When she's not busy blowing the heads off of enemies to get to the next level, she's usually playing video games.
Meet Kate —
The Game Dame™
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TheGameDame
Posted on February 5th, 2010 in I Love Technology.
2 Comments so far
Once again, ThinkGeek has convinced me that I MUST HAVE something that I don’t really need. I have four coffee mugs on my desk right now. But, now that I think about it, they are all dirty. And if I buy one of these, not only do I not have to clean them, I get to show off my nerdocity with every sip of my peppermint tea. SOLD.
Posted on February 4th, 2010 in Console/Platform-Related.
3 Comments so far
This was supposed to be the ad aired during the Super Bowl, but CBS wasn’t too keen on the “Go to Hell” tagline. The commercial will still air with a revised tagline: “Hell Awaits.” Ahh, stupid censorship. I wonder why CBS had such an issue with the original. I mean, COME ON. The whole game is about hell. And going there. And they’re ok with advertising the game but not that tagline? LAME! If I’d been on the EA team, “We’re Already There.” definitely would’ve been on my list of new tagline suggestions.
What replacement tagline would you have suggested?
[SOURCE: THRfeed.com]
Posted on January 22nd, 2010 in Console/Platform-Related.
3 Comments so far
Sick of playing the same Rock Band songs? Thanks to the folks at WaveGroup, you’ll soon have access to some fresh tracks. This week, they announced licensing agreements with major recording artists including renowned guitar virtuoso Steve Vai. Also in the works:
Widespread Panic
Gov’t Mule
Reverend Horton Heat
Stroke 9
Slightly Stoopid
Galactic
Rebelution
Bif Naked
Assembly of Dust
Nick Gallant
Kid Beyond
RX Bandits
Jet Black Kiss
Doug Doppler
Austin Willacy
The Humans
Rain Dogs
Will Littlejohn, President/CEO of WaveGroup commented, “We’re honored to be working with such amazing musicians, and bringing their music to RBN. Our job is to make the music look and feel authentic in the Rock Band™ environment. As musicians ourselves, we go to great lengths to make the experience of playing these songs fun and engaging.”
There’s no official release date for the new tracks, but Scott Dugdale, a composer at WaveGroup, said in an email that it was going to be “very, very soon.” The tracks will sell for $1.99 each (159 MSP) and can be purchased individually.
Posted on January 21st, 2010 in Videos.
2 Comments so far
I will never fully understand the fascination people have with Jersey Shore, but if creative spoofs like this one can come out of it, I suppose it can’t be 100% bad. The spoof is from NY based sketch comedy group Dr. Coolsex which is actively working on Mario Kart: The Movie.
(Thanks for the link, Mike. Here’s an invincibility star for you: ☆)
Posted on January 11th, 2010 in Interviews, Video Game Music.
5 Comments so far
What happens when you combine three musically gifted nerds, some shopping money and a full play day? If the nerds are Oliver Hindle, Steve Brunton, and Jaylyn Coffin of Superpowerless, you get an 8-bit cover of Poker Face.
Oliver emailed me Sunday afternoon with a link to this video. I had no idea what to expect but was immediately thrilled that he’d finally provided me with a nerd-approved way to justify enjoying a Lady Gaga song.
I first heard about Superpowerless back in March when Oliver won the MTV Fast Track contest and was flown to London to work with Luc Janin, who previously directed promos for Stereophonics, The Fratellis, Boy Kill Boy and Lethal Bizzle, on the video for “Wasted My Time.”
Based in Leeds, England, the live band now includes Oliver Hindle (the curly haired dude/lead), Steve Brunton (the dude in the beard), Tom Hunter, Jaylyn Coffin (who directed the Poker Face video) and Stevey Gilkes.
The first time I played the Superpowerless Lady Gaga cover, I laughed my ass off, but I wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing some deeper meaning to the video. Did the bearded man represent the dark side of Oliver’s personality? Did the lightsaber battle represent a daily struggle? I asked Oliver. Turns out, the only big message they wanted to convey was how much fun it can be when you’re part of Superpowerless, “The beard was a spur of the moment thing,” he said. “We decided to shoot a video… went in to town… had no plans at all and just went shopping to see what we could find that would make an entertaining video… Found the lightsabers and the beard and the rest is history! [laughs]”
The entire video was shot in one day in Leeds. Some scenes didn’t make it to the final cut, like the one where Oliver and Steve managed to lightsaber their way into the cinema and in front of the screen where they battled for an epic 10 seconds before getting kicked out. Sadly, the footage was too dark to make it to the video, so you’ll just have to use your imagination to picture the audience’s reaction to that one.
It seems that, above all, Superpowerless just wants to have fun. Last time I chatted with Oliver, he was in the process of setting it up a PlayStation dance mat to trigger samples from a laptop and he’s getting closer to the finished product, “Tom Hunter took apart a Guitar Hero controller and a really expensive Japanese guitar and then put all of the guitar hero controls in to the real guitar,” Oliver said, “One of his friends has it at the moment to cover it in LED’s which will interact with which buttons are pressed and the music that it makes! Tom’s also got a mohawk which the LED guy has created a headband for which lets Tom fill his mohawk with LEDs which change color along with the guitar…. pretty mental stuff!” Sweeet. I’ve always got mad respect for creatives who come up with fun ideas and actually have enough focus and dedication to make them happen.
You can expect to see more videos from Superpowerless over the next few months. In fact, here’s one that just went live yesterday for one of Oliver’s original songs “Press Start and Jump Around.” Shot by band member Tom Hunter, this is the result of a drunken promise and a £0 budget. “It was filmed entirely in a tiny shed, with us wearing suits in the space of 3 hours. We decided it’d be funny to shoot a video in a shed the night before while drunk and then he couldn’t back out of it so we made him do it the day after. [laughs]“The “Press Start and Jump Around” video features Oliver Hindle, Steve Brunton, Jaylyn Coffin and Tom Hunter (who also directed.)
If you’d like to get your hands on some Superpowerless tracks, you can download them for free from his page on TheSixtyOne.com. If you’re ready make your own Game Boy-fueled adventure-core music, Oliver uses a program called Little Sound DJ for the Game Boy and digital synths to create those retro, video-gamey sounds.
Download Superpowerless songs for FREE»
Follow Superpowerless on YouTube»
Posted on January 7th, 2010 in Pre/Reviews.
5 Comments so far
Remember back in 2006 when the Nintendo Wii came out and everyone was all excited about it? From house parties to nursing homes, folks were peeing themselves with excitement as they anxiously waited their turn to create their Mii or pwn their friends at Wii Sports. It was an amazing phenomenon.
But within a year, our love affair ended.
We realized that flinging around remotes like a bunch of psychos having seizures while staring at simple graphics that never moved quite the way we wanted them to wasn’t really all that fun after all.
My Wii gathered dust and got moved to the bottom shelf. I stopped inviting people over to play. And I waited for something good to come out. And waited. And W-A-I-T-E-D.
Then the New Super Mario Bros. came along.
I’ve always been a huge fan of Mario. Out of all the video games I played growing up, the Mario series was the only one to which I had any major attachment. I remember staying friends with a girl who was racist against Mexicans (which a quarter of me happens to be) just so I could go over to her house and play the original Super Mario Bros. I remember giving my brother the second player controller, playing a single player game and telling him he was in charge of the jumping just so I didn’t have to really share. I remember sneaking into my best friend’s den and playing Super Mario Bros. 3 in the dark with the sound muted about an hour after her parents had seen us in bed pretending to be asleep. Those were the good ole days. The days of great games filled with challenging patterns and side-scrolling action. And they made quite an impact on me. Hell, I even have a Mario MacSlap on my laptop and a question mark box sticker on my phone.
I got the game for Christmas and, during my holiday, I played through the entire thing. If I were forced to summarize my review of this game in five words, I’d say, “Dayum. That shit was tight.” But I’m not, so I’ll keep going.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on January 6th, 2010 in Techie Tidbits.
1 Comment so far
Yesterday, I reported that David Scherer broke the Guinness World Record for longest time spent playing a video game. He started playing GTA IV at noon on Sunday at Retro Classic Arcade in Clarksville, TN and finally put down the controller 55 hours and 30 minutes later. That’s 15 hours, 10 minutes longer than the previous record holder Chirantan Patnaik.
Scherer isn’t a slacker who has nothing better to do than game, either. He’s an honors student at Austin Peay State University who wanted to break this record to draw attention to his fundraiser for the Swimming Eagles team where he’s the assistant coach. According to WKRN.com, Scherer accomplished his goal sans caffeine. He ate healthy foods and drank juices to make it through the marathon. His next goals are to go to law school and join the military.
You can donate to the Swimming Eagles through PayPal via this email address: swimmingeaglesteam@gmail.com.
Posted on January 5th, 2010 in Techie Tidbits.
4 Comments so far
Did your gamey senses start tingling at about 4:30 this morning? That’s because 19-year-old Austin Peay State University honors student David Scherer broke a world record for continuously playing a video game longer than his predecessor at 4:22AM. The record was previously held by 26-year old India resident, Chirantan Patnaik who played for a continuous 40 hours and 20 minutes.
NewsChannel 5 reports that Scherer has been continuously playing Grand Theft Auto since Sunday afternoon, and has no intentions of stopping any time soon. This gaming marathon goes beyond winning a title. Scherer is trying to raise money to build his swim team an indoor pool facility.
The Swimming Eagles (Scherer’s team) Website»
Donate to Scherer here» (Click Events > GTAIV)
Posted on December 23rd, 2009 in Interviews, Video Game Music.
No Comments so far
Matthew C. Applegate, known as Pixelh8 when he’s rocking the chip tunes, just released his third studio album, “And The Revolution.”
Somehow between performing, teaching people how to use his new “SUPER CHIP TUNE SAMBA BAND” app, winning art contests and giving various lectures, Matthew still found enough energy to create a brand new 11-track album.
“And the Revolution” still contains the head-nodding, leg-bouncing sounds we’re used to from “Videogames Ruined My Life” and “The Boy With A Digital Heart,” but there’s also a calm composure in this track list. Whether it’s the haunting orchestral echoes in “You Were Born To Save The World” or a fast-paced dance-worthy track like “IED”, sounds are less about competing with one another and more about coexisting and evolving. This makes sense considering “And The Revolution” was initially intended as a collaborative piece.
“Some of the songs weren’t written from my perspective,” Matthew explains, “The album was meant to feature several special guests, but schedules kinda got in the way, which was fair enough. It just meant I had to revolutionise it.”
In “Out On The Floor”, for instance, Pixelh8 knew he needed vocals, but didn’t have anyone to do it. “I can’t sing a note to save my life,” he laughed, “and I wasn’t about to go all T-Pain, so I vocoded it.” The result? A funkified robot dance party that wins my vote for favorite album track. And even though “Out On The Floor” dabbles in the pop/dance arena, you can rest assured that Pixelh8 will always bend the circuits just enough to add his signature spin. “I purposely did it at 119bpm. Most dance tracks are at 120bpm and I wanted it to be slightly off.”
Those who enjoy the slightly off can purchase “And The Revolution” via iTunes and keep up with the latest Pixelh8 news on his site: www.pixelh8.co.uk
RELATED ARTICLES:
New Pixelh8 Album: The Boy With The Digital Heart»
Interview with Pixelh8 – Chiptune Guru»
Posted on November 17th, 2009 in Game Dame News.
3 Comments so far
So I figured I owed you guys a little update. What started as one of those weeks where I was super busy and didn’t have time to do any posts has extended a little further than I’d hoped. As much as I’d like for everyone to believe I live in a magical world where every day has 72 hours and they’re all spent playing video games, eating mini pizzas and posing for semi-provocative photo shoots, I’m part of the same world you are, and my day job – which is sometimes also a night job and a wee morning hours job – has been taking up the hours I used to be able to use to post on my blog and do the podcasts.
Until I can get some breathing room, posts are going to be few and far between. And while I have fought hard against Twitter-ers for awhile griping that it’s a lazy form of journalism that takes no thought, I have started a Twitter account and will try to post links to cool things I find that I don’t have time to write about. I shudder to think about this becoming my new MO. I’d rather shut things down altogether than replace actual writing with 140 character vomits. Alas, it’s the only thing I have time for right now, but I promise, I’ll be back in action as soon as possible.
Here’s my Twitter account» I know it’s ugly. Didn’t have time to jack with it and I figured everyone uses aggregators anyway. UPDATE 12/01: My Twitter page is no longer ugly. Thanks, Mike. <3
XOXO,
The Game Dame
Gamertag Radio
Interview
—September 2008
Game Heroes
Video podcast appearance
—June 2008
Sweet Flag
Interview
—May 2008
Attack of the Show
“The Loop” panelist
—November 2007
CrotchMail.com
Interview
—June 2007
TiedTheLeader.com
Interview
—April 2007
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