Ricky Gervais, star of the original English series of The Office, has a cameo in the so-close-yet-so-far Grand Theft Auto IV. Gervais donned a motion capture suit and recorded a three-minute routine that you’ll be able to catch during a visit to a Liberty City comedy club.
ShortList Magazine via Kotaku
Check out this Halo 3 machinima with references to Mario Bros, Starfox, Smash Bros, Pokemon Snap and probably a few other games I missed - it’s really well put together.
via GoNintendo
The film adaptation of the (mostly) Japan-exclusive zombie slasher game OneeChanbara is set to open in theatres across Japan on April 26. A scantily-clad Japanese katana-wielding cowgirl fighting hordes of zombies? I’d say there’s a large audience for this regardless of their familiarity with the game.
via Kotaku
This might be old news to pop culture fanatics, but the gorgeous Mila Kunis, star of That 70’s Show and the voice of Family Guy’s Meg Griffin is a World of Warcraft fan. Her boyfriend Macauley Culkin is too. Funny that - with Home Alone being a great descriptor for many inhabitants of Azeroth.
Don’t believe it? Read the guys at Complex quiz her about the game. The Culkster has to step in towards the end to help name all the major geographical features of Azeroth, but we forgive her.
Elias92x from the PlayStation Forums has taken some snapshots of three massive Grand Theft Auto IV billboards that he encountered in Queens, New York.
More after the jump.
Australians aren’t the only ones copping an edited version of Grand Theft Auto IV - New Zealand’s R 18+ rating for games hasn’t even saved them this time - putting the kibosh on the plans of many Australians to import the game from New Zealand.
Gameplanet.co.nz sent an e-mail to pre-order customers in Australia this morning:
We have been informed today that New Zealand will be receiving the same version of Grand Theft Auto IV as Australia.
As you have placed your order after Rockstar announced that the Australian version was edited, we are assuming that you will no longer require the game to be shipped from us, as we can’t supply you with an uncut version.
The last thing we want to do is supply you with a product that does not meet your needs and we’ve therefore taken the liberty of removing your GTA4 order from our web site.
We certainly hope we can be more helpful to you in the future!
The only choice left for Xbox 360 users wanting the unedited version of GTA IV is to import from the UK. Thanks to the lack of region-locks, PlayStation 3 users can opt for the US version from an import shop like Play-asia - and at under US$70, this is likely to be the cheapest option.
Here’s a great piece of weekend reading that sure beats picking up (and subsequently throwing away in disgust) that weekend newspaper. Gamasutra have taken the time to interview Craig Allen, CEO of Spark Unlimited who developed Turning Point.
It’s an FPS set in WWII, but is miles away from being a WWII FPS. Instead of trailblazing your way through Europe, the game is set in an alternate path of history where the Nazi’s have invaded America and other allied nations. You’re not a playing as a soldier, army officer, or anyone in control of heavy firepower. You’re Regular John, simply struggling for survival, rather than glory or honor.
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Cooper Lawrence, tje psychologist and author who appeared on a debate on Fox News about Mass Effect, has gotten a taste of her own medicine. In the cringeworthy debate, shown above, she lays into the ‘inherent sexism’ of Mass Effect and the terrible effect it will have on the children. Despite admitting to never having played the game herself, and completely ignoring the arguments put forth by Geoff Keighley (of Spike TV), Lawrence managed to score big points with the sensation-hungry Fox people.
But gamers have decided to hit her back where it hurts: On the Amazon reviews page for her latest book. Around 40 people who simple couldnt stand the hypocirisy of someone cricitising something they know nothing about, managed to bring her book’s average rating down to 1 star. Needless to say, you don’t mess with gamers.
Gamers and industry types are both typically quite vocal regarding their dislike of trade-in retailers like Gamestop, who pay fractions of market value for used games that are then on-sold for just below the price of a new, sealed copy. So rather than taking a measly fiver for that DS game you’re done with, why not donate it to a soldier abroad and brighten up his or her recreational time?
We all know that guy who gets into MMOs a little too hard, but you would never think of him taking his online brunts into the real world. However this is exactly what has happened in Russia, when a Lineage II player from a rival clan beat another to death.
The altercation started on December 31st when an online battle between the victim and the killer’s clan resulted in the killer’s clan being wiped out. The situation escalated from there, with a real life confrontation forming and the 33 year old man being beaten to death. The killer has been identified as a 22 year old student who reportedly shows no remorse for the victim and lives by his clan rule:
“Beat everything that moves, and everything that doesn’t move - move and beat!”
Unfortunately the rival gang don’t not seem to be able to differentiate real life from online as pointed out when the victim’s sister talked to Russia Today:
“I think [the rival clan] have confused the game and reality. And after we buried him on December 31, they continued to threaten us.”
While this may seem a one-off freak incident, it is tragically Russia’s second Lineage II related murder in a year.
via Russia Today
