Endangered Gamer

I've been following VA for a while now, and while some of the internets think she's a mean bitch , sometimes her brutal truth-ness really hits the mark. her newest post takes on the " blame videogames for school shootings " and makes perfect sense of the reasons some lost kids choose violence to solve their problems..

looks like microsoft scooped Apple's multiple input tech......

New weapons like the reworked pistol, plasma sword (yeah, it's not NEW new, but new to the halo 3 beta....) a 2 person Wraith tank, that silly-named Chopper, and new multiplayer modes are what's been popping since last night. here's a video of the hackers doing their thing on the Halo 3 beta, and check out Xbox 360 Fanboy for all the info on GamePro's scoop ... uugh , i fucking HATE gamepro . they're like the Wal -Mart of the videogame magazine world.....

Mayor Daley's car got a ticket.....

I just got through finishing this for my nephew Ferran . he's a huge Princess Peach fan, and i hope he takes care of it. Took me about 3 hours to do it from start to finish.

never saw this before till today, but kotaku got a post of a local hair salon on Lawrence ave rocking Yuna from Final Fantasy ( don't know which one, since they've all sucked since 2000). $5 dollar haircuts and high camp?? i'm going there for my next cut.

normally these things would be politely taken and thrown in the back of the closet with the "greatest hits" that never make it out of the packaging, but in this case, it might just be worth getting. it's a Street Fighter II Special Championship Edition plug n' play genesis port .....thing. as a bonus, it comes with ghouls and ghosts, a semi-marginal game for the genesis. for 20 bucks, it's nowhere near how much money I've wasted on this game. maybe "wasted" is a bit too harsh.

Yesterday i had a gaming binge that hasn't been seen since before i was married. probably at least 8-10 months. I took my xbox 360 over to my brother's house early (10 am) and when my wife and his girlfriend took off shopping, we spent the next 12 hours playing all kinds of games, nonstop. add some beer (actually, alot of beer) and a few friends, and all hell broke loose. Gil even lost 2 matches of Street Fighter II!!!!!!!!! The full list includes Guitar Hero 2, Aegis Wing, (which is awesome in multiplayer , by the way) Double Dragon, the Halo 3 beta, Halo 2, Burnout Revenge, Street Fighter II, Heavy Weapon, Contra, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade, and a bit of wii play. most of the XBLA games we finished, and i got a shitload of co-op achievements in Guitar Hero 2 thanks to Gil, who bought over his controller. i'm going to go on a game-free fast for the rest of the day. my mind needs time off.

that rocket launcher looks a bit shiny, and small Half-Life 2 boxes, with realistic pixels!!!!!!

I seem to be getting more and more proof that the internets hate me. or think I'm a pussy. Toogle is a text version of Googles Image Search. Currently it creates images out of the very term that was used to fetch those images, they come out looking like ASCII images. being curious, i decided to enter my alter ego's name and see what came up ... i guess this freaking site thinks I'm part of the female reproductive organ....great...

t hese percussion instruments are called hang drums , and make a really mellow and trancy sound.

This was scrawled on a tree somewhere in pilsen after the sox won the 2005 world series. awesome, but a bit creepy.

Rumors suggest that George Lucas, director and destroyer of the Star Wars cash cow, is going to make an announcement of a new film (or FILMS) set before the original trilogy. Yay? I'm not sure how i feel about this. on the one hand, MOAR STAR WARS!!!!! but on the other hand, the first 2 of the "new" trilogy sucked hard. Really hard. Revenge of the Sith was good, but jeez, we had to wait 4 years for it!!! we'll know today what the story is, morning glory........ Oops, guess not..... he's going to announce something about 2 new tv shows, one animated, and one drama. great. now we're going to have the star wars OC.

see this crazy looking pic? it's a image i pulled off o f Feng-GUI. from their site... Find out how people View your website or image and which areas are getting most of the attention. The ViewFinder Heatmap service, is an artificial intelligence service which simulates human visual attention and creates an attention heatmap (represented by the color variations.) let's look a bit closer...... WTF, why are people looking at Gil's gamercard and not mine????? maybe they're shocked and appalled by the minuscule gamerscore.....

here's one more video of a carnival game for the wii called.....wait for it..... Carnival Games!! yay. no really, yay. we need more minigames.

Joystiq and Kotaku all got chances to play first party and third party nintendo games set for release later this summer, and they've posted hands on impressions with Mario Strikers:Charged, Brain Age 2, The Bigs , (EA's version of hyper aggro baseball) Boogie , a rythem game, and Mario Party 8 , which comes out next week..... oh yeah, and Metroid Prime: Corruption releases August 20!!!!! w00t!!!!!

in a few hours, Kotaku's going to have a Nintendo media blowout , with promised videos and screenshots of some anticipated games. I'll be up to monitor events, and post any interesting info. Interesting being the key word.

*sigh*

finally, she's back online!!!!yay!!!!!!

ooh, creepy!!! the offical leak came and went , but was hiding this message.....

them are some BALLIN rims, dog.....

looks like Apple's iphone has a buddy.....

i like the add kids, and all the free time they have.....

the new nintendo power drops the bomb diggity, and announces that Kuju is developing a version of Geo Wars for the Wii and the DS. both versions have an extensive single-player campaign (!!!), motion/touch control, and multiplayer functionality. Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved ( the XBLA version) will also be included. I'm not as excited about this as i should be. on the one hand, a DS version sounds awesome, but a Wii version that looks crappy....not so much.

August 20 is the day that one of Nintendo's heavy hitters lands. Strange that it hits in late summer, but it will be first in a parade of bad-ass games hitting every month from July on......(Bioshock in July, Metroid in Aug, Halo 3 in sep, assasin's creed, GTA 4, in oct.)

this movie looks ultraviolent, and awesome, with a extra helping of boom.

here is a taste of what you can expect to tweak in Halo 3's custom games this fall..... * Damage resistance * Shield multiplier * Shield recharge rate * Immune to headshots * Grenade counts * Infinite ammo * Weapon pickup disabled * Player speed (25%, 50%, 75%, 90%, 100%, 110%, 125%, 150%, 200%, 300%) * Player gravity (50%, 100%, 200%) * Vehicle use (passenger only) * Motion tracker range (10m, 25m, 75m, 100m, 150m) * Appearance o Vis effects (black glow, team glow, white glow) o Active camo (good camo that might fool and elite, poor camo that might fool a grunt, invisible) * Indestructible vehicles (on, off)

yeah, one day later, some kids have laid the foundation for future out-of-map experiences and getting out of the map.....

i played last night for about 4 hours, well into the the night. it's just as polished and fragtastic as i expected, even if the graphics didn't blow me away. getting that first kill with the spartan laser was fucking awesome. i only won 1 slayer game , but had a blast just the same. more later.....

i just had too. really.

I've been following this Halo 3 beta delay thing all day, and the crescendo of insane fanboys is really entertaining. the venom with which they rant and rave about this delay, and what they think is owed to them is surprising, i think some of them actually believe that they are being hurt, or that they are entitled to a flawless roll out for the beta. the fact is, i held a teeny-weenie bit of trepidation in the last few days, hoping that there wouldn't be massive delays in the download, knowing that at least 1 million people would try to download the beta in the first day. *sigh* i guess I'll keep waiting......

it's almost 7:30 a.m. and the download option in Crackdown isn't working yet. i still have to go to work....... decisions, decisions....... BTW, the peeps at the offical Bungie forums are going CRA-ZZYYYY!!!!

Sep 25 is the release date for Halo 3. start counting the days........

less than 12 hours, now, till the halo 3 beta releases. in these last few hours, Bungie has released a beta guide that breaks down all the features in the beta. file sharing, save game films and descriptions of the new maps, and tactics and weapons guides are all discussed. spend some time reading that stuff, Gil. come tomorrow, there are NO excuses.

I don't advocate kid leashes, but this mother might want to think about it...... ( thanks, Gil!!!! )

for anyone with a mac and a 360, Connect360 just got updated again to work. it was down since the last dashboard update, but it's back on, for the 5 people who will use it. hooray!!!!

if anyone is sick of all the Halo 3 posts lately, I'm sorry. really, i know that I'm obsessed with this game in particular, and there's really nothing i can do. anyway, here's a new Halo video!!!!! the mancannon can be used to launch humans, vehicles, and now grenades!!! Halo 2 was weird like that, grenades were the only thing (come to think of it, all weapons) wouldn't launch in the grav lifts, but in Halo 3, you can toss a plasma after an airborne warthog and still get the killz!!!

My friend Gil finally took the plunge and bought a Xbox 360. That's his gamertag on the right. Hooray for the pathetic gamerscore, i'm sure he'll get it up to a respectable level soon.....

Goddammit, i can't get enough of this game. considering all the shit out right now, and all the games I'm playing (Pokemon Diamond, Prince of Persia: Rival Swords, Crackdown DLC , Sonic and the Secret Rings, Super Paper Mario, Kid Icarus, Halo 2) i keep going back to Catan . it's the board game equivalent of crack. after 5 tries, i finally won a game at the default difficulty , and soon I'll be ready to go online. The official Settlers of Catan site has some strategies that really helped out, and made me realise I've been too too kind to my opponents in my first couple of games. It's time to be a total asshole, and dominate!!!!! * When placing your first settlement, count the dots to find what will be the rarest resource type. Getting yourself at least some of that resource will usually pay off in the long run even if it means sacrificing a point or two of revenue. * If it looks like you’re competing with an opponent for a good settlement spot,...

that wrestles..... yeah, it's weird and slightly creepy. Make that VERY creepy.

it just keeps coming and coming and coming....

a boatload of videos have sprung up everywhere of new footage of last night's Halo 3 shindig. 4 days.....4 days.....4 days.....4 days.....4 days.....4 days.....4 days.....4 days.....4 days.....4 days..... 4 days.....4 days.....4 days.....4 days.....4 days.....4 days.....4 days.....4 days.....4 days.....4 days..... 4 days.....4 days.....4 days.....4 days.....4 days.....4 days.....4 days.....4 days..... 4 days.....4 days.....4 days.....4 days.....4 days.....4 days.....4 days.....4 days.....4 days.....4 days.....

i acutally think it's available NOW, ( yep, i just checked ) the first video's start had me rolling........ here's a vid of the "debug mode"

those mongooses look like fun, fun, fun!!!!

In this time-lapse video from Iowa, you can see the movement of a gravity wave. Gravity waves are generated in the troposphere by frontal systems or by airflow over mountains. At first waves propagate through the atmosphere without affecting its mean velocity. But as the waves reach more rarefied air at higher altitudes, their amplitude increases, and nonlinear effects cause the waves to break, transferring their momentum to the mean flow.

if you're in the chicago area, try to come down to Looptopia tomorrow night. It's an all-night arts event centered in the downtown loop, and a shitload of cool events like shadowplay, breakdancing, a silent movie fest and outdoor dance party, among other events like the Redmoon Theater's fire breathing performance. check out the full schedule here.

Yay, i just got an email saying i got into the Joost beta test . It's a service from the guys that made Skype and Kazaa that uses the internet to deliver content from broadcast tv to your pc ( or smelly hippie mac). It's supported by targeted ads, so i think it's free. i'll post some impressions once i get home and install the client.

Just as soon as i started to bitch and moan about the lack of quality XBLA titles , here comes Catan . a port of the board game Settlers of Catan , it's a brilliant strategy /resource hording/ trade-a- thon and a really good social game. I only played a few (2) games, but was instantly hooked. Gotta tune out that music though, I'd bet a few clams that the guys responsible for the music in Uno also scored this title. anyway, get it now, and I'll trade 2 wheat for 1 ore!!!! oh yeah, i also bought (!) Double Dragon. it's fucking eyeball-stabbing hard, and I'm pretty sure anyone who even gets more than 5 achievements in that game is a freak or cheating. or maybe I'm just jaded.

IGN , the internet's wretched hive of scum and villainy, reports on Entertainment Weekly's interview with Shigeru Miyamoto , who just ignited a f anboy armageddon with these simple words: "I could make Halo. It's not that I couldn't design that game. It's just that I choose not to. One thing about my game design is that I never try to look for what people want and then try to make that game design. I always try to create new experiences that are fun to play." So Shiggy is a game design god, and could make any type of game, any game AT ALL. He just CHOOSES not to. the funny thing is, I'm inclined to believe him. The man's been behind some of the most successful franchises in gaming history, and if he says he can make a Halo-level game, then dammit, i believe him!!!!! We'll get stuck shooting cotton candy from a cannon and picking flowers for ammo, but hey, it's SHIGERU MIYAMOTO for god's sake!!!! ( see what i did, i put shigg...

just a wee bit racy.

Is it me, or do the last few weeks of Virtual Console and XBLA releases suck? can't say I've ever wondered when I'd play Final Fight or Mighty Bombjack again. XBLA isn't doing much better, either. I bought the pinball game (because really, how can you mess up pinball????) and was sorely disappointed. the shitty views and totally boring table designs made me regret spending points on that piece of shit. Eets and and the absolutely HORRIBLE 3D minigolf game wasted about 20 minutes of my time. thank god i didn't buy them. i want those 20 minutes back, Microsoft.

high drama and SMB collide in a cosplay film. i especially like the part where he gets allcrackhead junkie on a invincibility star...... Mario: Game Over - Brought to you by Break.com Video Search

April 29th 1982, EMI - Elstree Studios, England. A frustrated Richard Marquand is not getting the performance he needs from one of his key actors, Timothy Rose. In a last ditch effort, Marquand shows Rose, playing the role of Admiral Ackbar, a number of films to help him prepare for his final scene of "Return of the Jedi"...

this one is crazier than the last one because you must exploit hacks and glitches to get throught the levels.... it's sick, and makes my head hurt.....

I'v been waiting for this game for a while now, since it's going to be the first online-enabled Wii title. this video runs through some of the features of Super Mario Strikers, like friend lists, Mii intergration, stat tracking, lobby setup and adding friends. it's a long one, but full of interesting info.

Since getting my 360 back, I've trembled at the thought of bringing the Guitar Hero 2 our of the close less i get i t screwed up again , I've tried and tried to download the new Halo 2 maps with absolutely NO success , and I've bought one steaming pile of XBLA shit called Pinball something. worst video pinball game ever, for reals . I already told myself I won't pull GH 2 out until after the Halo 3 beta ends. Speaking of the Halo 3 beta test starting in 2 short(!!!!!!) weeks, there's been a few new leaks of videos that are in such shitty quality, i didn't ' even bother to watch them all the way through. I've dived headlong into that vortex my DS has created, which is Pokemon diamond. I've never ever played a Pokemon game, but I'll be damned if it isn't a pretty good game. addictive even. Once my brother gets off his ass and starts the game, I'll have someone to lay the smackdown to. If anyone wants to trade or battle, leav...

Family Guy's Peter Griffen vs. Sakura. fucking awesome. And now, for the main event..... HOMER VS. PETER!!!!!!!!!!!!

....and i'm gonna play....

i fucking LOVED this action figure, with the Buzzsaw cassette !!!!!

Seems like griefing in World of Warcraft just got dangerous in Mexico, where some chowderhead named Bronco Carlson (WTF???) got his ass kicked by the husband of a Warcraft player he PK'd over and over. I'm too lazy to type all the details, so head on over to Destructoid.com to read all about it.

i like water. most of me is made of water, with some other stuff mixed in , but for the most part, I'm a fan of water. this water is awesome. Bioshock keeps looking better and better, and i'm seeing some trade-in's in my future .

I've never been a huge liquor fan, preferring beer in all it's crazy-ass brews to the smorgasbord of fruity drinks available at local bars. That's not to say i don't enjoy some drinks on special occasions, like New Year's Day or when a certain Southside baseball team wins a championship , but for the most part, I stick to beer, preferably a pilsner. I am aware, though, of the myth and allure of Absinthe, the banned-in-the-U.S. spirit popular with European bourgeoisie . Getting any quantity of absinthe in the U.S. is quite the achievement, since you can't legally import it (it's OK to possess or get shitfaced drinking it). The main reason for the import ban seems to be the quantity of thujone it contains, a toxic compound that can make you ded. So some i ntrepid distiller has created a concoction that removes the offending thujone, making it legal to produce and export here. It's not exactly what absinthe really is, since the taste is affect...