EPISODE 73 ANNOUNCEMENT (SECOND UPDATE!)

UPDATE II: I've been made aware of a problem with the video re: a small chunk of video appears only as a green screen. Kind of embarassing for us, certainly, but a fix is being worked on as we speak. FWIW, there really isn't any "important" imagery there other than clips from the movie "Legend," but I apologize all the same. Everything will (hopefully) be fixed by the time this goes all-audiences on Saturday.

UPDATE I: The episode is now viewable for ScrewAttack Advantage members, and will become viewable by everyone else on Saturday. If you are an Advantage member, you may notice that commenting on the video on ScrewAttack is currently disabled - this is NOT permanent, nor is it an attempt to "avoid criticism;" my aim is only to prevent non-advantage members who click the link from any spoilers that might be posted before they have a chance to see it themselves. The comment fucnction should be restored when the episode gets "unlocked" on Saturday.

Episode 73 is now set to debut for all-audiences on Saturday 8/4; with ScrewAttack Advantage members having the option of seeing it one day early on Friday 8/3 (if you are an Advantage member, I ask that you please avoid posting/discussing spoilers without warning here or elsewhere.) The normal schedule of a week-long "break" between the two debuts will likely resume with Episode 74.

I've intended this as a "jumping on" episode for new viewers and viewers who maybe haven't checked in for a bit - the main discussion is LONG and the host-segments are short with the first being a quick "catch-up" as to what the show is and how things are done here. I like how it came out, and I hope you will too.

"Sonic Fan Film" New Trailer

You might remember Eddie LeBron and Blue Core Studios for their ambitious "Mega Man" fan-film a few years back. Shortly after that, they announced they were going to take a swing at "Sonic The Hedgehog;" and with the film's release date apparently approaching (last I'd heard it was going to be a short instead of a feature) there's a new trailer - and yes, that's actually Jaleel White returning to voice Sonic:

SGC Kickstarter

SGC 2010 was the public debut of The Game OverThinker and my first con as a professional, so you'd better believe I'm psyched at the idea of it possibly coming back. ScrewAttack is aiming to make that happen via Kickstarter; because that's what the cool kids are doin' these days:

Check it out HERE.

EPISODE 72 - "NecroThinker: The Last Stand"

Not totally sure what was up with viewable/not-viewable earlier in the week, but now it's Saturday so here it is: The OFFICIAL rollout of our second big mailbag show AND (for those who stick around after the main show) the climax of the NecroThinker story-arc. Enjoy!



I'll be brutally honest: I'm not 100% satisfied with how everything came together on this one. The important stuff - the G1 Mailbag Questions - worked out just fine, but I had plans for the "battle" stuff that intercuts the questions and the big sendoff for NecroThinker that life just sort of got in the way of.

The main "bullet points" are all in there: Night-time sword fight, MOTU reference, reveal that OverThinker can use the two Stones the way he used Fire/Ice Flowers previously, turn RetroThinker back to normal but leave some doubt as to what degree the NecroThinker persona remains (or was always there) and - most-importantly - OverThinker deciding to keep NecroThinker's true identity a secret. So, structure-wise it does what was necessary.

My main regret is that I had wanted the actual fight to take place somewhere a little more visually-interesting than the abandoned parking-lot. Ideally I was hoping to find some kind of quarry/industrial location(s), but nailing one down that we could use, was reasonably safe and well-lit at night just never availed itself in the timeframe I wanted it to and the rest of my life got so consumed by bigger, more difficult things... so ultimately the best solution was to go with what we had on hand - especially since, after all, the skits are of secondary import to the "meat" of an episode; especially a Q&A.

As for where we go from here... still working that up. Unseen personal-apocalypses notwithstanding, the plan is to get these releases back on a more regular/reliable schedule. The next "arc" for the skits will likely begin pretty-much right away; but - without giving too much away - doesn't necessarily require as much direct involvement from The OverThinker himself or as much "on-location" shooting as this one did. I have a feeling people are going to dig some of the stuff that'll be showing up.

It Lives

As part of moving into the new place, I've been looting my parents' house for old stuff I can still use. One discovery turned out to be my original NES and collection of games; which tonight underwent a thorough disassembling, cleaning with rubbing-alcohol (system and carts) and reassembling.

The entire process was tweeted game by game (sorry, people who don't like tweetspam, I was excited is all.) and this is my favorite photo I took of the process - you can't quite see it in this image, but the NES is on a shelf below the Wii and XBox; connected via the HDTV's inexplicable-yet-welcome coax input.

ALSO: You may or may not be able to watch the newest episode HERE.

I still haven't fully furnished the place - money is kinda tight right now, to be honest - but I'll be springing for some kind of plug-extender so I can properly get the oldschool big-ass AC adaptor into my surge-protector (the NES was plugged into another, not-always-convenient outlet for this test run.

After that? Let the word go out to every sold, pawned, yard-sale'd, lost and forgotten NES cartridge on the North Shore: I am coming for you, and you WILL live again!

Episode 72 Now Up... Kinda... Look, Read The Post...

EPISODE 72 is now up at ScrewAttack. It's supposed to be for Advantage members only until Saturday, but it looks like it's viewable by everyone right at the moment; so... watch away, I guess. I expect it'll snap back to proper "Advantage Preview Only" status sooner or later, but if so it should be viewable by all on Saturday either way...

OUYA Could Save Us... Maybe...

I've said for years now that an open-source console, properly funded, would be a godsend - in fact, it comes up several times in the next episode's mailbag questions - IF it was properly managed. The Kickstarter for such a machine, "OUYA," got a million dollars of hopeful crowdfunding within hours today; so apparently I'm not the only one hoping for something like this to happen. A console with the accessibility/maleability (on the development and consumer side) of a tablet or smartphone would really be something... if it works.

It's properly to be wary of any tech startup in this economy, especially in this industry, but I hope this works out. Fingers crossed.

Microsoft Has Made A Live-Action "Halo" Movie...

...and one of the stars of "Twilight" is Master Chief!

Well, okay, that's a little sensationalized: The actor is Daniel Cudmore, who played one of the Volturi (bad Euro-vampire leader guys) but you might recognize better as Colossus from the third "X-Men" movie. And no, none of this is a joke.

With an impressive amount of secrecy, Microsoft has apparently shot a live-action feature-length movie called "Halo 4: Forward Until Dawn," a prequel set during The Covenant's first attack. Master Chief will be a supporting character, with the main story focusing on a new recruit who will also appear in "Halo 4." It will first be released as a series of five webisodes on Machinma's YouTube channel starting in October, then released as a complete feature film with the Limited Edition of "Halo 4" in November.

Teaser trailer after the jump...

COD: Black Ops II's Villain is... Occupy Wall Street?

Y'know, I don't really relish being the guy who keeps beating the "Call-of-Duty-As-Right-Wing-Propaganda" drum; but what else can you do when this stuff keeps cropping up?

Below, the new trailer for BLOPS2; which seems to reveal that the drone-army-hijacking bad guy(s) are (or are somehow tied-to) a "99 Percenter" movement called Cordis Die ("The Heart"); whose leader is suspected to actually be an aging Nicaraguan (hmmm...) narco-terrorist. The story comes from David Goyer, who also wrote "The Dark Knight Rises" which ALSO looks to potentially have an "income-inequality activists are tools-of/servants-of/opening-the-door-for destructive evil" story-element going on...



FUCK YEAH, BLACK OPS! GET YER' ASS OUT THERE AND PROTECT THOSE JOB-CREATORS!

I kid, I kid. But, still... between the Oliver North thing, the general chest-thumping militarism of the franchise in general and now (potentially) casting a variation on the most-visible "liberal" slogan/movement in current American popular culture as either villains or the useful-idiot tools of villainy; it becomes awful hard not to look "askance" at the whole production.

In any case, we'll find out November 13th - one week after the election, incidentally.

EPISODE 72 ANNOUNCEMENT!

I'm back! And pretty soon, so is the show!

It's been a rough few weeks here - one damn horror-story after another and moving into a new apartment on top of all of it, but things appear to have settled and I can now happily announce that EPISODE 72 - the Special ScrewAttack G1 Mailbag Show AND the finale of the NecroThinker story-arc - will debut for all audiences THIS SATURDAY JULY 14TH!

As is customary, ScrewAttack Advantage members will be able to get an early on WEDNESDAY.

I want to thank everyone who wrote in, G1's and all fans/viewers in general, and everyone else whose stuck with us through this bumpy recent period. I'm working hard on getting this show up to a much, much more regular, reliable schedule. Stay tuned!

Mailbag Deadline Incoming!

The deadline for ScrewAttack G1's to submit questions for the upcoming Game OverThinker Mailbag Episode will be Saturday night, June 30th. If you are (or plan to become) a G1 and haven't asked your question yet, you may do so in the comments on THIS video.

For more information, refer to said video below:

"Carmen Sandiego" Heading To The Big Screen

Vintage PC Edutainment game fans (that surely must exist, yes?); you may finally be getting a Hollywood blockbuster to call your own: Walden Media (the folks behind the "Narnia" movies) has comissioned a screenplay for a feature film adaptation of "Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego?"

Jennifer Lopez is one of the project's producers, and has been developing it as a potential star-vehicle for herself - the title character is a master-thief of (presumably) Latin/Spanish descent who prefers to pilfer items of historical/geographic significance. In the games, players took on the role of Interpol experts who had to use their knowledge of geography to suss out clues and chase Carmen and her associates around the world.

Outside of "The Oregon Trail," WITWICS? is probably the most successful/well-known franchise in the "edutainment" genre; and in it's heyday inspired tie-in books, school materials, museum/zoo events, merchandise and even an animated Fox TV series - however, it's probably best remembered by Gen-Xers for the uniquely-bizzare kiddie game show that aired on PBS...

Special Announcement

A brief announcement about the immediate-future of "The Game OverThinker."



Remember, The Episode 72 "MAILBAG" show is only open to questions from ScrewAttack G1's posted to THIS VIDEO. Thank you.

Passage

A few hours ago, Evangeline Chipman - my last surviving grandparent and one of the strongest best people I'll ever know - passed away after having been in ill health for some time.

I'm not interested in getting into any more details than that. I share only because - while it's my intention to not interupt the workflow of my sites and projects (if anything, I really need the focusing-effect of work-to-be-done right now) - I can't say what sort of things arrangements and obligations will do to my schedules and output. So, if this blog or other venues seem to be either less active or less "upbeat" than usual, I ask your patience and understanding as to why that probably is.

This is going to be a very difficult period for me and for my family, and your support and understanding is deeply appreciated.

More Of This

With appologies for not covering this sooner, things have been a bit wiggy around here as of late.

Anita Sarkeesian, video-producer for FeministFrequency, has set up a Kickstarter for a proposed video project called "Tropes vs. Women In Video Games;" which sounds like exactly the kind of gaming commentary we need more of whether you agree with her conclusions or not. I encourage everyone to take a look and consider kicking in.



Oh, and the people who've been pulling THIS shit? You are a disgrace to "gamers" worldwide. Shame on all of you.

Happy Bob Is Happy

Two new full-blown 2D Mario sidescrollers. In the same year. One on console. One portable.
Everything else in the universe seems to be determined to kick my ass lately, but at least I'll have this. Eventually. That's something.



Two small criticisms, regarding "New Super Mario Bros. U." Firstly, while I kinda like that we're getting back to the "name the sequel after the new platform" title-scheme... if they end up wanting to make a second one during the WiiU's lifespan (it was somewhat unexpected that NSMBWii wound up becoming such a monster smash, remember) they'll have to confront the prospect of web-wide comedy-gasm resulting from putting "U2" in the title of their game. Secondly... egh, the two generic Toads again. Look, I get it - if you use Peach and Daisy you've either got boys fighting over who "has to be" The Girl or girls being forced to be The Girl even if they'd rather not, fine. That's a societal problem, not a Nintendo problem. But there HAS to be a better solution.

On the plus side: Flying Squirrel Suit? Awesome. Return of Baby Yoshi? Awesome. "Starry Night"-homage backdrop (maybe more Yoshi's Island-style painter-graphics to come?) Awesome. Giant Land? Awesome. NSMBWii proved that 2D platforming could still move units and likely turned a whole new generation on to the genre, so making another one of these was a no-brainer. Hope I have as much fun as I did with the last one (which was a lot.)



Confession: I wasn't in love with the original "New Super Mario Bros." on the DS. It was good, don't get me wrong, I guess I was just expecting something akin to an SMB4 as opposed to a more polished SMB1. Good, just didn't blow my mind like I'd hoped it would. I thought NSMBWii was the superior game of the two, but "New Super Mario Bros. 2" looks like an improvement in it's own right.

The return of Raccoon Mario is a big draw, obviously - though seeing Reznor (the Triceratops minibosses from Super Mario World) come back makes me smile. The trailer also gives a good look at a new (unnamed?) power-up: A flower that turns you gold (?) and whose projectiles turn bricks into coins. Midas Mario?

"Wreck It Ralph" = "Toy Story" for video-games

"Wreck-It Ralph" was already on my most-anticipated movies of the year list. At 2:47 of this trailer, it became #1. I won't be more psyched for a movie this year...



This may not be a Pixar movie, but it has that "feel." I'm tearing up, just a little, on reflex.

The pitch: Ralph is the villain of a "Donkey Kong" expy who wants to try out being the good guy, so he departs to try his hand in the new worlds of other games; two of which - representing Kart Racers and FPS, respectively - are glimpsed in the trailer. GREAT premise, and Jane Lynch as the Marcus/Samus hybrid is inspired casting.

I'm actually kind of amazed Nintendo signed-off on what looks like a couple of cameos - aren't they supposed to be REALLY hard to work with on that stuff?

Final Fantasy: Modern Warfare

Y'know what would help the moribund Final Fantasy franchise out? Relocating the action to a generic gray/brown desert/shantytown/psuedo-favela with stereotypical Middle Eastern Terrorists as baddies...



NOT for an actual game, thankfully, but rather a tech-demo for Squeenix's pretty amazing-looking new graphics engine. Still, I can't say it's not incredibly despressing to think about this particular aesthetic being picked up as "the way to go now" by Japanese developers. C'mon, guys... you're my last hope for this to NOT be the dominant setting/theme/palette for the entire fucking medium. You are NOT going to solve your own industry's stagnation problem by borrowing OUR industry's stagnation.

Also, jumping on the "generic-Muslim-looking-dudes-as-canon-fodder" bandwagon isn't helping ANYONE... though on the plus side maybe since it'll offer the chance to bag on a JRPG, perhaps this will cause Western Gaming to spontaneously realize that racism is a bad thing; much like how everyone was suddenly very concerned about the objectification of women in games once [REDACTED] gave them the opportunity to use it as a cudgle against The Wii?

Nah... thats just me talkin' crazy talk , right ;)

New Super Mario Bros. Wii U Revealed

Watch it HERE until I find an embeddable video. Standout reveals include a Flying Squirrel Suit, the return of Baby Yoshis and what looks like a new version of SMB3's Giant Land.

Okay, puppets - you know your roles. I wanna see a full-court show on this one. I wanna see bitching, I wanna see moaning, I wanna see faux eye-rolling, I wanna hear a billion different variations on "THIS ISN'T IMPORTANT! NOSTALGIA-BLIND FANBOYS ARE HOLDING THE WHOLE MEDIUM BACK!" ...oh, and someone please remember to pretend that being happy about a decades-old franchise making reference to it's past is "hypocrisy" if one has ever once taken issue with brand-new franchises barely changing from game-to-game.

We're all in this together, kiddos! Let's give the internet a show it won't forget!

I'd Buy It

Inspired by a Twitter exchange about whether or not the elephant-monster in the new "God of War" E3 trailer was supposed to be Ganesh, and the attendant prospect of Kratos engaging pantheon's of gods from still-active religions:

This Is The WiiU's "Hardcore" Controller

The big new shiny thing of the WiiU is it's tablet-controller (now officially christened "The WiiU Gamepad"), which combines a traditional dual-analog button scheme with a touchscreen that can "swap out" the monitor feed if someone else want to use the TV (and probably other stuff, too.)

Beyond that, all we'd heard about the system's interface was that you can bring your old Wii Remotes and peripherals to the party, too... but now we know that's not the only option. To the surprise of... well, few who follow this sort of thing (given how open Nintendo has been about getting 3rd parties back onto the reservation being a primary goal this gen) but to the relief of many - including me - as part of their pre-E3 video tease Nintendo revealed "The WiiU Pro" - which moves the Gamepad's button-layout (sans touchscreen) onto the framework of a more standard controller:

I've gotta say it: I'm glad to see this. I'm a bigger proponent of motion controls than a lot of people in games journalism, but it's true that it's not right for every situation and it's a wise decision on Nintendo's part to make the development of WiiU versions of multiplatform AAA titles as easy as possible on 3rd party developers. Now I'm hoping that the next reveal is "one of these AND the Gamepad are solid with the console."

Having dozens of different controller-types would've been a mistake for the original Wii in terms of confusing consumers, but if the idea now is that WiiU will use this or the Gamepad as it's primary interface with Remotes "from your old Wii" as an option it makes sense.

Now, then... who do I pay to mod one of these into black/gray/beige/red NES colors?

EPISODE 71: "Eulogii"

The new episode is now available for view by all audiences exclusively at ScrewAttack - more updates coming, but watch all the way to the end for information on the next "Mailbag" episode.

At this point, for some reason I can't embed the video. I'll fix that as soon as I'm able, but for now follow the link to ScrewAttack.

"Injustice" Is Probably Well Titled

I really, really liked NetherRealm's "Mortal Kombat" reboot, particularly on an aesthetic level - character animation wasn't so hot, but they NAILED the "dark-fantasy collage airbrushed on the side of some guy's van" art-style of oldschool MK games.

I have a feeling I'll be less enthused about their new DC Universe fighter, "Injustice: Gods Among Us," which appears to be ODing on awful 90s-style comic atmosphere and features character designs that suggest the art department was told: "Y'know how the New 52 looks have kind sucked for the most part? Well, we need them to suck MORE for this."

EPISODE 71 ANNOUNCEMENT

UPDATE: Technical issue has been resolved, my apologies for any confusion that may have arisen.
Here we go: EPISODE 71: "Eulogii" will go live for all-audiences this Sunday 6/2. ScrewAttack Advantage members, however, can get their usual early look starting, er... right now HERE.

ALSO: The big announcement made at the end of this one is that Episode 72 will be another MAILBAG... but this one will be exclusive to ScrewAttack G1's (read: members) who ask their questions in the comments-section under this episode (on the screwattack page, NOT HERE.) No, G1 isn't Advantage (i.e. it doesn't cost anything) and yes, we will do another for all-audiences soon.

Big Tease

Apologies for the lack of updates recently - I've been dealing with a lot of stuff. Some of it business, some of it personal, some of it related to the absolute hell of real-estate shopping in Massachusetts, some of it good and some of it just plain old shitty and unpleasant.

In any case, EPISODE 71 has been recorded, edited and readied to go - though I don't have an exact date yet, I believe it will be in the near future and I'll specify when I know for sure. For now, here are three things I can tell you about this particular installment:

1. This will be the second-to-last episode to feature The NecroThinker. Does the same hold true for RetroThinker? I'm not telling.

2. The title of the episode is "Eulogii."

3. A Special Announcement will be made at the conclusion of the episode.

Stay tuned...

EPISODE 70: "Fall of Duty"

Now viewable for ALL AUDIENCES!!! The Game OverThinker takes on "Call of Duty: Black Ops II" and Oliver North...




I like how this one came out, though it certainly wasn't the most fun episode to produce. The "real world" side of this is seriously, seriously ugly stuff; and I never like coming down on a game or a developer for something like this - "your design scheme sucks!" is just an aesthetic critique, and can be a lead-in for humor... "you're associating with despicable people and the increasingly overt ideological-underpinnings of your product are bringing something poisonous and corrupt to the medium" is dark business, and there's nothing "funny" about it.

Episode 70 Coming 5/12

Head's up! Episode 70: "Fall of Duty" will be viewable by everyone starting this Saturday 5/12 at 11:30pm CST.

Subscribers to ScrewAttack Advantage can see it a few days early starting right how HERE.

Moderation

As a rule, I try to let the comments section of these blogs run wild - people can post anonymously if they want, and the only things I tend to delete are abusive comments directed at other users. Unfortunately, owing to the continued bad behavior of some repeat-offenders I'm going to have to start getting more strict. I don't like it, but there it is.

From now on, the comments sections will be moderated by me on the following criteria: No abuse of others, no soliciting, no intentional derailing and try to stay on-topic to whatever degree possible. In other words, attempting to hijack any given conversation or spamming the recurrent "gotcha" lines into every damn post is a good way to get yourself consistently removed. Several recent posts will have their comment-sections culled in this manner once this message is posted.

I don't like it, but that's the way it has to be. Hopefully this will not overly impact the vast majority of commenters who don't make trouble.

Episode 70 Announcement!

I'm still working out some scheduling details, but I can now confirm that Episode 70 - which will cover the Oliver North/Call of Duty issue at length - should make it's debut later this week. Until then, do yourselves a favor and read this solid editorial on Kotaku that gets into some of the other more troubling aspects of the campaign and the general Fox News-style fear-selling vibe that has set in across the COD franchise in general.

Oliver North is The Pitchman for "Call of Duty"

Every time I think the modern gaming industry cannot sink any lower, I am proven wrong. This is... inexcusable, even for this industry. This is disgusting, despicable. This is evil. Oliver North - a man who was convicted of what many feel amount to (but do not technically qualify as) war crimes - is doing commercials for "Call of Duty."

Hey, I've got an idea - Charles Manson isn't doing anything right now, maybe he'd like to lend a thumbs-up to the next "Manhunt?" Or maybe we can get some actual gangbangers to stump for GTAV?

Are you fucking SERIOUS, Activision??
For those you too young to remember, North was the central figure in the Iran-Contra scandal - in which he was effectively the "bagman" for a covert and illegal scheme by agents of the U.S. government to sell weapons to Iran (an enemy nation) and funnel the profits to The Contras, a Nicaragaun rebel group opposing the Sandinista government of the time.

North was convicted, but it was overturned via an ACLU appeal (strange bedfellows and all that); and since the Sandinista's were "dirty commies" and North did his dirty-work during the time of Saint Reagan, he remains a folk-hero to far-right Conservatives to this day. But this isn't an issue of politics - or rather it shouldn't be. If you can't see why this is a horrifying development after reading the provided links about who North is, I don't know what else to say to you.

Congratulations, Activision - this is officially the worst thing a video game company has ever done to promote it's game. You win. You're the new champ. Say hi to EA for me when you go to pick up the trophy.

Un-fucking-believable...

BLOPS To The Future

With this emergence into general public knowledge of weaponized military drones over the last few years, it seemed innevitable that we were going to start getting schlocky technophobe-paranoia action movies reminding us how "Ya just can't trust those dang machines!!!" and that no matter how advanced our fancy-shmancy technobabble gets we're always gonna need "Real. Hard. Men. RARGH!" to bail us out.

What didn't seem innevitable - but, in retrospect, probably ought to have - was that Hollywood would get beaten to the punch on this new subgenre by a "Call of Duty" game: The trailer for "Black Ops 2" reveals that the game takes place in the near-future and finds you battling unmanned military machinery that's been hijacked by Al Qaeda/North Korea/Russia/Neo-Nazis/China/Does-It-Really-Matter. I like the Tank With Feet:



I'm not even joking - I think Tank With Feet is immediately my favorite "Call of Duty" character ever.

I'd also like to thank the good folks at Treyarch for effectively demonstrating what Michael Bay's adaptation of "Metal Gear" would look like...

Fan Art

Check out this nifty TGO fan art from elbubojr, imagining what the show's characters might look like if it were animated (or if I had a higher costume budget and/or more actors):

Love it.

He also did color versions of NecroThinker, PyroThinker, CryoThinker, RetroThinker and both forms of The Anti-Thinker, after the jump:

 Awesome. I especially like "Antiverse Form" Anti-Thinker as a plus-size bruiser, and his design of NecroThinker actually nails the "Kirby/Starlin Cosmic Villain" look I was going for overall better than the actual costume does, IMO.

Good stuff, either way - actually got re-invigorated by this to go out and start pricing-out props for the two (so far) new character's who'll be showing up once the NecroThinker story concludes. I won't say who/what they are, but one of them will mark the first time I've had to wear a wig on the show. (There would've been one already, but I ultimately decided to spare you a one-off character called "UberThinker, who was German and... yeah, that was kind of the whole joke.)

Sony's "Smash Bros." Clone Looks Like a "Smash Bros." Clone

People have been referring to the rumored "Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale" as a Playstation-centric version of "Super Smash Bros" since it was first mentioned, but I doubt anyone was expecting it would be almost exactly the same game:

EPISODE 69: "AfterMass"

Sick of talking/hearing about "Mass Effect?" Me too. But newsworthy is newsworthy, and the next "big" gaming story (in terms of news or even a discussionworthy new release) has yet to rear it's head. So one more round - especially in light of how dramatically the Bioware/Re-Take thing evolved after the last episode. And even if that's not really your bag, this one also has zombies, gunfights, the return of The OverSword and a much bigger helping of Ivan the Intern:



This episode evolved along strange lines. The topic I initially wanted to cover wasn't quite coming up adequate at the script-level (I think I've since cracked it, or at least gotten closer); and eventually it made more sense to do a "sequel" of sorts to "Crass Effect" - especially since the framing-story action in this sort of mirrors the previous episode already i.e. both revolving around "game company under attack" visual sequences. Also, the aforementioned "troublesome script" goes MUCH better with the action in the next episode (which more-directly involves NecroThinker.)

What I'm more curious to see than anything is how having Ivan pop in with added commentary in the "main" part of the show "plays" for people. The day after I recorded the audio, I was thinking it sounded overly-confrontational and wanted to add in some levity and qualifiers; and "interupting myself" in Ivan's persona felt like a better way to pull off those additions. Also, Ivan really does seem to be the "breakout character" of the supporting cast - something that continues to pleasantly-surprise me - so you can maybe consider this a "trial run" at maybe giving him a bigger presence in the show and possibly beyond that.

JOY

There may come a day when Nintendo's monetization of nostalgia becomes so completely predictable that something as relatively simple as ressurecting power-ups from Super Mario Bros. 3 is no longer sufficient to settle anything that could be bothering me at any given moment, leaving me in a blissful near-stupor of psychological comfort.

Today is not that day:

Image is one of a handful of just-released snaps of "New Super Mario Bros. 2;" a 2D sidescroller previously announced for the 3DS, now revealed and dated for August. Also announced right around the same time (but with fewer details) is a 20th Anniversary "Kirby Collection" compilation coming for Wii. No world yet on which games it would include (presumably the NES/SNES ones I imagine, hoping the GameBoy/GBA/DS and maybe even N64 ones too.)

Nintendo also supposedly registed a "Super Mario 4" domain name, which could mean nothing. However, a yet-unidentified WiiU Mario game (launch title!?) is supposed to be announced at E3. I'm obviously psyched for this stuff because... y'know, I just AM; but I'm also glad that the new-generation fans who got introduced to 2D Mario via "New Super Mario Bros. Wii" (which is still killing, sales-wise) will have more to look forward to than my generation's leftovers.

I wonder... is it perhaps too much to hope that the Frog and Hammer suits will make a comeback here as well?

Episode 69 Announcement!

"Episode 69: AfterMass" will be viewable by all audiences on Wednesday, April 25th. ScrewAttack Advantage members can get an early look at this link NOW.

COD Elite Has Pro-Hitler Staff Pick

Accident of internet-algorithims gone unchecked? Probably. Classic Kotaku sensationalism? Definitely. Darkly amusing, given the game(s) in question? You betcha.

The "Staff Picks" linked to a Call of Duty Elite user account - troublingly named "GhostOfTheReich," incidentally - include a YouTube video for a White Supremacist rock group called "Final War." Activision has yet to comment on the issue, which is at this point about three days old.

Badass Digest Out-Geeks "Re-Take," Again

Episode 69 is in the can and awaiting a release date (you'll find out right after I do), but it's not a spoiler to reveal that I'm going one more round with "Re-Take Mass Effect" in light of EA/BioWare's decision to attempt placating them* with "story-expanding" free DLC. I'm glad I finished it up last night, because I probably would've felt compelled to scrap my plans in a fit of "what else can I POSSIBLY add after this!?" envy and defeat after reading today's piece by Badass Digest's Devin Faraci. B.A.D. should be a daily stop for geeks and film buffs anyway, but this was a real (if SPOILER-Y!) treat.

The argument itself isn't necessarily "new;" Devin mostly laments the degradation of fandom from loving a work(s) of fiction so much that lore-obsessing and continuity gaffe "a-ha!-ing" became a fun communal game into the obsession=ownership entitlement mentality that leads people to treat - without a HINT of irony! - an ending you didn't like as a consumer-rights issue.

What I like best is that he grounds his opinion in proper historical context; not only via a pretty terrific uber-geeky Tolkien reference but with heavy reference to fanboy founding-father Philip Jose Farmer, who's not only one of the more interesting scifi/fantasy authors largely forgotten by modern audiences but also more-or-less the inventor of Professional Fan-Fiction. That kind of broad perspective is sorely lacking in a lot of the games-as-art discussion, and one of the reasons for the curious phenomenon that so much interesting games journalism pieces recently have come from folks who usually write/work in different mediums.

For some reason I've never comprehended (this is expanded upon in Episode 69, incidentally) it's considered verboten in some gaming circles to draw critical or artistic paralells between games and any other media - as though the fact that some cursory interactivity and/or player-input renders video games so incomprehensibly different from movies, books, etc that the comparison is utterly unwarranted.

In any case, read the column. Agree or disagree, I think it's an important addition to the discussion.



*Speaking of "placating," if you haven't see "Cabin In The Woods" yet, you're missing out on probably the most brutally honest piece of commentary about the fandom/creator relationship to be filmmed in a good long while. I won't say anything beyond that, other than that you really do need to see that movie - it's AMAZING.

VOTE!

Okay, this isn't necessarily scientific or going to amount to anything, but I thought I'd take an informal poll of viewers/readers/fans/whatever. The subject: Here's a list of ten characters who've appeared on the show between, er... since we started having characters other than me on the show - I'd like to see people "rank" them in order of favorite to least-favorite in order of 1-10, 10 being least-favorite and 1 being favorite:

STRAWMAN
PYROTHINKER
CRYOTHINKER
COMMISSIONER BUNNYFACE
THE ANTI-THINKER
HOODED FIGURE (aka "MONSTER-VOICE GUY")
RETROTHINKER
NECROTHINKER
SENATOR LIEBERSON
IVAN THE INTERN

You'll of course note that there's no "I hate them all, just get rid of them and make a generic YouTube slideshow" option; but by all means feel free to opine in that direction as well - because surely this time it's going to register, as opposed to every other time ;)

Better Business Bureau Agrees "Mass Effect 3" Falsely-Advertised

Well, so much for THIS nonsense being over with.

The Escapist reports that a communications director at the Better Business Bureau has come out in public agreement with the position that Bioware's pre-release hype about ME3 was sufficiently different enough from the final product as to constitute wrongdoing.

Bad PR day for EA/Bioware to be sure, but I have a feeling folks are going to over-inflate the importance of this. Despite the name, The BBB isn't a government organization and has no legal power in such matters - they're an activist organization whose primary focus is corporate malfeasance, so it's not at all surprising that they'd come down on the anti-corporate side of this particular discussion.

I really worry about the logical-extremes of this kind of thinking in regard to entertainment products. Outright lies are seldom "cool;" but when it comes to narrative media like movies, books or games a certain amount of potential consumer misdirection is an essential tool. For example, "Cabin In The Woods" - entering movie theaters this weekend and you should ALL go see it because it's fucking amazing - is advertising itself as, essentially, a mashup of "Evil Dead" and "Saw." It's NOT. Not at all. And the shock of the various reveals of what the film actually IS to unsuspecting audiences is the whole point of the film. Will the BBB etc next come for it? Should we also retroactively call-out Ubisoft for not mentioning the HUGE first-act surprise in any of the "Assassin's Creed" trailers?

Kris Jenner, AGE 56, in a bikini!

In fairness to Kris, first glance, she looks damn good.  We know the face and boobs have been done, but there is something to be said for taking care of yourself and by most accounts she enjoys fitness.  All of that said, if we saw her stomach and the backside, i'm not sure I or you would say the same thing.

COME SEE THE OVERTHINKER AT PAX EAST 2012!

I'll be starting my weekend-long stint at PAX East tomorrow afternoon. If you see me around the floor, feel free to say hi - in addition, I'll be featured at the following two panels on Friday night:

6:00 PM - "BLANKETY BLANK PANEL" (Manticore Theater)
A gamer/geek centric version of The Match Game. Should be a blast!

10:30 PM - "ESCAPIST MOVIE NIGHT" (Wyvern Theater)
Escapist editors, Shamus Young, the LoadingReadyRun crew, The Space Janitors, myself and others present select episodes of The Escapist's most popular shows (including some never-before-seen new stuff!) preceded by a live Q&A.

See you there!

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West will hide their love no more!

Kanye is a serial dater, Kim claims to want marriage and kids, brilliant choice in Kanye!

Kim Kardashian Workout Warrior!

Kim Kardashian in UK Cosmopolitan!

Kardashian Girls model lingerie for Sears Part Deux!

Kardashian girls take to modeling lingerie for Sears!

Home

Whatever the ultimate fate is of The RetroThinker (keep watching, his story is far from over) I'd like to think he'd be heartened by this pair of stories that broke today; giving renewed hope that The Golden Age of gaming still has yet to slip completely away:

Firstly, IGN reports that WayForward (a developer who has done more to keep me invested in gaming than almost any other lately) is bringing rebooting "Double Dragon;" and since it's WayForward there's no need to fear the dreaded "Gritty Reboot" virus taking hold: Instead, "Double Dragon: Neon" is going all-in on capturing not only the 2D Brawler gameplay but also the tacky 80s excess that so memorably colored the original; complete with "blaring buttrock" soundtrack. I'm IN.

But it's not just the 80s feeling the retro love - the 90s were themselves a Second Coming for Disney, and that extended into gaming: Licensed platformers based on Disney brands developed by Capcom and Sega are among the most fondly remembered games of that era; and today Kotaku reveals that the 3DS installment of the continuing "EPIC MICKEY" franchise is being built as a throwback to those vaunted titles - specifically, it's a return to the "Mickey's Castle of Illusion" series with a "Drawn to Life"-style mechanic added to the mix. DO WANT.

The Good Days don't die unless we let them die.

Yes, More "Mass Effect"

WARNING! All links and everything after the jump carries a MASSIVE SPOILER WARNING!

"Bob, WHY do you keep talking about this??" Because it's still THE story in this particular realm, that's why.

In any case, Devin Faraci of BadassDigest is the latest web-personality to weigh in on the controversial finale of "Mass Effect" - apparently he didn't get the memo that movie critics' opinions on video games aren't to be taken seriously, either. He does, however, bring the thus-far rare perspective of someone who - whether he is officially a "true gamer" or not - has played through the entirety of "Mass Effect" and actually really likes the ending. It's an extremely thoughtful piece (I don't always see eye-to-eye with Devin, but he knows his shit) that gamers would do well to consider:

SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT!
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Money quote, from Devin: (boldface mine)
"In the end Mass Effect 3, like any other narrative video game, is a story being told to us. We have some control over the peripheral business but the meat of the story belongs to BioWare. This is the tale they’ve been telling. This is the culmination of what they’ve been doing since the beginning of Mass Effect. And I love it. This is true scifi, a story that examines the nature of conflict and humanity through the prism of imaginative, speculative fiction. I’ve never played a game where the decisions I made felt so powerful in the abstract; I wasn’t worrying about whether or not one choice would give me a better power up, I was worrying about the moral and ethical implications of the choices. And after all of that the final choice was so obvious, so true to what had come before, that I was kind of irritated at how slowly old Shep moved."

Now, let me get myself into a bit of trouble here: I'm wondering if it's more than coincidence that some (please, please, PLEASE note that I didn't say "ALL" or "MOST") of more interesting writing about video games coming out lately is coming from people - like Devin or FilmCritHulk - who come more form a film/literature background.

That's pretty close to blasphemy, I realize. Gaming has a fierce inferiority complex when it comes to movies - desperately wanting the visuals and narratives of games become more "cinematic" while stidently insisting that the interactivity of the medium makes it some kind of superior-evolution to stuffy old "passive" cinema. And I don't mean to suggest that one medium is innately superior on either the production or commentary side...

...BUT, a lot of the recent "big issues" in game-criticism ("Other M's" perhaps-unwittingly sexual-submission symbolism, "Arkham City's" casual sexism, "Mass Effect's" unusual ending, etc.) are actually narrative issues; and let's be real here: Film has been dealing with full-blown narratives for over a century and film writers have thus been dealing with them for their entire education and career; while gaming and thus game criticism has (with the niche exceptions of PC Adventure titles and JRPGs) barely been dealing with full-blown narratives for a decade or so. And even film didn't get there right away - it took a looooong time for a big-budget, wide-release movie to be permitted to end as abstractly as "2001" did; and even the magnificient "Psycho" is forced to follow-up it's intensely-awesome reveal with a horrible, clunky, dead-weight expository sequence where police veeeeery carefully lay out exactly what was wrong with Norman Bates, and why he is/isn't a transvestite, etc lest the audience go home without - what's that word? Closure?

What's the takeaway from that? I dunno. Maybe that gaming-culture would do well to not immediately dismiss criticism/commentary simply because it comes from outside "The Community;" I suppose.

Yes, I Saw The Jimquisition

Jim Sterling and I have shows on the same network, so yes I've seen his Mass Effect video. Stop Asking.

The Escapist : Jimquisition : Changing A Game's Ending And Destroying Art

I think he raises a plethora of good points - certainly framed more thoughtfully than the trolling I've been bombarded with for the last two weeks (guys, a MINUTE on Wikipedia can tell you that Arthur Conan Doyle left Sherlock Holmes untouched for about a DECADE before reviving him, and even then never "re-wrote" The Final Problem. Look shit up before you parrot it from 4Chan) but I still can't fundamentally agree that anything good will come of caving to "Re-Take Mass Effect;" whether EA/Bioware "planned to" or not.

I don't accept the premise that gaming is fundamentally different from film or literature because of the manner of user-engagement, nor that choose-your-own-adventure structuring and letting you adjust the visual look of a main character makes Mass Effect some kind of sea-change, NOR that any of this represents some kind of important shift in the relationship of audience to artist - and if it does, it's a bad shift. Good art and good stories are not made via democracy. The artist is the superior of his/her audience, with the sole caveat that they may choose to render said artist powerless by withholding support. You take that away and all we've got is made-to-order bullshit, which is where cultural stagnation comes from. People who only ever get what they WANT will never discover what the didn't know they NEEDED.

Also, I still say that the precedent this will set is one of the worst things that could possibly happen to this increasingly-ridiculous industry - YES, it's possible that Bioware's back-to-the-drawing-board approach will yield a "better" ending for this ONE game... but that won't be the end of it. This being so high-profile will have an automatically-disasterous effect on fans, telling them that if they throw a tantrum they'll get their way, and on publishers especially: they're already disgustingly risk-averse, and "Remember What Happened To Bioware!" will be a convenient cudgel to bludgeon the ambitions of any creative team that wants to do something risky or unconventional in the medium...

...but, then again, given the number of folks tripping over themselves to insist that "Games AREN'T art! They're PRODUCT! I don't WANT them to be art if it means stuff like this!!!" recently, maybe everyone else will be okay with that; while I just get used to the ever-clearer realization that my remaining actively-engaged in the modern gaming scene is becoming an act of masochism.

Still, let it never be said I can't appreciate a different point of view, and Jim expresses his exceedingly well.