by the time the device is available for sale. At the moment, the keyboard is just a prototype, but the company plans to release it in September.

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Sega has quashed rumors that its first-person shooter based on the Aliens film franchise has been axed by announcing it is will be released in the first quarter of 2009.

After Gearbox Software’s Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway sold less than expected, rumors ran rampant that this sci-fi themed shooter might have been given the heave-ho from Sega. I’m just spitballing here but could those lackluster sales be because every third game on store shelves these days is a World War II shooter?

If the Axis powers had a soldier for every WWII shooter released in the past five years, they’d have won the war in a week. Besides which, the Aliens license will be an additional sales tool Brothers just didn’t have.

This is the second such denial in three months as in November 2008 the game’s developer assured us Aliens: Colonial Marines was still coming out. Gearbox Software President Randy Pitchford issued a statement trying to dispel the rumors then. With both Gearbox and Sega doing their best to still promote the game, it looks like a release both companies are expecting great things from.

It’s only fitting that the Colonial Marines should appear in a video game, as every “tough American military grunts beat up evil imperialistic aliens” game including Halo owes a debt to the Aliens films. If this project can adequately capture the thrilling exploits of the movie series, count me in.

If they screw it up, I’ll be first in line to blow this thing out the airlock.

Read [VideoGamer] Also Read [Xbox360Fanboy]

Full Story » | Written by Brian Allen for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

I came across this post tonight which was notes from an interview with Google’s Eric Schmidt.

Is there some grand gesture Google can make to solve the newspaper industry’s problems?

It’s not obvious what the grand gesture would be. Google can’t make the cost of newsprint go down. We also can’t materially change the way consumers behave, and consumers are in fact moving their lives online. We have been able to send clicks to their Web sites, which they can monetize. So that provides some revenue. The problem is that doesn’t provide enough revenue to offset the loss of the other revenue.

Seriously…read between the lines here.  Now don’t get me wrong – newspapers need to get their act together about 2 years ago, but Google will suffer if newspapers start to disappear.

Schmidt was also quoted saying:

Schmidt drew quite a bit of attention a few months back when he said the company has a “moral imperative” to help newspapers figure out new revenue models.

Imperative, yes – but moral…hmmmm, not sure.  I think Google would feel the loss – and we know they get paid by traffic – and newspapers still have, and are gain more and more traffic everyday.

So – maybe instead of all the newspaper summits – newspapers need to take Eric Schmidt up on his “imparative” to work it out.

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