Lots of YouTube stuff…and here’s a picture of Tepper.

→ EA Defends Itself Against Thousands of Anti-gay Letters

“Every one of EA’s games includes ESRB content descriptors so it’s hard to believe anyone is surprised by the content. This isn’t about protecting children, it’s about political harassment,” Jeff Brown, VP of corporate communications told us.

While EA has been getting stepped on and shit upon for being the Worst Company in America in the shadows they have also been doing some good.

→ SSX 2012 Soundtrack Playlist (YouTube)

SSX Soundtrack Playlist!
ssx has the best video game soundtracks!

The new SSX game has a fantastic soundtrack. Some good Friday listening for everybody trudging though the day of work. Just hit play and enjoy. Game is $30 bucks this week at BestBuy and worth it. Damned EA… I don’t know who you hire as your audio advisers but they are worth every penny you pay them.

→ ADmented Reality – Google Glasses Remixed with Google Ads(YouTube)

When I saw Google had somehow forgotten to include any ads in their Project Glass promotional video I just couldn’t resist fixing that oversight for them.

So here is my slightly more realistic version of Google’s augmented reality glasses – now featuring contextual Google Ads!

Right when I first saw Project Glass all I could think of how Google would pump advertisements directly into your skull. It would be cool if Google could find a way for this technology to work with any eye wear and how it works with people with vision issues.

→ UNREAL BBC Augusta Masters 2012 Crazy Golf (YouTube)

I figured the BBC needed highlights of the radical innovations at Augusta this year…so i made them this video.

Poorly titled video but it’s PGA golf CG’d with Putt Putt. Tiger missing the loopy loop putt is pretty funny.

→ The Rock Insults Hell In A Cell Contenders (YouTube)

In the episode of Raw Is War leading up to Armageddon 2000 the rock shoots a funny interview where he insults the other contestants!

I’m rather certain I shared this out on Google Reader but this promo is so awesome. “I AM THE GAMEAAAAAA”. Classic…

→ Angry Birds, Farmville and Other Hyperaddictive ‘Stupid Games’

In the nearly 30 years since Tetris’s invention — and especially over the last five, with the rise of smartphones — Tetris and its offspring (Angry Birds, Bejeweled, Fruit Ninja, etc.) have colonized our pockets and our brains and shifted the entire economic model of the video-game industry. Today we are living, for better and worse, in a world of stupid games.

An aging core demographic with time constraints to actually play real games but who still want to play games, wide availability, and low price commitment. That is how I always interpreted why these types of games are so popular. The article also doesn’t mention female players and that has to be on the rise. On the other side of the spectrum I wouldn’t say Call of Duty is a “Smart” game.

This made me laugh. This made me want to drink beer. This made me remember there are actually good movies.

→ What happened to action movies?

See, Hollywood in the 1980s knew something that today’s filmmakers have forgotten. They knew that you could lure people to the theater with the promise of titillation, and sucker-punch them with a story of real substance. They knew that action was about pulling the camera back and letting the viewer see where the antagonists were in relation to one another, and what they were doing, and why. They knew that someone could be part man, part machine, and all cop.

Movies from the 80′s seem to be the games of today. It’s a shame so much American movie making sucks ass these days. It’s almost not a matter that the movies are “bad” it’s more a feeling  “nobody makes movies for me”. Note: Need to watch Robocop soon.

→ Anterior - Venomous – Youtube

Sit the fuck down little boy
I’ve seen a million like you
And I wish everyone could see
Cold heart and hollow mind
This story’s getting so old and dire
It’s rehashed pathetic and weak

Brutal…

→ Angel Vivaldi – A Mercurian Summer – Youtube

Where is the rest of the band in this video?
jb6964

@jb6964 He IS the Band
LordAngelon

Vanbergs showed this to me awhile back and Angel is awesome. That give $5 to get $10 from Amazon a few weeks ago? Buying his albums is where that went.

→ Is Best Buy following CompUSA, Circuit City to certain doom?

The basic pattern that CompUSA (closed brick-and-mortar stores in 2007) and Circuit City (closed stores in 2008) followed was: first select stores were closed, then more were closed, then all stores were shuttered or sold off.

Is this Best Buy’s fate?

No way Best Buy is going to “die”. I still maintain they are the best (ugh) brick and mortar selling all the stuff people want these days. I would like to see them to find a way to leverage their best asset (store pickup), and maintain prices on media that people will actually want to pay. AKA being “The Best Buy”. People are smart (especially in Michigan) knowing Amazon has lower prices, free shipping, no sales tax and are willing to wait to a bit to save dough.

→ The Young Foodie Culture

Chang earns about $70,000 a year; her rent in Park Slope, where she lives now, runs $1,100 a month. As for the rest, “I spend it all on food,” she says flatly. During the one week I asked Chang to keep tabs on her restaurant-going and market purchases, she ate at fourteen restaurants, pizza joints, and cafés, and spent $350.

Food and drink seem to be a pretty big deal these days. I’m not one to talk. Driving over an hour to drink a beer is absolutely reasonable.

→ Relationship Blues On Mass Effect 3

Over the course of the Mass Effect games, I’ve emotionally misled at least three members of my crew, cheated on two more, and seduced both of my female aides-de-camp. Why have I been allowed to play a game called Mass Effect: Shepard Gone Wild? I have no idea. Neither real-life nor video-game commanders should be allowed to seduce their subordinates…

After knowing the path the third game takes (if I ever get to it)  my female Shepard will not indulge in romance in the first game. I also agree with Tom I miss the open planet investigation in the later games. Article is a good primer to the third game and relatively spoiler free. If I was a good writer he writes what I would if given the ability.

→ Microsoft: entertainment overtakes multiplayer gaming on Xbox

Microsoft says that Xbox Live members in the US are now spending more time watching TV, music, and movies than they are playing multiplayer games.

Not shocking  to hear. Whenever I’m on XBL more times then not everybody is either watching Netflix or on Hulu. Streaming video is slowly moving off the PC and onto the TV. It’s also strange how people don’t seem to have a problem paying for Gold to be able to do this when the PS3 and almost any other box let you stream for free.

Not much this week. Might be slow around here for a bit. Try to get something definite posted about Mass Effect 3 in the next couple weeks.

→ New Graphic Warning Labels on Cigarettes Pass Another Hurdle

The decision came in one of two cases brought by tobacco companies against the federal law that would force them to cover 50% of the front and back of each cigarette pack with a graphic warning label, including gruesome images of a smoker’s rotting teeth or a man exhaling smoke through a tracheotomy.

Fear, just what we need in our society. MORE FEAR! MAKE EVERYBODY AFRAID AND TREAT THEM LIKE IDIOTS!

→ House members call for new labels warning against ‘violent’ video games

Reps. Joe Baca (D-Calif.) and Frank Wolf (R-Va.) on Monday introduced a bill that would require most video games to bear a warning label that says, “WARNING: Exposure to violent video games has been linked to aggressive behavior.”

What a joke. While they are at it they should put that same label on “most” books, CD’s, and movies.

→ BEER #9 – COORS LIGHT

From 1st Corinthians, Chapter 13, Verse 4

Coors Light is patient, Coors Light is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Coors Light does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

21′s century religion at it’s finest.

→ TO MASS EFFECT 3 PLAYERS, FROM DR. RAY MUZYKA, CO-FOUNDER OF BIOWARE

I urge you to do your own research: play the game, finish it and tell us what you think. Tell your friends if you feel it’s a good game as a whole. Trust that we are doing our damndest, as always, to address your feedback.  As artists, we care about our fans deeply and we appreciate your support.

Hope to have more on this later but I’m not sure when. I’m rather far into the game and haven’t finished it yet but I can say I’m shocked all the negative feedback this game is getting. There is so much good (particularly for people who imported from ME1 and ME2) whenever something sucks it doesn’t  seem to matter. When I finish it I’ll write something up and see if that changes.

Mass Effect 3 – Reapers

Battlefield 3 – Mission Failed

Inception – Trailer Sound

I cannot be alone in this. The sound of the Reapers from Mass Effect 3 reminded me of the Mission Failed sound from Battlefield 3 that in turn reminded me of the sound from the Inception Trailer. Just an never ending circle of bbbrrrooonnngggg!

Nowhere else on the planet can the weather be as diverse in one week as it’s been this week in West Michigan. Here are some links to take your mind off global warming and The Fog.

WHAT YOU CAN’T SEE WON’T HURT YOU…IT’LL KILL YOU! #tweetsfromvanlandw2012

→ The 365 Beers Challenge

I like beer. I like it a lot. This is a blog about drinking a different beer everyday for a year. Pretty simple. Enjoy!

Flo started a drinking beer blog that makes me want to drink beer. As of today only 361 more beers to go! Hurry up and post something about Bud Light Platinum and Big Flats.

→ Still a Fast-Food Nation: Eric Schlosser Reflects on 10 Years Later

About two thirds of the adults in the United States are obese or overweight. The obesity rate among preschoolers has doubled in the past 30 years. The rate among children aged 6 to 11 has tripled. And by some odd coincidence, the annual cost of the nation’s obesity epidemic—about $168 billion, as calculated by researchers at Emory University—is the same as the amount of money Americans spent on fast food in 2011.

The full afterword for the 2012 edition of Fast-Food Nation.

→ BioWare responds to Mass Effect 3 criticisms

“When we finish a game, we finish it many months before it actually hits the shelves and the team goes on to work on something else that in those intervening months represent millions of dollars of development time, which either goes toward the next game that you might not see for several years or a different game that they might go to work on like Dragon Age or the Old Republic.”

See: Mass Effect designer defends day one DLC. The way I look at DLC is either a tip to the developer for making something I want to continue and show support  or if word of mouth is strong (case in point From Ashes). Most games hardly do you really see cases where you buy the main game and not really getting a “full” product. Sometimes DLC can be gross but I don’t think the market supports OVERLY gross content.

→ People Everywhere Are Falling In Love With The Starbucks Blonde

We estimate that Blonde (which launched Jan ’12) already represents a considerable portion of drip coffee orders in the SBUX retail stores (~25-30% per checks), with a likely net positive impact on traffic.

This is good to hear. I’ve found to prefer the Blonde to the Pike and I’m glad it’s selling because I don’t want it to go away.

→ Intrigue Behind Stopping The Ticking Clock On ’24′ Movie

Fox wanted a budget around $30 million, while the filmmakers wanted $45 million to $60 million. Fox’s idea was always to make the film at a cost, and reward in the upside.

Not shocked Fox wants to make this on the cheap. What I’ve always thought they should do is a short mini-series HBO style (Mildred Pierce, John Adams), show it broadcast, then put out an extended DVD. Skip the theaters. Couldn’t imagine Redemption didn’t do well for them. If 24 is still a discussion point almost two years since it’s end I’m sure there is enough people that would buy DVD’s with the right cast attached.

→ Giant Bomb team returning to CBS Interactive after site purchase 

CBS Interactive has acquired Giant Bomb, the video game site started three years after its founders left (or were fired from) the media company’s subsidiary GameSpot over controversial circumstances.

Strange to say the least. GB for years has been really the only gaming site worth a damn and their podcast is fantastic. Hopefully that doesn’t change for the worse but I feel confident it won’t.

→ The 25 Most Awkward Cat Sleeping Positions

These are all the major ones. Do not attempt any of them unless you have professional experience with (a) sleeping and (b) being some kind of a cat.

Wouldn’t say this is the de facto of ways cats slumber but there are many Tepper cats posted and Tepper cats really are the best.

So being an early adopter of Mass Effect 3 has turned out to more of an event then I would have expected. This all started with Newegg shipping the incorrect product practically nullifying the idea of a “pre-order”. Not that I didn’t get a good price from them but considering time, effort and gasoline to return Madden 12 (with no compensation really) I would have been better just walking into Best Buy day of release. After calling Newegg CS (who are good at their jobs) they did a next day ship but that doesn’t help when UPS doesn’t deliver on Saturdays. My favorite thing about all of this is this wonderful sticker the over sized shipping box had on it.

When I finally got a chance to sit down with said title I went back and did a Save File Transfer of ME2 into ME3. It’s alarming I spent so much time with my ugly male renegade Shepard. He’s also a complete asshole and has a thing for aliens. Note: While galavanting though the galaxy he’s also had brief “interludes” with a Consort and a Criminal Biotic.

The next step on the import is confirming your appearance and of course I ran into this…

Since I’m taking screenshots with a HP Touchpad the above says “Mass Effect 3 cannot successfully determine the custom face code used by this imported save game. Please update your character’s appearance”.

4243 Posts 62,059 Views looks like I’m not alone.

Since I’m over character creators from this point I decided to just roll with default Shepard. Most of the best Mass Effect videos on the internet just use default Shepard it seems right morphing “my” Shepard in with everyone else and since I paid top dollar to get this game on release I’m not waiting for the patch.

When it’s all said and done all that matters is somebody should buy me a capture card.

Got nothing clever to add this week sorry.

→ Storms Mangle Ky. Town; Community Comes Together

MARTIN: So, what do you do as a minister, as a member of this community? What’s your role in this? What have you been doing?

DONAHUE: Well, it is to do whatever we can. To be honest, this is not a one-man team. This is not a one-organization team. We have got people spearheading all different areas right now. We’ve got donations. We’ve got people taking care of displaced people. We’ve got people preparing food. But we have had just an unbelievable outpouring of community love and support.

It’s easy to forget all the good a church can provide for a community. This is a great story.

→ Obama Scolds G.O.P. Critics of Iran Policy

“Those folks don’t have a lot of responsibilities, they’re not commander in chief. When I see the casualness with which some of these folks talk about war, I’m reminded of the costs involved in war” — for those who go into combat, for national security and for the economy. “This is not a game, and there’s nothing casual about it.”

After linking way to much garbage about Santorum recently it’s about time to bring light to Obama kicking ass.

→ Windows UI Concept ~ What Windows 8 Should Look Like

Microsoft have just launched their new Windows 8 logo. It has sparked a great deal of controversy as not everyone agrees if its good or poor. So with this news still fresh in everyones heads we have decided to showcase Sputnik8‘s incredibly minimal and uber sexy take on designing the Windows OS.

Personally I’m not much of a fan of “Metro” and all those boxes designed for displaying advertisements (thanks 360 dashboard). I like the flatness and minimalism of this concept. Especially for support people Metro looks like it could be a nightmare. There might be a tad too much white space but I like most everything else about it.

→ Forza Horizon Coming this Year

The decision to bring in an extra team to provide an “off year” game is normally reserved for the very biggest franchises – such as Call of Duty and Medal of Honor, but Greenawalt said he isn’t phased by the step up.

Game companies are getting really good recycling their best stuff with yearly updates. Call of Duty, Assassins Creed, and now Forza. They keep doing this because it’s being proven it works. ITERATION! Love this posted in the comments: “I was just saying to myself the other day when I was looking at my 360 that what I really needed with my copies of a Forza 2, Forza 3 and Forza 4 is yet another version of the same game!”

→ Mass Effect 3 Review – Giant Bomb

At the end of the day, Mass Effect 3 is a game for people who liked Mass Effect 2 so much that they absolutely need to see how it all ends. Despite claims to the contrary from the game’s publisher, I really don’t think newcomers will get much out of it at all.

Best review I would suggest to all with questions with minimal spoilers on ME3. Everything I’ve heard about that game has been good and looking forward to hopefully getting my copy soon and playing Multiplayer with everybody.

→ Retailer Sends Copies of Madden Instead of Mass Effect 3.

Sounds like “some” customers of online retailer Newegg who pre-ordered a copy of Mass Effect 3 didn’t get what they paid for. They got a game, delivered on time, only it was...Madden 12.

Speaking of ME3…I wrote already about this but I’m glad this story had some legs. From here I can say Newegg’s CS reps are fantastic at their jobs and very diligent. On the downside I have to make my way to a UPS on my own time and gas money to return a product I didn’t purchase and they didn’t provide any credit or coupon codes for my efforts. At least I’m not alone.

→ Counter-Strike: Global Offensive loses cross-play

“The beta has proved we want to update not just the beta, but the game itself post-launch frequently on the PC,” Valve’s Chet Faliszek revealed to Joystiq. “To do that we need to separate the platforms so one doesn’t hamstring the other. So for that, we have removed the idea of cross-platform play — essentially make all platforms stronger by not mixing them.”

Not shocking at all. Many factors I’m sure played here. Resurgence (profitability) of PC gaming? Microsoft not opening up XBL for connectivity to other services? Adoption of Steam not as high on PS3? This is a good move for purists, PC personally is the only way to play CS. This isn’t even bringing up the discussion of the high amounts of KB/Mouse advantages against controller players.

→ INCEPTION

BRRROOOONNNGGGGGG

BRRROOOONNNGGGGGG