Record Low Super Mario Bros Run

So for a long time the thing to do in older video games was to beat a game in as little time as possible.  This usually meant running recklessly through an area, making sure not to die and that you are powered up.  Well that pursuit has become boring and stale.  So how does one come up with new ways to challenge themselves to our old favorites?  They go for record low scores! 

Now you may think that this would be easy, and you would be wrong, dead wrong.  This means (in the case of Super Mario Bros) you have to skip every question block, every enemy must live(except for the last Bowser), you cannot get any coins, and you have to finish levels with no time on the clock. So lets give NotEntirelySure a hearty congratulations for his grand achievement in sub-par gaming!

Link Cosplay

So Anime Expo was last week in LA and that means one thing; lots of cosplay has flooded the internets.  Now since I did not go to Anime Expo, any cosplay pictures found were taken by other people and I will usually not repost them.  There are exceptions though and as a Zelda fan this is one of them.

Now the site that I found this at was talking about how he noticed all female Link cosplay seems to work better then any male Link cosplay he has seen.  That got me thinking, I don't think I have ever seen any male Link cosplay in the first place.  So I guess by default I must agree.

A Long Road comes on an End

This has been a long road for Sony.  As many of you know, the PSN was shut down worldwide in April.  LulzSec took responsibility for the intrusion and the system stayed down for about a month ... for most the world.  Now as of 07/06/2011 the PSN will be coming home.  Japan was not included in the reactivation of the PSN in May as was Europe and the US. The business heads in Japan wanted to be absolutely sure that everything would be secure when they returned access to their country, mostly due to demands placed on them by the government and credit card regulators.  These requirements included preventative measures (even though what that actually meant was not disclosed) to ensure the security of the new Sony PSN system.  They also wanted to know how Sony plans to get their way back into our hearts after having our trust shattered so brutally.

But now the PSN will be back to full strength.  Too bad for Sony though.  Between the breach and the shutdown of the PSN Sony lost an estimated $170 Million dollars.  I have a hard time even imagining that number let alone losing it. One good thing might come from this, until we all turn into lazy bastards again brick and mortar stores might see some additional traffic for people to buy game cards instead of using their Credit Cards on game systems.

Wowcrack free for 20 Levels

Wow, to think that 6 years ago a 10 day trial of a 60 day MMO was all it took to get people's opinions.  But now in a world of free-to-play MMOs a company that expects your money every month has to work harder to get your loyalty.  To do this World of Warcraft has extended the old 10 or 14 day free trial to an unlimited trial that allows you to get to level 20 without dropping a dime in their pockets. This means that you can get a mount while not paying for the game as well as experience a dungeon.  Heck if you are persistent you can even explore the WHOLE WORLD (minus Northrend)!

In addition to this people that have been with WoW for a long time (they defined it as Veteran Players) have been given a free copy of Vanilla WoW to give out. Will this be enough to stay the slow disintegration of their player base, or are they still screwed after 7+ years of gaming?  Only time will tell, unless the Bronze Dragonflight speaks up.

LulzSec Goes Byebye

So the hacker group that goes by the name LulzSec has announced they are shutting down (Thank God).  Now for those of you that are not in the know, LulzSec is responsible for attacks against Sony, Nintendo and Bethesda as well as online games such as Eve Online and Minecraft, accessing customer information and orchestrating denial of service attacks.

Apparently they only planned to be in operation for 50 days and they amounted to a group of 6 people.  Supposedly the group are big supporters of the AntiSec movement. The group left this, "We hope, wish, even beg, that the movement manifests itself into a revolution that can continue on without us".  Which I personally don't see happening given the only people this group really would have gotten the notice of are gamers, and all they did was piss all of us off.  So good job guys.

Video Games Win at the Supreme Court

You may remember that WAY back on November 2, 2010 the Supreme Court heard arguments on whether the state of California could ban the sale of violent video games to minors (if you don't you can read about it here).  Well they finally made a decision today.  The call was 7-2 in favor of the Entertainment Merchants Association. Which means that they have found the video games are protected by the First Amendment as free speech.  If you would like you can read the whole release at the Supreme Courts site using this convenient link. From what I hear Justice Scalia has some real gems in there.  One of them being "disgust is not a valid basis for restricting expression."

Both sides had things to say about his.  Speaking on the side of gamers I would have to say f*** you California.  On the other side Leland Yee (he wrote this waste of our time) had this to say:

“Unfortunately, the majority of the Supreme Court once again put the interests of corporate America before the interests of our children,” said Senator Leland Yee in a statement. “As a result of their decision, Wal-Mart and the video game industry will continue to make billions of dollars at the expense of our kids’ mental health and the safety of our community. It is simply wrong that the video game industry can be allowed to put their profit margins over the rights of parents and the well-being of children.”

“While we did not win today, I am certain that this eight year legislative and legal battle has raised the consciousness of this issue for many parents and grandparents, and has forced the video game industry to do a better job at appropriately rating these games,"

Now given I am a little biased on all this if you really want to hear a fair and balanced talk about this you will need to head elsewhere.

Lemon Grenades

So I assume most of you have played Portal 2. If not then you will not find this entertaining. Those of us that have played and remember the lemon rant from Cave Johnson will find this hilarious.

Redbox + Video Games

So starting today Redbox gets Video Games, assuming you are near a Redbox that:

1. Actually has video games
2. Has the game you want

Now Redbox makes this very convenient.  If you hate Blockbuster and are tired of waiting a month+ to get the game you actually wanted from Gamefly this gives you a nice new option at $2.00 a day per game.  Plus with the number of Redbox machines that are available it will be a smaller drive then to the local video store (assuming they are still even in business). The downside is their stock is comparatively wanting as they do not have the the space to keep both a comprehensive DVD / Blu-ray collection and a big selection / large stock of games.  Combine this with a price at $2.00 a game it is still cheaper to hit at Blockbuster for anything you plan to play for over 3 days, while overall Gamefly is still cheaper on the per day scope of things.  But hey, more places to get games!

Hail to the King Baby

In 1997 3D Realms started making a game. This game would win many a vaporware award and when the company tanked in 2009 the game was called dead. Little did anyone know a few months later the warlock Randy Picthford at Gearbox Software would perform dark magics learned in Hollywood (where else would you learn dark magics) and resurrected the fallen title.  This game is known as Duke Nukem Forever.  Now 14 years after it was concieved the title has made its way to the public.  Now I don't really have high hopes for this game; that will not stop me from playing it though.  The game is 14 years old (technically) so I will treat it as if it has the maturity of a boy the same age.  Also any company that is willing to stick with one title this long and not just scrap it deserves my time.  This will also be the first full title that I play on OnLive, so here is hoping this all works for the best.