Dante's Inferno: How Not To Promote A Game 101

I'm writing this assuming that Dante's Inferno is the perfect game. Why? With the marketing and promotional ills this game has suffered, one can only 'hope' that Dante's Inferno is absolutely immaculate.  Let this be known, I am all for 'thinking outside of the box' and making your product stand out [especially since there seems to be quite a few comparisons to a certain game associated with gods with possible war in it]. Dante's Inferno has managed to: stage a fake Christian protest at a major trade show, play the role of pimp by raffling off a date with a booth babe and most recently they have decided to send very real checks to well known [and maybe not so well known] gaming journalists.

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The Non-White Gamer's Experience By Owen Good

Hey guys, since you're in the neighborhood, venture over to Kotaku and check out Owen Good's article. It made me terribly jealous and envious that I didn't think of writing something like this, but Owen definitely did a better job of framing a black/hispanic/asian etc. person's experience.  Definitely worth a read and more than worth discussing.

Owen's Article [via Kotaku]

Supplementary: Simply because it applies. This isn't to trudge up the whole Resident Evil 5 thing.

Review: Sorority Row, "Where Women Can't Break Glass"

The good thing about Sorority Row is that it captures the B-movie charm and nostalgia of the original, The House On Sorority Row. The bad would be that it captures everything wrong with the original piled on with today's typical slasher flick nuances.

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Why I Still Play My Dreamcast...

The Sega Dreamcast launched September 9th, 1999.  It lost support in America in 2001, but the console was still made in Japan until 2006. If you look hard enough, games are actually still being made for the console.

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How Do You Relate To A Game Designer?

In response to Eric Kozlowsky's "Professionalism in the Gaming Press" article

Taking Eric Kozlowsky's emotional, but well articulated article into receivership, I take issue with a couple of his points.  At the same time, his article made me think of 'the other side'. The creation of a video game is a well established art. At this point, this argument in any and all games journalism circles is pretty much dead.  Eric is right, reviewers and podcasters alike need to think about the [very human] people who make these games before shouting snarky barbs. However, it is my belief that game developers who are making a 'mean time, in between time' game, though it may be their living, should be honest about the product they are working on.  If you know it is crap, how do you expect the rest of the gaming world to address it other than as the professional turd it has become?

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Inglourious Basterds Is Fun If You Like Brains

"I Do Believe This Is Some Of My Best Work"-AldoThe last Quentin Tarantino film I watched was Deathproof.  A movie which had great spirit about it, but suffered from pacing issues from the onset.  Inglourious Basterds is Tarentino's first effort into the 'cult-war epic' genre.  The strangest impression I got from this movie was how much of a fan of it I was, but how I was still still sort of disappointed.

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A Perfect Getaway: Never Before Have I Seen Meth Smoked So Casually

Two Of These People Have Dialted Pupils

Let's be honest, this movie flew under the radar for a reason. You and I both know this movie is not begging for an Oscar or festival acclaim; it isn't even asking for that large of an audience.  However, acknowledging that A Perfect Getaway is not that awesome of a movie, it is still fairly enjoyable.

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Commercial Break: Cat Opens Jar

See more funny videos and Cute Animals Videos at Today's Big Thing.

Sometime in the not-to-distant future, we will look upon this moment and mark it as the start of when the feline race became technologically evolved. Evolved enough to fatten up their ravenous bellies with treats such as their very disgusting dried pellets. Next thing you know they'll be using their claws as can openers...its only a matter of time before the makers of Fancy Feast succumb to a race they have served for so many decades.

You've Been Warned.

What I Found At Work...

Funny What You Find Next To Printers

The mom & pop video store I work at is pretty much a shell of its former self.  Out of four store locations we have two left [we just closed another last week!].  The day I found out was also the same day I found this Nintendo 64 version of NBA Jam 2000.  Couple things: I never new there was an NBA Jam 2000. Furthermore I never knew there was one for the Nintendo 64. The copywrite date says 1996-97.  Oddly enough the game developer known as Acclaim was probably flying pretty high off of their various Mortal Kombats & Blitz series.  Its funny, being inside of an old relic and looking at one as well.

If there is one thing I've learned from years of wasting money in college, if you see a shot, take it.  Worry about the thought process later, but take the shot. The next day I came in, NBA Jam 2000 was gone. I have no idea if the game was good [but that red hot colored cartridge is pretty bitchin]. It just seemed weird that I had my camera on kind of a suck day and out of all things we have at the store...we certainly DO NOT have Nintendo 64 games.  When the store closes [and it will], this is probably something I'll remember. An old, weird store specializing in things old and weird.

Video of NBA Jam 2000 After The Jump...

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Batman Is Awesome, But Until Recently His Games Sucked.

Apologies for the over-saturation of Joystiq clips [I promise they don't own stock in me or anything like that], but they do good work.  Props to Xav for posting this up. 

Batman games have always sucked. Yes, even that catastrophe most of you guys hold dear to your childhood soles thanks to the NES.  Batman Arkham Asylum was released this week and word is...it's kinda nice.  I haven't played it, but I am a huge "Animated Series" fan so its money that's already gone from my account [I just gotta find time to play the damn thing].

Check out this clip of the storied history of the awesomeness of the caped crusader and the troubling woes of the awful games that were released only to besmirch his game in the video game realm.

For more on the sucky Batman video games...check out Xav's "Batman Retrospective" [it really is quite good].