Games You Should Be Playing: Robot Wants Kitty

post from The BBPS on 21 March 2010 07:54:31 AM. © The BBPS

Like robots? What about kitties? Even if you're terrified of the inevitable robot uprising/allergic to cat dander, Robot Wants Kitty is a game you really don't want to miss out on. This indie flash platformer takes the Metroidvania formula and whittles it down to a tight 20 minute experience. Robot starts the game out completely useless -- little tin fucker can't even jump -- but over the course of this Did we mention this is a web game? Yeah -- it's totally free. Click here to slaughter some monsters and rescue a cute kitty through ROBOT POWER.

(If you're looking for more great Metroidvania's, DIYGamer has an awesome list that's well worth checking out.)

Games You Should Be Playing isn't a column, really. It's just what we do when we're too lazy/too busy to write a review. It's not necessarily that the game doesn't deserve one -- but let's face facts, some experiences are short and sweet and just need to be brought to your attention.

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itty.html

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The top 20 Rock Band Network songs unofficially
revealed

post from Destructoid on 21 March 2010 07:00:00 AM. © Destructoid

The top 20 Rock Band Network songs unofficially revealed screenshot

The Rock Band Network has been up and running for a few weeks now, and by all accounts it has been a pretty solid success. Music has been uploaded, downloaded and played. However, that isn't how success is really measured by the big gaming companies. They measure success through cash money. In terms of cold, hard cash we have no idea how well RBN is doing -- officially.

Unofficially the folks over at RockBandAide did some maths and some calculations and some guess work and probably some sort of ancient ritual to the gods of money. Through doing these things they've come up with the rough estimate of RBN making $107,000 in its first two weeks. In comparison RockBandAide says that "official" DLC should have brought in $161,000 over the same two weeks. With Harmonix and EA making a much higher profit on all RBN tracks than their "official" DLC, things look pretty good for the fledgling network. It should be noted that these numbers are most likely underestimating the amount of money made.

We aren't a major corporation, though. We're gamers and we don't want to know what is making a profit, but if our favorite song is selling well. To this end the ever persevering RockBandAide also guesstimated the top 20 downloaded songs for RBN. They're after the jump and surprisingly good as a whole.

Rock Band Network Sales Analysis [RockBandAide, via Joystiq]

Bang Camaro – Push Push (Lady Lightning) (4475)
Flogging Molly – Drunken Lullabies (Live) (2201)
Five Finger Death Punch – Burn it Down (2066)
Jonathan Coulton – Code Monkey (2058)
Flight of the Conchords – The Most Beautiful Girl (In the Room) (1598)
The Slip – Even Rats (1564)
Andrew Buch – Trippolette (1379)
Attack Attack! – Stick Stickly (1366)
Jonathan Coulton – The Future Soon (1334)
Flogging Molly – Requiem for a Dying Song (1318)
Suicide Silence – Disengage (1173)
Steve Vai – For the Love of God (Live) (1136)
Jonathan Coulton – Ikea (1111)
Between the Buried and Me – Mordecai (1103)
Third Eye Blind – Semi-Charmed Life '09 (1037)
Amberian Dawn – He Sleeps in a Grove (1035)
Jonathan Coulton – Creepy Doll (1027)
Senses Fail – Lady in a Blue Dress (962)
Steve Vai – Get the Hell Out of Here (948)
3 Inches of Blood – Battles and Brotherhood (941)

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$128 Game Boy Advance game,will you deal ... or
no deal

post from Destructoid on 21 March 2010 06:00:00 AM. © Destructoid

$128 Game Boy Advance game,will you deal ... or no deal? screenshot

In a business move that has blown my mind, a number of merchants on Amazon are selling a Game Boy Advance version of the Deal or No Deal game for $128. While the DS version of the same title sells for a paltry twelve bucks, the GBA alternative will cost more than two PS3 games taped together.

Three different sellers are trying to shift this game for over $100, but one brave man even asking $156 for the thing! We can only assume this is some sort of meta experiment, in which the Amazon sellers are trying to recreate the hit game show by putting us in a real-life "deal or no deal" situation.

Will you deal for $128? That is the question Amazon asks of you. It is a question that has truly shaken my perception of reality to its very core.

[Thanks, Steve!]

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THE KAIROS CONJECTURE & THE BELEGWE EQUATION

post from LOTRO Chronicles on 21 March 2010 05:30:00 AM. © LOTRO Chronicles

Readers may remember that last week, I posted my belief that "it should be possible to come up with a reliable formula to indicate what the chances of any PUG completing a particular instance or raid will be". This Holy Grail of scientific LOTRO studies is now within the grasp of serious students and analysts thanks to the efforts of my esteemed colleague, Master Belegwe, to whom we owe the following remarkable formula and its explanation:
The symbols are as follows:

C - the chance of success, expressed as a percentage
R - the relevance of rewards from a given instance expressed as a percentage of the proportion of the group the reward is relevant to
P - the number of players present
G - the gating requirement, expressed as an integer, with each piece of required equipment equalling 1
D - the difficulty of the instance expressed as an integer from a scale I created (The Belegwe Scale) with values ranging from 1 to 4, 1 being the easiest and 4 being the most difficult
A - the age of the instance expressed as an integer with each month (rounding to the nearest month) equalling 1
P(al) - the average level of all the players present expressed as an integer
I(l) - the level of the instance expressed as an integer
P(n) - the number of players present who have never been to the instance before expressed as an integer
P(e) - the number of players present who have been to the instance before expressed as an integer
K - the Kairos constant with a value of 9.0171

The equation can be expressed more simply, and I think more elegantly, as:

C- this remains the same as above
X - the product of the first set of curved brackets
Y - the product of the second set of curved brackets
Z - the age of the instance expressed as an integer
K - the Kairos Constant
Alpha - the product of the New Player equation
Beta - the product of the Experienced Player equation

It should now be child's play for anybody contemplating joining a PUG to gather some basic information from his potential fellow questers and enter the numbers into the Belegwe equation before deciding whether to proceed; more importantly, his or her decision will have been taken on the basis of firm scientific evidence rather than mere prejudice and conjecture. A new age of rationalism dawns on Middle-Earth!

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GameStop says Wii and PS3 shortages for a few
more months

post from Destructoid on 21 March 2010 05:00:00 AM. © Destructoid

GameStop says Wii and PS3 shortages for a few more months screenshot

If you've been to your local videogame retailer to procure a PS3 or Wii you may have noticed that you could not procure the item at all because it wasn't there. Both systems have been having shortages since December, when, according to the VP of merchandising at GameStop, Tony Bartel, the two sold much faster and better than anyone expected them to. He also says that these shortages won't be stopping any time soon, and may last into summer.

"Obviously it's a question we ask the platform holders constantly," he noted when the shortages were brought up during an investor call. "I can tell you that we do anticipate we will be in this situation, at least with the PlayStation 3, for another couple months unfortunately because we could sell a lot more hardware than what we have on both the PS3 and Wii platform."

He went on to explain that the only reason he's been given for the shortages was the strong December sales, and that he believes the Wii's shortages will stop before the PS3's.

It seems that Sony's and Nintendo's price drops last year really did the trick. The question is why weren't the two companies ready for the extra demand.

GameStop: Wii and PS3 shortages to last months [CVG]

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Links for 2010-03-20 [del.icio.us]

post from Wonderland on 21 March 2010 03:00:00 AM. © Wonderland

How I Became (Mostly) Google-free in About a Day | Zen Habits
Epic post listing all the googlealternatives out there. Astoundingly useful.

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The Pretender - Part Two

post from Escape Games 24 on 21 March 2010 02:50:00 AM. © Escape Games 24

The Pretender - Part Two is the second episode of The Pretender - Part One platform type puzzle game from Tristan Clark, Tim Knauf and Vin Rowe. You play a magician who has to rescue his audience and bring them back to the real world in 32 new levels! Good luck and have fun!Play This Game

[[ This is a summary only. Visit EscapeGames24.com for game links, walkthroughs, comments, and more! ]]

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Bread Girl

Bread Girl is another very cute and funny point and click type adventure game created by Minoto. In this game, you search around for finding items and solving puzzles. Enjoy the lovely graphics. Good luck and have fun! Play This Game

[[ This is a summary only. Visit EscapeGames24.com for game links, walkthroughs, comments, and more! ]]

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21 billion hours of gaming every week will save
the world

21 billion hours of gaming every week will save the world screenshot

Want to save the world? Play videogames more. That's what director of game R&D at the Institute for the Future Jane McGonigal is saying you need to do.

In a speech given at TED 2010, a conference where smart people spread smart ideas, she argues that if humanity played 21 billion hours of games every week we would pick up the skills required to solve all the world's problems. She even calls gamers "super-empowered hopeful individuals" because when gaming we have an actual drive to overcome challenges and a belief that we can accomplish anything. It is when we switch to reality that we lose these beliefs.

The solution? Achievements for reality. If you apply the reward system of games to reality people start changing the world in order to get to what she awesomely calls an "epic win." The complete strategy to unlocking world peace is revealed above.

[Thanks, Jonathan C.]

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