Nobody ever wants to see Pac-Man crying… it’s just too sad.

3 trailers for the forthcoming Strongbad Wii game: Strongbad’s Cool Game for Attractive People.

I just received an interesting email from YouTube.

The CBC has apparently claimed rights to one of the videos I posted on YouTube for FanTent. Fair enough. The neat part is that instead of asking that the video be taken down, they instead simply asked to have access to the stats and the ability to post ads on the video.

Good compromise!

Read their email after the jump. Read more »

I just remembered an incident I overheard a few months ago.

I was meandering through a GameStop and a black man, about 40, was looking at Rock Band for the Wii. The store was crowded at the time, but he managed to get the attention of a clerk, also black. The shopper asked if the game merely allowed the playing of pre-selected songs, or if it also allowed freestyling. The shopper was clearly hoping that Rock Band was more of an actual music generation system than a video game. The clerk explained that the game only played pre-selected songs and that he could not use it to freestyle.

The clerk then looked around, did a sort of fake cough, and stated “and, uh, you can only play… well… rock music.”

I wonder if this unrequested piece of information was volunteered because the customer had asked about freestyling, or if it was because the customer was black?

I’ve long been a fan of Lore Sjoberg and tonight I can celebrate because he’s announced that he will be publishing a series of short videos for Wired beginning with a quasi-review of Link’s weapons. Behold:

Want to combine Rickrolling and Doom?  Here’s how.

I only vaguely remember the short-lived Zelda cartoon, but in retrospect it appears to have been the most annoying show in the history of television:

Why didn’t they use more actual Zelda music?

Via topherchris.

Sarah Michelle Gellar is still working on turning American McGee’s Alice into a movie. I’ve been waiting for that damned movie for eight years. Can somebody please call somebody and make it happen? Can I blame this one the writers’ strike? The game’s trailer still makes me smile:

Via BoingBoing.

Pong was first released by Atari on November 29th, 1972 making today the 35th anniversary of the video game era. Happy anniversary to Pong, Atari, Nolan Bushnell, Al Alcorn and everyone else involved in the design/development of the game. The game was initially installed at Andy Capp’s Tavern in Sunnyvale, California and featured exciting, futuristic gameplay:

The test run in Andy Capp’s Tavern proved to be a smash success. Such a success that they started making commercials:

Based on the commercial, it’s hard to imagine who they thought audience for video games was going to be. But whatever potential missteps they may have made, everything seemed to work:

Atari churned out Pong at a breakneck clip, shipping 6,000 in 1973 alone. Desperate for new products, engineers tweaked new permutations: QuadraPong, Pong Doubles, SuperPong, Puppy Pong. But the breakthrough product was a version of Pong that could be played on the family TV set. Sears ordered 150,000 “Home Pong” units in 1975, and it became the bestselling item in its catalog.

To celebrate the anniversary, let’s play a game of pong:

Pong’s future today is bright. Well, moderately bright. Decades after its release, people are still creating version after version of the arcade standard (though none compares to the fun that must have been “Puppy Pong”). What will Pong look like in another 35 years? Only time will tell.

Have any more questions about Pong’s illustrious history? Answers can be found at Wikipedia or this surprisingly meticulous FAQ.

Nintendo has decided to go for the often untapped incest demographic in its newest New Zealand ad campaign.  They also like swearing.

Via adfreak and Ads of the World.

I just downloaded the original, Japanese version of Super Mario Brothers II (the Lost Levels) for the Wii. I’ve heard that it was hard, but I was somewhat dismayed when I got to this point in the game:

And this one wasn’t much better (I just came out of the pipe and cannot go back down):

In reality both of the above situations provided a means of escape.  The really dismaying point to get to was this one:

This warp zone provides a really mean-spirited choice: you can either warp backwards from 3-1 to 1-1 (who would do that?) or you can off yourself in the provided bottomless pit (but remain at level 3-1). This choice becomes even easier when you consider that this version of Super Mario Brothers provides the ability to continue at the “-1″ board of your current level if you run out of lives. There’s no situation in which you would chose to go back to world 1-1, you’ll always choose the pit.

It’s one thing for a game to construct a level in which you’ll most likely die, it’s another to contrive a situation in which suicide is the only viable choice.

Another weird thing about this Warp Zone — there’s multiple ways to get to it. Every time you find a new path through the board (going through a pipe, climbing a vine, vaulting over the flagpole) you’re initially excited about the possibility of a new ending, only to realize that you’re back at the same suicide point.

Miyamoto’s got a sadistic streak.

I think the city of Frederick, Virginia and its citizens have forgotten they don’t live in a video game: “4 Arrested After Thieves, Waving and Smiling, Steal Big Key.”

Neverquest, the newest Simpsons video game, has a trailer that’s pretty much what you’d expect it to be.

Corn Mo reveals today that his name originated on the fields of RBI Baseball, the greatest of all Nintendo baseball games. One of the most disappointing moments in my short period of Wii ownership was the discovery that the online store does not yet sell RBI Baseball.

Corn Mo, of course, does not care about my silly, human concerns.

Devin had RBI Baseball on Nintendo. He knew that’s where I first used the name Corn Mo. Corn Mo was the name I had given my pitcher for my Nintendo baseball team. I haven’t played that game in a while. As I destroyed my opponent, he felt a bit let down, not from my bad ass pitching but because he thought the name came from the game. “Nope.”

Aw, the tales of a young Corn Mo. What he must have been like.

Dear GameStop,

Two days ago on September 12, 2007, at around 5:30pm, I visited GameStop store number 4101 in the Fashion Center Mall in Pentagon City located at 1100 South Hayes Street, Arlington, VA 22202. I was there to buy a new Wii console along with some games and accessories. It was an unpleasant and disturbing experience marked by poor customer service and a surprisingly high level of homophobia.

When I first arrived, I was pleased to find six or seven employees inside the store. “Great,” I thought, “they’ll help me quickly.” That wasn’t in the cards. The employees were deeply enmeshed in conversation and had arranged themselves on either side of the counter so that I was unable to get anyone’s attention. I waited for a lengthy period of time. Here’s a quick visual representation of the situation:

As I waited for the employees to realize that they had blocked customers from actually buying any products, I was privy to their conversation. In reality, even if I had been standing on the walkway outside of the store I would have been privy to their conversation–it wasn’t quiet.

While I waited to be noticed, I was surprised by their loud and frequent use of the words “fuck” and “shit” in casual conversation. Eventually one of the employees indicated that the male employee behind the counter was having dreams about another male employee and that he was, hence, a “homo” and a “fag.” They went back and forth for a few minutes, debating whether the counter employee was in fact a “homo.” The guy behind the counter argued that he was merely dreaming of “running over” the other male employee with a large motor vehicle and was, therefore, not a “homo.” Again, this was not a quiet conversation.

At this point, the non-”homo” behind the counter noticed that I was waiting and took my order.

Now, while I wasn’t all that happy about the “fuck”s and the “shit”s, it was GameStop so I was willing to accept a somewhat lower standard of decorum than I would from other retail establishments. I understand who your target demographic is. If that was all there was to it, I would have just written off the unpleasant attitude as simply a sign of a store with poor (or absent) local management. The slide from annoying swearing into casual and open homophobia and bigotry, however, was really surprising and disheartening. Is this how GameStop wants to portray itself to the game buying public? Is casual sexism the next thing I can expect from my local GameStop? Or racism? How far down this path is GameStop willing to travel?

Your customers are not, at present, all 13 year-old boys. If this attitude continues to be flaunted at your storefronts, however, it’s hard to imagine that anybody else is going to want to shop there.

Because of the store’s atmosphere I choose not to buy several games and accessories.

I would appreciate a response, both to the situation and to my letter. I have posted this letter online here and would be happy to post whatever response you feel is appropriate alongside the letter.

Thank you.

UPDATE: The responses:

I recently received some communication from my corporate office that you had an unacceptable shopping experience in one of my stores. I want to assure you that I take these kinds of situation extremely seriously. I was hoping you would be willing to give me a call at your convenience to discuss this matter. The easiest time to get a hold of me will be on Monday, but you can call me any time that is convenient to you. If you miss me just leave a message and I will call you back.

Thank you for your concern and I assure we will be looking into this situation with great energy.

—– ——-
District Manager
DC Southeast, D59
Cell: — — —-

and

I am writing in response to your email below regarding your recent visit and unfortunate experience at our Fashion Center Mall GameStop store.This must have been very disturbing and frustrating.

On behalf of GameStop let me start by offering my sincere apologies for the manner in which you were treated and for the poor quality of customer service we provided. Rest assured this is not the quality of interaction we strive for at GameStop. We work and train diligently to ensure every visit to one of our stores is a fun, informative and enjoyable experience. Our employees are expected to treat every customer with personalized service, in a professional and courteous manner.

We at GameStop wish to assure you we take customer service matters very seriously. We value your business and want you to feel comfortable shopping with us in the future. Rest assured we will take appropriate measures to ensure this will not happen again.

You will receive a follow-up email once our investigation is complete. If you prefer to be contacted directly by phone please provide your contact information and we will be happy to call you.

Thank you for taking the time to write to us and we would like to again offer our sincere apologies for this unfortunate incident.

Sincerely,
Steve Morgan
President

I bought a Wii.

Upside – games.

Downside – I occasionally get the following message when attempting to access the Everybody Votes Channel:

Data could not be received. Please confirm your Internet connection in Wii Settings and try again later. Error Code: 230500.

It turns out this means that my wireless router sucks:

The routers listed below are provided to customers by their Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Due to the way the Wii console interacts with these routers’ firewalls (sometimes called an SPI firewall), it may not be able to connect online, even when using the Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector or the Wii LAN Adapter…

Linksys
WCG200 ver. 2
WCG200-CC
WCG200-CC ver. 2

Netgear
CG814W
CG814WG ver .2
CG814WG

RCA
DCW725

Damn you Linksys, you’ve screwed me again!

I admit it, Lara Craft: Pre-Teen Raider is much cleaner than I anticipated:

Via Game|Life.

Magic Eye Tetris via Game|Life.

It’s a sailboat.

This game is chaos.

Via Neatorama.

Click on the video below to start it:

I knew almost all the older ones, and then suddenly, I didn’t. It’s sad. At a certain point I clearly got too old to know all about every video game.

Via The Last Boss.