I Beat The Greatest Game Ever...Again

What is your favorite game of all time? Gamers of my generation usually look back to the early days of Nintendo's dominance, and the game I usually pronounce as my fave stems from that era too: Super Metroid.

What's odd is I've never owned a Super Nintendo or beaten it on that system; all my play-throughs have been via emulator. The fidelity has always held up on keyboard compared to the controller counter-part. And I am still reminded why it's my go-to answer for that oft-asked geek question: What is your favorite game of all time?

-- "I've set my laser from stun to kill." "Oh, great. If anyone attacks we can blink em' to death."

Scott Pilgrim? Looks Fun!

I never read the comic Scott Pilgrim, but the upcoming movie looks awesome! Michael Cera plays himself...with super powers. So that's kinda new. Also, the style in terms of video games' sound bites and references is pretty cool.

Now I understand why I've heard this coming up among some of my geek friends' conversations. Definitely heading to the theater for this.



-- "Give me a scotch. I'm starving."

Far From A Triumph

Ever wonder about the origins of Aperture Science? Sure, it's a fictional company that creates ridiculous, fantastic technologies, but how did it come to be making GLaDOS and portal technology? Would you believe shower curtains?

Well until it's supposed destruction, Aperture Science seemed to be living the life of unethical experimentation and future world domination. Hopefully it hasn't been set back too far.

-- "If it isn't Leopard Boy and the Decepticons."

Coheed Surprise!

I haven't really been paying attention to my favorite band of late. But thanks to some random friends, I found that Coheed & Cambria just released their newest album, Year of the Black Rainbow. And now I'm left waiting to drive to the store after work and buy it.

In the meantime I'll be checking out some of the songs and wondering where this new album's story fits in with the overall life & death of the fictional Coheed & Cambria.

-- "9, you shall protect the future."

Step Brothers Buddy Cop Movie

Will Ferrell movies tend to be hilarious. But would the addition of Mark Wahlberg and classic "buddy cop" trope (y'know, that old thang) continue the hilarity? Worse things have happened.

Other guys looks to add Ferrell's magic to the mix as he has the unwitting innocence of a cop who should not be, the unrelenting luck of scraping by ludicrous situations, and the uncommon impossibility of bagging Eva Mendes. Apparently humor is the one of the top things women look for in a man, right?

I've linked enough; enjoy the trailer below.

-- "His wristwatch thought the single Windsor made his neck look fat, but said nothing."

Children's Horror Book

In the spirit of recent genre-mixing novels the likes of Pride & Prejudice & Zombies, a new children's story is available to read online: Alien Vs. Pooh. Join Winnie the Pooh as he deals with facehuggers, and the 100 Acre Wood deals with the resulting mess. It's a bit disjunctive but full of disturbing images for a highly-regarded children's series making it well-apt to open up the new genre.

Although I'm not quite sure the children's section at the library is quite ready for this version of Christopher Robin.

-- "This box is full of stuff that almost killed me."

Next Generation of Music Gaming?

This year's Game Developer's Conference didn't bring us a whole lot of exciting announcements. But an idea that I'm sure has been floating around the heads of many a guitar-playing gamer looks to be settling into place. Seven45 Studios is introducing a real guitar amongst the Rock Band Hero competition.

Power Gig: Rise of the Six-String looks to bridge the finger-gaps between video games and real-life rocking. It has real-life guitar players in their booth, so that must be true, right? It purports not to train someone into becoming a guitarist, but it has to include something for the would-be shredder. My only frets lie with the quality of guitar used to make it cost-effective and interface design & functionality of reading correct notes/button presses.

Plus, I can already imagine the great tuning and re-stringing mini games to come with it. "Ahhh, you broke a string. Time to go buy some over-priced ones at our online store and hope they don't break while you string it back up trying to beat the best time!"

-- "Loads of elevators play Celine Dion - that don't make it right."