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GDC Afterhours: The CAs, Riot

2011-03-13T23:00:00Z

With over 19k attendees at this years GDC, one can imagine the stress and strain that the volunteers have to endure that help make sure all the sessions run smoothly. These volunteers, the Conference Associates (CAs), were over 400 people strong this year and range from industry veterans to students trying to get their foot in the door. It's not any surprise then, that as the conference starts to wind down, that these folks decided to go to Riot... Riot Games that is.

For the second year in a row, Riot Games decided to help make sure that the CAs that have to work hard all day, also get to play hard at night, League of Legends style. Inside the hallowed sanctum of the CA headquarters during the week, a signup sheet for a League of Legends tournament had been up along side all the other postings that line the boards containing the pictures of the 400 fellow CAs. On Thursday night, the players on this sheet with a number of other CAs showed up along with a number of Riot Employees to throw down on the Fields of Justice.

The whole tournament was put together in large part by George Skleres, a fabulous friend of Dorthy, a longtime CA for GDC, and a Riot Games employee. Knowing the love all of the CAs have for games and their need to unwind after a long day of running around to keep the Conference's sky from falling, George has made sure for the last two years to have this tournament to help add some spice into his fellow CA's conference experience.

Along with the normal tournament, which this year was won by a group called "The Honey Badgers', the other highlight of the night was the Riot versus CA battle. The CA teams picked their top 5 to face off against some of the better Riot employees in a head to head game. Watching the game was great, with a wide variety of champions being chosen by each team. The early game was neck to neck for the most part, but at the end of the 40 minute battle, Riot showed that they can walk the walk as well as talk the talk.

Sure there were prizes for the winners of the tournament, and a little gloating when Riot did win the versus battle, but in the end, that Thursday night was more about everyone having fun and relaxing to the glow of videogames, which at its core, is what GDC is really all about.

Timeline of LGBT Issues In Videogames

2010-05-11T17:00:00Z

I know it's not officially Gay Pride month (which is June, just FYI), but that doesn't mean that we can't start getting into the spirit of things in May, especially with the wide rainbow array of flowers blooming this month. Apparently the folks over at MadAtoms felt the same way, since artist David Hwang and writer Ben Siemon decided to make a nifty little timeline for us, shown above, about gay issues in videogames since the dawn of Pong. You can click on the image for a larger and more readable view of the timeline.

I have to admit, while it definitely is not a definitive list, they definitely touch on a number of the more key issues that we have seen pop up in videogames for the past few decades. Birdo being transgender has always been a favorite one of mine, even if the US arm of Nintendo has tried to sweep it under the rug in the past. The Sims also probably get a few more panels than it needs, since it did take three major iterations of the game to finally get marriage as an option, but then again maybe the game is just an excellent reflection on the actual long and drawn out process of getting similar rights in the US.

Overall, I'm happy to see the progress we have made in the gaming world, and we'd like to think that this site and you reader's are helping in that evolution. So take some time to bask in the knowledge of your gay gaming roots, and celebrate the victories that we have made this far, and with those positive feelings, go out into this ever-changing world and do your part to make sure that all gamers have a better and more equal tomorrow.

A History Of Gay Rights In Video Games [MadAtoms]

First4Figure's Link Gets Rock-hard Goron To Play With

2010-05-10T17:00:00Z

Well, First4Figure's has done it yet again, they've taken a character from one of our favorite videogames of yesteryear and created a highly detailed and life-like figurine of that character for all of us to drool over (at least until we see the price tag). Expanding their already large Zelda: Ocarina of Time collection, they have now released a character that is member of one of my favorite races of the Hyrule kingdom, Darunia, King of the Gorons.

They made sure to make Darunia proportionally correct in size to Link, which means that this figure towers in at 15 inches tall from his base all the way up to his pointy hair. On top of that, true to their ways, First4Figure has paid special attention to the details of this Gorgon, which really shows in the gallery of photos we have after the jump. You can practically feel his unmoving ways and rock-hard resolve in the figure. The detail is especially evident with the intricacies of Darunia's rock-like body and beard (which fortunately covers up his rock, hard, old-man nipples).

The figure is set to come out in Q4 of 2010, but only in a limited 2500 figure batch, which means if you really want to get your figurine, you better pre-order it on the website. At just under $155, the figure might not be in everyone's price range, but I'm sure a few of you out there know that sometimes things are worth the extra penny, plus, you know, they always make a fantastic present for that gaygamer.net writer you've been stalking (hint, hint). Higher resolution photos after the jump for all you Goron and Zelda fans.

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Video: Jake Gets Action-y In Prince of Persia Clip

2010-05-06T17:00:00Z

For some time now we've been teased with the idea of Jake Gyllenhaal as the Prince of Persia in the upcoming blockbuster film. If you awaiting the release with baited breath like some of us, you also know that the end of this month, May 28th, is when we'll see just how good or bad the film adaptation of the game series truly is.

Up until now we've seen small trailers of the film, giving us a glimpse of the action, plot, and magic that will be in the finished product, but now we have a good minute's worth of straight action in the segment above to preview. The sequence has a nice flow to it, even if the tent scene is a little cheesy at the end. Overall, it helps me see that they are trying to make the movie feel like the game being played; however, that doesn't always mean the resulting product is necessarily a good film.

We'll still have to wait until May 28th to decide for ourselves how the film is, but until then I'll just watch Jake running again and again and again. . .

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II Dated

2010-05-05T17:00:00Z

If you are on any social network with nerdy friends, or on any number of forums yesterday, you probably already know that yesterday was the unofficial Star Wars day, due to the phrase "May the Fourth be with you". While today may be Cinco de Mayo (otherwise known as get drunk on cerveza day) it turns out that yesterday happened to bring some Star Wars gaming news along with it, a release date for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II.

That's right all you fans of everything Jedi with physics and graphics engines thrown into the mix, it looks like we finally have a firm idea of when you can get your mitts on the next installment of playing as Vader's secret apprentice. LucasArts let us know that October 26th is when they plan to release the next bad boy, and its going to be coming to a whole slew of consoles, namely the PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, Nintendo DS, and the PSP. Unfornately that leaves the PC gamers out in the cold, but just about anyone else will be able to get their hands on this game for some console that they own.

Look for more info on the game in the upcoming months, and for some preview/hands-on time with the game at E3. Until then you'll just have to hope you got enough "fourth" yesterday to keep you going until October.

God Of War: Ghost Of Sparta Coming To PSP

2010-05-04T17:00:00Z

Well with the final God of War on the PS3 finally out, wrapping up the tale of Kratos and his vengeance on the gods, you might think that the series will now rest its head for a while. Well, you'd be mistaken, since Sony announced today that it has the talented Ready at Dawn development team, creators of the PSP Chains of Olympus game, hard at work on another PSP incarnation of Kratos, this time called God of War: Ghost of Sparta. This one takes place shortly after the end of the original God of War and shows how Kratos truly rose to be the God of War after slaying Ares while also dealing with Kratos' trouble past and lost wife and child (hence the "ghost of sparta" part).

Some might find the news of Ready at Dawn working on a PSP game interesting, considering what they've said in the past, but I think most are elated in knowing that the same team that made Chains of Olympus such a great experience on the PSP will once again be working their magic with the franchise. Already we've been told that Ghost of Sparta will include 25% more content than Chains of Olympus, along with the normal upgrades of having a new weapon system, new powers, weapons and navigational abilities, and being able to render more enemies on screen.

While we only got a vague release window of "later in 2010", I'm fairly certain that some form of the game will be shown at E3 this year to the press, so hopefully we'll get a better impression then as to what to expect from this new story of Kratos. Until then you'll just have to keep your twitching PSP digits happy playing something else, or with beating God of War II on Chaos difficulty for the 20th time.

Black Wii Console Bundle Gets Price, Date

2010-05-03T17:00:00Z

Well, it looks like this side of the world is finally going to be getting some color when it comes to the Wii console. That's right, for too long you've had to endure the pristine white version of the Wii console while other countries (mainly Japan) started to get a few color choices. There's been rumors for a few weeks that the US would finally be getting a black version of the Wii console, and today Nintendo finally confirmed it.

That's right, the cat is finally out of the bag and starting in just a little over a week, on May 9th, we can all get our hands on this new bundle. The bundle includes a Wii console with the jet-black finish, a Wiimote, Nunchuck, Wii MotionPlus, and both the Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort games, all for the price of $200. The bundle itself is a nice savings, considering that both games that come with it appeal to a broad audience and are tons of fun. This new bundle will also come in the old fashioned white color too.

Granted, since the bundle only comes with one controller's worth of accessories, you'll have to buy a whole other set of Wiimote, Nunchuck, and Wii MotionPlus controllers in order to even play the games with anyone else, but that's how the cookie has always crumbled. I'm just glad that now I have a color option that can match the PS3 on my media stand. One step closer to a perfect living room.

Professor Layton And The Eternal Diva DVD To Release Outside Japan

2010-04-08T17:00:00Z

About a month ago, Wootini alerted us to the fantastic news that Professor Layton and his sidekick Luke had their own series of anime movies being produced in Japan about their adventures. Well, they just recently subtitled the movie into English for the Singapore distribution of the movie, and along with that have announced that the DVD and Blu-ray will be released in the US in September of this year, which is exciting news.

The first movie also has a title that has me particularly excited, Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva. An eternal diva? That sounds fabulous, and I wouldn't be all that surprised if the diva turns out to be Luke himself. The big question is whether or not the movie will just be released stateside with only the subtitles or if they are going to have the English dubbing cast of the game series work on the title to give us an English dub of the movie as well. Anyway you slice it, it'll be great to get our hands on the movie sooner rather than later, since the movie already launched in Japan last December.

As Wootini mentioned last time, they are planning to make a series of movies, so if this one sells well outside of Japan, I'm sure we can expect to see the rest released here too. Below is the original trailer with subtitles in place.

Square Enix Love Small Surprises On Twitter

2010-04-05T17:00:00Z

Well, faePuck alerted us to it last week, that Square Enix was considering republishing Final Fantasy IX on the PSN, much like it has with all of the Final Fantasy predecessors. A few days later during last week, Square Enix released a small (and I do mean small) video in which they confirm that the PSN release will indeed be happening. Vivi and Steiner fans around the world can rejoice!

While it's great that we are getting news bits more frequently from the RPG giant in Japan, it looks as though the new way they are spreading the info is through their new Twitter feed. For instance, just recently the Square Enix producer, Shinji Hashimoto, decided to tweet this little nugget:

"Good morning. It's the start of a week. In Tokyo, rain has started. Please stick with us this week as well. We're readying a small surprise this week too. Look forward to it. Hashimoto."

Hmmmm, small surprise, could be a lot of things. Most are assuming that it is just more info on the Final Fantasy IX release, maybe with a release date, but who knows. I doubt that a "small surprise" would be anything too big, since that goes against the whole idea of the word "small", but you never know, concepts of size in Japan are tricky in nature. As for me, I'll just be hoping this is the official announcement of afro chocobos that work like seamonkeys for my hair.

Blizzard April Foolery Abounds

2010-04-01T17:00:00Z

Yup, it's that time of year again for all that tomfoolery to take place that would normally result in people loosing their jobs, if it weren't for it being April Fool's Day. One company that always seems to have a few tricks up their sleeves for the event is Blizzard Entertainment, and with as many games they currently have in the works or actively being played, they always have three to four jokes for us all to laugh at a bit.

The first up is one that I, not being a fan of the Slanket/Snuggie fad, personally get a chuckle from reading. Apparently Blizzard will be releasing a limited number of X-treme Gamer Blankets branded as Diablo III merchandise. The blanket (shown to the right) comes in one of two colors, Magi Blue or Blunderbore Brown, and has "Freedom of Movement Holes" in the front to help you move around while staying warm; it has both form and function! (but unfortunately no style) Even better is that if you purchase two of the blankets you also get a Diablo III Body Pillow with the picture of some grotesque devil spawn on it, perfect for scaring you to sleep.

Next on the block is something for all you virtual reality fans out there, the Battle.net Neural Interface. Apparently it comes in three fabulous colors and "reads and adapts to your unique brainwave signature, forming a permanent and unbreakable bond, ensuring that all your senses are properly mapped to your character's view of the game world;" however, apparently removing the device once properly mapped to your brainwaves is not advised and will probably leave you with permanent loss of brain function. I do have to say, if this would allow me to even come close to beating one of the thousands of Starcraft experts I have to face right now in the Starcraft II online beta, it'd be well worth the brain loss, since I'm already beating my head against the desk in every match.

On the World of Warcraft side, it looks like they are releasing a new ranking system called the Equipment Potency EquivalencE Number, or EPEEN for short. Apparently the system will keep track of the elite gear you get, along with any individual and raid achievements that you unlock, and work out a number based on that info. The real kicker is that the system will also use the phasing abilities of the game, so that as you increase in EPEEN, you only see those of similar level. This means you'll never have to see all those noobs (or better yet all the elitist a-holes) again, since they won't be in the same plane of existence as your character. There are even rewards as you EPEEN grows such as "a permanent bonus to 'need' rolls, the ability to cut to the front of the queue in the Dungeon Finder, a larger ignore list, [and] a much shorter dungeon deserter debuff."

The last joke are two funny little tongue-in-cheek mobile games that Blizzard has announced called Blackthorne 2: Thorne Harder and Queen's Quest. The first is a throw back to one of Blizzard's first games, the SNES Blackthorne property, redone as a iPhone game. The second uses the Starcraft universe to properly mimic the PC adventure Quest series of Sierra Entertainment, which is currently a child company of Activision Blizzard. Make sure to read the bullet points for the games, since it makes jabs at both DRM schemes and Facebook/Twitter integration.

Overall, there are plenty of jokes and images in the above to make anyone whose enjoyed a Blizzard (or Sierra) game in the past chuckle a bit. Enjoy it while you can, cause in a few days you'll be back to pondering the joke that is when Diablo III will ever get released.

Preview - Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4

2010-03-31T17:00:00Z

Everybody loves playing with LEGOs, and the sentiment doesn't seem to change when it comes to combining the beloved childhood toy with blockbuster Hollywood movies. Traveller's Tales Games has a great track record of encapsulating and molding classic movies such as Star Wars and Indiana Jones to the LEGO game formula, but recently TT has decided to take on a much more modern childhood series, Harry Potter. Even moreso, the studio is jumping into the series full force and giving players LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4, which includes the storyline of Harry Potter from the Philosopher's Stone all the way to Goblet of Fire; that's quite an undertaking. If anyone can do it right in the LEGO world, it's TT Games, and from what they've shown us, it seems they have.

As with all the games they lego-fy, TT Games has some freedom with the properties that they work with and still always stay faithful to the source material while still adding their own style and humor to the game. From the cutscenes and storyline we were shown in the preview, they are able to tell the tale of Harry Potter fittingly, even without making the characters speak out loud. It is truly amazing the range of emotional and dramatic dialog that they get across through the use of simple LEGO figurines, but it really adds to the humor and mood of the game. Overall, fans can be assured that the game, while less complex than both the movies and the books for each year, correctly weave the fantastical tale of Harry Potter and his friends at Hogwarts.

Speaking of Hogwarts, the school serves as the central hub for the game's story, which Harry and his friends must navigate to help unravel the story. As Harry Potter you start out with just a few spells to help you weave magic at the Hogwarts school and further you on your journey, but as you progress through the game you gain more and more, allowing you access to other areas of Hogwarts and letting you to reveal more of Harry's story. It turns out that there will be at least six major story events for each year of Harry Potter's adventures at Hogwarts, so there will be plenty of content for players to jump, fly, and 'magic' their way through.

Speaking of jumping and flying, the game's controls shown to us were easy and intuitive, with designers even making flying on a broomstick simplistic yet fun. They have an easy spell wheel to allow you to quickly and effortlessly switch between all the different spells you need. They also have very interactive environments that allow you to easily rearrange and manipulate objects to hilarious results that result in gaining more LEGO studs or other items for your efforts. Using the levitating powers, we even got to see some user guided LEGO construction sequences where you really had to snap together the blocks to help overcome obstacles.

The user-movable blocks are in this new game in part due to the new physics engine they've incorporated into their game's engine, allowing for more realistic movements of items and characters in the game, especially when using the Wingardium Leviosa spell. They've also added a bit to the graphics engine, allowing for their particle effects in game to look even better and highlight all the magic done in game. One of the ways the new engine also helps is in its use to incorporate a better split screen mechanic which makes it easier to split up when playing cooperatively with a friend, but still know how to get back to each other.

On top of all that, they've already said that they will have well over 140 playable characters in the game, which definitely makes for a ton of replay and plenty to find and unlock for both new and seasoned players. Overall, the game looks fantastic, and while there is still no set release date for the game, we know it should be dropping sometime in June on a myriad of platforms, namely: Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo DS, PSP, and Windows PCs. Until its release, we'll be sure to keep our muggle ears to the ground to help pull up any news on the game.

PAX East: Been Caught Sleepin' Once, When I Was Tired

2010-03-30T17:30:00Z

Most websites show you the happy-go-lucky side of PAX, with its Expo room teaming with exhibitors, its floor full of fans, the rooms packed with people gaming, and its hallways full of cosplayers; however, all of that fun and excitement has a price it pays on the average PAX attendee. It takes plenty of sugar, greasy food, empty calories, and energy drinks to help keep you going strong for three full days of gaming goodness. With every up there comes a down, and sometimes one can only find solace within the hallowed halls of the convention.

Luckily, at PAX they always have plenty of giant bean bag chairs setup in the handheld gaming hallways, which are usually busy with people on their laptops or playing games on their PSPs or DSes. Despite all the gamers using them to game, the soft and pliable chairs often become the crashing zone for tired PAX goers. At any time during the day one can walk down the hallway and find a few people taking a nice nap on the brightly colored bags. After seeing a number of people crashed out on the bags in a number of fun and cute poses on Sunday, the last day of the event, I decided to bring a bit of the lesser seen tired and lazy side of PAX to readers. I was able to take 18 photos during 2 to 3 passes of the hallways that day, so enjoy all the photos below of a small assortment of the restful wildlife at PAX East.

I will be monitoring the comments and will not tolerate derogatory or excessively lewd comments on the people in the photos, so please keep your messages positive and/or light-hearted in nature if you choose to comment.

Storytime: Alien Versus Pooh

2010-03-26T17:00:00Z

For many children, the tale of Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends in the 100 Acre Woods is a whimsical story of friendship and curiosity created by A. A. Milne and illustrated by E. H. Shepard. Once Disney picked up the franchise, there have been a number of reincarnations of Pooh throughout the years, but I think the one created by Giant Hamburger may take the cake in the "cute but creepy" category.

Aptly titled Alien versus Pooh, the story involves your favorite Pooh Bear getting greeted by a facehugger they only way a facehugger knows how. The story evolves from there, but I'll leave the mystery and intrigue of what happens next to the reader to find out. I have to say that the hand-drawn crayon artwork for the book is perfect for the mixture of childhood memories and Sci-Fi nightmares contained within its pages. It almost makes me wonder if we'd ever see anything like this in the Kingdom Hearts series someday. A boy can hope, can't he?

Alien Versus Pooh [Giant Hamburger]

BlizzCon 2010 Announced

2010-03-25T17:00:00Z

With PAX East looming on the horizon, it only seems appropriate that we get word of another big gaming convention just a day before. It looks like the people over at Blizzard have finally nailed down the location and dates of the next BlizzCon. As always, the BlizzCon event is a chance for fans to hear the juiciest news on all games Blizzard while also getting to try out Blizzard's latest games and socialize with the staff behind the games as well as fellow enthusiasts.

It looks like the fifth BlizzCon will be held once again at the Anaheim Convention Center, though this year it'll be in October, specifically Friday, October 22nd and Saturday, October 23rd. As always with their events, Blizzard will be releasing more info on how to get the $100+ tickets as the event draws closer. I'm sure will see the same priority system used last year to release the tickets for purchase from active players of their games, which will sellout quickly. Plus, I'm sure they will be offering the purchase of the online packages once again so that you can watch the highlights of the convention from the comfort of your home too.

All that said, hopefully we're going to get some more definitive news on Diablo III release dates at the event, since Starcraft II hopefully will have already launched by then, and WoW: Cataclysm is apparently slated to be released sometime around October, so Diablo will be the onyl title without an immediate launch window. One could always get his hopes up for some information on their undisclosed "other" MMO that they have mentioned a few times, but I've learned never to expect the unexpected with Blizzard.

JRPG Trinity Universe To Hit Outside Japan In June

2010-03-24T17:00:00Z

Many of us that like the tactical RPG genre have a fond place in our hearts for Nippon Ichi, due in part to the Disgaea series. Others might have other feelings in their hearts when it comes to Japanese developer Gust and the Atelier series. Whatever your thoughts may be on those two series, last year Nippon Ichi, Gust, and developer Idea Factory all teamed up together to produce a game that involves both the Atelier and Disgaea universes. The game was called, Trinity Universe and was a 3D JRPG. The game boasts two plotlines in the gamem and true to Nippon Ichi form the plot is the best part being that it is creative and somewhat whimsical:

"For generations, Kanata's ancestors have protected the Netheruniverse by transmogrifying into a Demon God Gem. However, Demon God King Kanata refused to become the gem and instead became a Demon Dog King. Since then, he has enjoyed a carefree life in hiding, but he eventually began thinking about the toll of his decision. Accepting the title of Demon God King and becoming the gemstone will stop space debris from crashing into his world. If he could get to the source of the space debris and solve the problem, everybody will be happy. Determined, Kanata goes on a journey to save his world."

While the game has received mixed reviews from its release in Japan, partial due to gameplay issues, it still has sold well enough that NIS America has decided to bring the game to US and European audiences. That's right, looks like NIS America is there once again to help all of us that don't want to deal with importing but still love a little bit of JRPG action every now and again. The game is slated to release of the PlayStation 3 in June for both US and European markets, so look for more information on the game's release in the upcoming months.