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posted by Qais on August 31, 2007 1:08 PM in Games
I have a horrible confession to make, friends. Gather round and try to disguise your disgust as I lay bare my indiscretions. You see when Fable was originally released there was nothing on heaven or earth that could have dissuaded my disgustingly infantile fanboyism. The game was to be a reckoning on par with the resurrection of Christ… and then such horrible disappointment followed. I played through to the last boss in about 4 hours and disgustedly threw down my controller, like many of my fellow game loving zealots I felt I had been duped. Where was my epic tale requiring days of my time glued to the couch? Why could I finish this game in 4 hours? I simply refused to finish the game, a silent protest garnering only my own aggravation.
With more and more news of Fable 2 coming it was with some trepidation I began re-greasing the wheels of my anticipation machine. A canine companion for our hero (or villain if you're anything like me)? It could work, although I will undoubtedly end raising the thing as a vicious snarling beast. But today the release of some new character art has rekindled my Fable flame of excitement.
posted by Chris on August 31, 2007 12:27 PM in Games
You guys may have noticed some new banner ads on our site from Goozex, a spectacular game trading service that you totally should be using instead of trading games to Gamestop or EB Games. We are testing out different locations and junk, so hopefully it's not too intrusive. We also have the top 10 traded games list on the sidebar, which is handy to see what people want. In honor of this new affiliate partnership, we have a special offer for you! When you sign up for Goozex, enter the secret code Geek-2007. You'll get 5 free trades and a bonus 100 points after your first successful trade. Super sweet!
This last weekend at the Penny Arcade Expo, Grant, Amy, me and Qais had the rare treat to speak to one Wil Wheaton: champion of all things Geek. We ask him the hard hitting questions, mainly revolving his involvement in PAX. I deftly avoided the temptation to tell him about the story Flynn DeMarco told me, where he pretended he had a crush on Wil to annoy all his friends. It's a pretty great interview, I really think you should download it. And then when you are done, you should send it to all of your friends. That's recycling. That's science.
posted by Colette on August 30, 2007 8:45 PM in Games
I have been playing BioShock for a week and a half or so, just like the rest of you. Of course, the relationship between the Big Daddy and the Little Sister had been often discussed by the time the game was released, and everyone was already aware that there was a moral choice involved in harvesting or saving the Little Sisters. It sounded easy enough, and as I've killed plenty of innocents in my time behind the controller, it seemed the obvious route was to harvest the little girls and take them for all the Adam they're worth. We want to win at this game, after all.
I thought this until I attempted my first harvest. Not only is the result profoundly disturbing, but you're left feeling dirty somehow, and the corpse of the fallen Daddy next to you is somehow ominous even after its fall. Even more clever is what happens if you choose to rescue the Little Sister - her reaction to your kindness is somehow sadder than any violent reaction could have been. Even after taking down many of these creatures, I realized I still could not perceive Big Daddy as an actual enemy, even though it was more than capable of pummeling me into a useless pulp. It does not harm the player when it is not aggressively attacked. What are we to make of such a creature?
Some would say we are emotionally affected by this experience because of morals or personal beliefs. Some perceive the Big Daddy as a father, even though it clearly has no relation to the Little Sister in a physical manner. It could also appeal to the empathies of parents who feel the powerful drive to protect their children. Since I have not experienced either being a parent or having the father/daughter connection as it is portrayed here, I know that I must be affected by something else, perhaps a more primal instinct.
The Little Sister test is one which may say a great deal about the player as he or she chooses the child's fate. Perhaps it can be explained away as simple empathy or the desire to take care of others. We are presented with a situation that is affecting either way it is played out. The lines are not as clear as good and bad though; there is a moral ambiguity present here. Is it wrong to kill something that's clearly evil?
I'd like to take a moment to sit back and edify you on the superiority of the Dutch people. You see Holland, unlike the rest of the world, is a magical place, a place where the sun shines through the trees onto the dappled shoulders of flaxen haired men and women, their smiling faces infecting all they pass with the knowledge that everything will be OK, a place rife with art and culture, a place of freedoms not known to most men.
Putting aside the facts that they have decriminalized recreational drug use, that they are home to one of the largest collections of Van Gogh's paintings and drawings in the world, that they have one of the coolest flags in the world, and that prostitution is legal, the one thing Holland is home to that makes me question my U.S. citizenship is a law specifically prohibiting censorship in media (so long as the content isn't racist or appealing to pedophiles, both things I can get behind).
Apparently, Manhunt 2, a game which has garnered a significant amount of controversy due to it's original AO rating, could be released completely uncut in Holland. Unlike the U.S. and U.K. the Dutch government doesn't feel that it's citizens need protecting from media that might not appeal to a wide range of people, that perhaps, just perhaps, Dutch adults are intelligent enough to make decisions on what they view based on their individual moral compass'.
The newest member of the Weekly Geek family is a guy by the name of Qais. Yes, that is his real name. Just who is this blue-haired fellow? And why does he have an insatiable lust for all things Geek? Read on!
When did you first discover you were a geek?
My parents are both geeks, I was practically born with tape on the nose of my glasses.
What is the one video game you keep coming back to no matter how many times you've played it?
Day of the Tentacle, I couldn't even begin to count how many times I've played that.
What is your day job?
Professional Desk Slave, I am paid to yell at people and base my self worth off of my company's success.
If you were stranded on an island with a dvd player and could only bring ONE dvd or dvd set, what would you bring?
It doesn't really matter if I don't have a TV or a plug now does it? I'm using the DVD and DVD Player as weapons and killing some fuckin' polar bears.
Put your music on shuffle and hit play. What comes up?
Nailed - Hedwig and the Angry Inch Soundtrack
How long have you been with The Weekly Geek, and what is your favorite thing you have done so far for the site?
About 2 weeks now, sitting in on the Wil Wheaton interview and having a good reason to sit through an Uwe Boll both rank up there.
What blogs do you regularly read?
My RSS feeds are legion.
Do you have any non-geek related hobbies?
Painting, drawing, working in establishments of dubious legality, and selling small children into white slavery
What was the worst video game you have ever played?
Some Commander Keen rip off in the early 90's, don't fuck with Commander Keen.
posted by Qais on August 30, 2007 11:12 AM in Games
Today the intertubes bring news of stock price drops for the champion of the "non-gamer" console Nintendo. Now I am not the most informed person when it comes to the stock exchange, my knowledge is limited to the existence of such a thing and this about where it ends. However it would seem that the perceived value of a stock decreases as more people sell their shares and the faster they sell the more rapidly the value of the stock decreases.
What does this bode for Nintendo? Will Miyamoto end up bumming for change while Bill Gates and Phil Harrison trade high fives over trays of cocaine borne by vat grown clones of Caprica-Six? Unlikely to say the least.
posted by Chris on August 30, 2007 9:37 AM in Games
I'd like to finish the game before I do a full review, but I was so excited last night after playing Metroid Prime 3: Corruption that I just had to gush about it with you. My impressions? Unbelievably good. Granted, I have always been a huge fan of the Metroid series so I may be a little bit biased, but I was a huge fan of Zelda, too, and that didn't prevent me from telling you Twilight Princess was crap. Consider everything that made the original Metroid Prime classic: the music, atmosphere, exploration elements - everything was perfect and melded together. Multiply that by a million, and you get MP3. This is the Metroid game we all dreamt about as kids - the kind we would stretch our infinite imaginations with, filling the gaps in the story of the original NES title. The fullness and richness of the experience is amazing. I've always loved the OCD gotta-catch-em-all aspect of scanning, and exploring the vast universe Retro Studios created for us, but now MP3 has a sort of mini Xbox Achievement system, where you get tokens for performing certain tasks in game, which you can redeem for unlockable extra content. You can even earn tokens for friends, which you can then send to anyone on your Wii friend's list, and they can use said tokens for unlockables. Fantastic.
New to the Metroid Prime series is voice acting. Nintendo has been reluctant in the past to put voices into their first party games, and rightly so. Voice acting has been, as a rule, horrible in games. Only recently have we been seeing a voice acting improve with games like Bioshock, and Metroid definitely is up to par. The added narrative is slightly strange for Metroid at first, but as you play it helps flesh out the incredibly cool Sci-Fi storyline. It just adds depth to the title, and makes it feel like the first "true" Metroid game.
The Wii controls are fantastic. I am a vocal opponent of waggle-controls, but Metroid uses them to a bare minimum. As far as first person shooters go, Metroid has perfected the control scheme for the Wii Remote, just as Bioshock perfected it for the standard controller. While my wrist did start to get sore after about 4 hours of playing, it was still 4 hours of playing. Using the nunchuk for grapple abilities is a fun addition, and I didn't even resent having to move my arm more than 30 degrees at any given time. Amazing!
I'm going to give the game a bit more time. It's possible that it could suck after a while, but I doubt it. With such an amazingly epic game new to the Wii library, it really shocks me that Nintendo isn't pushing it more. Just goes to show that they really don't care about the hardcore anymore. It's ok. We can make Metroid Prime 3: Corruption our little secret.
posted by Chris on August 30, 2007 9:23 AM in Games
From September 1st to September 3rd, you can get a great deal on some fun Xbox Live Arcade titles. In honor of Labor Day (or something) Microsoft is offering Gauntlet, Zuma Deluxe, Dig Dug and Small Arms for half off the original price. A pretty great deal for some classic arcade titles. From the press release:
Celebrate this Labor Day weekend by downloading four Arcade favorites for half the price! For the 48 hour period beginning at 12:00 a.m. GMT on Sunday, September 2 (5:00 p.m. PDT on Saturday, September 1) and continuing through 11: 59 p.m. GMT (4:59 p.m. PDT) on Monday, September 3, the following Xbox LIVE Arcade games will be available for half their usual price:
“Small Arms” – 400 Microsoft Points (normally 800 Microsoft Points)
Easy to pick up but hard to put down, “Small Arms” is a frantic multiplayer action game with the feel of an arcade shooter.
“Zuma Deluxe”– 400 Microsoft Points (normally 800 Microsoft Points)
Explore more than 20 realms in Adventure mode and put your skills to the test in this fast-paced puzzle game.
“Gauntlet” – 200 Microsoft Points (normally 400 Microsoft Points)
The original dungeon crawler lets four adventurers explore and fight together as a warrior, valkyrie, wizard, and elf.
“Dig Dug” – 200 Microsoft Points (normally 400 Microsoft Points)
Experience the fast-paced action of this quarter-cruncher from 1982 as you take control of Dig Dug himself and vanquish Pookas and Fygars.
I'd recommend getting Zuma at the very least. That game is insanely addictive. For a period of time I was seeing those damn balls and hearing their gentle knocking noise in my sleep. Okay, maybe that's not a good thing.
Hey guys, check out what I found floating around unpublished in our database! Let's take a trip down memory lane and check out what Grant thought of PAX last year! You can even compare notes! FUN! --Chris
This is the blog post wherein I talk about my trip to the Penny Arcade Expo 2006 in Bellevue, Washington.
You're going to read it because you totally want to know all about it and how much fun it was.
It's that time of the year again. No, not when a young man's fancy turns to love. No, not when old Saint Nick is preparing to launch himself down random chimneys to slake his horrible desire for milk and cookies. It's time to pay our yearly bandwidth bill, and I thought I would take this opportunity to run a mini funds drive. The Weekly Geek is fully supported by us out of pocket, and your gracious donations. There are a few ways you can support the site. First off, you can buy stuff from our store. Not only do we have the basic Cafepress T-shirt store, but we have a nice Amazon affiliate store and our very own art store, with original video game prints. There's not much left, get em while they are hot!
You can also make a donation using these magic Paypal buttons at the foot of the site. Either a one-time donation or a monthly one. I usually send frequent donors free junk every once in a while, so it's totally worth it!
One time donation:
Monthly Donation:
And you don't even need to send us money to help support the site. Even just a link back would be more than enough to make our icy black hearts swell with joy. Thanks to all our listeners and readers over the years, we love you all! Except for you. You know who you are.
posted by Mike on August 29, 2007 4:28 PM in Music
Cool article on Listening Post today about a DVD project called Burn To Shine. You know how America has this thing about smashing down anything resembling history and promptly replacing it with a parking lot, a Walmart, or a cookie-cutter single family home? (God forbid we end up like Europe and actually have some culture.) Turns out, indie musicians aren't too keen on that idea. Hence, Burn To Shine. The idea is simple - gather a group of bands from the city in which the doomed historical house/establishment resides, tape a show there, permanently preserve the memory of this place in the annals of... whatever and give the damnation of these places a killer funeral soundtrack.
So far, 3 DVDs have been released in this series - Washington D.C. (with Ted Leo & Bob Mould), Chicago (with Shellac & Wilco), and Portland (pictured above, with The Decemberists & The Shins). Episodes are also in the works for Seattle (with Ben Gibbard & Blue Scholars) and Louisville (with Will Oldham).
Just to let you all know, this weekend we will be doing some maintenance on the site. We will be upgrading our blogging software and generally making things more pleasing. This means that the site might look a little weird or will be just plain broken off and on Saturday. Do not despair! We hope to be back up and running in full working order by Monday. Thanks for your patience. Now go back to playing Bioshock.
posted by Qais on August 29, 2007 10:45 AM in Games
If, like me, you spend your news reading hours avoiding anything coming from the general direction of Washington, DC you will have likely missed a recent change in legislation that may have some interesting effects on the gaming world. About 96 years ago the Supreme Court decided that vertical price fixing, when a manufacturer sets the price at which a retailer can sell the manufacturer's goods, was uncompetitive and violated anti-trust laws, as of late June that was no longer the case. Our conservative majority Supreme Court now holds that agreements between manufacturers and retailers regarding the minimum price at which something can be sold is not per se anticompetitive and should be judged by the rule of reason by the local judiciary.
So what does that mean for gaming? What possible effect could a manufacturer's ability to set a (reasonable) minimum sale price for it's goods when sold by resellers have on you?
Internet retailers anyone? Hit the jump for some gaming manufacturers take on the issue, and the potential effects this could have on online deep discounting.
posted by Chris on August 29, 2007 9:26 AM in Games
A couple of weeks ago, Destructoid community member Tristero posted about something called NES Reproductions, a website where some completely awesome individual (named LeonK) took it upon himself to load rare, fan translated, or otherwise hard to get NES games on to donor cartridges. Games like Final Fantasy 2 and 3, Mother (Earthbound, if you're nasty), and the original Super Mario Bros 2. All you have to do to get your hands on one of these gems is send him a donor cartridge (it has to be the correct one for certain games!) and $25. It's a fucking steal if you ask me. LeonK was kind enough to send out this copy of Earthbound, and I am happy to say that the quality is completely top-notch. Not only did he take the time and care to print out a label, complete with the NES glossy sheen, but the first time I put the cart into my NES it worked. No blowing, no pressing the power button on and off - it just worked. In seconds I was playing the prequel to SNES Earthbound and enjoying the crap out of it.
Sure, you can play these games on an emulator. I have to say, though, that nothing beats the feeling of seeing the actual cart, holding it in your hands, gently inserting it into the slot, and playing it on your TV with the original NES controller. For collectors, this service is a must. Check out the full listing of games offered on the NES Reproductions Project site, and give this man your support! He makes a quality product.
Amy Darigol, better known as White Mage, is the resident book worm and MMO player for The Weekly Geek. Get to know her better with this little question and answer session.
When did you first discover you were a geek?
It was more of a slow realization that all my favorite activities, books, computers, sci-fi/fantasy tv/movies, board/card/tabletop/video games, were all considered geeky.
What is the one video game you keep coming back to no matter how many times you've played it?
There are actually four I switch between: Final Fantasy Tactics, Azure Dreams, Wild Arms, and Tetris.
What is your day job?
Prior to my current Homemaker status I was a Web Developer.
If you were stranded on an island with a dvd player and could only bring ONE dvd or dvd set, what would you bring?
XENA!
Put your music on shuffle and hit play. What comes up?
Nobuo Uematsu - To the End of the Abyss
How long have you been with the weekly geek, and what is your favorite thing you have done so far for the site?
I joined near the end of its original run as a college radio show which I believe was about 4 years ago. I've really enjoyed sharing my opinions on the books I've read.
What blogs do you regularly read?
My friend's.
Do you have any non-geek related hobbies?
Is cross-stitch geeky? I used to write and draw a little too. Oh, and I love singing with my CDs when no one else is around.
What was the worst video game you have ever played?
The Little Mermaid for the original NES. It was the very first non-used game I ever bought with my own money, I was 8 or so, and I was never able to get beyond the 2nd level. Talk about disappointment! You'd think they would have made the game playable for the movie's target audience!
Well, Colette has been threatening for a while to get a shirt that says "I <3 Chris Furniss", but superfan Stewart has actually beat her in this particular obsessive race. That's right, after purchasing one of my fine prints, Stew (can I call you Stew?) felt the need to profess his love for all things Geek, and send us in these fine photos. Thanks man. I will be locking my windows and doors tonight just for you.
Howtoons.com just launched a web version of its kids instructional comic series which is perfect for the geek in training, or geek parent to pass along to their geek kids. Howtoons is a one-page comic strip that shows you how to make awesome stuff, including a zoetrope, springloaded chopsticks, and a bottle submarine. Most kids don't have school for a few days yet, why not keep them occupied with a fun project?
Geekateer Lordfate sends us in this awesome photo of a painting he recently had commissioned from an artist named Kelli Nelson depicting Link and Zelda in a very stylized stained-glass style. Apparently it only cost him $75 (pretty inexpensive for a commissioned piece of work, and VERY inexpensive for something of this quality) and she takes requests for other video game art. Click the thumbnail to view the awesomeness in its full glory.
Check out Kelli's work at Cheap Paper Art and spruce up that hovel you call a home. (Thanks, Lordfate!)
posted by Qais on August 28, 2007 2:06 PM in Games
Recently, Manhunt 2 had it's ESRB rating modified from AO to M, having crippled their game in an attempt to get it released, and predictably California senator Leland Yee is freaking the fuck out. Yesterday, news surfaced that Mr. Yee demanded transparency into the rating system of the ESRB, stating that a system that doesn't provide specific, transparent metrics for individual ratings is not to be trusted. Mr. Yee further demanded that the content that was changed should be publicized in order to end the collusion of the game industry and the ESRB. The jig is up kids, my nightly ponderings on how to corrupt the youth of America with content their parents should be monitoring will never be the same without the gloom cast by the shadowy colossus of the ESRB and game industry working in concert to destroy the moral compass of the world.
Interestingly, all these reports came in not even 24 hours after the release, and some even before the release itself. Pondering this kind of madness conjures images of waifish teenagers, greasy haired, and shirt dusted with a fine layer of cheetos crumbs rushing home to find any perceived error they can, in order to claim the high prize of "FIRST!". You win little man, congratulations on ruining a fabulous game for yourself.
posted by Chris on August 27, 2007 7:16 PM in Podcast
PAX came and went, and The Weekly Geek was there to give you all the juicy bits of con coverage you can handle. In this wrap-up show, Chris, Grant, Colette and Amy talk about all the fun times had, all the Weekly Geek fans who showed up and said hi (thanks!) and Rock Band. Tons of Rock Band. At the end of this week's podcast you even get a bonus interview with Wil Wheaton! Fancy! Subscribe now!
Update: I realize there are audio issues with the end of the podcast. I am fixing and they should be taken care of by this evening. --Chris
Every year the fine folks making Penny Arcade Expo happen put together a whole host of panels. Some of these panels are informative like the Podcasts and Blogs panel, some are stultifyingly dull and obnoxious like the Frag Dolls panel, and some are so completely off the wall that you don't realize what's happened until you wake up in a hotel bathtub full of ice with one of your kidneys missing. It's this last variety I had the extreme fortune to catch.
At the end of Friday's Penny Arcade Panel, with guests having strode on stage to Hustlin' and barely intelligible questions having been asked, Tycho and Gabe made an announcement concerning a surprise guest Q&A panel. Who would this mystery guest be? Apparently Jack Thompson declined (probably a wise choice) and Wil Wheaton had given the keynote speech so it couldn't be him. What big name could the stars of Penny Arcade have cadged for fans to barrage with questions? That big name dear readers, was Uwe Boll.
posted by Qais on August 27, 2007 1:36 PM in Games
At this year's PAX, the crown jewel of games to try (if you were there to play games instead of slumming around collecting free t-shirts to fashion into a nest of geekery like me) was Rockband. Having been relegated to drift among the rank and file, denied the opportunity to sup from the golden teat that is a media pass, I braced myself for the monstrous line of people waiting to live out, if only briefly, their childhood fantasies of rocking on stage to a crowd of eager listeners. Harmonix failed to disappoint.
posted by Mike on August 27, 2007 11:02 AM in Games
I'm going to take it upon myself to be The Weekly Geek's official SquareEnix Correspondent today. Seeing the trailer for FFVII: Crisis Core this morning may have just sealed the deal - I think this game justifies me making my first Sony purchase since the PS2. If you can get past the horrible Japanese pop song littering this almost 5 minute video, Crisis Core is destined to be the most beautiful entry in the FFVII series, handheld or otherwise.
Couple that with the equally incredible Final Fantasy Tactics sequel also coming to the PSP (trailer after the jump) and any Final Fantasy fan would have an extremely hard time convincing themselves not to buy a PSP now.
Another PAX has come and gone, and this year, in between panels, concerts, and drooling over Rockband and Eternal Sonata I managed to snap a few pictures. Keep your peepers peeled for more in depth coverage soon, in the words of my esteemed colleague Mr. Darigol, "Holy crap, I'm tired."
Hit the jump for pictures from this year's Penny Arcade Expo
Oh man, dudes. PAX is over and it was nuts. I'll have a bigger post later and we'll of course talk about it on the show tomorrow, but I wanted to give you a few quick bullet points on my experiences:
posted by Qais on August 24, 2007 9:50 AM in Games
Since I first saw the game play videos of Spore back in '06 I have been greatly anticipating the game. Every tidbit falling in my path was eagerly gobbled only to lead to the sinking sensation that I would hear nothing for months let alone actually getting to play the damn thing. So it was with great excitement I read today that Spore is finished and being previewed in Leipzig.
My excitement is slightly tempered by my trepidation, because as with all severely hyped games there is a good chance for this to disappoint. Quite a few of the ne'er-do-wells I associate with have expressed similar misgivings, going so far as to dismiss the game entirely as something that will most likely flop. Being made of sterner stuff I soldier on in the face of such negative nattering nabobs and continue to be excited.
Just over 24 hours now until the doors open at PAX! (Well, over 25 hours for the rest of you)
I'm pretty excited and think I have a decent schedule planned out. It's fairly full right now, but I'm sure I may just bail on some stuff to hang out with people or go to some of the gaming rooms. It's pretty ebb and flow at big cons.
Gotta meet up with Wil sometime in that special Media hour before the doors open to the public and set up a time to use the interview room.
I think it's gonna be a ton of fun. What do you guys have planned to do?
I realize that nearly every retailer (on or offline) sporting game preorders has sold or will continue to sell people out from under their placeholder copies. It's a common practice, but this is the first time it's happened to me - so naturally, I'm effing cheesed! Especially when it happens on what is figuring to be the game of the year (maybe century), Bioshock.
So I used a birthday gift card I got for Best Buy to place my preorder. I think you can all guess where this is going - I arrive at my local Best Buy to discover that whoever did the preorders "didn't order enough." (Translation: "We couldn't wait 24 hours to hold your copy when a half-dozen walk-up customers were salivating over it.")
I figure since this thing is obviously selling like a free griddlecake special on a street corner full of hobos, that my chances are slim. Sears: Nice try, cigarless. GameStop: No dice. FYE (and perhaps the best denial): "Are you looking for Bio-something? No, we don't have it."
Finally, I stop in the Bellevue Fred Meyer. The answer: I saw it on the faces of the clerks before I even asked. But this time, I told my sob story to the two guys in the Electronics Department. Defeated, I rejoined my wife several aisles down and resumed food shopping. "At least maybe I can get some ice cream out of this," I thought.
One of the clerks caught up with me and said, "Hey, were you looking for Bioshock on 360?" I nodded, slightly more hopeful. "I was holding a copy for myself until I got paid on Friday," he continued, "but I'll sell it to you." Here was my ray of light, but not wanting to be a total douche, I replied, "No man, don't sell yourself out of a copy for me." He insisted and led me back to the register and I walked away elated.
I write this article for that kind, kind clerk (you know who you are dude, if you're reading this). Anyone in the Greater Seattle area, please: Drive, even out of your way, to give these guys in the Bellevue Fred Meyer your business.
posted by Qais on August 22, 2007 1:11 PM in Games
EA Games brought down the thunder at Leipzig with a whole host of announcements regarding it's upcoming release Rock Band. EA made an expected track announcement, so far we're getting "Gimme Shelter" by the Rolling Stones, "Highway Star" by Deep Purple, "Should I Stay or Should I Go" by The Clash, "Epic" by Faith No More, "Cherub Rock" by Smashing Pumpkins, "Creep" by Radiohead, "Sabotage" by the Beastie Boys, "Are You Gonna Be My Girl?" by Jet, "Here It Goes Again" by OK Go, and "The Hand That Feeds" by Nine Inch Nails.
So far so good.
However, the really interesting announcements regarding Rockband are that EA will be releasing a European version with localized content and that they will be releasing a European version for the PS2. No word yet on whether or not a North American PS2 release is planned, although unfortunately I'd expect not. So far I've been unable to find a tracklisting for the European release but I'm hoping against hope that somehow EA will be on the ball enough to put a Lordi track on there, at which point the weekly geek crew will rock out like the Finnish Monster Gods we were always meant to be.
posted by Qais on August 22, 2007 11:35 AM in Games
The day dawns with news of victory. According to the New York Times all proposed legislation of video games have been rejected as unconstitutional. Yes there is usually outcry both from gamers and their antipodal representatives alike, and yes legal battles must be waged, but in the end we're winning. Sort of. As Newton's Third Law states, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, and who are you to argue with Newton?
You see rather than contenting ourselves with allowing the government to regulate who can buy which games and where in their plodding bureaucratic style we turn to the industry we support to do it for us. With Manhunt 2 completely off the table for Rockstar Games due to the ESRB's rating of AO (Adults Only), Sony and Nintendo's unwillingness to allow AO rated games on their hardware, and large chain retailer's banning AO rated titles from their stores in spite of the fact that they sell media with far more realistic simulated violence in the very same section of the store, there brews trouble on the horizon.
Despite federal regulation of video games consistently being soundly rejected game designers are feeling the fear, and thus censoring or cutting back on their own content. And can you blame them? If your choices were waste a lot of money on a game that will never be released or release a creatively crippled version of a game in order to continue your existence as a business entity which way would you swing?
posted by Mike on August 22, 2007 10:30 AM in Music
I guess imeem doesn't entirely suck. I managed to find twelve full songs for you all to enjoy. Drew from the proverbial well and hoisted up some refreshing St. Vincent, more Andrew Bird, Chris' new girlfriends Tegan and Sara, and my latest find, Blonde Redhead. Also, an encouraging new cut from the fun-loving, but psycho Les Savy Fav. Please enjoy and don't be surprised if I revisit some of these choices for our upcoming Fall Music Podcast, because really, I can only find so many things to gush about in three months.
EDIT: Although I was able to access the full version songs on imeem's site, it appears that Tegan and Sara, Eisley, and Interpol have been truncated to :30 samples for this playlist. Could it be that these are the only 3 artists of the 12 on major labels and imeem wants to cover their collective asses? Sounds like a safe bet to me. Still, I think it sucks. We're only streaming the tunes!
posted by Chris on August 22, 2007 9:07 AM in Games
Posted over on XBox360Achievements .org today (via X3F) is the full Guitar Hero III list of unlockable goodness. Here at The Weekly Geek we tend to be a bit more in the Rock Band camp, but Guitar Hero III is still getting a little anticipation love. Now, I'm big into achievements. I am not so much interested in my gamerscore going up as I am in hearing that little blip and seeing my sort of badge area get filled up. I love having added goals besides just completing a game, it's something I do in games anyway. For me, they promote exploring these worlds the game creators spent so much time on, as opposed to just speeding through to the end credits. In Guitar Hero II for the 360 we saw your basic achievements, beat the game on hard difficulty, beat the game on expert, unlock all the songs, unlock all the guitars - but Guitar Hero III is amping up the craziness with achievements like "Meet Your Maker" which requires you to "Beat one of the creators of Guitar Hero 3 at their own game". What does it mean?! Are you supposed to somehow encounter a GH3 dev on Live and then somehow be better at the game than them? If so, why is it only 20 points and not something like 100?
There are some other fun achievements, like "Tone Deaf" which requires you to play through a song with the in-game volume turned down to zero, and "Whammy Mania" which has you using the whammy bar for every long note in a certain song. Rad. Check out the full list at the site.
Or just more corporate hijinkery from our pals HD-DVD and Blu-Ray.
Paramount (as well as Viacom and Dreamworks by extension) announced their decision today to back HD-DVD as the format of choice for upcoming high definition releases. This decision occurs in the face of recent news citing Blu-Ray outselling HD-DVD 2 to 1 for the first half of '07. Interestingly, the New York Times is reporting a $150 million financial incentive for Paramount's decision, as reported by two as yet unidentified Viacom employees. How does Paramount plan to entice you to the side of HD-DVD? With such masterpieces of modern cinema as Shrek the Third and Transformers. This, I'm sure, will go swimmingly.
Rivals were forced by the announcement to pipe up pledging their support of Blu-Ray, with MGM and 20th Century Fox promising "Six new films from Fox, including Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer and Live Free or Die Hard, that will be released day and date with the DVD version" and "Four day and date (for U.S. only) Blu-ray and DVD new releases from MGM".
Transformers, Shrek the Third, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, and Live Free or Die Hard. I'd make an Aliens vs Predator joke here but that would just be sad.
posted by Qais on August 21, 2007 10:26 AM in Games
See that? Well that right there is the face of a perfectly sane man according to one Dr. Wunderman. Jack Thompson, preempting the Florida bar's supposed demands that he undergo psychological examination, met with a psychologist on his own dime. I say supposed because that claim has never actually been validated by a representative of the Florida bar (with whom Thompson is currently embroiled in litigation) making it entirely possible that Thompson has simply fabricated the request in order to defer some of the extremely bad PR he seems so good at collecting. I imagine Thompson at a dinner party, the host of which has some mouthy gamer kid that begins to make allusions to Jack's potential mental imbalances, at which point Jack removes his Certificate O' Sanity and smiles smugly.
Dr. Wunderman's diagnosis is as follows:
The overall impression is that of a socially committed, and religiously devout man, of Superior Intellectual Functioning, who does not suffer from any major mental illness or impairment. He is deeply committed to personal betterment and social progress which he feels involves the regulation of exposure of minors to pornography, obscenity and violence.
posted by Mike on August 21, 2007 8:56 AM in Music
iTunes is, as we all know, an instant gratification service. We pay them $10 and, faster than we can blink, we’re the proud owners of the latest album by pretty much whoever we want. Yet there’s been one gaping hole in the smile of iTunes’ catalogue – The Beatles. For 6 years (since the inception of iTunes) arguably the most influential and iconic band in the last half-century has been inexcusably absent from their download lineup. There’s been mixed reports as to when we will finally be able to access the Fab Four’s dynamic cannon in .m4a format. So the benevolent folks at Apple plugged a Chiclet in for their missing front tooth: John Lennon’s solo albums are now available.
posted by Chris on August 20, 2007 6:12 PM in Podcast
We give Bioshock a little break this week on The Weekly Geek podcast, moving on to bigger and better things. Only kidding, we talk about Bioshock some more. This week, Chris, The Geek (rebranded as Grant Darigol), White Mage (rebranded as Amy Darigol) and Colette (rebranded as Colette) gush over Bioshock, plan for PAX, hate on some Thundercats and contemplate Burning Man. Download it now! Or don't!
We're hopefully all in agreement that cosplay is, for the most part, a scary and horrible thing. Horrifying if for no other reason than the folks that choose to strap, squeeze, and jiggle themselves into the tight, midriff baring ensembles that are normally emulated. When cosplay (or simply emulation of your favorite character) is done well it can be a really interesting and disturbingly illuminating sight. Yet still a large percentage of the stuff is relegated to Japanese game franchises and if I never see another otaku dressed up as Sephiroth for as long as I live I'll die a happy man (Ok, I'll probably still die bitter and angry).
So why so few awesome outfits from other game franchises? Why haven't I seen Maniac Mansion cosplay or kids at cons dressed as Commander Keen firing rayguns at a horde of vicious Vorticons?
Thankfully, someone has answered the potentially brain scarring call and not only put together a totally sweet Guybrush Threepwood outfit but also posted instructions for how you can do the same. This is probably borderline cosplay but they've also constructed an Elaine Marley costume and then got down with a piratical feast.
I'm not normally one to advocate cosplay but there was grog, giant turkey legs, and a house full of pirates. I would be remiss in my duties if I didn't point out fantastic game and pirate inspired antics. This is truly cosplay done right.
Link and pictures of a swarthy Threepwood after the jump.
Go ahead over there and check out the article then come on back and read the rest of mine. I'm gonna be a mean horrible person and completely deconstruct and destroy her reasons. Why? Hello, and welcome to the Internet. That's what we do here. Also, feuds are good for generating traffic.
Arguably one of the most anticipated titles of the year finally hits the Xbox 360 and PC this week: Bioshock. Whereas other first person shooters have been focusing on multiplayer fragfests, capture the flag and other competitive testosterone-fueled madness, Bioshock perfects the single player formula making the most significant impact on gaming since Half Life 2. I had the privilege of playing the game early, spending my entire weekend probing the inner depths of the underwater city of Rapture. It's a fantastic, mysterious, spooky place - but it's not without its flaws (both metaphorically and physically). We've gushed about Bioshock for months now here at The Weekly Geek, and personally I haven't looked forward to a game this much since the original Metroid Prime on the Gamecube. Simply put Bioshock is one of the few hyper-anticipated games that actually lives up to the hype. I'll try to keep the spoilers low in my gushing review.
This week on Get To Know Your Geeks we talk to the newest Geek, Colette Bennett. Colette comes to us from the fantastic Destructoid, and co-hosts the podcast.
When did you first discover you were a geek?
I was about 6 years old. My family and I used to go visit my uncle and aunt about one Sunday a month, and my uncle had a PC and an Atari. I played Zork over and over no matter how many times it frustrated me. I think that's likely when I had it nailed.
What is the one video game you keep coming back to no matter how many times you've played it?
The Legend of Zelda for NES. I just never seem to get over it.
What is your day job?
I work for an armored car company locating lost money. It's a weird job but I like it.
If you were stranded on an island with a dvd player and could only bring ONE dvd or dvd set, what would you bring?
That question is just evil. However, I would probably bring The Last Unicorn.
Put your music on shuffle and hit play. What comes up?
I have a horrible confession to make, friends. Gather round and try to disguise your disgust as I lay bare my indiscretions. You see when Fable was originally released there was nothing on heaven or earth that could have dissuaded my disgustingly infantile fanboyism. The game was to be a reckoning on par with the resurrection of Christ… and then such horrible disappointment followed. I played through to the last boss in about 4 hours and disgustedly threw down my controller, like many of my fellow game loving zealots I felt I had been duped. Where was my epic tale requiring days of my time glued to the couch? Why could I finish this game in 4 hours? I simply refused to finish the game, a silent protest garnering only my own aggravation.
I'd like to take a moment to sit back and edify you on the superiority of the Dutch people. You see Holland, unlike the rest of the world, is a magical place, a place where the sun shines through the trees onto the dappled shoulders of flaxen haired men and women, their smiling faces infecting all they pass with the knowledge that everything will be OK, a place rife with art and culture, a place of freedoms not known to most men.
The newest member of the Weekly Geek family is a guy by the name of Qais. Yes, that is his real name. Just who is this blue-haired fellow? And why does he have an insatiable lust for all things Geek? Read on!
Today the intertubes bring news of stock price drops for the champion of the "non-gamer" console Nintendo. Now I am not the most informed person when it comes to the stock exchange, my knowledge is limited to the existence of such a thing and this about where it ends. However it would seem that the perceived value of a stock decreases as more people sell their shares and the faster they sell the more rapidly the value of the stock decreases.
I'd like to finish the game before I do a full review, but I was so excited last night after playing Metroid Prime 3: Corruption that I just had to gush about it with you. My impressions? Unbelievably good. Granted, I have always been a huge fan of the Metroid series so I may be a little bit biased, but I was a huge fan of Zelda, too, and that didn't prevent me from telling you 
Just to let you all know, this weekend we will be doing some maintenance on the site. We will be upgrading our blogging software and generally making things more pleasing. This means that the site might look a little weird or will be just plain broken off and on Saturday. Do not despair! We hope to be back up and running in full working order by Monday. Thanks for your patience. Now go back to playing Bioshock.
If, like me, you spend your news reading hours avoiding anything coming from the general direction of Washington, DC you will have likely missed a recent change in legislation that may have some interesting effects on the gaming world. About 96 years ago the Supreme Court decided that vertical price fixing, when a manufacturer sets the price at which a retailer can sell the manufacturer's goods, was uncompetitive and violated anti-trust laws, as of late June that was no longer the case. Our conservative majority Supreme Court now holds that agreements between manufacturers and retailers regarding the minimum price at which something can be sold is not per se anticompetitive and should be judged by the 
Amy Darigol, better known as White Mage, is the resident book worm and MMO player for The Weekly Geek. Get to know her better with this little question and answer session.
Well, Colette has been threatening for a while to get a shirt that says "I <3 Chris Furniss", but superfan Stewart has actually beat her in this particular obsessive race. That's right, after purchasing one of my 
Recently, Manhunt 2 had it's ESRB rating modified from AO to M, having crippled their game in an attempt to get it released, and predictably California senator Leland Yee is freaking the fuck out. Yesterday, news surfaced that Mr. Yee demanded transparency into the rating system of the ESRB, stating that a system that doesn't provide specific, transparent metrics for individual ratings is not to be trusted. Mr. Yee further demanded that the content that was changed should be publicized in order to end the collusion of the game industry and the ESRB. The jig is up kids, my nightly ponderings on how to corrupt the youth of America with content their parents should be monitoring will never be the same without the gloom cast by the shadowy colossus of the ESRB and game industry working in concert to destroy the moral compass of the world.
Well, the online version of Wired. Wired's PAX photo gallery was posted today, and guess who was in it? This guy. 
Every year the fine folks making Penny Arcade Expo happen put together a whole host of panels. Some of these panels are informative like the Podcasts and Blogs panel, some are stultifyingly dull and obnoxious like the Frag Dolls panel, and some are so completely off the wall that you don't realize what's happened until you wake up in a hotel bathtub full of ice with one of your kidneys missing. It's this last variety I had the extreme fortune to catch.
At this year's PAX, the crown jewel of games to try (if you were there to play games instead of slumming around collecting free t-shirts to fashion into a nest of geekery like me) was Rockband. Having been relegated to drift among the rank and file, denied the opportunity to sup from the golden teat that is a media pass, I braced myself for the monstrous line of people waiting to live out, if only briefly, their childhood fantasies of rocking on stage to a crowd of eager listeners. Harmonix failed to disappoint.
Since I first saw the game play videos of Spore back in '06 I have been greatly anticipating the game. Every tidbit falling in my path was eagerly gobbled only to lead to the sinking sensation that I would hear nothing for months let alone actually getting to play the damn thing. So it was with great excitement I read today that Spore is finished and being previewed in Leipzig. 
EA Games brought down the thunder at Leipzig with a whole host of announcements regarding it's upcoming release Rock Band. EA made an expected track announcement, so far we're getting "Gimme Shelter" by the Rolling Stones, "Highway Star" by Deep Purple, "Should I Stay or Should I Go" by The Clash, "Epic" by Faith No More, "Cherub Rock" by Smashing Pumpkins, "Creep" by Radiohead, "Sabotage" by the Beastie Boys, "Are You Gonna Be My Girl?" by Jet, "Here It Goes Again" by OK Go, and "The Hand That Feeds" by Nine Inch Nails. 
Posted over on 
We're hopefully all in agreement that cosplay is, for the most part, a scary and horrible thing. Horrifying if for no other reason than the folks that choose to strap, squeeze, and jiggle themselves into the tight, midriff baring ensembles that are normally emulated. When cosplay (or simply emulation of your favorite character) is done well it can be a really interesting and disturbingly illuminating sight. Yet still a large percentage of the stuff is relegated to Japanese game franchises and if I never see another otaku dressed up as Sephiroth for as long as I live I'll die a happy man (Ok, I'll probably still die bitter and angry). 
Arguably one of the most anticipated titles of the year finally hits the Xbox 360 and PC this week: Bioshock. Whereas other first person shooters have been focusing on multiplayer fragfests, capture the flag and other competitive testosterone-fueled madness, Bioshock perfects the single player formula making the most significant impact on gaming since Half Life 2. I had the privilege of playing the game early, spending my entire weekend probing the inner depths of the underwater city of Rapture. It's a fantastic, mysterious, spooky place - but it's not without its flaws (both metaphorically and physically). We've gushed about Bioshock for months now here at The Weekly Geek, and personally I haven't looked forward to a game this much since the original Metroid Prime on the Gamecube. Simply put Bioshock is one of the few hyper-anticipated games that actually lives up to the hype. I'll try to keep the spoilers low in my gushing review. 
This week on Get To Know Your Geeks we talk to the newest Geek, Colette Bennett. Colette comes to us from the fantastic