Cheat Cheat

As someone who never cheats while playing online this video gives someone like me some insight. I really would like to thank the guy who made this video it kind of puts the whole cheating thing in persepective. I personally don't see the point in cheating, is it so you can say "Hahahaha I owned you sucker" Well that statement itself is flawed it wasn't you that beat the opponet it was the computer program that alowed you to succeed. My question to all the cheaters out there is it fun when you cheat? Where's the challenge? I'll never understand why people cheat during online play. I hope the guy that made this video does one for Halo 2 I would like to see what the modders see.

Rock Out With Nintendo Metal

Right on the heels of an article in this month's EGM, people have started to notice an influx of bands covering the soundtracks of games.

About a year ago my buddy Jordan (he plays keyboards in DD/MM/YYYY) showed me the website of a band from Europe that played what they call Nintendo Metal the band is Game Over an indi band that covers video game music with a nice metal slant . Oops scratch that they don't cover songs they are just inspired by them. They take classic VG music and make it there own with songs like "Little Mac's Confession" and "Transylvanian Temptation" Inspired by Punch-Out and Castlevania respectively. So far Game Over has released two albums their first simply titled "Nintendo Metal" released in 2002 and their second title "NESperado" released in 2006. For more info on Game Over you can check out their website http://www.nintendometal.com/

Secondly and more recently another band was brought to my attention they had blurb in EGM this month but were also featured on the 1UP Show. I'm talking of course about The Minibosses, a band that does brilliant covers of Nintendo songs. My favorite being their rendition of the Super Mario Bros. 2 themes. Right now the band is strictly limited to Nintendo songs but I hope they expand their repertoire in the future. Minibosses Music and Merch is available at http://minibosses.com and you can see some live footage on this weeks 1UP Show available at http://the1upshow.1up.com They also have a quick interview with 1UP.com's Luke Smith.

A couple months ago Jordan (mentioned above) invited me to a local video game tribute show with many bands doing covers of their favorite video games. DD/MM/YYYY was one of them doing some EarthBound songs as well as a cover of the Pac Man theme. Other bands played everything from Street Fighter songs to Megaman music. I think if you look pretty hard you can see some videos of the show on You Tube.

Video game music is hopefully here to stay because when I hear a wailing guitar screeching out the bubble man music from Megaman my heart just fills with joy.

AMD Goes Ahead With ATI Aquisition

Let's talk microchips shall we.

I heard this morning that AMD is going ahead with the merger to acquire ATI. AMD is going to shell out about 5.4 billion for the graphics chip manufacturer.

Now I am no expert on computers or those magical green boards inside that do all kinds of crazy stuff but I do know that kick ass chips give us kick ass games. The PC game environment is currently closed to me like it always has been. Hey my little laptop does the job though with it's little Intel integrated graphics card. One of these days I'll get my hands on one of those sweet gaming PCs but what chips will be inside it? Intel or AMD processor? Nvidia or ATI graphics chips? I have not seen or heard anything touting one processor over the other but this changes when I ask anyone about GPUs (Graphics Processing Units). Everyone I have talked to about graphics chips has had nothing but problems with ATI chip sets not because the units themselves are no good but that the drivers never seem to work right. This maybe at an end.

This means that ATI could finally get it's drivers all in a row resulting in an easier and less stressful gaming experience for all those PC gamers out there. Could it be possible that in the future AMD's main competition Intel could merge with graphics giant Nvidia? This merger could breath new life into the fledgling PC game market? Or is this just another Canadian company being gobbled up by a bigger American firm.

Abit Recalls Fatal1ty Motherboards.......Mario a Sell Out?

Professional gaming biggest sell out is getting his products recalled. Abit's is recalling some Fatal1ty mother boards because of instability issues. I've never really understood why one of the top gamers in the world feels the need to put his name on everything from cooling fans to custom mice and keyboards. Now I'm not saying that Fatal1ty doesn't have skills he's just a sell out. I feel the same way about Bucky Lasek one of the best pro skaters in the world but he shills for a car wax company what gives with that? Even Mario has sold out at least according to the sign I found at the corner of Queen and Bathurst in downtown Toronto. I showed this picture to Electric Playground's Jason MacIssac who has been involved in Toronto's gaming community for many years and the origins of such a sign are a mystery to him. Why has Mario sold out ? We may never know but I must say that he does look good with a little bling around his neck.

ESA Gives Thumbs Up to RCMP

Doug Lowenstein of the ESA and Danielle Labossiere Parr of the ESAC (Entertainment Software Association of Canada) have formally congratulated the RCMP on a bust they made in mid July at Pacific Mall in Markam, Ontario.

For years If anyone asked about counterfeit goods like designer hand bags, or fake Nike shoes you told them to go to Pacific Mall where they could pick up some merchandise cheap. Pacific Mall even became a modder paradise where you could get pirated versions of most games for current-gen consoles. The RCMP put a stop to that however with a massive bust seizing thousands of dollars worth of pirated games and DVDs. Now I support anti piracy initiatives because as a future game developer that's gonna be MY paycheck someday but as the Gamasutra article points out game retailer are the main victim losing money.

I support game development but retail gaming can suck my ass EB/Gamestop is pure evil. They devalue our product with their lousy trade in values and ridiculous policies. My local EB continues to sell games they shouldn't be. I once saw a kid shell out 30$$ for the Halo Map Pack which is available for free on XBL, they also continue to sell copies of Asheron's Call and MMORPG thats server is no longer online. I also know for a fact that my local EB sells Mature rated games to minors without even a second thought. Like Wal-Mart I say death to all who do more damage than good in the retail industry.

Ich Bien Ein Zombie Lover

Everybody hates zombies, they're slow, ugly and almost always deadly especially while travelling in packs. Which is why gamers love pumping shotgun shell after shotgun shell in to they fleshy chest hoping that they may cease their relentless quest to devour all living flesh. Well I thought that everyone hated zombies and loved to kill them until now.

Capcom the company that brought you zombie kill fests Resident Evil through RE 4 has a new game launching this fall. Dead Rising allows you to kill zombies with just about anything you can get you hands on from soccer balls to patio umbrellas you can even put funny hats on them and take pictures. Capcom is preparing people for that inevitable day when the zombies come after us all unless you live in Germany.

Dead Rising maybe the first Xbox game to be banned in Germany due to it incredibly gory violence. Well kids have to learn how to kill zombies at some point or risk joining the massive horde themselves when it comes to their town. So boourns to Germany for banning this teaching tool and god help you when the T-virus gets out. What are you going to do when you kinder comes home screaming "Zombies ate my Neighbors!!!"

Slowest Week Ever!

Greetings readers I guess some of you are wondering why I haven't posted at all this week. Well the answer is simple..... There has been nothing to post. I have been scouring the Internet for something "Interesting" to write about and come up empty. I guess we can blame the summer gaming drought but god damn! It seems that most gaming news websites have resorted to posting about half-baked rumors that turn out to be wrong and then they post the following week about how they were wrong. I myself have been so strapped for content that I have considered doing a top 10 list but, those are dumb so screw that. So I'll open it up to you guys. Is there any story you would like to see? A review you would like? I dunno anything..... because the most exciting thing that has happened so far this is that Tony Hawk was on the Colbert Report this week. Damn I need help.

You Can't Escape the Blue Screen of Death

Run for your life the blue screen of death is coming to get you!

As the days go by I am finding it harder and harder to escape the clutches of Microsoft's dreaded error screen. For those not familiar with the "Blue Screen of Death" crash any Windows program and you shall be greeted by the now infamous blue screen. Being sick of this seeing this error message I decided to play some Halo 2.

So there I was playing a match-made game on XBL and everything was going fine until someone quit and BAM!! There is was again a different version but still a blue screen of death that repeats the words "Setting up game......setting up game........setting up game........."

Ahhhhh. Scared I turned off halo and put a CD in my player to listen to some tunes. Oh no the disk I put in was DD/MM/YYYY's album "The Blue Screen of Death" Is there no escape?

There are rampant rumours about Microsoft developing a portable handheld console so the blue screen will be able to follow you wherever you go.

The phrase "Blue Screen of Death" is slowly being ingrained in to our everyday culture. In casual conversation I mention "Blue Screen" and even those who know little or nothing about computers instantly know to what I am referring.

There is no way to truly escape the blue screen no matter how sick of it we get. Oh wait! You could get a Mac because they don't "crash". At least they don't call them crashes in the Mac world they call them "Forced Quits" but your Mac can quit till the cows come home and you will never be haunted by the infamous blue screen at least until you boot up the ole' PC or Xbox or soon to be Xboy.

Thanks to Joystiq for the neat little picture.

Handheld Fun In the Sun

Happy belated Canada Day to everybody, and today being the 4th of July happy Independence Day to all of you in the US. Well the weather is warm and tis the season for being outdoors and relaxing. I myself just got back from a brief stint at my parents cottage.

Back to the orders at hand. I saw an interesting video on Kotaku this afternoon
Jonas Hielscher a graduate student at Leiden University has devised a little app for his PSP that has you roam the area in search of wireless access points. This reminds me of a little hobby I have found my self doing on the streetcar here in Toronto. Since getting my DS lite when ever I am on the streetcar I enter the WiFi settings on my Lite and search for random access points and which maybe unsecured. I have been able to find tons from the center of King St. Some are secure requiring a WEP password but some are open and free to use but being on a moving vehicle they often move out of range once I search again.
One day I decided to try and search for an access point from my balcony and found one that was available but just slightly out of range. With all the wireless hot spots out there does this surprise anyone. Well the fun is in the hunt trying to find one that works and then exploiting their lapse in security for fun and games. Try it yourself with your PSP or DS see what you can find.


Happy hunting .

Transformers X 2 = FUN!

If you're a 80s baby just like me you have been waiting, for everyones favorite cartoon war to come to the big screen again. No I'm not talking about GI Joe but rather the Stephen Spielberg produced real life/CG Transformers movie due in theaters sometime in 2007.

Directed by Michael Bay (The Rock, and Armageddon) there is serious potential that this movie might not suck. Which is my biggest fear but with Spielberg's money behind the picture and some quality action direction behind the camera the Transformers might even be better than the 1986 cartoon movie which taught all us kids about death and hope and the futility of war. Well get ready for twice the fun when the movie launches.

Like any other movie there will be a video game tie in that will launch the same day as the movie as announced at the Hollywood and Games summit last week.

I tell you the shit is gonna hit the fan if they screw up this story and don't say it's possible. I didn't think they could screw up X-men and well just watch the movies and see for yourself.