Still Plays Video Games

Health Care "Reform" Passes..

2010-03-22T00:27:00.000-04:00

RIP - The Constitution of the United States of America: July 4,1776- March 21,2010

TES V...Ohh yeah baby...

2009-10-28T16:27:00.003-04:00

Waterstones, the famous book sellers, is soon going to be famous (infamous?)for not being able to edit quickly enough. An article for the new Elder Scrolls book by Greg Keyes, The Elder Scrolls: Infernal City, the page editor put up this interesting tidbit:

"A novel that takes place forty-five years after the Oblivion Crisis, which is the story of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion game and the expansion pack Shivering Isles. It partly bridges the gap for the next game, which is set 200 years after the Oblivion crisis."

They got to it, but not soon enough that it wasn't noticed and AJ Glasser of kotaku.com is to thank for quick reporting.

Copyright Criminals...You're Up!

2009-10-19T21:26:00.004-04:00

Personally (might get flamed for this one) if Hip-Hop fell off the planet tomorrow, I'd be cool with that, it's just not my thing. However, I can and do appreciate that most of the artists involved are genuinely talented (or I'd be making my dole that way too).

Hip-Hop was never, and still isn't taken seriously..enter making money. Ahha, now you're a legitimate business / art / whatever and litigation happy America jumps in.

This film looks promising, really does, give the preview a whirl and sound off :)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

What promises to be a superb documentary on musical sampling, copyright law and their effects on creativity will see its official launch in January 2010. No harm in taking an early preview though.

Copyright Criminals: This Is a Sampling Sport is an upcoming documentary which examines the creative and commercial aspects of musical sampling, and I am personally really looking forward to this one.

A major component of the documentary is the effect copyright law has on creativity and, of course, how good old-fashioned greed and money come into play. If you happen to like hip-hop too, thats a real bonus, but not a necessity by any means.

The documentary will ask a critical question:

Is it possible to own a sound?

Copyright Criminals will have a general release in January 2010, but an early free preview is available if you’re near The Rotunda (40th and Walnut) in Philadelphia this upcoming Tuesday October 20th at 19:00.

Courtesy of enigmax @ Freakbits! Thanks guys!

2010 Doctor Who Logo Revealed!

2009-10-06T04:10:00.003-04:00

It's very mod, we like it...now David Tenant simply needs to get together with Tom Baker and have their DNA combined by some whacked out in the head scientist type to make the end-all-be-all Doctor and the world can keep right on wobbling.

Boba and our 100th Post!

2009-10-05T03:15:00.005-04:00

Galactic Heroes, I love'em, they're cool. They're tiny, they're tooney, and well, they're just a little looney....etc, etc. (Sorry Warner, et al.)

Of the Galactic Heroes, anything Fett or remotely Bounty Hunter related is smoking hot and one's headed for the desk and another for the "Closet of Wonders" where we hide all of our goodies that we one day will get graded and then sell for millions on eBay for huge cash to send the kid off to college in style.

That said, seeing this little number at Entertainment Earth got me hopping.

You get a little "Han in Carbonite", you can never have too many of those catching dust around your house, a "galactically deformed" Slave I, and...the man himself, Boba Fett - most notorious Bounty Hunter (despite what Cad Bane says) in the galaxy.

Of course, the problem with this little bit of plastic fun, like all of them, is we'll need two, one to keep hermetically sealed in a tomb of inert gas behind UV blocking bulletproof glass that has and will never be removed from the box....and another that will catch dust with the other Fett stuff scattered around my desk. Oh...the joys of collecting toys :)

The Law Has Lost Touch

2009-10-04T12:37:00.003-04:00

We should all boycott the news channels. All of them, even the local broadcasts. Ignorance is running rampant making the world an unsafe place for rational people.

Today, I typed into my preferred search engine, "How to commit the perfect murder". According to some theorists, if people around me suddenly start dropping dead under mysterious circumstances, I'm screwed.

The wife and I are still laughing about the moronic state of affairs we find ourselves in. That, and her idea that I'm typing this out so I can off her conveniently in the near future and have an alibi or something to confuse the prosecution.

Enjoy the entirely frivolous and silly Sunday rant :)

Oh, and don't forget to make certain you have "Top Ten Tips for Committing the Perfect Murder" in your browser history!

Demonoid - Good News

2009-09-29T02:24:00.003-04:00

Recently, the torrent search site, Demonoid.com went offline thanks to harassment, in part, from the CRIA. We're really glad to see their efforts to get back up and running paying off.

This, from their website:

September 26

Status

The site will return as soon as possible, but there was a problem that caused data loss and the person who can help us get the data back is not able to help at this moment. The site will return when we can get his help

A loss of a some months worth of activity including registered users and torrent submissions is to be expected because the backup we are hoping to get back is not up to date, so please be prepared for it

Good luck guys!

Wednesday Hottie Slacker!

2009-09-24T00:56:00.009-04:00

Oh yeah, we've been just horribly, terribly, unforgivably not keeping up with our CyberGeek Hottie of the Week / Month / Whatever.

Geek Girl Diva to the rescue, as she puts up a cleavage shot for a good cause, Breast Cancer Awareness.

It is terribly unfortunate that I couldn't make it to SDCC for their signing, and early on, I threatened GGD with being suckered into the spotlight of Hottie of the Week.

Now, without warning! She's it, *tag*.

(Though if I could still get her in a Star Trek skirt and draped across that Enterprise Captain's chair, well, the wife would shoot me, but might be worth the bullet) *wink wink nudge nudge*

Oh yes, and savethetatas.com, though tongue in cheek, is serious business, do check their site out, buy some merchandise, throw it on the bumper or whatever.

To The CRIA, Time to Put Up or Shut Up

2009-09-20T00:01:00.005-04:00

isoHunt.com, Torrentbox.com, and Podtropolis.com (collectively we'll call them isoHunt.com) have taken a "First Strike" stance with the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA).

Recently, under threats from the CRIA, Demonoid.com first went offline (maintenance) and then came back up, though they had to block searchers from their own country of Canada, and now seem to still be a little bit on the shaky side as to availability.

Since Gary Fung, the admin for isoHunt.com has now sworn an affadavit that isoHunt.com does not violate the Copyright Act and has, in fact consistently complied with demands by the CRIA to remove trackers from it's search engine that the CRIA has indicated are not authorized for internet distribution by their clients, the ball is now in the hands of the CRIA.

ISOHunt Petition to the Court

They get to try and explain to the Courts how a search-engine, that stores no files that violate copyright, is breaking the law. That's kind of like telling the local public library that they are in violation of copyright law if they maintain a copy machine in their building, though no one may have ever used the copier in an illegal manner. Last we checked, and we don't want to besmirch the efficacy of the Canadian Courts, the plaintiff does have to prove that a law has been broken.

The Petition to the Courts for injunctive relief from harassment by isoHunt.com is pure poetry, music to our ears, and overdue. Not every file, though we won't pretend that some may, belongs to the RIAA, MPAA, CRIA, BRIEN, or any of their members / clients.

If, they'd like proof of that, then I'd like to point out the fact that Aeria Games (sorry for pulling you into this guys, your certainly not by yourselves) distributes their software clients for games by bittorrent. Are companies that distribute their own product by torrent to be denied the ability to use this excellent technology? Can the CRIA not be bothered to take the time to point out the files they wish removed that specifically pertain to them? Because of this need for the CRIA to not be bothered with trivialities like providing proof of copyright violation are they entitled to shut down entire search engines, websites (probably blogs next) to protect their profit margins?

Grant isoHunt, it's sister sites and all others similar in scope this injunction against unlawful harassment. Maybe when the CRIA's lawyers stop being paid exorbitant sums (relative to a blog editor, I can assure you of that) the retail prices of entertainment can go down in proportion and the economy might start recovering earlier.

Geek Crowdsourcing Contest

2009-09-18T20:52:00.002-04:00

Geek Girl Diva is thinking about a possible contest, geeky goodness galore, and a little alliteration from moi.

Check out her ideas hereand let her know what you think!

The US is now a "Police State"?

2009-09-18T18:17:00.003-04:00

Hopefully, the above video will not be taken off of YouTube anytime soon. Comments have been disabled for the video directly on YouTube, but, all "three" of my readers (Hi Mom!) can comment here. Thank goodness for backups. Fair warning, if you haven't noticed already, it has absolutely nothing to do with, directly, our usual geeky fare of video games, etc.

The video does however, touch directly on the area of free speech and the effort being made by some to stem it when it goes against their ideology.

I believe, that free speech is a non-partisan aspect of the United States, after all, it is a part of the Constitution.

Sitting here, before I wrote this, I wanted to have my facts entirely straight concerning the officer featured prominently in the video. We telephoned the Baton Rouge Police Department, were given a direct number to the Sergeant in charge of "Media Relations" and unfortunately had to leave a message. In the message, we gave, as best we could, the link for the video and the request for the officers name to go along with our article, and precisely what statutes and authority (because we're certainly not going to second guess) the officer had utilized to contravene the Bill of Rights.

Large organizations, whether they be the MPAA, RIAA, (which we have frequently discussed here) MediaSentry, or non-governmental organizations like ACORN (with budgets of 100 million US$ annually) need to not believe they can trample upon the rights of every US citizen.

MediaSentry, specifically, gathers information without the license of the Private Protective Bureaus of several states. We should know, they've been blocked by our computers, but they often knock.

The RIAA employed MediaSentry in their anti-piracy efforts, then smartly canned them. We're pretty sure where we know the MPAA sits on suing people for 675,000 US$ at a pop, that's a matter of public record.

We're certain, that at some point along the line, we'll be labeled as "Right Wing Extremists" and totted up with others on some half-secret tax payer sponsored government report. Cool beans if we do.

We'll remain there, until the Constitution is treated with the respect it deserves or an ammendment is made banning free speech. When that happens our IP will be coming from somewhere else.

Shy Guy goes Mental

2009-09-17T00:14:00.002-04:00

Those crazy plumbers and goofy dinosaur must have finally pushed too far, and now, it looks like they are gonna pay for their "Bloop bloop bloop, bloop bloopa loop'ing" transgressions.
Desktop Nexus: Wallpapers > Video Game Wallpapers > Mario Wallpaper

Nice job to the artist, Caylee Huckabay, this is my new wallpaper :)

Oops!

2009-09-16T03:59:00.003-04:00

Ok, so we had an oopsie. One of our providers decided to just unceremoniously dump our files, tres uncool.

Gaming Companies, Don't Let This Be You!

2009-09-16T01:10:00.003-04:00

Yes, we are horribly and some say, unreasonably, critical of these companies that work hard to provide us safe, fun video game entertainment.

We believe though, that it is unreasonable to release a product that if it were an automobile would certainly be recalled for safety concerns, to the public for consumption.

Online gaming is a "Booming" marketplace, many are jumping into the "gold rush" of profits to be made by crossing digital toys with physical ones you can pick up at your nearby toy store. Nothing however, destroys a kid's (or a big kid's) enjoyment of a game when it's infrastructure can't deliver.

No, we're not just picking on Nanovor, we love the game around here, but we want to see it better before it goes much farther towards the, "Great game Joe, but I could never log in.", road.

Nanovor - Phase Spiker 1.0 Evolve

2009-09-11T00:01:00.001-04:00

I hated giving up my Phase Stormer 2.0, the basis for achieving the newest Nanovor, the Phase Spiker 1.0, but, it had to be done.

A word of caution, if you don't want to see spoilers about how to gain the Phase Spiker, stop reading now.

***********

Ok, you were warned!

************

First off, obviously, you'll need to take your Phase Stormer 1.0, gained as a random badge reward, or via Booster Packs bought using the currency of Nanovor.com, nanocash. Noticing a trend in naming...me too.

Evolve the Phase Stormer 1.0 into it's 2.0 version,

using the following Evolution Formula:

These are easy enough to find, the basic ones, in the Nanovor.com - Nanolog

From the Phase Stormer 2.0, things become more involved, as you must discover "Doc Zap's" secrets in the first puzzle that Nanovor.com has thrown out. Figuring this part out, garners you a new badge and unlocks the evolution tree to your new goal.

Again, the Nanolog is your friend, use it, read it, the clues and information are all there to gain your new Nanovor, as well as various ideas on badges that are easy to achieve and allow you to enjoy the game even more.

Now, figuring out the combination of the exact four EM's to place in the correct order to gain the Phase Striker 1.0, that's a bit more of a pain. Honestly it takes long enough to go through the process of gaining the badge and evolving up to that point. Remember, I'm the old guy playing video games here, I've only *cough cough* got so much *cough cough* energy to keep up with you kids :P.

Here's a huge hint though: 1V1 | 1H4 | 1H4 | 1V1 | 1H5

Nanovor - Circuit Flyer 3.0 Evolve

2009-09-10T18:57:00.001-04:00

If you're into Nanovor, and goodness knows the kids are loving it and the commercials that are splattered all over Cartoon Network, then you'll want to know about this guy.

He's an uncommon Nanovor, and like his Circuit Flyer 2.0 variation has the dodge ability, and for my energy, that's one of the best overrides in the entire game. The Circuit Flyer's dodge is a whopping 25%, the highest so far of any Nanovor and a real tide turner in a fight.

The EM's you need to evolve your 2.0 into it's 3.0 progeny are on the right side of the image. Have fun!

Nanovor (They're inside my what?)

2009-09-08T20:24:00.004-04:00

If you've ever wondered what on earth makes your comp go more than a bit nuts sometimes, maybe you're infected with Nanovor.

That's definitely what Smith and Tinker want you to think, and now their commercials have hit Cartoon Network and the toys are flying off the shelves. A quick check at Amazon showed only three of one type left, and another sold out. Is a CN cartoon series far away, in the vein of Bakugan, Pokemon, Chaotic? We'll see, for now, there are nine small episodes on their website for you to check out.

Fan sites have mushroomed, a notable one being Nanovor101, with it's own forum for arranging trades, battles, and sharing evolution information.

So, we of course had to set up a "Guardian / Parent" account and throw the game to our test group of kids. They love the splatters, that was the second thing out of their mouths, right after, "Umm, gee, this is kinda slow, what's happening?"

That is the largest issue for Nanovor so far, either their infrastructure is really strained and showing it from a huge influx of players, or they're suffering from seriously poor planning, and that's showing in performance.

Special thanks go out to "pokemon37dmk", a Nanovor user that gave me a bit of help testing out some things, good luck in the game.

Nanotech meets Carnivores and explode?

2009-09-04T23:40:00.001-04:00

VTMB: Masquerade - Companion Mod

2009-08-31T23:29:00.004-04:00

Lately, though real life is busy and hectic as all get out, I've managed to spend some time hanging out at "The Vampire's Gaze" the forums for Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines - Companion Mod.

If you are not familiar with, what is likely, the best (though originally bug-ridden and a nightmare of corporate mis-management) ports of a paper and dice / storytelling rpg to PC, then take a look around.

A testament to how good a concept and game a release truly is, in my opinion, is the longevity the fan base grants it with work to continue the life of projects like Vampire: The Masquerade.

Dheu, the driving force behind the "Companion Mod", has expanded upon the abilities of, in particular the Ventrue, all the vampire clans in the original release in the game by allowing them the ability to gather "companions". For those familiar with The World of Darkness, a Ventrue's power to control and manipulate others is what allows them to rest firmly in the seat of power while avoiding getting their hands personally dirty.

This, is very important to playing the Ventrue, and in the interest of balance and those that wish to dive into other clans while still enjoying the CompMod, Dheu worked out an item that grants all clans the ability to worm their way into the minds of other characters.

There are many interesting aspects to the mod, not all of them Companion related, and as a Kindred "purist" of a sort, I definitely put my stamp (for what THAT's worth) of approval on this mod.

All I Got Was a T-Shirt!!

2009-08-25T17:55:00.000-04:00

This, my friends, is priceless.

MediaSentry Illegally Collects Evidence Motion Claims

2009-08-17T09:00:00.001-04:00

Joel Tenenbaum's MediaSentry Motion

30 Songs = 675,000 US$

2009-08-17T08:00:00.000-04:00

To celebrate our return to blogging the latest and the greatest of the geekly news, here's a copy of the announcement that's up at The Pirate Bay regarding the Joel Tenenbaum file sharing case.

Remember, we don't make this stuff up, a jury of this man's "peers" actually saw fit to award the RIAA this money, punitively, for Joel sharing these files. During jury selection, they should have asked every juror if they had ever made a mix-tape (omgwtfbbq a cassette?) for their girlfriend or a roadtrip. If they did that, they might never have found a jury, and if they had, they certainly wouldn't have met the definition of "peer".

"I too downloaded them!

These are the tracks Joel Tenenbaum downloaded. For 30 tracks he is ordered by the court to pay $675,000 to the RIAA.
Well, all I can say: the RIAA can come and try to get half a million bucks from me too, let's see if they can make me pay...
Btw, it's amazing how easy to become rich, ain't it? You just download this pack two times and you already have something that worths more than a million...

Don't forget to seed, let everybody know: "I too downloaded them!" :+)

More info on JoelFightsBack.com (Joel is not related to this torrent in any ways other than having a well known case and being an inspiration) or on iTooDownloadedThem - blogspot - com

Complete tracklist based on the official court documents:

01 - Incubus - New Skin
02 - Green Day - Minority
03 - Outkast - Wheelz of Steel
04 - Incubus - Pardon Me
05 - Nirvana - Come As You Are

06 - Green Day - When I Come Around
07 - Green Day - Nice Guys Finish Last
08 - Nirvana - Heart Shaped Box
09 - Nine Inch Nails - The Perfect Drug
10 - Blink 182 - Adam's Song
11 - Limp Bizkit - Rearranged
12 - Limp Bizkit - Leech
13 - Linkin Park - Crawling Hybrid
14 - Deftones - Be Quiet And Drive
15 - The Fugees - Killing Me Softly
16 - Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication
17 - Red Hot Chili Peppers - By The Way
18 - Red Hot Chili Peppers - My Friends
19 - Beck - Loser
20 - Eminem - My Name Is
21 - Eminem - Drug Ballad
22 - Eminem - Cleaning Out My Closet
23 - Beastie Boys - (You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party)
24 - The Ramones - The KKK Took My Baby Away
25 - Monster Magnet - Look To Your Orb For The Warning
26 - Aerosmith - Pink
27 - OutKast - Rosa Parks
28 - Rage Against The Machine - Guerrilla Radio
29 - Goo Goo Dolls - Iris
30 - Aerosmith - Water Song/Janie's Got A Gun

UPDATE 01:
Facebook doesn't let you share a ThePirateBay link, but it let's you share a shortlink. So use this checked (virusfree, spamfree) link to let your friends now about it:

loo.fi/b8uksq

UPDATE 02:
Currently more than 900 of us are seeding. If one seed means $675k, the whole bunch must worth around $600.000.000
Man, in a few days we gonna become one of the most wealthy group on the planet.
But c'mon, there ain't no such thing as free lunch, you should work for your money. The PirateBay guys already done what they could, now it's your turn. Downloading and seeding is a good start, but don't you even think about stopping there. Share the short link (see above) via Facebook, mail, blogs, tell your friends... Alone we are nothing, together we can make this one of the most popular torrents and show the RIAA why not to attack any of us! So happy seeding, let's go for thousands and ten-thousands! :-)"

A Note From Us:

2009-07-21T04:49:00.001-04:00

We're all family here, and we have had a bit of a family illness here that has taken up, as it should, a remarkable amount of our time. So, we're getting our crap back together and we'll be back to annoying you with our exuberant geekiness soon!

Hottie of the Week for 15 July '09 is....

2009-07-15T19:01:00.002-04:00

Definition: Geek Girl - via Urban Dictionary

1) A girl who is interested in things considered geeky or nerdy by
mainstream society.

2) Usually refers to girls who are interested in computers,
and technology in general, can also be used for girls who do
things not considered "cool" by everyone else.

3) A compliment to girls who are proud to be geeks.

Personally, I hate being misunderstood and lumped into a category of male that I really don't intend to, nor feel I resemble; that being the single-minded mysogonist who can't look a girl in the face for probing her mammary glands with his eyes. (Entirely tongue in cheek, I'm more of a butt guy) (The puns just keep on coming don't they....)

So, once again, we are after our readers (all two of ya) to single out for us, the girls that you feel are the geekiest and sexy because of it. We want the gamers, the MENSA members, the Scrabble-playing up-all-nighters who keep a 20 sided die by the bed. If she's drop-dead gorgeous, well damnit, good for her! If she happens to be an astrophysicist that is a candidate for the Stephen Hawking Club for Men...tell us why she needs to be our CyberGeek Hottie of the Week and she's in. (No offense Steve, rightly you're an icon and thus open to abuse)

10 Things That Geek Us Out @ SDCC '09 (Part Deux)

2009-07-14T19:50:00.011-04:00

Yup, so it was cheap and lazy of me to make this into a two-part little article. Hey, my prerogative, number two......yeah, I got lazy.

So, here's part two, and again, they are in no particular order of geekishness.

- V.I.N.CENT. (Vital Information Necessary Centralized) is coming, all eight inches of his floaty robotic self. Thirty years ago, thereabouts, I refuse to count the years, they remind me that I saw The Black Hole in theatres. "highly anticipated 30th anniversary of “The Black Hole” Disney’s V.I.N.CENT. (ATC) art toy collectible figure. This figure is a roto-vinyl limited edition collectible and the first in decades available to collectors.d collectors will be able to get the SDCC distressed version at MINDstyle’s and Toy Tokyo’s at the SRP of USD $130.00. V.I.N.CENT. is over 8 inches all and nearly as wide. It comes packaged in a premium gift box packaging with certificate of authenticity and numbered collectors card." - via MINDstyle

- The unique opportunity to aggravate GeekGirlDiva in person. Yes, despite her unnecessary worry (see this post) over fans of hers being disappointed when they meet in person (total horsekaka), if you're lucky enough to attend, swing by the Entertainment Earth booth and say "Hi!, Erelas said you're the awesomesauce." It won't get ya a darn thing, but, tell me about it later and I'll "Hah" on your behalf. Oh yeah, and Justin did a really nice job on her banner.

- This, is one of the reasons I HATE not being able to get to SDCC, Gentle Giant. Every bleeding year they do something like this, and I have to promise someone a kidney to grab one for me.

SDCC 2009 STAR WARS BOBA FETT GENTLE GIANT McQUARRIE BUST!!

If you haven't figured it out by now, I am that much of a Fett-o-phile, and you must say
things like that loudly, it helps the effect.

Yup, you're seeing correctly, two different helmets, thankfully both come with the bust.

- She's a redhead (plus), she's Dawn, in a skirt, bent over....umm, yeah, Dawn flips my switch just a tad.
The goddess of birth and rebirth gets a modern makeover! Based on the art of award-winning Dawn creator Joseph Michael Linsner, this 7-inch tall PVC statue celebrates Dawn's 20th anniversary with a unique variant! Limited edition of only 1,000 pieces

Pre-order the Convention variant from EE. You're not gonna find the red-skirted version
anywhere else, Entertainment Earth get all the cool goodies. I want them to adopt me.

- Our last, but not least thing that geeks us out about SDCC '09 is...

Dark Avengers Uncanny X-Men Utopia #1 Exclusive Comic

Really hot sketch cover, and imagine that, a comic book at a Comic Convention, who'dathunkit?

10 Things That Geek Us Out @ SDCC '09 (Part One)

2009-07-11T00:01:00.001-04:00

Swag = Samples, Wearable, & Gifts; Just in case you ever wanted to know where the term swag came from. Swag being any of the giveaway stuff from vendors or promotions, like the blue condoms given out before the opening of the movie Watchmen. One of my personal all-time favorites and pretty hard to find now. The collectibality of various swag type items varies, doesn't anything collectible, but, generally, the rarer the better.

Being the dorkish dorkity dorks (aka geeks) that we are here, we're sincerely looking forward to San Diego ComiCon 2009. Not able to physically go ( hey, I'm semi-retired for a reason :P ), we've decided to put together a top-ten list of "Wow, gotta meet that guy/gal or have that" from SDCC '09. Now, we really couldn't decide what order to put these into, EVERYTHING at SDCC '09 deserves a mention, but these are the things, people and panels we chose and in no particular order.

- In support of BBC AMERICA’s U.S. premiere of four Doctor Who Specials, the Doctor himself, David Tennant, will appear alongside writer/executive producer Russell T Davies at this year’s Comic-Con in San Diego. They will take part in a Doctor Who panel along with executive producer Julie Gardner and director Euros Lyn, moderated by Los Angeles Times television critic, Robert Lloyd on Sunday July 26, 10:00-11:00am PT. If you can get into this panel, do, seeing David Tenant on The Graham Norton Show before the beginning of last season really put him into the one of the coolest sci-fi guys ever categories. Probably my favorite Doctor alongside Tom Baker.

- Promoting USA's Burn Notice, Bruce Campbell (and other cast members) will be there. Ok, credit to the other cast members, but Dammit, Jim, it's Bruce "Don't call me Ash" Campbell. Hell, that's worth a ticket to the left coast. Thursday, July 23, 2009 is the date for the panel. Oh, and don't forget that everyone needs one of these:
- Friday, July 24 an appearance by Todd McFarlane - 5:30pm-7:00pm. If you're reading this and you don't know who the creator of Spawn is, and a singularly great comic artist, sign up for a frontal lube job and lobotomy, stat.

- It's hopeless to see everything cool, fantastic and geekworthy; however you can grab a peek at Stan "The Man" Lee and the decidedly less manly (thank god), Natasha Henstridge on Thursday, 12:45-1:45 for a Q&A on Disney: Stan Lee’s Time Jumper.

-The flip-book issue of AGON and MERC, from Zenescope, contains 28 pages of story and will retail at a $2.99 price point but will be available at Zenescope booth #2707 for just $1 during the convention weekend. The Grimm Fairy Tales #40 convention exclusive is a limited edition issue and will also be available at booth 2707 while it lasts. Grab this people, you'll be glad you did.

And, the last (5th if you counted) listing for part one of the "Ten Things that Geek Us Out" for SDCC '09 is:- HotForWords.com's Marina Orlova, if you missed her being our Hottie of the Week, last week, or simply have no idea who she is, add to your lobotomy with an exorcism of whatever demon plagues your remaining brain, ya need help.

Happy Birthday Nikola Tesla (and me)

2009-07-10T13:53:00.000-04:00

Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 – 7 January 1943) a very happy birthday to the man who brought us all sorts of hackable goodies, like Tesla Coils. May he someday return from outer space and grant us ultimate wisdom.... :P

Happy Birthday also to me, your humble editor / writer. 10 July 1973, and rumours of my death are definitely exaggerated.

Hottie of the Week for 8 July 09, Summer Williams!

2009-07-08T00:05:00.000-04:00

Geeks should be into sports...really...they should, there are sports geeks. If more of the typical geek was into sports, then we'd get to notice the cheerleading rocket scientists. Yup, you heard me, cheerleaders who are rocket scientists. /facepalm

Summer Williams is a 25-year old aerospace engineer for the Jacobs Engineering Group, which is NASA's main scientific support contractor.

Now people, listen, I'm a geek, I know it, I love it, I embrace it wholeheartedly. In High School I even ran around in a tunic and armor as the "Trojan" school mascot (plastic sword included). I mean this with no disrespect to the former cheerleaders (god it was a great gig) I hung around with, but, if they looked like Summer Williams I'd probably still be doing that. That would be a really unattractive sight now, take my word for it. Would any of us leave that gig if this was the girl you threw up into the air?

Sing it with me folks, "Ground Control to Major Tom....we don't care what is wrong, can you get us Summer Williams, we want to hear her cheer."

I had to join the Navy to launch space vehicles, no one else would let me, and it's probably cause I'd be this lovely ladies devoted stalker. Let's hear it for the girl who never wanted to be a cheerleader, wanted to be an engineer, and inspires people with her professionalism at both.

Attract Geeks with Pointy Ears!

2009-07-07T00:18:00.004-04:00

I know we just had fireworks, my ears are still ringing, but that's nothing like what you get when two Vulcans decide to get it on.

Every seven years, Vulcans gotta have it. Bad. They sweat, they fume, they go crazy. Now you might be saying to yourself, "Wow, that's impressive. Wouldn't it be great if someone could bottle that?"

Well, Genki Wear has!

The Star Trek Pon Farr Perfume is one of three Star Trek Fragrances from Genki Wear. Each one comes in a really slick box and a specially designed bottle. If this doesn't get your green blood boiling, nothing will!

Order Star Trek Pon Farr Perfume from Entertainment Earth!

Ever since the other two fragrances were announced, I've really wanted to see what this one looked like. The merchandising is pretty clever, I just wonder if the stuff can pull in Jolene Blalock.....

Wolf Team - CB Impressions

2009-07-05T04:53:00.003-04:00

As Aeria Games puts their first-person shooter, Team Wolf, through it's paces, we've managed to pick up a sneak peek at one of the nicer bits of eye-candy and penetrating power to share.

Prove your worth and you too can carry around this devastating sniper rifle and punch holes through your enemies defenses.

Register to be chosen for the Closed and eventually, Open Beta at Wolf Team.

Requiem: Bloodymare - Into the Second Year

2009-07-03T03:38:00.013-04:00

I've been trying to catch up on all the accounts I have all over the internet, consolidate things, get a bit better grasp and focus, a massive effort is to rake and burn the e-mail garbage in my "catch-all" accounts.

Coincidentally with that, I came across the second newsletter I've ever received from Gravity Interactive announcing the first anniversary of the release of the Korean F2P (free to play) Requiem: Bloodymare for the western hemisphere.

Here's your sign:

The game is amassively multiplayer online game for mature audiences, graphic, bloody and often player versus player is a an unintended part of the Bloodymare, because of a PvP penalty, which even exists on the PvP dedicated server. I really enjoy the concept, so I do wish I could be more forgiving.

There are some absolutely rabid fanboys of the game, and that is pretty typical of any game. There seems to always be the cadre of supporters that will tear anyone who speaks ill of any aspect of a game (no matter how accurate it might be) to shreds in the forums, over bug reports, what have you. Fanboys often know no mercy and show little regard for open dialogue. That should tell you how I feel about their ilk. :)

Checking back on my accounts there, I have been around off and on since 24 may '08, starting in open beta, and fortunately I hooked up with a great, motivated group of players to guild with. Unfortunately for me personally, I often can't contribute enough to a group myself, time constraints, to be of benefit to a guild of hard-chargers. But, being with them got me into the toughest places, earliest, and we put the game through it's paces.

Sadly, when the game went "Live", they added, not just an Item Store for microtransactions, but also a tiered subscription option. That isn't too terribly unusual, though it's preferable to only have one or the other. The kicker with RB though, is, general chat is cut off if you are not a subscriber. This causes some real issues with people beginning the game, no global chat channel, less chance of being picked up by a guild of veterans, and less community interaction. The good part is, this cuts down on the usual crop of gold-selling spammers.

A great resource for new players are the various fansites, easily found on the RB webpage, and the

Hat's off to players that contribute to wiki's like that one, they do it for love of the game.

Since the US (generally speaking) gets updates for this version of RB after Korea, content releases aren't a huge secret, and this market is usually an update behind the original.

There are, if you're interested in jumping into RB, some great reasons to do so now. All the races, that weren't available to test in either beta, are available now. One playable race wasn't even in the game until after it was live for approximately three months. The tiered subscription options have taken a reduction in price, so if you want to go that route, it's cheaper now than a year ago. However, this could be taken as a sign of the global recession hitting all markets, or in particular this game and potential issues with longevity.

Overall, we're going to award Gravity Interactive, Inc.'s Requiem: Bloodymare 3.5 out of 5.

Requiem: Bloodymare, and related material are © Gravity Interactive Inc., and are used here under "fair use" for the purpose of review.

Hottie of the Week for 1 July '09 - Hot For Words Herself - Marina Orlova!

2009-07-01T09:00:00.004-04:00

Who really knows what a philologist was, or cared, until mid-2007? Well, thanks to HotForWords, aka Marina Orlova we care, often, sometimes obsessively. This young lady has gone from YouTube guru to having her own website with over 400 videos on tap.

That's a viable move, since we've all noticed their trend making changes in advertising and services to get into the black financially.

Take a look at some of Marina's comments that often lead to full blown opinion (and educated opinion at that) pieces on everything from YouTube's possible direction, the "non"-election in Iran, Twitter's social media moves, you name it. Believe me on this one, Marina listens and interacts with her fans. She takes their discussions, begun often about her latest video, and pushes them into areas that most of the internet is sadly lacking in, the area of actual discourse and substance.

Some of you are thinking, "Yeah, right, that's like saying you read men's magazines for the articles." To this, I reply, "Brains and being a gorgeous woman are not mutually exclusive, Marina Orlova, for example, is both."

Quite a few viewers probably could close their eyes and get lost in her voice, thankfully, we have her stunning smile as well. Umm, yes, smile, that's precisely what I was thinking of...honest. /halo I highly recommend checking out the above video here...it's more fulfilling.

If anyone is headed to the left coast for the SDCC, tell Marina I said "Hi", and steal her autograph for me. She'll be at ComicCom for an appearance and signing on Saturday, Jul 25, from 12:00 pm - 2:30 pm.

I Got a Zombie Haiku Honorable Mention!

2009-07-01T04:01:00.000-04:00

*steps up to the podium*
*clears throat* *drinks sip of water*
*unfolds paper that appears to be an origami of a unicorn*

Erelas RyAlcar's Acceptance Speech for the Lead Self-Possessed Scientologist Oscar:

Thank you! Oh! Thank you! I can hardly conjugate verbs! I feel so coked-up! And this statue - it's so suspiciously phallic! Oh, thank you again! I just want everyone to bow down before me and accept that even in my wildest fits of self-loathing, I never would have fantasized that this could ever validate my mediocrity. And to the other brilliant nominees, I want each of you to know how totally vindicated your crushing defeat makes me feel right now!

You know when they first told me I was not the father, I just had to take a Xanax and obsess about how unaesthetic my love scenes have been. I guess it all just makes me feel kinda numb

You know, there are so many obsequious Napoleon Complex-suffering studio execs to thank! First off though, I want to pay off the glorified prostitutes of the Academy, who looked deep within their Magic 8-Balls before giving me this fantastic award! Also, I want to thank Charleton Heston, for being such a powerful force in my contract negotiations. And to the hooker with the heart of gold, who taught me to take life by the balls. And finally, to all the illegitimate children I sired - I couldn't have done it without you!

Thank you America, and good night!

Umm, wait a tick, I think I got out the wrong speech, umm, yeah. Anyway, thanks to Topless Robot for hosting this fantastic contest, a blast, I'm looking forward to more. Thanks also to Zombie Haiku author Ryan Mecum.

The haiku I refer to is:

Hands claw bafflingly
Stumbling, moaning, eyes protrude
Blood drips lividly

Hawt right? Check out the sites at both Topless Robot and Zombie Haiku, and earn some geek cred today :P

Oh yeah, thanks to About.com and chickenhead.com for the acceptance speech generator, turned out like a psychotic mad-libs.

Aeria Games "Wolf Team"

2009-06-30T22:00:00.004-04:00

If you play video games then you'll probably agree, that like J-E-L-L-O, there's always room for one more FPS out there.

The closed beta for Wolf Team (Aeria Games) is ready for signups, and my initial reaction is that this is gonna be good, especially based on Aeria Games past track record of support for other titles.

Details from their website:

* Fast-paced FPS action for up to 16 players
* Large assortment of different weapons
* Transform into werewolf for up-close combat
* 15 different maps in a variety of environments
* 7 game modes including Death Match, Destruction, and Conquest
* Free to Play

Our team will be in there for impressions and to get a better handle on just what to expect when this goes live!

The Gaming Revolution

2009-06-29T23:34:00.002-04:00

Saw this shirt and thought it so appropriate to share.

Our New (revamped) Ranking System

2009-06-29T01:01:00.005-04:00

We've got a lot of games here to take a look at, and we don't want to miss a single one of any genre or platform. Sometimes though, that's simply not possible, and among those we do review we've decided to "standardize" (which still means it's subject to change in the blink of an eye) our rating guide.

Criteria we examine:

Storyline (if applicable)
Graphics (Visual Appeal)
Modes of Play (Multiplayer / singleplayer / online, arcade,
Cross-Platform multiplayer, etc.)
Cost versus Value (Also known as the "If you can barely afford to buy it, then tack
on subscription, additional upgrade / addon costs don't bother"
yardstick)
Sound / Dialogue
Control Tuning
Miscellanious (Reserved for anything and everything else we forgot to put
earlier)
Support (If you're Customer Support wouldn't pass a Turing Test, prepare
to get slammed)

Criteria we do not examine:

~ ESRB Rating : SPVG believes that the ESRB rating system is a guide only. We don't approve of retail outlets that refuse to carry certain games based on their rating alone and we don't intend to allow the ESRB rating to dissuade us from making and promoting our own opinion. In the spirit of using the ESRB system as a guide, we will publicize the assigned rating for a specific game when it's awarded.

~ Sponsored / Paid reviews : Per the SPVG Disclosure Policy, link in the Home menu, our reviews are the honest opinions of our reviewers based on their actual gameplay and experience with a product. If, coincidentally, an advertisement from our third party advertising source runs concurrently with our review of the same product or game, rest assured, that is beyond our control and does not nor will ever influence our opinions.

It's easy to see that there is leeway and subjectivity in our ranking system, and we don't apologize for that. If we think a game sucks, as far as we're concerned, it does. We openly encourage debate on this and of our reviews and may edit our reviewing system or criteria based on multiple factors, not least of which being available technology for video game consumers.

Each point we measure, will be awarded a visual value, the "Pew!" Cause in l33tsp3ak, m0r3 Pews is m0r3 g00d3r. We're gamers, we know this. Then, the average number of Pews for each game is tallied and an overall level of geeked-out gaming goodness is awarded.

Thus:Not so great.

And: Much better.

We want your feedback, ideas, suggestions, so drop us a comment and we'll consider your criteria in reviewing games / products!

Section 8 (Corporal Klinger not inluded)

2009-06-27T15:02:00.006-04:00

If you're an old fan of M.A.S.H. like I am, then you probably remember Corporal Klinger often sporting a mustache and a dress in his drive to get a "Section 8" and be sent home out of the Korean War. Section 8 referring to a US military reg that's a ticket home when a soldier is declared mentally unfit for duty. Based on that, this game and I should get along just fine.

Within the single-player campaign, you take on the role of Alex Corde, a member of the Section 8 space Marines that are sent out strike the enemy group ARM of Orion. This particular group of marines are deemed nuts for taking on missions of that sort, and if you're personally acquainted with any real Marines, you'll know that must be pretty insane.

The spawning process in the game, is a new twist on a concept older than video-games themselves, but visually it is very nice. Troops "burn in" from thousands of feet dropped from the belly of a landing craft that looks a little too similar, for my tastes, to the lander from Aliens.

If you're a FilePlanet subscriber, you can get in on the beta yourself, beta keys come out at random intervals and are first-come first-serve.

There's also a partnership tied in with GameStop pre-orders to pick up the Captain's Armor in-game item. Which, though I think pre-order rewards are overused and most often under-developed, looks pretty good.

Reportedly there will be dedicated servers for both the Xbox 360 and PC systems, although the game will not support cross-platform multiplayer. (one of these days, one of these days) Fans of the HALO franchise are going to love this, critics are going to pan it for reconstituting a lot of tried and true sci-fi fps maxims. That is a good strategy, pretty up what works, repackage and market. Multiplayer "ooo, you so pwnt" bragging rights and possible add-ons are going to be what ensures the longevity of any title of this genre and let's hope fans of Section 8 get that.

Available: Fall 2009
Developer: TimeGate Studios, Inc.
Genre: First Person Shooter
Players: 1+
Platform: PC, XBOX 360®
ESRB Rating: T

The "New" Boba Fett Flash Drive by Funko

2009-06-27T02:08:00.004-04:00

I enjoy Funko's bobble heads, there's something nostalgic, simple and kind of ohhh, artsy about their little disproportionate bodies under the wobbling oversized heads. They don't just make head nodding wobbles of fun though, they've got some great flash drive designs now.

If you couldn't get your hands on one of MIMO's Limited Edition Boba Fett flash drives, rejoice, because the oh so much easier to come by (and better looking, in my opinion) Funko designed Fett USB flash drive is on it's way.

I swear, it's a conspiracy, everytime I think I'm catching up on my Fett-o-phile wishlist, something new comes along. While I'm on it, I'll remind everyone, I am an Entertainment Earth affiliate, so don't go getting your iPanties in a wad about me advertising their stuff. I'd probably recommend Pinhead the Cenobites toyshop if he was selling Boba Fett merchandise. EE has some Fett exclusives I have yet to get my hands on so click the link and feed my need for jetpacks :P

Boba Fett Papercraft

2009-06-26T16:36:00.005-04:00

I really admire the ingenuity and talent involved in creating these papercraft. The best source, with daily updates, that I've seen around is PaperKraft.net

Take a look around the site, check out their links to other interesting papercrafts, you'll be glad you did, especially if you have kids and want to get them involved in using their hands, not just their thumbs on a video-game conroller. :)

5twemu92jg

Star Trek is NOW Cool?!!?111!!WTFBBQ!!!

2009-06-25T22:22:00.003-04:00

There is a reason I, a lover of science-fiction in all it's vastness don't usually even visit Sci Fi Wire. You know what I'm talking about, that purported science fiction blog "powered" by the Sci-Fi Channel.

It's because of crap like this.

Yo, geek wannabe's, Trek has been and always will be "cool". Get over yourselves and stop comparing Obama to Spock, you're making me wanna cry.

I don't like that site, and I don't want to promote it, BUT, some things just have to be said. Head over there, and tell them they're the worst kind of posers. The movie was good, but I do feel that it sought to make Star Trek into something chewed up and reconstituted as "American Idol Trek".

That's my rant :)

My Brute Lite

2009-06-25T15:20:00.000-04:00

Bulkypix and Motion Twin announce the release of My Brute Lite on iPhone and iPod Touch. Now you can not only jump in and beat the crap outta your opponent on your PC via browser, but you can do it on the go. :P

The My Brute Lite app is available here: Available HERE

My Brute Lite is easy to access and allows you to:
- Open your own dojo.
- Fight up to 3 opponents a day.
- Discover and master more than 70 skills and weapons.
- Have discussions with other players from around the world via Open Feint
- Challenge your friends on Facebook Connect

If you prefer to get involved with the original My Brute, you can always challenge me. I'm there, occasionally kicking butt, I never can resist a free flash-based game. That's a picture of you getting smacked around below, oh wait, that's not you, that's the last guy, hehe.

Star Wars Boba Fett 2GB USB Flash Drive

2009-06-25T04:09:00.005-04:00

If you're like us, 2GB isn't a lot these days, though I do still manage to keep my old laptop going that came with a whopping 20GB HDD, HUUUGEE storage there.

Anyway, it could probably be 2kb of storage and I'd still order one, just cause it's made in the likeness of the galaxy's most notorious bounty hunter.

***UPDATE*** The pictured Boba Fett flash drive is / was by MIMOBot. The edition was limited to only 5000 units and good luck getting your hands on one of these specifically.

It will be another "trophy" for the bounty hunter toy collection, that is certain, and EE states pre-order now for a ship date of approximately October '09.

©2008 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All rights reserved.

id Software Purchased

2009-06-24T20:45:00.003-04:00

id Software, creators of world-renowned games such as DOOM, QUAKE, Wolfenstein, and its upcoming title, RAGE gas been acquired by ZeniMax Media Inc., parent company of noted game publisher Bethesda Softworks

id Software will continue to operate under the direction of its founder, John Carmack.

Hottie of the Week for 24 June '09, Bonnie Ruberg!

2009-06-24T15:22:00.008-04:00

If you just said, "Who?", go administer to yourself a anesthetic free lobotomy. If you survive that, I'll let you in on the fact that Bonnie Ruberg is the awesomesauce. She has been publishing professionally for more than four years and sits on the steering committee of the Women in Games International.

I swear, I do not have a particular redhead-fetish, at least not that I'm not in denial about. It just seems, to me, that every time I check, the greatest, most amazing geeky hotties (of the female persuasion, personal preference) have a hint of red, at least, in their visible cephalic regions. *Applies for research grant to determine if the "geek gene" is actually on chromosome 16 beside red hair*

If, and this is feeling highly of myself for a moment, if there is an individual out there whom I would strive to be worthy of collaborating with on articles of pop-culture or any other, it would be Bonnie Ruberg.

Recently married to game designer Scott Jon Siegel, she needs no geek cred by association, (sorry Scott, YOU get geek cred for associating with your wife, so there:P) writing primarily for The Economist, Forbes.com, PC World, and SF Weekly. She's written before for Wired, Macworld, and Joystiq, and founded Heroine Sheik in '05. Do visit, be nice, and enjoy her venting her thoughts on sex in video games. Wish I'd have run into her when I was running an island in SL, I'd have "tried" to give her a run for her money.

According to Bonnie's "About Bonnie" she wants a unicorn, but would settle for a pony. Ok, no ponies here, or unicorns, however, care of Spippo, we present her with an image of an uber horsie.

VR Game Gun Hack via GeekSix.com

2009-06-23T12:56:00.004-04:00

VR Game Gun: via JoshGeek @geeksix

Follow him on Twitter, you'll be glad ya did.

Tekken 6 - New Character Sneak Peeks!

2009-06-22T18:27:00.021-04:00

Coming out in Fall 2009 for the PS3, PSP, and XBox 360 is Tekken 6. New character reveals show us Alisa Bosconovich, a mystery girl found in the lower, heavily guarded levels of the Bosconovich Laboratory, from which she takes her last name.

Marshall Law, besieged by money troubles after being found illegally employed in Japan and subsequently deported back to the United States, seeks to end his finacial nightmares by winning the top prize in the tournament. (And apparently ripping off Alisa's head in the process.)

Eddy Gordo joins the The King of Iron Fist Tournament 6 as a member of the Tekken Force in order to eliminate those who would threaten Jin, who had become the new head of the Mishima Zaibatsu.

Another new "mystery person", Lars Alexandersson a former ranking member of the Tekken Force, and unknown to most, he is Heihachi's son. Known as "The one who betrayed his own in order to build a new era."

Yoshimitsu, a personal favorite character from when Tekken was still bound in the arcades, now carries Fumaken - a sword with the ability to contain the power of the evil sword from which comes his name - Yoshimitsu.

Images and data courtesy of Games Press, "The resource for games journalists."

LEGO Battles Cutscene Previews

2009-06-20T14:12:00.010-04:00

Judging the success and quality of LEGO Star Wars, a personal favorite fun time that I play with my kid, anything dealing with the LEGO franchise is going to be a hit.

Our panel of experts, two eight year old boys and one eleven year old young lady, have reviewed the information we have on the Summer 2009 upcoming LEGO Battles from Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. Their expert opinions can be summed up in these statements, "What do you mean we can't play it now? I thought you were showing us something we could do now. When is it coming out, can we play together? Ooo, I gotta have that so I can build a castle and zap "insert child's name here".

Yeah, apparently, I am a glutton for punishment.

LEGO Castle, LEGO Pirates and LEGO Space will be combined into a seventy (plus?) level, six story-line epic where you get to put LEGO spacemen battling next to LEGO knights in multiplayer enabled by wireless DS multi-card. The comedy in any LEGO title is always worth the price of the software itself, and I don't have to worry about the content when it comes to turning on the electronic babysitter (aka game console). Ok, I'm lieing through my teeth, "maybe" the kids get to play, if I get out of their way long enough.

Single Mom Fined Close to $2 mil for Piracy

2009-06-19T20:35:00.006-04:00

Here we go again. When, in our country, I speak specifically of the US here, did "We the People" become "We the Corporation"?

As a young, aspiring classical musician, I was able to find work, though I can't and don't do that anymore and at the time, was terribly flattered to be considered semi-professional. It was great, I enjoyed it and seriously recommend anyone that can, take the chance and put yourself out there, it will change your life.

Stating that, I'm trying to defuse the usual arguments that crop up, that the authors of anything that criticizes the RIAA and MPAA are horrible artist hating morons that want something for nothing, before they begin here.

What I abhor, is the abuse by a very wealthy few (especially during our global recession, geesh) of frankly, anyone.

When the VCR first arrived on the scene, many, many attempts were made to block consumers from legally being able to record television broadcasts. Obviously, that didn't go over so well.

Last time I personally turned on the radio, I was still able to pop in a cassette tape and record broadcast. It becomes illegal to do so when you copy this to sell it, to make a profit off of someone else's hard work. That is a legitimate protection that artists need and are entitled to.

In the case of Jammie Thomas-Rasset, recently found guilty, by jury, of infringing the copyright of twenty-four songs over Kazaa (back when it wasn't a legal site) the RIAA apparently believes, and so does the jury, they are entitled to reparation to the tune of 80,000 US$ per song. I know commercial CD's have gotten a bit expensive, but I didn't realize they cost that much now.

A favorite phrase of indivuduals of an older generation, "What are they gonna do, they did away with debtor's prison?", comes to mind. The RIAA will never see that money, and don't tell me, or anyone else with half a brain, that this is to send a message to pirates that they can't get away with this kind of thing. What this decision, and in fact, all DRM legislation does, is encourage right-minded citizens to flaunt the law at every opportunity. I'm reminded of the period of "Prohibition" in the US, where eventually, a constitutional change came about, now you can drink all the alcohol your liver can stand.

Here is the RIAA reaction to the decision, and I get to copy it out of fair use, ain't it great.

RIAA REACTION:

“We appreciate the jury's service and that they take this as seriously as we do. We are pleased that the jury agreed with the evidence and found the defendant liable. Since day one, we have been willing to settle this case and we remain willing to do so.”

-- Cara Duckworth

Sorry, I don't believe that a jury of a single-Mom's peers found her liable. Seems to me that she was tried by twelve people that might need to re-evaluate how much material that violates copyright is in their own homes.

Back in 2007, when this case was first tried to be brought against the plaintiff, the RIAA also sought to bring charges against a deceased plaintiff. Took them a couple of years, but it seems they found a judge and jury that would let them get away with the invasion of privacy trying this case allowed. How do you send a letter to a deceased person, and a minor (under thirteen years of age) seeking damages for copyright violation?

Support the artists that make the music, the movies, and other entertainment you enjoy, please, purchase their products. Just remember, that with the advent of the DMCA, if you are able to find a way to copy, for personal use your legally purchased entertainment, you've become a pirate. You are allowed, by law, to make one copy of anything you purchase, for archival, but, if you break the digital rights management embedded in it to prevent copying, you've broken the law. Those two concepts negate each other, that seems simple enough, you can legally make a backup, but if you do, you're breaking the law by breaking the protection to do it. Huh?! Makes no sense to me either.

As a last here's the plaintiffs public statement outside the courtroom, Jammie stated the verdict was “kind of ridiculous” and vowed that “there’s no way they’re ever going to get [that money]”. She's right, they won't. I challenge them to prove me wrong, after all, isn't the punishment supposed to be in proportion to the crime?

MediaSentry investigated over NC RIAA Lawsuits

A very informative link, check it out, and let your legislator know that you don't want an unlicensed company invading your privacy.

MediaSentry canned by RIAA

Don't miss the excellent, and happy, followup.

Oooohhhhh Munn!

2009-06-18T20:34:00.000-04:00

Video Game - E3 2009 - Attack of the Show

#threadless Boba T-shirts

2009-06-18T16:28:00.000-04:00

Time to start our everything Fett columns, I'm so far behind.

If you've got a submission for anything Fett, from licensed collectibles to that t-shirt that got printed in such low numbers you just had to have one, let us know and we'll add it to our collection!

chay' [Geek] 'oH SoH

2009-06-18T15:41:00.005-04:00

For fun, I headed over to innergeek: a Place for Geeks to take the geek test. Fairly certain I'd score well, well meaning I'm a geek like Pinnochio fears termites.

When I got to the questions about what you read / have read, I wondered who was looking over my shoulder, or hiding in my bathroom. When I saw the use of the term THACO, I laughed, couldn't be helped. Spellchecks shouldn't even throw THACO out, that's a legit word like "Dammit Jim!" is a catch-phrase.

So yeah, I scored "extreme geek", I can live with that, as more geekiness shall come with age and wise delving into the arcane geek arts.

Check out the geek test, and see how you stack up.
- Signed, Erelas RyAlcar GO/IT/AT d-- s: a C++++ >U++ P L+ E W+++ N+ o K++ w+ O---- M V PS+ PE++ Y+++ PGP++ t+ 5++ X+++ R++ tv b++++ DI++++ D++ G++ e* h--- r+++ y+ @z++++**

The Squees of A Geek Girl Diva: An Open Letter to the L.A. Times from a Geek Girl

2009-06-18T15:07:00.000-04:00

The LA Times don't seem to be "with" the times. GeekGirlDiva wrote an excellent article here about their inappropriate classifying of the wonderful geeky girls of our world. Take a read, you'll be glad you did.

The Squees of A Geek Girl Diva: An Open Letter to the L.A. Times from a Geek Girl

CyberGeek Hottie of the Week!! Alison Carroll!!

2009-06-17T10:43:00.006-04:00

Two "r"'s in that name folks..makes me just want to roll it off my tongue, with a "rrrrrrr" sound effect.

Latest word is, Alison Carroll, the latest human incarnation of everyones favorite Tomb Raider, Lara Croft is still single! Oh wait, that does me no good, I'm still overly geeky and not single, c'est la vie.

"Tomb Raider: Underworld" or Tomb Raider 8, for those keeping track, is the eighth, (good guess!) game in the 'Tomb Raider' series, released in November 2008.

No one says that Alison is "only" Lara Croft, far from it. (Yes, that is a jab at the editors of AskMen for their snotty little low rating, total objectification of this lovely and well-rounded professional, and dismissal with a paltry numeric "rating") A gymnast from the age of seven, she's spending six days a week in the gym, when she can. I need that dedication.

Life Is An Art, directed by Jayant Harnam will show us more of Alison, since it's now officially in post-production, where she is in the role of Clare Jones. Now out, as of 6 Jun, is Doghouse, zombies AND Alison Carroll. Oh yeah, there are some other guys in it. Whovians can never get enough of everyones new-favorite tin dog, "It's always about Him, isn't it?" Mickey Smith, aka Noel Clarke. Actually Noel, this time, it's all about her, Alison Carroll. Poor guy, he just can't win.

Alison is also in, The Kid, by director Nick Moran, which recently headed into post-production as well.

For your Alison Carroll fix, check out her official page at alisoncarroll.org.uk, and thank you Alison for keeping Lara Croft fresh, energetic and vibrant!

Mid Month Game Review

2009-06-15T02:15:00.005-04:00

Mid-Month State of the Game review time here, and some notables released this month so far; Sims 3 (PC), Prototype, Red Faction, Virtua Tennis, Ghostbusters, Transformers and Tiger Woods.

With the US Open and Tiger Woods picking up a lot of broadcast time, it's a good bet there's a point to releasing a title built up around his name in June.

Top ten titles by sales volume so far for 06/15*:

~ Sims 3 (PC) > 1,500,000
# UFC 2009 Undisputed (X360) 500,000 < 600,000
# Wii Fit (Wii) 400,000 < 500,000
# EA Sports Active (Wii) 300,000 < 400,000
# UFC 2009 Undisputed (PS3) 300,000 < 400,000
# inFamous (PS3) 300,000 < 400,000
# Pokemon Platinum (NDS) 100,000 < 200,000
# Mario Kart Wii 100,000 < 200,000
# Punch-Out!! (Wii) 100,000 < 200,000
# X-Men Origins: Wolverine (X360) 100,000 < 200,000

Combined platform sales of UFC 2009 Undisputed are above 800,000 units which is a really great start and most likely due to a substantial advertising campaign pre-release.

But the King, coming out on June 2, and setting the best release in the companies history, is EA's Sims 3. The ten dollar app for the iPhone even took the #1 spot. Sims 3 is dominating the month of June, though solid sales figures will be available for all of June at July's beginning.

*Sales figures are mean values based on industry reporting and analysis of previous month's sales. As such, they are approximate and ain't gospel, but if we really screw up, we'll own up :)

Sunday Funny

2009-06-14T15:08:00.004-04:00

TheSmokingGun.com is funny, and we're geeks and sometimes we come across things on sites, blogs, and other journalistic endeavors that we are compelled to share with you. The fellow who made the Orange Barrel Monster, was arrested, charged with a misdemeanor for destroying the orange construction barrels that belonged to a private company. Hell, the publicity they have gotten and are going to get, is probably going to be worth the aggravation.

Rodney Carrington, great comedian, really, wrote a song, works a little too well with the photo. Enjoy!

TOSBack.org

2009-06-13T20:01:00.003-04:00

Anyone who's read this for information besides a "Hottie of the Week" knows that the editor and occasional staff of SPVG are absolutely nutty about a lot of internet related policies that are trying to be pushed into the faces of consumers.

Chief among these is probably the issue of the consumers privacy, really, no other system in place within the United States can reveal so much about you as an individual, what you do in your home, etc. than a look at your IP address, your browsing records, the material cached on your laptop.

EFF, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, has launched a website to help those who do care about what happens to a companies Terms of Service after you digitally sign it - TOSBack.org.

Terms-Of-Service and other website policies form the foundation of your relationship with social networking sites, online businesses, and other Internet communities. But most people become aware of these terms only when there's a problem. TOSBack was created to help you monitor the policies for the websites you use everyday, and show how they change over time.

A summary from their own, "About TOSBack", tells it all, and if you really read deeply enough into some TOS's that you've already agreed to, you might be surprised at what you find. Protect your rights as a consumer, first by knowing what you agree to. You wouldn't just sign "OK" when purchasing a new automobile, and thankfully, TOSBack.org and the EFF are making our lives a little easier.

Truthfully, the last new car our family purchased, the dealer requested, among the huge stacks of papers we needed to sign, one document that actually indicated we were waving our rights to arbitration if the car blow up on the way off the lot and injured or killed one or all of us. We didn't sign it, and I still remember how high my blood pressure felt at the affront they'd even ask us to look at such impropriety.

Check out the EFF's direct link to their new free service, you'll probably be glad you did.

The Creation and Internet Bill - The Final Word?

2009-06-13T19:47:00.006-04:00

Bless La Quadrature du Net who posted this picture in response to the recent decision.

We reported on the Creation and Internet Bill being pushed into law by French legislators. The Creation and Internet Bill was being touted as the "Internet Three Strikes" Bill, and entertainment industry gestapo, like the RIAA were reportedly very happy and excitedly pushing this Bill forward as a victory for Digital Rights Management, copyright protection, and a failure for torrent sites, providers of torrents and other varieties of bootleg material available on Peer to Peer networks. Nevermind that there are legitimate, legal and honest uses for such sharing of files.

Following on the heels of the recent decision by Swedish courts against The Pirate Bay, things were looking pretty glum. Now, no one here, at SPVG is gonna be heard promoting, aggrandizing, or otherwise playing sides with people who illegally share files, so quit gearing up to take us on.

What you will hear us expound upon, sometimes at great length, is what the French government finally got into their heads: The Creation and Internet Bill was found un-Constitutional. WHOOHOOO!! Yay, so, there you have it folks. They tossed it out like yesterdays garbage, and it IS just that, garbage.

Today, the French Constitutional Council has ruled that the law, dubbed the The Creation and Internet bill is unconstitutional and violates the Declaration of 1789. The declaration says that all parties are innocent until proven guilty. The three strikes law would force customers to prove their own innocence.

Supporters of the Bill, are presumably squelching the devil out of this news while they played up it's passage on network television, news broadcasts and press conferences. Funny, the reversal of the Bill has been not heard much, yet. Pushes to use the Bill's passage as precedent in other EU countries were openly made, even brash mention of it gaining respectability in the US was heard. Innocent until proven guilty, a good French start. Perhaps now this decision, it's reversal, will be used as a precedent in other EU countries against similarly contrived anti-consumer measures.

Only one thing to say to all that:

Website Upgrades!

2009-06-12T23:29:00.000-04:00

We can never leave anything well enough alone at SPVG, we're compelled to tinker.

So, if you visit us after this announcement, and things are ugly, confused, and generally make your eyes bleed. Don't Panic!! We'll have it back together in no time. :)

Dr. Seuss on Computers

2009-06-12T16:37:00.004-04:00

Dr Seuss explains computers:

If a packet hits a pocket on a socket on a port,
And the bus is interrupted as a very last resort,
And the address of the memory makes your floppy disk abort,
Then the socket packet pocket has an error to report.

If your cursor finds a menu item followed by a dash,
And the double clicking icon puts your window in the trash,
And your data is corrupted 'cause the index doesn't hash,
Then your situation's hopeless and your system's gonna crash.

If the label on the cable on the table at your house,
Says the network is connected to the button on your mouse,
But your packets want to tunnel on another protocol,
That's repeatedly rejected by the printer down the hall,

And your screen is all distorted by the side effects of gauss,
So your icons in the window are as wavy as a souse,
Then you may as well reboot it,
and let it go out with a bang,
'Cause as sure as I'm a poet, the sucker's gonna hang.

When the copy of your floppy's getting sloppy on the disk,
And the micro-code instructions cause unnecessary risk,
Then you have to flash your memory and you'll want to ram your ROM,
So quickly turn off your computer and go and tell your mum!

**Note - If anyone knows who this may be attributed to correctly, please let SPVG know, we'd love to give them due credit. Until then, enjoy this fun Seuss-like rhyme, it's fun to torture your kids with.

Warcraft Regional Finals Announced!

2009-06-11T14:14:00.008-04:00

Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today confirmed details for the upcoming Warcraft® Regional Finals that will be held between the 26th and 28th of June at the KOMED MediaPark, Cologne. Over recent months, World of Warcraft® 3v3 Arena teams and Warcraft III players across Europe and North America have been climbing their respective qualifying ladders, battling each other for a spot at the Regional Finals.

At the Regional Finals tournament, the top competitors from both North America and Europe will come together in a clash to determine who will advance to the Global Finals. In the end two North American Arena teams, two European Arena teams, two Warcraft III players from North America, and three Warcraft III players from Europe will advance to the Global Finals, which will be held at BlizzCon 2009 this August 21 and 22 in Anaheim, California.

Gamers who are not competing in the contest are welcome to attend, witness the fast-paced action live on stage, and cheer their favorite players on to victory.

For more information or to check out the event videos and galleries from last year’s finals, head to the official Warcraft Regional Finals 2009 website.

Hottie of the Week for 10 June '09, Pansy Warrior Princess!

2009-06-10T07:30:00.008-04:00

No one, ever, will mess with our Hottie of the Week for this week, not while she's swinging that battle-axe! It's our benevolent ruler Pansy Warrior Princess!

In case you live under a rock, Pansy Warrior Princess is a comedy/video game review series. Pansy, from her throne room, discusses her peeves, pleasures, thoughts on recent video games, and answers viewer questions. In addition to creating videos filled with comedy, special effects, and animation, she hosts a live show on stickam every Wed-Sun at 7PM PST.

Really, how many of us have wanted to split the skull of a moron in front of us holding up the line at the local Quickie Mart? Yup, all of us, come on admit it. Play the video again, you know you want to.

Oh, and apparently, I have some fascination with redheads. I admit it, redheads are the awesome-sauce and Pansy Warrior Princess is right at the top of our Hotties of the Week (add reverb sound effects while you say that, it's cooler that way).

***Due to the editor and purveyor (hah, I said purveyor) of all things geek, I totally screwed up Pansy's cast, it's at...PansyWarriorPrincess.com

The Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA)

2009-06-09T17:13:00.003-04:00

Readers that have been with us awhile, will have noticed a new ad off to the right, highlighting your chance to join the Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA).

You'll also notice in our Disclosure Policy that we list them as a member organization. The Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) is a 501(c)(4) non-profit membership organization established to serve the needs of those who play computer and video games.

Formed in 2006, the ECA is an advocacy organization for consumers of interactive entertainment. Gamers represent nearly fifty percent of the US population and spend $10 billion annually on gaming, yet as a group are continually overlooked by both politicians and the mainstream press. The mission of the ECA is to give game consumers a voice and to ensure that elected officials hear their concerns and appreciate the growing influence of the gamer demographic.

The organization, which is headquartered in Connecticut, focuses its advocacy efforts on consumer rights, anti-games legislation, and a host of other public policy concerns as well as providing substantial community, educational, and affinity benefits to its members—from discounts on subscriptions and game rentals and purchases to education, employment assistance, and insider access to industry news and events.

With our past articles on how legislation at home and abroad is influencing the games that you are able to play, how your privacy is tossed to the side by the DMCA, and how DRM can negatively effect the legitimate end-user, we're proud to promote the ECA and applaud it's efforts on the gamers behalf.

Check them out, show your support, and garner the benefits of being a member!

German Ministers Propose Violent Games Ban

2009-06-08T15:20:00.003-04:00

German politicians are pushing forward with an all-out ban on what they consider, "Violent VideoGames". Sixteen Interior Ministers have proposed legislation via a petition to the German parliament to ban both the production and distribution of violent games.

Moves to ban paintball, airsoft guns, restrict the memberships of marksman clubs, require gunowners to deposit their ammunition at local police stations all follow in the wake of the tragedy in Winnenden, Germany.

*The Albertville-Realschule massacre occurred on the morning of 11 March 2009 at a secondary school in Winnenden, Baden-Württemberg, in southwestern Germany, followed by a shootout at a car dealership in nearby Wendlingen. The shooting spree resulted in 16 deaths, including the suicide of the perpetrator, 17-year-old Tim Kretschmer, who had graduated from the school one year earlier. Several people were also injured during the incident.

What happened in Winnenden is a tragedy, and there is no one more concerned than I when I hear of violence (from hair-pulling to gunfire) at schools. To bring more focus upon what I refer to as "knee-jerk" reactions whenever violence of such a magnitude occurs, look at the big picture and what it may eventually mean globally for gamers and the non-gaming public.

Already, you have to really dig to find a decent broadcast of an Olympic Event that involves marksmanship. This is because shooting at inanimate targets has received criticism as promoting violence and eventually, marksman type events will be removed from the Olympics. Greco-Roman wrestling, in my opinion, so much higher in legitimacy than whatever tripe is being broadcast on Pay-Per-View, obviously promotes violent actions against your opponent. Get rid of that quickly, one of the original sports of the Olympics, axe it, now, before it infects the world with it's terrible violence.

Fencing, Tae Kwon Do, and heaven's forbid some chess player actually move one step forward right or left when he decides to go off the deep end and "Castle" his College Adviser, all these things are violent.

The typical move, of a knight chesspiece forward and right or left, to capture your opponent's piece, for all the non-chessy pansies out there is brought up for good reason. During another violent tragedy, reports were circulated that the shooter used techniques he learned from playing a videogame, in how he walked, stalked down his victim, and corraled them into a corner, with his partner. So let's be sure and blame chess the next time someone shoots someone else and steps "knight-like". Chess is so violent it makes my eyes bleed.

The act of typing out on this keyboard, is violent. Not in the way that the keys will be scarred and require hours of counseling when I am done, but the act of using "Free Speech" is force, and a violent act.

Now, politicians being what they are, politicians, and German elections coming up in September, we've not heard the last of making video games out to be the albatross around societies neck. I'm surprised that someone hasn't blamed Parker Brothers for the global recession, after all they make the boardgame Monopoly, and are therefore responsible for this games detrimental effects upon the stock exchanges and real estate markets.

Crysis developers Crytek, happen to be based in Germany. If I were them, I'd be worried, especially since the proposed bans are against developer's of violent videogames. If CryTek picks up it's studio and hauls ass to LA, good for them, and for LA. German politicians obviously don't need the revenue from the games industry to fuel their agendas, so let's see how they do without it.

*This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Albertville Realschule massacre and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.

The Best of #robotpickuplines !

2009-06-05T15:14:00.004-04:00

These are in no particular order, just a monkey typing on a keyboard here, but, they are some of the best of the #robotpickuplines that I saw trending on Twitter. See any more good ones out there, or just want to say hi, Twit us one, or drop us a line here :)

1.~ @JoAnneJoyM #robotpickuplines If I said you had a bootable body would you bolt it against me

2.~ @travelfox #robotpickuplines "My name's Vista. Can I crash at your place tonight?"

3.~ @BambiBlue #robotpickuplines roses are #FF0000, violets are #0000FF, all my base are belong to you

4.~ @joeadamfry #robotpickuplines PLEASE EXECUTE THE FOLLOWING SEQUENCE: 010110 [OOOH YEA THATS IT] 0111001 [OH YEA DONT STOP] 01010[OOOOH!]

5.~ @stephHARSH #robotpickuplines the morning after: are you gonna ESC or do I have to CTRL+ALT+DLT?

6.~ @mariancall #robotpickuplines Sure, I can get you access to the central defense mainframe of the 12 Colonies.

7. ~@PatriceLarue #robotpickuplines In Z80012, using hex rather than binary and converting to a basic ASC-2 code, I think I E5 A9 08 B7 you.

8. ~@TruePseudo #robotpickuplines Nice shoes, wanna connect via TCP/IP?

9. ~@InMyPANTS (@Kimli) #robotpickuplines There are humans in my pants - wanna enslave them?

And 10. ~@Ninjaseesbeyond #robotpickuplines Are your servos worn out? Because you've been persistently present in my logic processor between 4pm and 12am.

Get Your Fill-Up with FUEL

2009-06-05T11:14:00.009-04:00

FUEL is going to blow your mind when it launches Friday June 5th for the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system and Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft® with a Games For Windows® edition to follow. Grab a FUEL injection by downloading gameplay videos at www.fuel-game.com.

If you're a racing game fan, want real time day/night, and weather effects that would make Dorothy run screaming to her Auntie 'Em - then FUEL is going to be right up your alley.

Seventy, count'em, seventy different vehicles to race and unlock spread out across buggies, dragsters, off-road bikes, cars, trucks, on-road bikes and quads. Toto never stood a chance. Just take a look-see at IceBreaker, "Ice Road" truckers eat your hearts out.

Generally speaking, I'm not much for racing, I am pretty sure that NASCAR is a funny acronym for something with four left turns. ( I feel the love now, thanks) The arcade type competition though in FUEL is enough to get any couch-bound double clutching geek excited. Sometimes you just have to tear crap apart under wheels. That cow-catcher on the front of IceBreaker, well, the entire look is gritty and sweet. Exactly what we want in an post-Apocalyptic, top of the mountain to bottom of the canyon race game. Oh, and yeah, the FUELgirls, did I forget to mention them, well, turn up the sound (NSFW) and hit the link.

Time to Play...Fishtris!?

2009-06-04T13:24:00.005-04:00

Yes, you read that correctly, in Abylight's new release "Fish'em All!™" for WiiWare arriving in America next Monday, 8 th June there is a mode that allows you to fill up a tube with fish, match the colors the fish go poof, fill the tube...and "Game Over".

The WiiWare title is for one or two players, has three different game modes - Challenge, Arcade, and, you guessed it, Fishtris!

Playing in Challenge mode allows you to unlock new stages, that you can then play in two-player mode. Arcade mode is a competitive race against the clock, old school coin-op flavored, beat the high score fun fest. Don't forget to put that strap around your wrists folks, broken windows are a pain to replace and explain to insurance adjusters.

I foresee an awful lot of time being used to find new and interesting ways of feeding the characters to the shark, dragon, a few spiders. Call me unstable, but though feeding your character to the enemy is not the goal of the game, that looks like a very fun part of the visuals.

Things You Learn From Video Games

2009-06-04T00:01:00.000-04:00

~There is no problem that cannot be overcome by force.

~If it moves, DESTROY it.

~Piloting any vehicle is simple and requires no training.

~One lone "good guy" can defeat an infinite number of "badguys".

~Make sure you eat all food found lying on the ground.

~You can break things...and get away with it.

~You can push other vehicles off the road....and get away with it.

~If someone dies, they dissappear.

~If you get mad enough, you can fight even better.

~You can overcome most adversaries simply by having enough quarters.

~You can operate all weapons without training.

~No matter how long you fight, you can always fight again.

~Death is reversible (only for you!)

~Ninjas are commonplace and often fight in public.

~Whenever big, fat mean guys are about to croak, the flash red and yellow.

~You never run out of ammo, just grenades.

~All women have great bodies and wear clothes to show this off.

~Shoot everything, if it blows up or dies, it was bad.

~Don't worry if your vehicle crashes and explodes, your rates will not go up.

~A thousand to one odds against you, no problem.

CyberGeek Hottie of the Week! Felicia Day!

2009-06-03T13:29:00.005-04:00

Hey, it's ALL about E3 this week (and probably next week too, yawn). So, when the lovely Felicia popped up live at E3 with G4, we all went, "Whoohoo".

Also, I might be trending, what is it about redheads?

Enough of my mindless meanderings, SPVG's CyberGeek Hottie of the Week is, Felicia Day!

She blogs, she sings, she dances, she's stunningly gorgeous, she's geeky, she writes a show about gaming geeks, she twitters, she "might" be able to perform enough miracles to be canonized, the Vatican has not gotten back to us yet.

Saint Day, yeah, I'm good with that. Anyway, watch The Guild, it's well worth it, better, go buy the DVD's (Season 1 and 2 are out). Favorite line, "Codex is a fine prize of a woman." Priceless.

Monkey On Your Back @ 1,050,200

2009-06-02T10:11:00.003-04:00

Billy Mitchell, the current Donkey Kong World Record holder at 1,050,200 points will have his score challenged, at the Los Angeles Convention Center during E3.

The man at the console is once again, Steve Wiebe, who originally took the world record from Tim Sczerby. The takeover of the top slot drew Billy Mitchell's attention and the teeter-totter battle between Mitchell and Wiebe led to the release of the 2007 film The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters.

The trailer says a lot about the movie, the absolute nightmare that the classic Donkey Kong game really is, and the rivalry that grew between Mitchell and Wiebe.

Check out other scores, player rankings, gaming statistics, and championship tournaments at Twin Galaxies. The attempt to break the record will be broadcast on G4, today, live.

Air France Tragedy

2009-06-02T04:31:00.004-04:00

We are deeply saddened by the loss of life attributed to the AF 447 disaster. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families, loved ones, and friends of the passengers and crew. Please, take a moment today, to consider our lives and loves, as you pass by a stranger, grant them a smile.
What follows is a transcript of the official Air France press release and the contact numbers published for family members to use for information.

Air France regrets to confirm the disappearance of flight AF 447 flying from Rio de Janeiro to Paris-Charles de Gaulle, scheduled to arrive at 11:10am local time today, as announced to the press by Air France CEO, Pierre-Henri Gourgeon.

The Airbus A330-200, registration F-GZCP, left Rio on 31 May at 7:03pm local time (12:03am in Paris).

The aircraft hit a zone of stormy weather with strong turbulence at 2am this morning (universal time), i.e. 4am in Paris. An automatic message was received from the aircraft at 2:14am (4 :14am in Paris) indicating a failure in the electric circuit a long way from the coast.

The Brazilian, African, Spanish and French air traffic control centres all tried to make contact with flight AF 447 but to no avail. The French military air traffic control centre tried to detect the aircraft but did not succeed.

216 passengers were on board: 126 men, 82 women, 7 children and one infant.

There were 12 flight crew members: 3 pilots and 9 flight attendants.

The flight captain had a record of 11,000 flight hours and had already flown 1,700 hours on Airbus A330/A340s.

Of the two first officers, one had flown 3,000 flight hours (800 of which on the Airbus A330/A340) and the other 6,600 (2,600 on the Airbus A330/A340).

The aircraft was powered by General Electric CF6-80E engines.

The aircraft had totalled 18,870 flight hours and went into service on 18 April 2005.

Its last maintenance check in the hangar took place on 16 April 2009.

Air France fully shares the anxiety and distress of the families concerned. The families are being taken care of in a specially reserved area of Paris-Charles de Gaulle Terminal 2.

Outside France: + 33 1 57 02 10 55
0800 800 812 in France
0800 881 20 20 in Brazil

EA is Rocking with The Old Republic!

2009-06-01T17:56:00.011-04:00

I really, truly hoped, for some gameplay footage of Star Wars: The Old Republic at E3. We didn't get that, but what we got was an absolutely amazing cinematic trailer that blew commenters away. Twitter #e3 was, and probably still is, alive with buzz about the effect the trailer had on Star Wars fans and non-fans (do those actually exist?) alike.

Star Wars: The Old Republic, being developed and published by BioWare and LucasArts, represents an innovative approach to interactive entertainment, featuring immersive storytelling, dynamic combat and intelligent companion characters.

Intelligent companion characters has me sincerely interested, responsive and intelligent decision making, even when I make boneheaded mistakes would be nice to see in an MMO.

From the official Q&A:

Star Wars: The Old Republic takes place more than 3,500 years before the rise of Darth Vader. The most powerful Sith Empire in history has emerged from deep space to attack the Republic and its legendary Jedi guardians. After decades of war, a tenuous truce has been established between the Sith Empire and the Republic, but events occurring in the game are leading the galaxy back to an all-out war.

That's a good indication that EA and LucasArts can finally break the tether between the Star Wars Galaxies - Sony Online Entertainment nightmare and the Star Wars franchise. That much time between the two settings gives me hope that like the Matrix: Online, SWG is going to go offline and forgotten. Originally, SWG was an absolute dream, one could, if they chose, sit in the infamous cantina of Mos Eisley and listen to the band forever and true entertainment could be had just from players walking in and out. The variety of players, their singular reactions to the environment were really what being a fan is all about. Unfortunately, then came the re-vamps of the game, total wipes of entire classes of character, and the "New Gaming Experience" that SOE pushed so hard when all they had to do was stick to their original theme.

I am still reeling, from @louiethecat (of G4) who, and I must paraphrase him, sorry, when he referred to SWG as a debacle of a game. He is so incredibly right, thank God gamers actually say what they think.

I've always loved the Bounty Hunters of Star Wars, they are a class all to themselves and no Star Wars vehicle is complete without one, in my opinion. So, I am very excited to see the treatment of them in TOR. What we wanted for BH in SWG, "Dual Wield", and access to story elements and characters associated with the notorious Extended Universe - Bounty Hunters Guild.

I personally played out the Bounty Hunter class, through good and bad, in SOE's SWG. Cries of nerf this and nerf that, eventually left the class crippled, when they were intially designed to be able to handle the "uber-class" Jedi in the game, to actually hunt them. So yes, if anyone was on Tarquinas and actually remembers when the first BH jetpack was made, well *toot toot*, that's my horn.

Thank you George Lucas, for giving another chance on your universe being an enjoyable MMO experience. Best of luck to EA and BioWare, an insanely critical group of fans are watching and waiting with baited breath. If the actual game is anything like the E3 trailer, you've succeeded.

LucasArts, the LucasArts logo, STAR WARS and related properties are trademarks in the United States and/or in other countries of Lucasfilm Ltd. and/or its affiliates. (C) 2008 Lucasfilm Entertainment Company Ltd. or Lucasfilm Ltd. All rights reserved.BioWare and the BioWare logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of EA International (Studio and Publishing) Ltd.

Chaotic TCG

2009-06-01T08:00:00.000-04:00

Being unable to resist picking up something new, even "if" it has a cartoon show to go along with it, I picked up a couple of Chaotic packs and tried it out.

I've one really serious question for the designers of the game: "What age group again are you looking at as your majority player-base?" This is a complicated set of rules, sub-rules and twisty thingamabobs (purely technical term there). I've enjoyed collectible card games for years, let alone the occasional good hand or so of Texas Hold'em, but this one is befuddling. My eight year old, who is trying to learn how to play chess and well is basically smart as a whip (all parents kids are genius's, just ask one), makes up his own set of rules with the cards I brought home, deigning not to get involved with the organic ruleset.

Considering I often have my fingers in too many pies, I put Chaotic aside and moved on, hoping to return with a clearer schedule and mood to delve into it to give it a fair shake. During my time away, the website was entirely re-designed, significantly enhanced, and secondary market prices for some of the cards exploded, similiar to Magic the Gathering in it's heyday. As complex as MtG is though, it's still an easier pick-up game than Chaotic.

Maybe my personal tastes are changing with time, but I prefer to spread my focus over many smaller games than make a huge investment of mental effort into one, simply to remain marginally competitive. If an in-depth ruleset, lots of expansion, detailed play and background are your bag, jump into Chaotic, you'll probably not regret it.

To keep you abreast of some news in regards the game itself, I've added some notes on what will soon be released, so you can be prepared to pick up your collectible fun.

# Join the Forged Unity Pre-Release June 13th & 14th, 2009 and receive a Super Rare Tangath Toborn, OverWorld General just for playing!
# Compete in one of the 11 Battledrome Championships being held in late June. The winner will walk away with a brand new Laptop!
# The first Perim Championship will be held in Toronto on July 18th, 2009 at the Perim Tour: Toronto. Compete for your chance to win a High End Computer Gaming Bundle, Gaming Laptop, Nintendo Wii™, Nintendo DS™, and many other great prizes!
# Visit the Chaotic Organized Play website at TCDOP.com for full details.

PSP Go: Early Info

2009-06-01T06:21:00.006-04:00

Ahead of E3, a video was leaked to YouTube of Sony’s senior product manager John Koller, discussing the Go, it's features, and the planned release of a Metal Gear Solid title for the handheld.

The device itself really takes a new step up from the 3000, this is sleek and the internal memory at 16GB is really what makes that possible.

The planned release of PSP Go information is Tuesday, the first "official" day of E3, but like the entire video and all information about it, all of this could be a really, really elaborate hoax. There's the disclaimer, you read it, but for my money the video is on the up and up.

Keep an eye open Tuesday, and we'll know for certain the details that Sony releases.

E3 News Conference Schedule

2009-05-31T23:44:00.003-04:00

WATCH E3'S BIG THREE NEWS CONFERENCES LIVE!

Clear your calendar and set those reminders. Gaming's biggest event, E3, starts tomorrow, and GameSpot will be on-site to bring you the first word on what's new from Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony. Watch the Big Three news conferences live, followed by all the expert analysis and commentary you've come to expect from GameSpot.
MICROSOFT - Monday, June 1, 10:30am-12:00pm PT
NINTENDO - Monday, June 1, 9:30am-10:00am PT
SONY - Monday, June 1, 11:00am-12:30pm PT
Check out GameSpot's E3 2009 hub to stay on top of all the show happenings. It's the closest thing to being there.

I can't speak for GameSpot or E3, but, it's good to be able to watch the "Big Three" conferences live, and thank you to GameSpot for keeping us updated.

iPanties, Slide to Unlock

2009-05-31T15:59:00.004-04:00

These things are funny, very cute, and yes, someone I know rather well will be wearing a pair soon as they arrive at my door. This is one of those geek hubbie / boyfriend "Can't resist getting for her" gifts.

I also wish I had thought of this, really, why didn't I.....

It's Saturday Spring Cleaning!

2009-05-30T12:40:00.003-04:00

If you see some absolute madness going on with our website today, it's only temporary, promise..honest...maybe.

We're going to push out a few changes in the layout, optimize the overall site, and make some recommended adjustments to improve your experience here.

So, please don't mind the sawdust and watch out for wet paint!

The Creation and Internet Bill

2009-05-30T11:04:00.000-04:00

The Creation and Internet bill, which recently failed passage, has now passed.

Presumably, designed to protect the copyrights and property of French artists, say for instance, the wife of French President Nicolas Sarkozy - Carla Bruni – who released her third album, 'Comme Si De Rien N'Etait' (translation: As if Nothing Had Happened) in July of '08. I don't really want to pick on the man's wife, I'm sure, though I've no first hand knowledge of this, that she's a nice person, certainly more talented musically than I, and sure as hell knows how to marry to further her own agenda, very smart.

(I believe in stating facts and then letting people make up their own minds, so here they are: The French government gave copies of the album to 14, 000 marketing ambassadors overseas. The French treasury purchased the albums along with wine and cheese vouchers as part of the 1 million pounds campaign to promote Gallic culture overseas - my own government is certainly not free from criticism, but France passed this law.)

Back to the legislation, a new state agency will send warning emails followed by a letter to illegal file sharers. If caught downloading a third time, a user’s internet connection will be severed. Good thing I don't live in France probably, I'd hate to have to defend myself as if I were presumed guilty. How are these "illegal downloads" going to be identified? If the file I download is corrupt, or contains a virus or trojan, is this same government agency going to fly to the defense of the French citizen and track down the naughty person who put it there? How many of this "new state agency" are going to surf the internet while at their state sponsored job and be pinged for illegal downloading, since so much of that happens in the workplace?

Many times, I feel compelled to go back to my tried and true statement, legislation can not keep track of, or even begin to hope to keep up with advances in computer technology. The flavor of the day has been for a long time, "torrents", torrent this, torrent that, and a good number of computer users would probably be hard pressed to tell you what a torrent actually is. Next week, month, year...it won't be a torrent that is under fire from legislators, it will be something else, suitably named a "thingamawhoziewhatsit". If we start breaking up data into slugs (not packets) and when able to be tracked, they're called thingamawhoziewhatsit's, legislation will all have to be rewritten to ban these horrible abuses of technological power called, not torrents, but thingamawhoziewhatsit's.

Thank all the powers that be and anyone else I can think of, that I do NOT reside in France. How, are they going to accomplish this, which, according to the majority of French ISP's is going to cost millions of Euros annually to even begin to enforce? Simple answer, the legislation is going to fail, in gamer parlance, "epically". France Digital Copyright legislation pwned by ignorance, that'll be the new headline, and like the French First Ladies third album, it will be "As If Nothing Had Happened".

Darn France for putting me in the same boat as a Socialist Parliamentarian, namely Patrick Bloche, who said the bill was "dangerous, useless, inefficient, and very risky for us citizens". Oh well, he's right.

Losing the Internet, One Politico at a Time

2009-05-29T14:11:00.000-04:00

If you carefully follow President Obama's announcement regarding his desire to appoint a "Cyber-Czar", you're going to hear something EXTREMELY important at the end. "From now on, our digital infrastructure, the networks and computers we depend on everyday, will be treated as they should be, as a strategic national asset."

I want to educate a little bit today, perhaps someone will actually pay attention. Allow me to give a little professional background on myself, that I generally stay away from, honestly because it causes prejudice and controversy, more often than not.

I am a medically retired United States military veteran, from two branches of service, the US Army and the US Navy. While in the US Navy I was a Missile Technician assigned to a Trident ballistic missile submarine, hey, somebody's gotta do the job. In essence, Missile Technicians, in the Navy, handle the "care and feeding" of nuclear capable missiles. Sounds all fancy and super-duper doesn't it, well it isn't.

You the taxpayer, do not have to worry about "hackers", notorious awful video game players who can cause your life savings to evaporate at the click of a mouse (yeah, right) to be able to interfere with, disable, or in any fashion monkey with the United States nuclear deterrent.

In order for technology, and things have improved and sped up the last few years, to be accepted by the military, absolutely ridiculous standards must be met and exceeded, thus why a screwdriver costs that rumoured 600 US$. The reason is simple, the crew of a submarine can not stop off at the local undersea Wal-Mart and pick up a new screwdriver, "if" theirs breaks, and there is a relatively small amount of room for storage of spares on a submarine. I should know, I've lived on one. That screwdriver is x-rayed, goes underneath scans that most people couldn't afford (without insurance) to have completed on their own bodies for health reasons. Now, I do realize that there is indeed graft and misappropriation in regards military supply funds. So long as there are people, human beings, involved, there will always be graft, call me a cynic.

The point is, such systems as those that control the United States nuclear arsenal are not freaking connected to the internet, they are stand-alone systems, so without a hacker being in physical proximity to said systems (and in my case he'd have had to have been one HELL of a swimmer for that to happen), we're gonna be Ok. "Hackers" was a fun movie, that's pretty much it folks, best part being a young Angelina Jolie.

Declaring "anything" a "strategic national asset" places it under all sorts of new rules, and this becomes dangerous ground, rapidly. During my personal tenure in the military, it was entirely expected that the hull of a ballistic missile submarine, since that was the container for nuclear capable missiles, would be, especially after 9/11 and the U.S.S. Cole bombing would be granted the extra protection they needed by being declared "strategic national assets". They were not. To my personal knowledge, these hulls still are not so classified.

Now, what the hell is going on, when my online gaming and banking experience can become a strategic national asset and the boat carrying nuclear bombs isn't? The mind wobbles under the strain of trying to get that one into some sort of sane framework.

Here's an absolutely fantastic piece, written by Robert A. Miller and Irving Lachow for the publication "Defense Horizons", Issue 59, January 2008. The authors bring up valid points, and in the extreme, nothing can be not considered a national asset.

The problem lies in what a "Czar" is, how they are chosen, their overwhelming lack of oversight (they're not elected, they're appointed) and the tax dollars that are going to be doled out to protect our newest declared strategic national asset. Marines can be deployed and a fence thrown up around the local ISP if things go too far here. The appointment of another "Czar" is not something we need, appointing these "Czars" frankly runs contrary to democratic government. Where are we represented in the process? We elect a President, and suddenly, he can create Czar positions to micro-manage national assets, while pulling in a fat government paycheck. I'm not happy when either party does it, and neither should you be. Less government spending is what we need, not more, needlessly and shamefully.

Human (Really) Interface

2009-05-29T12:21:00.001-04:00

This video is terribly cute and immensely clever. While you're having a cup of coffee and six minutes need to be killed, watch this and grab a giggle with your java. Thanks bobski101.

Hi from Multitouch Barcelona on Vimeo.

Wolvie Homemade Claws

2009-05-28T16:27:00.000-04:00

Ok, I love fan hacks of gadgets, I do, I try my hand at it myself, I suck, that's why I post other peoples, they're cooler. This guy though, I see a temptation here to do very, very bad things. Maybe he'll be able to curb his rage and not take out the neighbors, or their poodle, or their kids...

Man I want a set. I would love to see what Glaring Madness would do with a pair, probably go medieval all over Michael Vick.

Homemade Real Wolverine Like Claws X-Men - More bloopers are a click away

Sienna Miller - The Baroness

2009-05-28T14:06:00.000-04:00

Entirely gratuitous and self-indulgent article here, but aren't they all, Sienna Miller trailer still from the new G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra film.

Other than the lovely Miller, I am looking forward to this release. I never was much of a G.I. Joe fantic when a kid, but, this movie seems to be bringing the gadgets, armor, weapons, and black-clad women together that no red-blooded male can resist.

Speaking of what is expected and what has changed, when the word came out that Global Integrated Joint Operating Entity (G.I. Joe) was going to be a UN style force of international operatives, virtual hell broke loose. No one seems to have gotten through their heads yet that you simply DO NOT screw with canon and what the fans have grown to expect. Changing G.I. Joe to the "A Real UN hero"* from "A Real American Hero" kicked the nationalists, purists, and fans in the teeth.

Guess what, they did listen, after the outcry and now G.I. Joe is once again, "A Real American Hero".

Taking a look at the bits and pieces that have leaked out, chiefly concerning the "Delta V - Accelerator Suit", I'm liking the tech. Well, duh, I like Boba Fett and Iron Man, armored protagonists, so Delta V got my attention.

Lots of speculation and fun looks at what armored power suits for military applications would look like have flown around for years. The oldest I personally remember are the suits in Robert Heinlen's "Starship Troopers". The book, not the movies, don't make me hurt you out there. There's basis in reality for this of course, especially considering DARPA drops cash into research projects like Hardiman (1968), Pitman Project (1988), and goodness knows what else is under wraps.

*Note: It wasn't really called that at any point.

Your Own Bat-Signal (crime-boss not included)

2009-05-28T12:20:00.000-04:00

Contact Batman from Your Own Home!

Raise your hand if you remember Batman and Robin "climbing" up the side of a skyscraper in Gotham City, and suddenly Don Ho sticks his head out the window to see what is going on. Yup, I do, funniest thing in the world.

It was pretty obvious, even to an eight year old, that these guys were walking across the floor and pantomining straining up the bat-cables. That hardly detracted from the absolute fascination I had with any of Batman's gizmo's and gadgets.

One of these days, I WILL have a bust of Shakespeare on my desk with a red button under the head that opens up some kind of fun, kooky secret door or panel.

Besides the batarang, batcuffs, bat-belt, batboat, batmobile and that Shakespeare bust, one thing is certainly iconic to the Batman mythos: The Bat-Signal.

Now, unless you want to rent space on top of a very tall building, grab a couple of machinists and an electrician to put yours up, this one will do the trick.

If you've got the "Trophy Room" collectibles itch and you have to have one of these, or a half dozen, just to be safe, click on my link and help me fill my personal toybox up with goodies. :P After all, only 500 of these are being made.

CyberGeek Hottie of the Week! Rhoulette!

2009-05-27T08:59:00.001-04:00

If you're not familiar with the Frag Dolls, UbiSofts's team of female gamers, it's time for a good old /facepalm. You've missed out on their promotion of the presence of the fairer sex in gaming and denied yourself the pleasure of probably being fragged by someone that you wish you had the guts to talk to.
If you want to, and you probably do, see more of all of the Frag Dolls, head over to their site, for links to their blogs, updates on who may be the newest Frag Doll, more photos, and tell Rhoulette I fawn hopelessly over her (hopelessly cause I'm married and she's got beter things to do :P). Now, since she's studied cultural anthropology and is interested in studies of deviance in online environments, I could probably make an interesting case study...or maybe I could just make up weird stuff for attention, who knows.

I've got a umm, soft spot for redheads, yeah, that's it, riiighhtt. Oh, and brunettes, blondes..umm, forget it, all the Frag Dolls are awesome. But, it's my article dangit, and for my money - Rhoulette is StillPlaysVideoGames: CyberGeek Hottie of the Week!

MechDuels (Beta)

2009-05-26T23:36:00.000-04:00

If you enjoy beta-testing (and the goodies that usually go along with the privilege) then take a look at MechDuels.

This is the latest offering from Challenge Games, which incidentally, I have mentioned before with their flagship game Duels.

What isn't to like about a game that costs nothing to play and sets you off with those three words? Based on impressions of the other releases from Challenge Games, MechDuels is going to be fun, easy on your time, and suitable for a wide range of age groups and committment levels.

The Beta allows you to begin with two "Mech Chasis", the Jaguar and your weapon, the Stratus Laser. You're given the opportunity of designing your own avatar, your Commander persona, from a variety of human choices with the usual accoutrements allowing you to choose from pre-set weapons, hair, backgrounds, etc., to customize your own look.

Register yourself at Duels.com and you'll find the beta code for MechDuels on the front page of the website. Take the opportunity to check it out, get a headstart on the competition, help make a better game, and "probably" (based off personal past experience) get a benny for participating and helping to test.

Challenge Games, MechDuels and Duels are trademarks of Challenge Online Games, Inc. All other names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. Challenge Games was formerly known as Oxygen Games. The owners of this site are not affiliated commercially with the aforementioned entities.

World Duels Championship '09 - Finale!

2009-05-26T09:58:00.000-04:00

Congratulations to Exponential on winning the 2009 World Duels Championship. 1500 US$ richer, and other game goodies to boot, that's a hell of a payoff for playing a flash-based game!

I consider myself a "casual" Duels player, and have been for a pretty decent amount of time. The strategy that goes into building a championship level Duelist is nothing to be sneezed at, currently I'm only ranked 180th in the Top Duelists Ladder. Honestly, I'm just not that good, took me "forever" to get even that far, hah.

If you like a good quick-fix game, no download, no ridiculous signups, no serious committments, then Duels is probably perfect for you. I do admit, if you spend some cash on Duels (entirely optional) you'll probably get farther faster, but the ingame economy holds it's own pretty well.

Yes, if you click the link and sign up, I do get an ingame kickback (tokens for a certain number of signups that anyone can get), but that's hardly why I am blogging about it. It's a good fix, especially on rainy days, and fun. My kid thinks the shadow-fighting mechanic is pretty cool, and he can play it on my antiquated laptop.

From the Challenge Games website: With half a million players worldwide, Duels is an online strategic fantasy RPG where players build powerful characters based on physical attributes, battle experience, special abilities and collectible items, and may upgrade their characters using in-game currency. Unlike many online RPGs which require hours of grinding play to achieve player power and status, Duels is designed to provide compelling in-depth PVP, head-to-head game play in 10 to 30 minute increments, attracting both hardcore and casual gamers for quick-fix gaming.

The @#$%$# Today.com Editorial

2009-05-25T13:53:00.001-04:00

I have now proudly been labeled "unprofessional" by Today.com. I began the process of severing my publishing relationship with them, inquired as to the precise means by which I should retain the rights to my already published work, which is an open option at Today.com, and was booted out of their forums before the question was answered and without a response to my e-mail request.

A second e-mail was fired off, in response to being "locked out" of the system, to which the "Today.com Support" member relayed to me that I had behaved in an unprofessional manner. Maybe they didn't like that I deleted the content from my blog that they were making money off of. As we speak, I'm still on their Top Ten list in Gaming, even with no articles.

Well, I have some information, I'll give it freely to Today.com, stop changing your agreement with your bloggers every five seconds and you might retain someone. Expunging your forums of anyone that disagrees with anything at all Today.com does is not the way to grow a social blogging community.

On the off chance that someone associated with Today does see this, I am about to use my editorial rights to be incredibly unprofessional, so shield your eyes.

Oh, I have never received any form of compensation from Today.com, other than they hosted my blog and ran ads all over it (and by the way, the blogger has zero say in what ads are shown). Today.com does not require that a blogger keep their posts, not edit them after publication, or anything at all. So, that e-mailed remark about "deleted before being able to compensate you" is rubbish. At this point though, I realize you probably need that $5.00 or so, hang on to it with my regards.

Happy 32nd StarWars!

2009-05-25T10:49:00.000-04:00

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away or more precisely on May 25, 1977 Star Wars was released for the first time. That makes, today, Star Wars 32nd release anniversary. Fans might argue, they usually do, that only "the Maker" knows when the birthday of the franchise is, but hey, we'll take the release date as good enough for now :)
Well, it's only been said 100,000 times before, but it bears saying again, thank you Mr. Lucas. Now, time for me to go back to Lego Star Wars with my kid, he loves that game :)

Luminary: Rise of the GoonZu (Open Beta)

2009-05-24T15:16:00.000-04:00

Aeria Games has announced the start of Open Beta for Luminary: Rise of the GoonZu’s, the 2D Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG).
In celebration of the Open Beta for Luminary, Aeria Games will be hosting numerous events. Some of the scheduled events will include:
Luminary Beta Raffle: Players that achieve level 10 will be entered into a raffle where they have the chance to earn up to $100 worth of Aeria Points (which can soon be used to purchase in-game items from the game’s Item Mall).

First place: 10,000 Aeria Points
Second Place: 5,000 Aeria Points
Third Place: 2,500 Aeria Points
All other players level 10 or higher: 100 Aeria Points
Attendance Event: Players that log in and play for 1 hour per day will be able to receive various in-game items based on the number of days they participate.

Luminary: Rise of the GoonZu is a mixture of community, capitalism, and politics all rolled into this truly unique online game. Players can participate in real-time trading of stocks, real estate and other commodities. In addition to this, Luminary gives players who specialize in a craft influence over each town’s economy by supplying the demands for various goods. For those who have a more political aspiration, players can work towards gaining power, possibly even gaining the position of “GoonZu”, the leader of world of Luminary. The GoonZu is elected into power by their peers and have the responsibility of regulating the in game world through setting taxes, creating laws, and electing new officials.
Players are encouraged to find out more and join the beta at the Luminary website.

Sci-Fi Memorabilia and eBay Selling

2009-05-24T13:17:00.000-04:00

Anyone who is new around here is probably wondering why on earth we called that category, Not a "Doll". It's a fairly straightforward, though tongue in cheek, play on "action figures", being referred to as "dolls" by people from your Mom to your co-worker who just can't seem to wrap their head around why you have them.

Simple, we never grew up, we still play video games, (hahah) and often, they're a serious investment.

For instance, the current world record for a piece of science fiction memorabilia honestly blew my mind at 576,000 US$. This handsome price for a miniature of the Starship Enterprise-D from Star Trek: The Next Generation is probably going to fetch the current owner (or owners estate, because this is something you don't part with until death) a really nice return. I'd guess in the 20% to 30% range within the next 20 years, considering the return of Star Trek to the big screen. My personal estimate might even be conservative.

Those of us who don't fall into the category of dropping half a million on our collections, often end up searching through, not Christies, but eBay. Oh, now I hear you, "How provincial, eBay over Christie's indeed *harumph*". Don't knock it people, eBay is a great resource, especially for pop sci-fi merchandise / memorabilia. As I write this, a lower grade Boba Fett action figure, yes, that little hunk of 3 3/4" plastic that orginally sold for 2.49 US$ is now selling for 5,000. Quite a nice turnaround on your investment, let's hope your Mom didn't throw yours out when you went off to college.

Without getting into the perils and benefits of buying and selling on eBay too much, there's some really good advice at Follow the Eight Step eBay Sales Plan. Covering, in easy to read plain language, some of the finer points of selling on eBay, and generally good advice for all online auction sites, it's certainly worth taking a look at.

Some things that aren't covered, are how to use the most often utilized grading services that are particular to collectibles like action figures, vintage toy cars, Pez dispensers, etc. That's a blog post for another day though, until then, may the...finance be with your auction.

Starlight.org and FreakyCreatures.com

2009-05-23T15:40:00.000-04:00

On my way back to Freaky Creatures, after a long absence, I ran into their announcement concerning their new association with the ">Starlight Children's Foundation. Loving kids even before I had one of my own, I immediately headed over to check things out.
Now, a little personal history here, once upon a time, when I actually worked for a living, I had the pleasure of meeting Jamie Lee Curtis. Long story short, she was at the studio where I was working fiming Virus. She was very personable and (actually complimented me on my professionalism) impressed me no end with how she cared for and loved her kids. She insisted that a little playground for them be situated near her trailer, her kids were with her while she worked. I also distinctly remember her sweeping me with a Scorpion Machine-Pistol. Ahh, good times, good times. Yes, I did have an extraordinary job.
The reason I bring up all that personal nonsense is that Mrs. Curtis is the spokesperson for the Starlight Children's Foundation. I have an entertainment interest in Freaky Creatures, they have teamed up with Starlight, and Mrs. Curtis (who holds my deep respect as a Mom) is associated as well, this article just seemed kismet.

So, the partnership between Starlight and FC is pretty simple. From the press release: "Every time you buy a Freaky Creatures product, part of the purchase price goes to the Starlight Foundation. These contributions help provide for the comprehensive programs offered by the Starlight Foundation, such as: arranging family outings and activities, providing in-hospital entertainment, setting up in-hospital play rooms, and creating educational programming to help children understand common medical procedures."

Do the Starlight Children's Foundation a good turn, and gift a child you know, or yourself, with a Freaky Creatures product. It's a fun game and if Mrs. Curtis recommends Starlight, then I feel they've already been personally vetted for me. She's a great Mom.

You can also donate directly to the Starlight Children's Foundation by simply visiting their website, but we are, after all, focusing here on video games and gamers.

*Now, in the interest of full-disclosure, I don't get jack for saying these things, except a personal warm fuzzy*

Amberlash

2009-05-22T17:07:00.000-04:00

If you're a WoW nut, and you probably are, then you know who Amberlash is. The figure is coming out (hopefully) in June.

DC Direct has a pretty good line-up for '09, especially if you're more intrigued with the "art" side of things. Yup, I tell my wife that, "It's art, hon." Yeah, you're right, it doesn't get me very far.

Anyway, for those of you who do get farther than I, you can pre-Order this little vixen from our friends at EE.
Order World of Warcraft Series 4 Succubus Demon Amberlash Figure from Entertainment Earth!

Buck Rogers Wishes He Had it This Good

2009-05-22T13:42:00.002-04:00

Daniel Eindhoven, in the annals of home coilgun research, he's definitely left a mark. I mean, really, this thing could leave a serious mark, if you got in it's way.
Personally, I'm saving aluminum cans and building a backyard kiln to make Al slugs for my own project right now, but this guy, the sheer "looks" of this project could knock you over...
What really impressed me was the fact that this is a single-stage coilgun, as you can see from the video. Multiple coils, to be general, speed up the projectile. This one does amazingly well with only one coil...and only four AA batteries make her portable, sheer awesomeness.
Hat's off to ya mate, now, one I know the aliens are starting up with their probing again, I've got your coilgun and my Alien Altoids to fall back on!

Freaky Creatures

2009-05-22T12:55:00.000-04:00

This is going to be another "Coming Soon". We were in the beta's of Freaky Creatures and followed through to their live realease. So, we want to return to them and see just how Freaky things have become. Stay tuned!

Donkey Kong PaperCrafts

2009-05-22T10:43:00.000-04:00

PaperKraft.net presents us with the coolest retro blast back to good 'ole Donkey Kong. That monkey sure has gotten around over the years.

One of these days, I am going to have to print some of these fun things out and have a hand at filling the house with fun and totally useless stuff, not that I don't do that already, but I will be able to do it in the name of handcrafting. :P

Had to sleep :(

2009-05-21T10:54:00.001-04:00

Sleep, that certain knot of peace,
The balm of woe,
The prisoner's release.

I'm certain that's Elizabethan, but, for the life of me, I can't remember who wrote it, so, my apologies to the heirs and assigns of our certainly long-dead poetic contributor.

Yes, worked for far too may hours consecutively, and I had to sleep...sadly, I dreamed of rising gas prices, unpleasant.

On a happier note, we're getting more kinks knocked out, eventually I will be able to write and stop beating up some poor XML. Bear up a little longer :)

Still kicking out the bugs :)

2009-05-20T06:01:00.000-04:00

Yes, we're moving, slowly but surely, and this will all be as painless as possible. Thanks for your patience during our transition!

Yuppers, We've Moved!

2009-05-19T13:24:00.000-04:00

Hey folks, the aliens got into my head again, seems the suppressants just aren't working as well as they were. Time to increase the dosage.
So, to please my new alien masters, we've packed up shop and moved. We'll have some growing pains, I'm sure, but, don't forget to update bookmarks, and tune in here while you watch us flounder about in our insanity!