GameSpoon - Halo 3

I have been on a huge Halo kick lately, it came out of nowhere, but I love it. I loaded up Bungie.net to check the latest news and I came across this sweet gem - Halo 3 Bungie Employees' killtage 3!

RandomSpoon - J-Thrash's Directorial Debut

This is what happens when Jason is in charge of Windows Movie Maker. I call it "It's done in the forest".

Enjoy!

JapanSpoon - Manzai!

Here's a shot of Japanese culture for you, thanks to Kotaku!

The Manzai group Audrey promotes the new DSi colors - lime green, pink and metallic blue. Let's watch...



According to Kotaku:

"Manzai" is a type of comedy where one member is the straight man, and the other is funny man. Here, the straight man, Masayasu Wakabayashi, has the colorful DSi handhelds in his pocket. The joke is that funny man Toshiyaki Kasuga doesn't want the pink DSi, but the green one.

That's cool, but...where's the metallica blue DSi? Well, I think the joke will make more sense if you watch an earlier TV spot with this Manzai group (i.e. the pink shirt)! Again, thanks to Kotaku:



According to Kotaku:

In this ad, the straight man Masayasu Wakabayashi says today we're going to talk about the DSi — namely the camera. Funny man Toshiyaki Kasuga appears, wearing a pink sweater and says "Kasuga's camera is pointed at you, ladies."

"Run away quick, please," Wakabayashi says to the ladies, gesturing. He then says let's take a picture and snaps one of Kasuga.

He then says you can take pictures of "creepy Kasuga" with the DSi camera to which Kasuga replies: "Hey, you don't really think I'm creepy, do you?" Wakabayashi says if he really thought that, why would he be doing manzai with him. They both laugh hahahahahaha. BYE!

I love Japan!

GameSpoon: Doomsday Arcade: Episode Five

... wow!

Watching this really made me want to listen to some Megadeth for some reason.

Awesome

GameSpoon - The King of Fighters XII

HELL YEAH!

SNK Playmore's The King of Fighters XII will be coming to the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 in July - worldwide! This is fantastic news, previously there had been no word regarding a non-Japanese release of this amazing hand-drawn game.

According to Kotaku's article, the game will be reinventing itself, returning "to a core set of characters, relaunching with a new look but retaining the classic feel" (Kotaku).

"I couldn't think of a more appropriate way to commemorate The King of Fighter's 15-Year Anniversary than with a gorgeously animated, high-definition installment that updates the KOF legacy for a new generation." said Shane Bettenhausen, New Business Development Director of Ignition Entertainment. "While other fighting games have abandoned the time-consuming process of creating beautiful 2D art, KOFXII fully embraces the refined aesthetic beauty that only human hands can produce" (Kotaku).

This is fantastic news to hear, riding on the tails of the Street Fighter 4 release. Combing SF4, KOFXII and the new Tekken that's in the works - it's time to seriously consider building out a custom arcade stick from Arcade-in-a-Box.

I think I know how I'll be contributing to the global economy

RantSpoon - Quake Live's John Carmack

As a web developer, I sometimes get the feeling that we're looked down upon by non-web programmers (such as C++ people). I think that people view the web as something simple, because the primary tag-based language, HTML, is fairly simple.

Well, if people haven't noticed...the web is extremely different from the state it once was back in the early '90s. HTML is not responsible for just how cool and complex the web has become - it is not an easy job. Worst of all, web developers/designers have to account for a variety of browsers that each seem to handle code their own way - it's the wild west out there folks!

Anyway, it was great to read this quote from John Carmack during an interview with GameSpy regarding Quake Live:

What went not-so smoothly was building the website functionality, and the backend server side. A lot of that was just ignorance on our part. There's a little bit of hubris there, when you're a hotshot game developer and think that the website development stuff can't be all that challenging. We were somewhat disabused of that notion. It's easy to get something working, but the compatibility problems were quite a bit of effort.

At least some non-web developers had a bit of insight into the complexity of creating web applications.

Check out Quake Live Beta when you get a chance!

GameSpoon - Street Fighter 4 Training Manual

You love Street Fighter 4, don't you? I do! Well, Capcom sent out a sweet training manual to the press during the launch of Street Fighter 4; well fear not, now you too can own this manual...for FREE!

"How is this possible?" You ask. I'll tell you! Capcom's Unity site has the PDF version of the training manual up on their site for download, you can find it here:

SF4 Training Manual [capcom-unity.com].

Thank Capcom for this awesome-ness!

GameSpoon - The Onion: "New Mike Tyson Documentary"

Everyone must read this!

The Onion - New Mike Tyson Documentary Features Exclusive Interviews With Super Macho Man, King Hippo

This is quite possibly the greatest article I have ever read on The Onion's website - theonion.com.

The article covers the epic rise and fall of Mike Tyson during the infamous 1987 WVBA boxing match that pitted the heavy weight champ against a little-known, 107 pound challenger; Little Mac.

I give this article 5 Spoons!

GameSpoon - Evo 2007: John Choi vs Jason Cole

Here's a little Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo for you! Coming from the Capcom booth at EVO 2007. John Choi (Ryu) vs. Jason Cole (Dhalsim), best of 3 matches. Enjoy!

GameSpoon - A week with Street Fighter IV!!!!!

Street Fighter totally ate its Wheaties.

I have been playing Street Fighter games since about 1993. I came across my first Street Fighter II game at a local strip mall. The game was in its demo mode and the fighters were Ken And Ryu chucking fireballs at each other. It was quite possibly the coolest, most monotonous thing I have ever seen.

Well, 18 years later, the newest iteration of the game has come out. Even though 3 other Street fighter games have come out since, Street Fighter IV is truly the next incarnation of II. This game plays the same way as II, and seamlessly incorporates features of the others.

I have dipped my toes into about everything this game has to offer. The Arcade mode features your standard series of one-on-one matches against a series of computer-controlled opponents. It has a standard local versus mode where you and a pal can jump kick and yell obscenities at each other. The training mode is also included, where you can hone your skills against an opponent you can set to stand, crouch, jump, & block as well as have a CPU or Human controlled opponent for never ending matches. There is also a Challenge mode where you can compete in a race against the clock to beat a series of opponents, a survival mode where you only get one life bar.......to beat a series of opponents, and a trial mode which teaches you the intricacies of combat.

And then there is the online mode.

Fuck! People are REALLY good at this game. The online mode provides you with player matches and ranked matches. Ranked matches give Battle Points to rank your skill in fighting. I have played a few ranked matches and got absolutely wrecked. I have won one match in online play, which gave me 87 BP. I now have 12. Sigh...... well, at least you can create our own room in the player match setting where you and your pal can jump kick and yell obscenities at each other.

Quite possibly the COOLEST new feature in the is game is the ability to set yourself open to challenges while playing in Arcade Mode. While going through your character's story, anyone at any time can challenge you to a fight. While you will not get too far in the Arcade mode with this on, it is neat to see A NEW CHALLENGER HAS ARRIVED come across the screen without anyone else sitting in your livingroom.

In my very biased opinion, this is the best fighting game I have ever played. If it isnt the best fighting game you have ever played, let me know........ so i can yell at you.

GameSpoon - Street Fighter 4

Last night SpoonThrash and I had our first online SF4 match against each other. Ken (SpoonThrash) vs. Ryu (SpoonRock) - classic.

It has been nearly a week since the two of us got our hands on a copy of Capcom's new Street Fighter. So far, we've spent that time training and exploring this game. But neither one of us had decided to fight each other yet...until last night.

Needless to say, it was a bad-ass experience. Shoryuken's were coming out of the wood-work. I won the first match (best of 3), Thrash won the second match (best of 5). I think MasterThrash has to teach me some of his skills....maybe this YouTube video will help?

Street Fighter 4 is awesome.

GameSpoon - The Escapist: Doomsday Arcade: Episode 4

I don't know about you, but I'm just going to hide out for a few hours to play some wicked LASER CAT!

NewsSpoon - CNN: "Men see bikini-clad women..."

Best story ever or biggest waste of time? You decide!

The CNN story

TubeSpoon - New Simpsons Intro

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

After 20 Seasons, The Simpsons is getting a new intro.

GameSpoon - God Of War III

Last time we saw Kratos he had unleashed the Titans and was leading them up Mount Olympus to kills Zeus. What a cliffhanger.

GameSpoon - Midway Files For Chapter 11...Fatality.

Video game-maker Midway Games Inc. sought bankruptcy protection from creditors Thursday, the culmination of a chain of events that started when a private investor bought a majority stake in the Chicago-based company last year. That investor appears to be a major beneficiary of Midway's reorganization.

Midway, the creator of the long-running "Mortal Kombat" franchise, filed Chapter 11 documents in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware. Operations outside of the U.S. were unaffected. The company said it expects to conduct business as normal during the reorganization.

The road to bankruptcy began at the beginning of December, when media magnate Sumner Redstone sold his 87 percent stake in Midway to Mark Thomas for $100,000 and $70 million in debt.

TechSpoon - The History of the Internet

Get your learnin' on!

This lovely video features the voice-over work of Richard Ayoade ("Moss" from The IT Crowd). The video covers the complete history of the internet, with its conception dating back to 1957! That is remarkable, a simple concept of networking has evolved into an extremely sophisticated global evolution of technology.

To me, it seems as if we are on the verge of yet another evolution of technology, pushing ourselves deeper and deeper into a cyber-world. Nearly everything in modern life, seems to be connected to the web and it's becoming more portable than ever.

The future is now...

RandomSpoon - 24: The Unaired 1994 Pilot

A friend of mine sent this video my way; it's priceless. I had completely forgotten about what technology was like back in the early 90s. It's amazing to see how far we've come in such a short time, and how we'll look back at today's technology and laugh, in about 15 years!

Anyway, this is just for a little entertainment. The folks that put this together did a pretty great job, good work!

Enjoy. . .

"Lycos is dry, trying Encarta now!"

The Escapist: Doomsday Arcade: Episode Three

They're back! This time things get a little creepy...shall I say, an undying element of surprise!! hahahahaha - okay, I'm sorry, that sucked.

Lund and Shanks have to fight their way to freedom while we learn that all is not well with Mario and Luigi. Lund and Shanks may have been lucky so far, but Luigi has sent someone special after them, how will they overcome their next foe?

GearSpoon - The new EVH Wolfgang guitar!

Back in the day, when I first started playing guitar, I was priveledged enough to have had a good friend who owned the Peavey Wolfgang! That guitar was amazing, it was so smooth and easy to play - low action, Birdseye Maple fingerboard that was very smooth and a sick Floyd Rose bridge with the drop-d switch. I didn't know shit about guitars back then, but I did know that no matter what, I wanted one.

Well unfortunately, Peavey and Van Halen have gone their separate ways...I cried. Until I learned of the new EVH Wolfgang guitar!

Van Halen has brought back his own guitar model and modified the shit out of it! In his own words, what you'll hear in the video, the only similarity to the previous Peavey version, is the body. Everything else is different and this guitar is built to last. Van Halen swears that he can't destroy the guitar, he can't break it! To me, the fact that the guitar is back is enough to spark my interest, but learning more about the details - especially the stainless steel frets - makes me want to buy this guitar and shred some f*cking faces off with the pure rock!

This guitar looks sick; however, it's not cheap, but it's worth it, I'm sure! Time to save some cash! Eff Yeah!

Rock the world boys and girls, rock the world.