Live Show: Backlog is prepared for Mega Man
Legends 2

_{[Backlog is the ongoing quest to rid Conrad Zimmerman's collection of unfinished games. As voted on by the Destructoid community, Conrad plays each game from start to finish live on Destructoid's Twitch.tv channel every weeknight at 8pm Pacific]}

Yeah, I'm ready. Over the weekend, I spent time earning Zenny and upgrading equipment. Hopefully this will mean that I will no longer struggle to make progress. The blade arm is becoming like a part of me now. Soon, I will rain death upon reaverbots for about five to ten minutes before my arrogance gets the better of me and Mega Man becomes a crumpled ball of tin on the ground once again.

Sounds like fun, doesn't it? Tune in to Backlog right now, where I'll be playing Mega Man Legends 2 live. Hang out with me and the chat goons as we shoot the bull and pew pew through ruins to find the mother lode. It's all happening right now on Destructoid's Twitch.tv channel!

Watch live video from Destructoid on Justin.tv

Add to del.icio.us

Digg this

Post to Furl

Add to reddit

Add to myYahoo!

Bodycount lets you 'kick the ass out of the
world'

Yes, "kick the ass out of the world" is a real thing that Bodycount art director Max Cant has said, and I love it. In part two of the developer diaries for the upcoming shooter, the staff delves into what makes their game world stand out, chiefly, it is both colorful and highly destructible.

They also touch on the game's class-based AI with enemy medics and engineers who, apparently, will stand between you and your hard-earned upgrade currency; seems like an interesting dynamic. They're attempting to create an environment in which shooting every single thing in sight is both wholly and morally acceptable and, so far, it looks like they're well on their way. Also, you kick the ass out of it; I can't stress that enough.

Add to del.icio.us

Digg this

Post to Furl

Add to reddit

Add to myYahoo!

Playroom

Play Room 1 is another well looking point and click room escape game developed by Kayzerfish, who is also creator of Imagia games. In this escape game, you try to escape the room by finding items and solving puzzles. Good luck and have fun!Play This Game

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/escapegames24/~3/GHPvfgUoPQA/playroom-walkthrough.
html

Add to del.icio.us

Digg this

Post to Furl

Add to reddit

Add to myYahoo!

The DTOID Show: Kim Jong-il and the Army of
Cyberhackers

Good evening, and welcome to the 160th episode of The Destructoid Show! You'd think after 160 episodes we would've run out of introductions for our show posts, and you'd be right. I'm terrible at these things. Let's talk some videogame news.

First up, it looks like 3DS price drop has put some pressure on Sony to lower the price of the upcoming PS Vita. Sorry guys, I spoke to Kaz Hirai last week and it ain't gonna happen. Next up, we got some bona fide gameplay footage from Sonic Generations, a cease-and-desist love letter from Bethesda to Notch, an unexpected delivery, and a whopping 22GB download for Rage on the Xbox. No wonder John Carmack likes PC games better!

Last but not least, rumor has it that Kim-Jong Il has created an unstoppable army of video game hackers who designed a special software that allows them to continuously generate in-game points in the semi-popular MMO Lineage and Dungeon Fighter. Look, Kim Jong-Il. If there's one thing Tommy Wiseau has taught us, it's that you don't have to resort to internet cybercrimes to make six million dollars. Just manufacture a few thousand leather jackets and export them to the US for lots of money. Like we'd know the difference anyway!

Extra congratulations to the winners of our Battlefield 3 contest, YouTube users THEMADAZZ18 and LordoftheFuckingHam. Play nice now!

Add to del.icio.us

Digg this

Post to Furl

Add to reddit

Add to myYahoo!

It moves! OutRun arcade machine turned drivable

This is a driving videogame. I mean, the game cabinet itself moves. University of California at Irvine's OutRun Project is ultimately looking to create gaming therapy systems for quadriplegics, but somehow along the way they've blended a golf cart and an OutRun cabinet and have created a driving game that you can actually drive.

With this contraption you're not actually playing the original Sega racer OutRun, but it looks at lot like you are. The cart features two video cameras that scan the environment in front of the car, while custom software analyzes what they see. That software then displays the road on screen, but rendered in the graphics of the game. Gizmag says that the software can't actually see things like other cars yet, so you wouldn't want to hit the real road with this thing.

The creator also proposing an iPhone augmented reality app that would let users see the world around them as if it were in the OutRun world. I'd love that.

Add to del.icio.us

Digg this

Post to Furl

Add to reddit

Add to myYahoo!

Assassin's Creed action figures coming this fall

If you like action figures (really, who doesn't?), and are also an Assassin's Creed fan, you may want to check out the new Ezio figures coming out this fall from NECA. There are two variants of Ezio, both from the Brotherhood game (so no old greybeard) but if you're interested in picking up both, you should probably know that each is exclusive to a specific retailer.

Hooded Ezio (wearing his ebony outfit), will only be carried at GameStop while the Ezio Unhooded version (in traditional white) will be available exclusively at Toys R Us. I liked the Assassin's Creed games, running around stabbing guys and throwing them off buildings was a good time, and I wouldn't mind picking one of these up. Maybe both if they are reasonably priced.

Ezio is awesome, even as an action figure [Game Informer]

Add to del.icio.us

Digg this

Post to Furl

Add to reddit

Add to myYahoo!

eSports: An EVOlution in entertainment

_{[Our first promoted blog for last week's eSports topic is from I Palindrome I who, like many of this week's respondents, talked about EVO. Promotions will happen this entire week -- if you want to see your blog on the front page, make sure you write a CBlog on our current topic, East vs. West. -- JRo]}

In order to answer the question "Can video games work as a spectator sport?" we must first look at the criteria for what makes for good, watchable material. However, I will tell you right now that I would answer that question with a resounding "yes!"

If you properly read the title, then you will know that the main focus of this blog will be the EVO championship series, meaning that I will be mentioning fighting games only. If you watched this year's EVO, whether you were at the event yourself or tuned in to streams/YouTube recordings, you know that the crowd had all the hype that you would see at a regular sporting event. I think that alone is good enough to prove the entertainment value to a spectator, but I would like to take a closer look, comparing the norm of "real" sports to the virtual realm of fighting games.

Most televised sports (save golf) are fast-paced and intense. Some of the more popular sports (American football, hockey, soccer, NASCAR, boxing, MMA, wrestling, etc.) can get pretty violent. I won't assume that all people that watch those sports enjoy them for the savageness and brutality alone (although that's hard to say for fighting sports), but it is certainly a factor that influences the aforementioned intensity.

Most fighting games are rather fast-paced and visceral as well. Games like Mortal Kombat, Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition, Marvel vs Capcom 3, BlazBlue: Continuum Shift II, and Tekken 6 are very colorful, feature full-contact battles, and have their own unique feel to them despite being in the same genre. However, this does bring up a point that cannot be ignored about the nature of fighting games: both the arena and the fighters themselves are a product. When I say the fighters are a product, I am, of course, referring to the characters in the game who have preset moves and stats. They have a set amount to their abilities that cannot be changed via exercise or training.

This creates a phenomenon not seen in other sports. The competitors must work around the virtual constraints of their chosen avatar. Unlike a conventional sport where players must maintain their physical condition, fighting game players must assume the identity of their character and use strategy to win. That's not to say that sports don't employ strategy, rather fighting games use strategy exclusively. The training a fighting game player undergoes is less about physical condition and more about timing to get combos down correctly and testing out the tools their character has. This is also enhanced by the fact that fighting games nowadays have new iterations/patches very frequently, meaning that gameplay and strategy is kept fresh due to game mechanic and character changes.

Within this phenomenon, there becomes an advantage: anyone can be a competitor. I know that sounds like your typical, motivational speech "you-can-be-anything" dribble, but before you think that, consider the fact that an 8-year-old competed and placed highly in MvC3 this year at EVO. I can't stress enough that you need to see it to believe it. The other good advantage is that competitor injury is not a factor. Poongko may have bodied Daigo, but the scars are only emotional, no health insurance required.

Yes, eSports have their big, recognizable names as well. Poongko, Daigo, Justin Wong, Tokido, Mike Ross, Floe, Marn, FlashMetroid, Chris Hu, Alex Valle, and Combofiend just to name a few. As well as this similarity with physical sports, fighting game tournaments have sponsorship/advertising. The great thing about the sponsorship is that the people who make the games and gear often sponsor the tournament. Among this year's sponsors for EVO were Capcom, Atlus, Bandai-Namco, Mad Catz, Brokentier (shirts), THQ, Galaxy4Gamers, and Focus Fire. Hell, fighting games even have their own commentators with the same amount of hype you would see in MMA or Wrestling.

One question should be on your mind at this point: "If fighting games have all of the tools and similarities to other viable sports, why don't they have as large of a following?" Part of that is because video games themselves didn't exist until the 1980's. Other sports have much more of a foundation throughout history, wrestling itself having origins as far back as B.C.E. times. Video games didn't become really prominent and culturally relevant until recently. Even then, that's thanks to iOS titles, facebook, and the Wii bringing aboard the casual audience. Fighting games are generally very technical (in advanced play, at least) and not the most popular genre, so this hinders it somewhat.

This technical play, however, creates one last uniqueness seen in fighting games as an eSport: the majority of the audience is active in the community in some way. This can mean that they do something as simple as play at least one major fighting game casually to something as complex as running an online tournament service or providing merchandise. If you think fans of physical sports are extreme in devotion, consider the actions of certain community members like Goryus, the producer of Third Strike: Online Editon, or Mike Z of the upcoming game Skullgirls. This, to me, is one of the most heart-warming things about being part of the fighting game community. Although there is some showboating, the overall good sportsmanship in fighting games is rather refreshing.

So what does the future hold? It's hard to tell, really. As a BlazBlue player, I'm glad to know that yesterday, August 2nd, marked the peak of user activity on Dustloop, the unofficial BlazBlue forums. I'll let you decide whether or not that's because BlazBlue finally became a major/featured tournament at EVO this past weekend, but I'm rather optimistic about the possible influx of players that might be brought into the community. I showed the Daigo vs Poongko video to a friend of mine, and he doesn't even like fighting games, yet he enjoyed it and understood the hype.

I hope this bodes well for the future. Perhaps this might be the next step to games gaining respect as a whole; as works of art, as mediums for competition, and as culturally relevant pastimes. Remember to do your part to spread the community, even if it's just one person or if they would rather watch than play.

"I know you're out there. I can feel you now. I know that you're afraid... you're afraid of us. You're afraid of change. I don't know the future. I didn't come here to tell you how this is going to end. I came here to tell you how it's going to begin."

As always, thank you for reading.

(If you guys want to try and get into the fighting game genre, you should check out Wonderful World. It's a completely free indie/doujin fighter that's pretty cool and has somewhat of a player base. If you want to find out more about it, check out it's page on the Mizuumi Wiki.)

Add to del.icio.us

Digg this

Post to Furl

Add to reddit

Add to myYahoo!

Laugh, but Second Life revenues at $100 million a
year

Make fun of Second Life if you must, but you can't laugh at how much money this virtual world generates in revenue a year. Well, maybe you still can, but that's a hell of a lot of money. According to a new report, Second Life revenues sit at around a cool $100 million a year. Launch says that they're actually pulling in $7 million a month!

Still laughing? Parent company Linden Labs says that they've cleared $75 million each year for the last three years. You might be interested to know that 15 percent of that comes from sex-related services. As Destructoid editor Jordan Devore said, that's a lot of penises. Indeed.

The rest of the money comes from the virtual land sales and commission from a bunch of different types of virtual items. 

Add to del.icio.us

Digg this

Post to Furl

Add to reddit

Add to myYahoo!

Gain Dominion with new League of Legends videos

I've always been a big fan of developers releasing notes or videos talking about how they want to go about handling game production and updates. Not only the methods, but also the reasoning and goals they want to achieve. Riot Games released a couple of videos over this past weekend detailing what will be coming to League of Legends and also rationale behind some of the changes.

The first video details the upcoming Dominion game type. I've only played a bit of League of Legends, but it seems like the goal with this mode is to make something more action-intensive and much faster than what is in the current game. It's also nice to see that they're trying to push more of the teamwork aspect with this new mode.

The second video talks about upcoming balance changes that will arrive with the next patch. The characters with some minor changes detailed include Fiddlesticks, Garen, Leona, and Nasus; the one with the most changes is Pantheon, who will be seeing a lot of tweaks to how his skills work.

Tweaks to how death streaks, kill streaks, and assists work are also explained. These changes will hopefully make support characters worth more as targets. As someone who mains Sona and Leona, these seem very welcome in my book.

There are no patch notes at the moment, though a detailed text list is promised for the near future.

Add to del.icio.us

Digg this

Post to Furl

Add to reddit

Add to myYahoo!

This custom, hand-stitched leather Bowser does
not suck

The only way to make Bowser more badass is to make him out of leather. Megan did just that and he has never looked cooler. It's like the exact opposite of the Mario cartoon version of Bowser.

The above 8.5 inch Bowser is made of hand-stitched leather. His head, arms and legs are moveable and he carries a hammer accessory straight from Super Smash. Yep, he's one of those guys. 

Megan says that this bowser will go on sale tomorrow on her custom page MeSmithy at 12:00pm PST. You'll want to set aside $300 for this little Bowser, though. 

Add to del.icio.us

Digg this

Post to Furl

Add to reddit

Add to myYahoo!