Daily Loaf

It’s been a long time since I had a game experience more mixed than Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood. There’s lots to like, some things to hate, a fair amount that’s on the border, and even something I hated and then came to like. Playing this game was like riding an emotional roller coaster as I went from mildly interested to mildly annoyed and back again. Okay, maybe not really a roller coaster so much as a see-saw in the kiddie playground, but you get my point. There are some thrills to be had, but also some jarring landings.

Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood is the prequel to a game I never played, nor do you need to have played it. It’s a perfectly competent first-person shooter set in the Old West, full of two-fisted six-gun action and horse riding and even a lasso or two. You play alternately as Tom and Ray, defending your car repair business from angry public radio listeners who haven’t received their tote bags yet. Or rather, Thomas and Ray, two nasty Confederate soldiers who abandon their posts to try and save their farm from the evil Sherman as he marches through Georgia. That doesn’t work out too well, and the brothers end up fleeing to the wilds of the West, their preacher little brother William in tow. There they hear tell of lost Aztec gold, both fall in love with the same Mexican seductress, fight various tribes of Indians, and have their pasts come back to haunt them. There’s a lot of shooting. Read the rest of this entry »

I need your help amassing 43 million kills as quickly as possible. And it’s not just me – people around the world want you to join the battlefields of Wake Island, Guadal Canal and Iwo Jima right now. And if you can die or kill a few thousand times, that’d be awesome.

Last week, Battlefield 1943 went live on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. Each platform is now racing to be the first to 43 million in-game kills, and I’m right there on the front lines of the X-Box 360 doing my part. And what happens when we reach the blood-soaked final goal? A new map, Coral Sea, becomes available for all of us, and the killing can continue on a brand new field of battle! Normally the release of a new map for an online shooter wouldn’t get me this fired up, but the fact of the matter is, Battlefield 1943 is addictive, high energy fun, and right now I can’t get enough of it.

The game is an online first person shooter set during World War II. Players are randomly assigned to either the Japanese or U.S. Marine side of one of three different battles. Before you join the fight, you choose from one of three weapons kits: Read the rest of this entry »

Back in 2007, when Congress passed a law setting more stringent rules on the manufacture of light bulbs, a lot of people sounded the death knell for Thomas Edison’s incandescent bulb. Australia got rid of them, along with a few other countries, and news articles and blog entries in the United States dubbed the planned phasing out as a full-on “ban.” Now, with President Obama’s most recent call to make lighting more efficient in homes and businesses, it again seems that the incandescent bulb will go the way of the dodo in the name of energy savings.

Or will it? It seems that some folks are instead using this governmental push for efficiency as the kick in the pants they needed to finally stop making outdated products. Read the rest of this entry »

The game character and franchise that simply refuses to die, Duke Nukem, may be resurrected in a 2K Games developed titled called Duke Begins. Although a full fledged Duke Nukem title hasn’t been released in ten years, Duke Nukem developer Apogee Software incidentally revealed the game Duke Begins in a court filing last Friday. The filing, which was a response to a suit filed against them by Take-Two Interactive over the rights to the Duke Nukem, has some interesting information on Duke Begins which we’ve pasted below. Read the rest of this entry »

We reminisce about the early days of the UFC, and how incredibly dull it was compared to this game. Think of UFC: Undisputed as a typical fighter and you’ll have some fun. Delve into the combat system — which is vastly deeper than any other out there — and the game is a long-term keeper.

Better yet (at least for the UFC) it does a hell of a lot for promoting the franchise outside the sport’s usual fan base.

(Check out all the Gamma Testing podcasts. Or subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, or via the Gamma Testing podcast RSS feed.)

LISTEN TO Gamma Testing Ep10 – UFC: Undisputed

Remember 1989? Remember the disappointment? How exciting the mere prospect was, the idea that we’d get more of that magical, hilarious madness. Another two hours worth of memorable quotes – what would replace “When someone asks you if you’re a God, you say yes!” or “Listen; Do you smell something?”

But then we got Ghostbusters 2 in all it’s lifeless, tepid, walking Statue of Liberty forgettableness. Who would want another sequel after that mess? And how could we get it two decades after the fact? Of course you’ve guessed the answer – Ghostbusters: The Video Game, which really is the sequel I’ve been waiting for.

All the original busters are back, Murray, Aykroyd, Ramis, and Hudson playing digital, young versions of their now aged and expanded selves. Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis are even credited as writers of the game, and I can believe it. The story has the same sensibilities as the original movie, the same over the top mythology and paranormal gobbledygook, and I found it a lot more interesting and entertaining than the Ghostbusters 2 plot. Of course it’s spread out over 7 hours of game play, but that works fine. It’s the transition to digital actors and recorded voice overs that’s less satisfying.

More review and video after the jump: Read the rest of this entry »

Parent company of Bethesda Softworks, ZeniMax Media Inc. announced today that it has acquired (i.e., gave large sums of money to) id Software. What does this mean for id Software and Bethesda? All id Software titles already committed to a publisher will continue down that path, but all forthcoming id Software titles will be published by Bethesda. The acquisition is not only a mere publishing deal, but will include more financial backing for id Software and presumably entail creative collaboration between both developers.

“This puts id Software in a wonderful position going forward,” said id Software’s Technical Director John Carmack.  “We will now be able to grow and extend all of our franchises under one roof, leveraging our capabilities across multiple teams while enabling forward looking research to be done in the service of all of them.  We will be bigger and stronger, as we recruit the best talent to help us build the landmark games of the future.”

Did ZeniMax Media and Bethesda see something of id Software’s behind closed doors that caught their attention? Or was this a move that was a long time coming? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Here’s the presser: Read the rest of this entry »

Some reviewers gave up on Velvet Assassin before they even made it past the first half. We fought our way to the end, then gave up after our 45th attempt at completing the final level. It’s an unforgiving stealth game, and we would like to return the favor by not forgiving its stupid AI, boring gameplay, and general lack of fun. Then we opine about the responsibilities of game reviewers.

It’s a tough job, especially when you have to play games like Velvet Assassin.
(Check out all the Gamma Testing podcasts. Or subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, or via the Gamma Testing podcast RSS feed.)

LISTEN TO Gamma Testing Ep09 – Velvet Assassin

It’s hard to feel guilty when people don’t even bother to move out of the way of your tank when it’s about to run them over. That’s good, because Prototype is a game that clearly doesn’t want you to be thinking too much about innocent bystanders, especially if doing so would get in the way of tearing the hell out of anything and everything around you. Still, even I felt a twinge of discomfort while going for the achievement points for running over 500 people with a single tank. In retrospect, this actually works within the convoluted framework of Prototype’s story, but at the time it was just one more way of causing mayhem. Prototype’s all about the mayhem.

You play as Alex, a scientist who always wears a hoodie for some unexplained reason, and who has been infected by a virus that’s quickly turning him into a monster/superhero. And of course you have amnesia. So you’ve got to find out who did this to you while Manhattan dissolves into a chaos of nasty soldiers and even nastier infected who’re constantly attacking each other and you. You get to tear your way through both sides in a blood filled, high speed romp up and down the length of the city as you unlock the secrets of your recent past and search for who’s responsible. If the story sounds typical and uninspired, that’s because it is – amnesia, virus, shadowy government agency, trust no one, and did I mention amnesia? Blah, blah, blah. We’ve seen it all before. Protoype’s setting and story don’t break any new ground and are almost throwaway.

But it’s not the why’s and therefore’s that draw you into Prototype – it’s what you do. Read the rest of this entry »

Last night, Dereck and I went to the St. Petersburg Tweetup, held at Savannah’s Cafe (1113 Central Ave, St Petersburg, FL 33705-1650, (727) 388-4371). This was a much different crowd and vibe than any Tweetup I’d been too before. The crowd was more mature, more segmented and a bit frazzled. That said, I did shake a lot of hands and meet a lot of interesting folks involved in social media.

I also managed to get a few pictures in the packed upstairs meeting room. Here they are:

More pictures after the jump: Read the rest of this entry »

I know I am not a tech guru and I am the basic of most girls when it comes to technology, but sometimes technological things will peak my interest. Let preface this by saying I have been out and about in many sexual situations. I have seen women bring personal vibrators with them to clubs to add to their pleasure and I have seen men holding remote control vibrators that are nicely tucked into their partners’ panties.
Read the rest of this entry »

Did you like the most recent X-Men movie? Neither did we. But never fear, the video game based on that horrendous cinematic debacle is considerably better. Mostly, thanks to the lunge tactic.

Sadly, X-Men Origins: Wolverine is saddled with the movie’s fundamentally flawed plot — and a few stupid boss fights — but it’s easy to forgive the cut scenes after a few minutes of repeatedly shivving dudes with your adamantium-sheathed bone claws. And don’t forget this month’s theme: Wolverine apparently hates helicopters almost as much as 50 Cent, and a little more than ninjas.

And somehow, we three former (or current, in Matt’s case) comic industry professionals manage to keep the geek quotient to a minimum. Well, when it comes to comics, at least.
(And check out all the Gamma Testing podcasts.)

LISTEN TO Gamma Testing Ep08 – X-Men Origins: Wolverine

I’m clearly not the target audience for this game. I’ve never seen the cartoon Totally Spies; I’m not a pre-teen girl, and nothing with a mini-game called “Let’s Talk about Clothes” was ever created with me in mind. But having said all of that, I feel I’m still qualified to judge whether or not a game is good based on its intrinsic merits. Is it well made, does it work well, is the fundamental game play fun or interesting – in short, does it achieve what it’s trying to accomplish?

Unless Totally Spies! Totally Party is trying to engender a hatred for video games among young women, then this game is a total failure.

The premise of the show Totally Spies seems like a solid kid-show premise: Three roommates who move into an apartment above a top secret spy agency and are thus recruited to become spies themselves. Their ensuing adventures involve fighting wacky villains, dressing up in different fun outfits, and using nifty spy gadgets like jet packs. There is a lot here to make a game out of, plenty of exciting elements where you could capture whatever it is about the show that it’s fans enjoy.

Or, instead, you could make it into a virtual board game with 35 of the most inane mini-games ever created for the Nintendo Wii (and there’s a lot of competition).

More review and video below the jump: Read the rest of this entry »

A few weeks ago, I joined Twitter on the advice of super food blogger Jaden Hair of Steamy Kitchen. It has been great. The hardest thing by far is to schedule actual “twitter sessions” during my work day, or I’ll just produce absolutely nothing and tweet all day.

For anyone who’s unaware, on Twitter, you can “follow” people (meaning you can read their constant updates in real time) or you can be “followed” by others (meaning people who “follow” you can read your constant updates in real time). Needless to say, the more followers you get, in comparison to the ones you follow, the cooler you are in Twitterville. But also, the quality of the people who follow you is really important. Following Barack Obama, Demi Moore or Jay Leno, for instance, is not as cool as being followed by said persons. It’s a balancing act.

There’s always someone you admire, a guru you cherish, or a big shot you respect. For chefs like me, being followed by Thomas Keller, Daniel Boulud or Grant Achatz would be a huge deal.

And that brings me to Eric Ripert. Read the rest of this entry »

Haven’t had the cash to upgrade to an Xbox LIVE Gold account, Mr. or Mrs. Silver Member? Well, it’s time to dig through the nether reaches of your couches and wrangle up a dollar as Microsoft has extended Silver Members the chance to snag one month of Gold Membership for 100 pennies. What’s the catch, you say? If forgetful gamers do not cancel their membership they will be billed $7.99 each month for their Gold subscription. So long as you don’t forget to unsubscribe, we would recommend taking advantage of this offer, Mr. or Mrs. Silver Member. What if you “like the goods” and wish to be a monthly subscriber? If you like being charged $95.88 a year as apposed to $49.99, we’d suggest becoming a monthly subscriber. Otherwise, you can stick to the $49.99 for a year of Gold Membership plus a bonus month.

[Source]

Unlike the largely derided Bulletproof (bullet-absorbent?), Mr. Cent’s first video game outing, Blood on the Sand is more fun than it has any right to be. Which seems to say a lot about the appeal bigger-than-life hip hop stars hold for middle class white boys interested in living out violent adolescent fantasies (like us). It also says a lot for taking a tried and true third-person shooter engine and wrapping it in an absurdly hilarious “plot” instead of spending a lot of time trying to innovate.

And unlike seemingly all the other video game reviewers out there, we don’t ever feel the need to apologize for liking Blood on the Sand. (Checkout all the Gamma Testing podcasts.)

LISTEN TO Gamma Testing Ep07 – 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand

I have certain weak points – topics that just get me interested and excited without hearing more than a few words. Armed revolution against The Man is one of those. I’m a sucker for tales of bold freedom fighters living underground and facing incredible odds as they try to tear down the system. Red Faction Guerrilla not only delivers a great smash the state simulator, it also gives you a great smash EVERYTHING simulator. Indeed, on reflection, the game’s central plot of freeing Mars from the tyranny of Earth is just fine but not thrilling, but the fact that very single building is destructible ii exciting, chain-reaction inducing, Mars-shaking ways, is what makes this game a ton of fun.

You’re just a working guy, come to Mars to make your way as a miner, but when the bastard Earth Defense Forces kill your brother because he’s part of the revolutionary Red Faction, it’s time to take up your sledge hammer and fight the man. The game is an open-world, third-person actioner, with Mars divided up into six different districts. Each district offers core missions that you have to complete in order to liberate the zone, but it also has a host of side missions that lower the EDF’s control. There’s nice variety in these side missions – driving around manning a turret for an insane revolutionary, freeing captured prisoners, intercepting EDF convoys, participating in Red Faction raids, stealing cars, and of course blowing up buildings. Most people will not enjoy all of these equally, but Red Faction’s OK with that – you never have to do all the side missions, and if there’s a type you don’t enjoy you can easily ignore them completely. In fact, you could ignore them all and just go around blowing up buildings and doing the core missions if you wanted to. I admire that level of freedom in a game like this.

More review and video below the jump: Read the rest of this entry »

Most of the time I like my fighting games fast, furious, and full of fireballs (like, say, Street Fighter 4). But when it comes to watching fights, I’ve lost some interest in the artfully choreographed wire work of kung fu flicks. These days I prefer my bloodsport to be less Bloodsport and more Mixed Martial Arts. I’ve been watching UFC fights since the first, dreadful, ridiculous pay per few events in the 90’s. The sport has come a long way for me since then, ruining my interest in boxing, wrestling, and even martial arts movies along the way. While a dull UFC fight can be as yawn inducing as Steven Seagal’s latest flick, a great, exciting, balls to the wall UFC is as exciting as exciting gets. In THQ’s new video game version of UFC, almost every fight is that exciting.

With its combination of punches, kicks, grappling, and joint locks, MMA is a complicated sport, and I was wary about how the game would be able to capture that kind of diversity, but UFC: Undisputed rises to the challenge, offering a complicated but intuitive game that matches the sport its emulating. Through combinations of button presses and analog stick movements, you can punch and kick with either leg at three different heights and with three different modifiers. When you’re in close your fighter throws knees and elbows. You can grapple the neck in a clinch or shoot for the legs for a take down. Once on the ground, button pressing and swings of the right analog stick make your fighter scramble for better position, rain down blows, or try and submit the opponent with a joint lock. All of this wears away at your fighter’s stamina, so it’s wise to take short breathers and pick your shots rather than just flail away.

So yeah, the game’s complicated. Or, if you prefer, it’s deep. (Video clip below the jump.)

Read the rest of this entry »

That’s two weeks in a row where I’ve spent a significant portion of my free time exploring a city that has recently suffered from a massive explosion. Last week it was Bionic Commando, and I was just the guy to traverse the urban wasteland because I had a bionic arm. This week, it’s inFamous, and I’m just the guy to explore the city because I’m the one who set off the bomb. Plus, it gave me super powers.

InFamous is a super-hero game, or a super-villain  game, depending on your personal preference. You play as Cole, a bike messenger who sets off a bomb that screws up Empire City and gives you the power to control electricity. Why did you set off the bomb? You have no idea, but given the cadres of villains, FBI agents and shadowy figures who immediately start pulling your strings, maybe you were set up. The only way to find out for sure is to explore Empire City open world, Grand Theft Auto-style, do a bunch of missions and shoot lightning at anything that gets in your way. And when you’ve done all that then yes, inFamous delivers a satisfying conclusion to a solid story full of twists and turns, but really it’s all about the lightning powers that get you from here to there.

Well, lightning and parkour. Because Cole can scale buildings like a monkey, leap with ease from ledge to wire to light post, and generally navigate the city via sidewalk or rooftop with equal ease.

Read on for more info and video below the jump:

Read the rest of this entry »

Monday may mark the beginning of the end for pushing buttons or even holding something in your hands to play a video game. At their annual Xbox 360 E3 (or, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, an annual trade show for the computer and video games industry) Media Briefing in Los Angeles, Microsoft announced Project Natal, a seemingly highly-accurate motion-sensing camera that makes players the controller.

“It’s not about reinventing the wheel, it’s about no wheel at all,” - Stephen Spielberg

Using camera technology presumably from 3DV, a company Microsoft was reportedly in talks with to purchase after the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show, has positioned Microsoft as the one video game console maker to be out-done at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). While Nintendo and Sony have yet to reveal their announcements, Microsoft looks like it has the hit of the show on its hands as its made games even more simple and accessible than Nintendo has done with the Wii.

“It’s not about reinventing the wheel, it’s about no wheel at all,” filmmaker Stephen Spielberg told the audience of the Xbox E3 09 Media Briefing about Project Natal. The video game industry has seen many innovations in the controller department over the past few years with such new modes of control such as guitar and drum controllers and most notably the Wii remote. Project Natal doesn’t reinvent controllers, it makes them obsolete. Well, there are some games that are best played with a physical controller, but what project Natal promises is quite amazing.

Have a bone to pick with the name Natal? As it’s only a project name for Microsoft’s new camera technology, it’s highly likely that it’s name will change radically. Still hung up on the name? Let’s move on to what really matters, the features:

Read the rest of this entry »

There were several enormous bombshells dropped today at Microsoft’s E3 press conference. Among the various expected and unexpected game titles was the news that Microsoft will be integrating Twitter, Facebook, and Last.fm into their LIVE services, as well as looking to improve their current Netflix and streaming video offerings. When you consider that Microsoft is attempting to pull in the entire family to using their consoles – as well as attracting non-gaming families – this is a move that makes a great deal of sense.

Read the rest of this entry »

In this episode, the GammaTesting.com guys make their bones while you’re still going out with cheerleaders and see if this new Godfather game makes us an offer we can’t refuse.

Turns out, we could refuse it, but this GTA-knockoff/Mafia sim game is just fun enough to keep us taking over businesses and knockin’ off made men. And unlike this blog entry, we avoid overusing the massive pun potential of Godfather movie quotes.

Listen up!

Gamma Testing Ep06 – Godfather 2

Gamma Testing is a podcast that goes in-depth in a single game each week to let you get more fun out of the games you play. Check out out other episodes.

A little nostalgia can buy you a lot of leeway. The new version of Capcom’s Bionic Commando is the perfect example – it’s a sequel to a much beloved classic from 1988. But things have changed since that glorious 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System days, and characters with names like “Rad Spencer” and “Super Joe” don’t quite cut it anymore. Nor does the name “Bionic Commando,” for that matter. But this sequel is a completer update – from the 8-bit side scroller to full-on 3D, open-world (kinda) third-person shooter. It’s an update in every way, but it keeps that most important element of the original: You play a guy with a bionic arm that can shoot out Inspector Gadget style and let you swing from things like Spider-Man. As long as it gets that right, the game is more than halfway there.

Read the rest of the review, with video, after the jump:

Read the rest of this entry »

The GammaTesting.com guys slash their way through Ninja Blade, with mixed results.

Do you like absurd cinematic action? How about quick-time events? Repetitive actions during boss fights? Am I losing you? Kind of like how Ninja Blade lost us. Rick’s just lucky he didn’t hate the game enough to throw a controller through his big TV.

Listen up!

Gamma Testing Ep05 – Ninja Blade

Gamma Testing is a podcast that goes in-depth in a single game each week to let you get more fun out of the games you play. Check out out other episodes.

I normally don’t like trashing games because of gameplay length. I think if a game is fun and well-made and sucks you in, it almost doesn’t matter how long it takes to play it through. I love my scores of hours spent on Fallout 3, but I also love the condensed fun of a well-constructed shooter or action game like Call of Duty (not a perfect analogy, as Call of Duty has all that great multi-player action, but I would have bought Call of Duty 4 just for that single player campaign; it was that good).  So I’m no short game hater. But Terminator Salvation? Come the hell on! This isn’t a game, that is 1/3rd of a game. That is DLC. This is a demo.

This isn’t a game … This is a demo.

The game is a prequel to the new movie, which still makes it a sequel to the older movies and the TV show. You play as a young adult John Conner, who hasn’t yet taken on leadership in the Resistance against Skynet. I kind of thought the whole point was that John Conner would start the Resistance, but whatever, fine. In this game you’re just one of the guys, out in the wilds of post Judgement Day Los Angeles, blowing up robots. When you get a distress call from some fellow Resistance fighters, your commanding officer won’t risk the lives of the many to save a stranded and doomed few. But you’re John Conner damnit, and you’ll leave no human life behind to those machines. The rest of the game is about traversing Terminator-controlled L.A. and saving those stranded but apparently well-ensconced soldiers from certain mechanized doom.

(Gameplay video after the jump)

Read the rest of this entry »

GammaTesting.com’s fourth episode is a classic romance: boy loses donkey, meets girl, fights demons, releases evil god. All for love. We also love – mostly — Prince of Persia’s seamless gameplay, capable writing and gorgeous Disney atmosphere. Almost enough to marry it. But is there enough going on to resurrect the game after the first play through? Hmmm.

Gamma Testing Ep04 – Prince of Persia

Gamma Testing is a podcast that goes in-depth in a single game each week to let you get more fun out of the games you play. Check out out other episodes.

With this post, I make a strong case for the use of the social-media, micro-blogging tool Twitter as an extremely useful resource for staying connected to and up-to-the-minute with the green community, or any other community, for that matter. More on that later.

The case for Twitter requires use of the many and ever-growing list of applications to manage, filter, and access the flow of Tweets (comments). While the overall signal-to-noise ratio on Twitter may not be that high (case in point would be Oprah’s first Tweets that were little more than noise — dare I say white noise?), there is a high quality, high velocity stream of information, if you just know where and how to look.

The first step to creating a noise filter (to only see and/or block certain Tweets) requires a visit to the Twitter search engine. Navigating without this feature would be like finding something on the internet without a search engine (e.g., Google). Because of the “open architecture” characteristics of Twitter, ALL words in ALL tweets are searchable. Here is link to a search on all tweets that include “Creative Loafing” and “tampa”. And since the tweets update in real time, you always have the most up-to-date information. Read the rest of this entry »

With cell phone providers trying to one-up each other anyway they can these days, it seems Sprint has taken a higher road of one upping by launching a new green line of products and also an additional green website in conjunction with their traditional website. (All jokes aside, Sprint has been promoting cell phone recycling for eight years now.)

So what kind of funky new gadgets can we be expecting? One of the highly anticipated products that is generating buzz in the green scene is the new Sprint Solio Mono Hybrid charger which allows a user to recharge a battery from solar energy as well as through a wall unit. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s the classic philosophical puzzler that ultimately led to the death of Socrates: who would win in a fight between plants and zombies? And just like plants beat Socrates, if you play your seeds right, so too will they defeat the oncoming zombie hordes. It won’t be easy. It will take a lot of mouse clicks. Some plants won’t survive the war. But in the end, Plants vs. Zombies is totally worth it.

There’s no doubt that it’s a name meant to provoke laughter and interest. Zombies are all over the place these days (at least in video games), and everyone from Call of Duty: World at War to lowly little desktop casual games like this one are trying to jump on the hot, new moldering corpse bandwagon. Plant vs. Zombies belongs in that loose category of Tower Defense games – you control some base of some sort (in this case, your house) and you need to array and organize your defenses (in this case plants) against the oncoming baddies (yep, zombies). Each level brings new zombies, new challenges, and of course, new plants.

Read the rest of this entry »

Nicely-made fan video mashes Star Trek and Star Wars. Imperial propaganda? Lucas fans feeling a bit threatened for the first time in a while? Dorks on parade? You make the call. Watch the video below the jump:

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You should never grocery shop when you’re hungry or review a game when you’ve just quit after dying at the same spot twenty times in a row.

I just ate a sandwich, but I’m not going shopping. I also just boiled away most of my affection for Velvet Assassin in a frustration-infused prolonged session of being shot again and again and again by Nazis while wearing a nightie. And for the first time in the game, there wasn’t any morphine to take the edge off.

OK, let’s back up. Velvet Assassin is a third-person stealth-based action game. Set during World War II, the game sets you up as a sexy British assassin named Violette who infiltrates German-occupied territory to kill Nazi jerks and blow people up. It’s actually based on a real British secret operative, Violette Szabo, which is pretty cool.

This is a hard-core stealth game, which means if you get spotted by the fascists, they’re probably going to kill you within seconds. Luckily for you, the world of Velvet Assassin is filled with shadows and dark corners, giving you plenty of places to creep along and get right up behind someone for that silent, bloody close-in dagger work. Drag the body into the shadows before the others notice, and you can keep your cover. You get guns too — mostly a silenced pistol, but later shotguns, sniper rifles, and a sub-machine gun at the end. These of course attract a lot of attention, and while it’s easy to gun down enemies, it’s easy for them to return the favor, so it’s vital to make good use of cover.

Read the rest of this entry »

The EIZO Nano Corporation recently announced two new models of their FlexScan series of LCD monitors.

The new monitors are part of Eizo’s EcoView products, touting ergonomic, environmental, and economic improvements and features. Additionally, these are some of the world’s first products to receive TCO Displays 5.0 certification and the first Eizo products given EPEAT Gold status. Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s a sentence you don’t see very often: “The video game is better than the movie.”
Most of the time movie-based games are rush jobs, made to cash in on whatever success the movie might have at the box office. They have a low shelf-life and even lower expectations among gamers. Most of the time, they’re a safe bet to avoid. But what about when the movie’s really bad (like X-Men Origins: Wolverine)? Will the game be that much worse, or will it manage to overcome its nasty origins and work as a good game all on its own?
In this case, it’s absolutely clear that it’s the movie pulling the game down, and not the other way around. I can say with some confidence that the vast majority of the problems I had with X-Men Origins: Wolverine (the game) are directly related to story and plot elements they were saddled with from the film. Whenever the game developers had freedom or pushed boundaries, the game excelled.

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Concerns for the disastrous consequences of Peak-Oil and Climate Change are the most obvious reasons for “Going Green”. A great deal has been written about both subjects and it is not my desire to discuss the merits or lack thereof of either topic. You have probably “framed” your own position by now. I do posit the belief (based on the science I have seen) that the global production of sweet crude has peaked and that our species is responsible for major disruptions in the natural rhythms of the earth upon which we depend for survival.

In my last post I referenced Rob Hopkins (and I do so again). It would be well worth your time to listen to his interview if you have not. As an instructor and major advocate of permaculture he has great insight on how we need to approach the future collapse of America. The “Transition Initiative” is a methodology he and others have devised to help the communities of villages and hamlets in the U.K. understand the risks of complacency and move toward post-carbon solutions. They say that it is not merely going back to the past in terms of lifestyle but it has all the appearances. Read the rest of this entry »

Looks like a new phishing scam has hit Facebook, this one currently know as “fbstarter” or “fbstarter.com.” The scam arrives in the form of a message from a Facebook pal that states “Look at this!” and includes a link to fbstarter.com. If you click it, you’ll be dropped onto a spoof Facebook sign-in page which is waiting for you to put in your user name and password. Do it and your account will be used to spam all your friends — and that’s not cool.

Read more about fbstarter.com here …