The geniuses at Waterloo Labs have outdone themselves this time. Using modified go-karts, RFID chips and on-board and trackside computers, they’ve done an amazing and faithful recreation of Mario Kart in real life. This isn’t the same thing that French comedian Remi Gaillard did with Mario Kart. This is bananas spinning you into walls and knocking people out of the way with stars Mario Kart.
Category Archives: Games
There’s Nothing Wrong with BioWare Adding Same Sex Relationships to SWTOR
If you have read what I wrote about Mass Effect 3 and the ending controversy at my other blog, The Lowdown Blog, I’d understand if you thought very poorly of BioWare. I think of what I wrote as tough love. I really like BioWare games. My first love from BioWare was Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Despite the ending, I still love the Mass Effect series.
That’s why I’m stepping up to bat to defend them from some of ridiculous criticisms over the addition of same-sex relationships to Star Wars: The Old Republic. Read the rest of this entry
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Dead Pixels Review: The 8-Bit Dead
Zombies. After the last year in gaming, I could understand if you’re a bit burned out on zombies. That doesn’t mean that the creativity in the zombie game genre is all used up. I have one more zombie game for you to consider. Dead Pixels is an 8-bit style throwback game which crosses the shoot ’em up style zombie game, like the Left 4 Dead games, with some more modern RPG-style mechanics. The result is a game that intentionally looks dated but plays fresh. The question is if this is one more zombie game you should add to your now vast zombie game collection. Read the rest of this entry
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Who are the Ouya and GameStick For?
Last week, a Kickstarter campaign was launched to fund the development of a new inexpensive, Android-based gaming console called the GameStick. The campaign has been wildly successful so far as the $100,000 goal was reached in about 30 hours.
If that sounds familiar, that’s because you may be confusing it with the Ouya, another Android-based console which had a widely publicized launch and Kickstarter fundraising drive of its own in July 2012. It also quickly achieved its fundraising goal (in less than eight hours) and received $8.6 million in pledges.
The problem with both of these consoles is that I don’t see who they’re targeting with these new consoles. The promises of low-price consoles sounds like they’re trying to target gamers who have limited disposable income. However, being on the Android mobile operating system is indicative of targeting the casual gamer who is happy to play Angry Birds or Words with Friends on their phone or tablet. Read the rest of this entry
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Get Ready for Pokemon X & Y
As expected, this morning’s big Pokemon-related announcement by Nintendo was a new Pokemon game for the 3DS. What was surprising was that Nintendo has created a full 3D world for the new game as opposed to the classic styling of the quasi-top down perspective for moving through the world and the mostly static combat screen. That’s fitting considering that it’s the first Pokemon game in 3D (the Black and White series were released on the DS).
In addition to the new graphics style and fully-animated battles, you’re playing in a new area of post-nuclear war Japan the world that looks very much based on Europe. Whether this new region of the Pokemon world is cutoff from the other regions remains to be seen. However, we do know that there will be new Pokemon added to the 649 already in your Pokedex. (That makes me feel old. It was only 251 when I last played a Pokemon game.) Chespin, Fennekin and Froakie have been confirmed as the grass, fire and water type starter Pokemon for the games.
Pokemon X and Pokemon Y are due out in October and will be released simultaneously worldwide, a first for Pokemon games.
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Should We Be Worried About The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct?
When Telltale Games first released 2012’s The Walking Dead, I don’t think anyone was expecting the GOTY-worthy game that they produced given their earlier efforts. It easily set the bar for story writing in video games. Naturally, you could understand why we would keep a close eye on Terminal Reality’s take on The Walking Dead TV series. The game, called The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct, is a first-person shooter starring TV series characters Daryl and Merle Dixon.
While previews of the game’s plot and gameplay seem promising, the first gameplay footage has me worried that this is another publisher (Activision) trying to cash in on a hot license and the result will be another terrible TV licensed game. Read the rest of this entry
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The Economics of Video Game Development
A few weeks back, one of the hot stories in the video game world was that Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 reached gross sales of $1 billion in only 15 days. What sounded like good news for publisher Activision was quickly reigned in by writers pointing out that CoD: Blops 2 sold fewer copies to reach $1 billion of gross sales than 2011’s CoD: Modern Warfare 3.
This raised an interesting question in my mind: How profitable are video games to make? Even if Blops2 sold fewer copies, shouldn’t Activision still have covered the sunk costs of development and marketing after paying for the variable costs of each unit sold? Read the rest of this entry
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Jadeveon Clowney Scores a Fatality
As good a fighting game as Mortal Kombat was, growing up, we loved it for the blood and brutality. While Street Fighter II was a great fighting game, Mortal Kombat’s sheer violence was what made it legendary in the arcades and living rooms of the world. (Except SNES living rooms since the Nintendo version of the game didn’t include blood because of the company’s family-friendly policies.)
And that brings us to this GIF floating around the internet. When South Carolina linebacker Jadeveon Clowney demolished Michigan running back Vincent Smith, it immediately went viral. It also got a meme treatment which included this Mortal Kombat throwback from @LSUFreek.
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Crash Bandicoot in Real Life
What would it look like if Crash Bandicoot platformed his way through real life. YouTube user Mat’s Films answered that question with this video that’s a great piece of nostalgia for Crash fans from the glory days under developers Naughty Dog. I wonder whatever happened to those guys.
et geekera 