Sometimes, I need to play a game that’s on the calm side. As fun as driving cars at speeds approaching 200 MPH and shooting baddies with overpowered weapons is, I like to throw a quiet game into the rotation to mix things up. Lately, that’s been the oddly spelled but appropriately titled puzzle platformer Element4l.
Month: May 2013
Shepard Has a New Plan to Defeat the Reapers
If the whole Prothean super weapon thing doesn’t go well for Commander Shepard, she has to have another plan up her sleeve. Fortunately for the galaxy, she’s been hard at work on a new plan to stop the Reapers.
Wednesday Link-Off: Memorial Day Hangover
Good news, we actually have links on a Wednesday this week. I thought that was questionable given that it was Memorial Day in America this week but Rob Ford is the gift that keeps on giving when it comes to links. Anyhow, let’s start with American model Martha Hunt.
Is it possible that a Rob Ford staffer was trying to find the infamous crack video? (Toronto Star)
Gawker editor John Cook says that he’s doing what needs to be done to get the Rob Ford story out and the Canadian media is too timid with their stories. I don’t think he’s entirely wrong. (PaidContent)
If you haven’t been keeping up with the whole Rob Ford saga, here’s the whole saga in chart form. (ChartGirl)
Indianapolis 500: Once in a Lifetime
There were so many storylines heading into the Indianapolis 500. There was Dario and Helio’s drive for a fourth Indy 500 victory. The Andretti Autosport cars were dominating practice with Marco Andretti and rookie Carlos Munoz looking particularly strong. And the single-car effort of owner/driver Ed Carpenter beat all of big teams to score the pole.
But as the 500 tends to do, the pre-race storylines get thrown to the wind. It was a race that ran green for a long stretch but saw the field stay fairly bunched and tons of passing as a result. It was only fitting that the race was won on a daring three-wide pass as Tony Kanaan won his first Indianapolis 500 Mile Race.
F1 Monaco GP: To Finish 1st, First You Must Win The Pole
The Monaco Grand Prix is absolutely unparalleled in motorsport for glamour and pageantry. Unfortunately, Monaco is almost unparalleled in terms of its ability to turn Formula One into a parade. If it wasn’t for a pair of safety cars and a red flag, this year’s edition of the race would have also been a parade. This year, it was Nico Rosberg who picked up the win in this season’s most prestigious race but is certainly wasn’t without a tonne of controversy for his Mercedes team.
Sunday Link-Off: Cracked Up
Okay, I missed the Wednesday set of links because I was busy with all my Xbox One launch coverage and the lack of decent links over the first half of the week. We don’t have that problem today, though. We’ve got a cool collection of links for you today. First, since Hangover 3 is out this weekend, let’s start with Heather Graham.
Rob Ford said on Friday that he doesn’t smoke crack. Well, apparently that won’t be in keeping with his family’s history of drug dealing. (The Globe & Mail)
Prior to Friday’s straight denial, Ford’s office’s position was that the video was faked. The problem is that it would be impossible to fake even with an unlimited budget. (Hazlitt)
We’re still a long ways from another US election but it’s never a bad time to look at some interesting facts about Presidential elections. For example, Democrats weren’t impressed with the continuously changing message of Mitt Romney. He scored an all-time low among Dems in exit polling. (Prez16)
Entertainment Link-Off: All Roads Lead To This
This weekend at the theatres is a face-off between two big franchises. On one end is the return of the Wolfpack in The Hangover Part III. On the other is the actioner Fast and Furious 6. Funny enough, despite having six installments in the bag, the Fast and Furious gang still got some fuel in the tank while the Wolfpack is left behind sniffing the fumes. Anyway, kicking off this entry is one of the ladies from the FF flick, Gal Gadot.
After the jump, some Fast and Furious related news items, another look at The World’s End, Arrested Development relied heavily on the green screen, a Fresh Prince reunion and Superman delivers the ultimate ball busting move. Continue reading
Caption This: May 18 – 24, 2013
Inspired by the Globe and Mail’s caption writing person, we waste our time writing funny picture captions for some of the more interesting photos we come across when blogging. So here are some of the best pictures from the past week with a funny (-ish) caption. Continue reading
Nintendo, Let’s Plays and the Power of Free Marketing
Nintendo has always had this reputation as a friendly sort of company. Their big anchor franchises aren’t M-rated shooters but family-friendly adventure and platformer games that appeal to all ages. Nintendo of America boss Reggie Fils-Aime’s public appearances show him as a charismatic and knowledgeable leader of the video game industry. They’re the little underdog up against the power of conglomerates like Sony and Microsoft.
Yet, Nintendo has been on the back foot lately. The terrible results of the Wii U launch has put Nintendo on the back foot and now they’re trying anything to reverse course. Unfortunately, their latest move has struck a nerve with gamers online. Nintendo is targeting “let’s play” videos on YouTube and making copyright claims so they can scoop the ad revenue from the videos.
Console Wars: The Xbox One’s Failure to Launch is a Marketing Failure
Having had a few days to digest the two very different launch events for Sony’s PlayStation 4 and Microsoft’s Xbox One, I’ve come to a realization. As much as people don’t seem to like the Xbox launch, it wasn’t a failure in and of itself. In fact, I believe that Microsoft successfully accomplished what it set out to do.
The Xbox One and PlayStation Four both play video games. However, if you were to watch the two launch events, I’d understand if you were a little confused by that statement. While the PlayStation 4’s launch emphasised how it plays games and how it augments that with the social networking and sharing features, the Xbox spent comparatively little time talking about the games.
The difference in the launches was an example of how the console manufacturers are positioning their next-gen consoles in the market.
The Lowdown 