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Considering Midway didn't put Michael Jordan in NBA Jam, we're really not surprised to hear a Mortal Kombat-themed court also got put on the bench.

News Blips:

• Doom-shakalaka: Mortal Kombat NBA Jam court literally on fire. It's a beaut, ain't it? Well, the NBA didn't think so -- turned out this Mortal Kombat-themed basketball court for one of the home console ports of NBA Jam didn't get approved for some odd reason. Was it the spine backboard? Or maybe it was the flesh head turned into a makeshift ball? Nah, it's probably because it had no cheerleaders. Yeah, that's probably it. [1UP]

• Control limited-edition Street Fighter ass-kickings at Comic-Con. Peripheral-maker Mad Catz has announced it will be selling exclusive limited-edition Street Fighter 4-branded FightPads and FightSticks at Comic-Con this week. Act now, while supplies last. Or just go to eBay. [Joystiq]

• DAHHHHH! Translation: New Rabbid game coming to the DS. Ubisoft announced today Rabbids Go Home is coming to the DS this holiday. In the game you play as Rabbids. But we bet you inferred that by the title, smarty pants. [Kotaku]

• Preview Xbox Live update before it goes live officially. Xbox Live spokesperson Major Nelson announced on his website today that 360 owners can sign up for a chance to check out the next Xbox Live update before it goes up for real. We expect a full daily report if any of you get in. And a commission check sent in the mail (priority, please!). [GameSpot]

Hit the jump for some video blips, including Carlos Santana in Guitar Hero 5, Drug Wars minus the Pepto, a royal Nintendo 64 case mod, and...more.

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Petri Purho of Crayon Physics Deluxe and Kloonigames.com recently released Post I.T. Shooter (download it here), a game created according to the Experimental Gameplay Project rules. One of those rules is that the game should be completed within seven days, so Post I.T. isn't exactly Ikaruga, but it does have space invaders and some damn cool explosions.

In the spirit of the game (short, sweet, made of Post-it notes), I interviewed Purho according to Experimental Interview Project guidelines (full interview after the break):

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Editor's note: After making some basic tunes with KORG DS-10, Alex is interested in actually learning how to write music. Can anybody in the Bitmob community give him a hand? -Jason

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I love electronic music. I toyed with the idea of going to school to be a sound engineer, not because I'm innately good at it but because I find it so interesting.

Naturally, when I saw the KORG DS-10 on The 1UP Show last year, my mind filled with lofty dreams of creating simple, elegant electronic masterpieces. The screenshots showing knob tweaking and note placing conjured up visions of studio headphones and head-nodding gestures that said, "Oh, yeah, right there. That's the perfect level of attack."

Alas, the news of the KORG DS-10 reminded me of a past failure: I had once tried to get into making music with the program FruityLoops. After hours of experimenting I was able to turn out 30 seconds of very generic-sounding techno using the program's most basic features.

I knew it would take a lot of tutorials before I could get any kind of results, so as any good twentysomething would do, I abandoned the program. This did give me some basic experience using sequencers, but I walked away feeling defeated.

But KORG DS-10 is a videogame! I know videogames; they are comfortable and familiar. This helped me muster up the courage to once again try my hand at electronic music. When my copy arrived in the mail, I quickly booted it up to poked around a bit in the interface.

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Another cool bit from Tiffany Chow, this time from her blog, which we may have to start following more regularly. Here's a video from a dance workshop at "Boogiezone University" (yes, really -- we think it may be the sister college of Bovine University)...done to the music in the Mii Channel on the Wii.

Thanks to our own Rich McGrath for bringing this (and the earlier 8-bit Weezer story) to our attention.

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Editor's note: Suriel writes that special editions are your fault, Mr. Game Consumer. Hey, don't blame me! I stay away from special editions. And after reading this, maybe you will, too. -Jason

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After reading that Sony's basically making buyers pay more for the PSP Go when it first comes out, I wasn't as excited about actually buying one. I'd been meaning to get a PSP for a while, and now that this new model has easily downloadable software, it seemed like the right time to jump in.

I still want to buy it, but if I go ahead and plop down the $250 for it, then I'll just affirm the theory that fans always pay extra for products that could sell for less.

The fault, however, doesn't necessarily lie with Sony (although they're not exactly the hero); Sony's only charging extra for it because they know they can get away with it. People are going to buy it. So why is it that fans are willing (and somehow able) to spend so much on things that they know are superfluous.

The biggest offender of this in the game industry is the special edition. Affix whatever "limited" or "collector" tag you like; it's hard to argue that special editions are anything more than a marketing ploy. Companies ask focus groups about what sorts of swag they'd be willing to pay for in addition to the game, figure out how to mass produce those things, and then charge as much money as you're willing to pay for it.

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Found via Tiffany Chow's Twitter: a free compilation of Weezer songs done with 8-bit synth bleeps and blips. Fun! If you like Weezer, that is.

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Hopefully you know by now that we're all about supporting the community here at Bitmob. Register with us (using your real name!), and besides being able to leave comments on stories, you can post your own articles (via your Profile link), which will go to our all-purpose Mobfeed. And if we find a story that particularly stands out -- cause it's funny, insightful, smart, original, informative, shocking...whatever -- we'll editorially vet it and promote it to the front page of Bitmob for more of the world to see.

We can't thank you all enough for the hundreds of great posts you've put up so far. The Mobfeed and the front page have become daily reading for a lot of people -- gaming community and industry alike -- and if we can keep this up, Bitmob will be around for a very long time.

For you more serious contributors out there, below are a few quick posting tips that will help get everything a bit more consistent around Bitmob. This is optional of course, but you'd be making our lives much easier...and helping to show other new users how we do things around here:

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Editor's Note: Community member Reggie Carolipio takes us back in time to revisit some memorable moments in gaming storytelling. I forgot about having to read story bits in a booklet that came with Wasteland, because back then computer games didn't have enough memory to store all that text. Ah...the good ol' days! -Shoe

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In the spirit of Dan Hsu's article where he discussed five games that he had obsessed over, here are five that I have enjoyed so much because they were as addicting as a good book. Playing them fired up my imagination, and driving through each narrative was like turning the page to find out where everything was going. Having solid gameplay mechanics was also a major plus in keeping the experiences alive.

These aren't listed in any particular order, but they each left behind some memorable moments that have either inspired or haunted me to the present day.

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Bitmob contributors Jason Wilson and Aaron Thomas join Shoe and Greg this week to talk games old and new. Also, thanks to Matias Tapia for this week's community question.

Bitmob.com - Mobcast #12:

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This week the Bitmob crew comes together with a small twist: instead of the regular 5 guys, 5 topics setup, they take a step back and make it 4 guys, 4 topics. Once you get over the shock, enjoy the discussion among Dan "Shoe" Hsu, Greg Ford, Jason Wilson, and Aaron Thomas as they talk about games they are gushing fanboys over, turn-based versus real-time games, evolving reviews when it comes to online games, and more.

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Some people choose a videogame system based on the games. Or the quality. Y'know, how much enjoyment you can get for your hard-earned dough. Us? We purchase our consoles based solely on how badass a shirt-less dude on the cover looks sporting a rocket launcher. That's why this is our favorite console of all-time [via technabob]:

Not only does this cheap, Atari ripoff make us want to shoot people in the face, but it has 208 games built inside. 208, people! And we bet they're all awesome. Except for all of them. But when you have 208 choices, there's really no reason to complain. Seriously, if this system is good enough for Rambo, it's good enough for us.

Check out an unboxing video after the break.

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Our latest community spotlight post covers such diverse topics as why we choose particular character types in fighting games, how Left 4 Dead simulates an aspect of World War 2 combat better than any WW2 game, and the surprisingly good Buzz! HQ quiz game in Sony's Home. Read on after the jump for more entries!

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Buzz! HQ: Finally Something to do at Home
By Benjamin Torrey
Though not the world's biggest Home fan, Benjamin ventures back into the breach and ends up loving the recently-relaunched Buzz! HQ.

How Multiple Endings Can Ruin a Game
By Derek Amundson
It's not that Derek doesn't like all games with multiple endings -- just most of the ones we have now. BioShock, Infamous, and Fallout 3 get a lambasting for gameplay choices that sometimes aren't actually much of a choice at all.

Why Left 4 Dead is Secretly the Best WW2 Shooter Ever
By Jim Savannah
Jim makes the somewhat unsuspected argument (assuming you don't read the title of his post) that L4D's sense of camaraderie is something that no dedicated World War 2 game has ever equaled.

Intermissions: Citizen Kane Mobile
By Brett Bates
Have you been waiting and waiting for the Citizen Kane of videogames to show up? Well, it's finally here!

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Where else can you get your regular dose of geek news, this week in just under 1 hour 9 minutes? We don't want to know. Enter Geekbox.

The Geekbox — Episode 23 (2009-07-15)
Wherein we discuss Fitch’s big date, Professor Layton’s Curious Twitter Scam, GamePro’s recent plagiarizing problems, the big Green Lantern casting news, Robert Kirkman’s Invincible, superhero underoos, BlazBlue, the glorious return of Monkey Island, and Burn Notice episode 3×05. Starring Ryan Scott, Karen Chu, Andrew Fitch, Greg Ford, and Ryan Higgins.
Running Time: 1h 8m 55s

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Direct Download (right click to save as)

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