The Knights of Badassdom

It appears that LARPers are getting their own movie, courtesy of Summer Glau.

iCarcassonne

Fans of European board games in the readership will be interested to know that a version of Carcassone is now available for the iPhone/iPod/iPad. It's apparently pretty good, too.

Dr Horrible Goes 8-Bit

The second and third acts of the previously mentioned 8-bit-game adaptation of Dr Horrible have been posted.

Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Game

Nathan Fillion alerted Alison to this hilarious video of an imaginary 8-bit game adaptation of (the first act of) Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog via Twitter. The music is the best part. Enjoy.

Lessons Newton Taught Us: Chase-Wrestle

Another valuable lesson we learned from our pup:

Fetch-tug is a pretty good game, but chase-wrestle is the best.

Dragon*Con 2009: Post 2

No, this post is not the one where I finally put up our Dragon*Con photos. Instead, I thought I'd point out an amusing shot of Felicia Day that was taken at the con. Sadly we didn't see this live, but I'm quite sure that we missed it by less than 5 minutes; I believe this photo was taken immediately after the Guild panel, and "Vork"---along with doppelgangers for all the Knights of Good---was sitting right behind us.

Dragon*Con 2009: Post 1

I know: I'm a bad, bad man* for not posting the 250 or so photos we took at Dragon*Con this year. I plan to get around to it, really. In the meantime, I thought our readers would enjoy seeing some details of the creation of one of the more impressive costumes we saw at the con: Bioshock's Big Daddy.

* And not in a Leroy Brown kind of way.

Throwin' Frag!

There's recently been some chatter on the interwebs about the possible theatrical adaptation of the Gears of War game franchise. Alison and I, being fans of the game, can't help casting the characters in this hypothetical film in our heads. So here's what we've come up with:

• Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as Marcus Fenix. Johnson has the right look, certainly. Plus, Marcus is quite terse---once, in flight school, he was laconic---so Johnson's questionable acting talent wouldn't hold him back.
  
• Adam Baldwin as Dominic Santiago. With Baldwin's experience as Jayne Cobb, he clearly can carry off both the action and the comedy requisite of the character.
• Michael Clark Duncan as Augustus Cole. He's both huge and enormous. Add a little 'tude, and that's everything you need to play the "Cole Train."
• Alan Tudyk as Damon Baird. He's blond, hilarious, and has experience in POW/hostage acting.
• R. Lee Ermey as Victor Hoffman. Seriously, whom else could you cast?

So, what do you think of this list? Do you have any suggestions for Anya, Kim, Tai, or other more minor characters? Whom would you cast in Gears of War: The Motion Picture?

WoW. Just WoW.

World of Warcraft is headed to the big screen, and the adaption will be directed by Sam Raimi. Gaming geeks everywhere will be thrilled by the news, I'm sure. I just hope Guild mistress Felicia Day can wrangle herself a role.

Forza 3

Speaking of the Xbox 360, I'm very excited about all the features of the upcoming Forza Motorsport 3. Is it October yet?

Even Felicia

Even Felicia Day looks silly when playing with Microsoft's new Natal full-body interface for the Xbox 360. Keep that in mind when considering what you would look like.

DJ Hero

Are you bored with your fake guitar, fake drums, and fake microphone?  How about a fake turntable?  That's right, DJ Hero is coming.  

Return to the Cutting Edge

Those of you who enjoyed my post on the shaving-industry arms race may also be amused by the latest Penny Arcade comic.  Enjoy.

iPhonizzle, as Ashley would say.

Alison bought me an iPhone 3G for my birthday.  Who has the coolest wife around?  I do, that's who.

Lessons Newton Taught Us: Furniture Exceptions

One of our rules proscribing Newton's behavior:

The dog is allowed on all furniture except the DDR mats.

The Guild Aligns with Microsoft

It seems that the second season of Felicia Day's web series The Guild will appear on Microsoft's online video service.  This development means that each episode will be available on the Zune, on MSN, andthrough Xbox Live a few weeks before becoming available at The Guild's official site.  This news also means that Day won't have to ask for donations in order to be able to pay to "film" the show.

Update:  The first ep of the second season is available now;  we just watched it on our Xbox (and the TV that Nick so graciously gave us).

Sisters, Again

Ashly came by a week or so ago, and she and Alison had a girls' day at the mall.  They also found time to fit in some Super Mario Brothers on Alison's Nintendo Entertainment System.

If this photo looks familar to you, that's because I posted one that was eerily similar about 6 months ago.

See Ya Later

The uncreatively named Gears of War 2 arrived today, so don't expect to see many posts from us for the next week or so.

Internet Series Review: The Guild, Season 1

(This review contains no significant spoilers.)

Alison and recently discovered the internet series The Guild, and we promptly watched its entire run.  Here's my review:

The Setup

The series was created by Felicia Day* based on her own experiences playing MMORPGs, and it follows addicted gamer Codex (Day) as her online life crosses over into her real life.  Season 1 consists of 10 episodes of about 3 to 6 minutes each.  Season 2 was supposed to hit the intertubes in September or October, so I'm unsure what its status is. 

What I Liked

• All the characters are distinct, with unique personalities.  I particularly enjoyed Codex, Zaboo, and Vork.
• The acting is sometimes pretty strong, and I especially enjoyed the actors filling the 3 roles I just mentioned.
• The script is fairly amusing, most of the time.

What I Disliked

• The acting is sometimes fairly weak, giving me the impression that I was watching actors reading lines, rather than characters saying what they felt.
• The dialog can be a little stilted and artificial-sounding at times.

Conclusion

Overall, I give the first season of The Guild 7.0 out of 10.  If I were a MMORPGer, I'd probably give it a full point more.  I'm looking forward to seeing the second season, if it ever materializes.

* Day may be familiar to the Whedonites in the audience as Vi, a potential slayer from Buffy's final season, and as Penny, the laundromat girl, from Dr. Horrible.

Obama Advertises in Paradise City

Check it out: Barack Obama is advertising on virtual billboards in Burnout Paradise.