We're a geek culture podcast and blog covering video games, music, food and more. We are the kinds of people who evangelize whatever we are into - it could be anything - but it's usually pretty geeky. We're casual, conversational, NSFW and hopefully interesting. We hope you enjoy it.
Last night Qais and I were walking to grab some food and I remarked that I should cosplay as my Rock Band character at the next opportunity. "Dude," he said "you are already cosplaying as your Rock Band character". Which was only partly true. I was not in fact wearing a tie that day. But the uncanny way that Rock Band can replicate the pure essence of Chris Furniss is remarkable, and I will be spending massive amounts of quality time in my second life this weekend. I am also rocking Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings, Contra 4 and trying to finish up Super Mario Galaxy.
posted by Grant on November 29, 2007 8:17 PM in Games, Music
Like everyone else who happened to have $170 bucks (actually, only $150 at Sam's Club) and an Xbox 360 in the past week, I have been enjoying the hell out of Rock Band. I am not a big music guy. Lots and lots of stuff passes me by. So there are songs on this game that everyone knows that I am not terribly familiar with or just don't know at all. Today's YPS is an example of the former. I know that I'd heard at least the chorus of Say It Ain't So before, but I think that was about it. Anyway, I've played it a few times on guitar and drums and sung it at least once in the past week and it just won't leave my head. It's extremely catchy and a lot of fun to listen to. It also helps that it's the master track and not a cover, like so many songs for this game. So for those of you without said requisite cash and console, please enjoy the following:
posted by Qais on November 28, 2007 8:36 PM in Games
Thursday greets PS3 owners with the option to purchase Pain on the PS3 network, a game that appears to be universally lampooned by game journos the tubes over. Pain is a game in which you fling a character across a city full of hazards with the help of a giant slingshot.
Sound familiar? That's because it is. Those of us that regularly subject ourselves to the indignities of a corporate assfucking have already played this game, only it used to be called Kitten Cannon. The upside of Kitten Cannon is that you don't have to pay 10 dollars for it or buy an incredibly expensive, arguably useful, poorly deployed* system to play it on.
Jason Coker, associate producer for Pain, banks on his zany, wacky demeanor to inflict Pain on us all, by describing it thusly:
"I tell people that it's a crazy game in which you launch a character from a giant slingshot into a downtown area and smash him into stuff and blow stuff up and you snatch Mimes out of the air so you can slam them through plate glass windows and you blast monkeys out the side of a building in an attempt to stop another player's character from successfully crashing into bowling pins and you can play as a dude named Ed in a cow suit and so on and so on...
Boy, that Coker sure is zany. If you'll excuse me I'm going to go play more Kitten Cannon.
Who are the best people in the world? Our fans, of course! And what's the best place for the best people in world to hang out and talk with each other? The Weekly Geek forums, duh! Go there, pick your screen name, and sign up. There you'll find such riveting subjects of conversation as:
posted by Qais on November 28, 2007 9:28 AM in Games
With the Writers Guild of America strike in it's fourth week it's beginning to look like strikers will be taking their business elsewhere. Apparently, in spite of previous hemming and hawing, video game writing isn't covered by the WGA, leaving a previously woefully ignored industry looking ripe for invasion from the starving masses of WGA members.
With recently released games flexing their "epic storyline" muscles, a bevy of screenwriters doesn't seem like such a bad idea. However, with video games taking up more and more of consumers "prime time" hours one is given cause to wonder whether this is the beginning of the rats fleeing the sinking ship. Granted, that particular analogy might sound a little alarmist, but let's face it, media is rapidly approaching a fully interactive bent. Advertising has even become interactive with the advent of ARG's, and if you think literary minds haven't been bent to the disturbing task of mass marketing with viral media you're sorely mistaken.
As it stands, it appears video game writing will simply remain a stopgap until the WGA can settle it's dispute with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (a villainous name if ever I've heard one). Video game writing simply isn't as lucrative as screenwriting and the demands on time can often be much larger than the bashing out of a screenplay. Until games and interactive media hold a larger percentage of the audience's attention the people writing for them will remain those doing it for the love of the game.
posted by Chris on November 27, 2007 12:07 PM in Music
I never really got into the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, even after working at a college radio station for three years where I had to play their albums during normal rotation shifts. They never really grabbed me, at least until I had to play their song Maps on Rock Band. This is the kind of song that grows on you, on the first listen it's not so remarkable. Then as you listen more and more you realize how amazing the lyrics, vocals, and sheer complicated nature of the song are. It's been stuck in my head for days.
posted by Chris on November 26, 2007 6:16 PM in Podcast
Full of turkey? Enjoy blogs that don't stop talking about Thanksgiving? Well then we have the podcast for you! Grant, Chris and Colette are sated from their massive feast and roll off of their collective slimy couches to burp their opinions into microphones to bring you this week's podcast. Discussed are subjects such as TV shows sucking, Rock Band being awesome, Assassin's Creed not being so awesome, Rock Band remaining completely awesome, horrible X-Mas cartoons, and the upcoming Live update. Are you ready? For the Rocking?! Download the podcast here or subscribe to the feed. Show notes after the jump.
Due to a various array of circumstances, my current Gamertag on Xbox Live is not associated with an email address that is actually mine. I have my own Hotmail address that I want to hook up to it. And from what I had seen around on the internets, there was no way to change it. But I want to change it. So I called up Xbox Support on the telephone to see what I could do to rectify my situation. The fellow I talked to confirmed that there is currently no way to change the Live ID associated with your Gamertag if it's a Hotmail.com or MSN.com email address.
However, he did say that there is an Xbox Live update coming in about a week that will allow you to do so. I think this is pretty big news. I haven't seen anything official announced anywhere about this and the dude I talked to was only a customer support phone jockey, but I think it's worth being optimistic about.
Who among us hasn't wanted to slip silently across the rooftops over the heads of patrolling guards, slipping a dagger between the ribs of an unsuspecting stranger before disappearing into the crowd. Reasonable, well-adjusted people probably. But since none of them read this website, they won't be a problem. For the rest of us, Assassin's Creed is a game that fulfills all our childhood fantasies of anonymous surreptitious murder.
Lots of talking and not nearly enough stabbing after the jump.
One of the more amusing aspects of post-Garfield existence is understanding the "correct" way to read a Garfield cartoon. Basically, one just ignores everything Garfield "says", and focus on the fact that Jon is clearly insane. Beginning with Jon cavorting around in tights and an elf outfit (complete with jingle bells), and featuring a visit to his bizarrely dysfunctional family (featuring Jon's rarely seen brother, Doc-Boy, voiced by none other than SQUIGGY, and PAT FUCKING HARRINGTON as Jon's dad), this is one of Phil Roman's more ludicrous outings.
In true Christmas Special fashion, the Jon Family allows their cat to sit at the table and then proceed to sit around it on only one side, a la the Last Supper. Jon's mother is blind, by the way. Jon's grandmother, who seems to be wearing Homestar Runner's shirt, and delivers the greatest line of this monstrosity: "How did you know I needed a kitty in my lap?"
As we delve deeper into Jon's schizophrenic behavior, we learn that it's genetic. Grandma proudly exclaims that Grandpa was a sociopath except on Christmas. Don't miss the highlight of the piece, Jon's father reading their sacred religious text, "Binky, the Clown Who Saved Christmas".
Not exactly Lorenzo Music's best work, but I imagine it would be just as much fun with Bill Murray in a giant foam Garfield suit and ping-pong balls on everyone's eyes. Garfield gets particularly maudlin in the third act (as if that's in some way possible for Garfield to get MORE maudlin than he usually is). Between Jon's delusional behavior, Doc-Boy's perpetual adolescence and male pattern baldness, and Grandma's intolerable hatred of Jews, this is possibly the worst Third Act ever.
I was just sitting here, fiddling around on the old interwebs with the TV on for no particular reason when who should I see out of the corner of my eye but wacky ol' William Shatner. He's on TV wearing a black robe thingy and talking about shooting lightning bolts from his hands. Y'know what? There really aren't any words. Just watch it.
One of several Super Mario Christmas specials that will grace the table during this Festival of Low Lights, Cave Christmas arrives rather late in the franchise's NBC career, after Princess Peach met Milli Vanilli and ostensibly before the incredibly ill-advised guest appearance by Barbara Fucking Bush, this season dispatched utterly with Toad and replaced him with an obnoxious cave-boy named "Oogtar". Did they bother to get a new voice actor, though?
No.
Oogtar is the exact same voice as Toad, only a little gruntier. I wouldn't mind Oogtar so much if he wasn't a blatant rip off of an already RETARDED character, Bubba Duck.
Anyway, the plot here is relatively simple. Oogtar enjoys bullying Off-Model Yoshi. Mario decides to pump some Biblical Consumerism up their asses. Bowser and Morton Koopa Jr. (or Koopa and Bully if you're a retard) interject. Wackiness and big Peach hair ensues. Painful.
One question... what does Peach's enormous jewel on her dress do? Is it the source of her power? What is she doing in Dino-Land? Is Toadsworth staging a coup d'etat? So many questions. Too little gravity control.
Not many people remember the Free Willy cartoon. Not many people remember being circumsized, either, but it's just as painful. We kick off the Terrible Christmas Cartoon Advent Calendar with a tale of a disturbed boy, a whale, underwater space pirates, a loose seal named "Lucille", thinly veiled homosexuality and a terrible theme song. Best part of the deal? Socially relevant climate change issues!!
On the plus side, the secret weakness of middle age hippies is revealed.
There are no snowmen in Puget Sound this year, however: "We're desperately low on snow this year, so I made one out of PINECONES."
posted by Qais on November 21, 2007 1:55 PM in Games
Everyone I've spoken to has at least liked Portal if not absolutely loved it and spent several minutes raving about it. However, the most common complaint appears to be the length of the game. Granted, you can always go back and play it again, and many of us have, but it just never has that new game feeling.
While I can't make Portal longer, I can at least provide a way to get back a little of the fun of playing a new game. That is if you're a PC gamer, those of us playing Portal on the console are out of luck.
A total genius at Instructables has posted directions for equipping the Half Life 2 weapon set in Portal. Yes coming up with clever solutions to your droid problem was fun, but a gravity gun can be just as fun, especially when you're not supposed to have it. As I previously mentioned I'm not a PC gamer so this remains untested, report in with your results and pictures of gravity gun captured cake.
Some spy pictures have been taken at the set of the new J.J. Abrams Star Trek movie, and they're fairly good quality, without any watermarking. In them, you can see Zachary Quinto in his full green-blooded Vulcan persona, looking for all the world like Leonard Nimoy's illegitimate son. I knew he was a good pick, at least physically, from the beginning, and this just confirms it. Go check out the site that snagged the photos.
Hey they Geekkateers, I'm here to give you your radical forum update before Amy and I hit the road to drive down to Oregon to celebrate two of my favorite sins, sloth and gluttony. But I'll still be checking ol' interwubs now and again once we get to my parents' place and I expect to see you all having fun in the forums. What? You're not a member yet? Well go on and sign up, sucka. Then you can discuss such intellectual topics as:
You guys like free stuff, right? How about free books? Slaking your vast thirst for knowledge gratis is one of the simple pleasures in life, and when the opportunity arises, you better take it.
We Make Money Not Art reports this morning that Steven Poole's book Trigger Happy: The Inner Life of Videogames is available as a free PDF download. From the site:
In the author's words: Trigger Happy is a book about the aesthetics of videogames - what they share with cinema, the history of painting, or literature; and what makes them different, in terms of form, psychology and semiotics.
Indeed, why play video games this holiday week when you can just read about them! Check it out here.
posted by Chris on November 20, 2007 10:32 AM in Games
Here at The Weekly Geek we are of the general notion that game reviews stink. The number system assigned to most reviews on game sites is abstract at best, and doesn't give you a sense of whether or not you personally should pick up the game. It's arbitrary and inane, but unfortunately a lot of review aggregators require it. In the past, we've split our reviews into parts: Funness, Shininess and Worthiness. This system is currently being phased out for a new number based system because we are awful conformists and can't resist following other sites like lemmings. We will still give you the comprehensive (read: opinionated) coverage you've come to know and love, but with added numbers. We all love numbers! Here is the scheme for your reference:
0 - The worst possible of all possible games. This game killed your father and raped your mother.
1 - Really still awful. This is the sort of game that if played for an extended period causes your head to cave in.
2 - Not a good game. Flawed but has some redeeming qualities that might make it worth your while or a rent if everything better is already checked out.
3 - Average game. Probably worth a rent and a laugh, but you wouldn't go out and buy it.
4 - Good game. A must rent, and buying it wouldn't be a waste of money.
5 - Masterpiece. You must own this game! Why would you still be reading a review about it when you could be playing it right now! Go!
We've updated the majority of our older reviews to reflect this new system. Look for the score at the bottom of the post, it will look a bit like this: Score: 5/5Buy it!
We seem to be kind of migrating away from the traditional format of reviews and so I think I'll just go with this one as it flows. Call of Duty 4 is the latest installment from Activision's popular war-based FPS series. Deciding that they've done enough of World War II, they have moved to a modern, current day setting. Rather than fighting around Europe, you'll be shooting people in Generic Middle Eastern Country.
BioWare, arguably Canada's premier studio - riding on the back of popular PC titles like Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights - has become something of a dividing force in the gaming industry. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, their entrance into the console arena, was a mixed bag. Some praised its dialog and character development features. Others grew tired of the repetitive, passive battle system. The much heralded Mass Effect, I believe, will unify the rival parties under the banner of a complete science fiction, role-playing experience. Hit the jump to find out why.
posted by Chris on November 19, 2007 7:02 PM in Podcast
On this week's Weekly Geek podcast, Grant, Colette, Qais and Chris discuss whether or not Rock Band and Guitar Hero III are actually in competition with each other, gush about Mario Galaxy, lament the lameness of licensed games, discuss the intricacies of installing a George Foreman grill on your Wii, talk about how the Dragonball movie may not actually suck, how Cloverfield may actually suck, and Chris professes his undying love for Zooey Deschanel (Zooey, if you are reading this, call me). Download the podcast here or subscribe to the feed! The feed is what you need. As always, use the jump for show notez.
Tips range from removing spyware, to defragging hard drives, to replacing Internet Explorer with Firefox. I have a few suggestions, as well.
Remove all the crap from the taskbar - printer managers and strange applications can clutter up this area and make for massive slowdowns. Get rid of pretty much everything surrounding the clock.
Clean up the desktop - move clutter on the desktop to the documents folder, and inform your family that is where all their files went off to. Instructing them on how to be better organized in this way is welcome, as well.
Give the gift of Gmail - Gmail is a handy thing indeed. It's free, organized, efficient, and pretty much the best email out there. Show your family how they can use it and even forward all their email to their new, shiny Gmail address.
Mac Only: Set up the Mighty Mouse - parents get an iMac but don't know how to use it? Start by giving them their second mouse button back for their mighty mouse. Go to system preferences > keyboard and mouse to see your options.
Add The Weekly Geek to their favorites - this one is self-explanatory.
Do you have any family PC (or Mac) cleanup tips to share? Post them in the comments to help expand the range of geek knowledge!
posted by Mack on November 19, 2007 4:00 PM in Music
I think we can officially declare that we've arrived in the future. No, they haven't invented the flying car, that's still in the future future. Ray guns? No. Hoverboards? Not yet. Buttons on your chest that make chicken noises? Sadly, this technology is still years off. But what we do have now is a guitar that can tune itself. Yeah! Well I guess when I say that we have it now what I mean to say is that it will be out in 17 days. Which is sort of like now. Kinda. You know what, forget it. The future is later. But still, robot guitar.
posted by Mack on November 19, 2007 1:00 PM in Music
After playing David Bowie's Suffragette City Friday on a Rock Band demo unit in a Best Buy that had a hopelessly busted controller, a coworker confessed to me that he spent the whole weekend humming this song to himself. But because he didn't know the words he had to make up your own. "Don't lean on me man 'cause you ain't my kind of chicken." I like that better.
Blatantly ripped off from Joystiq this weekend comes this absolutely fantastic series of Metroidcosplay photos. Not only did this girl create a convincing costume complete with lights, but her corn syrup blood antics are super creative, and the photos capture the sense of the games pretty well. It also helps that she is incredibly cute. Check out the full gallery (along with some more cosplay) over at Pixelninja.
posted by Grant on November 18, 2007 12:01 PM in Cartoons
We're just one episode away from the Day of Black Sun and Team Aang is getting ready to invade the Fire Nation. They find the spot where they plan to meet in the income Water Tribe fleet. It's 4 days before the invasion and they have some time to sit, relax, and do some last minute planning. But knowing the big day is so close, Aang starts to get anxious and bad dreams invade his attempts to sleep.
Actually it's been over for a few days now, but I've been holding off on this post until all the details were squared away. The auction has ended and holy crap! A huge thanks to Rob and Meghan A. of Massachusetts, who ended up donating one thousand dollars to Child Play and will be getting a nifty guitar as a side bonus. It's great and amazing and generous, and I'm glad I could be (in a small way) involved in their donation. So far Child's Play has raised over $200,000 in just these few weeks alone! Good work everyone!
If you'd like to donate to the Child's Play charity you can do so through their website here, through PayPal directly here, or if you're in the Seattle area you can donate to the Seattle Children's Hospital specifically through the Amazon list here.
posted by Chris on November 17, 2007 5:24 PM in Games
I don't normally like to show off the various items of swag we get from companies, but I just wanted to show you guys this kick ass controller Microsoft sent us for the 5 year anniversary of Xbox Live. It's shiny, it's orange and it's awesome. Thanks, Tom. It's PR guys like you who keep us little guys afloat.
This thing may be an exclusive controller sent to members of the media, but I picked up something even awesomer today. Hit the jump for a bonus picture of a great find from Half Price Books this weekend.
posted by Amy on November 17, 2007 11:48 AM in Games
Earlier today we received an exciting press release from the Guild Wars crew. The Penny Arcade Store now offers a section devoted entirely to Guild Wars gear! Hit the jump to read the press release for yourself.
posted by Grant on November 17, 2007 10:56 AM in Music
Chris introduced me to Halcali a while ago, and I immediately loved them. Halcali is a couple of adorable Japanese girls doing some wacky J-pop hip hop something or other. I don't really know what to call it. All I know is that it's catchy as hell and I played it over and over and over and over for days on end in my car when I first got the CD.
I think Tandem is my favorite from the album, which I can't recall the name of. Here's the video for it, which is quirky and wacky fun.
Chris - The album is called Bacon. Good luck finding it!
I am completely enthralled with Super Mario Galaxy. It's like playing Super Mario Bros 3 for the first time, all over again. I dunno if anything else is going to be able to tear me away from it this weekend, but Assassin's Creed and Guitar Hero III are going to give forth noble efforts, both. What are you going to be spending your time doing this weekend? Anyone planning on specifically NOT picking up Super Mario Galaxy so I can hunt you down and destroy you before you can breed?
Recently, I wrote a little ditty involving a brief diatribe on completionism in gaming. Now as I said previously, I personally am not a "completionist" gamer. The fun in gaming for me is not getting every possible thing I can in the game, the fun in gaming is just that, the fun. However, I will admit to a certain level of satisfaction whenever I hear that little pop/hum/whistle and a reminder jumps on-screen telling me just what a good little gamer I am. That being said, achievements and the like are not the end all be all for me, nor do I suspect are they the end all be all for most completionist gamers.
However, it would appear that a few people are starting to ask the question, "What does my gamerscore buy me?". I, being the snarky gonzo journo that I am, am more than willing to answer that question. A gamerscore buys you nothing, absolutely nothing, other than a healthy sense of self satisfaction and a round of self back-patting that is several rounds of stretching away from auto-fellatio. And yet, even though the answer to "Why is my leetness not being fully appreciated?" seems so glaringly obvious, a few of the gimme-gimme generation (of which I count myself one) have the testicular fortitude to ask such a question.
Does no one remember the days when actually playing a game was it's own reward? I and many like myself have spent countless hours in front of TV screens (causing irreparable vision damage) simply enjoying ourselves, never to ask the question, "Well what is Game Company X doing for me?" The answer to such an arrogant question seems so obvious, Game Company X has already done for you. The fruits of their labor rest in your hot little hands. While the idea of getting free games for having an obscenely high gamerscore seems awfully nice in theory, expecting something along those lines borders on spoiled bratitude and conjures images of bleach blonde teutonic gamers angry at not being paid homage too on schedule.
Keep in mind everyone, this is a symbiotic relationship. We feed the industry and the industry feeds us. Free stuff is all well and good but greed looks bad on everyone, especially someone in a Cheeto's-dust stained button-up dragon shirt. So Geektomites, what do you get out of gaming? Is it the hope of something free, do you simply enjoy games for the joy of gaming, or do you follow Furniss' lead and give in to your base nature of obsessive-compulsive completionism?
posted by Qais on November 16, 2007 8:41 AM in Games
We here at the 'Geek, or rather I, have a tendency to stoke the rumor mill any time something juicy drips before our ravenous, news-hungry maws. As such, it is with great pleasure, and perhaps just a bit of mischievous schadenfreude, that I bring you yet another rumor. According to the investigative team at Kotaku, a site with which I'm sure you're familiar if for nothing other than it's journalistic integrity, a new DS is possibly in the works.
George Harrison, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Communication at Nintendo, has been quoted thusly:
We don't have any imminent plans for an upgrade for the Nintendo DS. The product is still selling extremely well around the world.
which is a whole lot different from "no new DS ever no, never". Rumors indicate a potentially larger viewing screen, more on board storage, and the removal of the GBA port. Granted, there isn't much in the world that could keep me from spewing bodily fluids of joy over Phantom Hourglassbigger, but if Nintendo takes away my ability to play Japanese imports of GBA games on my DS then my DS will be the last Nintendo system I own. You hear that Nintendo, I'm breaking up with you, consider your friend code hastily erased.
Every time I hear Steve Conte's version of Rain I have to turn the volume way up. I just can't get enough of his voice. His voice has a quality that his female counterpart, Mai Yamane, lacks. Steve's version of Rain wasn't played in the TV series or Movie, so it can only be found on the Cowboy Bebop soundtrack.
The video has lower quality in some parts, but all that matters is the song, anyway.
posted by Mike on November 15, 2007 7:38 PM in Music
Listening to Doolittle today, I full realized the importance of The Pixies' influence on modern rock - to call them the most influential rock band of the late 80s isn't far from the truth. Think hard about it. Who would you put up against them? R.E.M? The Smiths? Maybe. But then you see a live clip like this one below and you realize that absolutely nobody sounded like them in the 80s, and a truckload of people sounded like them afterward. So be absorbed in Kim Deal's bass lines, Joey Santiago's screaming guitar, David Lovering's relentless drumming, and Black Francis' tortured, howling vocals on "Hey".
posted by Chris on November 15, 2007 3:44 PM in Games
Check out this awesome video Sexcab sent me of a project called Crayon Physics, from youTube user kloonigames. It's like a mix of Little Big Planet, Pictochat and, well, crayons. There's apparently a small demo floating around where you can draw basic shapes. I'd love to see this come to the DS or even, dare I say it, the Wii.
As I sit down to write the review for Switchball, I've been trying to remember what the normal criteria for reviews are here at the Weekly Geek. But for the life of me, I can't remember what they are so I'm just going to wing it and make up my own. Also there will probably be a lot of references to "balls" and statements that might seem funny taken out of context, but I urge you to rise above it.
Synopsis: In Switchball you guide a ball through 36 levels up puzzles. The game gets its name from the little stations throughout the game that allow you to change your ball into another form in order to solve tasks. The majority of the game involves having the right ball for the job and most puzzles involve several different balls.
Neophyte Friendliness: Switchball has an integrated tutorial feature that whisks you through the first couple of levels with frequent hints about all the new objects that your balls will run in to. After a while the messages peter out, but make brief appearances as more things are introduced. The game has plenty of new contraptions to torment you but it doesn't throw them at you faster than you can it. By the time you reach the final stages you should be able to keep your balls away from the various traps and tricks.
Responsiveness: The controls handle pretty well, and are very simple. The left analog moves the ball, the right analog moves the camera, and A is your action button. That's it. Sometimes the heavier balls can feel less responsive, but this is to be expected.
Shininess: Here the game excels. Everything has a nice feel to it. I played the majority of the game zoomed out as far as I could but when I needed to get in close to my balls for more tricky maneuvers, I was not disappointed. However this added graphical detail had a downside...
Frustratingness: Honestly this is one of the more frustrating games I've played this year, but it was never the level design. Unfortunately it was mainly due to the art design. Although beautiful, ornamental polygons caused more than a couple careens off in to the abyss. It's very disheartening to pull off a tricky and complex puzzle only to have to start completely over because your ball took a bad bounce off a little nubby thing on a moving platform near the end. Several times I put the game down for the day because little bits of geometry were making it impossible to progress. Near the end of the game the puzzles become incredibly long, time sensitive ordeals that involve essentially completing the entire level in one go. At one point the game refused to recognize checkpoints that I have to admit that I didn't not complete the last two levels because after my 10th or so try in the second to last I just gave up on it.
Multiplayerosity: I could never connect to a multiplayer game so I can't comment on that portion of it.
Replayability: The game kept me pretty entranced for most of it, but the later levels sapped my energy with the constant restarting of puzzles. I can't say that I would play it often, but it kept me entertained for a few hours.
Worthiness: If you love puzzles and you don't mind a challenge, you can have a lot of fun with Switchball. If you're easily frustrated or low on brainpower I'd save your money.
And remember, if you notice a sudden change in your ball, please see a physician immediately.
Okay, that one was a bit gratuitous.
Score: 3/5 Check out the demo, and if you like it snap it up. Also snap into a Slim Jim™.
Holy crap is it Wednesday again? My, how the time flies. Let's take a little look into our glorious forum and see what is going on. There are a lot of cool people there and it's a lot of fun to talk with them. But if you want to jump into it, you have to register, got it? Ok then. These are some of the current topics:
posted by Qais on November 14, 2007 10:48 AM in Games
There are those that simply enjoy games, giggling at the points you were meant to giggle, laughing murderously at the points you were meant to laugh murderously. These are most people, I fall in to this category as I'm sure many of you do.
However there is another breed of gamer, one that has to get every single coin, star, mini-level, and achievement to really feel like they enjoyed a game. The pleasure isn't in just the game itself, but in the hunt of stuff. For the completionists I have great news. A super secret new achievement for Bioshock has been revealed by Gamertag Radio. The achievement is called Bullet Proof and in order to obtain it you have to play through the game on Hard without dying once. A tricky task, but one I think the inimitable hunstmen of the game are up to.
posted by Chris on November 14, 2007 10:37 AM in Comics
I apologize if the text here is too small to read, because personally I think it's pretty darn funny. That is, if you can read it. Originally published on 04-13-05.
When I was a kid my parents were very anti-gun. As a result, I never owned so much as a Nintendo Zapper. I missed out on all the amazing toys of my day. There was no Optimus Prime for little Macky. No Sargent Slaughter's Triple-T Tank for me. No... I'm sorry there's something in my eye.
posted by Mack on November 14, 2007 9:50 AM in Music
Much like Chris, I too am obsessed with all things Guitar Hero and Paint It, Black is one of the better ones in the third installment's fantastic soundtrack. Here's a great live version on some show or another. Keith looks like a badass, Mick is petulant, and Brian Jones rocks the fuck out of that sitar. 'Nuff Said.
posted by Grant on November 13, 2007 11:17 PM in Cartoons
Now that good ol' ASN has some nice screenshots for me to steal, it's time for a discussion of the latest episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender. A bit late after Halloween, we get a nice spooky episode to enjoy. Once again, on the outskirts of a Fire Nation town, the crew are hanging out in a forest, trying to remain inconspicuous. And this time, they're telling spooky stories. Katara actually comes up with a good one when suddenly a mysterious old lady appears and startles everyone. Who is this lady? And what's been going on in her town? Click on in for spoilers, spoilers, and more spoilers!
posted by Chris on November 13, 2007 3:35 PM in Games
You read that headline right, in celebration of the Xbox Live service's fifth anniversary, Microsoft is giving away the excellent Xbox Live Arcade title Carcassonné for free on Nov. 15th. In addition to that awesomeness is the announcement of downloadable original Xbox games, starting with the oft-pined-after Psychonauts. It's a good thing, too, as Qais was about to try to trade one of his kidneys on Goozex to snag a copy of Tim Schafer's classic.
Grab Carcassonné on the 15th and look for Psychonauts on the 4th of December. Full press release after the jump.
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