It’s been a long time since I’ve regularly played videogames, actually, the last one was Goldeneye for the Nintendo 64. But if there was ever a game that would make me change that, it’s clearly Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.

Lucas Arts have tapped into the primal urge all of us geeks have by allowing us to control and wield the force at our leisure. Every seven-year-old that watches the original trilogy dreams of using a light saber and crushing someone’s esophagus from across the room. Wait, you mean that was just me? Shit. Well, I always wanted to be an evil Jedi. Vader was so much more of a badass then Obi-Wan, Luke and Lando Calrissian combined.

EW has premiered the new trailer for the game and again, I’m drooling. Then last scene of the trailer might be considered a minor spoil, especially if you want the unfolding storyline to be fresh. Still. Bad. Ass.

Nintendo’s Wii revolutionized how games are played.  Its motion-sensitive controller put players in the front row, waggling a stick around like an uncooked lump of salami, looking foolish and playing subpar video games for kitsch—and therefore temporary—value.

Anyway, since you can lob that white stick around and play tennis n’ stuff, Nintendo made the next logical step: Beer Pong.

Right? That’s what you were thinking too, right?

Naturally, Nintendo’s Beer Pong came under intense scrutiny from tight-assed politicians and anti-booze advocacy groups all over the place.  They changed the name from Beer Pong to Pong Toss, because that makes a boatload of difference.

In an unintentionally hilarious example of bad journalism, CBS Channel 4 out of Columbus, Ohio, posts this wonderful headline: Video Game Under Scrutiny For Resemblance To Beer Pong.  Uh, it’s not a resemblance, idiots; the game was called Beer Pong.  It is Beer Pong.  Pay attention.  Furthermore, the first 3.5 paragraphs of the article have nothing to do with the videogame.

Aside from being a Wii game, there is one huge problem with Pong Toss.  First, the joy of Beer Pong is … wait for it … drinking beer.  Playing the same game on a television screen using a videogame console?  Not as fun.  I suppose you could drink the beer sitting next to you upon scoring a shot and thereby avoid the messiness inherent in tossing objects into full glasses of liquid, but doesn’t that remove most if not all of the fun?  I can’t imagine hitting up a kegger only to be greeted with a 52″ HDTV connected to a Wii, surrounded by hairy apes saying, “Pick up a controller; let’s play some Beer Pong!”  I’d leave.  Immediately.  Because that’s dorky.

Despite the hullabaloo, it appears Pong Toss will still be published and sold.  I eagerly anticipate its sales numbers.  In fact, I want access to databases showing exactly whom buys this game.  I want to talk to each and every single buyer of this game and explain to them that college is over and it’s time to get a job.

Wow! Call me surprised, since 50 Cent (or has he pulled a Rock and goes by Curtis Jackson now?) can’t rap or act, but his new videogame 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand looks kinda fun.

In the game (how do they come up with this shit?) 50 Cent performs a concert somewhere in the war-torn Middle East, natch, but, afterward, the show’s promoter refuses to pay him in cash (what no paypal?) and instead gives him a diamond-encrusted skull. Obviously, this is before Indiana Jones got his grubby mitts on it.

On the way to the airport, 50 gets robbed by mysterious attackers (possibly Osama bin Laden or some such terrorist), and it’s up to him and his entourage to reclaim the skull using only their steely wit and sweaty brows. And by wit we mean AK-47s, rocket launchers, tanks, fists, shivs. The usual.

[Kotaku]

Or some sort of weird midi-version of real music.  Anyway, I still have no idea why this guy wouldn’t just go buy a real guitar and learn how to play, but whatever.  Maybe it’s just easier to “play” Nirvana’s “Teen Spirit” with 15 notes.

The best is the last line though, where the guy admits he wasn’t geeky enough for Beauty and the Geek. So you know the dudes on that show are truly hopeless.

[via]

This is shaping up to be one of the biggest weeks in entertainment. With the hugely anticipated Iron Man hitting theaters on Friday and possibly the much more anticipated launch of Grand Theft Auto IV hitting consoles this week. It’s expected that both properties will ring up somewhere in the vicinity of $500 million in business combined ($70-$100 mil for Iron Man and $350-$400 mil for GTA IV).

Despite Peter being so sure that the business of one property won’t affect the business of the other, and to be sure I’m tentatively inclined to agree, it’s hard to imagine this type of entertainment bonanza occuring again any time soon.

Still, we’ve seen all we can of Iron Man’s promotional efforts. But for the most part Grand Theft Auto IV has been kept under wraps. Thankfully, the reviews are starting to pour in. IGN says that the game acheives an Oscar-caliber excellence, unseen in a videogame since Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. It’s a long review, but here’s the essential part:

You play as Niko Bellic, an Eastern European attempting to escape his past and the horrors of the Bosnian war. He arrives in Liberty City to experience the American dream, only to discover his cousin, Roman, may have fibbed a bit in his tales of success. Starting from nothing, Niko makes a living as a killer and enforcer, a bad-ass foreigner who appears to have no morals. The longer we stay with Niko, the more we see that there is a broken human being inside, one who would give anything to escape the person he once was.

Don’t worry, GTA’s famed over-the-top action and tongue-in-cheek humor are intact, but there is a new level of sophistication in the characters and the game world that raises the story above the norm. As Niko becomes mired in the death throes of American organized crime, he begins to become more self-aware. Niko’s struggles with his ruthless nature never inhibit the gameplay, but instead enhance the emotional gravity of a brilliant storyline. The more absurd the action becomes, the greater we feel the very real pathos of Niko Bellic.

Much of the credit goes to the artists at Rockstar North who created as believable a city as possible. Liberty City is inspired by New York, but not beholden to it. While there are many parallels, Liberty exists in its own universe and rightfully so. Many open-world games have cities that feel as if they existed only from the moment you first turned on your console, but Liberty City looks lived in. It’s an old city and each block has its own vibe and its own history.

Always difficult to pull off is the storyline and the game play environment. Too often, this game franchise is slagged for it’s violence, and yet it’s probably no more violent than other games. It’s just the environment is more realistic than say, a fantasy RPG. Or even a MMORPG. And fantastic violence is okay, or even human on zombie violence is fine, but when it’s human on human violene then somehow you’ve crossed a line. Which is to say, that when it comes to violence in videogames, there is a bit of hypocrisy from the traditional media.

Over at MTV they are less sold on the game than IGN, however, they still admit this is as excellent a videogame you’ll play all year. As if anyone doubted that.

What I haven’t found yet, for better or worse, is a reason to call the game revolutionary.

I haven’t found a reason for it to merit the numerical title that the creators at Rockstar Games say is a signal that a “GTA” game will leads in directions that others will follow. Such progress is, of course, what “GTA III” wrought and what, as well-made as they were, “Grand Theft Auto: Vice City,” “San Andreas,” and the “Stories” spin-offs did not.

From what I’ve played so far, I don’t expect “IV” to trigger an industry transformation. Still, I can’t wait to finish writing this piece so I can go play more, to find out what this game about America has to say and show me next. It’s a compelling piece of work, so much more interesting and well-acted than other games, as is always the case with a “GTA.”

So will this game be bigger than Iron Man? It’s hard to answer that because in many respects that’s like talking about apples and steaks. Of course, if Iron Man doesn’t delivery the box office expected of it, you’ll be reading a bunch of foolish stories about GTA IV being responsible, never mind that people just aren’t going to the movies like they used to.

Yes, being able to pee standing up, will no doubt, but the only thing men have going for us. As a species, we’re probably about 25 years aways from being obsolete. But we’ll always have the ability to pee standing up. Now, women can experience the joys as well, thanks to a new game for the Nintendo Wii imported from those crazy Japanese kids.

By using a “strap-on” Wii remote, females can use realistic fluid dynamics to shoot urine into various toilets. Get too much on the floor and your game is over. The game is called Super Pii Pii Brothers. This could become the next Guitar Hero … if Guitar Hero involved peeing and penis remote extensions.

Also, I don’t see how men would enjoy playing this game, but there’s always bachelorette parties! Though this could take potty training to an entirely new level. Sometimes I miss the seat, but I don’t care. If I had this when I was four to “train” then my life coulda been so different. [via]

Product Features:

• Video Game for Nintendo Wii Provides a Virtual Peeing Experience
• Amazing Realistic Pee Fluid Dynamics
• Imported from Japan
• Comes with game disc and Wiimote belt harness
• Includes cross regional boot disc to allow play on US Wii consoles
• Minimal Japanese text makes game easy to understand if you can’t read Japanese
• Over 100 different peeing environments with multiple toilet and urinal styles
• Up to two players can compete with dueling pee streams

Also, I have no way of varifying if this is an elaborate prank or not, so take this with a huge grain of salt. Like an entire salt rock.

This is why the gaming world is all in a tizzy come April 29, when Rockstar Games releases Grand Theft Auto IV. And yes, there will be articles about the “controversy” surrounding the game upon its release. However, the violence, etc. in the game probably pales in comparison to your standard Hollywood film and also to keep in mind that in the video game all the choices you make are just that. Does choosing what you do in the video game world reflect upon you in the real world? Hard to say.

Some estimates are saying this game will make upwards of $360 million dollars in its first week of release.

The ESA Foundation has established a video game design scholarship to help educate and train the next generation of video game makers.

“Positions in our industry are high-paying jobs with a remarkable potential to inspire and entertain millions of Americans. We hope these scholarships will encourage students to pursue careers in this growing and lucrative field,” said Michael Gallagher, president and CEO of the ESA, which represents U.S. computer and game publishers. “We offer this program to help create our industry’s next generation who will boost the industry’s creative capital with new and unique approaches.”

The program assists women and minority students who plan to continue their education in fields supporting video game development, including graphic design, computer science, animation or programming, digital entertainment or software engineering. Scholarships are offered each year for full-time study at accredited four-year colleges and universities. The ESA Foundation plans to award 15 scholarships of $3,000 each to students for the 2008-09 academic year.

More colleges are offering video game design as a major, which might seem odd to some parents, but film study is universally accepted as a college degree.   The scholarship makes available some $45,000 for women and minority applicants alone.  Full-time undergraduate students can apply online for a $3,000 scholarship here, but must do so by May 15, 2008.

I guess $2 billion dollars doesn’t buy what it used to.  EA, one of the world’s largest videogame companies, made an offer to buy Take Two Interactive, which besides their sports properties is also the maker of Grand Theft Auto, however that offer has been rejected.

Take Two would like to wait until the release of Grand Theft Auto IV, probably to get maximum dollar on any take over bid.  EA runs their company like city-states, with each division having autonomy, however, it remains to be seen if Take Two will become part of that.

Take-Two called EA’s offer “highly opportunistic” and an attempt to take advantage of its upcoming release of Grand Theft Auto IV.

The company said it had offered to enter a dialogue with EA on April 30, a day after Grand Theft Auto IV’s scheduled release.

Speculation is that EA doesn’t even want Grand Theft Auto, though that makes for a nice consolation prize.  This is all about the sports franchises.  If a buyout does go through, then EA Sports would essentially have a complete monoply on the sports gaming industry.

“Goddamn locusts . . . it never ends!”

And if you’re a gamer and not excited for this, well then, what are you doing? The trailer for the upcoming November release of Gears of War 2 doesn’t reveal much in the way of plot or game engine, etc. but it still gets us excited to see this one in action.

However, this video from IGN takes a look behind the scenes of the game engine. I love the contrast of shadows in this video.

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a video game (Guitar Hero/Rock Band included) that has actually made me want to own a PS3 or Xbox 360. With that said, I think I’d be overwhelmed by playing Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.

This is old news in the gaming industry, but this sounds like it could be (insert lame movie comparison here) of video games. Vanity Fair took a look inside the making of the game.

On a projection screen in a darkened auditorium, I watch as a digitally animated Imperial stormtrooper, the comically doomed cannon fodder of Lucas’s Star Wars universe, is lifted by an invisible force and dropped in various ways—on his head, on his back—and over various objects such as steel and wooden crates. Each time he is lifted, he struggles mightily, and then, every time he drops, he reacts differently. Dropped on his head, he grabs it with his hands before going still. And after being dropped on his back, on a metal box, he arches it in a way that suggests he is in agonizing pain.

His reactions are eerily lifelike, and I am told that what I am seeing is not animation but a kind of artificial intelligence generated by Euphoria, which enables the stormtrooper to react with an almost human uniqueness—in real time, no less—to obstacles and attacks. Dropped 100 times, the Euphoria-imbued stormtrooper will react differently 100 times, unless he is dropped in exactly the same way twice.

And perhaps most important of all, the game has a compelling, movie-like story line, involving a secret apprentice to Darth Vader and the formation of the Rebel Alliance, which provides a visual and narrative transition between Star Wars: Episode III—Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: Episode IV—A New Hope. It is being billed as the “next great chapter” in George Lucas’s space saga, one that, according to the project’s art director, Matt Omernick, “aims to convince players that, ‘Oh my God, I’m actually, finally, in a Star Wars movie.’ ” And not only that: it will be a Star Wars movie with a life of its own.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed should hit shelves sometime this summer. Take the jump for an awesome making of video. MORE »