In Real Life

Around The Corner From PAX, May Day Rioters Are Smashing Windows

Protesters around the world are commemorating today’s May Day with rallies in support of workers and against the economic and political powers that be. Much of this has been peaceful or at least standard Occupy-style protest-and-arrest, but in Seattle, in the same downtown area where tens of thousands of gamers gather each year to attend the Penny Arcade Expo, anarchists are smashing windows.


August 12, 2011
News

Bungie Staff Pulls Gun On Shooting Suspect, Makes Citizen’s Arrest

Jeff Fletcher, an IT guy from Halo creators Bungie, pulled into the parking lot of a US Bank branch in Skyway, Seattle last week. He then saw two guys start shooting each other. What happens next is awesome.


July 11, 2011
Nintendo

Donkey Kong Turned 30 Yesterday—or Did He?

Researching the exact birthday for a tribute to the 30th birthday of Donkey Kong, Patrick Scott Patterson of the Arcade Examiner came up with conflicting information. Absent official word from Nintendo, he thinks the big ape—and therefore Mario (né Jumpan)—turned 30 yesterday, July 9.


June 30, 2011
News

GameFly Opens Seattle Distribution Centre, Alaska Rejoices

The Pacific Northwest and Alaska. Wild. Majestic. Coffee-soaked. For too long these dark and mysterious areas of the United States have been bereft of a local GameFly distribution centre, forced to suffer longer-than-normal shipping times for their game rentals. Today GameFly says no more.


April 28, 2011
Mobile

Boy Creates iPhone Game As PopCap Grants A Wish

We’re all familiar with the Make-a-Wish Foundation, who it supports, and why. With that out of the way, PopCap games today announced that Allied Star Police, by the Seattle-area games designer Owain Weinert (pictured) will soon release for all iOS devices on the iTunes App Store.


March 23, 2011
In Real Life

But If We Had Portals, We Wouldn’t Need Buses

Or would we? We’d shoot one portal beside our couch, one on the side of the bus, and wait for it to reach its destination from the comfort of our own homes. Seattle’s mobile Portal 2 ads via Reddit.


March 21, 2011
In Real Life

Everyone Wins This Dueling Post-It Art Contest

Yeah, yeah, I know. Post-Its as the pixels in an old-school sprite mosaic, that has been done, and overdone, before. I don’t know if I’ve seen it done this well, or this comprehensively. A Seattle-area office building complex, which includes Expedia as a tenant, has been locked in a kind of Post-It art competition that got the attention of local TV.


February 20, 2011
In Real Life

It’s Better Than A Mirelurk Cake Bake Sale

Good point, but if you just go ahead and donate the scrap metal, you get +10 good karma. Trolled office flyer for a Seattle-area school’s fundraiser, seen via Reddit.


June 7, 2010
In Real Life

Predator Used Call Of Duty To Coerce Kids Into Sending Nude Pics, Say Authorities

Prosecutors say a New Jersey man managed to convince four 13- and 14-year-olds to send him pictures of their genitals by saying it was a membership condition of the clan he was starting in Call of Duty: World at War.


November 19, 2009
News

Blockbuster Online Game Rentals Head To Seattle

After successfully launching the pilot program in Cleveland, Ohio, Blockbuster Video’s Gamefly-challenging Games By Mail rental service expands into the Seattle area.