Behold my glove of power. Question not my staff of control. Face my wired wrath of justice. And giveth me yon turkey leg.
[Thanks, Sir Mike, for the lead. May your nights stay filled with wenches and your cup stay filled with mead.]
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 June 11th, 2008 in Random.
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Posted on June 10th, 2008 in Pre/Reviews.
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Some Dallas bars have one or two cool games… maybe a Ms. Pac-Man/Galaga combo and a decent pinball machine. That’s nice and all, but Barcadia knows how to reach the true gamers’ hearts with classics like Tempest, Spy Hunter (with the original steering wheel!!!), Ms. Pac-Man/Galaga, Phoenix, Joust, Donkey Kong Junior, Asteroids, Mario Bros., Defender, Millipede ANNND Skee Ball (with 3 lanes).
The space itself is pretty swanky. It’s basically a warehouse with a few overhead doors that open up to a nice, covered patio with several picnic tables. And it looks like they’re dog friendly as long as you keep your pup outside and leashed with you on the deck. Not digging the sunny heat? There are plenty of places to sit inside ranging from black leather booths, to comfy barstools or 4-top tables.
Order from the bar, or get pampered by one of the lovely cocktail waitresses who can hook you up with reasonably priced munchies and nice beer between rounds of Galaga. Their draught list is impressive. You won’t find any Miller Light or Budweiser here. They’ve got Fransiskaner, Golden Monkey, Meredsous, Bass, Stella Artois, Newcastle, Lone Star, Blue Moon, Sierra Nevada, Paulaner Hefe-Weisen, Double Chocolate Stout and Woodchuck Pear (or Amber) Cider – just to name a few. And their foodage? Brilliant! You can check out the full menu on their MySpace page, but there’s tons to choose from – and some are video game themed like these items:
The Mario – thinly sliced ham, turkey & roast beef on a brioche bun with egg crepe & housemade relish $9
Joust Burger – fresh ground turkey burger with shredded lettuce, tomato & red onion on a honey wheat bun $9
I think they missed out naming the beer battered, fried mini corn dogs though. Those SO should’ve been “The Laughing Dogs” instead of the “Little Doggies.”
I munched on some of the queso – which was FANTASTIC! And the chips that went with it were nice and thick (although I kept managing to break them off somehow… must’ve been the Blue Moon influence.) I saw the Frito Pie (made right in the Frito bag!!!) and it looked awesome. I’ll be posting a video review up later this week from me and the guys and gals at The Game Heroes, so make sure you check back and you can see Barcadia for yourself!
If you’re looking for beer, munchies and old school arcade games, look no further than Barcadia – my new favorite Dallas bar.
Posted on June 10th, 2008 in Pre/Reviews.
1 Comment so far
Cartoon from Penny ArcadeI smoked my first cigarette at Wet n’ Wild water park when I was 13 years old. We were sitting in a pavilion and this old fat lady was being a jerk to us, so we stole a few Marlboro Reds out of her bag when she wasn’t looking and went to smoke em up. Everyone thought I was cool because I could blow smoke out of my nose. Ahh, good times in middle school. Eventually, though… smoking became less “cool” as more “a pain in the ass that costs way too much money and kills you.” And there are various quitting methods you go through until you either finally stop or turn into one of those “I only smoke when I drink… (and wake up, and take the dog out, and on the way to and from work…)” people. Could developers be onto a quit forever solution with their latest video game for the DS?
Ubisoft recently announced that it will develop and publish My Health Coach: The easy way to stop smoking in conjunction with experts who worked on Allen Carr‚Äôs Easyway to Stop Smoking method. Due out in November, the DS game aims to provide “a truly interactive engagement with the game through which he or she learns that it can actually be enjoyable to quit smoking.”
So what’s the gameplay like? Apparently there are multiple mini games that help you learn that you don’t need cigarettes anymore. According to IGN:
One [minigame] we were shown took place in a discotheque, where a mean old cigarette monster was trying to pull the player outside for a smoke. The cig has lassoed the player, and we had to draw lines with the stylus connecting our avatar to the other dancers in the club for moral support.
Uhhhh… Hrmm…. Idunno. Sounds lame to me. And besides, I don’t really visualize someone sitting on a barstool, having a beer and busting out their DS instead of a pack of smokes. Or flicking the end of their stylus as they drive to work down the freeway. Or turning on the game after sex…
Posted on June 6th, 2008 in Techie Tidbits.
3 Comments so far
EA is stepping up as the first company to take advantage of the new PlayStation 3 offer: allowing brands to include dynamic ads that can be adjusted in real time within their games. They’ll be adding ads to EA Sports (Madden NFL football, NBA Live basketball, Nascar racing and NHL hockey) and EA brands (The Need for Speed and Burnout.) Over the next three years, Sony could earn $100 mill with this new offering across multiple partnerships.
One of my major concerns about in-game ads is making sure that they stay relevant and actually bring something valuable to the gaming experience. But according to AdWeek, in-game ad firm Massive, NY surveyed 30 Xbox 360 clients and found about 70% of the players agreed that they dynanic ads ‚Äúcontributed to realism, fit the games in which they were served and looked cool.” They sure went out of the way to survey a representative number of players, huh? :-/
In-game advertising firm Double Fusion might be the next advertiser in line to distribute its own ads through Sony. More agencies could follow.
Pricing for in-game advertising is based on a formula that entails ad size, viewing time (minimum: two seconds) and angle plus a cost-per-thousand factor. According to Justin Townsend, CEO of IGA, a typical budget for one ad across several games would be in the high six figures.
[SOURCE: Adweek]
Posted on June 6th, 2008 in Techie Tidbits.
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Posted on June 5th, 2008 in Video Game Music.
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My friend Chris with The Lost Levels having fun in the local music shop. Good times 
Posted on June 5th, 2008 in Techie Tidbits.
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LIBERTY CITY—With the city in the midst of a record crime wave, concerned citizens claim the Liberty City Police Department has done little to prevent the constant car chases, ongoing gun battles, and overall atmosphere of violence that pervade the area.
“I used to feel safe in Liberty City, but lately, it’s been total mayhem,” said night-shift worker Lola Del Rio, who spoke to reporters while sucking nervously on a red lollipop. “In the past week alone, I’ve been carjacked twice, run over 10 times, and witness to a half-dozen gunfights that ended with automobiles exploding. What are the police doing to stop all this?” FULL STORY»
[Thanks, Matt (AKA Old Man Brigade member #1) for the tip.]
Posted on June 2nd, 2008 in Videos.
5 Comments so far
Okay – I’m sure it’s a widely accepted fact by the Game Dame readers that ET can be defined as the worst video game EVER. Some people believe that this movie-based game actually caused the video game crash of 1983. I actually owned the game at one point and now I wish I had it, just for kitsch value. ANYWAY – I was talking to a work friend about the game and how horrible it was, and it prompted me to do a YouTube search to see if I could find any old footage. I did… and it’s awesome.
Posted on June 2nd, 2008 in Techie Tidbits.
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Are you a fan of Avenged Sevenfold (A7X)? They just partnered with San Fran-based PopJax Games to release a game that’s like trivia meets tic-tac-toe meets YouTube … and it’s pretty sweet. There are three versions of the game and if you win all three, you’ll be entered to win one of four autographed guitars and other A7X swag. w00t!
I’ve enjoyed my share of A7X songs during boating/beer drinking/stereo cranking days on Lake Travis in Austin, but I wouldn’t consider myself a major fan. That said, the game is still pretty fun. You watch YouTube video clips and answer trivia questions written by A7X guitarist, Zacky Vengeance. The quicker you answer, the more points you get. Each clip you get right earns you a big “O.” Get three in a row and earn extra points. Pretty simple stuff, but really well done.
Casual gaming has really taken on a different feel lately. Marketers are starting to realize that there are ways to create casual games for a hardcore audience and get the kind of results that both players AND marketers can be cool with.
In the week since PopJax launched the A7X games, CEO and founder Doug Barry said that players were sending an average of 10 “challenges”–emails boasting their score and inviting friends to beat it–each time they played.
Barry said that PopJax is currently focused on accruing a critical mass of gamers and questions to keep them playing. The company has a staff of in-house and freelance writers that generate thousands of trivia questions related to the video clips that come from sites like YouTube and Veoh, in addition to questions that the players submit themselves. But he added that the core audience was already garnering attention from select advertisers. “The average visitor is spending over 20 minutes per visit,” Barry said. “And though we don’t have official demographic statistics yet, the audience is definitely skewing more female, and in the 25- to-45-year-old range. We’re attracting the People and Entertainment Weekly crowd, and advertisers are recognizing the opportunity.”
[SOURCE: Online Media Daily]
Gamers don’t mind being marketed to, but only if you show us that you get us first. So – good job to you PopJax. You seem to be one of the companies who actually GETS us.
Click here to play the game now.
[Thanks for the tip, Andrew. You RAWK!]
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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