I’m still reeling from my Xbox’s untimely demise as its red ring status also means I can’t play Mortal Kombat anymore. Fine. Whatever. I’ll just go get my Sega Dreamcast and play some Marvel Vs. Capcom. I don’t need to see a fictitious character rip the spine out of his enemy in HD. I’ll just sick mini-robots on my opponents not in HD. No biggie.
Anyways, I swear my gaming troubles segways into artist Jonny Lawrence‘s stop motion video where his Street Fighter-inspired creation fights his artsy fingers (as for the connection, Street Fighter characters are featured in Marvel Vs. Capcom. Yay! We got there!). His video is really cool because a) all I can draw is stick figures, b) I don’t possess the patience to do anything stop-motion animated and c) it takes a lot of effort to create something this cool and interactive which I obviously have to applaud.
Maybe that’s what I should ask Santa for this year: a bit of creativity. And patience. Which I would like now. (Ha! See what I did there? No, you don’t care? Sigh.)
Have you ever found yourself playing your favourite video game and just as you’re finally getting the good parts, you’re being interrupted by your hunger? Well fret no more because Pizza Hut has an app for that.
Launching today in North America, the new Xbox 360 app offers gamers the option of ordering and customizing their pizza directly from their console. But just in case pizza isn’t your thing, you can also order form their pasta, breadsticks and wings menu. The app even lets you post and share your pizza on Facebook because apparently, Instagram-ing your last meal wasn’t enough.
I don’t know, call me old-fashioned but I think phoning in to order is best. You’re sitting playing video games any way, so those few minutes you spend away from your television to order some food can’t hurt.
It’s a me, Mario.
When RyanTcone posted a response to “Find a way to make these canned foods look good” on reddit, I don’t think anyone saw this coming.
In his post he says, “I think this is a mission accomplished,” and we couldn’t agree more.
This 3D Mario canned food display is currently standing in the middle of South Centre Mall in Calgary. I didn’t realize how badly this needed to exist until I saw the picture. Somebody definitely has a lot of time on their hands, but I’m not sure it’s time wasted. This is pretty cool. I now feel the strong urge to go play Mario Party…does that still exist?
It’s time for someone to take on the mission of making a 3D Luigi kraft canned food display to stand beside Mario. If not that, someone should create a canned display of a whole level of Mario Party. Nothing’s impossible.
Crowd sourcing has become an efficient means fund a number of different projects — be it medical bills, video games or a Veronica Mars movie. Now you and your friends can pitch in to make a favourite t-shirt design into a reality with TeePublic.
Launched by Josh Abramson (co-founder of College Humor and Vimeo), TeePublic is making it easier for graphic designers to finally see their designs on a t-shirt. The way it works is anyone can upload their designs and if 30 people in a month (that’s one person a day) agrees to buy your shirt, the company will put it into production and with every shirt sold, $5 per shirt goes back to the designer.
Considering just how creative the internet gets (have you seen the sloth photos?), here are just some of our favourite shirts so far on TeePublic:
1. Best Buds by CorwinWebb
2. STAY CLASSY by jordansoliz
3. RASCAL by Keddie
There’s only so much you can do as a Great Gatsby fan as you count down the days until the Buz Luhrmann’s movie adaptation finally reaches theaters.
You can read the book for the zillionth time, cos-play, listen to some old music to get you into the mood. Now you can play a video game version of the F. Scott Fitzgerald classic novel in 8-bit no less!
Developed by Charlie Hoey, you play as the book’s narrator Nick Carraway as he flings his hat at butlers and flappers. There are four levels, each with their own unique mission such as finding Gatsby at the party or defeating the laser shooting eyes of Dr. Eckleberg. Of course, the game also features the book’s most memorable character and quotes.
You can play the game HERE.
What do you think of this book-to-game adaptation?!
SEE MORE SCREENSHOTS OF THE GAME AFTER THE JUMP:
In another edition of “Parenting: You’re Doing It Right,” game developer Mike Mika hacked Nintendo’s Donkey Kong so his three-year old daughter could play as Pauline and save Mario.
According to the video description, Mika was prompted to make the switch after his daughter was bummed out upon learning she couldn’t play the girl characters in Donkey Kong. What a dad to do but spend his night hacking the game to switch the characters around? Amazing.
Mika even uploaded the patch so others can save Mario as Pauline. But seriously, where was this as a kid? Maybe I wouldn’t have hated Princess Peach much less if I could’ve saved myself instead of waiting for Mario. And maybe my default character on Mario Kart might actually have been Peach instead of Toad and I wouldn’t be swearing so much at Peach whenever I play. Seriously, this would’ve cleared up so many video game anger issues I have.
WATCH PAULINE SAVE MARIO FROM DONKEY KONG BELOW:
Have you ever wanted an animated cake? Yes, animated as in the cake decor moves.
This parent made their daughter an animated Zelda cake.
This cake is animated to tell the story told in the wii game Zelda: The Skyward Sword. Clearly this cake took up a lot of time, dedication, and planning. This is the first cake to have plot and character development, I can tell you that much.
Parenting – you’re doing it excessively, but right.
If the video game Street Fighter was real, this guy would definitely be in it. This ninja who walks among us jump kicks four paddles all at once!
Bonus points for the description because I’ve never seen a more accurate description in my life:
WATCH THE AMAZING JUMP KICK BELOW:
This woman proves that being in your eighties doesn’t mean it’s time to let yourself go. Proving that octogenarians can have just as much fun as anyone else, this adorable lady has a bit too much fun playing virtual kickball on Kinect.
Dear God, please let me be this COOL when I get older.
In my opinion, the best kind of photography oozes creativity. It doesn’t matter if the photograph was taken with a camera phone or an expensive DSLR camera with some extra help courtesy of a big budget; it just has to show a unique perspective.
Take for example these photographs:
Stockholm-based photographer Christian Åslund uses aerial photography to his advantage by positioning his subjects to make it look like they’re in a 2D video game.
Cool, right? Definitely makes you think the next time you Instagram your outfit of the day.
This 84-year-old man was invited by his son and a friend to test out the video game Black Ops 2 and Halo 4 and they never thought he’d react so positively. He gets so into the games that he literally can’t mask any joyous jitter or cackle that comes out. He literally moves the controller in the direction he wants it to go, just like I used to do when I played my first video game in primary school. Whatgame do you think he should play next?
Every time I watch the trailer for military-based video games such as Mercenaries or Call of Duty, they are always packed with action and drama.
So in a prediction for army games of the future, the guys from the podcast Bombcast have reenacted a typical video game trailer that features any type of action.
This couldn’t ring truer for any video gamer. But that being said, I think these guys should do one featuring Just Dance 5 because those commercials are always so predictable.
Alert the media: Nintendo can be bad for your kids. Actually, don’t alert the media or else they might make a super cheesy newscast like this. This newsreel, circa 1991, shows how anxious parents were about letting their kids play with the new Nintendo video games. “I’m going to say no,” one mom says when asked if she’ll buy her child a Nintendo game. “I’m going to explain to him how people market things to make you spend more money.”
No kidding! Thank goodness I was born a bit too late in order for this parental face palm moment to pass. However, I am a bit cheesed that I missed out on such glorious news reports. Jam packed with bad graphics and old time Nintendo sounds, the news report actually turns out to be unintentionally bad ass. “The company promises better pictures, sound and adventure,” reporter Kent Shocknek says just in time for what has to be the corniest display of graphics I’ve ever seen.
Watch the video here:
Disney’s latest 3D flick may include some of your favourite video game characters like Bowser, Pac-Man and Sonic the Hedgehog. However, none of this would have been possible without the guidance of animation director Rich Moore.
But even if you’ve never heard of Moore before, chances are you’re familiar with some of his work. Having directed episodes of The Simpsons and Futurama, he is actually an accomplished director with two Primetime Emmy Awards under his belt.
Speaking about his new film Wreck-it Ralph during a phone call, Moore let us in on what it was like to create a movie about video games.
Wreck-It Ralph focuses on the bad guy:
An underdog story, the film surrounds Wreck-It-Ralph, a video game villain with dreams of becoming a hero. Tired of being overshadowed by good guy Fix-It-Felix, Ralph goes on a quest that ultimately brings havoc to the whole arcade he lives in.
Believe or not, “hero” Fix-It-Felix was originally supposed to be the star of the film. But when Moore and screenwriter Phil Johnston weren’t really getting traction with the project, they scrapped the idea and decided to focus the movie on Wreck-It Ralph instead.
“In a feature, the main character has an arc, a journey. They learn something or something changes in that character,” Moore says. “It was tough to build a nice comedic story with a lot of heart around (Fix-it-Felix).”
The flick features appearances by 190 characters and the voice talents of some of Hollywood’s biggest names:
Featuring cameos by Sonic the Hedgehog’s Doctor Eggman, Street Fighter’s Chun-Li and even Paddles 1 and 2 from Pong, the film also includes original characters voiced by John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jane Lynch and Alan Tudyk.
While working with everyone has been a treat for Moore, he was particularly pleased to have Reilly on board as the title character of Wreck-It Ralph.
Reilly, who was nominated for an Oscar for his work in Chicago, was so invested with his role that he even asked Moore to meet with the animators who created his character.
“(Reilly) was so hands on and so instrumental in fleshing out who Ralph is and what he’s like. Every character he plays feels like a real human being. You really care about his characters and you want them to achieve what it is that they want and desire.” Read more…
The Smiths versus Lana Del Rey? Not as bad as you might think. Actually, these two songs kind of work together.
This mashup combines the classic vocals from The Smiths’ 1983 “This Charming Man” with the haunting melody of Lana Del Rey’s “Video Games.” The song, fittingly dubbed “This Charming Video Game” was mashed by The Reborn Identity. I originally thought the song wouldn’t work because of the fast tempo of “This Charming Man” but they manage to slow it down without sacrificing the song.
I know there are a lot of haters, but I actually like Lana Del Rey and have a soft spot for mashups. Remixes that combine modern versus new songs especially stir some sort of unfounded nostalgia in me. The video also combines clips from both the artists’ videos, creating a whole new meaning of the song.
What do you think The Smiths would say about it?
In awesome video parodies of the day we have Lana Del Rey’s “Video Games,” tailored for avatar minx Princess Peach.
The satirical song poses the serious question: What happens when a woman marries the wrong Mario brother? I’ve always been more of a Mario than a Luigi myself, so I totally understand Princess Peach’s pain.
As for Lana Del Ray, you know you’re staying in the spotlight when parodies are being made about you.
The video game industry hit a four-year low in May, reports The Hollywood Reporter.
Video game sales apparently hit its lowest monthly U.S. profit since October 2006, totalling $743.1 million. That number may seem high, but it’s nothing compared to the $866.8 million of last year.
“A light slate of new releases is at the heart of this month’s performance,” said NPD analyst Anita Frazier. “As a result of a lighter release slate, promotional activity at retail and in circulars was reduced as well, which undoubtedly affected not only planned but impulse purchases.”
Frazier says it is unfair to base all results on figures, though, as an increasing amount of video game sales derive from online or downloadable exclusive content purchases.
This year’s top selling game was ‘L.A. Noire,’ a murder-mystery action game set in old L.A.
I agree with the analyst. Much of today’s market comes from the online world, so we have to factor in the sales from that. I don’t think video games are going anywhere anytime soon.
Army Of Two
It’s time to work together to survive this winter! Army of Two can be played co-op over Xbox Live or with an AI partner to form the finest force against the enemy the government can afford. Plus if you pre-order Army of Two this holiday on the 360 you’ll receive exclusive community created weapons. If you’re a PS3 owner you receive an exclusive dossier including hints and content from the graphic novel.
Army of Two comes out on November 13th, 2007 for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. It’s a violent game so it’s rated M for mature and will retail at $59.99.
See you in the war!
Crysis
Do you have a beast of a PC? Does your graphics card far exceed any benchmark out there? Great! You might be able to play Crysis! Powered by Crytek’s CryENGINE2, Crysis is an amazing achievement on all fronts; gameplay, visuals, and an amazing storyline make this game a possible “Halo killer” for the holiday season. Pre-order now and get a 16 page book full of concept art, an exclusive in-game vehicle and a bonus disc with behind the scenes footage from Crytek.
Crysis is out November 16th for PC and retails at $49.99/$59.99 for the Special Edition.
