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I received my copy of developer Arkane Studios' stealth-action title Dishonored today. Because I preordered it from Best Buy, I received a special bonus item along with the game: a USB-powered "whale oil lamp." I've written before about all the useless plastic crap I've accumulated over the years, so, hey...here's some more.

I can't fault anyone for wanting to throw a little something extra in with a video game, but what exactly do I do with this thing? I turned to the instruction sheet for some guidance.

"The Dishonored USB Whale Oil Lamp," it reads, "is a fun way of making your computer more attractive and your workstation more inviting."

Huh.

I read the rest of the page looking for anything else that might tell me what to do with it, but all it had to offer were a few safety tips ("Do not cover the lights with paper or cloth") and some extra-helpful troubleshooting tips ("If lights do not illuminate, make sure switch is in ON position").

OK, so it looks like I'm on my own here.

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I’m ready to transition from writing about video games to designing them. I wouldn’t have thought this move was possible if not for attending the international festival of independent games, IndieCade, for the last four years. I won’t continue as a weekly contributor to GamesBeat after Bitmob finishes merging with it at the end of this month. Fittingly, I want to look at my history with IndieCade as it sandwiches my journalism career and helps guide me to the next level.  

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My Commander Shepard is a good man. I made him that way; my unseen hand guiding him through his spacefaring adventures and shaping his personality. He is by no means a perfect person, but I've ensured that he tries to help out those in need at every opportunity -- just so long as they don't rub him the wrong way. For the most part, I kept my Shepard on the straight and narrow.

But as I drew close to the end of Mass Effect 2, my Shepard made a poor life decision, engaging in a bout of frivolous sex with a lady whom he admittedly didn't like -- all under the pretence that they'd never see one another again anyway. My Shepard lied to this lover of his. He lied because I instructed him to do so. And strangely enough, once all was said and done, not only did my Shepard feel a little dirty but I did as well.

Mass Effect is a series known for the player's ability to make choices that affect the narrative. While the core storyline remains relatively static, no two games, or Commander Shepards, are quite the same.

But why did I have my Shepard act so out of character and so abruptly? Perhaps I had decided that he simply yearned for a relationship of any sort. Perhaps I had decided that he enjoys manipulating those who trust him. Unfortunately, the simple truth lacks such depth: I sold my Commander Shepard's body for Microsoft's Gamer Points.

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Not that long ago (OK, OK ... it was a long time ago!), we announced that VentureBeat had acquired Bitmob. Naturally, since we've been telling everyone the merger would be done in a couple of months, it didn't. It's taken a lot longer than that.

Well, we're almost there now.

The code's finished, and we've done a lot of testing on it. We really, honestly, totally, truly believe that, by the end of October, Bitmob will shut down for good and move completely over to GamesBeat. If we do it right, we'll have migrated all profiles and articles over, and we can do the "business as usual" thing over there.

Phase one of this migration will be missing a few minor features from Bitmob, but it will have gained some new ones, too (especially in the Department of War Against Spam). We'll be improving the site from this upcoming initial launch, but the main hurdle now is just getting the first version of the site up with the ability for community members to post stories.

Please stay tuned!

In the meantime ...

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I’m kinda fickle when it comes to most game elements. Eye candy is alright, and gameplay is important. But if a developer wants to instill a lasting, meaningful connection between myself and its game, the music needs to be amazing. I don’t like Halo: Combat Evolved, but its theme is fantastic. Mass Effect and Mass Effect 3? Amazing soundtracks. Bastion? Fez? VVVVVV? Win. Win. Win.

I could go at this all day. Mega Man, Super Meat Boy, The Binding of Isaac, the Prince of Persia reboot (yeah, I said it), Ninja Gaiden, Faxanadu.... Rush‘n Attack? Awful game, kick-ass first-stage song. Contra, Castlevania: Bloodlines, Earthworm Jim.... You got a good game? Show me the soundtrack.

But this write up isn’t about any of those releases. We’re gonna take a trip back to 1998. The place? My computer desk. The reason? Let’s just say Nintendo’s reputation for family-friendly gaming had my parents ridiculously locked in on one brand of console, so it was either Nintendo or Nintendon’t. The PC was my last, best hope for non-Mario goodness.

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Ladies and gentleman, this crap needs to stop.

An alarming number of massively multiplayer-game fans actually believe (and defend by pointing to Terms of Use documents) that it is "cheating" to do something in-game without the assistance of anything outside the scope of the game (like hacks and whatnot) that MMO developers consider an "exploit."

 This mindset is as anti-gaming as it comes -- right behind the travesty known as Super Smash Bros. Brawl -- and it has to be squashed before it really gets out of hand (though it's already far too widespread).

 The latest example of this buffoonery is ArenaNet, the company behind the otherwise really cool MMO Guild Wars 2, which has been banning players for -- get this -- walking up to an in-game vendor and purchasing an item.

 That's it.

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Nintendo's flagship intellectual property has seen more than its fair share of amateur recreations using other games' modding engines, usually with predictably creepy results. But Skyrim modder Clintmich's Super Skyrim Bros. has to be one of the most simultaneously polished and jarring efforts to date.

Using Bethesda's Creation tools, he's fashioned a warped and violent image of the Italian plumber's antics in five worlds, ending with the player tracking down the kidnapped princess and taking on a more humanized and therefore terrifying incarnation of Bowser -- suspiciously modeled on a low-level fire mage from the game proper.

Instead of gently bonking goombas on the head as you land on them, players are thrown a giant lumber hammer to cave in enemy carapaces and a staff to cast fireballs, instead of a hat. Something has to be said for the effort made to make it look like the Mushroom Kingdom, even if it plays exactly like Skyrim. The daisies have wide-eyed little faces, there are coins hanging impossibly in mid-air, and the koopa troopers look chubby and plush -- in short, adorable until they try to kill you.

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I like to imagine that I would completely freak out if I was living in the '80s and saw this poster hanging at my local cinema. Of course, I had to settle for just playing Half-Life 2: Episode 2 the game way back in 2007 (holy crap, it's been that long?).

This art, found by us on Reddit, is the work of agentscarlet, who has some other stunning pieces on DeviantArt.

Also, Hollywood, please don't take this as a sign that you should actually make a Half-Life movie. I'm sure you'd just ruin it.

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Most modern military shooters have so few different colors that I can count all of it with one hand. That isn't a good thing as it just makes the game look like a brand-new coloring book for military-Hollywood fans.

Battlefield 3 is such a game without a vibrant color palette; however, modders might be able to help with the PC version. A video of the modders' work definitely makes Battlefield 3 more beautiful, but using this mod could lead to a permanent ban.

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A nagging problem kept bothering me while playing Battlefield 3. It had nothing to do with the server speed or my overheating Xbox 360.

I just couldn't think of a great rock-music playlist to listen to during my sessions.

I really wanted to capture that ruthless environment of Battlefield 3 in a playlist. The game has an edgy visual atmosphere that always crawls under my skin whenever I boot it up. The colors are dark and rusty. Every ricocheted gunshot causes some sort of explosion.

I thought that 2000s post-punk would work pretty well. That decade, however, also coincided with the happy-indie-rock movement. I certainly couldn't play Modest Mouse's "Float On" while mowing down hordes of soldiers.

Then I came up with the sound. I had to add in my favorite Generation X music from my childhood.

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The Community Spotlight features some of the best unedited articles that didn't quite make the front page. This week, we explore whether the survival-horror genre is dying (or just undead), examine what the Wii U will offer gamers, and explain why video games are good for you. (Told you so, Mom.)

Survival horror is dead
By Jason Rose

While he acknowledges that different things scare different people, Jason identifies two key components of successful horror games: danger and difficulty. The problem? Today's titles, like Resident Evil 6, have abandoned these principles.

What does the Wii U stand to offer?
By Chandler Tate

Chandler wants to like the Wii U, he writes, "but at the same time, my mind is telling me no." He's not sold on the controllers and doesn't see much new in the gameplay, either. Do you agree?

Video games are good for you: The positive effects of video games
By Jesse Meixsell

Jesse gives us a collection of arguments in favor of playing games, including a number of sourced citations. What benefits have you seen from your time on the sticks?

The curse of graphic adventure games
By Alexander Kraus

Remember the old PC adventure games where the only method of movement was pointing and clicking? Alexander says the influence of that antiquated control scheme still affects games today, for better and worse. Interesting observations. 

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Welcome, Vault Hunters! Here you will find the results of our latest Bitmob Wants You community writing prompt. And the articles you've written are worth their weight in bullymong hides.

(Wait, do those have value? Would they have more value if I called them Bonerfart hides? Huh. No matter.)

Anyway, the point is, these articles are great, and it's all thanks to our stalwart Bitmob community. Check 'em out below.

I'm not here to save the planet
By Ansis Fãrts

Ansis likes the simplicity of Borderlands 2's setup. Yes, there's a story, and yes, you're nominally a "good guy," but as Ansis writes, "At the end of the day, what really makes the world of Borderlands special is that you're just someone with a lot of guns and a lot of desire to put those bullet hoses to use."

I don't think I have the time any more to enjoy Borderlands 2
By Leigh Harrison

It's not that Leigh doesn't like Borderlands. On the contrary: "I was truly hooked by Borderlands. I played it solo and exhausted every quest before the finale, fully aware that I would inevitably begin a new game plus upon its completion." That didn't end up happening, though. Read on to find out why.

Click through for more of your articles.

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