Gears of War 3

The fall onslaught is truly in full swing now with one of the most anticipated releases of the year. It has been 3 years since we last played a new Gears game, and this one does not disappoint.

This campaign is the best Gears story yet. And it feels good to have a lancer and chainsaw enemies in half just like it always has. This campaign picks up a few years after the events of Gears 2. With all of the human cities destroyed and the COG dissolved, this game is personal. And it strikes hard and fast, with twists and turns starting from the get go to the last cut scene. And it delivers. It is possibly one of the most satisfying conclusions to any trilogy that I have seen. And  a first for Gears, there is 4-player co-op.  There is also a new Arcade mode which encourages friendly competition within the campaign.

As far as the multiplayer is concerned, there are 3 different options. The first is the classic Gears multiplayer with Team Deathmatch, Capture the Leader, and King of the Hill. This is the backbone of the multiplayer experience in Gears. For those of you who played the Gears 3 multiplayer beta, you know what to expect, especially if you have played the previous Gears games. It is classic online multiplayer at its best. The maps are geared towards close quarters combat. There are also dozens of weapon skins that are available to unlock and purchase. The skins are available in various packs as well as individually for each weapon. If you want all of the skins, they are available for $45 or 3600 Microsoft points. There is also available for purchase on Marketplace, the Season Pass, which will give you all of the upcoming DLC which will be coming out for a 33% discount.

The Marcus Fenix statue that is included with the Epic Edition of the game.

In addition to the traditional multiplayer, there is also Gears' fabled Horde mode but in a re-imagined way, combing the traditional endless waves of enemies with a tower defense element. In addition to Horde 2.0 as it is called by Epic Games, there is also Beast mode. Beast mode gives players the opposite position, playing not as the Gears, but as the Locust. As the players earn more COG kills, they earn more money which will allow them to buy bigger and better Locust. And with each progressive wave, more and more Gears are added to the fray. And it is great.

In addition to the standard copy of the game, there are 2 special editions, a controller, and a limited-edition Xbox 360 bundle. The Gears console includes 2 wireless controllers, the game and special sound effects for the opening of the disc tray and power off & on of the console. The wireless controllers is one of the new Xbox controllers, with the new analog sticks and and transforming D-Pad.  All of these are available at your favorite retailer.

Gears of War 3 Console Bundle

Gears of War 3 Epic Edition

Gears of War 3 is the best Gears game to-date. And it is also the pinnacle of what it means to be an Xbox 360 game. With a fantastic campaign, great multiplayer and unique modes it is a compact and full package. I can not recommend this game enough and everyone who is a shooter fan and an Xbox 360 owner should have this game.

"Let's Finish This"

That is all. Carry On!

-Spieg89

Guild Wars 2: The Future of MMO Gaming?

First off let me start by saying that, about a year ago, I practically vowed to never play another MMO game ever again because I didn't want my life needlessly sucked away, and I really didn't have the time it takes to practically have a second life dedicated to an MMO anyway.

Then, after hearing a friend of mine rave on about Guild Wars 2 for a while, I finally took a look into it. After reading about it and watching some trailers and reviews, I was sold. Finally, an MMO that overcomes all the things that I view as "MMO killers", such as endless boring grinding for levels, enemies that just stand around waiting for you to approach them, battle systems that get boring fast, etc. I could talk practically endlessly about why I think GW2 is the next step in MMO gaming, but the videos I'm about to post are worth 1,000,000 words (yes, pictures are just worth 1,000 words :P).

Here's the first video you should see about GW2:


And here's the newest trailer:


And if you want to dig a bit deeper and get some more epic info and to see some action, here's a fairly long epic demo:


Now, I'm a casual gamer and I've always gotten left behind by my friends when playing an MMO because I don't play for a week and they end up getting 5-10 levels ahead of me or something. Every other MMO game I know of practically forces you to invest hours upon hours and you can't go a day without playing or you'll get left behind. But I want to do it on my own pace while not getting left behind. GW2 allows you to do this, and it's never lame for a high level character to join a low level character. In other MMO games, it's always sacrificing fun for the person with the high level character to go back and help build up a the guy with a low level. GW2 breaks that and strives to make it an enjoyable experience no matter what. There are so many awesome things about GW2, but my favorite things are: the beautiful and persistent world, the more co-op epic good feeling social aspect as opposed to the usual competitive anti-social feel, THE MUSIC IS DONE BY JEREMY SOULE, an interesting personalized story, no stinking subscription fee, and so many other things.

So what do you think? Is GW2 going to set the new standard of MMO gaming? I think I sense WoW (more directly, Blizzard) trembling in fear.

So. How is the 3DS?

The truth is, the 3DS may be the greatest handheld gaming device that I have ever owned. Ever. Now I'm not trying to down play the influence of the GameBoys, GameGears, PSPs, or phones, but this is simply incredible. I haven't had this much fun with a portable gaming device since I got my first GameBoy Color at 11. I purchased The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time. This game is equally as amazing.

So what makes it so great? The top screen as many of you know displays images and video in stereoscopic 3D. It does this without using any 3D glasses at all. It is currently the only screen on the market that can do this. And it has a slider on the side of the screen that allows you to adjust the depth of the 3D.

It also has several built-in programs that show off the 3D and graphical capabilities of the 3DS. The first is a game called FaceRaiders which has you take a picture of someone, and you move the 3DS around (using the 3DS's built-in gyroscope) and you shoot at small floating incarnations of that face. On the front of the 3DS are 2 cameras which combine to form 1 3D camera. Another built-in game is called AR Games. It uses the included augmented reality cards to play a series of mini-games and it also includes several cards of popular Nintendo characters.



As I mentioned earlier, I also purchased the 3D remake of the single-highest rated video game of all time The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time.  I have a bit of a confusion, I never played the game on the Nintendo 64, largely because, I didn't own a 64. However I did play the game when it came on The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition for the GameCube, which was The Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, The Legend of Zelda (1), and Zelda 2. I loved the game, but was never able to finish because my disk was lost. I am grateful that I am now able to finish the game, and it looks incredible. The graphics have been given a significant face-lift and the controls feel great with the circle pad. Also the fact that the songs you have learned are actually saved on the lower screen easy to pull up when you forget them. And speaking of the lower screen, that's where your items and maps are and it works great. Look for an in-depth review when I have completed the game.

All in all, I have to say I can't recommend the 3DS enough. Especially now that it is $169.99. And if you are a Nintendo fan or have been, you need one of these. And if you are a Legend of Zelda fan, you need this system and you need this game. It will play better then you remember, and it looks even better. Now go. Buy a 3DS, buy The Ocarina of Time 3D.
And also know, Star Fox 64 3D is also coming out soon. So if you have fond memories of that game, you need this system.


That is all. Carry on!

-Spieg89

How does one stumble upon WiredGamers?

Blog Post AKA: "Search terms that have gave our site a hit"
AAKA: "What I find hilarious at 2am in the morning"

Ever since WiredGamers has been up and running here on blogspot, I have always found it quite funny as to what people search in that fancy Google search bar to find our blog. Luckily blogspot has just the feature that tells us on an hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, and all-time basis what random words bring our readers here. And now you (and only you) will know the secrets of how others find us! Aren't you a lucky duck.

"futurama donbot daughter"
Ahhh, you must be referring to our review of the Futurama episode "Silence of the Clamps"

"grape 64"
Jordan's first blog post! An achievement of sorts! Ba-dunk!

"galaxy quest poster"
Sorry, but we don't have one of those... ohh wait. Let me dig it out... AHH here it is! After spying at this poster... only then did I realize that everyone else in this movie seemed to have stemmed in to an from even greater Sci-Fi lore... Harry Potter, Avatar, Star Trek, Monk. Where does Tim Allen fit in on this?


"brink игра"
It's at this point of the blog post that we would like to thank our Russian readers. Большое спасибо!

"ritzville washington"
In case you didn't know, there is nothing here. Unless of course you have an infatuation with wheat.

"this little red"
...this search term leaves me wanting more.

"thor's hammer mjolnir images"
Don't have any of these either... hmm... and FYI... before Stan Lee stole Thor from the Norse, this is what the hammer resembled..."ubox uhaul"
uMust be referring to when Spieg89 made his trek across the uNited States.

"sonic the hedgehog birthday"
happy birthday my main man!

"wired gamers and stress"
Wherever these people are getting their information, it must be from a reputable source

"the legend of zelda game over animations"
and here we mark the end of the post... Ganon told us it would come to this.


Until later, and after more ridiculous Google searches!

~~Disc07

New Futurama episode (Now 3 hours earlier!)

Today the newest episode of Futurama called: Möbius Dick aired tonight at 10 PM EST (one of the nice things about living on the East Coast is seeing shows earlier).

The episode started out with Professor Farnsworth talking about his original crew and a very young Zoidberg. He explained how they lost their lives. The current crew then has to go set up a memorial for the original Planet Express crew. The crew then has to travel through the space equivalent of the Bermuda Triangle, the Bermuda Tetrahedron. 

As they are leaving, they encounter a white space whale, and Leela suddenly becomes like Captain Ahab and forces the crew to go on a Mobey Dick- style whale hunt to destroy the whale that destroyed the Planet Express crew's monument. This whale is no ordinary whale though because it is a 4th dimensional being. Meaning it travels between dimensions. 

This episode was significantly different from the episodes this season. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I also recommend buying Futurama Season 8 on either iTunes or Zune Marketplace. I bought it on iTunes so that I can watch it on my iPod. But a cool note would be that if you bought it on Zune Marketplace that you would have it available on your Xbox, or Windows Phone.

That is all! Carry on!

-Spieg89

+1'd

My old manager sent me an email last week with a Google+ invite. I'm regretting that I waited until today to sign up. It could just be that I don't have a bunch of third party crap on my Google+ compared to my Facebook, but I love how clean it is. It's very intuitive, (+1 to intelligence) and privacy settings pop up when you make a change to a part of your profile, to let you know exactly who will see it(+1 to visibility).

I'm looking forward to trying what they call a "hangout", which is basically a private video chat room. I think it'll be a nice way to organize projects/events with multiple people. If you can't get everyone online at the same time, there's still "circles", their answer to FB's groups.

I can't stress it enough that if for no other reason than to stick it to the man, and let Facebook know they don't rule the world, you should definitely try Google+. It's great fun so far, and I only have two friends.

So that's it for another of my short-winded posts, but I have people to invite.

-Jordo

"Silence of the Clamps" Shows the more "Comedy Central" side of Futurama

And of course by Comedy Central side, I mean that this episode seemed to have stretch the limits of where Futurama dared to go when it was on network television. With more "bleeps" than you could count on one hand, this week's episode sure has shown a side of Planet Express that we have never seen before.

The story is simple; the Planet Express crew makes a delivery to a robot mafia wedding, and who else but Bender, decides to sneak in and hit on the Don-bot's daughter, a new character that tantalizes Bender with her large, bell-sounding booty. Keeping in mind, Bender did have an affair with the Don-bot's wife, there is no reason already that he shouldn't have a bounty on his head with the robot mafia.

To make matters worse, Bender witnesses the horrible clamping of Calculon, by none other than Clamps, and there is nothing the Don-bot hates more than witnesses, and of course, robots who "attempt to duplicate his famous meatball recipe."

For fear of his life, Bender is leery of testifying of Calculon's brutal clamping, until he hears of a fifty dollar reward for any help with the crime. He soon goes to court and is put on Witness Protection to keep him safe of any harm from the robot mafia.

As Bender gets shipped out to some unknown area until he is yet again safe, a new robot must be hired to replace the lacking Planet Express crew.

*Stage Right*
*Enter Clamps*

Or as everyone knows him outside of the mafia: Francis X. Clampotso. Quick to gain Fry and the rest of the crew's friendship, Francis soon finds himself a new home. All of the crew except one that is; Doctor Zoidberg. Quickly he gains jealousy for Francis and his clamping/snipping/cutting ability, something he believes is already something he brings to the Planet Express table of attributes.

As the story unfolds, we meet another bending unit on the Moon who has the alias of Billy West, which, according to Fry, is a "stupid made up phoney name" (little does he know); an old Mexican shootout occurs against Clamps and Zoidberg; and the crew finds Bender in a place a little closer home than what they thought.

All in all, the episode was mediocre at best. I for sure didn't enjoy the stronger language in this episode. Heck, even Zoidberg drops an F-bomb... something his character, or even any of the crew haven't done. That is of course ignoring the rare couple times they were censored in the movies, but at least then, it added something to the story. This time however, it seemed that the writers decided to throw those in just to show us fans, "Hey look what we can do now that we are on cable."

Watch it if you are a hardcore fan, but this, unlike last week's episode, is not one that will be going down in to the best of the series.

~~Disc07

Spieg89's Road Trip: Day 1

Well today I left Seattle to head out on my road trip to take my new job in Maryland. I left Seattle a little late after talking to the U-Haul guys about shipping my U-Box (A large shipping crate that will take the majority of my stuff across the country.)

After I got that part worked out, and the last of my stuff loaded up, my brother and I headed out. My brother was on his way home to Walla Walla. and I was on my way to Spokane. We stopped in North Bend (at the base of the Cascade Mountains) to get coffee. I was feeling a little under the weather, but I needed to make it to Spokane where I reserved my hotel room tonight.

We made it to Ellensberg (a city in the dead center of Washington), and had some lunch. Me still feeling kinda ill only had a small salad. After lunch, my brother and I went our separate ways. I continued on to Spokane, stopping in Ritzville, WA for gas. I arrived in Spokane around 5 to my quaint little hotel.

More to come tomorrow.

That is all. Carry On!

-Spieg89

My Zelda Fan Game: "The Legend of Zelda: Spirit's Quest"

Hello all! I feel it is time to introduce you to my no-where-near-complete Zelda fan game called... *drum roll*

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit's Quest (a.k.a. TLoZ: SQ)

First things first, I must be clear that THIS GAME IS NOT AFFILIATED WITH NINTENDO IN ANY WAY. It's a fan game. The idea of a Zelda fan game is a lot like an artist drawing his/her own interpretation of Zelda on a canvas; it's inspired by Zelda, but it's still the artist's own work.
Furthermore, THIS GAME WILL NOT BE SOLD upon completion, because it is still using the names Zelda and Link (among other names), which are registered names under Nintendo. I'm not making it to make money anyway; it's just for personal satisfaction and for the love of Zelda. This means that this game will be given out as freeware; no charge will be made whatsoever (not even any donations) and no profit besides the satisfaction of being able to pay homage to the Zelda franchise and to allow other Zelda fans to enjoy my interpretation of the series. It will all be my own work (even that title graphic is a placeholder), all the graphics, code, sound effects (hopefully), everything. However, if I must use unoriginal works, anything that isn't mine will be properly credited with disclaimers and will be legal to use in a freeware fan game.

I do feel it's necessary to point out where my inspiration comes from though. Besides being inspired by Zelda (obviously), I was very much inspired to make TLoZ: SQ after playing a freeware (i.e. the original is free) game called Cave Story. Just check out my version of Link and you'll see the similarity between Cave Story's main character and mine:

Yes, I did make a direct edit of Cave Story's main character, which means that the character is not entirely mine. However, I went quite a bit beyond Cave Story's character and made many of my own animations. Here is an example of some stuff I've made:

I definitely couldn't have done it without Cave Story, so special credits must also be noted to that game.


WHEW! Now that all of the disclaimer stuff is behind, I can tell you what Spirit's Quest is all about. TLoZ: Spirit's Quest is an oldschool(ish) 2d action/adventure platformer style game for PC. It's being made with Game Maker 8. Now I'll stop right there. If any of you know the reputation of Game Maker, you probably have huge doubts after me mentioning that. However, I have been using GM ever since it came out in the mid 90's, and I've made enough failed projects to have the experience to know what makes a game good and how I can properly use GM to make fairly professional looking and feeling games.

Spirit's Quest's story is minimal, but that is because the design is planned to be a bit less linear than other Zelda's. The game starts with Link sleeping in his bed at night. Suddenly Link is awoken by the appearance of a Wizzrobe. The Wizzrobe introduces himself as Tangle. Tangle continues on to tell Link that he has a game that he wants Link to play. Unfortunately, the game is a life or death game where Link must fight his way through a massive dungeon. Escape or die. It's clear that Tangle is a bit short in the head; yes, he's crazy. Before Link can grab for his sword, Tangle transports Link into a dark dungeon room.

Now there is a ton I could talk about, but this would be waaaaaaaaaay too long, so I will just tell some of the good stuff. This "massive dungeon" is the entire game, but it's made up of many parts and Link will travel through forest-like areas, desert, snow, ice, swamp, all kinds of places. The game will be designed in a way that will allow the player to play these different areas in ANY order they please, thus acquiring main items (e.g. bow, bombs, boomerang, etc) in any order that sounds good. Do you want bombs first? Go for the area where you will get bombs. You want the power of the boomerang in the palm of your hand? Go ahead, it's your choice! Now, you're choice is not without strategy. Enemies will get harder as you go. Would you want to end up playing the ice area LAST with the HARDEST enemies? ... probably not. Because slipping and sliding while fighting the tough guys is.. well it's tough.

The game is designed with replay value in mind. I even plan to have most of the game made up of semi-randomly generated rooms. It should make each new quest a truly "new" quest.

Another cool thing: Link has a fairy, called Sprite. BUT, she is not as helpless as other fairy's you may know of. Sprite has magic and she can hold her own. You will gather new spells for her to use; face-melting spells that will decimate all on screen. Though magic does run out, so you can't just spam magic.

There is so much more to tell, but I will leave all that for another time. One more thing though: The game has just gotten past the basic physics and collisions code (walking, jumping, swimming, slipping on ice, climbing stairs, etc). That engine is the core of the game, so it is a huge step. I also have TONS of plans documented and a good amount of graphics going. Right now I'm working on coding the HUD functionality.

Here is what the HUD is planned to look like:

And here is a peek at the newest design of the item/menu screen:

Well, that's all for now. The game has a LONG way to go, but it's going strong. I will probably make an update with a playable demo of Link's basic actions next. I don't know how long it will take me to get to that point though. Programming is a hobby, not a job (and I have 3 jobs). So just keep a look out for the next update if you're interested.

Mario Marathon 4 Continues to Bring in the Coins for Child's Play Charity

I, Disc07, promised these awesome guys, in the wee hours of the morning of June 27th, that I would write a follow-up article about their ever so successful Mario Marathon. For almost 80 hours straight, the "Marathoners" have been playing their Wii, fitted with all the classic Super Mario games, all the while, raising over $80,000 for Child's Play, a charity committed to providing books, toys, and video games to children's hospitals across the globe.

Sleep Deprived Nate and Brian play Super Mario Galaxy for Charity. Since then, Brian hasn't shut an eye.

The viewers of their uStream have had the liberty of participating in various contests, including raffles for custom artwork, coloring contests, haiku competitions, and even joint contests with partner sites such as ThinkGeek. Beyond just the ability of winning prizes and contests, participants also get to have plenty of lulz as they watch the sleep deprived "Marathoners" complete the many games that have riddled everyone's childhood memories.

From the NES Classics of Super Mario, Super Mario 2, Super Mario 3, and The Lost Levels, to Super Mario World of SNES, Mario 64, Mario Sunshine, and the most recent Wii titles: New Super Mario Bros, and Mario Galaxy 1 and 2, this marathon will strike a chord with anybody that grew up with a Nintendo console in the past 25 years.

If you are trying to find that perfect way to donate your extra change to a good cause, I think you may have just found it. Grab some Janitor Juice, let these gamers spin the Wheel of Awesome for you, and get ready to get your heart rocked by the musical styling of Jed and the talented voice overs of Vog.

You can donate and check out the stream right here, or head on over to www.mariomarthon.com and join in the chat and twitterfeed fun!




Until I see you,

~~Disc07

Futurama Continues Season Premier with "Benderama"

"Robot, experience this tragic irony for me!" 

The second Futurama episode of the Season 8 premier was entitled "Benderama". As you can imagine, this episode revolves around one of the series' most beloved characters, the drunken robot Bender. Readers with a sharp eye may recognize that part of this episode was read at a panel at last year's San Dieog Comic Con.

This episode features not one Bender, not two (as has been done with the occasional appearance of Bender look-alike Flexo), but billions of Benders. Because as many of us know, Bender is lazy. So when the Professor Farnsworth invents a new machine that makes duplicate copies of anything, in 1/3 scale. So as you can imagine, Bender gets a hold of the machine to make copies of himself to do stuff for him.

This episode features one of my favorite elements from Futurama, "The Scary Door", Futurama's parody of "The Twilight Zone". I always found them to be fun. And they are few and far between. But they are always hilarious when they are used in a story.

This episode also has the appearance of Patton Oswalt who is a stand-up comedian from several different animated shows and movies. He was appearing as the voice of one of the main protagonist, a giant known as the Unatractive Giant Monster, whom the Planet Express crew make a delivery to.

All in I found it to be a very fun episode. I am very excited this new season of Futurama, as it seems to be a true return to form for the series. Last season was great fun, but it was different. But fun.

Look forward to more reviews of this season.

That is all. Carry On!

-Spieg89

Futurama's 'New' Season Begins with "Neutopia"

Last night, Comedy Central celebrated the return of Futurama with the premier of two new episodes of Matt Groening's hit series. Considered to be a premier of a confusing season 8, we see yet another plot that takes the demise of the Planet Express crew and their failing package delivery company, and turns it around for the better in the end. This has been a plot that Futurama fans have grown accustomed to with each big network move, or large stint of programming such as this one that has split season 7 and 8. We have witnessed this time and time before with the beginning of "Bender's Big Score" along with the season premier of season 7.

Matt Groening brought back the talent of J. Stewart Burns, however, to liven up this exasperated plot-line. Burns can be credited for writing the script for the Futurama video game, many earlier episodes of the series, as well as the Emmy Award winning episode: Roswell that Ends Well. This gave me high hopes when it came to the quality of this return of the series.

As mentioned before, the plot of the episode puts Planet Express in turmoil as it once again is about to belly up as a business. The team finds themselves on a gender-free planet composed of creatures made entirely of rocks... yes... rocks. I for one was excited for the new species of alien, cause well, I am a geologist, and rocks are kind of my thing.


The planet itself was a phenomenal creation, with actual plausible geologic features scattered throughout the background of many of the shots, something that I was really pumped to see. The team soon finds that this planet's sun is about to burn the surface and it is up to them to trek to the "Cave of Harmony" to provide shelter from the heat. Push comes to shove, and the gender's find themselves split and encouraged to work together to get to their goal. But instead of working together, they instead try to betray one another and from here, the story begins to unravel.

Let's just say that this new rock species has a "gender-empowering" capability, and we begin to start seeing the more feminine and masculine sides of the crew that we have never seen before. Back on Earth the team finds a creative way to fund the now in-debt Planet Express company that you will indefinitely crack up about.

Funny little science jokes were scattered throughout this episode, a mainstay of much of Groening's comedic style, without excluding the immature jokes we all know and love. All in all, it is nice to see the return of Futurama and I am sure we all can't wait to see what escapades the Planet Express crew gets themselves in to.

What's this you say? There were two episodes that aired last night? Check out the second portion of the Season 8 review coming up soon on Wired Gamers!

~~Disc07

Sonic Generations Demo

So this completely slipped under my radar. Yesterday, SEGA released a demo for its upcoming Sonic Generations, SEGA's way of celebrating Sonic the Hedgehog's 20th Anniversary. This game combines both the 2D and 3D games. And the 2D levels have an element of 3D to them. This is also the first Sonic game to support stereoscopic 3D.
I downloaded the demo today. You can download it here for Xbox : Sonic Generations Demo. It is also on PS3.

There is an important thing to note though, this demo went up today and will only be up for 20 days. So if you have any interest in this game, I would recommend that you download this demo. In fact you all should download it.

This demo covers the first area in the game, the always iconic Green Zone.

I played the demo, and this game plays great. The visuals are simply stunning. I stopped dead in my tracks on more than one occasion to just look around at my surroundings. I can't recommend this demo enough. Just download it.

That is all. Carry On!

-Spieg89

The Lego of Zelda

I've had this little red Lego boat since I was about six, it came in a pirate set called Rock Island Refuge(I think I know the names of all my Lego sets, is that strange? hmm). Pretty much ever since Wind Waker was released, I wanted to make this, it just fit so perfectly with my little Lego boat. After years and years, I finally got my Legos out of my parent's attic, and I've been catching up on lost time.

Mark I (right): Sorry for the ugly cell phone camera pic.
Pretty straight forward. The yellow slope things were cool because they were just the right angle for his "neck plates". Too bad there's a gap in his neck because of them. Also, the mast is too short. I put it in front of my Wind Waker painting for reference :)





Mark II (below):
On the rebuild, I changed the yellow neck parts, so it's now seamless. I also gave him eyes, and fixed his horns, so they're not growing out of his sideburns. The mast has been raised, and I added a cannon under the mast. There are actually two turrets under the mast, one for the mast, and one for the cannon, so they move independently of each other, which is one of my favorite things about the model.

So that's a long description for a relatively simple creation, but I haven't posted anything on here in a while, so I figured I should make up for it. Now that I started building the Lego of Zelda, I'm sure I'll post more models in the near future.
I hope this has inspired you somehow :)

Cliff Blezinski - Gaming Master

Nostalgia just got thrown in to my face when I read this RT from @therealcliffyb

"...Hey how did you ever get that sick high score in Mario when you were 13?" Because I was a gaming MASTER? ;)"

Apparently not only is he renowned for his work with Epic Games and Gears of War, he was also an NES master as well. I'll have to go digging through my old Nintendo Power magazines to see if I can find this issue. Heck, maybe if he is at PAX Prime 2011, I'll even have him sign the thing!

Credit to @micro23 for the picture via twitter

~~Disc07

Kinect-Enabled Ads coming to Xbox

Microsoft today announced a project that they are calling: Natural User Interface Ads (or NuAds).

This is a project that Microsoft is going to implement next year that will allow users to interface in unique ways with the advertising that Microsoft throws at them.

Microsoft showed off five NuAd scenarios, but the possibilities are endless. Here's a list of what they demoed:

 1. When a user says "Xbox tweet," he or she can immediately tweet something about the brand.

2. Saying "Xbox More" lets users request additional information or a coupon to be emailed to them.

3. Saying "Xbox Near Me" pulls up a Bing map that locates the nearest retailer, and sends the user a text message with the location.

4. Saying "Xbox Schedule" sends the user a calender reminder about an upcoming show.

5. When prompted to vote at the end of an ad, the user can wave his or her hand to give feedback.

Here is a video that Microsoft posted to YouTube today to explain it:



This could be a very interesting way for Microsoft to show off Kinect and its interest in social networking.

You may have also noticed that this was all demoed on the new Xbox Live UI.

This feature is expected to begin to be implemented in Spring 2012.

I'd also like to give a shootout to the guys over at G4 for this story.

That is all. Carry On!

Cooperatively Playing Games with Parents. How did it affect you? A new study may have the answers.

Call me a nerd, but there is nothing I enjoy more than researching what I love on the internet. It's pretty rare when I stumble across an accredited peer-reviewed article about gaming, but when I do, I always find it a fantastic read. I guess there has been a method to these years of college under my belt after all. This is a little something out of the ordinary for a blog, or even a gaming news site, but I will try my best to make it as interesting as possible for all audiences.



A study has come out of Brigham Young showing a positive relationship between families that game together. Particularly (and @Assassionista you will love this) between the parent and daughter. Their research asked approximately 300 families simple questions about how they interact with video games as a family, the age-appropriateness of the games they play together, and how much time is spent playing these games.

It was found that about half of the children played games alongside their parents, and these levels were associated with larger amounts of parent-child connectedness when it game to girls playing age-appropriate games. However, when it came to playing age-inappropriate game (eg. Grand Theft Auto, Duke Nukem, etc.) the sense of reality between parents and offspring faded since it was almost as if games (and the actions therein) were looked upon as being positive.

When playing appropriate games with their children parents show that they are willing to enjoy and engage in an activity that their daughter also enjoys, tightening the bond and quality parent-time between them. Girls that were studied also exhibited a lower level of stress, anxiety, and aggression when co-playing games with their parents.

What do you guys think? Did you ever play games with your parents or siblings when you were younger? And how did you turn out? Was it always a positive experience for you?

This article really got me thinking about how our parents (and video games) really have an effect on how we grow and learn about the world as an adolescent. Most of my childhood I grew up playing games locked away in my bedroom. I can remember weeks of playing Super Mario RPG on the SNES and having a total lack of social interactiveness during that time, but whenever I would play games such as Mario Kart or Goldeneye with my mother, we would have one heck of a bonding experience.

If you want to read the aforementioned article you can do so here. Until Later.

~~Disc07

Green Lantern Review

I thought that I'd contribute to our big comeback by writing a review about the new movie Green Lantern.

In brightest day, in blackest night,

No evil shall escape my sight

Let those who worship evil's might,

Beware my power... Green Lantern's light!

-Green Lantern Oath

This movie released on Friday. It is follows the origin story of the first human to be selected to join the a group of inter-galactic peace keepers known as the Green Lantern Corps, Hal Jordan. Hal Jordan is a fighter pilot who is charged with saving our sector of the galaxy.

 

I saw this movie in 3D. It is yet another movie that I felt didn't benefit from 3D. Another trend I am starting to notice about 3D movies is that they seem to be a lot darker in 3D then they are in 2D. This is a trend I don't like. Especially since I feel like the Green Lantern would have significantly benefited from having a little brighter outlook. 

As far as the story goes I found that many of the various Green Lanterns that were featured were great deep characters. The story I felt was a little underwhelming, but I felt that Ryan Reynolds was great in this role. One of the things I've heard people complain about is the fact that Ryan Reynolds is all CG when he's in the suit, but it makes good sense in the movie. I won't spoil it, but don't get caught up on it, but it will make sense if you see it.

Many critics have been harsh to this movie, but I felt that it was a good fun movie to go to. I would recommend this movie. It was definitely on par with the other superhero movies that I've seen so far this year.

Welcome back! And keep checking back for more!

That is all. Carry On!

-Spieg89

Use Kinect to Control Master Chief?

Earlier today, It was announced that the Kinect was indeed going to be used to enhance 343's remake of the classic: Halo: Combat Evolved, slated for release November 15th. But what will this Kinect augmentation be used for within the game? Neither 343 Studios nor Microsoft have released any details on how the motion sensing and voice controlling will be implemented within the game; we have already seen positive feedback of what the Kinect in capable of with apps such as Netflix and Hulu Plus, but how will this technology, which seems perfect for these applications be transitioned to a fast-paced action-adventure such as Halo?

At this years E3 we saw some implication of the microphone of the Kinect with squad-based controls in the upcoming Mass Effect 3 game and the newly released Kinect Fun Labs have shown full execution of the 3D-imaging capable of the accessory. And we even heard an announcement of a release of Minecraft by 4J Studios (the same group that ported the classic Banjo Kazooie and Banjo Tooie to XBLA) that would plot you chopping wood, mining gold, and killing innocent livestock with your bare hands all while controlling your pixelated character around the world.

All in all, the Kinect is a very young peripheral, and although the Wii has had the motion-sensing market for much longer than the Xbox, I can see the Kinect taking their technology much further than anything that Nintendo can conjure up. But is Halo really the right place to be marketing these Kinect features? Will the Kinect respond quickly enough to the fast-paced action that we tend to see throughout the franchise? If done correctly it would be awesome, but if not, it just might not be enough to persuade the hardcore gamer to the new motion sensing technology, at least for games such as this.

Microsoft followed up their announcement later with this statement:

"It's no surprise we're exploring ways Kinect can enhance game experiences in authentic and meaningful ways. The Kinect features we're exploring with 'Halo: Anniversary' are additive and will not affect the core gameplay experience or alter our mission of delivering a faithful recreation of the original game. That said we have nothing else to share just yet."

~~Disc07

Mario Marathon 4: A Unique Child's Play Experience

In 2003, the guys over at Penny Arcade (the geniuses behind the Penny Arcade Webcomic and the biannual PAX Gaming Expo) set up a vision to expand their civic engagement to not only help make the world a better place, but to also help the world realize the positive impact that the gaming industry can have. Henceforth came the Child's Play Charity; a "community-based" organization that has partnered with over 70 different hospitals across the globe to donate money, toys, books, and most importantly, video games, to sick children. Thus far, according to www.childsplaycharity.org, partners have donated over 2.3 million dollars to help the cause.

Through the years, there have been many different ways to donate to the charity: Making text donations, donating at various expositions or through their online site, holiday gaming auctions, and most recently the first annual golf tournament in Pasadena, California. One unique way that Penny Arcade acquires donations for Child's Play is through events such as Rupeethon, and Mario Marathon.

Rupeethon is now going on their second year, while Mario Marathon is on it's fourth and slated for June 24th. What these two events are, are live online webcasts that gather donations while gamers, including celebrities, go on to finish every Mario and Zelda game in one sitting. Four guys, no showers, only the occasional bathroom break, irregular meal breaks, and lack of sleep for says all for the sake of charity. As many of us are hardcore gamers, this seems like a cinch right? Well this is not totally the case. The more donations that are gathered, the further these guys go on in the series. So, it is up to us to donate and watch them move on in the games we all grew up to love for these last 25 years.

So far, Mario Marathon 4 has gathered more than $8k dollars in donations with still four days until the live event. For those of whom that would like to donate to the cause, I have included a donation widget to the right where you can directly donate to the Mario Marathon event, and track how much Wired Gamers has helped to donate to Child's Play as a whole.

You may also stream the live event, starting Friday, June 24th @ 11am PST on Wired Gamers in the embedded video at the top of the page. Thanks for tuning in and donating to the cause!

~~Disc07

For more information about Child's Play and Mario Marathon, check out the links below:

http://www.mariomarathon.com/
http://www.childsplaycharity.org/
PATV Child's Play Episode

Modern Warfare 3 news and other cool stuff

Today on IGN, a trailer was released where a couple of IGN's staff discusses all the various little easter eggs in the various MW3 trailers.
IGN usually does these kind of trialers for games and/or trailers that are very popular. Here's the video they made:

More Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Videos

There is also some more discussion made in this article: Road to E3 2011: Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3

Also today Amazon posted the two collector's editions of Gears of War 3.
Limited Edition
Epic Edition

Some of you may remember a trailer coming out a couple of months ago for a game called Dead Island. It was a very unique trailer. Well a new one came out today. Watch it:




Also they put up a website: Dead Island.

More details will be coming out at E3.


That is all for today. Carry On!

-Spieg89

Wired Gamers Week in Preview: May 16

Welcome back for another edition of the Wired Gamer's Week in Preview!

On the docket we have a few game releases, a great movie, and some great DVD/Blu-Rays!

First we have Rockstar's latest project, a unique game called L.A. Noire. You are a dectective in 1947 in guess where? L.A. Based on the cinematics that have been released. It looks great. I have it pre-ordered. I suggest you do too. From you favorite retailer. I choose GameStop over Amazon this time because GameStop is offering quite a bit of content. I'll let you choose: Amazon, GameStop

Also out this week is the latest Fallout New Vegas DLC. I will post a link and more about it later in the week.

Out on DVD & Blu-Ray this week:

1. Araya (Documentary) Pre-Order

2. Barney: I Can Do It (Animation, Family) Pre-Order

3. The Bionic Woman: Season 2 (Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, TV) Pre-Order 

4. Covert Affairs: Season One (Action, Crime, Drama, TV) Pre-Order

5. Daydream Nation (Drama, Romance) Pre-Order 

6. Deadly Shooter (Western) Pre-Order

7. Deep Red (Uncensored English Version) (Horror, Mystery, Thriller) Pre-Order

8. Diabolique (The Criterion Collection) (Crime, Drama, Horror, Mystery, Thriller) Pre-Order

9. Elephant White (Action, Thriller) Pre-Order

10. Flashpoint: The Third Season (Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller, TV) Pre-Order

11. The Mechanic (Action, Thriller) Pre-Order

12. Mob Rules (Action) Pre-Order 

13. The Other Woman (Drama) Pre-Order

14. Pale Flower (The Criterion Collection) (Crime, Thriller) Pre-Order

15. The Rite (Psychological Thriller) Pre-Order

16. The Roommate (Thriller) Pre-Order

17. Royal Pains: Season Two (Comedy, Drama, TV) Pre-Order

18. Sophia Loren Award Collection (Various) Pre-Order

19. Thor: Tales of Asgard (Action, Animation) Pre-Order

20. Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! Season Cinco (Comedy, Music, TV) Pre-Order

21. Vanishing on 7th Street (Horror, Mystery, Thriller) Pre-Order

22. Wartorn 1861-2010 (Documentary, TV) Pre-Order

Well those are the list of DVDs coming out this week. If any of those titles catch you attention, follow the pre-order link straight to Amazon.

And on the theatrical release front, we have the latest Pirates of the Carribean: On Stranger Tides. Returning are Johnny Depp and Geoffry Rush. New is Penelope Cruz. It looks like a lot of fun, and it comes out this coming weekend. If you are a fan of the series check it out. And if you want to wait, watch for my review on Sunday.

And last up on the list, Epic Games announced today the contents of the special editions of Gears of War 3.
There are three different verions of the game. Of course there is the standard edition. There is also the Limited Edition & Epic Edition.
Contents including:

Limited Edition ($79.99 US) – The must-have for fans who want to celebrate the culmination of the trilogy, the Limited Edition includes:

• An Octus Award Box and Octus Service Medal – Replicas of the honors bestowed on Adam Fenix, Marcus’s father, for his work on the Hammer of Dawn.
• Exclusive Unlockable Adam Fenix Multiplayer Character – Each Octus Service Medal replica is engraved with a unique Xbox LIVE code that is the only way to unlock Adam Fenix in multiplayer.
• A fabric COG Flag – Proud colors that once flew above the House of Sovereigns.
• The personal effects of Adam Fenix, including his “Last Will and Testament,” the initial Hammer of Dawn schematic, and other Fenix family mementos.

Epic Edition ($149.99 US) – The ultimate collection for hardcore fans who can’t get enough “Gears of War 3,” the Epic Edition includes:

• A Limited Edition Marcus Fenix Statue – Designed by Epic Games Art Director Chris Perna and expertly crafted by the artisans at Triforce, this fine PVC statue collectible makes the ultimate living room centerpiece for any true “Gears” fan.
• The Art and Design of Gears of War by Tom Bissell – Through unprecedented access to the Epic Games team, acclaimed author Tom Bissell (Extra Lives) gives readers an incisive behind-the-scenes glimpse into one of the most celebrated sagas in video game history with 96 pages of interviews, photos, concept artwork and more.
• Infected Omen Weapon Pack — Custom multiplayer skins for the game’s five starting weapons; Lancer, Retro Lancer, Hammerburst, Sawed-off Shotgun, and Gnasher Shotgun.
• All the contents of the “Gears of War 3” Limited Edition.

For more on this check out this article: Gears of War 3 Collector's Editions


That is all. Carry On!

-Spieg89

News on the PSN front

As many of you know, the Playstation Network has been down for many weeks. Today announcements have come down from Sony. The first is a video message from Kazuo Hirai Sony's Executive Vice President.

That video is this one:



Also out today is a map that shows which areas will be getting the updates, and which areas have them already. Here is that map if you are curious: Play ON. 

Sony has said they will have a welcome back package as part of this deal. Here's hoping that Sony has solved their problems and that this will not continue to be a problem.

If you are a PlayStation user, then I hope you take heart in this.

That is all. Carry On!

-Spieg89