Link roundup

1. Six Amazon Kindle Screensavers based classic book covers and videogames. Via.

2. Intriguing Half-Life 2 mod.

3. New Batman preorders at the BBTS: Batman Legacy two packs; Hybrid Metal Figuration HMF004 - Batman (I posted this one last week I think).

Link roundup

1. Eight minutes of Diablo 3 footage, showing off the various classes.

2. The score is low, but this first review of Phineas and Ferb: Across the 2nd Dimension makes it sound perfect for my kids. (I wish every game had a too easy option.)

3. Video shows off how the special effects are made in Game of Thrones.

Link roundup

1. "GM has autonomous, electric pods that can be summoned by a smart phone and will whisk you, hands-free, to wherever you want to go. They're almost ready, now we just need to wait for GPS to catch up."

2. Destructoid didn't like Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet:

Sadly, great visuals do not a great game make. Nor does gameplay that spends most of its timing striving only for a passing grade. Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet scores points for its moments of genuine cleverness and tight, logical design, but the majority of the experience is a lukewarm and superficial one. It tries to merge three types of gameplay together, and while the intention is admirable, the effort made is far from total.

3. Mike Maihack is looking for commissions.

Link roundup

1. Arguments against attending cooking school.

2. XKCD on media reports of hacking. Penny Arcade on the 3DS.

3. Diablo III will allow players to auction off virtual goods for real money. I wonder if that will be a major selling point, or just a feature that benefits gold farmers (The Old Republic looks nice, but if I can make money while I play...).

Link roundup

1. Trying to take a Yo Gabba Gabba character surfing.

2. Grant Theft Auto IV modded to allow Superman to fly through the city. Via.

3. Flying drone cracks Wi-Fi networks and impersonates cell phone towers (so you cell phone is tricked into connecting to it (and being recorded) instead of a legit tower). Via.

*Buy Yo Gabba Gabba! toys at eBay.

New Star Wars: The Old Republic footage

13 minutes of gameplay from Star Wars: The Old Republic, featuring a mission called The Esseles. This is the best gameplay video yet - - there's a delightfully chubby NPC at the beginning, and a truly despicable moral choice halfway through. (And lots of Mandalorians.) Via.

*Buy KOTOR toys at eBay.

Epic Tecmo Bowl run by Bo Jackson

Epic touchdown run in Tecmo Bowl starring Bo Jackson (the kickoff return at the beginning is just the setup). Via.

*Buy Bo Jackson toys at eBay.

Link roundup

1. Julia Vickerman:

Hey weirdos, do you live in the LA area, know how to sort of use Flash/AfterEffects, dig animation and want to work for no money on Yo Gabba Gabba this season?

I want to bring on someone who loves the show, not just some random joker who needs college credit. Oh yeah, you would need to be enrolled in school and receiving credit for this.

Hit me up and send me some work samples - julia@punyentertainment.com.

2. More photos of Lady Two-Face.

3. "The 3DS only went on sale earlier this year for $249, but as of August 12, it'll be slashed all the way down to $169.99." If you already bought it, you'll be able to download 20 free game.

Link roundup

1. Here's a riddle:

“Why would a tiny woman with no criminal record, who worked 10 years on Wall Street, randomly hold up people at gunpoint at night dressed as a policewoman?”

Absolutely bizarre answer.

2. There's a new Humble Indie Bundle.

3. A claim that China is disassembling and burying the crashed bullet trains to hide evidence. Via.

Overstrike trailer by Blur

Excellent trailer by Blur for Overstrike. Reminds me of The Incredibles.

Link roundup

1. Glowing review for Fallout New Vegas: Old World Blues. (There are a few walkthroughs on Youtube already.)

2. "NY Times Story on First Gay Federal Judge Complemented by Tasteful Bathhouse Ad."

3. Gabe Delahaye's latest hilarious True Blood recap. "Breed, ghost daddy, breed." (Probably NSFW.)

Link roundup

1. Screenshots from the Aliens: Infestation sidescroller for the Nintendo DS, featuring art design by Chris Bachalo.

2. Sam Wolfe Connelly is giving away a poster.

3. Photos of the new Terrax Marvel Legends series.

4. And speaking of Marvel, there's a good selection of recent Marvel collections on sale for 40% off at TFAW.

Link roundup

1. "A 10,000 square kilometer (3,861 sq. mile) island sank beneath the waves long ago, in the frigid waters of the Atlantic north of Scotland."

2. Last chance to enter my iPad game giveaway. I'll pick a winner tonight.

3. Smog miniature-painting contest announced.

4. This is a positive review of Captain America: Super Soldier, and it's still only a 6.5 out of 10. You know, when I was a kid, we really didn't know any better. There was no internet, and Gamepro was brand new. Mostly, you bought a game based on the packaging and then realized your mistake almost as soon as you turned on the NES. But now, with games costing $60 each, and online reviews being so quick and easy to find, how do video game publishers keep getting away with selling garbage?

Star Wars: The Old Republic preorder bundle details

Per Kotaku, supposedly this is the Star Wars: The Old Republic Collector's Edition, retailing for €149.95/$175 USD:

Exclusive Gentle Giant Darth Malgus statue
Star Wars: The Old Republic game disks in collectible metal case
The Journal of Master Gnost-Dural annotated by Satele Shan
Old Republic galaxy map
Custom Security Authentication Key
Exclusive Music of Star Wars: The Old Republic CD
High-quality collector's edition box
Includes 7 additional digital items

Flare Gun: Fires flares into the air.
Training Droid: Hovers at your side for combat assistance.
HoloDancer: Project your own holographic dancer.
HoloCam: Keep visual records of in-game adventures.
STAP: Sleek and unique in-game vehicle.
Exclusive Mouse Droid: Spunky droid to join your adventures.
Exclusive Collector's Edition Store: Unique in-game vendor with a dynamic assortment of items.

Sounds pretty unimpressive to me, and the reports are that EA will try to manufacture desire by limiting preorders. Of course, Amazon is always bloated with collector's editions that don't sell even at reduced prices.

It would be cool if there was a standalone character creator like with Spore.

Link roundup

1. Art box giveaway.

2. Really interesting article about the economy.

3. The new Captain America: Super Solider video game is apparently barely worth a day rental: "The game (which runs to a stingy six hours at best) is sparsely populated by instantly-forgettable enemies."

4. io9 reviews the Warren Ellis/Berg comic SVK ($32 for 40 lackluster pages).

To-Fu: The Trials of Chi giveaway

UDPATE: Contest is closed, thanks everyone. I'll have another giveaway soon.

Here's the trailer for ios game To-Fu: The Trials of Chi, which is a bit like the melding of the best elements of Super Meat Boy and World of Goo:



Here's a glowing review:



The lite version can be downloaded for free. And I have three 3 iPad promocodes to giveaway. For a chance to win, simply comment on this post and make sure your comment includes an email so I can get in touch.

Two sides of the video game violence debate

First, Penn and Teller speak against video game violence. They certainly have a point, but I think it might be more about the wisdom of banning football (via):



Jon Stewart had the better view several weeks ago:

The Daily Show - Moral Kombat
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

(When I saw the new Mortal Kombat fatalities, I called them snuff films.)

Star Wars Fleet Commander and Tron Game Grid

Two very cool games designed by Arthur Nishimoto:

Developed at the Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) by MS graduate candidate Arthur Nishimoto, "Fleet Commander" explores how a real-time interactive strategy game that would typically rely on complex keyboard commands and mouse interactions be transferred into a multi-user, multi-touch environment.

TRON: Game Grid was designed specifically to be played on a 16 Megapixel LCD Multi-touch wall. The game currently only has one level, the Ring Game. The gameplay is a hybrid of the ring game and disk arena games as seen in the film TRON. The game was developed in 4 weeks throughout September 2010. The first version, containing a complete Ring Game, was completed on October 6, 2010.

Half-Life fan film

Half-Life fan film with great effects (just fast forward through the brief acting). Via.

*Previously: Half-Life 1 and 2 in 60 seconds.

These were real Spider-Man costumes?

Hornet, Prodigy, Ricochet:





If I understand it right, these were costumes Peter Parker wore in the comics several years ago. As a bonus of questionable worth, you can use them in upcoming game Spider-Man: Edge of Time by preordering from GameStop.

UPDATE: Thanks to the commenter, here's the Wikipedia entry.