‘Warcraft’ Sequel Lets Gamers Play A Character Playing ‘Warcraft’

This is too funny…

via @justinkeller

Put those guitars away nice & cheap

File this under ‘news any real guitar player already knows’ but thought I’d make a quick post to save you some cash if you have a bunch of plastic guitars piled up in the corner from RockBand and Guitar Hero.

Don’t buy the crappy stands from the videogame/big box electronics stores, go to a real music store. I went to a local Long & McQuade store and had a choice of proper guitar stands starting as low as $11…I opted for the $14.50 model since it had black foam instead of the orange that the cheaper model had. These can be had online for even cheaper if you shop around but you’ll probably pay shipping so it’s your call which is easier.

As you can see from my photo, it easily holds two guitars..possibly three.

Beats paying $20+ for one at Future Shop or Best Buy. Don’t buy their USB cables either….hit a dollar store instead.

Guitar Hero: On Tour - WTF?

I was really looking forward to this until I saw the commercial:

[Via Kotaku]

Wii Fit First Impressions

Nintendo’s new fitness product/game, Wii Fit, came out today. This is a long anticipated product that has been touted since the early days of the Wii launch.

Unfortunately, I was involved in a car accident yesterday so I won’t be able to really try it out for a little while but I am supposed to stay active so I’ve tried some of the lower impact aspects of the Wii Fit.

This $90 bundle comes with the Wii Fit software, a manual, four batteries and a balance board that is not unlike a really big weigh scale with some sensors built in.

Initial impression of the package is that it’s solid. The box is actually quite heavy when you pick it up for the first time and the balance board is all to blame. It’s a combination of plastic and metal that supports up to 330 lbs or 150 kg.

The first thing you do after putting the batteries in is to sync it with the Wii like any new controller by pressing the red sync button on the Wii and the similar button the balance board inside the battery door. There is a familiar blue power light on the bottom of the balance board and it’s meant to be turned on with your foot. You can use it on carpet or hardwood flooring. It even comes with extra feet extensions in case you have extra deep (shag?) carpet….ew.

Once you’re all synced up you’re ready to begin.

You start off by choosing a Mii to use for your profile. Then it asks a number of questions related to you like your height and birthdate.

The program then takes you through a number of tests to gauge your center of balance and determine your BMI (body mass index) among other things. Since the balance board actually is a scale, you can’t cheat on your weight since it knows. Once your BMI has been determined by your height and weight, the program explains what this all means and allows you to set a goal if it determines you’re above or below your ideal BMI. Basically it tells you if you’re fat or not. While at first blush this could be construed as a bad thing, it does so in a nice way. Besides, who couldn’t afford to lose a few pounds - I know I do - and this is why there aren’t any screenshots of my personal progress.

Once you set your goal, you can see a chart that graphs it on a day by day basis with some slick animations when transitioning between different things. Then you can begin your training. You start off by choosing a male or female personal trainer who will guide you through the various exercises and mini-games.

So far I’ve only tried one of the balance games due to my accident (which is actually quite similar to one of the exercises I’m supposed to do) so I’ll wrap this up for now until I’ve had more time with it. I like what I’ve seen so far and hope that this device leads to more of these kinds of exercise games and I’ve heard that there may be other software titles that can utilize the balance board.

The Game is on

Earlier this week, I had the privilege of being one of the first people to get a sneak peak at something that has been in the works for a long time now. I’ve come to know a few of the people working on this project over the past year and have been patiently waiting to find out what they’ve been up to over at Strutta.com. They have been dropping little hints all along and now that I’ve seen what they’ve been working on, many of those little hints start making a lot more sense…like a big puzzle finally coming together as something recognizable.

I had my own thoughts as to what Strutta was. Given it’s name, the clever taglines on T-shirts (”What, ou think you’re better than me?”) that have been popping up at various events around town and the kinds of things people working inside do and don’t hide, I was beginning to piece together what was going on.

So what the hell is it?

Without giving away all the secrets that I’ve been sworn to keep, Strutta is a place where people that have ANY kind of skill (that can be captured on video) can compete with others to be the best at that skill.

Using a lot of cool technology, people will be able to upload (or link to) their videos and others will vote on them using a number of different methods. Videos will be grouped into ‘games’ which you then play by ranking the entries in that game.

What impressed me the most wasn’t this basic premise (which I’m over simplifying), but rather the myriad number of ways you’ll be able to participate in the ‘games’ without other stuff getting in the way. I won’t get into detail here (mostly because I’m not completely sure how descriptive I can be without Jordan busting down my door), but suffice to say, you won’t be able to miss Strutta when they take off. They’ve thought about this a lot and have all the bases covered. They also have a pretty kick ass team working on it too.

This has the potential to get huge because it appeals to people’s competitive nature in a way where you don’t necessarily have to be an uber-athlete to compete and the gameplay mechanisms are quite intuitive. Anyone with a skill or something they (think) are the best at can play. I’ve been racking my brain to think of something I can do. I’m sure I’ll think of something you can make fun of me over later.

Here’s the official, Jordan Approved™ screenshot of what the site currently looks like which I think doesn’t do it justice since you really have to play with it to get a feel for it….and I’m told you’ll get a chance to do that very soon.

Of course, the screenshot features Alexa as the ‘Best Guitar Hero Player’ - which is totally unfair because Strutta has a dedicated room for her to play GH in during work hours. She is so hardcore, she even dresses like the characters in the game while she plays. Their team meetings must be fun.

I’m looking forward to seeing the full Strutta unveiling over the coming weeks and months and people starting to use it. Great job so far and thanks for giving me a sneak peak!

Going to SXSWi? Part 2

One of the cool side benefits of going to the Interactive portion of SXSW is that you get exposed to the Film and Music festivals. Unless you purchase a gold passport, your Interactive badge won’t get you into those events, panels and parties…well, maybe the parties but they have armed guards preventing the film geeks from mingling with the web geeks (and vice versa) inside the convention center.

In previous years that I’ve attended, and hopefully this time around, there has been downloads of music from all the bands playing during SXSW and a huge torrent of trailers for all the movies showing during the film portion. This amounts to exposure to a ton of new music and cool new films you might not otherwise be exposed to. So even if you’re not going to Austin, you can still benefit since the downloads are free and open to anyone. Looks like this year, they have a trailer site with a videoplayer to browse through all the films. They still haven’t posted (or at least I couldn’t find) the music downloads but they do have a list of all the bands performing. I’m going to have to see about getting into the Moby session.

This year, the first trailer that I’ve come across, for a documentary about online gaming/virtual worlds called Second Skin, looks very interesting and just happens to be free for Interactive attendees:

Speaking of games, another nice benefit of going to Interactive is the Screenburn Festival which happens at the same time. They also have their own arcade tradeshow with game companies showing their wares with demos and giveaways. It’s free and open for the public as well.

Drumming to Mario

This is pretty damn sweet:

Thanks Peter!

Slot machine on your iPhone

There is an amazing new Slot Machine game called iSlots on Installer right now:

It even maintains your bank between plays and has sound effects of the reels going.

New toy: Cherry Master Video Slot Machine

I went to an arcade auction this weekend and scored this upright video slot machine for cheap.

I think it’s hilarious that it screams “FOR AMUSEMENT ONLY” on the top of the bezel. After doing some googling, it seems that this unit *could* actually be setup to payout so bring your quarters next time you come over.

It wasn’t powered on during the auction but figured it was a very clean cabinet and the insides looked pristine so it was worth the risk. I figured if there was something wrong, I could easily fix it myself as I’ve done in the past. Many times games at auction need very little work to get running (aside from cosmetic work). Previously I bought a $400 game for $30 and the only thing wrong with it was a disconnected speaker wire so it had no sound. It was an easy fix.

When I got it home (it fit into my car barely - at not quite 5 feet tall, it’s much smaller than a regular videogame cabinet), I plugged it in and was happy to find that it worked perfectly. The only issue was that the screen looked a little blurry…fortunately it wasn’t an issue with the monitor, but actually just a build up of dust inside the cabinet on the plexiglass bezel. After cleaning it, it looks brand new now. It even has a bill acceptor that works although it doesn’t like my Canadian bills. Not sure if that’s broken or it’s expecting US$.

Not too bad for $25.

ScummVM on the iPhone

Cool. Details here.. Found via Gizmodo. (thanks Pete!)