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Totally fresh comments, never canned. . . catch up on all of the community happenings here.
Other Site Blogs
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Reviews Blog
Natural Selection 2 Review Pulled
Hi GameSpot readers! Yesterday, we posted our review of Natural Selection 2--but unfortunately, it's come to our attention...
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Rumor Control
Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 arriving Nov. 13?
Source: A supposed Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 box art photo posted to the unofficial Modern Warfare 3 Twitter account. What we...
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Downloads Blog
Interested in a challenging yet fun indie turn-based strategy game?
You wake up in an unknown facility, in a medical gown and nothing else. The cold sense of reality sets in; you don't know your...
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News Blog
Uncharted 3 getting co-op survival mode
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception will welcome a new game mode in March, the developer has announced. The co-op Shade Survival game type...
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Beta Extravaganzas!
We have a real treat for PC and PS3 fans! Justin Calvert has a feature displaying 5 beta offers.
LittleBigPlanet Karting (PS3)
The Lord of the Rings Online: Riders of Rohan (PC)
Offensive Combat (Web Browser)
Awesomenauts (PC)
RaiderZ (PC)Also, a little tip for reading the community news, if you want to get a chance to play the Awesomenauts beta we are very limited on how many codes we have with this game, so grab that code ASAP!
Give a big thanks to Justin for getting these offers for us in the comments, and if you like a certain game please share so.. Have a great weekend!
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Win Free Pizza this week on Now Playing
Now Playing + Free Pizza = Win!
Tons of free pizza for answering Now Playing Trivia? That's a thing! GameSpot is giving its viewers the chance to win a plethora of pizza for watching episodes of Now Playing this week.
When do you need to watch? Just be sure to join us for the following episodes of Now Playing:
Jojo's Bizzarre Adventure with Peter Brown, Tony Hawk Pro Skater HD with Kevin VanOrd, Ghost Recon: Future Soldier - Artic Strike, and our Mystery Now Playing on Friday.Simply tune in Wednesday July 18th at 1:00pm PT and 2:00pm PT, or again on Friday and answer the trivia question by emailing onthespot@gamespot.com. And don't forget to try for even more free pizza in future Now Playing episodes!
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San Diego Comic-Con coverage!
Welcome to this year’s San Diego Comic-Con coverage!
Wam-Bam-360 Cam and Cosplay Battle!
GameSpot’s luggage had an extra special pieces of equipment this year. The set up will showcase the creme da la creme of Cosplayers that you would find walking about the show floor. We’ll also return the cosplay battle again this year. Be sure to stay tuned to our Comic-Con page for updates.
Comic-Con Winner
Congrats to the winner of the Win a Trip to Comic-Con contest! Timothy S of Bayonne, New Jersey! See you on the show floor!
Activities
This year we have a few things happening in our Competitions and Activities forum. There is our Comic Con Costume Guessing Game where GameSpot members took photos from popular Comic-Con celebs and transformed them with a costume. Next up, we have our Comic-Con BINGO activity. You can pick a bingo card while watching our live stream provided by Video Viking Collin, you’ll have to hunt for cosplayers on the show floor.
Social Shares
As always GameSpot staff will be tweeting and posting like crazy during Comic-Con. You can watch GameSpot’s Twitter or follow Maxwell, Shaun , Giancarlo, Jody, Synthia, and Carolyn! We’ll also be having MLG super stars Tsquared and MrsViolence there to help show off what Comic-Con has to offer.
Inside Comic-Con Behind the Scenes!
If you liked GameSpot Communities Behind the Scenes coverage of E3 so now we’re bringing you more here with Inside Comic-Con Coverage. Be sure to check this page here for frequent updates and episodes of Breakfast with Community.
UPDATE!! Bee's have crashed our war room here at Comic-Con check here to see what went down! -
Win a Trip to San Diego Comic-Con!
Cosplay, figurines, comic books, novels, film screenings, celebrities, and a chance to play games before they hit store shelves? Oh my! If you haven't purchased your flight and San Diego Comic-Con tickets yet, we have an opportunity you shouldn't pass by. Today is your last chance to enter for a chance to win a trip to San Diego Comic-Con for you in a friend! Hotel and air fare included! And, if you happen to share the contest with a friend, you get to get two entries towards the grand prize.
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Quoted for Truth: Coming to a GameSpot near you!
This Weeks on Quoted for Truth
Surprise! Back from E3, the weekly video game news discussion Quoted for Truth is here to delve deep into the recent gaming events that matter most to you. Earlier this week there was an announcement made that there would be no QFT this week, but thankfully that was a simple error and there will in fact be a showing of the popular newscast. The show will not be live however, in a similar fashion to the June 1st episode, however as always John Davison, Tom McShea, and Brendan Sinclair will still be checking out the comments from GameSpot community members to fuel their discussion.
What are they talking about this week? The trials and tribulations of Prototype 2 Developer, Biowares ME3 DLC, Squares stance on a Final Fantasy VII remake, and of course much more.
Want to chime in? Feel free to tweet @jwhdavison, @TomMcShea, and @BrendanSinclair While using the hashtag #GSQFT with your thoughts, questions, and comments.
UPDATE: Here is the link to today's episode. Enjoy!
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Social Share: Happy Birthday Atari!
Bulletin
Happy 40th Birthday Atari! 40 years ago Nolan Bushnesll and Ted Dabney created an icon. The Atari was “born" in Santa Clara, California and as part of their birthday party goodie bag, they’re making available Atari’s Greatest Hits . So Happy Birthday Atari from the GameSpot Community, thanks for helping in getting us addicted to this life we call game. Back to this week in gamer news, there were a few interesting things shown off in their proper corners of the internet, for example Googles tablet the Nexus 7 which apparently struck a chord with some, while leaving others yawning due to a lack of iTunes sync or any real exclusives program. Although not all was calm on the teckie front, the original Galaxy Tab has been banned over iPad similarities. The court has issued a preliminary opinion stating that the samsung tablet is “virtually indistinguishable" from its iPad friend. And the court has banned samsung from importing the Galaxy Tab into the us or selling it within the country. You can read more on this here on computerworld.com.
Geeky Gimmies
So while wearing things like this SOMA-1 Wearcom pullover is perhaps only two coolness points above a fanny pack, it’s still a pretty neat concept. This awesome Steampunk Boba Fet Viking Brons Skyrim Helm… Okay so there is too much of a good thing when it comes to mashups but it still looks neat. We also have this Mass Effect Inspired Nerf Maverick which is nothing short of awesome.
On a side note, Final Fantasy VII may be returning to PC soon! Okay so this is more of a rumor than anything, but if its true, then it’s for sure a Geeky Gimmy.
Socially Weird, Terrific, or Frightening
Well we know most of you are saying “told you so" with the recent reveal of Facebooks new email address update debacle that happened this week. For those of you who aren’t aware, when you create a facebook account, you get a facebook email address (blahblah@facebook.com) and recently they swapped whatever email address you originally had with “your" facebook email address. Is this some deep nasty plot for total dominance over the communicating world? Or just a simple “feature". For something a little less creepy and infinitely more cool, we saw that apparently many teachers, testers and educators are tapping into new teaching methods by using Portal 2 in classrooms, bet you wish you had this when you were in grade school. To continue our chain of awesome people doing awesome things, it appears that Prada is finally branching out to their more, eccentric fan base by providing a line of Menswear with a Steampunk twist to it this Fall / Winter collection for 2012. Though I feel that I speak for female readers when we say “Where’s our steampunk Prada?"
Making Mischief
Bowsers Weekend with the Kids
Zombie at the Gates
Pro Gaming Tips
Star Wars Family Car Decals
DeadPool: A typical Tuesday Video
Bonus Item
A “I’m in Love with Halo" parody video, pretty catchy in an evil pop music sort of way.
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Community Check In: New Strawberry Flavor
Announcements
Due to unforeseen issues both On the Spot will not be returning this week. Additionally, there will not likely be a return of the show until after Comic-Con. But fear not, words and whispers of an upgraded format have been circulating the office. More info on that will be posted when more information is obtained.
Chalk Talk: What is it? - To sum things up quickly, it is the new way for users blogs to be featured here on GameSpot. Later this week there will be a community news report on what it is, how it will work, and why you want to be a part of it.
What’s Happening
15 days left until SDCC 2012!
Getting closer and closer to SDCC and we’re already brimming with ideas for what to show off before, during, and after Comic-Con. Want to share your two cents? Be sure to tell us what you want to see in the comments below. We’ve already mentioned one of our Comic Con activities which can be found here. And as an added piece of information the fabulous Video Viking Colin will be joining us again this year to operate the Live Cam!Now Playing
This week on Now Playing we’ll be checking out some Skyrim: Dawnguard with Kevin Van Ord on Tuesday June 26th @ 11:00am PT. Not able to make it? Well you’ll still have a chance to socilaize on Wednesday when we show off a plethora of PC titles; including Endless Space, Quantum Conundrum, Spellforce 2, and Krater @11:00am PT.Breakfast with Community
Here’s a bit of an update with Community, we’ll tease a bit about “Chalk Talk” the games we’ve played, and share an awesome blog by GameSpotter zanelli. There’s also a chance to win some cool Star Wars: The Old Republic swag for participating in the community activity! Also, you may have noticed the lack of a “cool image”. No that’s not an oversight, GameSpot Community is currently looking for a nifty logo! Please send any submissions or ideas to community@gamespot.com with the subject: Breakfast With Community.
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Social Share: Luck be a Lady
Bulletin
Taking a little time this week to talk about some of the latest reveals about tech items there were a few things that stood out to us. First the Surface Pro, which appears to be kind of a big deal with some people. However there have been reports that it could harm traditional PC gaming, thoughts? Next we have the XBOX 720. Okay so a lot of what was shared this week was mainly about leaks that had happened in regards to their plans, but these reports are still interesting none the less. Then of course we have the good folks at Sony who continue to insist on keeping any news that they might have in regards to the PS4 close to the chest. With the only real hints towards anything all point to rumors such as the one here about cloud gaming.
Game-ology
If there’s one thing that can usually be proven correctly amongst gamers is that we love our nostalgia. There just seems to be some kind of magic when it comes to side scrolling, 16-bit, digital sounding, creations. And that’s why when walking through the internet when stumbling upon a tutorial on turning an old N64 into a handheld gaming device it was important to share. Another thing that gamers love, free games! Here’s a fun little browser game to play with while you're waiting for your inbox to, because who doesn’t love irate squirrels? For those of you who loath the social networking scene we found this interesting little article from schools.com to share some interesting points about the little tool so many love to hate.
Making Mischief
Super Cafe: Bros Before Marios
Ultimate AR-15, A 23 Pound Zombie Rifle….
Charles Carreon vs The Internet
One mans Trash
"Stop or be Banned"
Geeky Gimmies
Now you too can throw tiny fireballs at your coworkers with this Fwoosh stress ball. A tiny foam flame to help you get the stress out.
Save the Tata’s headphones! Who doesn’t love an awesome pair of pink headphones? Okay so many of you are likely thinking that pink isn’t your thing. But for the record, 10% of all sales will go to breast cancer research and prevention. And for those of you who are interested in something a little more artsy here’s a fantastic painting of Chell based on Norman Rockwell’s "Rosie the Riveter".
Socially Weird, Terrific, or Frightening
Finally we move on to the socially weird, terrific, and frightening articles of the week. For example, check out this Incredible 3D Pack Man Streat Art Perspective from obviouswinner. Speaking of amazing art skills, this Lego Portal idea (created by Five X Five) was shared by GameSpotter BoominGranny who clearly has great taste. But don’t get too excited, Lego turned down the project. However before we go this weeks report wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t take the time to talk about this. The whole Tropes vs Women in games thing is beginning to get pretty crazy, and while many people have reached out in support of the pending article, there still seems to be a great disturbance in the gamer force. So rather than ending this with a scolding towards people who can't say anything nice we’ll sign off with a song and dance.
**Warning** The following video contains some mature language and subject matter. -
Community Check In: Oh, hello again!
Announcements
Things are finally settling back into place and we will once again be bringing community members tips, tricks, geeky gimmies, blogs, videos, and more. But since it's been a while lets dive right in with these community announcements and teasers.
There will be no On the Spot or Quoted for Truth this week, however do not despair. Both of these shows will be returning to their regularly scheduled time slot next week.
Live Show Schedule
This week on Now Playing:
Battle Field 3: Close Quarters
- Wednesday, June 20th @ 11:00am PT
Smashmuck Champions
- Thursday, June 21st @ 11:00am PT
Endless Space
- Friday, June 22nd @ 11:00am PT
You can tune into these streams right here on GameSpot, or if you’re interested in chatting it up check out our Twitch and Youtube channels.Coming Soon… Comic-Con 2012
It’s coming… Soon GameSpot will be surrounded by cosplay, comics, and of course video games. And as always we’ll be there to help cover it all. Last year, we had plenty to offer for Comic-Con coverage, as well as activities and even community events, and this year will be no different. During Comic-Con you will see a return of activities involving cosplay, costumes, and even bingo. Information on this and more will be revealed at a later point in time. Coming Soon… Breakfast With Community
Jody and Synthia have decided to continue with their updates of the current events of community happenings. Raw and uncut footage of them sharing details of inner office toils, answering your questions, as well as of course discussing games will be just a few of the things that will be talked about on Breakfast with Community.Tournament TV
Our last Tournament TV was rather awesome and luckily another one is right around the corner. And of course, if you are in the area and would like to participate simply send an email to onthespot@gamespot.com with the subject "Tournament TV". We'll have more on this upcoming event in a future update.Bonus Item
As a way to say thank you, here’s a video of the Super Mario Bros Bank. Made by the awesome people at AwkwardSpaceship.
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Breakfast With Community - E3 Check-In: Episode 1
Breakfast With Community
On the first day of E3, we found ourselves waking up early and going to get breakfast from a nearby coffee shop. The GameSpot Spotlight channel has been playing host to these video features. In the E3 day-one episode, your community managers discuss the press conferences that they enjoyed most and why. There are still dozens of stage shows to look forward to, along with additional community stories and editorials from GameSpot staff members, so be sure to check in with the community news feature along with the Inside E3 page .
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Community E3 2012 Line-Up (6/4 UPDATE)
UPDATE 6/4/2012: Lark has updated our Behind the Scenes feature page with details about how to get the E3 emblems. Collect them all and you get a BONUS emblms.
The Coverage: What to Expect
This year’s coverage will be robust as ever with the live streaming of the 5 press conferences, live cam tours, E3 stage show, special guests side stage show, and the MLG stage arena. During the evenings, you may also see our sister site, GiantBomb mentioned for all you night owls. We’ll also bring you the latest news and previews of the hardware and games we see or get our hands on! To find out more about our stage show, you can watch our Inside E3 videos with Ryan Mac Donald and a follow-up video with John Davidson about the different ways you can watch E2 2012.
One change you'll notice this year is the new commenting system displaying timely posts. We'll be making some slight changes with your commenting experience early next week. This also means that your chatroom is the new commenting system during the live streaming of the event., similar to what you see with other live streaming chatrooms located on the right side of the page. If you think this does not meet your expectations, GameSpot members are welcome to use the Twitch.TV chatroom. But if you really want the old traditional way of using a chatroom, simply create your own unofficial chatroom and share it with others in the comments.
Behind Scenes Updates: Inside E3
If you recall our Behind the Scenes E3 blog updates in previous years, you might recall Inside E3. This year we’ll be bringing it back bigger and better than ever. We’ve already given you quite a few updates during our pre-E3 planning stages. If you missed out on them, you can catch up here:
March 21st: What’s going into the Stage Shows
March 22nd: Who will be missing in action?
March 23rd: GameSpot’s E3 Meeting
March 25th: Loading up the truck.
March 29th: Booth Building 101
March 30th: The Ways You WatchThat’s just to get you caught up up until now! We have more to come. Keep a look out for updates on the Inside E3 feature pages, and if you want to see any videos we’ll update during the event subscribe to the GameSpotSpotlight Youtube channel for video updates.
E3 Loot Drop
Remember back in December when we had 30 days of awesome loot? Well we’re doing it again, and this time it’s during E3. Be sure to check out our E3 Loot Drop when it begins on Tuesday June 5th.
Facebook
This year we’ll have GameSpot Facebook updates based on your contributions on GameSpot in the late evenings. We’ll have to play this by ear because it honestly depends on all of your cool discussions in System Wars, your fancy blogs, and more!
Youtube
If you’re attending E3 this year, or maybe you’ve got videos about E3, be sure to let us know! You can simply post your links to them in the comments or send an email to community @ gamespot.com (Be sure remove the spaces before sending your email to us).
Tip: Facebook or Inside E3 mentions!
Aside from Youtube videos>, if you’d like us to consider your blog to be featured, here are some topics we would enjoy seeing.
- News - Reporting on hard facts, taking current events, announcements and breaking news and sharing it with the community. When looking at news blogs we will be looking for "insightful reflections" of E3 content.
- Editorials - While these pieces are not considered to be "hard facts" editorial pieces are used to convey personal opinion as well as an interesting perspective.
- Satires - News satire is a strong and favored form of entertainment, parodies of various news stories read on GameSpot might act as a fun read.If you would like to have your blog featured be sure to mark it as editorial so we know you want to take part in the community news piece. Someone not get the memo? Tell a Ranger about the user who wrote something that you think should be featured for their work. You can also send an email to community @ gamespot.com with the subject "My E3 XP".
E3 Activities
We’ve got lots of things to do before and during E3. Everything from a Scavenger Hunt, Wallpaper creations, of course signatures!
Wallpapers
If you’re handy at creating graphics, why not create an E3 wallpaper for others to adore on their computer desktop for the week! But if the thrill of manipulating pixels isn't enough for you we're raffling away a poster prize pack to one of the lucky participants! Here are the details.E3 Signatures
Add GameSpot E3 coverage for 2012 signature linking to e3.gamespot.com and be sure to post in the roll call thread here to get credit for it. We will likely check in on the topic after E3! So please keep it until a staff member posts in the topic stating that they’ve done a full head count of all of those in the topic.Scavenger Hunt
Time for a good old fashioned scavenger hunt! How do you play? Users will search GameSpot for certain games using only the clues shared in this activity thread here There are 15 games to find, and to those who manage to find at least 10 of the 15 games will receive this nifty Scavenger Hunt emblem!Twitter + Hashtag = Schwag
We've got a long list of Staff you should following during E3. But, we’re giving away some E3 Schwag to GameSpot twitter followers that choose to tweet us by using the Hashtag #e3feedme. The winning user will be randomly selected via raffle. To enter, simply tweet us between June 1st and June 7th with what you want to see (just don’t forget to include your hashtag because otherwise it won’t count!).Best of E3
It looks like it's time for a show down! During GameSpots coverage we'll be hosting a "Best of E3" voting battle and you get to have a say on who comes out on top. Be sure to check back in for more details on this feature. -
Tournament TV - Ghost Recon: Future Soldier
It's finally here! Tournament TV is back and we're starting things off with a little Ghost Recon: Future Soldier.
Join us today at 4:00pm PT with your hosts Homer Rabara and MLG Star Player and former Controller contestant TSquared. Players will be competing in a 6 versus 6 Best of Three challenge with a few added twists and surprises.
Be sure to tune in on GameSpot or join us in the chat room on Twitch TV . Viewers will have a chance to partake in some on air trivia with a chance to win a pair of Gunnars .
Simply tune in, listen out for trivia, and send your answers to contests@gamespot.com.
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Community Check-In: E3 is Coming
E3 Events, Competitions & Activities: Coming to a Community Near You.
As if watching all of our content wasn't enough, we'll be having a ton of community activities for you GameSpotters this year during E3. Be sure to tune into this weeks report for full details on what to expect. And don't worry, there will be something for just about everyone. Have any questions about this years E3 at GameSpot? GameSpot Staff members want to know what you want to see. Something you want to hear about? Be sure to let us know in the comments below.
Noobz Super Secret Pre Screen
The movie "noobz" is a story about four friends on a road trip to LA for a chance to compete in the "CyberBowl Championships". For your chance to be invited to a red carpet premiere of the film, hang out with GameSpot Staff members and a chance to meet the stars of the film, actors like Jason Mewes. Are you going to be in Los Angeles, California during E3? Want a ticket? GameSpot has 20 golden tickets available for this excusive screening. To get yours, simply head over to their event page here. This is an invite only event and you will not be able to get in without a ticket. You can find more details about the event and the film here.
Tournament TV - Ghost Recon: Future Soldier
Congrats GameSpotters! This week you'll be able to experience the triumphant return of Tournament TV, the live webcast where you'll get to witness a team of gamers battle it out for prizes and glory. We'll be kicking things off by playing a Ghost Recon: Future Soldier.
The last time we did one of these was back in 2008, if your not familiar with the awesomeness of Tournament TV then feel free to check it out.
Video Game History Month: The Legend of Zelda
This week we'll be joining Tom McShea on the magical journey through Hyrule in an attempt to save, rescue, or adventure with the fabled Zelda. Be sure to tune into our Legend of Zelda Marathon starting at 11:00am PT. You can join us in the chat on Twitter and Youtube, and of course right here on GameSpot.
BONUS ITEM
Diablo 3 Parody, which contains some mature and suggestive themes, you've been warned.
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Prototype 2 Challenge
Hello Prototype 2 fans!
Check out the Prototype 2 Elite Club challenge. The contest will run from May 10 - 24. Participants need to complete all 10 Xbox 360 achievements or all 10 PlayStation 3 trophies on one platform to be eligible for a prize.
Prizes: 1 Grand Prize: $500 gift card
10 Runner-Up Prizes: Prototype 2 Blackwatch Collector's EditionWinners will be chosen at random from the pool of entrants at the end of the contest.
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Community Check-In: New News is Good News
We have four more Community Check-Ins before E3 2012! Yesterday was National Teacher Day, which means we should pay respects to the unsung heros known as video game tutorials! Love them or hate them they’re there to help you get through the games you love to play. Now on to the latest updates!
Quoted for Truth
The new live show featuring GameSpot Editors Brendan Sinclair, Tom Mcshea , and John Davidson , the LIVE news discussion show where they engage in polite argument and occasional snark about video game news. The show starts at 1:00pm PT and we want you to be a part of the LIVE show magic ! How do you take part? Do you need to be sawed in half? Nope simply tweet us at #GSQFT with your questions, comments, queries, and moral objections. What will they be talking about this week on Quoted for Truth? Diablo, Artsy PS3 owners, Super Meat Boy, $99 Xbox, and more, for the full line up check out this link here . More Site Changes
Aside from the recent commenting system upgrade and the game boards , there’s even more! These features include a much improved Google based search functionality which will allow you to actually find what you’re looking for in under a second. You may then sort by plenty of other option.
We’ve also released our new mobile site that works in tandem with the main site. To check this out, go to m.gamespot.com.
Ghost Recon Future Soldier - Tournament TV
Tournament TV is fast approaching, and on May 22nd GameSpot will be streaming its live tournament. Don’t forget, we’re also opening up this invitation to online players as well. So if you want to take part in the return of Tournament TV simply send an email with the subject "Tournament TV" to onthespot@gamespot.com. Space is limited so act quickly! Only 10 members will be chosen. For more updates about this event, be sure to watch On the Spot.
Making History with Fallout
May is Video Game History month, as we're sure many of you are aware that great games only get older with age, this week we’re going back in time with Fallout Fallout in celebration of their 15th anniversary. Be sure to join us Live here or on Twitch if you miss our stream don’t worry we’ll be doing another one every Wednesday during the month of May at 11:00am PT. Here are the other video games that we will be featuring this month:
Metal Gear25th Anniversary
Zelda 25th Anniversary
Wolfenstein 20th anniversaryJoin GameSpot’s Max Payne 3 Crew!
In case you haven’t noticed, Rockstar has announced their crew forming functionality inMax Payne 3. You can team up with GameSpot editors by joining the GameSpot crew. Any crews created in Max Payne 3 are functional across multiple platforms--private crews have a limit of 250 players, but public crews have no such limit. Find out about hiw this online feature works with the game by reading our recent news story .
On the Spot Teaser - Rumor Has It
Sneaking in again to bring you the latest behind the scenes for this weeks On the Spot , this week we discovered that they’ll be talking about Renaissance heros, Max Payne at MLG, and a Diablo 3: Will it Run segment. This weeks trivia prize will also be an awesome addition to any Diablo fans collection, and a second prize for those of you who have a fondness for Devil May Cry.
Bonus Item
CAUTION! Hunting for real life Pokemon is serious business and should not be taken lightly. The stunts performed in this video were done by trained youtube professionals, do not attempt to catch’em all.
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Update: GameSpot & GameFAQs Board Changes
The next phase in our GameSpot and GameFAQs breakup has been made this morning. Some of you will notice the following:
- All games now have a game board, thanks to everyone's feedback. You will still see some genre boards and series boards around the site, but for the most part there should not be anymore confusion about a missing game board.
- The GameFAQs crossover boards will no long be accessible, but you may continue to read the discussions. With this change, you will no longer be confused about why you received a moderation mark in your moderation history.
If you miss posting in GameFAQs crossover boards, you can still do this by simply using your GameSpot login and password on GameFAQs. Please do be mindful of their Terms of Use agreement because they still moderate for trolling, censor bypass, and flaming.
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Commenting System Revamp
Exciting news! We'll be taking down the old commenting system and replacing it with a new one this morning at 11am PT. Some of the major improvements you'll immediately notice include the following:
- Threading functionality. Respond to other people’s comments to carry on a discussion.
- Instant Notifications . If you are scrolled to the top of the page, you'll receive a notification if someone replied to a comment of yours. You also receive this same notification when you "follow" a conversation and you happen to visit that specific page today or at a later time.
- Option to Follow Conversations. Members using the @ sign + USERNAME will no longer receive a PM notification. In order to receive updates you must follow a conversation.
- Who is subscribed to the page. Clicking the “follow conversation” option will have your avatar displayed on the top of the page.
- Others are watching the page! You can now see how many other people are reading or watching the shows where it displays the number of users "listening".
- Social Capabilities. While logged into Facebook Connect or Twitter, you can now share the page with friends on Twitter or Facebook by using the @ symbol in the comments. They will receive a notification about being mentioned. You will have to login via the prompt to grant this functionality. You can also share a user's comment via Twitter or Facebook by clicking the SHARE option.
- Positive Ratings. Comments no longer have negative ratings that will hide your posts.
- Change Notification Settings. To ensure that you receive timely notifications about content in the comments or if you’d like to disable it, you’ll need to go to the Fuse settings located here. Scroll to the options near the bottom of the page and change them to your preferences. IMPORTANT: If you do not change these settings you should expect to see a flood of notifications via Fuse.
- Old Comments Returning Soon. You might see the past 8 days worth of comments once the new commenting system is on the site. The older comments data will get imported over time.
- How to Report Abuse. If you are curious about what we'll moderate in the comments, drop by the Moderation Clarification Station.
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Community Check-In: Belated May Day
Belated Happy May Day! Did you know that May Day is an ancient spring festival celebrated by a great many cultures such as Ireland, France, Germany, and even Sweden? **The earliest May Day celebrations appeared in the Pre 16-Bit days, when gamers across the world would gather in masses to pray for new and exciting IP's to be born into the world. May Day falls exactly half a year from November 1st (which in gamer traditions translates to Q4) when great titles are released into the wild for gamers to play and enjoy.
The most common way to celebrate May Day is to create a May Basket, filled with bargain bin gaming gems, swag, hot pockets, and various energy drinks. These baskets are then placed on someone's office desk. The giver then screams out whatever meme is relevant to the year and runs away. The person receiving the basket tries to catch the fleeing giver. If they catch the person, they must fight to the death in a game of Quake. And that my dear readers, is the history of May Day. Now onto some real news.
Community Happenings
Whispers around the office
I overheard plans to make changes to the commenting system. The comments will be down for a short maintenance on Thursday starting at 11:00 am PT and will be down for a short period of time (about an hour). You will also find messaging on the comments system during this time. More details will likely surface as early as this afternoon or tomorrow morning in theSite Enhancements or Technical Support forums.5 Seconds to E3
Klondike is back again to give GameSpot members a chance to win a trip to E3. But you don't have to worry about embarrassing yourself this time. It will only take you 5 seconds to sign up and be entered to win a pair of tickets to E3 2012.Ghost Recon Future Soldier Tournament TV
On May 22nd we'll be bringing back Tournament TV! Now, before you old school GameSpotters get too excited, there won't be a tournament leading up to a Friday live stream of the final match. If you live near the San Francisco Bay Area drop us a line at onthespot@gamespot.com with the subject title Tournament TV. Please don't forget to share if you can make it to our office to compete in person or if you'd like to be on a standby list to try for a slot to compete online.Mass Effect Pixel Art Winner
There were some awesome submissions for our Mass Effect Pixel art contest, but in the end there could only be one winner, and that winner was yeah_writes submission, BEWARE! The following link contains massive amounts of awesomness!Street Fighter X Tekken X Winner
A few weeks ago during On the Spot we did trivia a little differently, asking viewers to submit altered images of GameSpot staff members photo shopped as Street Fighter or Tekken characters. The staff argued and debated over their favorite entry until finally deciding on edubuccaneer's entry.GameSpot Coverage
On the Spot Teaser - Rumor Has It
Sneaking in again to bring you the latest behind the scenes for this weeks On the Spot, we discovered that the fantastic fantasy Game of Thrones will be cutting across the screen during our live demo. Along with Starhawk, and Way of the Samurai. And as always we'll have our Maxwell McBargins to show of yet another gem from XboxLive Arcade. As for the trivia goodies, there will be some random t-shirts and Forza Motorsport 4 'Top Gear' DLC pack codes. Don't forget to join us on Twitch or Youtube at 11:00am PT to get in on the chatroom action because commenting system will be down for maintenance.Making History
May is Video Game History month and many of you are aware that great games only get older with age. This week we will be showing off Street Fighter in celebration of their 25th anniversary. Be sure to join us during our live stream on Twitch today, May 2nd at 11am PT. Curious what else we'll be checking out? Here are other anniversaries we'll celebrate this month.- Fallout 15th anniversary
- Metal Gear 25th Anniversary
- Zelda 25th Anniversary
- Wolfenstein 20th anniversaryStay tuned for more details about how we'll celebrate these game franchises and more!
Video Game Forecast
Seems to be yet another strong week for most platforms. PC users will be delighted by sunny weather, TERA's release means it’s the perfect time to break out the multiplayer, but if you're looking to play alone in the dark during May Day, keep yourself company (and creeped out) with Call of Cthulu: The Wasted Land. Things are getting a little cloudy for the Vita but there is a slight reprieve with the release of Mortal Kombat. Short rainfall can be expected for the Xbox 360, you can expect to see a drizzle of arcade titles like Fable Heroes. And finally, Sony and Microsoft will both want to get their shades because the awesomeness of Awesomenauts is practically blinding. For more information on this weeks releases you can check out the extended forecast
This Week's Raffle Reward…
GameSpot community is introducing a new activity to our Community Check-In, the "Raffle Reward" program. How does one play the game? Simple. Just comment in the section below, seriously that’s it. What do you get in return? Well that’s where it will get interesting. This week we’re giving away a copy of Spyro Skylanders starter kit for the Playstation 3. All you have to do is finish the following sentence in the comments below:
"Incredible glide, Spyro. I thought I'd be stuck in here forever
with those ugly ___________________"Bonus Item
Check out this Portal parody called "If I were a Core", WARNING: some mild spoilers.
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Five Seconds to E3
Want to go to E3? Better yet, want to go to E3 and get flown out to Los Angeles, California, with a friend and have your hotel paid for? Of course you do! All you have to do is enter to win. It will take only 5 seconds! Klondike is giving you a chance to win a trip to one of the biggest gaming shows of the year, and entering is easy.
First, log in to your GameSpot account. Next, go to this page here and follow the instructions to enter. It takes only 5 seconds!
The prize is a trip for two to Los Angeles, California, during the week of E3. This includes flight, accommodations, and, of course, passes to E3 2012.
But you'll have to hurry, because the sweepstakes lasts only until May 7, 2012. The winner will be notified after the sweepstakes ends.
Good luck, and get clicking!
**No purchase necessary. See rules for more details.** -
Social Share: Let's Kinect! (...get it)
Bulletin
Some of the biggest news that came out on the social universe is the copycat of Pinterest, well, that’s what people were saying until they figured out otherwise. Facebook "Pinview" is a Facebook app that reformats your account into a pinboard format. Moving on to social console-quences, System Wars posters might find this news interesting. Reports say Nvidia smartphone graphics are set to out beat Xbox 360 by 2014. Speaking of console wars bragging rights, Microsoft’s record revenue reports also appear to be slipping, according to mashable.com "Microsoft also took a hit in its Xbox division, with revenues dropping 16%, which Microsoft blames on a soft game console market." If that wasn't bad enough news for the little lemmings out there, according to a recent article from Bloomberg.com, Motorola Mobility recently won a ruling on Microsoft Xbox 360 patents. But there is hope, with free-mium games being the super trend that they are, the Xbox 360 might be the next platform for these fun freebies.
Game-ology
This week in Game-ology we take a look at some ancient code, ancient graphics, and old republics.
First up Wired.com shared a report on "The Geeks Who Saved Prince of Persia’s Source Code From Digital Death". Apparently Jordan Mechner saved everything, and we mean EVERYTHING to read where they found this ancient history read on here. While we're on the subject of digging up ancient history… the "Game Archaeologist" asked a thought provoking question, "Are graphical updates worth the hassle?" Speaking of games that get cosmetic changes, we’ll talk about the stylized glory of Star Wars the Old Republic and how their subscriptions are not dropping despite lighter server loads. In an article on pcgamer.com we read that "Bioware lead writer Daniel Erickson said the game's subscription numbers are not dropping despite the somewhat emptier servers". While industry watchers speculated the loss of subscriptions, I find their lack of faith disturbing.Why so Serious
Now for something a little different, and somewhat serious news. Google’s "vulnerability program" ups the payout for discovered weaknesses from $3,000 to a maximum of $20,000. Alright, that wasn't too serious, but here's something that might freak you out a bit, if your car has a Black Box it is likely "spying" on you according to Forbes. Next, there is a lot of debate about copyright infringers and whether or not they are "pirates" or "thieves" , and here is an insightful article on the subject. Speaking of copyright debates, recent changes to copy protection can mean that those of you who have DirecTV might need new gear to watch shows on HBO. In the world of patents, Arstechnica.com explains that Samsung is targeting Apple in the US with eight more patents. On a related note Apple wants to go to trial to defend itself against accusations in regards to e-book price-fixing.
FREE GAMES!
As if you needed another way to procrastinate at work here’s a nice little twist on the classic Mario game. Mario not quite your thing? Thinking to yourself if you wanted to play the original Mario that you’d just do it? Well fine! I have a few other goodies up my sleeve, first is The Secret World Social Web- Game but for those of you who aren’t a fan of Facebook here is the Indie Game Rambo: Last Blood a cute little 8bit browser game that you can play . Why should you be playing all these games? Simple really, in addition to being awesome, studies show that computer games helps with depression. And if the games aren’t enough to put a little smile on your face you could try a slice of Legend of Grimrock - Blueberry pie thanks to the gaming gourmet.
Making Mischief
Classic and rare Star Wars photos
Run Yoshi Run!
Mega64 - Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Jedi Junkies video
Ideas for a valve gaming console
Tribute (Huge Pixel Art Poster)
10 Epic Movie Gadgets You Wish Were Real
Geeky Gimmies
Here’s just a little teaser to this week's’ Geeky Gimmies: Retro Edition you can see that on Synthia’s blog she’s gathered quite a long list of pixel perfect retro gaming items. Gimmies from games like Space Invaders, Mario, Pac-Man, and other awesome retro classics. For example you can see this awesome Mario amp and guitar as seen on globalgeeknews.
Feeling Crafty
Gamers are some crafty people, for example we have this amazing 6’10" statue of Samus Aran made out of paper and glue. But if that’s a little out of your league you can try this nifty apple puzzle But be warned, if you lack the proper knife skills to try this at home DO NOT try this! In addition to awesome crafts here is some great Star Trek Origami on Takei’s Facebook page. And for those of you who need a little incentive before your creative juices can start flowing, there is a propaganda art contest for the upcoming Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter movie.
Socially Weird, Terrific, or Frightening
First up the weird, here we see a piece on neatorama.com about what’s exactly in a hot dog, but be warned…. Ignorance is bliss for those of you who are Frank Furter fans. Next we have the Terrific, we’re sure some of you have seen this awesome Valve employee handbook with awesome tips about their company standards written in an extremely witty fashion, if only every work place could be so cool. And finally for the absolutely frightening, recently in China a young girl was swallowed by pavement, seriously here’s the video and the girl just vanishes under the concrete.
Bonus Item!
Fave Find and it's time for some Geekapella, Enjoy this Final Fantasy VII Chocobo Theme Song from the comedic team of Max and Sam.
