Wednesday, August 22, 2007

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I’m In Birthday Cake Hell

11:40PM August 22, 2007 | Brian Ashcraft

To: Crecente From: Bashcraft

So I ate birthday cake for breakfast. Lunch? Cake. Dinner? Udon and then cake. There are still a few pieces left, and since the cake was made from fresh cream, we have to eat all up before it goes bad. Frosting, this ain’t! Oddly, birthday cake in Japan seems to mean cake with strawberries. Not a big strawberry fan. Wife doesn’t really like them either. In fact, this year, I requested no strawberries. You know, like a regular birthday cake and of course was given a cake with strawberries.

Gonna go finish up a few mag articles, try to unwind a bit. There’s a bad ass lighting storm here. Will turn all the lights out for full effect. Good thing my MacBook Pro’s keyboard lights up. Heh.

What you missed Ken Levine says “sorry” for widescreen mess BioShock murdered some dude’s computer Sidewinder from various angles Microsoft’s gaming mouse Boy fries himself with his 360 I love Johnny Cash More »


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Rock Band PS2, Euro-Specific Tracks Announced

11:30PM August 22, 2007 | Luke Plunkett

Not like Rock Band needed much more help making money, but hey, whatever. EA and Harmonix have announced that the game will see a release in Europe (no word on a US version) on the PS2, alongside the previously-announced 360 and PS3 versions turning up early next year. It’ll have “most” of the features of the PS3/360 versions (guess it won’t have all the online stuff), and more importantly for the Euros, all versions will feature European-specific music. MTV’s Jeff Yap: The European continent’s rich and diverse musical pedigree transcends culture and language, which is why we are extremely pleased to announce Rock Band in Europe for early 2008.

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Korea Does Street Fighter II

11:20PM August 22, 2007 | Luke Plunkett

Somehow never saw/heard about this before, but it’s some old Korean live-action Street Fighter II…thing. Some of the actors are a hit (Zangief!), some a miss (Balrog?), while others, like Blanka, are simply FANTASTIC. Oh, and no. You can not have that eight minutes back.

Videos: A host of Street Fighter stuff More »


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The Booth Babes Of GC

11:07PM August 22, 2007 | Brian Crecente

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Journo Sees Game CEO In Toilet, Freaks Out

10:40PM August 22, 2007 | Brian Ashcraft

Ah, yes. MTV’s Stephen Totilo gets to rub elbows with music stars. Now thanks to MTV’s snatching up Rock Band developer Harmonix, Totilo gets to see game industry types. How exciting! And if he’s really, really lucky, he gets to run into people like Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopulos in the men’s room. Totilo recounts the tale: I was startled. I’m used to seeing rock stars and rappers walk around on my floor (Snoop has the biggest body guards of any of them), but game developers?

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New Kratos Figure To Cut The Inside Of Your Mouth On

10:20PM August 22, 2007 | Luke Plunkett

Wait, why is it in your mouth? Sure the packaging advises otherwise. Anyways. This is the Poseidon’s Rage Kratos figure, from NECA, which as you can see is translucent, blue, sharp and very, very cranky. No word on a release date (seems NECA are still discussing these terms with SCEA), but he can’t be too far off, since he was meant to make his debut at Comic-Con. I kinda like the blue – makes him look like a surly, sword-wielding Dr. Manhattan. Poseidon’s Rage Kratos Figure [TNI] More »


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Sony Not Hip To Violence Or Porno Association

10:00PM August 22, 2007 | Brian Ashcraft

This whole Manhunt 2 fiasco is a damn shame, really. Because the game was given an Adults Only ESRB rating, gaming’s equivalent of an NC-17 film rating, neither Sony or Nintendo will allow the game to be released on its hardware. Sony mouthpiece David Karraker tells Wired: We want to offer age-appropriate entertainment for our consumers but do not want to be associated with material that is gratuitously violent or pornographic.

Odd, because people don’t associate VAIO computers or Sony DVD players with hardcore pornography or violence. Yet, it’s possible to see both on them quite easily! Most customers are easily able to separate them — we’re not that stupid. How are games any different? Oh, right. Because console makers and politicians with agendas have told us they’re different. Thanks for that! AO Game Killing Power [Wired] More »


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Diddy Kong Ready To Beat Up SSBB

9:30PM August 22, 2007 | Brian Ashcraft

Another Super Smash Bros. Brawl update brings yet another character. This time it’s Donkey Kong’s best buddy Diddy Kong. The game’s official site notes: Donkey Kong’s pal has finally joined the battle! Unfortunately, screenshots fail to truly capture the way he moves. He scrambles around the battle, using whimsical fighting moves while wielding both his Rocketbarrel Boost and Peanut Pop Gun!

Shouldn’t come as a surprise as Diddy has been recently making cameos in Mario Hoops 3-on-3 and Mario Strikers Charged. Do people actually like these carefully calculated PR updates? They just seem to endlessly drag on and on and on… Diddy Kong [SSBB, Thanks Erick!] More »


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Pac-Man Turns Up In Rapture

9:00PM August 22, 2007 | Luke Plunkett

Cute. Sure to annoy those who like a realistic time-space continium, but how many of those will be reading? Not many. For the rest of us, cute.

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The Public Reaction To GTA IV’s Delay

8:30PM August 22, 2007 | Luke Plunkett

The latest print issue of The Onion is on newsstands. Within, some gaming-related study: just how is the man on the street dealing with the GTA IV delay? With varying degrees of success, it seems. [thanks Andrew!] More »