This is the last edition of our regular Best ofs -- tune in tomorrow for our overall Best Game(s) of the Year, followed by the highly anticipated Best Worst ofs later this week!
For a while, it was just a soft and steady thump...thump...thump.... Then high-pitched beeps -- maybe they're more "whines" -- pierce the calm and start echoing through the dark hallways...slowly at first, but the pace and volume are picking up -- my motion tracker is going from quiet to "uh-oh." I wait for my foes with my pulse rifle cocked and ready, but they're not coming straight at me like I thought they would.
"They're coming outta the goddamn walls," I think to myself.
And those few seconds of gameplay were enough to make me jump to this conclusion: This "lowly" game -- due out Feb. 16 for the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC -- might just save a license that Hollywood spent millions of dollars completely wrecking.
I could toss dozens of nouns around, and my description of Mario would be no less vague. Easily the most identifiable character in the industry, Mario is essentially synonymous with the term "video game." Because we're all familiar with Mario's 8-bit and 3D incarnations, many artists enjoy recreating the iconic character in their own unique
styles. They love ejecting the two brothers from their cozy, peaceful home in the
Mushroom Kingdom and into the world of Photoshop and graphic tablets.
Some of these art pieces have obvious inspirations, while others seem to be the result of drug-induced fanboy fantasies. From the comedic to the creepy, the imaginations of these painters and animators should keep you occupied for quite a while. Click here to view the art that Shigeru Miyamoto's imagination produced.
Before you go and renew your former EGM-turn-Maxim subscription, you might want consider this:
News Blips:
Publisher Steve Harris recently posted some details on the new EGM, including subscription prices. Rates break down to six print issues and 26 premium digital issues for $14.99 or 12 print/52 digital for $24.99. How exactly the EGM[i]: The Digital Magazine will look is still a bit ambiguous, but Harris does tease about the product interfacing with the iPad and other tablet PCs. Do you now think the iPad is at least kind of cool? [EGM Now]
Peter Moore, the president of EA's sports label, recently revealed that his company plans on making a simplified version of the Madden franchise for Facebook. This installment of the popular football franchise is supposed to be similar to yet more accessible than its console brother. In other Madden news, EA's prediction (via Madden NFL 10) that the New Orleans Saints would win Super Bowl XLIV was correct. This is all part of a big EA conspiracy to take over football! It's rigged! Rigged, I tell ya! [SF Gate]
GamesLatest reports that Electronic Arts says that the company will not release Dante's Inferno in the Middle East. The publishing giant made this decision after going over "an evaluation process which is based on consumer tastes, preferences, platform mix, and other factors." GamesLatest notes that the United Arab Emirates banned Darksiders and God of War 3, the latter for its religious content and the former for simply having the word "God" in the title. Damn, being a fan of action games in the Middle East sounds pretty tough.
The British Columbia government plans to offer tax credits to film, TV, animation, and video-game industries that operate in the Canadian province. Industry group BC Interactive Task Force lobbied the BC government since last year and is currently working with them to flesh out some of the details of this new program. Watch out, video-game world, here comes Canada. [gi.biz]
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Editor's note: The Facebook MMO Mafia Wars has approximately 14 bajillion players, largely due to its simple play style. To gamers like Sam, this sort of casual game is anathema. But what if you played it like a serious MMO? Could you quickly rise to the top of the leaderboards? Sam finds out. -Brett
If you use Facebook, you've most likely seen the ads for Mafia Wars. The game boasts nearly 25 million active users, and many of them have probably sent you an invite to join. Most of you probably just hide updates from Mafia Wars and the other Facebook games, but I was curious: Could I use what I had learned from decades of gaming to dominate one of the world's most notoriously slow and laborious games?
Bitmob's Aaron Thomas and Dan Hsu are joined by
Bioshock 2's Mellisa Miller and Hogarth De La Plante, as well as Anthony
Gallegos of Rebel FM and GameSpy fame on this episode of the Mobcast.
The group talk about how their gaming jobs have
affected their gaming hobby, discuss whether or not a game's story really
matters, question writers' frequent use of lists, and share the most-bizarre
game/product tie-ins.
Have a question you want answered? Want to share some important insight with the world? E-mail the crew at
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.
Julian Murdoch's article "God's PR Problem" that was discussed in this week's show, can be found here.
Back in my day, we had to rely on either instructional booklets or video game magazines for info on how to do special moves in games...or that dude at the arcade who would trade combo advice for cigarettes.
Video Blips:
• This video shows off some close combat techniques for Aliens vs. Predator. Remember, though, if you're ever in a real-life confrontation with Aliens or a Predator, these controller inputs probably won't help you much. [GameTrailers]
This is it -- this is the big one! We finally made it to a full list of participant-shared songs! Every tune on this list except for mine comes from one of your fellow Bitmobbers!
Sorry for all the exclamation points, but I cannot fully express how thankful and excited I am. Whew!
For those unaware, this is the 26th edition of a weekly column that I started up six months ago. The idea is simple -- each week, I put up 15 great gaming songs and as many community submissions as I can muster. This week offers the first, full register of tunes that come from the site's readers and writers...other people besides me.
I'm also proud to say that my compatriots have really whipped up a fine batch of video game music from all over the map: We've got the 8-bit (Punch-Out!!), we've got the current (Mass Effect), we've got the J-pop (Persona), and we've got the hilarious (Conker's Bad Fur Day). All thanks to the 14 best Bitmobbers in the world!
As a last thought, I have a small announcement: Special thanks go out to Alex Martin, who pointed out that he hadn't contributed until now because of the "edition" titles. He thought that I was emailing specific thematic instructions to specific contributors every week. This could not be further from the truth -- I name each edition retroactively after I receive the submissions and find a common theme somewhere. Everybody's ideas are welcome! This is why I called it a "community jukebox."
But hey, enough with the boring, self-important news.
What crazy ditties have you got up your sleeve? Hit the jump and join the ranks!
The citizens of Azeroth share a lot of our holidays, so it's not much of a stretch to imagine that they may enjoy the same sports that we do. Well, maybe "enjoy" isn't the right word. Still, I wonder how a game of football would work in the World of Warcraft.
Editor's note: I shake my head at developers and publishers who needlessly include invasive and -- ultimately -- broken copy-protection schemes with their PC games. As if installing, patching, and troubleshooting driver versions and OS compatibility problems weren't enough, they feel compelled to run me though a number of additional hoops to play. Bioshock 2 is excessively over-protected with (depending on where you purchase) up to three different DRM schemes included. When will developers finally follow in the footsteps of Good Old Games and drop this nonsense once and for all? -Rob
With recent news about Bioshock 2's Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology, fans hoping to play the game on PC are in an uproar.
Interestingly enough, the sequel's copy-protection scheme isn't really much different from its predecessor's -- both include Sony's SecuROM, but Bioshock 2 will also use Games for Windows Live.
So why, then, are so many people so angry? Perhaps because 2K was bold enough to explain exactly what "using Games for Windows Live" means.
I pride myself on providing you with premium content that is sure not to fly with your boss.... Actually, the treasures of the internet that I wish to pass onto you just happen to fall into a more mature category. That's okay with you, right?
This rap about the Super Mario Land Game Boy games certainly isn't something you want those with sensitive ears to overhear, but that doesn't make the rhyme any less hilarious [via College Humor]:
This week on Hit or Miss: The 360 version of Final Fantasy 13 is three DVDs, making DVD self-confidence plummet to levels last seen during G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra's home market release; Sonic goes old-school but keeps lame new-school graphics; BioWare tells SDTV owners they're screwed but the text is too small for them to read it; and Tecmo Koei stands by their prurient filth. Good for you, Tecmo Koei, you prurient filth mongers!
In preparation for Valentine's Day, this week's Reviews Spotlight will tenderize that cold, black, dead thing you call your heart.
Scott Bradley will be the first to pull on your heartstrings with his review of Army of Two: The 40th Day. I recently beat this game with a close friend of mine, and I've got to say, our relationship has never been stronger. Suriel Vasquez piles on the emotion with his impressions of No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle. Complete with an appropriately melodramatic title, this sequel arms you with a laser sword and a motivating plot -- what could be more awesome? Dana Laratta steps in with a 12-word review of Silent Hill: Shattered Memories. That's right. Instead of a long-winded article on this Wii title, Dana summarized his thoughts in the form of a Haiku. Truly brilliant!
Richard Moss has peeled himself away from Glider PRO to explain how a game about a paper plane could be so captivating. Subsequently, Tim Thomas, TJ Babcock, and Jason Lataillade tag team Borderlands in a round table-style discussion. Meanwhile, Eric Majkut takes on the video game adaptation of this year's biggest cinema hit: Avatar. Late to the party, but arriving in style is Garret Staus with his review of Batman: Arkham Asylum.
Now that we've extracted all of your remaining emotion, Kevin Zhang-Xing offers a topical comparison between Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and its predeccesor.
Allow me to be honest for a moment. Call it hubris, but I've sometimes felt as though Bitmob hosted some of the Internet's most creative writers. This Spotlight only confirms my belief that you're all great writers. You guys make me proud. I love you...so much. Excuse me, I've got to find some napkins.
Army of Two: The 40th Day - Worth Buying?! By Scott Bradley A relative newcomer to Bitmob, Scott chose to focus his second review on the two baddest dudes in the industry -- Rios and Salem. Packing even more witticisms and snarky pop culture references than ever, EA Montreal's Army of Two: The 40th Day is a frat boy opus. The weapon customization is robust and the fist pumps are even more intense this time around. The game is a little pricey in the United Kingdom, Scott's country of residence, a detail which you should be aware of before reading his review. Regardless, if you're amused by gold-plated Kalashnikovs and high fives, this piece will probably interest you.
Regardless of your age, you've probably seen thousands (if not millions) of simulated deaths at this point in your life. Blood-soaked swords, foul-mouthed marines, and fiery explosions are all icons which you can immediately identify. The average American wouldn't bat an eyelash at the death of a soldier in Bad Company 2 or the explosion which accompanies a C4 detonation in Modern Warfare 2. You may choose to call it "desensitization," but I think of it as a social paradigm shift. We have simply come to accept murder as a normative aspect of media culture.
But what about rape?
The crime of sexual assault is almost as severe as murder, but rape does not share the same position in the realm of video games. While gamers are content in shooting, stabbing, and blowing up their enemies, the thought of raping a woman is absolutely horrific (as it should be).
I'll agree that the moral outrage toward games like RapeLay and Battle Raper is well-placed, but I'm curious as to why there exists a double standard among these two equally horrific crimes. Why are we shocked by Custer's Revenge and not by Quake 4?
Even though you're likely putting the last-minute touches on your Super Bowl-viewing plans, surely you have time to catch up with some great stories in this edition of the Community Spotlight. Right? I mean, priorities.
Alex R. Cronk-Young starts it off with a challenge to the community: Can you identify these game characters by their six-word memoirs? Brian Shirk is next up with a personal story about how video games, strict parents, and extracurricular activities made him into the man he is today.
Kevin Zhang-xing loves a good game demo...and hates a bad one. Based on his experiences, he offers tips for developers on how to get it right. Finally, Christopher Quach relates the trouble he's had with his PlayStation 3, and wishes Sony would improve their customer service.
Game Characters' Six-Word Memoirs By Alex R. Cronk-Young A series of unfortunate iPod-related events led to Alex to NPR, where he discovered the six-word memoir. Inspired, Alex decided to write out a collection of video game character life summaries. Can you identify them all?
We've covered a ton of casemods here on Bitmob, but the quality of this one might actually sell consoles. Well, to H.R. Giger fetishists. Not satisfied with his original Giger-inspired PS3 modification, a talented modder named Givintats has built a system with an Alien bursting through the surface, ready to sing a showtune [via Technabob]:
Givintats knows his Alien movies -- Chest-bursters have a nasty habit of assimilating traits of its host (not to mention attracting horrible modern directors for sad vs. Predator pictures). This parasite now has circuitry and PlayStation parts included in its DNA. Another shot of this kick-ass mod appears after the jump.
Publisher Steve Harris recently posted some details on the new EGM, including subscription prices. Rates break down to six print issues and 26 premium digital issues for $14.99 or 12 print/52 digital for $24.99. How exactly the EGM[i]: The Digital Magazine will look is still a bit ambiguous, but Harris does tease about the product interfacing with the iPad and other tablet PCs. Do you now think the iPad is at least kind of cool? [
Regardless of your age, you've probably seen thousands (if not millions) of simulated deaths at this point in your life. Blood-soaked swords, foul-mouthed marines, and fiery explosions are all icons which you can immediately identify. The average American wouldn't bat an eyelash at the death of a soldier in 
Even though you're likely putting the last-minute touches on your Super Bowl-viewing plans, surely you have time to catch up with some great stories in this edition of the Community Spotlight. Right? I mean, priorities.
