Hi everyone, meet Stoly. He's a humanoid biped carnivore who likes to dance:

He was created using the free Spore Creature Creator Trial, for Windows and Mac.

Spore is one of those upcoming games that I'm a little conflicted about. On the one hand it was developed by Will Wright at Maxis, one of my all-time favorite gaming shops. On the other hand, Maxis is now owned by EA / the Walmart of game publishers. I won't go into the reason why Electronic Arts sucks - all you need to know is that together with Ubisoft, they are the worst thing to happen to digital entertainment innovation since someone gave Hideo Kojima a computer.

Anyhow, in the vein of games like Black and White, SimCity and, well, pretty much every other other Maxis game, what's unique about Spore is that it will give you near-complete control over the game experience, and lets you design your own race of super- (or sub-) creatures, all the way from being a single-cell organism to establishing an interstellar civilization. In that sense, it's as much a toy as a game (the creature creator being a good example of this), and one of the few games out there that I would encourage young kids to play.

If you're on Windows or Mac you can download the trial and start making your own creatures. Even cooler, you can create videos (duh) and photos of your creations and share them with the Spore community market base. There's also tight integration to directly upload your videos to Youtube, though that's useless to me since I don't have a Youtube account.

I'm split between pre-ordering what could be a very inspiring game, and refusing to give monopolistic companies more of my hard-earned cash.

For now, though, you can enjoy my video of Stoly - and I swear promise assure you that he wasn't named after a favorite brand of Vodka...

As the last living person to not have played GTA IV yet (I'm holding out until I have, errr, time to play), I found this Apple Parody in GTA's "internet" hilarious:

THINK Simple.
THINK Minimalism.
THINK Overpriced.

THINK Fruit. THINK.

You are not thinking hard enough. Maybe you are a To$$er.

WITH FRUIT

You are finally living.
Design has evolved to make your life worth living.
You are in a cocoon.
A fruit cocoon.

THE NEW IFRUIT PHONE

No buttons
No reception
No storage capacity
All ego

...

I think it's time I start playing GTA IV. Apple fruits are fun to pick on.

via digg.

Long before they got busy making their Guitar Heroes and their Rock Bands, Harmonix was already busy making innovative games based around music. I have fond memories of spending late nights - when I had work the next day - at my ex-girlfriend's house on her brother's Playstation 2 playing Frequency, almost 6 years ago, getting high and trying to beat each other's score on "Control Your Body" (which also introduced me to the New Wave band Freezepop).

Now that Guitar Hero III is out - and my friend got it even before it was officially released, somehow - we've been playing that (and the obligatory Halo 3).

Guitar Hero II was the first one that I played and bought. For those who don't know it, it's a musical rhythm game that has you "playing" a toy guitar to match the music / frets going by on the screen. It's an awesome party game, and the soundtrack and art are great.

It also introduced me to / reminded me of some bands and genres that I hadn't listened to in a while. Classic American and British Rock and Metal are up there as some of my favorite kinds of music to listen to these days. In this mixtape, you'll find:

- Motorhead: Ace of Spades
- Danzig: Mother
- Kiss: Strutter
- Lynyrd Skynyrd: Free Bird

/*Spoiler Disclaimer

If you are planning to buy / play portal on either the PC or the Xbox 360, then don't play the audio file or follow the link to the lyrics.

Spoiler Disclaimer*/

Valve's latest offering in The Orange Box has been hailed as one of the most innovative ever. But perhaps the most innovative thing about it is Portal, a devious - and devilishly hilarious - mind-twister puzzle / 3D platform game that is probably the first game I'd recommend to my non-gamer friends. The premise is simple, the graphics are attractive, the game is [somewhat...] non-violent, and it poses some fascinating questions. Any game that tests your understanding of physics, geometry, momentum and puzzle-solving while being taunted by a deranged AI entity is a winner in my book.

From Wikipedia:

The game consists primarily of a series of puzzles which must be solved by teleporting the player's character and other simple objects using the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device. The goal of each puzzle is to reach an exit point. The "portal gun" and the unusual physics it creates are the emphasis of this game.

The song attached to this post is the credit song that plays at the end of the game, and like the rest of the game, the tone is completely deadpan. The song's so much funnier when you understand the references in it after playing the game, but even without them, it's a riot. Lyrics are here.

Whether you're into PC games or not, I wholeheartedly recommend picking up a copy of The Orange Box even if it's just for Portal and not the other 4 games that are included in the package. The puzzles are thorny, the gameplay is addictive, and the comedy alone is worth the price of admission.

We do what me must
because we can.

I'd like to end by saying that I will never forgive myself for what they made me do to you, weighted companion cube.

Oh my God is Halo 3 ever fun. I recently finished the awesome single player campaign, and am toying around in mutliplayer.

Those 14 year old kids on the west coast are, like, crazy good.