Linkage for April 14th

Videos
Crazy Aussie Commercial
Cool Guitar Hero Split Screen Video
Guy Tries To Eat A Cactus
Official Clerks II Trailer
The Emperor Gets a Job (Star Wars Spoof)

News
Hangover-free Buzz: Star Trek’s Synthehol Now Possible
AOL Censors Email Tax Opponents
Jack Thompson sues Florida Bar
Videogames Help Burn Calories

Articles/Features
Get rid of the Windows Update reboot nag
The Top 25 web sites of 1994

Random
Tokyo Looks Like Gotham City?
How to use your ink cartridges until they’re (really) empty

Today’s Featured Comic
Paris Gets What’s Coming to Her

Today’s Useless Fact
Zachary Taylor, formerly a professional soldier, never voted. He didn’t even vote in the election that elected him U.S. president.

Linkage for April 13th

Videos
David Bowie and Trent Reznor sing “Hurt”
Spiderman DDR Routine
C is for Cookie! (V for Vendetta Spoof)
Japanese Tomato Adventure Commercial
WoW – Health is for the Weak
GBA “Rectal Exam” Ad

News
Ubisoft Dropping Starforce
Afghans selling US army secrets on USB Drives
Blizzard Bans 5,400 WoW Users and Suspends Over 10,000 More
Lucent Technologies Sues Microsoft Over Xbox 360
Battlestar Galactica game under consideration
Spy Hunter movie script leaked?
1930’s Noir Title announced for Revolution – Entirely in Black and White
Vista Aero Unavailable for Pirates
Girl’s heart restarted after ten years
Coca-Cola with Real Coca Leaves Bottled by Indigenous Tribe
200 GB Blu-Ray Drive?
Sega Handheld is April Fools Joke
‘South Park’ Creators Skewer Own Network

Articles/Features
Retronauts – Earthbound
PS2 Due for a Price Drop?
Simon Pegg Talks to CVG
Game Shops Might Screw you out of a PS3
Game Ads A-Go-Go: The Dirty Mind of a Gamer
Nickel and Dime Your Way to Financial Security
Best Light Gun Games for a Re-Revolution
How YouTube became hot property in online video
Would You Like A Franchise With That? (Games, Comics, and Movies From A Hollywood Perspective)
Playstation 3 To Be Fat And Retarded

Random
Game of The Week – Somari the Mario/Sonic Hybrid
Google Calendar is Live
PS3 currently too big and too clever?

Today’s Featured Comic
A little under-dressed?

Today’s Useless Fact
Gold was first known to be used as jewelry in parts of Central and Eastern Europe in 4000BC.

Linkage for April 12th

Videos
Halo 2 “Resident Evil” Machinima
I Feel Great!
Juggling Magician
Queen – “Bohemian Rhapsody” Video
Sweet Hellboy Animation

News
Paramount Pictures Teams up with XBox Live
Sega’s New Handheld?

Articles
Sad Story of ‘Boy in the Bubble’
Games that were Too Wild for the West
Top 10 Tuesday: Modern Vaporware
Silent Hill Movie Interview
How I Got My First Computer, and How I Got My First Computer Back
Would You Like A Franchise With That? (Games, Comics, and Movies From A Hollywood Perspective)

Random
Pop culture references in Warcraft
Sexual Moments in Video Game History

Today’s Featured Comic
Vegeterian = Culinary Masturbation

Today’s Useless Fact
During the Renaissance when Charles VIII’s armies entered France, he also brought with him his passion for perfume. Charles even had his own personal perfumer. Rose, orange blossom, and rosemary oil were favorite scents in his court.

Today’s Linkage

Videos
GBA “Bathroom” Ad
Not Exactly the Miracle of Conception (What the fuck??)
Flying Cat
Japanese Shining Force III Commercial
Top Ten Accident Prone Foods

News
Virginia Seeks New “M” Label
Jail employee fired for allegedly striking his wife over Dungeons and Dragons toys
The truth about the Light at end of the tunnel over near death experiences

Articles
The Most Controversial Video Game Ads of All Time
Games That Defined The Dreamcast
Only from Japan – Games of the Far East
I don’t want Windows on a Mac. I want OS X on a PC.
A Multiplayer Melee on Female Gamers
How Wal-Mart Controls Your Games
Getting things deleted from Google’s cache
The Making of 3D Monster Maze

Random
Macintosh Ads Circa 1984
Interesting XBox Live Project
Your favorite NES games, voxalized
Ending to NES Life Force
Awesome Graphics Card Comparisons
Copy and paste between computers
Play Quake III in Your Browser

Today’s Useless Fact
There is evidence to suggest that ginger root is effective against motion sickness and nausea when taken in powdered form

Today’s Comic Goodness
Commissioned Comic

Today’s Linkage

Videos
Japanese Game Gear Ad
Donky Kong “Police Station” Ad
Watch a G4 Get Blown Up
Manmana Remix
XBox “Funpack” Commercial

News
Burger King To Sell Xbox 360 Games?
Uwe Boll Bites Back
There IS a problem with global warming… it stopped in 1998

Articles
Apple vs. Me
Only ‘freaks’ waste their time with Linux in Oklahoma
The Glory of the Shooter
Ten Castlevania sequels you haven’t played

Random
Unintentionally Freaky Mario Lego Creation
Zelda Soundboard
The Xbox 360 And PS3 Controllers In LEGOs
Lara Croft XBox 360 Case

Today’s Useless Fact
The declawing of a pet cat involves surgery called an onychectomy, in which the entire claw and end bone of each toe of the animal are amputated. Cat owners considering it should know that it’s a controversial operation, with potential adverse physical and psychological effects on the cat.

Weekend Linkage

Videos
Japanese Rube Goldberg Machines Part 1 (9 minutes long but worth it)
Japanese Rube Goldberg Machines Part 2
SNL – Star Wars Screen Test
Fearless Music Video
Curt Schilling’s Everquest Addiction
On the set if Silent Hill
My Buddy The Crystal Lich’s Second Video
Zlad – Elektronik Supersonik

News
Star Wars Kid Gets Paid
Next Oblivion Add-on Priced
British FBI-style Logo Compares to Thundercats

Articles
Running Oblivion/Half-Life 2/F.E.A.R On a Machintosh
Tetris from the Top: An Interview with Henk Rogers
Nerds Make Better Lovers

Random
Star Wars Origami
The Top 10 weirdest keyboards ever
Jack Thompson Toilet Paper
Mega Man on Something Awful
11 Craziest Mental disorders

Today’s Useless Fact
Heinrich W. Brandes made the first weather map in 1815, based on data gathered in 1783. Brandes waited so long because it was the only way he could be certain the information was correct.

Today’s Linkage

Videos
Insane 100 Yard Football Throw
Lego Counter-Strike
Night Trap Controversy Feature
Chuck Norris – Oblivion Style
Topless Car Wash

News
Bethesda Comments on Oblivion Gender Bias Concerns
Square Enix commits to exclusive Xbox 360 game
Lara Croft Earns Guinness World Record
Debate rages on use of cervical cancer vaccine
Mario Question Block Girls Will Not Be Prosecuted
Bethesda patching Oblivion, lowers cost of future content download
Red Steel: first Revolution screens revealed
Free Oblivion horse armor coupon with PC version

Articles
The Trouble with Scotland (Video Game Related)
Dark Miracle – A Trip to the Trinity Test Site
You’ve Come A Long Way Game Boy
Famous Final Fantasy Moments

Random
Overload’s Oblivion ModPack-v2.0
Test Your Atari Knowledge
Are You a Console Fanboy?
Google Toolbar v2 for Firefox
Calculate Your Sleep Debt
Total Solar Eclipse as Seen from Space

Today’s Useless Fact
Five baseball gloves can be made from one cow.

Are You a Console Fanboy?

Take this test to find out

Your Results
Nintendo Fanboy: 58%
Sony Fanboy: 51%
Microsoft Fanboy: 10%

This means you’re: A Microsoft Hater

What does it mean?
You aren’t a fanboy, since you love both Nintendo and Sony. But you really hate Bill Gates and everything he creates. Or at least you don’t care about anything he creates.

Today’s Linkage

Wow! A lot of stuff today. I figure I will make this post every day around 8p-9p EST as that seems to be when the news dies down.

Anyway, enjoy today’s linkage!

Videos
Teachers on Crack
Dog Judo (Get the rest of them here)
The Art of Motion
P.A.N.I.C.S Outtakes
Oblivion Topless Mod in Action
Kokomo Spoof by U.S Soldiers
Japanese Dr. Mario Commercial

Articles
Dvorak Isn’t Crazy
As Seen on TV: Sweet Scent of 80’s Nostalgia
The Lost CD-i Mario Game
There’s ONE page AOL.com hopes you’ll never find
E3 Through the Eyes of a Booth Babe
Game Developers Unleash A Storm On ‘World Of Warcraft’ Players

News
Mac Boot Camp (Dual booting with Windows)
Microsoft Buys Lionhead Studios
Molyneux thinks Microsoft is ‘Perfect’ for Lionhead
Anime Now Available on XBox Live Marketplace
The most significant advance in cancer prevention in the last 50 years
Nipplegate: new Tomb Raider delayed in US
NetFlix Sues Blockbuster Online
‘Gospel of Judas’ Surfaces After 1,700 Years
Desert pinup ogled by Google Earth
Bill Nye Angers Creationists at MCC Lecture

Random
Kingdom Hearts Vibrator
Toys R US Accepting PS3 Pre-orders
Oblivion Hardware Guide
Alliance to Horde Translation Guide
“Dummies” Book Cover Generator
Japanese Walk the Dog Simulator

Today’s Useless Fact
Seven thousand years ago, the ancient Egyptians bowled on alleys not unlike our own.

Today’s Linkage

Well, I finally completed King’s Field: The Ancient City. I can understand why the series never gets good reviews critically as it is definitely a fan’s series. I fully enjoyed the game, but as usual the games are really, really hard.

Anyway, I am changing the method of doing these daily posts for two reasons. One, I am too lazy to post a synopsis for each link every day. Two, the subject of the link should give you enough information to decide if you want to click on it or not.

If you are a friend of mine or someone who has read this blog for any time, you will already pretty much know my view of a particular items.

Videos
Cop Caught Dancing to Billie Jean
Nintendo Cereal Commercial
Super Console Wars puts spin on mascot Gamepires
Fire Fart
Drunk Guy Hijacks DDR
Matrix: Path of Neo Bloopers

Articles
TwitchGuru Analyzes the 1979 film “The Warriors”
Dreamcast 2D Fighters Library

News
Capcom Under Investigation for Fraud
104 Murders An Hour Playing M-Rated Games
Health Problems Related to the Geek Lifestyle
Childhood TV and gaming is ‘major public health issue’
PS3 to be 500 euros (approx $615 US)?

Random Crap
Today’s Download – FreshDiagnose System Information Utility
The Incredible Sega Rap
Oblivion Topless Mod

Today’s Useless Fact
The Nobel Peace Prize medal depicts three naked men with their hands on each other’s shoulders.

Today’s Interesting Items

Optimizing Firefox
Well this is actually four links in one post. I am an avid Firefox user and have been for some time. I refuse to use IE unless absolutely necessary and I have tried many other browsers (Opera and Avant to name two).

One of the coolest things about Firefox is the amount of customization, tweaking and extensions (plug-ins) available. These four articles help you get the most out of your browser by giving some excellent extensions, as well as tweaks to make it run faster.

CNet’s Guide to Optimizing Firefox
This may help Your Firefox Memory Leak
Reducing Memory Usage In Firefox
Firefox Extension Packs

If you are wondering what Extensions I use, here is my Mass Installer file for use with the extension.

How I Work: Bill Gates
An interesting article on how one of the men on top of the world manages his day to day business activities.

Oblivion: PC or Xbox 360?
A good guide to determine which version of Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is right for you. Has screenshots, pros and cons of each and much more.

Nintendo’s Power
The always amazing Escapist Magazine has a great article about the seminal video game magazine Nintendo Power. Well worth a read for any video game fan.

PS3 “Lifestyle” Details
Computer and Video Games has information regarding the PS3 online service to compete with XBox Live. It is pretty much the same as Xbox live with a few additional features such as PSP and Eye-Toy connectivity, but be sure to read it for all the info.

Tribute to Video Games
An awesome video that will make anyone who grew up with gaming teary with nostalgia.

New Clerks 2 Trailer
This movie looks so fucking hilarious that I cannot wait for it to come out. The trailer is an internet exclusive trailer which means it has profanity in it. So if you are in an office, might want to keep the volume down.

Old School Sega Sport Commercial
I actually do not remember this commercial but that didn’t prevent it from brining a smile to my face when I heard the good ol SEGA!!

Chrono Game & New Level 5 Online Game Coming To 360?
If this information proves true, the XBox 360 just made my “I now want one” list. Hironobu Sakaguchi is one of my favorite designers (Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger) and if he has some JRPG’s other than Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey coming, I will not be able to resist.

Top 10 Best Gore Effects
The top 10 best gore effects in Video games. It has the requisite Mortal Kombat and Doom references as well as 1 or 2 I haven’t seen myself. Pretty good list as usual from the IGN Top 10 Tuesdays.

Why PC Oblivion > XBox 360 Oblivion

http://www.majornelson.com/2006/04/03/pimp-your-oblivion-ride/

According to the Major, you can get Horse armour in Oblivion for the low low price of 200 Gamer Points. Too bad you can do this (and a shitload more) for free in the PC version. There are so many mods already available as well as a long list of console commands that there is no limit to what you can do.

For example, I ended up changing my race to the Demora (the bad guys), updating the UI to make it more intiuitive for me and a number of other things. None of this is available in the XBox 360 version yet it costs more and when stuff does become available, you have to pay for it.

Fuck you Microsoft, I will stick to my PC gaming thank you!

The Revolution is now!

I am just a post whore today aren’t I? Here is another awesome video that I just couldn’t wait to post in addition to the fact it deserves its own post.

Viva la Revolution!!

My Next T-Shirt

This will be my next T-Shirt.

Even though I fucking hate GTA and the entire series, I love the message.

CellFactor = Amazing

I could have sworn I posted this video last week after GDC but apparently I neglected to do so. I could have linked it with other videos, but this video is far too impressive and deserves its own post.

The video in question is of CellFactor, an upcoming game for PC and XBox 360 by newcomer Immersion software. The video shows of incredible physics and graphics and just gives me a total hard-on. It is the first video on the list although all are worth watching.

Now I have been around gaming news long enough to know that the actual released version probably will not look this good, although I have been wrong in the past (IE: Doom 3). However, if it looks even half this good, it will be mine.

Another good one is this video from the recently released Kingdom Hearts II. While I was not a big fan of the first, I also admit that I do not believe I gave it a fair chance. This video alone makes me want to get Kingdom Hearts II though.

It is a pure fanboi vid as it is Sora vs Sephiroth with the One-Winged Angel music playing the in the background. It sort of reminds me of the final battle in FFVII: Advent Children with the flying around and crazy combat which makes me love it even more.

Final Fantasy XIII a PS3 Exclusive?

According to the upcoming issue of EGM, there is a distinct possiblity that Final Fantasy XIII will be a PS3 exclusive. We will find out in May at E3 wether or not this is the case. If it is true, this is yet another PS3 exclusive that I want and will be actively tracking. Either way, I will be following this game.

As of right now, the XBox 360 has only two exclusives that have me interested. Those are Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey. The reason I am excited for those is because it is being worked on by Hironobu Sakaguchi and Akira Toriyama and pretty much anything they touch turns to gold. While there are some interesting titles coming out for the 360, all of the ones I am tracking save for the previous two are also either on the PC or PS3 which means I don't need an XBox 360 for them.

I have poured over the upcoming titles list for all three next-gen consoles and the PS3 is still on the top of my wanted list when it comes to titles. However, the Revolution is damn close due to its Virtual Console and the library of NES/SNES/Genesis/TG-16 games as well as the low price point. There is no doubt whatsoever that I will own it, but PS3 is where my primary desire remains.

EDIT – Fucking April Fools Day!!

EDIT 2 – Is it a joke or not!!! 

Oblivion = teh pwn

I have to say that I am completely taken aback by just how good Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is. I was leery about the over zealous reviews as they were very similar to Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind which I was not a big fan of. However, Oblivion does indeed live up to the hype.

I did not intend to purchase this game as I already have a backlog of games I am nearly through. However, a good friend of mine bought it and let me borrow and install it so I could play it as well. I was getting hungry and needed to check my mail, so I finally log out of the game only to realize I was playing for 5 and 1/2 hours straight. I fully intend to go back in once I eat and do some other things.

Contrary to previews that I had read, the game does indeed run well even if you do not meet the recommended specifications. I am a good deal above the minimum but do not reach recommended status and I can play the game with very little lag (save for massive battles). The game does indeed look gorgeous and I can only imagine what it would look like with all the effects turned on.

Why is this so much better than Morrowind? The answer is actually quite simple. Unlike Morrowind, Oblivion lets you know what the hell you are supposed to be doing to complete the game. While it does have a sandbox factor to it, the main quest is obvious to you and you know at all times where to go next to advance it. Whether or not you do so is entirely up to you so it still has the free roaming aspect, but unlike Morrowind, the player is not overwhelmed with "Where the fuck do I go now!"

I could go on and on about the great things in Oblivion so it is easier to say in short: Oblivion = teh pwn and I believe I will be spending the next 40-60 hours engrossed in this world with my Orc MageKnight. I highly recommend picking this game up if you are an RPG fan, you won't be disappointed.

UPDATE – Assuming I do not log back in, I have clocked in over 9 and ahalf hours on this fucking game in one day. That hasn't happened to me since EQII last year. Damn this game is too good.

UPDATE 2 – Tack on another 3 hours. I woke up at around 12a and then played until 3a and went back to bed. Now I woke up this morning with a HUGE headache. Apparently I am getting too old to be doing this anymore.

Oblivion = Boring?

The guys at Penny Arcade possibly seem to think so…

I’m not even comfortable referring to the Elder Scrolls games as RPGs, and not just because the term has been so depleted. I think we call them that because we don’t have an umbrella term that means “fantasy sandbox.” It isn’t just a role-playing game where you have some leeway about which plot node fires next – genuine liberty is omnipresent. Grand Theft Auto is considered a “sandbox game,” but your relationship with that environment isn’t particularly granular. I won’t linger too long on the pun – but imagine your alter-ego making explosives out of cleaners he bought in the supermarket.

The almost unlimited functionality definitely activates some hoarding response in my brain, so that if I don’t pick up every dusty scapula with a shred of flesh still clinging I get terribly agitated. I stood in a cold dungeon for almost ten minutes before I could build up the strength to discard some rat meat. That isn’t their fault, of course. You don’t lose points for increasing player freedom to psychologically devastating levels. I was not aware that OCD was something you could “catch,” but I’m beginning to think that I’ve got a bad case.

It sounds like Oblivion might fall into the same trap that Morrowind did which is give you so much freedom it gets boring. Morrowind was heralded by fans and critics alike for it’s open ended gameplay yet desite this, I do not know one person who has made it more than 20 hours into it (With most people clocking in at around 10).

Oh well, there is always Final Fantasy XII waiting for me..

Revolution is going to be the shit..

I make no secret of the fact that I am eagerly anticpating the Nintendo Revolution. Perhaps more so than the PS3. The fact that the entire NES and SNES library would be available for download in addition to full backwards compatiblity with Gamecube and a low price point (Estimated $150 to $250 at launch) means that it is a nostalgic gamers dream.

Well it was announced at GDC today that not only will the SNES/NES library be available, but it will also have 1,000 Genesis games and an undisclosed number of TurboGrafix 16 games.

So this means that the Revolution will play:
SNES Games
NES Games
Revolution Games
Gamecube Games
Genesis Games
TurboGrafix 16 Games

Is there any reason not to own this console? I think not. Hopefully it will launch in June as analysts are speculating.

I am still wanting a PS3 (Especially now that it is region-free, has an XBox type Live (free!) service and has full PSP connectivity and support), but I will not buy one at launch. Revolution will be mine on day one. Oh yes….it will be mine.

Speaking of Metal Gear…

Looks like I am not the only one playing.