frankie23.com | viva la rudo » video games

Happy Valentine’s Day! I Think?

frankie23 — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 18:03:30 +0000

Courtesy of the fine folks at Aperture Labs, we here at frankie23.com are happy to help spread this wonderfully informative look at gift-buying practices on this most corporate of holidays. Enjoy!

Aperture Laboratories offers useful Valentine’s Day facts [Destructoid]

A New (Video-Gamey) Perspective On Driving

frankie23 — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 00:33:17 +0000

Ever wondered what it’d be like to drive a real car like you were playing Grand Theft Auto? No, I don’t mean willfully mowing down pedestrians, I mean from a third-person perspective… while willfully mowing down pedestrians. No? Well, some guy at Rooster Teeth games sure did, and he made this video. It is both scientifically fascinating, and hilarious. What more can you demand?

Oh, piss off, Mr. Demandy-mandy-man.

Apparently driving a car from a third person perspective is much harder in real life [I <3 Chaos, via Joystiq]

Neon Skateboard Tetris: Dangerous Stunts Involving EL Wire

frankie23 — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 23:49:25 +0000

This looks terribly dangerous, yet pretty damn awesome. I’m kinda amazed at the co-ordination that went into this. Plus, the balls it’d take to skateboard down hills in fucking San Francisco…

Sure, Why Not?: Neon Tetris On Skateboards [Geekologie]

A New Way Of Looking At A PS3 Controller

frankie23 — Tue, 05 May 2009 19:46:47 +0000

Someone decided to put a PS3 controller through a medical scanner. Pretty simple concept really, but with an awesomely cool looking result.

Let’s Run A PS3 Through A Medical Scanner! [Kotaku via radiologyart]

Space Invaders In You Videos

frankie23 — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 06:22:28 +0000

I don’t really have much clever to say about this one; it’s a fucking beautiful video, a delightful track, and it just makes me smile.

Space Invaders are happy up there in Royksopp’s new music vid [Joystiq]

Go Speedracer Go!

frankie23 — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 08:56:30 +0000

This is really far more awesome than it has any right to be.

Ali Dee and The Deekompressors – “Go Speed Racer Go” [BeucoupKevin(dot)com]

Prepare For The Future With Vault-Tec!

frankie23 — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:17:03 +0000

Let’s be frank here, this is just an ad for a video game. With that out of the way, let’s talk about how awesome it is! The Fallout games have always had a wickedly black sense of humour, and it’s nice to see that Betheseda haven’t forgotten that spirit as they’ve taken over the franchise. From the wickedly retro stylings to the always-plucky Vault-Boy, this video just furthers my frothing desire for the post-apocalyptic future. Mutants ahoy!

Vault-Tec vid urges you to prepare for the future [Joystiq]

The Haunting Of Ms. Pac-Man

frankie23 — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 18:00:07 +0000

Of all the video game machines to be haunted, having a Ms. Pac-Man machine be infested by a spectre seems the most ironic. On the Boston Craigslist site, an ad was found for a free Ms. Pac-Man standup arcade machine. A member of the arcadecontrols.com forum e-mailed the poster, asking about the machine, and why it was free. He received the following response:

“When I bought this machine the previous owner told me it was haunted. I laughed, didn’t believe him, because I didn’t believe in that sort of thing.

Got a bad feeling the day it was delivered. Game started on its own in the middle of the night several times, had a tech service the machine three times (very pricy housecalls), but he couldn’t find the problem.

Three-year old daughter started talking about the “man in the video machine”, didn’t think much of it, then my wife saw a dark figure move across the basement and into the machine. She ran out of the house, would not return until the machine was out of the house. I moved it to my business garage (two miles away), and several times I have opened the garage to find tools missing or scattered, things tipped over.

This is why I am giving away a $1000 machine for free.”

That’s some spooky dealings right there, I tell ya. Personally I’d love to have a haunted arcade machine, and if I was anywhere near the Boston area I’d be on this like flies on a corpse. Alas, it is not to be. If you’re in the area and interested though, here’s the listing. Please be sure to report back with the results, yes?

Oddities: The Haunted Ms. Pac Man [Kotaku, via arcadecontrols.com]

134 Marios

frankie23 — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 00:44:09 +0000

Who says video games can’t teach you anything? This video demonstrates the many-worlds theory of quantum physics by using a hacked, super-difficult version of Super Mario World called Kaizo Mario World, and a customized emulator to overlay 134 different playthroughs of a single level. It’s really quite an enjoyably fascinating little bit of footage, and the write-up that goes along with it is definitely worth a read to see the inspiration behind the experiment. Science, art, and fun, all rolled into one package. Ebert, eat your heart out.

Super Mario World Explores Quantum Physics [Kotaku, via Mechanically Separated Meat]

Kyle Cease On Nintendo

frankie23 — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 09:15:52 +0000

Kyle Cease is a stand-up guy. Not that I know him or anything, but he does stand-up. Comedy. God you’re slow tonight. Anyhow, the man is fuckin’ funny. Do you remember the “slow clapper” from Not Another Teen Movie? No? that’s okay, it’s just mentioned on his Wikipedia page, I don’t recall either. Anyhow, he did a very funny little bit on the old NES on stage, so I present it to you here. Enjoy.

Kyle Cease Standup – Nintendo [YouTube]

Xbox Live Is Filled With Homophobic Children

frankie23 — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 23:28:36 +0000

Ah, another shining example of humanity’s ability to show tolerance and love. Er, maybe not. Thanks to GayGamer, we have this lovely little example of why I really don’t give a flying fuck about playing online: Everyone’s a jerk. A Halo 3 player who goes by the gamertag of xxxGayBoyxxx (subtle!) has compiled some rather damning evidence of the lack of maturity commonly found in the grim cultural wasteland that is online gaming. I honestly cannot believe some of this, but it’s a proven fact that when you don’t have to look someone in the eye while you’re talking to them, all social filters (aka “politeness”) get tossed faster than an illegal immigrant when the feds start sniffing around.

Breaking: There Is No Shortage Of Homophobes On Xbox Live [Kotaku, via GayGamer]

The Doors of Deception: Portal’s gonna hurt your brainmeat

frankie23 — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 18:06:34 +0000

Valve Software, those brave creators of Half-Life and it’s assorted progeny, are bringing you one of the weirdest puzzle games ever made. Initially a student project at game dev college DigiPen, a fifteen minute demo was all the big boys needed to see to give this one the green light. Portal’s basic concept is simple; you have a wormhole gun, and you need to use it to progress through the level. First, you shoot yourself an entrance, then you shoot an exit. It’s a one of those easily explained concepts that allow for brain-breaking puzzles to be built around it. This month, Wired have been kind enough to present a little visual guide to the concept, giving examples of how the portal gun can be used and abused to manipulate your environment. PErsonally, I’d like to see this blown up to poster size, but that’s just me.

Unlock the Doors of Deception in Mind-Warping Puzzler Portal [Wired, via Kotaku]

Imagine: The Propagation Of Female Gaming Stereotypes

frankie23 — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 01:45:50 +0000

You know, I’ve seen some pretty offensive “girl-oriented” titles before. Not that they were offensive in their theme, per se, but in the fact that a) they made assumptions about what girls wanted, as opposed to “all those boy games”, and b) offensive in how badly produced they were. I will admit to having had some twisted fun with Mary Kate & Ashley: Winner’s Circle, but I digress. These new DS titles from Ubisoft are, however, the most blatantly sexist, derogatory things I’ve ever come across. Aside from the above, they also feature such innovative, sterotype-busting titles as Imagine: Babies, and Imagine: Fashion Designer. Look, I know that more girls are buying the DS than ever before, but that’s because they like the games that are currently available for it! They don’t need this pandering, Victorian-mentality crap shoved down their throats. I’m aghast that stuff like this is even considered to be appropriate in the twenty-first century. Go to the original article at Kotaku to see some of their suggestions for further titles in this series, which includes our article’s title.

Ubisoft Puts Women In Their Place [Kotaku]

Phoenix Wright – Boot to the Head

frankie23 — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 21:56:39 +0000

Combining the classic Frantics skit “Boot To The Head” with Phoenix Wright characters isn’t something that would have ever occurred to me. Thank Eris that it did to Mr. CMSPyroWolf, because this is by far the funniest thing I’ve seen this month. Oh, my sides, they doth split.

Phoenix Wright – Boot To The Head [YouTube]