From Red Herring:

The Federal Communications Commission has a bone to pick with Blizzard Entertainment, the makers of the smash hit video game, World of Warcraft. Deborah Taylor Tate, is one the five commissioners overseeing regulation of TV, Radio and all things pertaining to the media in the US stated: “You might find it alarming that one of the top reasons for college drop-outs in the US is online gaming addiction - such as World of Warcraft - which is played by 11 million individuals worldwide.”

If World of Warcraft is enough to make one drop out of school… well…

I blame it all on Mashed Potatoes and Velveeta.

Going back to being serious… there is actually a lot of internet literature on how one substitutes on addiction with another. Addictive personalities seem to tend to substitute one addiction with another.

Just like smokers that manage to quit thanks to Pikachu.

What do you think?

I can only say… WTF.

But if you enjoy robo-erotica, these images below are from Overflow’s game Cross Days, an erotica game where you get some pretty scary peripherals… reminds me of the movie Top Secret.

Info and Pics are from Kotaku and Cartoon Leap.

Have you played both? The guys at destructoid think that Saint’s Row 2 beats GTAIV on all of the following 10 points…

1. Mission Checkpoints
2. Cars are actually fun to drive
3. In-Mission Checkpoints
4. Cars are actually fun to drive
5. Weapons are far more varied and awesome
6. You can be a cockney bastard
7. Real customization
8. Lots more to do
9. Superior multiplayer
10. It looks better
11. It’s much funnier
12. It’s not ashamed of its own stupidity

What do you think?

NEWS #2 - Used Videogame Market is Bad For Games

From 1Up - The founder of Lost Winds developer Frontier Developments, David Braben, has sounded off with some extremely harsh criticisms of the practice of buying and selling used games.

In the wake of UK-based entertainment retailer HMV announcing it would begin accepting trade-ins, Braben claimed that used games are “really damaging to the single-player experience.” He pointed out that single-player games are frequently traded back in at stores once players have completed them, he told GamesIndustry.biz.

He also spoke with Eurogamer recently where he made similar statements, although his comments were far more volatile. He even went so far as to claim, “The shops are not giving us a way of distinguishing between pre-owned and new. So the shops are essentially defrauding the industry.”

Do you think selling used games is fair? Is it fair to consumers and also to game developers? Keep in mind, all the money on used games goes ONLY to the retailer - nothing to the developer.

NEW #3 - New PS3 Controller

A new rumor appears confirmed - always from 1Up and gamesindustrybiz - here is the new PS3 controller.

This new controller isn’t just another revision of the Sixaxis; rather, it looks like a complete overhaul of the form and function of the device, resembling a pair of ice cream cones more than Sony’s ubiquitous Dual Shock. The images accompanying the patent display two Wii-like remotes with removable button faceplates, topped off with strange, bulb-like shapes. These glowing, spherical structures house LEDs and ultrasonic sound emitters, which would allow the PlayStation Eye camera to determine the controllers’ positions in three-dimensional space.

Yes, it has all that great stuff. Plus it has boobs.

Get more info on the new PS3 controller at BLORGE.

But let’s pretend that’s not true… Or let’s just say that whatever the case, Blizzard has made a great job with their femal heroes. The art of the game is fantastic - and it has inspired tons of great artists that regularly submit their works of art to Blizzard and get posted on their Fan Art pages.

This post is dedicated to what, IMHO, are the best female art pieces inspired from WoW I found on the Fan Art website.

Enjoy and vote your favorite.

#1- The Light of Lights
by Krystopher Decker (Pepperwolf)

This dude should setup an online gallery and sell his art.

#2 - Valeera Sanguinar
by Paul Kwon (Shira Mune)

#3 - Rogue
by Wenjun Lin (Junc)

#4 - Paladin
by Jung-Hun Ju (kveldulv)

#5 - Night Elf Archer
by Paul Kwon (shiramune)

#6 - T7 hunter
by xia jie (jiejie)

#7 - Guarding the Moonwell
by Michael Nothdurft (M1keN)

#8 - Morganna and Jolinaar (Medivh)
by Val D (Jilian)

#9 - Become the Betrayer
by Nancy Cho (Avedral)

#10 - Lena
by Emiko Setsuna (Dênakê)

Note for Authors: For some I could not find a website link - please submit a comment if you want your link posted.

As usual I will be brief - but here are TWO great reasons to a avoid at all costs signing up for capped internet connections…
When I say capped, I mean signing up with a provider that says you can use only X amounts of bandwidth a month.
Reason #1: Monitoring your bandwidth usage is a pain if you alone use your PC/Mac…

• let alone if you have other users in the household…
• let alone if you have a kid surfing the net and playing games…
• let alone if your kid is hitting puberty.
• And BTW - please do put a security code on you wireless router if you use one. Apart from being a HUGE security risk, you dont want to provide free internet to all your freeloading neighbors, dont you?

Reaon #2: Certain programs use way more bandwidth that you would ever expect… especially if you are a gamer and play any sort of online game and especially MMORPGs.

• See this article at BBC News on the cost of World of Warcraft.
• See this article on Massively regarding the hidden costs of MMOGs.
• For those with more know-how, see this PDF file from the Vienna University of Tech regarding a Traffic Analysis on World of Warcraft.

Top image was found here.

Here is then, a new WOW Demotivational Top 10.

TEN: Might be Starcraft… but still applies.

NINE: Yes, that is the face we all have in front of WoW.

EIGHT: Totally true, and you cant even do anything with all that gold you earn in your second job…

SEVEN: All gnomes deserve what is coming…

SIX: I do that often…

FIVE: Yes, they are making fun of us.

FOUR:That is a lie. There is NO HOPE.

THREE: Is lack of personal hygiene worth $15 a month? I ask thou from my RP server…

TWO:Prepared you are not… for our #1 Demotivational.

ONE: Now stop playing WoW for a bit and go hang out.

Sources of demotivationals are here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here

A little Bonus one that made me really laugh…

Source is here.

Will Battle.Net be free or will we start paying for it…

Blizzard executive VP of game design, Rob Pardo, cleared up the comments while speaking with Joystiq

With Battle.net we’re definitely looking at possible different features that we might be able to do for additional money. We’re not talking about Hellgate or anything like that. We’re not going to tack things on. I think World of Warcraft is a great example to look at. We charge people if they want to switch servers or if they want name changes, things that aren’t core to the game experience, they’re really just optional things that some people want. It takes us some development work to do it, so it makes sense to charge for it. We would never do something like say to get the full game experience, you’ll have to pay extra.

Distancing themselves from Hellgate pretty much means it should be free, I think.

Awesome top art found at Blizzard Fan Art; artist: Lee Sin Jae.

Who is the hottest booth babe? Which booth babe has the best outfit?

Here are my top 3 (+ a gallery of 45 more pics at the end of this post).

Number 3: Level 5 Booth Babe (I think)

Number 2: Capcom Booth Babe

Clearly Number 1: Tecmo Booth Babe (BTW - Tecmo always has the best babes).

And for the worst outfit ever seen on a Booth Babe…Electronic Arts (EA) is the absolute winner. Possibly of the last 10 years of TGS history… if not booth babe history.

More snapshots below.

Which ones are your top 3?

VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED

Note of Americajin:

In the world of demotivationals there are quite a few ones that center on what some people call “eyes” but are more generally referred to as boobs. Some of them are actually quite funny apart from showcasing some interesting eye candy.

Trystan put together his personal top 10 - you can find it below. So if you’re not afraid of blushing a bit, go ahead and have a laugh.

VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED

Trystan’s Best Breast Demotivational Top 10

What do you think? Any better ones around?

‘

Sources of demotivationals are www.demotivateus.com and/or various others you can find here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

In the world of Chuck Norris there are quite a few demotivationals (or we should probably call them motivationals) that I think are just awesome (see some GREAT ones here)…

The dude is everywhere and people have concocted some of the best one-liners for him…

And the best thing is, he doesnt even know why this whole thing happened. I mean, how can it get better than that… people just bring you back due to sheer pop culture cultism! Or whatever that means.

A buddy of mine told me about the “pushup” one liner, and it still makes me laugh.

As for the Where’s Waldo one below, can you find Chuck?

Finally this lame ass one at the end is worthy of any photoshop horror story, but is so true…

The real Solid Snake is actually Chuck Norris…

…battling Ronald McDonald and Cheese Soup… (comic from Penny Arcade).

Warhammer Age of Reckoning (that just launched) and with futuristic brother Warhammer 40K. But let’s proceed with order…

News #1: MJ hearts Gold Spammers, NOT!

Marc Jacobs (the GM of Mythic Entertainment) has a task force in Warhammer Age of Reckoning that goes around banning as many gold spammers as they can find, on the spot.

God bless!

The mass of players who have gone deaf in WOW from being chat spammed by people names XCYZIST saying things like “Powerlevel to 60 in nine days, etc etc” seem to be extremely happy.

The motivational below holds the message that gamers see in the game when a gold spammer is banned… Naturally it doesnt say Mark Jacobs (its more aligned with the game’s mythos) but we know that he is the one actually pushing the button…right? :)

If I could, I would…

News #2: WH40K Looks Great!

New Warhammer 40K screenshots look awesome - hopefully the next Relic Entertainment RTS will be up to snuff with Starcraft 2.

News #3 - Halo MMO is Dead

Just to go back to some MMO news, Ensemble studios was recently shut down. This was an absolute bummer for me since I loved their Age of Empires franchise… however it looks like they were creating the Halo MMORPG for microsoft.

I can’t say I’m bummed that game is dead.

Are all players not happy?

Who knows, we only hear those that still continue to hang on to every single word that comes out of a Blizzard employee mouth to start having heart attacks about Diablo.

Boring!

Snore!

Item of contention now is what new classes will come to Diablo III and what old classes will go…

From 1up:

Seemingly every detail of Diablo 3 has sparked a controversy, from its art style to both of the first two character classes that been revealed. It’s not surprising given the sort of diehard fanbase the game’s predecessors have garnered, and even Diablo 3 lead designer Jay Wilson admitted to VideoGamer.com that he would hate Blizzard too if he were just a fan. Talk about one helluva way to temper expectations. But what he said after that was what really caught the eye — that the third Diablo 3 class will seem familiar to series vets.

“All the barbarian players are delighted and all the necromancers hate us. I understand, I don’t begrudge them that. I would hate me too! But what I would say is that when we announce the next class, which is quite similar to a previous class, then all those players will hate us too. You can’t make everybody happy, but I think when the game finally come out players will find there’s a good class for them, one they will love as much as the ones that came before. And if they don’t, I absolutely promise that in the expansions we’ll consider bringing back old classes. We just don’t want to do it with the first release. We want to establish our identity.”

But I used to play the bla bla and now he’s gone, what will I do…

Oh, shut up, for crying out loud.

As for the whole color issue with Diablo III, now we even have a videos that show Blizzard how they should really make the game.

We know the issue… the colors are too bright… Diablo was darker than WoW… The old Diablo Was better…

To all those shenanigans I say: ENOUGH!

Now watch the Jay Wilson interview plz.

• He was designed by character designer Tetsuya Nomura and is characterized as a tall man with long silver hair.

• His appearance was intended to contrast directly with that of the main character, Cloud Strife.

• Sephiroth has been well-received within the video game community due to his complex motivations and his iconic appearance, particularly his extremely long sword, Masamune.

• He is regularly featured in top positions on many “best villain” lists and character polls assembled by game publications and fans.

• He has nothing to do with the guy below.

Ever wondered what it feels like to bring down a Star Destroyer with the force? It looks like The Force Unleashed, soon available (between the 16th and the 20th of September worldwide) will be able to give us that thrill…

So I recently downloaded the Demo on the Xbox 360 and have been playing it quite a bit… absolutely impressive.

Both the story and the gameplay seem to have nailed it. You play as Starkiller, the secret padawan of Darth Vader.

Using the force in a variety of ways is probably the coolest thing about the game. Discovering new ways to use it is actually probably one of the most rewarding mechanics about the game. You’ll see how much fun it is to lift a Storm Trooper and see him cry out and hold onto a crate just before you throw him off a bridge…

Also, I wouldnt be concerned with some of the review scores that are coming out (see Gamerankings below).

Official Xbox Magazine		10/1/2008	7.5 out of 10	75.0%
Electronic Gaming Monthly		10/1/2008	68.33 out of 100	68.3%
GamePro		10/1/2008	3.5 out of 5	70.0%
gamesTM		10/1/2008	7 out of 10	70.0%
Pelit (Finland)		9/1/2008	85 out of 100	85.0%

I mean, EGM gave it a 68.33%? Everybody has their own opinions sure… but under 70%? Let alone the droleness of the 0.33% attached after the 68%… what are they running, a video game magazine or a class in statistics? Enough with the wine connassoir model! Reviewers, please, you are not video game sommeliers.

Setting aside the review debate… the game has some awesome artwork and screenshots circulating the net. I’ve tried to collect all I could find below - so enjoy.

[Visit the Soul Calibur Shrine for some other Star Wars chars and more videogame art]

If you liked this post please leave a comment :)

Today in my top 2 nutjob cases from World of Warcraft here it is…

Number 2: the Warcraft Tradmill

Ok, so the Warcraft crazyness is just getting out of control… who cares about all those WoW Demotivationals when you have DUDES dressing up like dark elf maidens (SO WRONG) and connecting their treadmill to World of Warcraft in some weird Lawnmowerman virtual experiment (by the way, that movie was UTTER CRAP).

See more pics here.

My brain cells are burning just by watching this video…

Ok, so you found out that the reason WoW chars are so if is that they run all the time? Well, I did notice my tauren get a bit plumper when he his 40 and got a mount…

These guys also sell Mana Potions… for human beings…as they say, “from gamers, to gamers.”
It’s supposed to be a energy shot, but it looks like a WoW potion… now I think that is pretty cool (Even if I would never drink it - is it FDA approved? FFA? Whatever a bunch of Fs approved?)

Oh, so I get it, the crazy treadmill thing is a marketing tool to drive traffic to your mana potions! Sweet, i want 5, garconne!

Number 1: BY FAR this Raid Leader going Gangbuster NUTS during an Onyxia Layer ride.

Its a classic, so taste it like a fine 2005 Chateu Lafitte… which I dont know what it tastes like but I expect it to be good since it costs 1200 dollars…

Ok, so Americajin wants me to say this, the following movie is FULL OF BAD WORDS and other stuff that requestes VIEWER DISCRETION! So you’re warned!

Wow… is this guy that angry cause of his weird voice?

Awesome Top Art Source: Nancy Cho at Blizzard Fan Art.

Since he is a Celebrity, in fact, the Paparazzi flock around him and take pictures like this one with Britney and Christina…

Gamers want to emulate him and turn him into a Mii…

But best of all he gets invited to pro-golfing tournaments…

Let’s go hit the Course Kratos!

Uh… I dont think you can wrap a chain around your driver…

Ok… you’re good at it… no reason to give me attitude.

The Kilt might be ok golf attire, but you do need a shirt and some sunblock on that bald head.

What do other Celebrities have to say about this surge in Kratos’s fame?

Well, Master Chief got to party with the DOA babes… Not a bad feat in any account… (and got his Forge tool used to draw in game hentai anime…)

Solid got to hang out with a bunch of Nintendo chars…

And he got turned into a girl for a series of Toys (!??)

Vader got to beat up Taki (jackass).

Who’s the bigger celebrity?

Straight from a Xbox horror movie, and hijacked from Joystiq is the best “Dad, don’t nail my xbox to the tree moment.”

After having “warned [their] 3 boys about their behavior while playing the Xbox,” a rather vengeful father had decided to create folk art with the console, according to the mother’s CNN iReport.

I bet the Batman TV would never let itself be nailed alive.

The iReport that breaks such xbox-horror news was posted by Kingfry:

My husband had repeatedly warned our 3 boys about their behavior while playing the XBOX. Tuesday, after I arrived home from work, our oldest son told me to look in the backyard at “Dad’s artwork”. Well, I wasn’t surprised to see the XBOX proudly displayed on the nearest tree… way to go Honey!!!!!

As somebody in the comments asked if the kids now hated dad, she replied:

Hischild, to answer one question - “do they totally hate Dad now?” Absolutely not. There was a problem, and the problem was addressed properly.

I sacrifice an Xbox to the heathen gods too each time I have an issue.

Another nice exchange ensued as the image was charged of being a hoax; quoting FuzzyWuzzy:

I still say it’s a hoax designed to make people act silly, argue and get 161,000+ views. If not, kingfry, please contact your local media and post a link to their story so we can have some validation. I’m sure they’d love to run a story like this. Unfortunately, they’ll likely verify it, whereas CNN won’t.

That’s a good plan - I’m gonna go nail my Gizmondo to the tree.

In Kingfry’s words :

Enjoy. FuzzyWuzzy … sorry, but we turned down Dr.Phil and our local paper for interviews.

Then she also posted and awesome ebay link…

Regarding ebay…. Joystiq also points out that…

Not to worry for the kids, however, as a replacement Xbox can be found on eBay for well under $40. In fact, the Xbox shown above can be found on the online auction site as well, with 50% of proceeds reportedly going to the local school system and 50% towards the children’s college fund. So, now that we know it can be nailed … will it blend?

In the ebay link posted by Kingfry there is also a “before” and “after” pic showing the tree before it was tur