Mark N's blog

The other day I posted a blog about a study that linked violent video games to apathetic reactions to intense physical situations. Well, The Onion News Network must have been listening, because they have countered with the bold assertion that our overstimulated youth will be MORE prepared to deal with the most intense situation of all: The inevitable apocalypse.

Since its cryptic unveiling in December, EA's action title (very) loosely based on the Inferno portion of The Divine Comedy has had gamers and literature nerds alike intrigued. Recently, a more detailed trailer and a handful of concept art pieces have been released, and many people have been left scratching their heads. The most recent trailer seems to bring to light a very liberal re-imagining of the story and characters, and some glaring similarities to more than a few mega-popular games from recent years:

This week's podcast has really put me in a Troma mood, and as such I've been scouring the vast desert of the internet for Troma related gems. In trying to find examples of the infamous car flip, I stumbled upon this 2007 music video for "Headbanger Face Rip" by thrash-masters Municipal Waste, produced by none other than Troma studios.

In its short life span, "Left 4 Dead" has already come full circle in the gaming world, thanks to a short pornographic feature called "Left 4 Head."

From Kotaku

Now that we've all endured that 'other' awards show this year, it's time to kick our feet up and enjoy Dead Lantern's annual Splatcademy Awards, an audio awards show for horror fans by horror fans. We've plugged the event on our podcast a few times, and now it's up and ready to be injected into your brainholes!

To most people, the "don't shit your pants" game is referred to as "everyday life," but if you are of the endeavoring sort that likes to simulate one of life's most uncomfortable situations, you may find this text based flash game from Kongregate to be your cup of tea.

You've heard it all before. Violent video games have been linked to simple antisocial behavior to full on school shootings, and everything in between. Numerous pieces have been composed on the subject, and are usually met with divisive opinions, generally separated along a generational divide. Although I generally seem to fall on the end of thinking that violent games alone don't produce killers IRL, a recent study has caught my eye.

Before the Hulu's and BitTorrents of the world came to be, children of the 70's, 80's and 90's had two options to see a movie after it's theatrical pass: rental, or a showing on TV. For many years, Home Box Office (HBO) was THE place to catch these movies, as it was a pay channel that showed films mostly uncensored.

Spottting references to our favorite movies and games is one of the many pleasures of being an ultra-nerd. As such "»

• Read more