A Mario Paint Easter egg kit was a thing once

post from Destructoid on 24 April 2011 07:06:00 PM. © Destructoid

A Mario Paint Easter egg kit was a thing once screenshot

Happy Rabbits-Shitting-Jellybeans Day, world. I've got an earth-shattering report to break.

In 1993, Easter egg dye company PAAS slapped the Mario Paint license on a limited-run Easter egg decorating kit. Aaaaaaand... yeah. But hey! It also came with some Zelda mini cardboard standees and a tiny treasure chest for egg-hunting fun!

It's hilarious that such a thing exists. I know that Nintendo pimps its properties harder than a Tijuana hooker. We've gotten cereal, soda, TV shows, candy, dolls, clothing, furniture, novelty phones (I actually owned one of these), hotel and airline gaming rentals, and so on. But an Easter egg decorating kit?

Wow.

[Much love, Heidi!]

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Run from robot doom in Mechanic Infantry

post from Destructoid on 24 April 2011 06:05:36 PM. © Destructoid

Run from robot doom in Mechanic Infantry screenshot

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"Is your television running? Yes? Good. That flying robot junk monster does not look friendly."

This is a new game from French indie developer Slak Games called Mechanic Infantry. It's a simple, 2D platform game where you control a TV monitor with limbs and a wrench. Your goal is to reach the exit of each stage and rescue five of your buddies along the way. To press the urgency of the matter, you're also chased through each stage by mechanical beasts.

The complete game will feature more than fifty levels and additional game modes. It's expected to release sometime in the next month. Right now, there is a demo with five stages available for you to check out. I've played through this demo and I rather like it. The constant pressure of the oncoming enemy is delightful and the visual style appeals to me because TVs with legs remind me of Twonky.

Machanic Infantry

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Friday Links: Sunday Edition

post from Backhand of Justice on 24 April 2011 05:12:14 PM. © Backhand of Justice

The Dan Plan: does 10,000 hours at something really make you an expert? Does 10,000 hours on the internet make me some sort of internet expert?Keep reading for Penny Arcade’s response to PSN, autistic reporters and how the wolf finally won. Videogame LinksInterestingSouth Korea passes a gaming curfew, or at least goes a long way [...]

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http://www.backhandofjustice.com/friday-links-sunday-edition/

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Borderlands' Claptrap and Anthony Burch play
Cupid

post from Destructoid on 24 April 2011 04:06:01 PM. © Destructoid

Borderlands' Claptrap and Anthony Burch play Cupid screenshot

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Why in the world did we not post this yet?

Destructoid alum Anthony Burch, now a writer for Gearbox, helped to make this video starring Borderlands' Claptrap for Ben, a fan who wanted to propose to his girlfriend in an extra special way. It's cute, it's funny, and it blows that Kotaku posted about it before us.

Oh, and she said yes, if you were curious.

[Thanks, Miles!]

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Cover to Cover: Virgin Games 1992 Catalog (pp.
8-9)

post from Gaming After 40 on 24 April 2011 04:00:00 PM. © Gaming After 40

Our page-by-page review of the 1992 Virgin Games catalog continues, with a couple of titles for the 16-bit Sega Genesis console. The SNES was making inroads into the home console market at the time, but Virgin's UK development resources and Amiga experience made the 68000-based Genesis a safer bet.

Page 8 features a game called Corporation, developed by the CORE Design folks, which managed to pull off a Castle Wolfenstein-style 3-D environment (with superior polygon support, at the cost of any wall texturing whatsoever). Unfortunately, a low frame rate and maddeningly disorienting, nondescript level design make it a chore to play.

Page 9 features a couple of 16-bit side-scrolling adventures -- an adaptation of The Terminator, and Virgin's comical caveman Chuck Rock:

Games based on The Terminator were licensed for a number of different platforms around this time, a good eight years after the original movie came out, with Virgin Interactive releasing the Genesis title and Mindscape releasing very different versions for the NES and Super NES. This version plays more interestingly than the SNES game, but it still feels very much like a generic platformer with Terminator imagery grafted on.
Chuck Rock is a Genesis port of one of those very British Amiga platformers, with a striking design aesthetic but middling gameplay. Chuck himself is a stone-jawed, potbellied character who looks like something out of the Beano, or a character Terry Gilliam would have animated for Monty Python's Flying Circus. He wanders about and, yes, chucks rocks at various comically presented villains, or belly-bumps them into submission. And the ultimate boss, Gary Gritter, is a play on 1970s U.K. glam-rocker Gary Glitter, who was recording for Virgin Records circa 1984 but lost that contract in 1990, according to Wikipedia.
Next time, we'll see a few of Virgin's many PC titles.

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-games-1992_24.html

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Valve Talks About Importance of a Good Snack Bar

post from The Escapist : Latest News on 24 April 2011 02:15:00 PM. © The Escapist : Latest News

In a revealing student documentary, Valve talks more about snacks than videogames.

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Xbox Indies: Aliens, bombs and (of course)
zombies

post from Destructoid on 24 April 2011 02:06:11 PM. © Destructoid

Xbox Indies: Aliens, bombs and (of course) zombies screenshot

Each week on Saturday Morning Hangover, Jordan Devore and I play through the demos for the week's Xbox Live Indie Games releases. It's partly for comic relief but there are also quality games being released on the platform and I like drawing attention to that fact.

This week, we had three games that I recommend you take a look at. Here's a rundown of the best the service had to offer.

Udder Chaos
Developed by Jusy Lover
Released on 4/16/2011
80 MS Points

This little charmer sees you defending cows from aliens intent on abducting them for horrible experiments. Armed with your gun, which fires in both semi-automatic and full-auto (but can overheat), shoot down saucers for cash before they can abscond with the cattle. Spend the money between waves on weapon upgrades to kill even faster. Get three of your buddies to shoot along with you in the local co-op mode.

I don't typically go in for the sniper/shooting gallery games but I thought this was pretty fun. The upgrades provide noticeable improvements to your abilities and the two firing modes add a nice bit of complication. Difficulty curve seemed a bit steep from what was available in the demo and the potential is there for murder-inducing challenge in later waves, so be prepared for that.

Bomb Those Wheelers
Developed by Mexond
Released on 4/20/2011
80 MS Points

Defend the mothership from hostile blue Wheelers by issuing commands to the alien bomb squad. The wheelers roll their way across the screen while you drop bombs on them using four ships corresponding to the Xbox controller face buttons. Each ship has one bomb to drop on a pass and hitting Wheelers consecutively builds a score multiplier.

It's nothing fancy but it doesn't need to be, and it's a fair bit more polished than most of what appears in the marketplace.

Zombie Death Zone
Developed by diskyoz
Released on 4/20/2011
80 MS Points

You are a cloned soldier dropped into a swarm of zombies and forced to collect power cells from them. You have one minute to grab six power cells or you die but I doubt you're going to get a better deal from the zombies. Succeed and you get another minute to get another six cells. A variety of secondary weapons are at your disposal each round and collecting three nuclear icons activates a smart bomb killing everything on screen.

I bought Zombie Death Zone on impulse because it was silly and has hordes of undead shambling. Admittedly, it's not amazing or anything. It can be rather frustrating sometimes as the game occasionally won't even show you a cell for half of your time, well beyond the point where it's feasible to start collecting. But it's an amusing diversion nonetheless at only a buck.

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The Treasures of Mystery Island: The Ghost Ship

The Treasures of Mystery Island: The Ghost Ship is another amazing sequel of The Treasures of Mystery Island series point and click adventure type downloadable hidden object games from Download Games 24. Track down a friend who has disappeared on a tropical island! As you explore lost temples, devastated coastlines, and abandoned villages, you'll uncover a 60-year-old mystery surrounding a shaman

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LOLWUT: Gary Sinise uses Second Life to fight
crime

LOLWUT: Gary Sinise uses Second Life to fight crime screenshot

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I usually don't have the opportunity to post videos like this for Destructoid. This type of stuff is most often scarfed up by Hamza Aziz for Weekend Destructainment. Luckily for me, Hamza had just finished this weeks edition of Destructainment right before discovering this video. He emailed it to the Dtoid staff with the subject line "LOLWUT", and the rest is history.

When it comes to TV shows, movies internet memes, and just about everything non-videogame related, I tend to be indifferent, sometimes to the point of snobbery, but this sh*t made me laugh out loud -- hard. I hope it does the same for you.

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