The Modern Materialist : video games

Ancient Gamers

Alex Zalben — Fri, 01 May 2009 16:03:00 GMT

Back when we all lived in caves, and dinosaurs roamed the earth, all we had to keep ourselves amused was the Playstation 2. Sad, really, that our ancestors never knew the joys of the PS3, or X-Box 360.

But now, thanks to Christopher Locke, we can all appreciate the work of this ancient gamers:

Named the Ludustatarium temperosony, and made out of concrete, the controller has been delicately preserved through the ages, so we may all wonder at the electronic mastery of our genetic forebearers.

[$100, Christopher Locke]

[Via Wonderland]

Geekiest Painting Ever

Alex Zalben — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 17:35:00 GMT

Is this the geekiest painting ever? Combining Mario Bros. and Empire Strikes Back is a pretty good start, but I'm sure we could make it geekier somehow. How about making it a paint by numbers, but the numbers are all in binary?

The same artist has more in the series, of course, including:

[$1400, Gallery 1988]

[Via Kotaku]

Lather Up with Your Video Game Controllers

Diana Vilibert — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 21:19:00 GMT

Besides appearing to be playing video games in a war zone, this gamer also looks like he could use a shower. Luckily, he can bring his video game controller into the shower with him...as long as it's one of these:

Shaun posted last month about a glycerin Playstation soap from this same Etsy seller, but I love how realistic these look.

[DigitalSoaps]

Shirt of the Day: As Nerdy as It Gets

Laureen Mahler — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:28:00 GMT

[Photo via]

The word nerdy gets thrown around a lot these days, but it has come to my attention that some of us are confused as to who ranks nerdiest and who doesn't. To remedy the situation, I have created a questionnaire by which you may readily determine if you are indeed a true nerd. Simply notate yes or no to the following statements:

1) You own one or more albums by MC Lars.
2) You have already preordered Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.
4) There is more than one Space Invaders inspired product in your apartment.
5) You have an Achewood tattoo.
6) You not only understand but would buy and wear this t-shirt:

[$25, Ex-Boyfriend Collection]

"I'm a nerd, and uh, I'm pretty proud of it." Damn right.

Shirt of the Day: Who You Gonna Call?

Steph Auteri — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 14:19:00 GMT

These guys are pros. They've handled Slimer, the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, Terror Dogs, Vigo the Carpathian...perhaps they can handle your ghosts as well...

[$19.95, Glennz Tees]

[Via Uncrate]

Soap for gamers

Shaun Seneviratne — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 20:01:00 GMT

[photo via]

One of my best friends/sophmore year roommate managed to "get" Halo 2 a few days before it came out. He proceeded to play it for two days straight without studying, sleeping, going out on Halloween, or showering. Intense. (I won't even get into the time he got Fables. . .)

Maybe if he had this soap he could've strategized his moves while in the shower:

Playstation Soap. Nevermind, my friend has X Box. Oh wells, dirty it is.

[$5, Etsy]

[Via DVICE]

A Gaming Nerd's Fantasy

Diana Vilibert — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 22:27:00 GMT

“Let’s play!” is a must-have calendar for gaming nerds, a collaboration between a few Russian gaming companies. The calendar has 12 female workers of these companies posing as characters in popular games like Quake, Mortal Kombat 3, Call of Duty, Prince of Persia and Sin City. You're welcome.

[Adme]

Related: Creepy/Cute Cat-Women Calenda

Joydick Makes Every Guy a Winner

Laureen Mahler — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 18:38:00 GMT

Question: What two things do guys secretly want to do all the time?
Answer: Play video games and masturbate.

That was easy, wasn't it? Let's try a harder one:

Question: What device allows both of these things to happen at the same time?
Answer:

[SF Media Labs]

The Joydick cock ring. It allows users to simultaneously masturbate and play video games via a built-in directional sensor.

And yes, there is an instructional video (NSFW-ish):

So. Ahem. When does the girl version come out?

[via Gizmodo]

Equations: Get Your Kniit On

Alex Zalben — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 15:29:00 GMT

Coming soon for the Wii, it's (no joke) Kniitiing, the game that teaches you how to knit. Thanks to Marni for the tip!

[Kniittiing]

The National Toy Hall of Fame

Diana Vilibert — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 14:31:00 GMT

Last Thursday, the National Toy Hall of Fame added three toys to their list of 38 classics ranging from Mr. Potato Head to the Atari 2600 video game system. This year, they added the Baby Doll, the skateboard...and something unexpected:

The wooden stick is "open-ended, all-natural, the perfect price" according to the Strong National Museum of Play's curator of collections. The perfect Christmas gift in this economy!

[$Free, On the Ground]

[Via CNN]

Related: Would You Pay: Warm Wood

Shirt of The Day: Most Expensive Mario Shirt Ever

Alex Zalben — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 19:24:00 GMT

Sure, this is a cute shirt of an ape sleeping on Mario's head. But you'll never guess how much this cotton, normally printed shirt costs:

[$175, Cliff Edge]

[Via Kotaku]

World's Most Necessary Video Game Accessory

Alex Zalben — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 16:31:00 GMT

Look. I'm okay with your rhythm games. Guitar Hero is fun, Rock Band is fun, but I'm not that great at either of them, so I'm not willing to choose one over the other. But goddamn if this isn't the most awesome thing ever of all time:

Gene Simmons; Axe Guitar for Rock Band 2? Yes please. Oh, and just to clarify, the picture up top is of him using his REAL axe guitar to promote Guitar Hero II. Confusing, no?

[$80, Amazon]

This Quilt Has a Secret

Alex Zalben — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 18:33:00 GMT

This Pac-Man Quilt has a secret; can you guess what it is?

It's playable! The characters are all buttoned on to the quilt, and movable to create the illusion of playing Pac-Man. No word on price, but check out more about the quilt here.

[Via Craft]

Related: Pac Man Belt

World's Most Unnecessary Video Game Accesory

Alex Zalben — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 20:01:00 GMT

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of playing around with Rock Band for the first time. Couple of impressions:

1. Guitar is exactly the same as Guitar Hero. That was easy to pick up.

2. Drums are way too f-ing hard. Easy feels like Hard, Hard feels like mind numbingly impossible. You might as well just play the drums.

3. Singing does not reward creativity, which is annoying for anyone except robots.

Despite all the negatives, it is much more of a fun group party game than Guitar Hero, so bully for that. However, under no cricumstances is this necessary:

The Rock Band Stage Kit for the Xbox 360 is a smoke machine and colored strobe light that syncs with the music in the game. Why?

[$100, Amazon]

[Via OhGizmo!]

The Dorkiest Product in MM History

Alex Zalben — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 21:32:00 GMT

We've posted some enormously dorky things in the relatively short history of Modern Materialist. And by "we," I mean, "me." However, this, no joke, trumps everything we've ever posted, all together. Whatever you think it is, it's dorkier than that:

See that? It's a fifteen button mouse for use with World of Warcraft. Each button can be customized for a specific hotkey. Plus, it glows in over 16 million colors. Oh, and if you get it, you'll never have friends again. That parts free with every purchase!

Anyway, it occurs to me this is possibly just sad, not dorky, so why don't we get the new Weird Al single in here? That should nerd things up a bit:

The mouse will be $90 when it goes on sale in November. Sigh.

[$90, SteelSeries]

[Via Gizmodo]

Pacman Says, "Sit On My Face"

Alex Zalben — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 16:25:00 GMT

Ever wanted to have a sexy fun time on PacMan? Now you can:

As a side note, it's incredible that you can find a "sexy" Halloween costume for anything.

[Price on Request, QAYOT]

[Via Hometone]

Related: Pac Man Belt

Gamer Grub

Alex Zalben — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 16:01:00 GMT

1. Barf.

2. This is exactly like an Onion News Network Episode:

New Wearable Feedbags Let Americans Eat More, Move Less

In case it isn't clear, Gamer Grub is snacks packed with nutrients that you can easily pour down your gullet. That way, you don't need to get out of your chair, or get your hands dirty, while playing video games for 72 hours straight.

I repeat: barf.

[Gamer Grub]

[Via CrunchGear]

Related: Tic Tac Toast and Bunny Eggs

The Best Thing Ever. Ever. Really.

Alex Zalben — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 17:35:00 GMT

When you see what this is, if your jaw doesn't drop at how obvious this was, you're not a human being:

See? Don't you want to play this right now? Also, please 'fess up if you're not human.

[$25, Amazon]

[Via Oh Gizmo!]

Want To Play With Some Boobs?

Alex Zalben — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 13:00:00 GMT

Ultimate geek fantasy time: Designer John Nouanesing has created the Geekini, which (in theory) is a game controller built into a bikini.

Ultimate geek reality time: You put this on, and I guarantee your BF will basically spend the next four hours mashing your breasts and crotch, while essentially ignoring you.

Not that that's any different than the rest of your sex life. Oh snap! I said it! I said it!

Here's another pic, pervos:

[Tigidi]

[Via Trendhunter]

Deal of The Day: Guitar Hero 3 for $60, Rock Band for $100

Alex Zalben — Wed, 21 May 2008 18:30:00 GMT

As most of you know, Amazon has daily “Gold Box” specials, super cheap deals that go until their inventory is sold out. Usually, they’re for some new Tupperware, or gold jewelry, but occasionally, something totally awesome comes along. Today is that day. Awesome Day.

All day long, Amazon’s Gold Box deals are for music based video games, meaning Guitar Hero, Rock Band, and the like.

Already, you’ve missed out on your chance to claim Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party for the Wii for only $50 (meh), but all day long, you can still grab a Guitar Hero III bundle (including game and guitar) for any game system for $60. Not only that, but the PS2 version is only $50!

And for the next two and a half hours, you can get an entire Rock Band bundle, for the PS2, for only $100. That's over $40 off.

The deals usually get better throughout the day, and new deals go up at 2PM, and 6PM, PDT, so check ‘em out… And rock on.

[Amazon]

The Entertainment Top 5: Wii Fit, Tom Petty, and Muppets!

Alex Zalben — Mon, 19 May 2008 17:30:00 GMT

The Entertainment Top 5 is how you should spend your hard won dollars this week. Check out the full list, below:

1. Wii Fit [$90]
Why? It’s a big week for video games, what with Garfield’s Lasagna Tour coming out and all, but the bigness news is Wii Fit, the exercise machine for your video game system. The Wii is already the 800-ton gorilla of the video game industry, so why not make that an 8000-ton gorilla by taking over the exercise industry as well. Reportedly, the Wii Fit lets you feel the burn, but will it be fun? Only time, and hundreds of thousands of Wii Fits sold will tell. Oh, and if you haven't gotten one yet? Good luck, they're already out of stock.

2. The Muppet Show Season 3 [$26]
Why? The best variety show ever. There has been no show that has influenced a generation of comedians quite like The Muppet Show did, and in its third season it was given the Peabody Award for excellence. Oh, and, you know, Muppets. This is a no brainer.

3. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – Greatest Hits [$10]
Why? There was one day in college where a friend was driving me around, and I spent probably about thirty minutes launching into why Tom Petty was the greatest musician of our time. For the life of me, I cannot remember a single thing I said during than ~~conversation~~ monologue, or why I thought it was so important at the time. Maybe listening to their recently remastered greatest hits will remind me?

4. Scarlett Johansson – Anywhere I Lay My Head [$13]
Why? If this is even half as good as The Return of Bruno, it’ll be pretty f-ing bad.

5. National Treasure 2 [$23]
Why? I mean, why not? That’s basically what you guys said by seeing this, and the previous movie. The only movie series in history that’s made mega bucks because people had nothing better to do. Actually, that’s not totally fair or true, but really? You really want to keep watching National Treasure movies? For the rest of your life?

The Weekly Top 5: SNL, Indiana Jones, Death Cab, and More

Alex Zalben — Mon, 12 May 2008 18:30:00 GMT

Whether it’s SNL back when you remember it being good, or Welsh neo-Big Band music, The Weekly Top 5 tells you how you should be spending your entertainment dollars this week. Check out the whole list, and then let me know what I got horribly wrong, or missed, in the comments below:

1. Saturday Night Live – The Complete Third Season [$45]
SNL? These SNL boxed sets were delayed for several reasons, so for those of you who have been picking up the annoying “Best Of,” collections, just dump ‘em in the garbage: this is how the show is meant to be seen, warts and all. If anything, these are helpful, because even at it’s prime, which this third season collection is part of, SNL was always uneven at best. I mean, come on: a 90 minute sketch show, every week? That’s tough. Regardless, the gems are well worth the price, as is the chance to see Dan Akroyd back when he was funny.

2. Rockferry – Duffy [$7]
Singer? The other day, a friends and I were discussing whether we liked Duffy, or hated her. Eventually, I think we decided that we didn’t like her, but were supposed to, as she’s like Amy Winehouse, but without all of the coke. Hopefully, she starts snorting a ton of coke, and you all see the error of your ways. Until then… Welsh neo-Big Band music? At least it’s interesting.

3. We Ski [$30]
Slow Week? Yup, it’s a pretty slow week for video games, as we clear the deck between GTAIV’s release last week, and Wii Fit’s release next week. In anticipation, why not pick up We Ski, which will make a nice paperweight until next Wednesday?

4. Indiana Jones – The Adventure Collection [$35]
Snakes? The only reason this collection of all three Indiana Jones movies is at number four, instead of at the top of this list, is that Temple of Doom f-ing sucks.

5. Narrow Stairs – Death Cab for Cutie [$10]
Snore? New Death Cab should be a cause for a very blasé, casual party in the streets of Brooklyn, right? Except, between their last album, which rocketed the Cuties to semi-mainstream stardom, and now, there’s been an intense backlash against sad boy songs. Between Garden State, Juno, and a million other “totally kewl” movies, the music world is a little over their hipsterness. Will Death Cab bring it back, or will they slowly lull the movement to death? Cab?

The Weekly Top 5: Boom Blox, Teeth, and More

Alex Zalben — Mon, 05 May 2008 17:30:00 GMT

The Weekly Top five (formerly the weekly top four, but there’s so much awesome stuff out, who needs just four things?) is what you should be spending your entertainment dollars on this week… Assuming you didn’t already spend all of your fun-money on Iron Man and GTA4 last week, of course.

1. Teeth ($20, Amazon)
Yipes! If you see only one indie horror comedy about vagina dentata, make it Teeth. In the best tradition of classic horror movies, Teeth takes a myth, mixes it with real fears about sexuality and growing up, and turns it into a squeamish, penis severing blood bath.

2. Boom Blox ($50, Amazon)
Blam? It’s a little unclear how involved Steven Spielberg was in a puzzle game about exploding blocks, but let’s assume he was down in the trenches every day, working on the code like everyone else. Because that’s more hilarious. That aside, Spielberg and EA collaborating on a family friendly puzzle game for the Wii is certainly an event worth checking out, if only for the “Hey, that wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be,” factor.

3. Barenaked Ladies – Snack Time ($11, Amazon)
Mac & Cheese? BNL join their spiritual brethren They Might Be Giants, by releasing their first album of kids music. Let’s be honest: this isn’t too much of a stretch, it’s not ike the Ladies released hardcore sex metal or anything. Here’s a video off the album, btw:

3. Serial Mom – Collector’s Edition ($15, Amazon)
Slice! I hesitate to recommend this, only because Teen Alex thought it was the most awesome movie ever, and Teen Alex has turned out to be very wrong on occasion. That being said, it’s Kathleen Turner in a John Waters movie, so you’ve probably either already seen it, or you’re not interested.

4. Neil Diamond - Home Before Dark ($15, Amazon)
Solid? One of my favorite things in the world is a recording Neil Diamond did of “I Dreamed a Dream,” from Les Miserables, recorded in front of a packed concert hall, before Les Miserables was released. It’s absolutely priceless, and sadly, not on this new album. But it still has Neil Diamond, so go buy it.

The Weekly Top 4: Madonna, GTA4, and More

Alex Zalben — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 20:30:00 GMT

I’m not going to lie to you guys… It was very difficult to decide what deserved to be in the top spot this week, i.e. what’s most deserving of your entertainment dollars. The question really came down to: am I a gay man, or am I a mentally repressed man-child, with both sides of my personality fighting for dominance.

I think my selections make it pretty obvious which side won:

1) Madonna – Hard Candy ($10, Amazon)
But Why? Because it’s a new Madonna album, and I am a gay man trapped in a straight man’s body. A very, very gay man. “Four Minutes,” the first single off the album sounds like a mess the first time through, and then, slowly but surely, you can’t get it out of your head. Plus, the video is creepy in all the right ways. Also, I’ve bought every Madonna album the day it came out since I’ve been old enough to dance, and will do so until the day Madge dies. Or die. Probably me first.

2) Grand Theft Auto IV ($90, Amazon)
Lock & Load? This is a game so big that articles are being printed wondering whether it will affect Iron Man at the box office this weekend. And it will… Grand Theft Auto is one of the most influential gaming series of all time, and by calling this installment “IV,” (previous installments have been an expansion of GTA3’s engine, released in 2001), Rockstar Games have thrown down the gauntlet, telling nascent gangsters that this is where gaming is going. There’s a ton of options how to get the game, but the Xbox 360 version gets the edge for more online play and downloadable content (though not until the Fall). Pick up the special edition, and you’ll get a hunt guide, duffel bag, lock box, and more. Though, I hear these may be already sold out, if you don’t buy online…

3) The Diving Bell and the Butterfly ($19, Amazon)
Noooo… This is probably one of the saddest movies ever made, but it’s made very, very well. When a man has a stroke, the only thing he can move is his left eye, and through his left eye he learns to communicate, speak, write, and create art. Heartbreaking, beautiful, and excellently made, you can probably miss this unless you want it to live in your head for weeks afterwards.

4) Songs From the Sparkle Lounge, Def Leppard ($10, Amazon)
Really? This is rapidly becoming the hilarious "eighties hair band releases a new album” slot, but hey, it is what it is.

Hands On: Samsung’s 3-D TV

Alex Zalben — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 16:00:00 GMT

Last night was Samsung’s Spring Fever Showcase, showing off all the products the electronics giant will be hitting the public with in the next few months. Though they plied me with tiny crab cakes, and all the booze I could drink, I stayed on task, and throughout the rest of the day, will give you my impressions of a few of those products.

I want to mention right off though, that the parting gift from this electronics showcase was a regular note-pad. I mean, a really nice notepad, but here I am, taking pictures with my Sony camera, and no-one came up to me and said, “Hey, it looks like your camera is awful. Why don’t you have one of these Samsung cameras, free of charge?” I guess looking doe eyed and sad in the corner doesn’t get you free gadgets? I dunknow, I’m new at this.

Anyway, a little while ago, I posted about Samsung’s 3-D TV. Well, now I’ve got to play around with it, and I can say that it is, without a doubt, pretty darn cool.

First off, all of Samsung’s high-end televisions will come 3-D equipped. There’s a lot of external equipment needed, relatively speaking, including: a sensor for the top of the TV; 3-D glasses; and a PC capable of reading Blu-Ray discs. However, once you do nail down the externals, the set-up is pretty much plug and play.

As you can kind of see from the picture (and boy, wouldn’t it be better if I had a free Sansung camera? Oh well…), certain video games, movies, and more will come equipped with a separate 3-D version that splits the image into two. You then throw on the 3-D glasses, which are much sturdier than the version you get at the movies, flip a switch, and voila, you’re watching images in 3-D.

Another cool feature, which I’m going to call faux-3-D, allows you to take ANY movie or picture on your hard drive, and make it look 3-D. For those of us in the know, you’ll quickly realize that this isn’t really 3-D, it’s essentially one image split into two, and as the 3-D glasses flip their shutter between your eyes, you experience something that is kind of like 3-D views. However, for your parents, who will now be able to view their vacation photos, and films of their grandchildren in 3-D? Awesome.

The one little quibble I have with this, and it’s just a personal one, is that 3-D is very hard to watch if you already wear glasses. I asked the product manager about this, and he seemed at a loss, that there shouldn’t be any difference if you wear glasses or not. Well… There is. In fact, it gives me a little bit of a headache.

However, for the short time that I was able to watch the 3-D images, they kicked ass.

3-D is available on the Series 6 and Series 7 Samsung DLP HDTV's, some of which are already available in stores. Price-points range from a very afoordable $1299 for the 50 incher, to $2999 for the 72 inch monster. You can check 'em all out at Samsung.com.

Geek Out: Zelda Sounds Keychain

Alex Zalben — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 13:30:00 GMT

I don’t think there was any game I played more as a child than The Legend of Zelda. When it came out, I remember having conversations with classmates every day about all the secrets we had found, and all the secrets we pretended we had found… Sometimes kids make up stuff to seem cool, you know?

So the sounds and music of the game are etched into my brain with a fiery intensity. Up until now, whenever I use my keys to open my front door, I make a little, almost silent, “You’ve found a secret,” noise. It was a weird thing to do, and I’ve almost been caught several times. Thank goodness, then, for these Zelda Sounds Keychains from Japan.

You can order one of six randomly packed keychains, that play… Some stuff. I don’t know, actually, as there wasn’t much of a product description. But it sounds awesome.

And since they’re randomly packed, you can order six, but you may not get six entirely different keychains. So why not order more? Huh?

[$5, Think Geek]

The Weekly Top 4: Cloverfield, Whitesnake, and More

Alex Zalben — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 16:30:00 GMT

Every week, awesome stuff comes out in the worlds of DVD, Music, and Video Games. Every week, I tell you the top four things you have to buy. This is the Weekly Top 4:

1) Flight of The Choncords [$10, Amazon]
What The? First official album from the HBO musical/comedy duo.
Sorry? Flight of the Choncords has been tickling your funny bone since last year with their absurd and hilarious songs. This album collects them, officially, for the first time. Fifteen songs on the album range from the brilliant French class parody “Foux da Fafa,” to the moment you first fell in love with the Kiwi duo, “The Most Beautiful Girl in the Room.”

2) Mario Kart Wii [$50, Amazon]
What The? Beloved racing franchise comes to the Wii.
Excuse Me? Are there two great tastes that taste better together than racing and turtle shells? I can’t think of any. Praise Bowser, Mario Kart is back, and this time it’s brought online play. You can log on through the Wii, and compete at any time against up to 15 other players in an all out Mario Kart war. Forget the dinky, included Wii Wheel… Just shut up and drive.

3) Cloverfield [$16, Amazon]
What The? Monster movies meet YouTube.
Yeah? Okay, so the characters were vapid. And the monster wasn’t iconic enough. And the camera movements made you sick in the theater. If all that is true, what you’re missing is an excellently directed, written, and crafted film. Those “random” camera movements that made you sick? They’re actually carefully planned, timed, and shot. Look at the reveal of the monster over the movie, or how Hud’s “camera-work” catches just enough of the action to give you the info you need. That takes time, and planning; and it’s very impressive. Revisit it on DVD, now that the hype has died down, and see whether it’s really a stunt, or actually a very well made movie. I think it’s the latter.

4) Whitesnake, Good To Be Bad [$10, Amazon]
What The? …Um, It’s a Whitesnake album.
Seriously? Yeah, that was definitely my thought upon hearing about a new, two disc Whitesnake album. That, and “they’re not dead?” Here’s a simple test to determine whether you should buy this album or not: did you read the words “Whitesnake album,” and automatically throw your panties at the computer? Then you should probably pick this up.

Geek Out: Cantina Band Shirt

Alex Zalben — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:30:00 GMT

There’s a pretty simple crib sheet to figure out the sort of stuff I like to post here under the heading “Geek Out:”

1. Is it geeky?
2. Is it related to video games?
3. Is it related to a geeky movie, like Star Wars?
4. Is it a funny t-shirt?
5. Is it produced by Think Geek?

This Cantina Band shirt is the first to ever fill all of my requirements. Boy is it geeky, and boy do I wish it was a real video game.

[$15-$17, Think Geek]

Hands On With Big Buck Safari

Alex Zalben — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 16:30:00 GMT

Working at Nerve has its advantages:

- All the personals you can eat.
- A nice, warm, blog to lay your head on at night.
- And sometimes, you get to try stuff before anyone else.

Though Wendy and Steph always manage to get to the food and shelter before I do (thanks a lot guys, seriously!), I did manage to trump them in one regards, and snuck my way into a press event for Play Mechanix’ brand spanking new, never before played Big Buck Safari event at the Black Bear Lodge last night.

I dragged three friends along to give me a little perspective on the game: Mary, Chris, and Tyler. They were all very upset to be playing their favorite video game at an open bar with free pizza, let me tell you.

Bribes aside, how was the game, huh? I mean, I’ve certainly cranked on about it enough? Well, it’s totally pretty awesome. We had a chance to play a few rounds, both in “Trek” and “Head to Head” mode. We also got to play the new “Bonus” mode, which I’ll get to in a second.

But first, for those of you who don’t know, Big Buck Hunter is an arcade game, often found in bars, where you use a plastic shotgun to blast away at pixilated bucks. You figured that out all by yourself, did you? Well, let’s see if you can parse this… Big Buck Safari is the latest iteration of the game, setting it in Africa, where you hunt new wild animals, with new bonus rounds, and new, slicker animations. Figured out that, too, huh? All right, smart guy.

So a couple of impressions, right off:

- Big Buck Safari is harder than Big Buck Hunter. Or rather, the latest iteration of Big Buck Hunter is actually pretty easy, so it’s nice to see them pulling the difficulty back a little.

- However, there’s a million more little opportunities to score big points. There are more critters running around, which is part of the difficulty: it’s hard to see the wildebeest for the meerkats, so to speak. On the other hand, bagging all six critters gives you tremendous bonus points.

- There’s also a trophy animal, such as a lion, or an elephant, that is very hard to kill, and causes an extraordinary feeling of satisfaction when you do so.

- The bonus rounds are far more creative and varied than the last game, including a board where Hyenas are chasing an explorer on safari, and you blast ‘em away before he gets eaten.

- The Head to Head round is too confusing to be fun. You’re essentially blasting at whatever is passing through your sightline, which eliminates, I think, all the skill from the game. Skip this.

- The Bonus mode is excellent. Basically, you can choose four of the super fun bonus games, and play them in any order you like. This is new, and a great addition to the game.

- The regular Trek mode, when we finally got to play it, is well-done, smoother animation than the previous version. However, the differences between the cows and the bucks is much harder to discern… Often it’s just a few shades of grey apart, which is exceedingly difficult. Not bad, just difficult.

- One other feature I should mention… The Buck Hunter Girls now move in full motion video, all the time, non-stop. Are they super sexy? Depends on how much you like girls who do the same, repetitive motion, over and over. Hm, maybe I phrased that incorrectly.

Interestingly, from talking to the reps, their plan is not to replace the current, online play tournament Buck Hunter machines, but install Big Buck Safari side to side with its bigger brother. If the lines to play both games last night were any indication, it’s not such a bad idea.

You can pick up your own Big Buck Safari machine, or just look for it around town, as they start to pop up. As Mary said, “It’s awesome. Totally awesome.”

[$5175, BMI Gaming]

The Weekly Top 4: Okami, Asia, Juno, and More

Alex Zalben — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 16:30:00 GMT

The Weekly Top 3 feature I did last week was SO POPULAR*, that I’ve decided to turn it into The Weekly Top 4! How amazing is that? For the very few of you who didn’t read last week’s feature**, I’m going to tell you the Top Four things you should be looking out for in the world of Entertainment, from DVDs, to Music, to Video Games, to anything in entertainment. So let’s get to it, homeskillets:

1. Lawrence of Arabia Collector’s Edition [$17, Amazon]
What The? The classic film once again comes to DVD.
So What? Lawrence of Arabia is one of the most beautiful movies ever made. It’s also one of the best directed and acted ever. Though this Collector’s Edition doesn’t look any different than the last release, it’s about $20 cheaper, so that’s good. If you’ve never seen LoA… you probably should.

2. Okami for the Wii [$40, Amazon]
What The? A PS2 favorite comes to the Wii.
Um, yeah? A game set in a Japanese brush painting, with controls that resembled creating said painting with a brush was kind of asking to be released on the Wii. Finally, it is, and if you’ve played it before, reports are that it’s a whole new playing experience. For those of you who have never played it, you’ll want to check out a visually stunning, innovative game good for players of all ages.

3. Juno [$23, Amazon]
What The Blog? Last year’s biggest backlash hits DVD.
Yeah, Right? If you saw it and hated it, it’s okay, but I think you probably hated it for the wrong reasons. Yes, it’s over precious. Yes, the songs are played out. But at it’s base, there’s some great performances, and the over stylized language is only to set up Juno’s world as a fairy tale place where a teen can get pregnant, and her parents are 100% supportive.

4. Asia, Phoenix [$10, Amazon]
What The? Asia’s first album in a decade.
So… You either read the previous sentence and instantly pre-ordered, or don't care.

*Not true.

**Also not true.