Sunday, September 21, 2008
You’ve Been Sent a FITNESS ULTIMATUM
10:00AM Owen Good | Alright, well, if Wii Fit wasn’t badass enough for you, now you can sign up to have your arse kicked by Jillian Michaels, whose “Fitness Ultimatum” for Wii (out next year) apparently involves an invisible Wiimote and a completely unforeseen monkey-bars peripheral. Graphics look a little clunky, but if you’re dripping as much sweat as this thing promises, you probably won’t care. But then, if you buy this thing, your priorities are probably way different from a standard gamer’s. Jillian Michaels Fitness Ultimatum 2009 Wii Trailer [YouTube, via Nintendo Wii Fanboy] More »
News
Oh Noes: Far Cry Releasing in Germany Only
9:00AM Owen Good | Kidding! We mean the piece-of-shit movie Uwe Boll is making under the same title. It has a Germany-only release date of Oct. 2, at least according to the press kit Big Download dug up. But still, big month for Uwe: Postal’s out on DVD, he’s got a game coming out, 1968 Tunnel Rats, which nevertheless sounds like the name of some second-division Bundesliga team. I wonder though, if he makes a movie based on the game of 1968 Tunnel Rats, would that be like a dog eating and then crapping its own turd? Far Cry Movie Premieres Oct 2 in Germany [Big Download] More »
Five Games to Play During a Stock Market Crash
8:00AM Owen Good | Surprisingly, Crazy Climber isn’t one of them. D’toid taps current events for a humor list this weekend: What to play when the global economy (thanks, U.S. lenders! When banks “compete” we’re all hosed!) is teetering. A particularly novel selection is the shitbag advergame Yaris, which is free, encourages useful global panic skills such as hypermiling with a subcompact, and is evocative of unemployment because hopefully someone lost their job over it. Actual fun games include Crackdown and Thief. I thought someone would have picked Black, although it’s unlikely we’ll be back in that anytime soon. The Five Best Video Games to Play During a Stock Market Crash [Destructoid] More »
On Gynophobia and Misogyny in Games and Gaming
6:30AM Maggie Greene | Over at Acid for Blood and Feminist Gamers, there are two interesting essays on the shooter/action game Cunt, which involves dastardly female genitalia (looking, as the FG article pointed out, “for all the world like a wizened creature out of the H.R. Giger convalescent home for aging genital monsters”) and a player tasked with causing ‘bloody cunt damage.’ And it’s not just a hack job from an amateur, being published by Newgrounds (of Alien Hominid and Castle Crashers). As pointed out in both spots, this game is a rather graphic representation of a fear of women that goes back a very, very long time, and, as pointed out at Feminist Gamers: More »
Wii Fit Girl Pays Back Boyfriend
6:00AM Owen Good | Alright! Who wants to see a dude with his pants down around his ankles hula-hooping on Wii Fit?! Wow, you guys are gonna tear your rotator cuffs waving your arms like that. Here’s “Gio,” the tongue-wagging boyfriend who “secretly” taped Wii Fit Girl Lauren Bernat back in June, creating a YouTube (but not viral marketing, insisted Nintendo) sensation. Lauren got revenge a week ago on the Tyra Banks Show, convincing her sweetums to drop trow and rotate his arse on national syndicated TV. You go, girl. Payback for Wii Fit Girl’s Boyfriend [Asylum] More »
Mega Man 9 Boss Art, Screens
5:00AM Owen Good | So we knew back in July the names of the new bosses for Mega Man 9: Galaxy Man, Concrete Man, Tornado Man, Plug Man and Splash Woman. GamesRadar has another exclusive on this subject: concept art of two of them — Splash Woman and Plug Man — plus the weapons you win for defeating both (Laser Trident for the former; “Plug Ball” for the latter. Sounds like a wad of tobacky to me.) Plus they have some more screens. Weekends are made for eye candy (and, once upon a time, Michelob) so, enjoy. Mega Man 9 has three separate release dates: WiiWare on Monday, PlayStation Network on Thursday, and then finally Xbox Live Arcade on Wednesday, Oct. 1. Mega Man 9 Exclusive Boss Reveal [GamesRadar] More »
Solitary Versus Social: Play Styles of Gamers
4:30AM Maggie Greene | As I mentioned in my tale of my first MMO, I’m about as solitary gamer as one can be. I was interested in the last of a set of articles detailing the findings of the DGD2 gamer survey, this one on the major motivational differences between gamers who prefer multiplayer games versus those of us who cling to single player experiences: Multiplayer gamers (statistically speaking) tend to be challenge-oriented, and willing to be aroused to anger as this enhances their eventual reward in fiero when they attain victory. They are not only enjoying fiero, though, they are also enjoying the social element of multiplayer games such as the sense of belonging to a team, feelings of envy and gratitude, and the feeling of naches – the satisfaction of seeing someone you taught to play perform well. Conversely, single player gamers (statistically speaking) are showing greater interest in having control over the space of their play. This is one way to interpret the lower interest in random elements – these add variety to play, but they also mean the player has less direct control over outcomes. The higher interest in sandbox play can also be interpreted as an increased interest in having complete control over the play space, although undoubtedly other interpretations are possible. I’ve enjoyed and continue to enjoy certain types of ‘multiplayer’ experiences, but I’m certainly not a ‘fiero’ driven gamer. The rest of the article includes some other little tidbits; I’m curious to see the ‘grander’ essays on the findings promised. Playing Together [Only a Game] More »
News
Even ‘The Imperial March’ Would Have Been a Better Choice
4:00AM Owen Good | Some audio-stank on Sony out in Malaysia today for the region launch of the PlayStation 3 there. Tipster Marauderz filmed and sent us this vid, which is Naoi Sudo, managing director, Sony Malaysia, taking the stage to a familiar and very not-Sony video game theme. For gamers of a certain age, this would be like Andre the Giant entering the ring to “Real American.” Marauderz said the tune was played twice. I’m wondering who got yelled at. I’m also wondering if using anything from Final Fantasy would have made things better or worse. As for going with something like the MGS4 theme, Marauderz said the launch lineup didn’t include many new games. “You could say our launch lineup was the same as the original launch line up, with LESS games. Really wasn’t something to write home about with the booth zombies telling people games like Lair weren’t released yet.” A writeup of the launch event indicates Resistance, Ratchet and Clank Future, Assassin’s Creed, Ninja Gaiden Sigma, and Soul Calibur 4 were available at launch in some form (including many together in one bundle) with everything else on some kind of a pre-order basis. Nintendo Gives Sony a Hand [YouTube, thanks Marauderz] More »
Scientists in Second Life
3:30AM Maggie Greene | I was recently discussing the mainstream media’s love affair with Second Life, and how the bloom appears to be off the rose. The Denver Westword News recently followed around a Denver University ‘media specialist’ who is working on SciLands, where NASA the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other scientific groups have a virtual outpost; while Jeff Corbin, the ‘media specialist,’ and other academics are practically beside themselves with the potentials for nuclear research in Second Life, the other side is presented: Now others at [Denver University] seem to be paying attention. “Can you imagine if we really succeed, if we get twenty students into this laboratory to do physics experiments?” says Hill excitedly. “Putting them into a nuclear control room and letting them do things and destroy things and not letting them get hurt? Think of what this means. Imagine how powerful this can be for education.” But not everyone was thrilled when the story hit the online newspaper Inside Higher Ed last year. “Second Life isn’t stable enough to test something that important,” one commenter wrote. “Why not make a program that will actually simulate that properly? Second Life doesn’t even stand up to normal ‘game’ quality. It can’t even properly simulate a car.” Zing! The accessibility of Second Life is cited as a reason institutions are having ‘notable’ results with their virtual counterparts, but I’d be curious to know how ‘notable’ is being defined. With help from the feds, a Denver scientist helps Second Life go nuclear [Denver Westword News via TerraNova] More »
