My first video review. More to come.

EDIT: Redid the audio, so it’s 10x better now.

• James Cameron wouldn’t shut up about his new movie.
• The Host was staring at the teleprompter the whole time.
• Harry Potter’s Soccer Adventure.  Sigh.  I loved how it took them 10 minutes to get the trailer to play.  Poor Pele.
• Red Steel 2 looks alright.
• More Rabbids is never a bad thing.
• Assassin’s Creed 2 what a surprise.
• Ninja Turtles Smash Bros WHAT.
• 12,000 new Petz, My Coach, and Imagine games is not really that surprising.

Here’s what I got out of today’s press conference:

• Halo: Reach.  New Halo game (there’s a big surprise)  I’ve already read the Halo books, so I know how this one plays out.  So, on top of ODST, that’s two Halo games coming out.  Maybe Bungie should, I dunno, try something new?  At this rate they’re going to milk that cash cow to death.
• Project Natal.  The 360 is getting motion controls, but with a twist:  You are the controller.  Supposedly provides advanced motion recognition.  Sounds like the Eye Toy to me, so I’m not holding my breath.
• Metal Gear Solid Rising.  Oh look, a 360-exclusive Metal Gear title (starring Raiden).  PS3 owners everywhere weep.
• Gears of Metroidvania.  I don’t remember what the title of this game was, but it’s being produced by Epic for the XBox Live Marketplace.
• Some cart game.  Coming soon to XBox Live Marketplace – A free cart racing game!  You just have to pay for extra levels and cars.
• Alan Wake.  Survival Horror.  Looks promising.  Also looks like Silent Hill.
• Social Media Integration.  Soon you’ll be able to access Facebook and Twitter right from your dashboard.  Whee.
• Better video on demand.  Something about 1080p and coverage in new countries.  Wasn’t really paying attention.
• Milo.  Freakish “electronic companion” native to the uncanny valley being developed by Peter Molyneux.  Supposedly understands you and can talk back.  It’s like you really have a friend!
• Forza thing game.  Racing game.  Allows you to customize your cars.  Supposedly fosters communities among children.  It’s a racing game.
• Left 4 Dead 2.  Very short and vague clip.  I think they’re adding chainsaws.

Other games were shown during the presentation, but that’s all that really stood out for me.

Oh yeah, Steven Speilberg showed up at some point, right about the time I got bored and went to the gym.

Sorry about the site bouncing up and down over the past couple of days. It appears that my hosting account’s primary FTP account got hacked, and the L33T h4xx0rz have been screwing with my stuff. Should be resolved now that my host restored a backup and I’ve changed all of my passwords.

I’m curious to see how you all got started with the vidya, so feel free to copy this post’s format if you want.

Childhood
When I was three years old, my father bought me a NES. My mother objected, but Dad insisted that it would be good for my hand/eye coordination. That tiny event, which took place almost twenty years ago, was the most influential event in my early life. If I hadn’t become interested in video games, I would have never become interested in all things electronic, which would convince me to start tinkering with computers, which would lead to me getting my A+ certification at a fairly young age, which would inspire me to pursue a degree in Computer Technology at Purdue. Also, I would have never become a young basement-dweller, which would lead my parents to forcing me into middle school band, which would introduce me to a vast majority of my pre-college friends, which would lead me to doing marching band, which would force me to get in shape, and on and on and on.

But I’m rambling. Let’s talk about the vidya. (continue reading…)

Ok, so I just got done watching all of Gurren Lagann and I’m all optimistic and motivated. I’ll amend my previous statement: Instead of being on hold for now, we’ll just update whenever we have articles. Site keeps moving, traffic keeps trickling in, etc.

The XBox contest will remain on hold for now. I have a record of all of the points so far (since I’ve already published every single article that was written since the contest started and was paused), and when the contest resumes, I’ll just figure out how many days to run it and throw in the previous entries.

Sorry guys, I think this site needs a major overhaul to get things moving again, and that’s just something I can’t provide right now. We’ve seriously only received one new article in the last three days, and I just can’t seem to find any way to keep them coming in. I guess the only way to get things moving again is to get some money going.

This site is now on hold until further notice. The same applies to the XBox contest. Feel free to send me questions or post your thoughts in the forum.

CONTEST CURRENTLY ON HOLD. WILL RESUME IF WE EVER GET SOME ARTICLES GOING AGAIN.

It’s become clear to me that this site needs a serious kick in the ribs to get it going again. We’re pretty much we are out of articles, so drastic action is needed to keep this place from going belly up.  So, to cut right to the point, I’ve decided to have another contest.  Nothing lame this time though, I’m giving away one of these:

No, not a jpeg. An Xbox 360 Pro.

Yep, a brand new XBox 360 Pro.  Don’t look at me like that, I know I haven’t gone out and bought it yet (you’ll get a real picture when I do).  I want to make sure that people actually participate this time before buying the prize.  Also, I’m afraid this contest will be limited to participants in the US and Canada only (sorry guys, it’s expensive to ship overseas).

If you already own a 360 and you end up winning the contest, you can choose to receive a Wii instead (if I can actually find one, that is).  I honestly don’t know why anybody would want one though (that’s coming from someone who owns one).

So, how do you go about winning?  Here are the rules:

• Contest will run all throughout the month of March.
• Winner will be determined by a raffle ticket system.
• Create a new topic on a forum plugging this contest, get one ticket (please leave a comment on this post with a link to the post).  Limit one ticket per forum.
• Create a 100+ word blog post linking to this contest, get one ticket (please leave a comment on this post with a link to the post).  Limit one ticket per blog.
• Get an article published in March, get five tickets per article (that’s published, not submitted).
• I will contact the winner sometime in early April.  You have 5 days to answer me, or I will pick a new winner.  Once I’ve gotten things squared away with the winner, I will send them the prize.

So yeah, get the word out about the contest and write me some articles.  You may end up with a new console.

It’s not enough to simply win a match in Left 4 Dead.  No, you have to take it one step further, “secure your ultimate victory” some might say.  The true mark of a pro is one who can not only beat the other team, but cause them to ragequit as well.

Yes, ragequit.  If you can induce the other team to quit the match out of sheer rage, you are a true pro.  Some might say that intentionally attempting to cause such a hostile action is unsportsmanlike, but I would argue that polite, sportsmanlike conduct has no place outside of gaming leagues.  Indeed, this is the raw, unfiltered Internet, full of angsty preteens (playing an M rated game), social outcasts, and that guy who always quits after playing as Infected.  No, they deserve it, so troll away.

(continue reading…)

The economy isn’t looking to great right now, and we all know what that means – Impending societal collapse, lawlessness, and zombies. As intelligent people who enjoy the finer things in life, it’s up to us to start preparing for the upcoming apocalypse by securing the three things in life that matter the most – Food, protection, and the vidya. If you don’t know where to start, let this pictorial guide give you a few pointers.

First up, food
You can’t play games if you starve to death, so start stockpiling the essentials.  Your first thought might be to load up on nutritious food high in calories, but I’m afraid that you’re terribly mistaken.  What you need, of course, is caffeine.  Lots of it.  Have you ever gone two to three days without it?  The headaches will leave you incapacitated faster than a team of 12 year olds on the final map of Dead Air.  Stock up on Mountain Dew, Red Bull, caffeinated gum, or whatever can supply your daily fix.  Be sure to hide it too.

The essentials.

(continue reading…)