Video Games? THIS Is Why It's Hard To Stick Up For You Sometimes...

hat-tip: ScrewAttack

Presented without further commentary, an apparently-legitimate Japanese print-ad for "Soul Calibur V."

I'm reasonably certain this is Ivy.

Three More To The Tubes

The older-eps-to-YouTube-migration is now as up to date as it can be, with the additons of #57: Supreme Responsibility, #58: Heavens to Metroid Revisited and #59: Bat-Slap.

Sonic the Hedgehog meets Progressive Flo; Squicky Fan-Art to Follow

via Kotaku

Sega has lent out their maybe-not-"over"-anymore mascot to appear in commercials for Progressive Insurance opposite the company's own memetic spokesperson, Flo...



It's kind of cute until you realize the horrors it's going to spawn over in DeviantArt...

Still More YouTube "New" Episodes, Plus Updates

Okay, here's the latest chunk of "new classics" now viewable on The Tubes: #54: Make It Rain, #55: What We Lost In The Fire and #56: Setting Sun.

Also, you may have seen earlier that I'll be busy at Arisia 2012...


Now, to show business: While I can't get into the specifics, I wanted to give people a head's-up that, while the production schedule of a series like this often makes "immediate" changes to format difficult, the concerns of many fans about the manner in which the "framing" skits are integrated into the main body of the show have been heard and a slight-but-significant "shakeup" in that format is coming soon (probably next episode, or at least an explanation thereof) that I think will A.) lead to better episodes overall and B.) be found agreeable by many.

Additionally, I wanted to say how glad I am that the "RetroThinker" storyline is being so well-recieved for the most part. On my end, he's a nice change of pace from the pantomime-slapstick of playing the two ninjas and the one-note douchiness of Anti-Thinker.

I'm aware that some are concerned that his "arc" is turning into a polemic against modern gaming; but to those fans I'd say please stay tuned and see where it actually ends up. I can't promise that everyone will LIKE where this character's "journey" is going... but I also don't think it's a direction many are "predicting" yet.

So, yeah... stay tuned for that :)

Lollipop Chainsaw Villain Reveal

The latest trailer for Suda51 and James Gunn's action/horror spoof "Lollipop Chainsaw" reveals the game's bad guy, "Swan," who has one of the most appropriate "goth kid" voices I've heard in something like this - he's not credited, but people are telling me it's probably Michael Rooker. (And, yes, that's Tara "Twilight Sparkle" Strong as the main character.)

"Indoor Kids" and HULK Plug TGO

Many, many big thanks to the great Film Crit Hulk for the nice plug for the show on the most-recent "Indoor Kids" podcast during a revisitation of the "Arkham City" kerfluffle. Have a listen HERE.


The whole thing was very interesting, but I'm especially glad to see someone come out strong on the notion (which has been on my mind as well) that the advent of voice-acting as a "must have" thing in modern gaming has been potential harmful to the medium in terms of storytelling - particularly in the case of JRPGs, which were once routinely held up as one of the BEST genres for delivering "big idea" narratives but became the stuff of punchlines once they had to start using voices instead of text.

New Episode Announcement

Head's up: EPISODE 64, which deals with SOPA and piracy, will debut this Saturday at 10pm CST... and because of the timely and important nature of the subject, there will be NO Advantage delay - it will be viewable by all audiences right off the bat.

ALSO: Episode 60 has made it's way to YouTube, so if you wanted to see it again now's your chance.