Tetris Shelves!

So I was bumping around the interwebs, chillin' in the tubes, and found step by step instructions to build my very own Tetris shelves. Being the old-school aficionado that I am I became intrigued. Sure enough here was a way to make absolutely BA (see: Bad Ass) shelving units for the living room.

Check out the instructions over at Instructables.com

\\drew

Robot on Robot Combat!

Thanks to Tokyo Eye and Patrick Macias we here in the states can get a glimpse into the world of Japanese robot customization. The robots here do everything from playing sports to fighting each other much in the style of Tetsujin (Gigantor).


I want one. I wonder how much it takes to ship a $1000 robot from Akihabara to the States?

\\drew

You know your system is too hot when...

You're running the system's new hotness (see: Forza 2) during the launch party and you have to keep a thermometer on top of the system to make sure it doesn't over heat.

Maybe Microsoft should admit there's a problem... just maybe.

\\drew

Game Informer Interview with Jade Raymond

For those living under a rock for the past few years, Jade Raymond is a spicy hot G4 Host and Sony programmer turned EA Producer.

She's currently been working on Assassin's Creed for the XBOX360 and PS3. In a recent interview with Raymond, Game Informer hits some important answers concerning the upcoming medieval title.

When questioned what the difference between the two SKU's would be:

"There shouldn’t be any differences at all. We’re sharing the exact same assets. The engines have the same capabilities. Both systems have different things going for them. With PlayStation 3, currently, you can see maybe a slight difference in some of the textures. With Xbox 360 right now you may see a little bit smoother framerate, maybe a couple more frames per second right now. It’s so negligible right now that unless you’re sitting there looking at them both side by side, you’re not going to see any difference. And that’s our goal—to deliver the exact same experience on both of them."

There are no current plans to utilize Sony's Sixaxis controller for the title either.

When questioned about a Wii port Raymond was quite blunt stating:

Totally out of the question. You would have to change the gameplay completely. Our mandate was to deliver a game that wouldn’t be possible on a previous system. That’s what we were told to do. So we were like, “OK, what wouldn’t have been possible? One hundred and fifty people on-screen, each with their own AI. What else wouldn’t have been possible? Climbing absolutely everywhere, a free path where you can go anywhere, all that stuff. The AI is chasing you everywhere you can go. Great. Let’s do that.” So we wrapped it all up and did Assassin’s Creed. Of course you could make a great Wii game based on the franchise and story and have it fit and stuff, because that’s something we thought about—having episodic content and having different things. But gameplay wise it would have to have a totally different set of key features.

All in all this rationale makes sense. Developers should not be looking to port games from other systems to the Wii being that to fully take advantage of what the Wii has to offer the game truly needs to be build from the ground up with the intent of pushing its hardware, both from an art and engineering side as well as design. Use the system to it's fullest, and unfortunately I don't see that very likely when reverse engineering an existing engine.

Full Article Here

\\drew

New Assassin's Creed trailer

Yeah I want this game. While I tend to become bored with Ubisoft games I'm willing to give this one a chance.

Assassin`s Creed `UbiDays 07` Trailer
Game is still set as TBA 2007, hopefully we'll get an actual release date soon.

\\drew

Glow-Fur gone wild

Glow-fur? Yes, that's right, LED based fur coats, that seems like a viable invention.



/sigh

Well, atleast the clothing line looks good on women, though most things look good on women.

\\drew

Blizzard works with Make a Wish

I usually don't post "sad" stories here as beneath my rugged exterior (see: pale skinny geek) I'm actually a kitten, and sad stories make me weep like a girl doing the walk of shame. But this wasn't a story I could pass up.

Ezra Chatterton, a 5th grader recently diagnosed with a life threatening brain tumor (whose house also burned down) has found his escape from the rather painful and hard to swallow world through Blizzard's World of Warcraft. Him and his dad have been playing for a bit now and have really bonded through the game's world where Ezra can be anything he want, namely not a boy in a dying shell.

The Make a Wish organization contacted Ezra and asked what he would like to do. His choice? Simple, he wanted to go to Blizzard and check out all the things they have there.

Blizzard being the goodly folk they are (see: rolling in the moolah and in turn keen towards acts of charity) had him come to their studio. He got to make special gear, a new quest (for which he recorded the VO himself), and thoroughly pimp his character.

Ezra commented later,

If Blizzard is listening, I'd like to say thank you for everything you've done for my character to make him so good. I want to thank them for making the quest of the lost dog and the Old Rancher and all the stuff they gave us.

They'll get the message man, and they know. Let me know what server you're on, we'll go hunt some Alliance. oo wait, you're Alliance? Ok, well then I'm liable to get killed then aren't I?

\\drew

All I have to say is Starcraft 2... done.

((sorry for the lack of update, I was offsite all day))

Transformers Viral Videos

While I fear for the quality of the new Transformers movie, as it seems to drop a hefty deuce on all things Gen 1, these viral videos (which subsequently have nothing to do with the movie) are pretty awesome.



Check out this site for the full list of viral videos found on the Sector 7 site.

Grimlock!

\\drew

Blizzard day 6

As it would stand to reason, today heralds the coming of the World of Warcraft Splash page over at Blizzard's site which leaves only one puny day before we theoretically receive some sort of conclusion as to what's lurking behind the glowing question mark of hope.

Starcraft! Come on Starcraft!


\\drew

Kitty Golf

Ok, so I know it's old news, but this game is really ramping up steam now (in no small way thanks to Digg and Kotaku), but it's apparently been big in Japan for a good long time now.

Play as a kitten... fire a bow... get birdies... sounds like awesome gaming to me!

Kitty Golf

\\drew

Blizzard day 4

Today we see the rather sexy image of the undead Necromancer on their splash screen. Only 2 days away from getting the next big release. The quote from WCIII is a classic, though sadly it's from an unknown speaker. With this title I hoped there would be a definitive voice as the game has plenty that stand out.

\\drew

Fans who attended the Square-Enix event earlier this week all received music CD's containing tracks for some of the upcoming titles, namely Final Fantasy Dissidia (enjoy the slick Amano Art on the splash page), and Final Fantasy: Crisis Core.

Too bad both games are for the PSP, last time I checked that system wasn't too great. :p

Here's the files, megaupload!

Dissidia
Overture to Dissidia
(Secret)

Crisis Core
Theme of Crisis Core
Last Order -Crisis Mix-

\\drew

Japan's Making a Gundam!

Ok, while it's not a "real" gundam, it's the first 1/1 scale model made to my knowledge. This summer excited otaku can travel to Fujikyu Highland park and for only 700 yen check out a full size replica of gundam RX78, unfortunately it's just lying on it's back.

While that's all some of my favorite "movie" stars do, I expect more from an 18 meter robot of metal and weaponry. This thing doesn't take it like those actresses I mentioned before, it dishes it out, with extreme prejudice, with a jaunty tune playing in the cockpit. Ok, so I guess it has more in common with porn stars then I originally thought.

Ah well, but hey, anyone in the JR Shinjuku station vicinity can pop on by and check it out. I know I would, if I was rich... or lived in Japan.

Full Article here

\\drew

Blizzard update

Previous theories on the splash page are proven true as each day they are advancing the "ticker" of their portfolio, showing each of their games.

Today's image shows Starcraft in all of its timeless glory, with a stirring quote from the self entitled "Queen of Blades", Kerrigan herself.

So this means that we should have some sort of resolution on Saturday as to Blizzard's new product. *crosses fingers* Starcraft MMO, fps, good times. Come on baby!

\\drew

Sticky Cannons FTW!

So I saw this video of some Halo 3 beta gameplay, and I have to think that it will yield some cool skills and interesting frags once it goes live.

As the video shows, players can now sticky grenade the cannon barrels on vehicles. Heh, maybe you should fire the cannon chief, there's a live grenade in it.

\\drew

Viral Frenzy

Some companies fail utterly at building up suspense for their new products. These range from computer moguls like Microsoft (when was the last time people were pumped about a new Windows release?) to brick and mortar shops like McDonalds (woo! a new heart-attack burger came out! I can't wait!).

Some companies however manage to keep the spark of their consumers, and manage to feed the frenzy just enough to ensure there are a legion of basement lurking denizens virally spreading all possibilities of a supposed product. We don't even know what the product is but it has simply left the tubes of the internet absolutely filled to the brim.

Well if you haven't guessed by now I'm writing about Blizzard. After a quick stop at their website this morning I saw the next iteration in what I'm dubbing "viral frenzy". Simply a splash page with all of their games listed along with the ship dates.

To get the jab in? The right side of the screen has a fancy glowy section with a question mark. Booya, well played Blizzard. Everyone has known for over a month that the company is releasing information concerning their next large scale title, but now this will reignite the somewhat wavering flame and people will make hypotheses upon hypotheses based off of all sorts of muddled conjectures, tarot, and possibly even star charting.
To top it all off there is a cult classic text line from Deckard Cain, everyone's favorite sole surviving member of the Horadrim.

That's one great zinger. People will undoubtedly over analyze the splash page too, making assumptions and drawing misguided conclusions about hidden messages left there by Blizzard for only the most degenerate of minds to rationalize out.

Viral Frenzy at its best, Blizzard I salute you.

\\drew

Lazr Cat Demands Mawr Lazr!

Bungie has released a new video of a beta Halo 3. It's all done up for the internet masses and to further hype the end of the series, but it looks pretty slick, and after watching this Gears of War multiplayer makes me sad on the inside as I remember what is actual fun.

Link at the bottom

Maybe I'll boot up Halo 2 multiplayer again.

\\drew

Good bye to productivity

Strategy meets flash, meets large missiles... good bye spare time.

Sea of Fire

\\drew

FFVII... Second Life Style

With a couple of clicks (see: A horrendously large amount of work) a group of imaginative Second Lifers have gotten together and rebuilt Midgar from Final Fantasy VII in its entirety within the game.

That's pretty crazy if I do say myself, and actually damn impressive. The game plays out like an FFVII simulator, where players choose a side (either Avalanche rebels or Shinra Soldiers) a class (including swordsmen and gunners), buy materia to socket their gear, and then RP in the rather grim city.

The creators of the sim run it as a GM would run an RP session, making sure there are plot events taking place and controlling the quality of the gamer playing.

While I don't condone anyone playing Second Life as I think it's scary as hell (ignoring that fact that I desperately want to build The Black Sun), this could be a rather fantastic bridge between table top RP and virtual play.

Click here to travel directly to it if you have Second Life

\\drew

TV Champion 2!

Thanks to Ashcraft over at Kotaku for finding this video. It's a clip from Japan's TV show "TV Champion 2" a series involving physical challenges and nerd-inspired questions (ala video game trivia).



The winner of the competition receives one of each current gen console and portable.

This was my favorite clip from the episode, involving playing Puyo Pop Fever (from the looks of it) while standing in front of a large fan with a weather balloon strapped to your back. That's distraction. :p

<3 Japan

\\drew

DS Homebrew Sauciness

It was only a matter of time, but finally the DS homebrew crews have begun releasing adult oriented games for the spicy little hand-held.

The games listed on dsfanboy.com range from rock paper scissors strip games (seen on the right), to puzzle games with accompanying saucy nurses.

All in all the games play out like low budget rated R movies, think the difference between HBO and Skinemacs. From what I can tell they appear to be Feel the Magic on steroids, and by steroids I mean they don't need to get passed by the ESRB.

Check out the site and read their reviews of each game. It's all work safe so no need to avoid clicking.

Naughtiness on the Nintendo DS

\\drew

Settlers on 360

Here's a quick addendum to any posts that's going up today, Settlers of Catan has recently been added to XBOX360's Live Arcade. If you haven't played its tabletop counterpart try it, otherwise grab this hot little number, the game translated quite well to a digital format and you can usually get a ranked match online if you wish, else you can resort to defeating historic figures like Sun Tzu and Lincoln.

\\drew

They'll make anything into a game

I love the fact that we as gamers are willing to do any menial task, even ones we whole heartedly evade in the real world, assuming it's displayed on a slick electronic display and we have some sort of controller. (see: chibi robo, elebits, diner dash)

Well here's the latest and greatest escapist *ahem* actually it's not an escapist activity at all. So here it is, DDR meets dog walking, because why not right? How dare we assume you would actually like to walk your real dog. Let him bark at the door you've got video games to play.

The game functions as you walking on a treadmill fluctuating your speed to keep your dog happy while also dodging incoming obstacles. Fail to dodge one and your dog dies. Fail to go and walk your real dog? Well that one can lead to death as well, only that one involves clean up.

\\drew