Mark N's blog

The Behemoth is an indie gaming studio that's very close to my heart. I recently beat "Castle Crashers" for the 3rd time this past weekend (gotta unlock the characters!) and I've been awaiting their announcement about their as yet untitled 3rd game with baited breath. With both a successful Contra-esque shooter (Alien Hominid) and an arcadey hack-and-slash adventure game (Castle Crashers) under their belts I had my guesses, but boy was I ever far off.

Recently, Patrick Goldstein of the LA Times wrote an editorial titled "RapeLay: Sleazier than any Hollywood horror film?" which compared the interactive hentai rape simulator that was recently removed from Amazon's site to films like "Hostel." As the title suggests, his general conclusion was that even though you can trace the horrible premise of "RapeLay" to the sexual repression of Japanese culture, it still far surpasses

I remember being shocked to hear the word "shit" in "Final Fantasy VII" once upon a time, and needless to say, things have changed. Most mainstream M-rated video games these days should be packaged with a bar of soap to wash their mouths out with. Despite this, some games let their "f**k" flag fly so high that people can't help but take notice, even the people at The Guinness Book of World Records.

"Call of Duty 5: World at War" is one of those games that has eluded me since I first purchased my 360. My stoner roommate wanted me to buy it, and all of my friends that play games online have at one time or another asked me if I have it. As expressed on the podcast, hype tends to affect me a great deal when making purchasing and viewing decisions, but I can eventually broken down with the right sell, especially if "more nazi zombies" are part of that sell:

According to National Geographic, this year is the first in 11 to have two consecutive months where the 13th day of the month falls on a Friday. Although I doubt the people behind the maligned "Friday the 13th" remake thought of this when they picked 2009 for the remake, it certainly provides a convenient excuse to keep the date on people's minds.

This site is proof of the Internet's infinite capacity as a storage medium for our fondest memories. Through reviews, blogs, and features, we're able to preserve and revive forgotten films, games, and other forms of entertainment, and make it seem as if they're current. What we don't think about, however, is what will be physically preserved when the internet goes tits up and all of our storage is wiped.

Generally, I would shy away from posting other people's reviews, but "MadWorld" is a special case. You see, it was only released for that system I love to play at a friends house but can't convince myself that it's worth buying, despite my desire to perfect my balancing on a plastic platform skills. Since its release a few days ago, the mega-ultraviolent beat-em-up "MadWorld" has seemed to live up to the hype.

Last night, I came home to my apartment to discover that my power was half out. Then it went all the way out. Then, my burglar alarm shorted out and went off for an hour until my landlord could drive out and pull the plug. It was one of those situations where I thought "man, could this shit get any worse?" After waking up this morning and reading Shelton's "Bug" review, I remembered that things could be much worse; I could live in "Joe's Apartment."

Last week, the "Bioshock 2" hype train officially left the station with the unveiling of There's Something in the Sea, an interactive collection of news clippings, photos, and other teasers for the upcoming game. This week, we get another sneak peak at some art from the upcoming game via the april cover of Game Informer magazine.

Big sis, little sis

Over the years, "Above the Influence," the propaganda wing of the Office of National Drug Control Policy has taught me a lot. For example, I learned that if I smoke pot at a fast food drive through, I will run over a little girl on a pink tricycle. I've also learned that it's best not to sit on the couch while smoking, because I'm bound to melt into the cushions, literally.