With the public launch of Vista steadily approaching (look at that, I said steadily!), one can only wonder if all of the fancy bells and whistles add to the operating system, or merely mask what lies within. It is with that thought process that we bring to you, the dear reader, an in-depth analysis of the operating system and the mysteries that lie within. Some of you might not survive, but for those who do, remember that the fallen gave up so that you might have a better future. And if that doesn't work for you, just consider Darwinism and you're all set.

In all seriousness, the Gamer Andy Lab will be employed to discover how Windows Vista runs on a multitude of setups. From ye olde 386s to a supercomputer with the graphics card of tomorrow, we'll have a performance rating and analysis for your specific rig.

So stay tuned and watch the updates, come Vista you just might find yourself in a sticky situation. And who knows, there might be some sort of giveaway attached as well; that's just how we roll.

Welcome to another edition of Game Randy: Dubious News, presenting you with the finest in exclusive, breaking stories that might be true but probably aren’t.

Nintendo General Design Manager Shigeru Miyamoto announced last week his mid-term goal of beheading Sony and taking its women.  The Zelda creator announced Thursday that his enemies’ fates “have long been sealed” and that the punishment and torment that awaits them is both “swift and divine.”

“The very least I will take is their heads,” Miyamoto said of Sony in an interview with Famitsu over the weekend.  “From their bloodied and worthless countenances I will have claimed their dignity, and from their crippled barbarian dwellings, so too shall I claim their women.”  Miyamoto pantomimed swinging a sword, laughing lightheartedly, and made a sort of ‘scary-face.’

As reported, Miyamoto led his interviewer through a torch-lit walkway meticulously hewn from the local stratum, gesturing comically at many of the attractions.  In a sort of paternal expression, he put his arm around a classic Donkey Kong cabinet and patted it lightly.  Also on display was the gold-finished original Zelda cartridge, an enshrined beta copy of Super Mario 64, and a severed human foot in a mason jar marked by a dymo label reading “Ken Kutaragi.”

“I should hope the fool is grateful I only got away with this much.”  He held the blood-spattered container alongside his own head, and commented, “When next we cross paths, I will need a bigger jar!  Ha ha ha!”  He then set the jar back on its undignified dusty shelf, laughing heartily with both the dignity of a contemporary genius and the enthusiasm of an exuberant child.

Despite his candor, the designer was tight-lipped about his upcoming projects, only illustrating small aspects of development and creative processes.  “As you may recall, my interest in gardening in recent years served as the inspiration for Pikmin, in which the game conveys that attachment for the things you ‘grow’ and take pride in.  Super Mario Sunshine took classic principles of platforming adventure along with a child-like appreciation of water as both a tool and a plaything.  Now, with the Wii Remote, I have the opportunity to create all new ways of interacting with the subjects of my games.  I’m hoping to use the controller speaker, rumble, and motion tracking to full effect and faithfully reproduce the joy and immersion I found in killing a man just to watch him die.  You’ll find it is an amazing experience.”

On the subject of Nintendo versus its competitors, Miyamoto was outspoken and adamant about their place in the industry.  “It is not accurate to say we are competing.  While we seek to enrich and uplift a person with our arts, Sony’s soulless minions simply mine the medium for profit.  They chase out and drag back the same ideas and titles, like a dog fetching a stick.”  He chuckled and made an exaggerated pawing gesture and barking sound, adding, “How fitting, too, that they live like dogs.  Soon, they will die like them.”  Laughing, he made a prancing movement and a sad howling sound, then drove a jewel-encrusted dagger through his own hand for effect.

When asked his opinion on the recent turbulence in Sony structure, including the demotion of former President Ken Kutaragi, the father of Mario shared a last friendly guffaw; “Wherever Ken stepped down to, I hope it is ground-floor,” he said.  “Fucker’s not so good with stairs no more.”

Help Spread The Word and Digg This Letter
Andy's Note:     Since I wrote my expose on cheating in Gears of War last week, I've been getting emails from cheaters and victims of cheating. Recently, I was contacted by a member of the official Gears of War forums who told me that there was an incredible portion of the online community who were, at Epic's request, posting comments and suggestions for what needed to be improved.   

Strangely though, Epic employees and/or forum moderators were going through and deleting comments regarding the multiplayer lobby situation.   I have been linked to numerous closed threads that discuss the problem, and it really does appear that Epic has decided it doesn't want to deal with it and is hoping it will just go away eventually.   I have contacted Epic's VP, Mark Rein, for comment on several stories over the past week, and when he's responded, I've been directed to this post which, unfortunately, does nothing to address the fans' most significant concern.

What follows is a letter to Epic, written by the community, that was posted and then deleted from the forums.   GamerAndy.com thinks these problems are very real and that a company like Epic Games has a responsibility to its fans and supporters to at least listen.   I'm posting it on the front page of GA in its entirety, and I strongly encourage webmasters and bloggers out there to help us spread the word in an effort to convince Epic Games to fix their "broken Gears."

Continue reading "An Open Letter to Epic From Its Fans"

---

Hey all!

Andy here with another farm-fresh-warm-as-hawkes'-cold-dark-heart episode of GamerAndy Live! for your listening and viewing (???) pleasure.

Tune in this week as Andy and Hawkes go kinda batshit crazy with the PS3 and Wii talk, take some calls, and hit on the most important issues of the day.... If that day was Yesterday. Anyhow, Things discussed:
PS3 launch (tons of talk)
Wii launch (not as much talk -- they're screwing up less)
Gears of War ranked matchmaking malarkey
Halo 3 goodness and badness and "meh"-ness

Also, at the end we discuss in detail the CHANGES TO GAMERANDY.COM YOU ARE STARTING TO SEE TODAY. The post explaining everything will be up in a few hours, but good things, people.

Wow, I'm excited.

And as usual, stuff will be featured prominently.

More info available on the forums.

To download you can use one of the links below with your favorite podcast/blogcast tool.

 

Remember, every episode of GamerAndy Live! will be broadcast live as we record it at Allgames on Thursdays, at 6 p.m. PST/9 p.m. EST

Have a Question?   Post a comment!

Support Indie Gaming Media - Digg our Coverage
Last Updated 4:44pm PST
Hey all,
So my copy of GoW got here at 1am this morning courtesy of my roommate Chris, who attended last nights MS Winter Showcase on my behalf.... I took a little nap prior to it getting here, and I think I can safely post some impressions of the game.

More importantly, I'll be answering questions we gathered in the forums after the jump.... Before I get to that though, I wanted to hop on and mention I just played a couple games of Warzone with Mark Rein, VP of Epic studios and (since we were the only ones who spoke english) I took the opportunity to bug him between kills about the who Ranked Game situation....

Gamer Andy: Actually, I do have a question for you if you don't mind
MarkRein Sure, whats on your mind?
Gamer Andy: Well, I'm kinda a hardcore team guy when it comes to games like this, and one of the things I enjoyed most about Halo 2 was how easy it was to play all night with your friends against other people and have it still be really competitive... For as much fun as unranked games are, I think people take games more seriously and generally try harder when they think somethings on the line
MarkRein: Yeah,  Microsoft came to us and said there would be alot of cheaters if we did it that way so for right now this is how it is.  In the future we might roll out some additional functionality
Gamer Andy: Oh, thats such a dirty tease
MarkRein: Yep :)

At this point in the match, I got shot in the head and my mic went dead..... Not really an interview, just an interesting tidbit I wanted to share..... Okay!  JOin me after the jump for impressions and answers to YOUR questions
Continue reading "What do you want to know bout Gears?"

Best headline ever.  Thank God there's no limit on that box.  You can't make this stuff up, people. 

Don't mistake this for another funny bit of fake news like my last piece; Sony summoning demonic chipsets is fake news.  Jack Thompson is non-news.  The commonality therein is that they are both spasmodically hilarious. 

That's right, folks, I came back from a couple days 'away from keyboard,' as the kids call it, to find this shimmering nugget emerging from my inbox.  My day sparkled with joy from moment my eyes met the return address, and I was giddy as a little girl by the time I finished the last words.

Come, gentle reader, and enjoy it with me.


Dear George:

I read your rather bizarre letter in Electronic Gaming Monthly.  I guess you computer types don't think we lawyers can read.

Couple of things you got wrong, Ace:
1.  I never said you "were employed by Take-Two Interactive."  Never said it, never wrote it, because I never thought it.  You've got 15 days, under Florida law, to produce to me, by return email, the letter in which I said you "were employed by Take-Two" or I'll take legal action against you.  Check out Florida law on that, if you can read a statute book.

2.  You did not want a humane exchange.  You wanted to mock me.  That was what the flowers were for, and even Electronic Gaming Monthly figured it out.  How is it that you are the only one who "got it?"  The fact is, you thought this was some sort of joke.  Sorry, this issue is not a joke.  I've sat with families who are smaller in number because some gamer jerk like you became immersed in a very violent entertainment modality and it made an impact on him.

This stuff is not funny, George.  You don't get to define what my concerns are and belittle them with some stunt.

You've got 15 days.  Jack Thompson


Ooh!  Ad hominems!  I'll tell you, Jack, that stuff does still get a chuckle out of me, but it's really about time you retired your old material.  You can't keep banking laughs on nostalgia, no matter how classic it is.

So... I need to show you your own stupid press release, which I found thirteen seconds after I read this letter, and then send it back to you with a clutter of dictionary definitions, or else in fifteen days you'll crawl out of your well, through my television, and devour my soul? 

As soon as this stops being really funny, it'll start getting really old.  In fact, I think it's getting old already.  Go to the jump or the full article link to read my response.

Continue reading "Enraged Jack Thompson Writes Press Release, Forgets It, Sues Me Eight Months Later Over Letter in a Magazine From Five Weeks Ago That Refers To His Press Release From Eight Months Ago, Something About Florida Law, and the Precious Gift of Literacy"

Sitting down, there is nothing but hushed conversations. The crowd moves quickly, efficiently, almost reverently to their seats. Like a family going to Sunday worship, they gather and talk mundane things, looking towards the curtain, eager for it to part.

Then, the orchestra enters, and takes their seats, a melodious wave of musical tunes softly whispers to the audience: “Almost time.”

Flutes whistle through scales, violins tune, then pluck, then soar with majestic reverberations. The crowd slowly seat themselves, the hushed conversations grow quieter by the minute, as the orchestra finishes clearing its collective throat, and the conductor walks in.

The lights dim, the crowd is silent, so silent that you can hear shoes making noise on a carpet, the conductor raises his baton, the curtains open, a voice booms:

Continue reading "The Flaming Sword # 16: Come hear the orchestra.."

Hey guys, it's Allan here. I've just returned (Okay, fine, it's been a while since this event. It was several days back. But I blame <another GA writer> for the delay.) from a long journey into the savage heart of... wait, no, it's just an EA Preview Screening of some upcoming holiday release games. That's right, I was at EA Play. It may not be the Tokyo Game Show, but at least it's something.

So down to the titles, the showcase had such games as: Need for Speed Carbon, Sims 2: Pets, Battlefield 2142, and EA Sports titles, such as Cricket 07, Hockey, and NBA. So follow the jump to hear more...

Continue reading "EA Holiday Preview"

In a world where episodic content and sequels dominate the game industry, store shelves are plagued with titles ending in numbers, or roman numerals. As progressively more companies buy into the 'recycled game' business, few stand out; dedicated to providing excellent and innovative game play above all else. One such rebel goes by the name of Introversion. Sound familiar? They're the guys who brought us the luscious pixilated landscape that is Darwinia.

Uplink, an older game from Introversion, stands firmly against the test of time. It once made its rounds years ago as an acclaimed hacking simulator, the only one of its kind, and now stands before us yet again on Valve's Steam. For a mere $10 you'll find yourself with a game accurately shouting "Trust is a Weakness"; a lesson well learned as Uplink revolves around hacking and its repercussions. As a freelance hacker you'll be subcontracted by large corporations seeking an edge over the competition.

Now if you're a graphics hog lookin' for a sweet new ride to open up your GeForce 7950, you've come to the wrong place. I'm going to get this out now. Uplink is primarily a text based game with a simple graphics interface to make things a little easier. I believe the only colors the entire game uses are blue, black, green, white, and red

For those of you who desire a fantastic game that keeps the heart racing, there's more after the jump.

Continue reading "I Hacked the Gibson. Uplink Review."

Well, E3 has undeniably come and gone.  There isn’t much to say about it that you haven’t already heard.  The key words are still echoing in the hearts and minds of the gaming republic.

Halo 3.

GTA4.

MGS4.

Spore.

PS3.

Ridge Racer.

Riiiiiiiiidddddge Racerrrrr.

You’ve all been beaten over the head with the big titles a thousand times, and I’m not keen on being one thousand one.  There is nothing new to tell you about the PS3.  Halo 3 is just as enigmatic today as it was yesterday, and likely will be tomorrow.  As for Ridge Racer, well, it’s Ridge Racer.  Ridge… yes.  Racer.  Yes.  It is.  Still.

Quite simply, the big names are flooding the netwaves and there are lots of cool developments and notions from E3 that people simply Aren’t Talking Enough About.  Big, small, tangible or intangible, there are some groovy things that you probably only heard about if you were on the show floor yourself.

It is with this in mind that I give you part one of a brief series I’ve concisely titled ‘Things You Should Be More Excited About.’  Other suitable names are ‘Stuff You Should Be Interested In,’ ‘In E3’s Shadow,’ and ‘My Use Of The Shift Key Is Questionable.’

Today I’ll start simple and stay simple.  Kentia Hall is an infamous bastion of accessories, doohickeys, and doodads that are clearly borne of shrewd thinking and clever inspiration.  Furthermore, a vast majority of it seems to be watered down and rendered dysfunctional by the time it hits the Hall.

What people overlook, though, is that LOTS of cool little things come out of cool little companies and some of them are worth hitting it big.  Today I want to show you three small companies that are taking traditionally hit-or-miss accessories and doing them RIGHT.

Continue reading "Things You Should Be More Excited About, Part One"

Hey all,
Andy here and ready to unveil our latest project at GamerAndy.com - Podcasted reviews! For those of you out there with busy lives and a desire to hear our oh-so qualified and varied opinions on your favorite new releases, I present GamerAndy.com's Illiterate Gamer Reviews

At this moment, we don't have our iTunes feed up yet, but that should be up and running within the next week.

The first title we tackled was Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth 2 on the XBox360 - The review runs about 20 minutes in legnth and goes over all the major talking points you'd expect as well as our opinions (Sherveen and myself) after a combined total of 60 gaming hours on it.

So download it HERE and let us know what you think, all comments are welcome and the format is totally pliable - If you guys want something else... Shorter or longer... Go to This thread in our forums and get involved with our community

Hope you all enjoy it, expect more in the coming weeks.

Help promote indie news and podcasting by digging last night's episode at digg.com Hey all! Andy here with another episode of GamerAndy Live! This week, Andy, Hawkes and George are joined by Xbox Live's Major Nelson to talk about some of the drama that's been going on over at his blog Additionally, we talk about stuff he doesn't know about and make the mistake of mentioning the infamous Major Nelson headsets (which drives the chatroom into a frothy frenzy). In the second hour, we take listener calls and talk with GamerAndy.com's Allan about how the rating systems work "Down Under." This was a fun episode guys :) Check it out and let us know what you think on the forums. Remember, every episode of GamerAndy Live! will be broadcast live as we record it over at Allgames on Thursdays at 7 p.m. PST/10 p.m. EST. To download, you can use one of the below links in your favorite podcast/blogcast tool. Or download the MP3 here Shownotes after the jump

Continue reading "GamerAndy Live! Episode 45: The One with Major Nelson"

Does the State of Louisiana hate gamers?

There are two schools of thought on this; the first answer is a "Yes" with an S.

The second answer is a "Yes" with a long-winded explanation.

...you can see where this is going.

Over the last many weeks, this state in particular has gone leaps and bounds past the competition in the race for ultimate game-legislating blunders, much to the bewilderment of non-residents and the aggravated disdain of taxpaying editorialists.  

I find it all morbidly entertaining, perhaps even deserving of an acerbic narrative; In a state ravaged by natural disaster and controversy, only a few chosen men had the courage to stand up and do something about those damned evil video games.

This is their story.

Continue reading "Louisiana legislature puts the 'Stupid' back in 'Stupid Louisiana Legislature'"

I recently inquired to an industry journalist about Jack Thompson's legendary Harassment Suit against the Florida Bar Association.

As I am certain you all know perfectly well (in fantastic detail,) Jack Thompson announced at the beginning of March that he was filing suit against the Florida Bar Association.  Jack's deadly rage towards his professional leaders has been known for quite some time; his site TheFlaBar.org, a stunning paragon of cutting-edge web design, has thrust his conspiracy theories into the blogosphere for all to absorb.

According to Jack, the Florida Bar, keepers of all of the state's lawyers, is in the pocket of that illuminati-like organization... The Porn Industry.  In his brave quest to slay the triplet dragons of obscenity, perversion, and relevance, Jack has accumulated quite a few complaints against him.  Jack calls these various filed complaints 'baseless,' and that the Bar's investigation of their validity is gratuitous 'harassment' of him.

A million dollars' worth of harassment of him.

That's right, the very investigation of these complaints, per regular procedure, was a million-dollar example of professional harassment in Jack's eyes.  Mind you, that was his word for receiving flowers and a letter, too.

Undertaking this battle was big, big news for Jack.  Apparently his voluntary withdrawal of the suit is not.  Details below..

Continue reading "Jack Thompson VERY QUIETLY Withdraws Million-Dollar Anti-Bar-Association Suit"

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Hi folks, Cooper Hawkes here.  I'm going to constantly update this with direct links to E3 related stories to make it easier to find the latest updates. Latest date first, but on those dates, the stories will be in the order they originally came out.  Enjoy!

May 12 - Day 5 (Official E3 Day 3)

Saints Row: Been There, Done That (mostly)
Why Do They Call It Final Fantasy When It Never Ends?
The Flaming Sword #9: E3's done, who won?
E3 Podcast Wrap-up
Day 5: Tons of Stuff!
GamerAndy Live! Episode 37: Does It Count When It's Your Own?

May 11 - Day 4 (Official E3 Day 2)

George's E3 Journals, Wednesday
Reader Request: City of Metronome
GamerAndy Live! Episode 36: It's time to paarty! (With Major Nelson)
Down With The Crack (Crackdown Hands On)
Edie on Wii: WHEEE!!!
Hands on with the PS3
View from an Outspoken Gamer #9: The One about E3 2006 (DUH!)
Untold Sony and Mass-ively Awesome Game Report

May 10 - Day 3 (Official E3 Day 1)

Super Smash Brothers Brawl Announced for Wii - with Surprise Character
Day 3: Some Rumors, News, and Other Stuff!
The war is upon us...A Gears of War Hands On!
World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade
geez.. who woulda thought it was going to be this rough?

PS3: This list seems lighter..
Day 2: What we missed for Day 1...
Day 2: XBLM E3 Content!
E3 2006: Nintendo Press Conference.
HALO 3
Grand Theft Auto IV
Hawkes got pwned.
Nintendo Wii Controller Shell Revealed
Day 2: Second Wave XBLM E3
Sony Sanshiro?
Booth 1206: The Local Morgue
Microsoft Pre-e3 Press Conference
More Microsoft Goodies From E3
GamerAndy Live! Episode 35: We've got an 800 Number!
Look At All That Final Fantasy

Day 1: The Midnight Warriors
Day 1: E3 Goodness now Available on XBLM!
Day 1: Final Press announcments before the real fun begins.
PS3 Price and release date revealed!
Wii and PS3 Controllers Compared
GamerAndy Live! Episode 34: Goddamn We're tired

 Howdy Folks!

Andy here, and actually ready to talk about our e3 plans in a quoteable fashion...    For those of you who havn't listened to the podcast yet, as of yesterday at 3:30pm our group of 8 are confirmed for press passes/attendence at this years E3!

We'll be bringing you TONS of content, lots of pictures, a 2 hour podcast EVERY DAY and other various goodies/shenanagins.  

Have I tempted you?  Want to know who-all is going?   Want to see the intimate details of our schedule?   Join me after the Jump more on GamerAndy.com at E3

Continue reading "GamerAndy.com at E3!"

By Brett Lavalla

The Nintendo Wii has been the biggest gaming story around for the past few days, and not because people are happy.  All over the internet gamers are uproarious about Nintendo's decision, and Nintendo couldn't be happier.  They knew this would be the reaction, and they chose the name Wii on purpose to cause it.  The fact that the hardcore are angry means Nintendo has succeeded.  Succeeded in creating a name that is accessible, a name that sets them apart from the competition, a name that will be remembered.

Continue reading "In Defense Of Wii: Why Nintendo chose the name, and why they're glad you're angry"

"Sounds ambitious, it also sounds like it’s going to be a disaster."
 
That was my first thought when Microsoft Officially Announced that they were going to try to bring the E3 experience to all Xbox 360 owners during the Verizon Free Week. I sort of predicted they were going to do something like that, and Andy had (wisely) pointed out that bandwidth was going to be non-existent during that week.
 
Andy’s right of course. Try to download a game demo for a title that’s hot, and even with an excellent Internet connection, you’ll be lucky if you get it in 6 hours. Keeping this and my previous Memo to Sony in mind, I decided to give Microsoft some advice to help with that week of Videos and Demos and GamerPics (Oh my!)
 
When E3 hits, you are not only going to be burdened with your normal traffic, you are going to increase it, by your own estimations, 50%. This is going to cause a terrible strain on your network, made worse the minute a highly anticipated E3 demo becomes available on the Marketplace (In my case: Lost Planet.) Now your companies track record of decision making is not always the best, but I have noticed that when it comes to planning, you are usually at the top of your game.
 
So I have wondered how you are going to handle this amount of bandwidth usage during a week when you are trying to get people to splurge some dollars to stick with the service, and the answer came to me while driving to work this morning.
 
Avalanche.

Continue reading "The Flaming Sword #7: Memo to Microsoft: How to improve bandwidth on Xbox Live."

Oh goodness, I don't even know what to say... Nintendo has lost it.

Introducing... Wii.

As in "we."

While the code-name "Revolution" expressed our direction, Wii represents the answer.

Wii will break down that wall that separates video game players from everybody else.

Wii will put people more in touch with their games ... and each other. But you're probably asking: What does the name mean?

Wii sounds like "we," which emphasizes this console is for everyone.

Wii can easily be remembered by people around the world, no matter what language they speak. No confusion. No need to abbreviate. Just Wii.

UPDATE:

After the jump is what I think the "Get a free [insert console here]" ads will look like for the Wii... As well as additional "Wii" information.

Continue reading "The Revolution Has Gone Wii!"

by George Ettinger

Thursday was a vertex of far too many coincidences for my tastes.

Thursday was, as many are aware, the anniversary of the Columbine shooting, both a tragedy and a huge turning point for the 'video games are making kids evil' conspiracy. 

Also on Thursday, news broke that five boys in a Kansas high school were arrested for planning a copycat attack on their school.  The very first AP article about it didn't hesitate to throw in this blurb:

"(Cherokee County Sheriff Steve) Norman also mentioned bullying and said investigators had learned the suspects liked violent video games."

I had found out the Tuesday before this that the weekly staff meeting for Flint independent newspaper The Uncommon Sense, which I do minor work at, was postponed to Thursday so that a guest speaker could visit.  It wasn't until I was on my way to the meeting itself that I found out it was Michael Moore, back in Flint-town only briefly and stopping to say hi to the group.

Like his politics or not (and I'll admit, I'm not a huge fan,) he's a very smart, and very friendly man, and I enjoyed listening to him.  Being [very] minor staff, I didn't get much a chance to talk to him personally, but I did post one small question when I had the chance;


One of the biggest factors to arise in the post-Columbine hysteria was the violent video games panic.  In Bowling for Columbine, you didn't speak about any of those notions.

There was nothing to say about it.

You didn't think that it was worth mentioning?

There wasn't a real issue there, that's just it.  There's nothing to the idea at all, it's just panic.  That whole angle is overblown.


Not quite an interview, is it?  But I got to throw that idea out there before he had to leave, and it's pretty clear he sees video games as a nonissue; how kids like these lived their lives and where they got access to those weapons are always the REAL questions to be asking.

Even as somebody who didn't like Bowling For Columbine (but Roger and Me is worth a watch, people,) I found him to be a very sincere and down-to-earth person.  Realistically, he had little interest in the very subject of video games and youth violence, and why should he?  There are many more serious questions to ask about tragedies like this.

His film interviewed Marilyn Manson for comments on the cancellation of his concert in the Littleton area after the shooting, and his stance there was the same; hysteria is forcing people's eyes off of the perpetrators, the criminals themselves, and onto inanimate objects of moral panic.

Like I said, like him or not, his head is in the right place about this matter.

Hey all!
Andy here, and i"m pround to bring you this weeks episode of GamerAndy Live!

This week however, is special - Starting yesterday, and from here on out, every episode of GamerAndy Live! will be broadcast live, as we record it over at allgames.com on thursdays at 7pm PST/10pm EST

Yes, I know it sounds like we're in a bathroom this week... I'm getting new equiptment thanks in part to our donations from all ya'll listeners so expect a bump in quality over the next few weeks.

To download you can use one of the below links in your favorite podcast/blogcast tool.

Or download the MP3 directly from here.

Topics and Notes:

Continue reading "GamerAndy Live! Episode 30: Iz Live!"

Hey sports fans,
Andy here with another installment of GamerAndy Live! This week, tune in as Hawkes and I power through a TON of news....

Also, details on how to win a copy of Oblivion for Xbox360 are contained within!

Oh, I promised in the episode that I'd link to this awesome video that you all should watch

To download you can use one of the below links in your favorite podcast/blogcast tool.

Or download the MP3 directly from here.

Topics and Notes:

Continue reading "GamerAndy Live! #29: Pirate Talk!"

Hey all,

Sorry this episode is late, a number of factors (Including the power at our house deciding to cycle roughly 15 times as I tried to edit this together on my eMac, my keyboard dying, and Tony being antagonistic) conspired to prevent a late sunday early monday release... But I have perservered! (after a nap) and am proud to bring you GamerAndy Live! Episode 28: July Idiots...

To download you can use one of the below links in your favorite podcast/blogcast tool.

Or download the MP3 directly from here.

Topics and Notes:

Continue reading "GamerAndy Live! Episode 28: July Idiots"

I'm going to confess that I still pick up a copy of Electronic Gaming Monthly every other month or so. As video game press goes, the print magazines are kind of fun, and they're great for finding release dates and game reviews.

...and that seems to be it. I still wonder why they're afraid to delve into deeper content, or at least shove some political reality onto their readers.

Maybe their readers aren't ready for it; I can't count the number of reader letters I've seen printed in which some purchase-frenzied gamer rants righteously about what HE defines as a 'hardcore gamer,' and usually conclude that they are in fact the hardest of cored gamers.

"Hardcore." Generally, the word carries a somewhat childish connotation, an implication of some rockin' hand-gesture-thing and some sweet-ass guitar licks to accompany its hormonal and distinctly male enunciation. This image, as totally radical as it is, still isn't really the kind of notion we associate with the best and brightest in this industry. I think the genuinely 'hardcore,' if they exist, are much more elusive.

Maybe it's time I wrote my very own whining piece about the mysterious 'hardcore gamer.'

Continue reading "Of Things Hardcore"

Ok, so William Shakespeare, Pablo Picasso, Wolfgang Mozart and Peter Molyneux walk into a bar. After hearing their various libatious requests, the bartender, who looks suspiciously like Roger Ebert, tells the group that this bar only serves liquor to artists, and he asks them if they could prove that they deserve their sauce by naming a few of their accomplishments. Shakespeare mentions Hamlet, Othello, and Macbeth. Picasso brings out prints of Guernica and Las Meninas. Mozart whips out a miniature piano and plays a few bars of his 1st piano sonata. Molyneux looks the bartender in the eye and says, "my greatest accomplishment is giving the human race the ability to simulate feeding a gargantuan demonic ungulate its own feces." The bartender elbow-dropped him Randy Savage-style shortly after, which, if you're familiar with Ebert's physique, you know is no laughing matter. After his mentally debilitating cranial wounds were healed, Molyneux went on to design Fable.

Continue reading "Popcorn and Polygons #1"

It's been out for a while but I'm finally getting around to writing my review of Fight Night Round 3. First things first, let me say that I haven't finished the single-player due to a serious case of GRAWitis but I've played enough to know how the gameplay is and have read forum posts on other sites in order to fill in some of the gaps in my review.

So is FN3 a first round knockout or did it merely win by decision?

Find out after the jump.....

Continue reading "Fight Night Round 3 (XB360): The Review"

by Alex Billington

Hey guys. Just posting another one of my "escapist-like" editorials. I can hear the crowd cheering all around me. The air is stale; time slows as I hope to anticipate his next move. I duck a fast right hook and throw a quick jab to his stomach. I try to throw another quick left into his head, but he blocks perfectly and parries my throw. The next thing I feel is a searing upper cut that hits me square in the jaw. My head flies back and the sweat whips off. Before I can pull my head back down two more solid fists catch me in the stomach and one final haymaker slams my left cheek. All is black; my eyes open and my swirling mind tries to recollect the surroundings...

Continue reading "Determination To Win"

NOTE: Pictures are at the end of the hands-on preview
UPDATE: Digg our coverage at digg.com
UPDATE: Bert Pointed out that we had forgotten to touch on how Oblivion handles saves, so I'm just sticking it right here real fast: Oblivion uses an autosave method a lot like Morrowind, as it will save automatically when you go through a loading screen. I actually found it to be really annoying because a lot of times I would have just done something stupid like smacking a guard, then I run away and it saves over my previous save. That said, Oblivion will also let you save anywhere by hitting start and selecting "save."
It's a good system overall -- very flexible.

Since we have multiple entries in our coverage for Oblivion I thought it'd be convenient to throw links to it all in one central post. Just wanted to point out right now that Tony, who isn't officially on staff any more, was a HUGE help with all of this. A BIG thanks to him. Want to make him happy? Let's get the forums going again!

GamerAndy Live! Oblivion Edition - An hour and forty minutes of Tony and me talking about our experiences in the world of Oblivion. For mature audiences only, but TONS of information -- much of it not found in our detailed preview.

A Day in Oblivion - Hands On Impressions This is the real meat and potatoes -- a VERY comprehensive and disgustingly long preview that touches on all major areas of the game as remembered by the bleary gamers called Andy and Tony.

GamerAndy.com Interviews! - Pete Hines of Bethesda I got to sit down with Pete from Bethesda for a bit to discuss the future of Bethesda, the possibility of user-created downloadable content, the Thief Effect, and another thing...

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you a rant of epic proportions. It will be one that will go down in history as one of the best rants ever. It will be the Filet Mignon of editorials. No other editorial will come close to this one.

I present to you the rant about.....HYPE!

...right after the jump....

Continue reading "View from an Outspoken Gamer #4: The One about Hype"

Or download the MP3 directly from here.

Woodward and Bernstein got lucky.

They pretty much admit to it in their book "All the Presidents Men", that if hadn't been for "Deep Throat" or some other random event in their investigation of the White House, the story would have become a non-event. They pushed hard, were pushed back just as hard, uncovered the truth, and reported it. Woodward was even a registered Republican, helping to bring down a Republican White House.

It was inspirational.

So I took classes in English literature, creative writing, and Journalism. I knew I wasn't up for being a Doctor, and Lawyers creep me out in ways the best horror movies never have. But I wanted to do something worthy, which would have impact on the world in a positive way. (This also explains why I shied away from Politics.)

Then, Jimmy Callahan died.

Continue reading "Gaming Journalism: Why We Matter"

Earlier today a little site by the name of Flowers For Jack came to my attention, and after investigating further I discovered that is was actually a pretty new and innovative (And really wacky) way of dealing with everybody's favorite ambulance chaser.
How you ask?
By sending him bouquet upon bouquet of flowers, courtesy of donations from gamers.
Interview is after the jump, I really had a good time talking to them

Continue reading "GA Interviews: George and Alyson of Flowers for Jack"

For those of you that don't follow the underground scene, Blacklisted411 is an established hacking magazine with over 20 years under its belt. Lucky for us, their newest issue (.pdf) has some nice dirt on a (fake) Xbox 360 modchip courtesy of Ustler. For those of you that are technically inclined or just like reading that kind of stuff, check out the full article. For those of you that don't want to deal with that, I'll do a little paraphrasing.

Continue reading "The TEAM ICE Fraud - Update 1"

Well friends looks like I have 2 stories in 1 day, a rare occurance.

Well [eM] has had a stealth release in japan this month and the review is in from Famitsu
*drumroll*
29/40

And it is only on one disc! looks like the whole 4 disc scare was uncalled for and yours truly called it right.

So what's good and bad the game you might ask?

Now for a Gamer Andy mini Summation review based on othere people's reviews

Well the graphics aren't awe inspiring but still the best looking JRPG on the market. Lots of different attacks in the battle system. Story and pacing is very good, but the tactical approach to the battle system is tasteless and very repititve. The cutscenes are a mix of realtime and CGI, very nice.

To see some of the videos head over to Blimblim's site.

In short it sounds like a buy if your into JRPG's.

Ethan out

I was absolutely amazed.

Here I was visiting my brother, who for weeks had been boasting that he had finally gotten the better of Descent, a 3D space fighting game that took place deep in an asteroid against a group of renegade robots. He had been telling me that he had defeated the last boss easily and that he was ready to fight me online anytime I had the nerve to face him.

Truth be told, I made many excuses to avoid playing him, I had worked tirelessly on the game, only to be frustrated by the many variations of robots that I was facing near the end of the game. To have my brother surpass me would be..

..well unforgivable in geekdom.

Continue reading "Cheating"

Well looks like there is a news drought recently, never fear all you PS3 fanboys should wet themselves over this. How powerfull is the RSX? does more than four 7800gtx sound right? If it does your probably very biased.
here's a link to the article
RSX>than Quad 7800 gtx SLI

Here's what the article states,

The Gametrailers site diffuses it video of the interview of Derek Perez , in addition to-Atlantic representative of NVIDIA , carried out at the time of THESE , in which it presents the Quad-SLI technology , which consists, in short, to combine together four graphics boards NVidia in a PC, in order to obtain maximum graphic performances.

The characteristics obtained by this technology are as follows:

. 1,3 million transistors
. 41 Gigapixels/seconde
. 96 pixel pipes
. 2Go of graphic memory
. 5,2 TFlops of total power

According to Perez and its assistants, this technology makes it possible to push all the details of a play to the maximum: resolution, effects special, etc... without testing the least deceleration. Two plays are presented to propose this technology: The Lord Of The Rings: The Battle For the Earth Of Medium 2 , and Dungeon & Online Dragons .

And always according to Perez , this technology "makes it possible to the players to have an idea of the quality which will be realizable on the PS3" , via chip developed by NVidia , the RSX .

Teh ZOMG 1z 7ru3!, but not really. Sounds alot like some BS. I mean how could a card based off the g70 architecture be 4x better so quickly? And remember this is coming from Nvidia, so take it with a truck of salt.

Ethan, reporting on the PS3 for a change out.

There are boobs, and there are boobs

By Edie Sellers

Targeted marketing is a way of life. Martha Stewart does it. Jon Stewart does it.
It's no secret that anyone looking to hock a product, magazine, website or television show hones in on demographics and spams the heck out of them with messages and images that they think will be most amenable to the target audience. It's what advertising is all about,

But what happens when the people deciding who to market to are so out of whack that they end up appealing only to the fringes?

Two Words: Tits and Ass

Continue reading "Girl on Bimbos and Marketing to Gamers"

Alex Billington of ThinkComputers.org has come through for us again with some pictures of the new Burnout 360 title.

Pictures after the jump!

Continue reading "Burnout 360 Pictures from CES!"

Joystiq ran an article recently about Hexic being hacked via the kiosk rip I posted about earlier.

The hacking community has beey very busy this weekend. Accomplishments include:

1: Successfully ripping Hexic off of a kiosk disc and executing it in a PC browser (it runs very slowly)
2: Successfully modifying Hexic and running it on an Xbox 360 connected to Xbox Live
3: Hacking Hexic to earn several of the achievements without doing any of the work
4: Successfully running simple Flash applications that were never on the Xbox 360 (such as a clock application)
5: Modifying certain aspects of the King Kong kiosk demo to create the simple program pictured here
Speculation:

* Could this third item be behind the reset of the Xbox Live leaderboards? We hear people were earning some sick scores in Hexic before the reset (according to a blog post by Xbox Live's Larry Hyrb, the reset is a technical glitch having nothing to do with security issues.)
* These findings might make it possible to run a flash-based browser, flash-based media players, or even other flash games not available on Xbox Live Arcade
* There are many avenues of research that the hacking community is exploring. Given the history of past efforts by Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft to prevent modification (all to no avail), it seems inevitable that one or more of these seeds of opportunity will yield fruit
* How far away are we from a gamer points reset, given that some gamers have been able to cheat to obtain them?
* Will it become possible to cheat at other games? That's the surest way to sap the enjoyment from any game, as Halo players on Xbox Live who have been the victims of cheaters can attest.

Check out my speculation after the jump.

Continue reading "Xbox Live Arcade Hacked?"

Let me first start off by saying that I am a HUGE fan of both PGR1 and PGR2 so I was extremely happy to know that PGR3 would be one of the launch titles. I love arcade racers as they are so easy to just pick up and play as opposed to Forza and Gran Turismo, which are great games but take patience and lots of practice to master. So with that preface out of the way, on with the review......

Continue reading "Review:Project Gotham Racing 3"

Hi folks, Cooper Hawkes here with some sad news. From 1982 to 1997, Michael Vale basically made Dunkin Donuts what it is today with his portrayal of Fred the Baker for their commercials.

"Time to make the doughnuts" was one of the first Catch-phrases of the 80's, that to this day still has resonance with anyone who has to get up early to go to work.

My first days of computer gaming were spent with Dunkin Donuts Boston Creames, on a Commodore 64, it's a tenuous relationship, but its the best I can come up with as "gaming news"

Rest In Peace Michael, you are partially responsible for my girth, but I don't hold malice over it!

Semper Fi!