Fun Friday: Oh Snap Edition

Most comedians fall very flat when attempting to host game industry events, but it seems like Jay Mohr did rather well at D.I.C.E. this last week. He spouted off some humorous one-liners but my favorite regarding Grand Theft Auto IV:

“If you want to watch an awards show about thugs beating up ho’s watch the Grammys.”

Now that is funny!

Look Ma! I'm on Joystiq!

Fun Friday: Possible Reason to Finally Get a PS3

Awesome Quote of the Week

We doubt that Activision would try to sue. That would be like a husband abandoning his family and then suing after his wife meets a better looking guy.

-EA's response to Activision threatening to sue over the publishing rights of Brutal Legend

Street Fighter IV Lanuch Party

Last night I went to the Street Fighter IV launch party in downtown Los Angeles. We got there a bit early and it was a good thing too; they turned away about 1500 people! The event was cool all around and with many, many stations set up with the game, it was not long before I got in a match. I played it on a PS3 with the standard controller, on the 360 with one of the Madcatz's arcade sticks and I played the game on an arcade cabinet. The graphics and game play were similar all around, which is to say gorgeous and smooth. I have to admit I ended up preferring to play with the standard controller over the arcade sticks. I was having trouble pulling off moves and I found out the Madcatz's sticks have a square box inside as opposed to an octagonal which was something I wasn't used too. I'm definitely glad I had the chance to try before I bought.

The actual highlight of the night was seeing DJ Qbert up close and personal. Ever since seeing the documentary Scratch about ten yeas ago, I have been into turntablism and their abilities never cease to amaze me.

Dead Rising 2 Confirmed!

Yes! This is the best gaming news of the year so far. Dead Rising in my top five games of this generation and is up there with my favorite games of all time. I've mentioned before that I loved just about everything that game offered, even the things that most people said ruined the game. I don't want to assume anything yet but I am bummed that Frank West appears to be MIA. Hopefully we'll find out more in the near future. As long as they didn't neuter the gameplay, I will be very happy when this hits the shelves.

Back from the Dead

Well it's been a while since my last post. Let's see, what's been happening? My son has become a wild animal now that he's nearly nine months old. I played all the way through The Force Unleashed (which was better than I thought it would), I started playing Castle Crashers (which was just as good as I thought it would be) and now I'm playing Fallout 3 (which is not as good as I thought it would be; strike that, it's just not as good for me as Oblivion was). I'll go into greater detail in upcoming posts.

In the mean time, at least I still have a job, for now. So go buy Deadly Creatures this week so it stays that way. Thanks!

Fun Friday: Thrown Under the Car Edition

After reading last months cover story in Play Magazine, Ride to Hell looked very promising based on the description in the article and the accompanying concept art. Than I saw the above footage. I understand that it says "pre-alpha" in the upper corner, but it's still not a good first impression. At least, the video was funny.

Huh?

So, I just finished Braid. I am not sure what just happened, but it was well worth the effort. Every puzzle designed in this game was brilliant. Many of them made my head hurt with and caused me to question my gaming abilities but the ones I solved on my own (I had to turn to the Internet for help on some of them) left me with an overwhelming sense of pride and satisfaction.

Jonathan Blow, the designer, set out to create a beautiful game that pushed genre boundaries and encouraged people to really think about what was going on. Personally, I don't think the game offered the closure provided by completing the game, and the complementary Achievement, but the game play was absolutely solid. I look forward to getting lost in another Jonathan Blow game, whenever that may be.

We Won A Major Award!

It may not have been the best year for us at THQ, but at least it's going to end on a high note. GameSetWatch has awarded our Jim Huntley, global brand manager, with the "The Mark Jacobs Award for Corporate Communicative Achievement" for the following quote:

The game All Star Cheer Squad was designed with the growing number of girls on Wii and Nintendo DS in mind. We strived to deliver an authentic cheer experience for those players and believe this partnership with CoverGirl is a unique opportunity to do just that. The CoverGirl brand and its spokespeople are instantly recognizable among our target demographic and will further immerse players in the competitive cheerleading world.

Oh wait, I guess that was sar-cas-m. It must be french. I hope everyone on this list have egos that aren't fra-gee-lay.