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We're stoked about theoretically playing anyone's songs in Rock Band. Hopefully Zack Morris will upload his chart-topping hit "Friends Forever" into the game.

News Blips:

• Rock Band Network saved the wannabe music videogame stars. Developer Harmonix announced today that its new Rock Band Network will allow any band or musician to upload their tunes directly into Rock Band for other folks to play and purchase. Of course, the ditties have to be approved, so don't expect to get your "Dick! Dick! Dick! Ballz!" into the game. [1UP]

• Bayonetta shoots for a 2009 release, misses. Add Bayonetta to the growing list of fall 2009 games getting pushed to next year. This is pretty disappointing, but if Style Savvy gets delayed, we're really gonna be pissed. [Kotaku]

• Halo scriptwriter still waiting for Hollywood to play along. Stuart Beattie, the dude who wrote the first Pirates of the Caribbean flick, is still shopping around the Halo script he penned a while ago. We're not sure why Hollywood isn't interested, especially if schlock like this can get made on a whim. [Joystiq]

• Portable Xbox could happen sooner or later (probably later). Microsoft bigwig Shane Kim told Kikizo a portable Xbox may happen sometime in the near and distant future, but right now, the company is focusing on its Project Natal gizmo. Then maybe they'll consider getting destroyed by the DS. [Kikizo]

Hit the jump for some video blips, including man-bat action in Batman: Arkham Asylum, building stuff in ModNation Racers, Paper Mario papercraft, and...more.

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On this magical episode of Video Games AWESOME! we play through a couple rounds on the Xbox 360 rendition of the popular collectible card game Magic: The Gathering.

Watch as this pseudo review of Duels of the Planeswalkers devolves into a cocktail of cheers, jeers, and sexual innuendo.

  

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I was reading Kotaku the other day when I came across a story about Sega launching a countdown clock on their website. That was the straw that broke this camel's back. I can't keep my rage inside any longer. I hate these damn things! Countdown clocks can go to hell!

I don't know who first got the bright idea to put a timer on a website and have it count down to some mysterious, mystical, marvelous announcement, and I don't really care. I'm sure it was probably a good idea at the time and it garnered a lot of coverage for the product. Whatever. What does bother me is that these creatively bankrupt publishers and PR firms can't come up with a new way to promote their games.

That's not actually what bothers me the most. What really gets me fired up is that these stupid countdown clocks never count down to anything good!

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Editor's Note: A really fun, whimsical "review" by Mike McLeod. It's really fascinating to see how the game basically tricked him into caring for it via its design (or lack of?). We're not quite sure if that's a bit of a spoiler at the very end, or if that's just a romantic metaphor...but you've been warned. And don't miss James DeRosa's more analytic report, Blueberry Garden: Reaching for Significance, to get the best of both worlds. -Shoe

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I haven't had these feelings since I knew a girl named Lacey in the 7th grade.

You're this bird-looking thing with clothes on. Except you don't have wings -- but you can still fly. You can eat blueberries and turn blue...but who the hell knows why? Along the way, you pick up random crap like an hour glass, a block of cheese, and dice, which you then use to make an odd-looking tower....

Yea...ok...

Even though I'm an indie lover, Blueberry Garden kind of weirded me out. None of it seemed to make sense. It was even worse when there were no instructions on how to play the game. I had to figure out which button to press to jump, fly, eat, etc. Then I would eat a blueberry and turn blue, but nothing would tell me what affect that had on me or the game. Does it just turn me blue? Does it do anything?!

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Normal 0 MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

I feel like a 7-year-old after this close encounter with destruction that one of my DS cartridges recently experienced. It's certainly something that you'd think a kid, not a responsible 34-year-old, would do.

It's not odd for a DS cart to travel across the world and find itself in exotic places; the DS is a portable platform, after all. But I never expected a DS cart to survive a journey that I unknowingly subjected it to this week.

I took a Bay Area Rapid Transit train and then a San Francisco Muni bus to the Bitmob community gathering last Friday at the Buckshot Bar & Gameroom. I didn't want to carry a bag with me, so I brought my DS and a couple of games in my pocket. I played New Super Mario Bros. and the roguelike Shiren the Wanderer as I traveled.

I got home pretty late (it takes a long time to travel from San Francisco to Dublin via public transportation, and the wife wanted me to get some milk). I threw my pants into the laundry basket. I did remove my DS, keys, and cellphone. But Shiren the Wanderer stayed in my pants. And that wasn't the only place it went -- it took a magical journey through lands of bubbles and dry, warm wind gusts.

In other words, it went through the laundry.

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You guys must be as boom-shakalakaed as us -- why the hell was basketball great Michael Jordan never in the classic Midway arcade game NBA Jam? It's one of life's greatest mysteries. Or, uh, at least one of life's greatest mysteries involving arcade-style basketball games. But still: We want to know why. And so does Michael Jordan.

Luckily, a totally respectable and hard-hitting news publication actually interviewed Jordan himself to find out what he thinks. Turns out, he's as baffled as us, as he told the paper, "I'm Michael Jordan, I should be in that game." Damn, straight you should be. Click here to read the full story.

And on a completely unrelated note, ever wonder what the infectious Portal ditty "Still Alive" would sound like played exclusively on a college bell tower? No? What the hell is wrong with you? Well, we've provided a video just in case you ever get curious [via Wonderland]:

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You'd think that Brian Shirk loves living in the past, considering that he's writing about Wolfenstein, Doom, Marathon, and Duke Nukem. But this Bitmob community contributor didn't need to break out his old 386 or boot up DOSBox to do a retro review of these games; all he needed was his Xbox 360 and Xbox Live Arcade to take a look at the legacies of these classics and evaluate how well they play today.

Wolfenstein 3D
Wolfenstein is often seen as the game that launched the first-person shooter. Brian acknowledges its legacy and enjoys the Nazi killing, but he's not impressed by the gameplay, large levels, and paltry amount of weapons. Dude, this was groundbreaking stuff that amazed us in 1992!

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We don't know why Nintendo doesn't like colors. We do. Nothing makes us gayer than seeing a beautiful rainbow of colorful consoles.

News Blips:

• Nintendo officially racist; won't be releasing black Wii in America. The true colors of Nintendo were revealed today when the company confirmed the Japan-only black Wii will not be coming to our shores. Tis a dark day for U.S. Nintendo fans. [GameDaily]

• Tony Hawk Ride also officially racist; nixes fake black skateboard for fake white one. The true colors of Activision Blizzard were revealed today when Tony Hawk Ride developer Robomodo confirmed the previously black skateboard peripheral will now be white. Tis a light day for fake skateboard fans. [GI.biz]

• World of WarCraft iPhone app lets you hang up on reality. In case your life isn't consumed enough by Blizzard's massively multiplayer online role-playing game, you can now download an official WoW iPhone app that lets you check your gear, in-game news, and other stuff that is way more fun than conversing with people in real life. [Kotaku]

• Lego Indiana Jones 2 allows two blockheads to create levels together. If you're sick of the Lego games, well, make your own -- Lego Indiana Jones 2 will allow two people to create their own levels simultaneously. Well, if you can actually agree to let your partner create stuff without knocking their crap down first. Not that we'd do that. *Whistles peacefully* [Joystiq]

• Prototype sells a lot, DS sells more than a lot. The June videogames sales numbers were just released and, big surprise, the DS sold a lot (766, 500 units). Prototype was the top game of last month selling 419, 900 units. And, weirdly enough, Wii Play was not on the top ten list for the first time in forever. Guess everyone in America has a second Wii-mote now.

Hit the jump for some video blips, including an Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines trailer, stomach-pleasing God Eater gameplay, that asshole Duck Hunt dog, and...more.

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Editor's note: So it's our time, not just our characters, that's getting fracked every time we play a game? Nicholas explains how videogames are out for our most valuable currency. (Hint: It's not money) -Jason

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My first post began, in a way, as a response to an article from Omar Yusuf on the consequences of death in videogames, but by the end I found that it had become a monster of a different nature. However, this preamble is crucial to my argument later on. This is a controversial topic, but I hope to approach it from a fresh angle.

Death, fundamentally, is a communication breakdown between the user and the device. In other words, the player does not experience anything within the virtual world posthumously (it's important to distinguish between the death mechanic and death within the narrative, which does not necessarily entail this disconnect).

"Kicking" the player off of the machine is clearly an archaic methodology, a holdover from when quarters were a significant source of revenue and arcades were, well, relevant. Today, many designers have implemented less jarring interruptions, choosing to encourage success through tangible reward systems rather than chastisement.

The proliferation of RPG elements, like Call of Duty 4's rankings and even Microsoft's meta-Achievement system, offer permanent "benefits" for exceptional performance, and both have proven to be exceptional motivational tools. Of course, today's indisputable champion of character growth, World of WarCraft (with a respectful nod to Diablo), functions as an immersive and addictive player experience by providing a number of obtainable items, titles, mounts, and achievements.

With this in mind, I encounter a rather obtuse question: Death, from its humble arcade beginnings to its mellow and progressive form today, is a necessary tool in the videogame medium that must either be included or suitably substituted for -- but what is its ultimate purpose?

The answer, I'm afraid, is a little anticlimactic and painfully obvious.

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Editor's note: I was hesitant to promote this story at first. These days, people spend more time engaging in "New Games Journalism" and less time talking about it, which I'd say is a good thing. But especially for those unfamiliar with the concept and the term, Omar's article is a good primer on what it is and where it came from. -Demian

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It started at 4:06 a.m. on September 22nd, 2004 with an article dubiously entitled "Bow Nigger." The article was actually more of a story. Taking a few cues from Hunter S. Thompson and Truman Capote, the author simply related his experience as an unsuspecting tenant of a Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast multiplayer server. The author (known only as "Always Black") wrote the piece after being lambasted with racial slurs by a stranger on a German server. However mundane this sounds, the story was written with such familiarity and candor that it was difficult to deny the personal power it possessed.

Can a number at the end of a review adequately summarize the

16 months of development by Raven Software and the ensuing

years of entertainment and devotion by fans?

A 14-year-old and a weathered veteran of the Internet, I was shocked by the sense of mystique and charisma the article was imbued with -- qualities I didn't expect from a conventional "videogame review." Rejecting journalistic standardization with each new word, the anonymous author delivered commentary on multiplayer design, the state of online gaming, and most importantly, what it was like to actually play Jedi Outcast.

There were no numerated scales, no review scores, or alphabetized grades. In 2,275 words, the readers -- whether or not they had played the game -- thoroughly understood what Jedi Outcast offered. Better than any Gamespot, Gamespy, or IGN review, "Bow Nigger" has become a sterling example of the New Games Journalism style of writing, and has since been copied, plagiarized and paid homage to.

With influences as varied as Emile Zola and Tom Wolfe, New Games Journalism is a style of news writing which I have always been enamored with. Kieron Gillen, the first videogames journalist to receive an award from the Periodical Publishers Association, has been a stylistic innovator in the emerging discipline of creative, narrative-driven games journalism. Gillen published a "Manifesto" which drew heavily from the now-famous article "Bow Nigger". The manifesto outlined in detail what he meant by "New Games Journalism," a term which he himself coined. The notion is simplistically brilliant in its meaning:

"The worth of gaming lies in the gamer not the game"

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Editor's Note: A lot of you ask about how you can get into the gaming industry. Here, Andrew provides us with a number of jobs that you probably didn't know you already had the skills for! -Greg

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While motion controls are en vogue these days, there will never be a replacement for pushing buttons, at least when it comes to the types of games that are popular. Unless we are seeing the last days of the FPS, rest assured you will always have a button to push.

And after spending hundreds of hours developing muscle memory in our favorite games, you may wonder how you can get some hard cash for your specific brand of skills.

I won't suggest games journalist, unless you like making no money when you make money. And if we all decided to actually make games, who would be left to complain about them?

Thus, I present a few positions after the jump you may not have considered that will put your adept button pushing skills to good use.

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USA Today's Game Hunters blog interviewed us recently. Read it to find out more about how Bitmob was created, and what we almost called the site instead....

To get back at Demian, I'm outting what he wanted to call the site originally: Kurator.com. Time for a community vote!

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