A mushroom in a mushroom?

A mushroom in a mushroom?, originally uploaded by Oh Yeeeeah drink Kool Aid.

Toad has moved in the Smurf village. Guess he got tired of being Mario's bitch.

Run Piggy Run!

Run Piggy!, originally uploaded by Oh Yeeeeah drink Kool Aid.

Epic 8-Bit Art: Mega Man vs Mega Man

Mega Man vs Mega Man, originally uploaded by slusk666.

From my favorite Pixel Painter, Slusk666 comes Mega Man vs Mega Man. Painted on a 24x30cm board in acrylics - Mega Man fights a cloned version of himself in the first Mega Man game on the NES.

You can check out more of Slusk666's work on his Flickr page.

E3 2010 Trailer: Rayman Origins

Another new Rayman game from Ubisoft but this one looks into the origin story of Rayman. This game has the wonderful brand of Rayman and Rabbids humour though.

E3 2010 Trailer: Raving Rabbids Travel in Time

Another Rabbids game and this time they are messing up history by traveling back in time. I love the parody of Back to the Future.
DAHHHHHHH!!

Things I Got Excited About: Nintendo Conference Edition

Video Games | Zelda: Skyward Sword | E3 2010: Debut Trailer (Stream)

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

So this morning it was Nintendo's turn to bring the fire to the stage and boy, were we surprised. I'm honestly started to think that Nintendo is playing a game of cat and mouse with their competition. "Okay, now that everyone's on board with casual games and motion control, we bring back core games!!!" BOO YAH BITCHES!

Nintendo opened the show with a brand new Legend of Zelda game, Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword which feature wii motion plus controls. The demo on stage was awful and full of problems but they swore it was connectivity problems and not the game. Hands-on previews from the show floor will hopefully tell a better story. The game looks like an awesome combination of Twilight Princess and Windwaker.

Then they got into the casual stuff with games like Mario Sports Mix which is chalked full of mini sporting events and Wii Party which is another mini game party game. Just Dance 2 was also announced ... okay, boring stuff aside now. On to the good stuff!

Golden Sun: Dark Dawn was mentioned again for the Nintendo DS and this time we got to see some gameplay. They showed off Metroid: Other M as well. Stuff we all knew was coming but they didn't bring up Pikmin 3 which would have been nice.

Video Games | Epic Mickey | E3 2010: Debut Live Demo (Stream)

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Epic Mickey for the Nintendo Wii was brought out for demo play and it looked amazing. The game included 3D open levels as well as side-scrolling levels. Many of your favorite well known Disney characters will be in the game from Mickey cartoons to Peter Pan to a few forgotten characters.

Nintendo has brought back a few familiar franchise this year with Donkey Kong Country Returns for the Nintendo Wii, Golden Eye for the Wii (Remake), Kirby: Epic Yarn for the Wii, and finally Kid Icarus for the Nintendo 3DS. Yes, they love their core gamers again.

Video Games | Nintendo 3DS | E3 2010: Live Demo Part I (Stream)

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

At the end of the show, they revealed the Nintendo 3DS which is the new 3D handheld gaming system. While I am not overly excited for this device, I must admit it sounds pretty cool. The system is 3D without the use of glasses. It can play 3D movies and games plus take 3D pictures. They redesigned the interface to include a new analog stick instead of d-pad.

Video Games | Nintendo 3DS | E3 2010: Live Demo Part II (Stream)

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Time will only tell if this thing will redefine gaming - hell, Nintendo tricked everyone else into creating motion controllers, so why not 3D gaming?

Stuff I Got Excited About: Microsoft Xbox Conference Edition

Video Games | Xbox 360 | E3 2010: The New Xbox 360 Featurette

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Okay, so yesterday we had the first of the big 3 game conference starting with Microsoft and all their Xbox news. Honestly if you didn't know any better you would have thought you were watching a Nintendo conference from a couple of years ago. Kinect Sports = Wii Sports? Kinectimals = Nintendogs? Kinect Joy Ride = Mario Kart Wii? I think so.


Basically both Microsoft and Sony are now jumping on the casual and motion controller train to grab their bag o' money and its kind of sad in a way. I like to sit on my ass to play videogames and so do the rest of the real gamers in this world. Kinect will be just another gadget people will turn on once and while but will basically collect dust once the novelty wears off. I only keep my Wii around for Nintendo's core line-up of games and that's it.

Video Games | Fable III | E3 2010: Debut Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

So besides the dumb Kinect stuff they showed off, Microsoft did managed to bring a few "A" game items like Fable 3 *drools* and Metal Gear Solid Rising which will feature Raiden in the main role this time. He will have new precision sword control.

Video Games | Metal Gear Solid: Rising | E3 2010: Debut Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

They also showed off a teaser trailer for a new game called Codename: Kingdoms. Not much was shown in the preview but it looked promising. Overall most of it was Kinect games and demo time with the new device. They also showed off Call of Duty: Black Ops, Gears of War 3, Forza 4 and a little known game called Halo Reach.

But again, most of it focused on Kinect games like Dance Central, a new full motion dance moves game or Your Shape: Fitness Evolved which will also take full advantage of the Kinect system. The only cool game they talked about here was the possible Kinect Star Wars game but until I get a lightsaber with a game, I am still not jumping for joy here.

They also talked about new features coming to Xbox Live like ESPN and the games on demand feature but more than likely this will not come to Canada, so moving along.

Video Games | Dance Central | E3 2010: Debut Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Beside Halo Reach, Fable 3 and Metal Gear Solid Rising, there was much here to jump for joy over. Even their announcement of a brand new Xbox 360 with a 250GB hard drive and built-in Wi-Fi didn't have me jumping out of my seat. I personally don't have the money to buy a new one even though my old Xbox is chugging along a horrible rate right now. Maybe if I got a freebie like the other journalists there in studio, I could jump for joy.

Note: this new Xbox still will chew your game disc to hell if you move the system mid-play. Video via Destructoid

If you are hard up for a new Xbox though, these babies are shipping out right now and should be in stores as of next week. Considering the hard drive space, built-in Wi-Fi and the fact they are the same price as the old console, I would go for it. RRoD and disc chewing aside, the new models are still better in the long run for the price.

Women in Gamestop Stores: Riff Track Edition

I'm not even sure if this is a real training video or a joke but who ever added the riff track is a genius. Honestly though, I hope that Gamestop doesn't think of their female customers are complete lost airheads or this will be just one more reason for me to continue shopping at the other guy's stores. Women shoppers are not deers in the headlights that need you big customer service reps to talk down to us.

Kingdom Hearts: Re:coded and Other E3 Square Enix Games

Got the official list of E3 games from Square Enix today and low and behold there's a new Kingdom Hearts game listed on there - Kingdom Hearts: Re:coded. Now its for the Nintendo DS, so this cannot be the official sequel to Kingdom Hearts 2 but the description of the game does suggest that the game plot does continue after the events of Kingdom Hearts 2, so at least we have progress here. Still the game is not called Kingdom Hearts 3, so its not the official sequel.

Kingdom Hearts: Re:coded Official Description:

"Sora’s journey in KINGDOM HEARTS II has drawn to a close, and now a new tale is set to begin. Jiminy Cricket is looking over the journal he used to document his first adventure with Sora when he discovers a mysterious message. He didn’t write it – so how on earth did it get there? King Mickey is determined to find out, so he and his friends decide to digitize the journal and delve into its deepest secrets. Inside this “datascape” dwells a second Sora who is about to embark on a grand adventure of his very own."

Again, this doesn't sound like an official sequel as it doesn't have anything to do with the secret ending found at the end of KH2.

Also on the list of E3 games was games like The 3rd Birthday, Dungeon Siege 3, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Final Fantasy XIV, Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light, Front Mission Evolved,  Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days, Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, and 2 Tales of Bearsworth Manor titles.

I'm looking forward to the new Dungeon Siege 3, Kingdom Hearts titles, Tomb Raider and anything Final Fantasy. Hopefully Square Enix will deliver some good titles this year.

Shopping on Threadless: Gamer Edition

I've been birthday shopping for my wee nephew who's going to be 1-years-old this month and I always like to get my nephew something fun and something practical - usually clothes and a toy. So noticed Threadless.com finally added Paypal payment to their site, so I decided to buy him a shirt I wanted to buy my first nephew Evan a long time ago.

Unfortunately the shirt wasn't available in his size ... boo.

So I went for the next best idea which was a cute little Donkey Kong shirt called "Arcade Expressionism" by Brock Davis. I have seen this shirt around the net before and thought is was awesome. My oldest nephew plays videogames and I think its time to start getting the younger one hooked.


But this wasn't the only cool t-shirt design I found. There was the "My Other Ride is Light Cycle" by Rolf Nelson which is a Tron tribute shirt or hoodie.


The "Haunted Hedge Maze" by Aled Lewis which is a Pac-Man tribute shirt.


Or finally my favorite, "A Simple Plan" by Neil Gregory which is a Space Invaders tribute.

Buying Nintendo Figures for Cheap: Bonus Candy too!

I love my action figure collection. I have spent oodles of money buying Final Fantasy X, Resident Evil, Corpse Bride, Dawn, Batman and lots more figures but sometimes you don't have to break the bank to add to your collection.

Today I added two items to my figures collection and they came from the weirdest place - the candy aisle. My boyfriend bought me the first figure and it came from the top of a candy container. Mario is attached to the lid of a barrel which contained little fruit candies but he looks better than figures I see at work and cheaper too. If I could only remove the lid from his feet without breaking him, I would be happier with him.

The second figure I bought in bulk cause he was so cool - Bob-omb. I bought him at the dollar store and he comes filled with fruit powder candy. His fuse top comes off and reveals a tiny candy stick for dipping into the fruit powder much like Fun Dip candy. Once I eat the candy, I plan to glue the lids shut and display them.

Sure they aren't made by McFarlane Toys or NECA but who cares? They cost a buck a piece and I think they look awesome! Plus they will look nice with my mini green mushroom which once held sour candies.

Review: Green Day Rock Band

Green Day: Rock Band
MTV Games, Harmonix
Available for Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii and Playstation 3

Another day, another band inspired music game. It began with Guitar Hero Aerosmith and ever since band inspired music games keep hitting the market whether we like it or not. Green Day is the newest band to have game dedicated to their long and successful career by the developers at Harmonix. Green Day: Rock Band allows you to rock out to the boys’ career from the Dookie album all the way to the 21th Century Breakdown album.

The game has 47 songs from several Green Day albums, Dookie, Nimrod, Insomiac, American Idiot, Warning and 21th Century Breakdown. You can also purchase a few downloadable songs from 21th Century Breakdown album that weren’t included on the disc. There are no songs from Green Day’s first two albums, Kerplunk and 39/Smooth and I have heard of no plans to make downloadable packs for them either. Overall the selection of songs is excellent and the level of difficulty is perfect for a skilled Rock Band or Guitar Hero player. I was playing the hardest songs right of the bat with only a few missed notes here and there.





The gameplay of Green Day: Rock Band is your standard Rock Band game with a career mode, both offline and online with the option to play with up to 4 players. You also have a quick play mode with 4 players, both online and offline. You can play guitar, bass, drums or sing. There are also 4 part harmonies just like Beatles Rock Band, even though Green Day only has 3 members. There are three venues and three incarnations of the band you can plan during career and quick play mode. These venues and band fashion statements are from various points in Green Day’s career.

As you play through career mode, you gain cred points based on your star performance rating during a song. Those cred points can be used to unlock a song challenge and eventually, bonus materials about the band like interviews, photos and more. If you are a massive fan of the band, this is where the real goodies come in. There are also the standard achievement/trophy challenges in game that have been toned down to a more achievable level this time as opposed to the ones in Beatles Rock Band.





After playing through a hour of the career mode, I was disappointed to see a lack of real creativity in this game. For a band that inspired a rock musical, you think they could have come up with better song background then just the band jumping around on stage. Beatles Rock Band setup each song as almost a mini history music video with cool references to the song’s moment in the band’s career. Octopus’ Garden had the band change from playing in a sound studio to playing underwater in the ocean, while St. Pepper/With a Little Help from My Friends had the band in a garden playing in their St. Pepper costumes like the album cover. Green Day: Rock Band seems to lack any real imagination in this department and it made me wonder why even bother making a game dedicated to this band.

What also surprised me is the fact that this game even got made in the first place. Now don’t get me wrong, Green Day is the perfect band to rock out to but for a band that is so controversial and against censorship how could they ever agree to make a mainstream game that censors their lyrics? Guess even rebels have a price at which they’re willing to sell-out.

As far as Rock Band games go, Green Day: Rock Band isn’t offering up anything more than series of downloadable album packs that got some Green Day band avatars and few extras slapped on for show. When compared to Beatles Rock Band, this game should feel ashamed to even call itself a band inspired music game. But if you really want to purchase this game, do it cause you really love Green Day and not because you feel the need to add another Rock Band game to your collection – how else will these game companies learn when enough is enough?

Rating: 7/10
Rent it!

Funny Fake iPhone App Ad

This fake iPhone app ad was created by one man iphone band, GuizDP aka Guiz de Pessemier. Truly a cute ad and one that would love to see on TV.

Epic 8-Bit Art: Purple Tentacle Plushie

If I could decorate my room in game gear I totally would and I would start with this Purple Tentacle plushie from Obesolete's store on Etsy.

This little evil mastermind is 9 inches and constructed from soft & fuzzy vellux. You can pick this amazing guy up for $20.00US plus shipping.

Obesolete is another Canadian craftster from the lovely city of Toronto and has a huge selection of fuzzy gamer plushies in store. Check out all the cool picks from Dragon Quest Slimes to Metroid plushies. 

Alan Wake and Red Dead Redemption Swag

So I've been playing a lot of cool games the past couple of weeks like Red Dead Redemption, Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, Alan Wake and Super Mario Galaxy 2. On top of the awesome game time, I got some cool swag with my games - not that they needed swag to make me like them cause they rule on their own.

Red Dead Redemption came with a whole kit that included a t-shirt, a deck of cards, dice w/ storage device, soap and sticker. The t-shirt didn't fit so I handed that off to the boyfriend and I gave the sticker to a friend at work but I kept the cards, dice and soap. The soap is decorating my bathroom along with my Playstation controller soap and keyboard soap. The cards and dice are on my computer desk.

Alan Wake came with a portable black light flashlight, a security marker that only appears under black light and a fake document about the game. If you used the flashlight on the document you could find special messages written on the document - very spooky. For anyone who doesn't think the portable black light is useful, then you must not own a pet. Black lights are perfect for locating urine and other stains long after they dry. Also they are great for checking for fake money - they bring up security features on the bills.

[Update: Apparently Rockstar is now selling the cards, dice, soap and even a cool TNT candle on the Rockstar website. So if you like my RDR swag, you can purchase your own here.]