Bitmob.com

It's a month since I stepped on as community manager -- so far, I've introduced a few new regular features, and the response seems to be good! You guys have been very supportive!

More importantly, however, I hope I have been supportive of you. I'm here for a few reasons: to help you stay engaged in the community, to help you have fun with your writing, and to give you more opportunities to strut your stuff on the front page.

To recap, here are the new community-focused features that have debuted in the past month. If you missed them the first time, head back and give them a look!

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 Is it too much to hope for Bungie to make affordable, life-size replicas of the Halo weapons like in this video?

Video Blips:

•Actress Aisha Tyler says that the info in this introduction to the Halo: Reach beta is what I need to know "to survive." Unless it's some magical tutorial, I fail to see how the contents of this video will help me last any longer than my usual 10 seconds in Halo. [GameVideos]

Continue after the break for one of those wake-up-in-a-laboratory-with-confusing-flashbacks videos for Call of Duty: Black Ops, some quirky Deathspank gameplay footage, and a Skate 3 ad depicting warring factions...of skaters.   

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In an episode of increasing preposterousness, ex-EGMers Crispin Boyer and Michael Donahoe join Bitmob's Dan Hsu and Demian Linn to celebrate the anniversary of the Mobcast. The guys send off the podcast's first year with a hilarious bang.

Have a community topic you want to hear the crew discuss? E-mail your suggestions to letters@bitmob.com, subject: Mobcast.

Zune Link (must use Internet Explorer)

Direct Download (right click save as)

Subscribe via RSS

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Game-themed drinks are just cool. Give me Resident Evil inspired alcoholic beverages, and I'm likely never going to be sober again. This glorious refreshment is the first in a series of Resident Evil-themed shot made by the Drunken Moogle.

Ingredients:
3/4 shot Silver Rum
1/4 shot Everclear
1 Blue Twizzler  

Directions:
Wind a blue Twizzler around a tall double shot glass. It should stick to the sides of the glass. Pour in the silver rum and top with the Everclear. Drink, then eat the Twizzler for a sweet and tangy aftertaste. You will have to fish out the Twizzler with your finger after you drink, as it will still be stuck to the side of the shot glass.

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This Week in Video Game History witnesses the birthdays of three very different people, the untimely death of a CD-ROM heroine, a totally botched console, and the beginning of two dominant genres. By the end of this week's anniversaries, we'll have you saying, in the immortal words of Kaz Hirai: "Remember that one? Alright!"

May 2

1995 -- 3DO reveals the M2 console on this appropriate date, but it would never see release. The M2's history is long and convoluted. Panasonic would eventually cancel it after acquiring it from 3DO, but its legacy lives on -- in ATMs and coffee machines. Hey, it's a recession, so we're all underemployed.

May 3

2004 -- Red Dead Revolver rides into town. Its sequel, Red Dead Redemption, will be released soon, so this may be a good excuse to go back and play this cowboy-inspired title.

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I just came back from a bonfire where I burned a hole through my favorite Rocky shirt. Obviously, I'm pretty bummed about it. I'm going to counter my despair with a hope-filled Community Spotlight.

Why There Is Hope for Halo: Reach
By S. Robert Delk
Robert was disappointed with Halo 3, but he hasn't given up on the franchise. ODST has restored his faith and given him hope for Halo: Reach.

Will Scribblenauts 2 Be Everything We Hoped the First Would Be?
By Alex R. Cronk-Young
Everyone seemed to agree that the first Scribblenauts was a cool idea bogged down with some serious design issues. Hopefully the sequel will be everything we wanted the first one would be.

Games as Ebert: Was Roger Trolling?
By Kevin John Frank
Did Roger Ebert say games weren't art just for the page views? How awesome would it be if Ebert was the Internet's ultimate troll? Kevin and his split personalities discuss this and other issues brought on by Ebert-gate.

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As I mentioned in yesterday's Mailbag, one question we received nearly brought the entire staff to blows. That question? The top 10 games of all time, of course.

And if that question wasn't hard enough to answer on its own, just wait until you see the rules imposed on us...

Remember: Send your own questions, comments, and diabolical metagames to letters@bitmob.com (subject: "Mailbag") to be included in a future edition of the Mailbag!

At PAX East, Stephen Totilo of Kotaku and N'Gai Croal held a panel on a "game" called "Canon Fodder," which sought to determine once and for all the top 10 games of all time. They asked some well known industry folks to contribute, and I'd love to hear your take on the final list:

1. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
2. Super Mario 64
3. Metal Gear Solid
4. Chrono Trigger
5. Portal
6. Half-Life
7. World of Warcraft
8. StarCraft
9. Super Metroid
10. Tetris

With this list, you can do one of two actions: (1) Swap the spots of any two games on the list or (2) remove one game from the list and substitute in your own.

-Byung J. Park

Brett: Since we're all gamers here, we couldn't resist the challenge of a game about games. I passed Byung's list and instructions to the staff, and the resulting email thread spanned 34 messages. Here is that thread:

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If you want to break into the business, it's going to take some work. The Tutorial is a series of articles about games-writing intended to better prepare you for what's ahead -- or help you figure out if it's even for you.

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Look at all the stuff flying around at the beginning of this Alan Wake trailer and imagine the Twister game that never was.

Video Blips:

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Editor's note: Can you trust email from the future? I'm willing to bet that universal dislike for Nickleback has a high probability of occurrence. Maybe Activision should have released Guitar Hero: Pickle instead. Are you listening, Kotick? This is your chance to save your job! -Rob

Somehow -- don't ask me -- I received the following article in my email inbox. The date was some 10 years hence (a  year when jokes about how well people see run rampant across the interwebs) and covers a company making all the wrong calls from a public-relations standpoint. Enjoy....

Where are they now?
April 10th, 2020
Associated Press Writers

Onlookers spotted Bobby Kotick, ex-CEO and president of video game publisher Activision, last week at his car-wash job in Seattle, Washington. Although it seems amazing, this man once controlled the biggest franchise in the business, a position now held by mega-corporation 2K Square Enix EA Micro-Ubi-Soft, Inc.

How did such a high-ranking official destroy a company once known for such innovative titles as Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Guitar Hero, and Call of Duty, and then fall so far and so fast himself?

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Sorry for the slight delay since the last Bitmob Mailbag, folks. We used to have intern Mike Minotti vet the letters for us, but it turns out he was using the designated mail-reading time to write rambling essays on the unparalleled greatness of the National Treasure movies. Now I vet the letters myself.

If you'd like your rants, questions, or comments about Mike's passion for National Treasure (yes, it's real) featured in an upcoming edition, drop a note to letters@bitmob.com, subject: “Mailbag."

Dear Bitmob editors,

Is there a word you are partial to that you have not been able to use in any articles because it is too obscure? For example, I enjoy the words “defenestration” and “zarf,” but I haven’t had an opportunity to use them in any of my writing.

-Nick Nordstrom

Brett: First off, "zarf"? Is that a Star Trek character? I pride myself on my vocabulary, but I've got no idea what that means.

I like the rest of your question, however, so upon threat of defenestration I asked the wordsmiths at Bitmob to provide their own favorite obscure words. (Mine is "anathema.")

Demian: I'm also a big defenestration fan. Also, "flense." I name all my rogue characters that.

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That headline caught your eye, didn't it? April Fool's! Oh, wait...

News Blips:

Activision has entered into a 10-year exclusive partnership with Halo developer Bungie. In addition to laying out the publishing terms of a "big action game" on multiple platforms, the deal stipulates that Bungie will continue to fully own their intellectual property. “We chose to partner with Activision on our next IP because of their global reach, multi-platform experience and marketing expertise,” said Harold Ryan, president of Bungie. “From working together over the past nine months on this agreement, it is clear that Activision supports our commitment to giving our fans the best possible gaming experiences.” I wonder where he's been during the past few weeks?

Sony is being sued by a California PS3 owner over its decision to drop secondary operating system support. A firmware update released on April 1 removed the ability to install other operating systems -- such as Linux -- onto the console. The suit contends that "Sony's decision to force users to disable the Other OS function was based on its own interest and was made at the expense of its customers," blaming Sony's continual battle with piracy and hacking as the impetus of the change. Anthony Ventura, the lawsuit's plaintiff, is asking for over $5 million in compensation. Wait -- A. Ventura? Alrighty then! [Kotaku]

Speaking with GamePro, God of War 3 director Stig Asmussen shared the different ideas previous directors had for the story's finale. Series creator David Jaffe envisioned Kratos' total destruction of Greek mythology (with Norse mythology "right around the corner"), whereas God of War 2 director Cory Barlog wanted Kratos to assume a Death-like role, complete with two whirling sickles as blades. And this is why David Jaffe is awesome: Apart from his typically vocal rants, his ideas are completely over the top.

Young kids and early teenagers are increasingly picking up handheld game systems, according to a report by the NPD Group. Sixty-five percent of households that contain a child aged from four to 14 years old own a video game console, of which 44 percent are portable -- an eight percent increase from a previous study in 2005. Only HDTVs and cell phones surpass consoles for intended purchases, with a large chunk (37 percent) of a recent hardware sales figure caused by purchases for kids. Wallet-draining TVs? Cell phones with iron-clad contracts? What happened to buying a simple toy firetruck? [IndustryGamers]

Got any hot news tips? Send 'em over to tips@bitmob.com.

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