It's the story about a MagicMystik who wasn't listening, a Ninja making profane T-shirts for children and a Panda who just couldn't wait. You might think of it as the latest episode of the ElectricSistaHood podcast, but we prefer to think of it as just another slice of life.

Magic starts it out by talking about the manga "Pet Shop of Horrors" and Ninja and Panda finish it up by giving their love to the new Soul Caliber IV. In between all that, they present another hour of hilarity for all of you.

Just get a load of the titles that were turned down for this episode:

Just Listen To It and Figure It Out

The Heartbreak of Numb Butt

When Naruto Met a Night Elf Chick

If a Tree Falls In the Woods, Does It Get Turned Into a Manga?

My Favorite Word of the Week Was Circle-Jerk

We Don't Really Have DILLIGAF For Kids

The Day WoW Was Not Played

Let's Not Talk About Boob Brutality

The Soul Caliber Unlockable for Windows? Clippy!

So Many Accessories, They Should Call It Sim Caliber

If Robert E. Lee Had Invisible Naked Chick Army, We'd Be Celebrating His Birthday

Soul Caliber Finally Realized I'm Fat

The T-shirt Has Yoda and Siegfried -- Where's Roy?

I Hate Being Pwned, But I Love the Attention

Maids Prefer To Think Of Their Hats As Tiaras

I Pahked My Cah Then Became a Shirt-Rippah

Mamma Mia, Not Another Musical Episode

Token With the Sistahs (Not, It's Not the New Cheech & Chong Movie)

So enjoy Episode 108: It's Like Food In My Mouth and don't forget to start sucking up to the Sistahs. You gotta get one of those tokens somehow.

Finish What You Start...

Today is the day people. Are your thumbs ready? Did you do your exercises? Were you able to decide between the path of the Jedi or the Dark Side? I hope you have, because today is July 29th which means that Soul Calibur IV has hit the shelves.

To say that I am excited for the release of this game would be an understatement of gigantic proportions. I have missed playing a fighter worth the rental fee for over two years now. The last new release fighting title that I would even dare to put into the "good" category was DOA:4 which is now nearly 4 years old. Four years is way too long of a drought to suffer through, but I take solace in the fact that I am not alone in my misery.

Now before the naysayers and fanboys get up in arms, I know that there have been many versus games based on the Dragonball series, and they have not all sucked. In earnest, the Budokai series has some great gameplay going on in the game itself. That said, the Dragonball titles to me have never really felt like a fighter game title. They are a franchise that appeal to only an existing anime fan base that potentially game as well. The Budokai games have not been able to bridge the game and draw the casual gamer in to join their "legion of the loyal." In many cases, the exact opposite happened; people that would normal pick up every and every fighter title initially shied away from the title. So because DBZ:Budokai focuses on such a small piece of the market of the fighting genre I do not believe it fair to use it as a representation of the whole genre. If you don't like it, you can suck it.

You may say, "...Ninja? Didn't NamcoBandai release an SC title for the Wii? Wasn't that good?" My reply would be "Yes! And it sucked more wind than a brand new Dyson." [And the commercials for that thing say it never loses suction.] SC:Legends was a waste of time and money, and I'm sure NamcoBandai felt that way as well which is why it looks like they worked so hard in order to redeem the title's reputation. NamcoBandai press releases promise that,

"Soulcalibur IV has been retooled from the ground up to provide a true next generation experience."

And then go on to say,

"...the wages of battle are shown as protective armor can be broken off and visible lacerations of clothing can be seen with the inclusion of the equipment destruction feature. Adding depth to the unrivalled combat system, players can unleash Critical Finish moves to defeat opponents in one stunning blow."

The game sports an "improved" character creation mode that allows you to customize the hell out of an existing fighter or even create an original warrior. Oh yeah, it has online versus play as well.

Get thee to thou localist GameStoppery and pick this game up. SCIV is available on the PS3 [Dark Side, Vader style] and XBox 360 [Path of the Jedi].

You know the gamertag, let's star playing.

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If you ever sit and ponder on the idea of people of a young-ish age drinking, let this new episode of the ESH podcast be the proof you need to "just say nay!"

This week, MagicMystic returns and brings with her balance to the force while Panda and Ninja enjoy some adult juice before, during, and probably after the episode.

This episode starts with Ninja talking about the new XBLive Arcade title Go! Go! Break Steady that she keep calling "Go! Go! Beat Street" reports on some of the feelings around the industry about E3, and the hopefully triumphant return of the fighting genre on the back of Soul Calibur IV. Magic chimes in with her new found XBox-y goodness and general discovery of "the new" as she shares first impressions of her new XBox 360 Elite as well as latent desires for an XBLive account, and then Panda brings up the rear and talks about the anime and manga series, Full Metal Panic. The gals are back to normal and completely off topic as usual.

Here are some of the random things said during the show that could have been used as titles, but weren't:

• Wallmart, Baby Come Back!
• The Big "E" Is Big
• MagicMystic Is Back, And Out Of The Closet
• Jobless Wonder To The Rescue-ish
• It's Not The Size of Your GamerScore, But How You Use It
• You Don't Wanna Waste Your Bombs
• Don't Pay The Toll When 5-0's On Your Ass
• This Podcast Is Abridged
• and finally
• FUSION DANCE OF PAIN!

Hope you have a hot cup of coffee on hand, because you want to stay awake for this one folks. I give you, ESH podcast episode 107: Friends Don't Let Friends Drink & Podcast!

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Get ready to use your wiimote to shoot down and hack through some zombie mallrats folks, Capcom today announced that Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop is in development for the Wii.

The new title will be based on the previous Dead Rising videogame, but not be a port of that title.

Capcom promises that Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop will

"delivers a more immersive, intuitive and interactive experience as players use the Wii Remote to shoot, slash and bludgeon their way through a zombie infested shopping mall, fighting for survival.

In the game, you are Frank West, an overly zealous freelance journalist on a hunt for the scoop of a lifetime. While tracking a juicy lead, he makes his way to the small suburban town of Willamette only to find that it has become overrun by zombies. Frank escapes to the local shopping mall, thinking it will be a bastion of safety but it turns out to be anything but. It will be a true struggle to survive the endless stream of enemies, but players will have full reign of a realistic shopping centre and its varied stores offering an endless supply of real and makeshift weapons to fight off the flesh-hungry mob. If Frank is running low on health he can pay a visit to one of the many restaurants or cafes for a meal in order to restore his energy and continue the fight.

The game is split into a series of individual cases, all of which Frank must complete in order to gain mission critical info that will allow him to figure out what the hell is going on with all the zombie bastards.

Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop’s infectious humor delivers some welcome relief from the incessant tide of zombies with players able to dress Frank up in a variety of comedic costumes and take on the undead hordes with a selection of improvised and sometimes highly ineffective weapons such as a toy sword or a football.

Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop is scheduled to hit store shelves this Winter.

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When a Mommy RockBand and a Daddy RockBand love each other very much...

Hey Hey Hey...Pandalicious on the scene bringing you the goodness that is. Rock Band 2! Now I know what you are thinkging.... ::cues flashback wave things::

You: Panda....I know Rock Band is the hottest thing since pancakes on Saturday morning. But What makes this Rock band as awesome?

Panda: Well Let me tell you. First let me tell you about the new gameplay changes. Remember how when we wanted to play online through XBL (XBox Live) and you were still a noob and didn't know how to invite me. THEN when you finally managed to invite me we could only do quickplay songs and it was just hours of masss hysteria!

You: Yeah....

Panda: Well not anymore. There is a new mode in Rock Band 2, that allows us to make a band with not only our local rockers but with outside rockers on the XBL interwebs. You know what that means right?

You: You are never going to let me sleep?

Panda: That's right! The Gameplay is still the same though. Same color nodes. Same overall feeling of rockitude and swagger. There is still single player mode however it is now extended to a solo bassist! Thats right, so now the sexiest component to a Rock Band (IMO) gets their chance to rock out with their COCKS out. [Yes I said cock, deal with it]

You: What about for drumming? You know we all were exicted about being drum masters and realized that we all really sucked...

Panda: Speak for yourself ! However if you weren't like me who went back into the drumming tutorial to help train my foot better to use the kick pedal, there will be something called the "Beat Trainer" which will generate beats to help you hone your rocking skills.

You: Well Panda that sounds niffty and all but am I going to like the play list? Am I going to have to buy all the songs, load them to my iPod so I can learn them so I don't make an utter fool of myself when I come to your house?

Panda: Well...Let me tell you the ones that I'm looking forward to and if you a GIANT loser and haven't been following the coverage of E3...the internet will be your friend and check out places such as. IGN, joystiq and of course, us, DUH. If you are new to the interwebs you should try www.fuckinggoogleit.com [Just kidding, Wikipedia.org is a nice place to start]

In terms of the songs i'm looking forward to guitaring they are
1) American Woman~ The Guess Who
2) Down with the Sickeness~ Disturbed
3) Chop Suey- System of a Down
4) Lump~ Presidents of the United States of America

In terms of Singing...
1) Master Expolder~ Tenacious D [FUCK FUCK FUCK YES!]
2) Everlong~ Foo Fighters
3) Round and Round~ Ratt
4) White Wedding~ Billy Idol
5) My Own Worst Enemy- Lit

You: ....

Panda: I love our little interludes like this. I'm out of here!

But now seriously guys

Finish What You Start...

Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion are just a few of the great games to come from Bethesda Softworks.

Fallout 3 looks to be right up there with the other greats. Check out the E3 video release showing gameplay, particularly, combat.

Finish What You Start...

When I first heard the announcement about the new Prince of Persia game I was pretty skeptical. While I did not complete Price of Persia:The Two Thrones [I only got half way through the title before I moved on to something else] I had grown quite attached to my prince, and the lovely narrator voice that followed him.

But the fine folks at Ubisoft have moved on to tell the tale of a new Price, and in an entirely new way.

The new Price is stuck in the middle of the most basest good versus evil conflicts: light versus dark. Very similar the the Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princes which the environment of the new PoP game strongly reminds me of. In the interview video you are about to watch you can see what I'm talking about. What I find most interested is how the companion character Elika will affect the gameplay. I can not shake the fact that this new PoP game comes across as the bastard child of Twilight Prince and Ico on the PS2.

Take a look:

Finish What You Start...

If you are an avid listener of our podcast or frequent visitor our site you know that the ESH crew is not in LA covering E3 on the ground this year. We are there in spirit though, and I am more than happy to share what I have surmised from the day one coverage of the media bru ha ha.

We kick off with Microsoft. From the land of online community comes the announcement of "Experience," the new online community framework that will be put into place on the XBox360 platform. Taking the hint from how successful the xbox.com community has been, "Experience" leans towards giving the user base a similar digital entertainment hub to that of MS counterpart/major competitor Sony with it's "Home" application. Through "Experience" users will have avatars that they create that can interact with each other over the internet, have access to an even broader base of electronic media entertainment [including the newly announced partner Netflix] and more.

On hand were the pre-requisite hype game trailers for both Gears of War 2 and Fable 2 [both of which make have many of us in the gaming community salivating at the mere thought of them] upcoming titles. I will have a gallery collection of my favorite E3 released trailers up later on this week. The XBox camp was also proud to announce that the new Final Fantasy XIII title will launch simultaneously on the XBox360 platform as well as the PS3 platform. A huge win for MS in the fight to end PS3 exclusivity dominance over the Final Fantasy franchise. [Try saying that three times fast.]

All in all MS tried to come out swinging at this event, making it known that that they are not afraid to jump into the brawl to be the best home entertainment system and not just gaming console. It's hard to not notice the trend towards a path of total digital media delivery package that the next gen systems seem to be moving toward. It is a road that competitors Sony and [to a degree] Nintendo have been marketing towards for well over a year now, but it still awaits to be seen if it is the predominant market for success here in the US.

We will just have to see what day two brings us tomorrow evening.

Finish What You Start...

It's hard to explain the title until you listen to the episode, but trust me this new episode of the ESH podcast is quite the piece of work.

In this episode of the podcast, the sistah's run the video game, entertainment and anime gauntlet from the audience choice re-review of the anime series Angel Sanctuary to new games on the E3 horizon. Would it be an ESH podcast if we didn't talk about incest, angst, mentioning Bioshock or complaining about videogames/comic titles being turning into feature length films? I don't think so. To give you a better idea of how the episode turned out, here are the titles we didn't choose:

• Sucked Into a Portal of Happiness
• God Knows, Even In His Sleep
• Again With the Incest
• I Love Her, So I Need to Kill Her
• The Sex Scenes Are Pretty Cool, Just Pretend They're Not Related
• Just Say "No" to Will Smith
• Want to Beat Darth Vader? Smack James Earl Jones in the Face
• It's Big. It's Black. and It Makes No Noise
• My Only Real Complaint Is that It's Short
• I Finally Took Out Ghandhi - I'm Not Proud to Say That
• and
• FYI: Incest Sends Your Soul to Hell

So grab your morning or evening cup of joe and enjoy ESH Podcast Episode 105: This Is Fan Service...WITHOUT My Crotch

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Square Enix has officially announced their new rpg...for the iPod!? Song Summoner: The Unsung Heroes has gameplay and graphics in the style of the Final Fantasy Tactics series and Disgaea.

Are you ready for the kicker? You remember the Monster Rancher game on the Playstation 1 and how you were able to create monsters from just about any CD you had around the house? Well, Song Summoner follows a similar path, allowing you to create an army from songs on your iPod. Here are some pics.

SONG SUMMONER: The Unsung Heroes
Publisher: Square Enix, Inc.
Platform: iPod nano with video, iPod classic and fifth generation iPod
Genre: Role-Playing
Launch Date: July 8, 2008
Price: 4.99 USD (iTunes Store download)

Game Features


- Transform your iPod songs into "Tune Troopers" to combat the evil Mechanical Militia.

- Tune Trooper types and abilities are determined by the songs used to create them.

- Your Tune Troopers can be powered up even outside of the game--just by listening to the songs you used to create them!

- Control Ziggy, a "Conductor" that creates warriors out of music, and guide him through his journey to save his brother Zero from the Mechanical Militia.

- Experience a turn-based tactics battle system, divided into player and enemy phases where each side takes turns maneuvering their forces.

- Deploy the right troopers at the right time, and use contraptions found on the map effectively to achieve victory in battle!

- iPod Click Wheelallows players to play the game as easily as selecting music.

Finish What You Start...

It's Monday again, and it's time once more for a new episode of the ESH podcast.

I hope you guys and gals from the land of ESH had a happy and safe holiday weekend. I know I did, and I'm pretty sure that Panda did. Today we have another NinJa/Panda podcast episode where NinJa goes a bit in depth on the video game GRID and Panda shares some of her first impressions on the Diablo 3 announcement. It's a nearly all video game fun-packed episode, that you should totally pick up right now.

Don't believe me, here are some of the titles we decided not to use that came from the episode:

• Do You Question My Skills? (When don't I?)
• You Shouldn't Rape Your Tech They Can't Say "No."
• The Story of a Ninja Called Spanky
• ESHDog Cannot Be Controlled
• Lik eSands In an Hourglass, These Are The Races of Our Lives
• Ive Got Anal Leakage, But I'm Not Anxious About It.
• When ESHMom Ain't Happy, Ain't Nobody Happy
• Omnipotent Does Not Equal Omniscient
• Never Trust Cheese That Doesn't Melt
• In Diablo 4, He Fights That Super Boxer From Russia
• If She's Got Multiple Boobies, Who's Looking At Her Face?
• If You Think That Anal Leakage Is Bad, Guess What Her Armpits Do
• Is It Time For A WoW Siesta?
• WoW Craves, Diablo Saves Saves
• and
• Coming Soon: Smackdown! Diable VS Bobby Flay

It's a good episode, so grab your coffee and enjoy ESH podcast episode 104: My Senses Are There, My Balls Are Not Inert, Lock & Load, Let's Go!

Finish What You Start...

I have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of the game Little Big Planet since it was annonced last year. I'm almost captivated by it. I obssess over every screen, youtube video and demonstration of the game that I see. I'm not a huge "The Sims" fan, but do enjoy the majority of simulation game titles available here in the US.

What grabs me first about a sim-game is the level of control it gives me over my environment. When I can affect the world I am about to play in it let's me explore areas of my imagination the I would otherwise avoid during my day job. It gives me a free pass on being constrained to a single plane of thought and ultimately let's me be a kid again. When you add to that the ability to create the people/creatures/things that will then live in that world or explore them, I get even more excited. Creativity to me is one of the most undervalued traits that a person has or can have. That being said, it should be no surprise that games like LBP or Spore never drop off my radar.

The problem I have is that I lack patience. Severely. Anyone in my family can attest to this. So to have to wait until October to get my hands on this game, and right now I'm having a hard time with it. Sure, I've had the Spore Creature Creator to keep my company, but I find that the Creature Creator has become a poor substitute for the full title, and of late does not quench my thirst. Here and there I play another round of Sid Meier's Civilization: Revolution, but like Creature Creator, Civ:Revolution is a demo, easily completed or timed out and I am left alone again clawing at my own flesh trying to tear my mind away for the unbridled desire for this game. I'm sure that Sony is tired of getting my emails about this game, but right now we are barely starting July... October is three torturous and agonizing months away. I mean, look at this stuff I found on the LBP Wiki, and from a Sony press release I got a while back:

"There are limitless ways to play. Players craft their own individual experience based on their own creativity.

Unlimited possibilities for user-created content – players can customize everything: their characters, the landscape around them and their own patch on LittleBigPlanet.

Players learn new skills and discover new items to aid them on their creative journey. Explore the massive single player game or go online to find user-generated content.

LittleBigPlanet will change every day as players contribute their own levels.
Online and offline multiplayer modes – play alone, work as a team with up to four friends or get competitive.

LittleBigPlanet global community for players to get involved with: includes player comments, rankings and easy communication with new and existing friends."

C'mon, look at the main characters... THEY ARE SOCK PUPPET PEOPLE!!!

I'm going to have to call out sick from the day job when this game finally comes to market.

Finish What You Start...

Monday brings with it yet another episode of the ESH podcast, and in this one the sistahs' steal the limelight and hold it hostage for about an hour.

NinJaSistah takes the mic first this go 'round to speak on a topic near and dear to her heart, Ninja Gaiden II. From new visuals, lamest ninja name ever, to best and worst aspects of initial gameplay NinJa brings the sexy black. I mean back.

Then Pandalicious talks about her newly addicted Wii Fit experience. The yoga that is easy, what the game is and is not, and how it affects her daily life. MagicMystic chimes in a time or too before having to head out early. All in all, it's one of our normal, wacky shows. Here are some of the episode titles we rejected:

• It Helps If You're Nimble and Omnicient
• From The Look Of The Ninja Gaiden Girls You'd Think Goodyear Was The Sponsor
• Lamest Name For A NinJa: Joe
• AI Can Be A Sneaky Bastard
• No, The Dog Didn't Eat Panda's Homework
• And Then She Mentioned Richard Simmons' Weiner
• If Your Kid Turns Into A Pretzel, Turn The Wii Fit Off Now!
• My Fat Mii Haunts Me
• and
• Gravity Is A Bitch And Always Wins

Told you it was the normal wacky episode from the ESH girls. So sit back, relax and enjoy podcast episode 102: When NinJa Talks About Her Nuts, People Listen

Finish What You Start...

I know it's been a while since I wrote something on the site, but trust me when I say that the wait will have been worth while.

I have been working on a series of wallpapers featuring some of my favorite characters from NamcoBandai's upcoming Soul Calibur IV title, and I have to say these are pretty damn hot if I say so myself. I have a few more characters to go, but with the game launch nearly upon us, I felt it only fair to put these up now.

The wallpapers are designed at 1440x900 and are sitting on my picasa page, so feel free to peruse the slideshow and then hit up the actual page for to be making download.


Who loves you baby?

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The man in the photo here is a guy named Laurent Fischer. He's not remarkably unlike you or me. But when he puts his foot in his mouth, he manages to jam it as far in as he can.

You see, Fischer is the director of marketing for Nintendo's European division. And, as a director of marketing, he really ought to know better than to do what he did last week.

Nintendo users have been clamoring for more memory for the Wii -- an external hard drive would be awfully nice, especially as games take up more space. But, in a story for Edge, a gaming magazine, the editor's asked Fischer about the demand for more space:

As is always the case with Nintendo’s press events nowadays, the dirty word ‘casual’ was raised at its WiiWare preview, only to be dismissed in favor of a distinction between gamers and non-gamers. Playing these semantic games is fine, but when a pertinent question about the limited Wii system memory was raised, Laurent Fischer, managing director of marketing at NOE, easily slipped into talking about how “geeks and otaku” were the only people who would want this issue addressed.

Otaku, if you're not hip to the Japanese language, is a slang term that characterizes gamers as pimply, fat guys who spend all their time playing videogames in the basement of their parents' house. It's like inferring that Ninjasistah eats only watermelon and fried chicken. It's not a very nice word.

The story was posted on the Next Generation gaming website on Wednesday and the blogosphere has had a field day with Fischer's comment. On his blog, God of War creator David Jaffe said, "Ok, so if this is true, it's really, really sad. And not so much because Nintendo seems to be telling a chunk of its loyal fanbase to go fuck itself, but because it's just reeks of junior high school vibe immaturity bullshit."

In the meantime, Fischer has retracted his comment, with the following missive on the Videogaming247 website:

"I have huge respect for those who, like me, share a common passion for Nintendo and want to make it clear that I would never use and I didn't use this terminology in such a context or way to cause offence. I regret that this misunderstanding has created such offence and disappointment within the community."

Oh, I see. He was using the word "otaku" in the nicest way.

The upside of the whole thing? The geeks and otaku apparently are the winners, according to Wired:

Immediately following Fischer's statement, geeks and otaku around the world turned on their Wiis to find that the on-board storage had been magically quadrupled through the power of apology.

Finish What You Start...

Monday yet again people, and here we go with a fresh new episode of the ESH podcast for you.

In this episode of the podcast the girls talk a bit about nearly every entertainment medium. We gots a bit of manga, a bit of anime, some feature film stuff all topped off with video game shizzole.

Pandalicious kicks off the show talking about the anime series Hell Girl based off of the manga of the same name. She and Magic go back and forth a bit exploring what works and what doesn't in the series. MagicMystic then shares her impressions of the new Hulk movie and NinJaSistah closes out the show talking about E3.

To give you an idea of the kind of show we had, here are the titles we rejected:

• NinJa Can't Fly, But She Can Jump to Conclusions
• No..Un..com..piled Da-ta EVER!!!
• It's The Season For Creepy Flowers
• The Cat In The Hat Was Not In The Prestige
• Panda Makes A Fight Club Reference Nobody Else Understands
• Hulk Smash! Movie Not!
• Panda's Comic Book Cred Just Plummeted
• Levitating Trumps Hovering
• Attention Game Makers: Panda's Up For Payola
• Exclusive: NinJa's Guide To Carnal Solicitation
• The Love-Hate Relationship With E3 Has Turned Back To Hate
• and
• I'm Pre-Retractable

It's a completely rounded out episode folks, so sit back and enjoy episode 101: Not To Spoil It For You, But This Episode Ends In Goodbye.

Finish What You Start...

The videogame industry is packed with news these days, but I'm sure you must have read about some of this stuff:

Didja see? There's a new Blackberry case from Otterbox.

It protects the Blackberry from the iPhone!

Didja see? Square Enix says Final Fantasy XIII is still intended to be exclusive for the PS3.

I guess if no one plays it, no one will know how badly it sucks.

Didja see? In order to save tens of millions of dollars on the Xbox 360, Microsoft designed its own chip for the thing. Then when the chip red-ringed everyone's Xbox 360, the recall cost Microsft a billion dollars.

As the politicians say, a billion here, a billion there, pretty soon you're talking real money.

Didja see? An analyst says that the reason we can't get Wii Fit here is because Nintendo is sending them all to Europe because of the strong Euro.

That, and that the only people who want to become fit are already fit.

Didja see? Lucas Arts laid off 100 people last week.

It means Ninjasistah won't see her Wii lightsaber game for a while longer.

Didja see? Take Two has announced BioShock 3 -- even though BioShock 2 isn't even out yet.

What's next, BioShock: The Musical?

Didja see? Scientists have discovered an algorithm that solves the Rubik's Cube in only 23 moves.

Or, just one move if you have 46 hands.

Didja see? They're coming out with a Metallica version of Guitar Hero.

Unfortunately, while on your network it checks your computers for copyright-infringing music.

Didja see? Sony has quit development on two games for the PS3 and one for the PSP.

They're taking their football and going Home. Oh, that's right, Home is still vapor, too.

Didja see? Game developers are taking advantage of the accelerometer in the iPhone to make some really great games.

How much is that Nintendog in the window?

Finish What You Start...

LAUNCH
The podcast kicked off in 2006 with the first episode being released on May 3rd, and we have been cranking them out ever since. Over 100 total released shows [We have done a bunch of My Top Fives people] ESH has really grown into something unexpected, but ultimately an insane amount of fun to do.
 In this episode of the podcast we talk about how we got to be two years old.

CHANGE
I launched the site in April of 06 as SplendidBlunder.com. Originally, the idea was to have a space on the web to create, post, mix, and remix other people’s GarageBand projects. It was going to be a playground for Panda and I, and while we were having all of our conversations about the setup, we kept wasting time talking about Video games and anime.

GROWTH
We realized quickly that we wouldn’t be able to do just the site or the podcast alone, and began recruiting our more than geeky friends to join the family. The first recruit was MagicMystic, then came Evermore, MonkeyDoo, Douceswild, GeekWoman, madameRoslin, theAdmiral, colonelPanic, and most recently KingBabyDuck.
We started out small, with only 1000 people on average hitting the site, and now, we do quite a bit better. I figure it has to be the crazy that keeps them coming back, because there is definitely nothing out there like us.

We will be making autographed DVD’s featuring all of the podcast episodes over the last two years available on the ESH site shortly.

We thank you for your attention, and toast to another hundred. Enjoy podcast episode number 100: Go Team Venture!

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2K Sports announced that Don King Presents: Prizefighter, the first documentary-style boxing extravaganza, has officially gone gold and is ready for production on the XB360.

Brainchild of Venom Games [a 2K studio] Don King Presents: Prizefighter is said to try to find and focus on the balance between sports simulation and mystique inside and outside the boxing ring.

Don King Presents: Prizefighter puts the player in the role of an unknown boxer fighting his way out of obscurity and into the international spotlight while attempting to claim the world championship title. Players will have rigorous training regimens and have to fight the temptations of wealth and stardom. [My personal advice is to not end up like Mike Tyson]

The game sports a

"...live-action sports documentary style that features real-life legends and current stars from the world of boxing including Ken Norton, Larry Holmes, Andrew Golota, Joe Calzaghe and many others."

And for the dudes that like pixel vixens, both the Penthouse Pet of the Year Heather Vandeven and video vixen Bria Myles also star in the documentary and will try to distract you.

I ain't sayin' she a gold digger, but Don King Presents: Prizefighter

Prizefighter hits your local game-a-torium on June 10 for Xbox 360, and this fall for Wii.

Finish What You Start...

Being Monday, we had to hit you with a new episode of the podcast... but this one probably should have been left in the oven a bit longer.

Poor Pandalicious has having some serious internet issues which left Evermore with a hell of a job editing a show together, but they pulled it off pretty damn well if you ask me. In this episode of the podcast, Panda shares her top five video games of 2008 [so far] with you. There are a couple of honorable mentions and a list that I only have a single problem with. Let's see if you can guess which game gives me the heebie geebies.

Have a seat and enjoy: My Top 5: Video Games of 2008.

Finish What You Start...

You know, I try very hard to not be one of those, "I told you so" people. When I'm gaming against folks, I will partake often in the, "IN YO FACE SON!" celebratory dance routines. [the running man is often involved] With that said, revenge is touted as a dish best served cold, I believe it is best served like Gagh... fresh and kicking.

If you haven't put it together yet, this post is about the eternal foe of mature video game titles, Jack Thompson. Mr. Thompson had a 38 page complaint filed against him back in 2007 by the Florida State Bar Association. While a ruling was expected in April, the judge hearing the case [Dava Tunis] asked for an extension to go through some 400+ pleadings, e-mails, letters and missives that Thompson had sent her. Judge Tunis has finally gone through all of the materials and has released a report suggesting that Mr. Thompson be found guilty on 27 of the 38 charges.

Thompson has a good chunk of time left before the Supreme Court makes a final ruling on the charges as a hearing covering possible sanctions is to be held on June 4, but it doesn't look good. With many of the charges against Thompson include perjury and fraud, as an attorney I don't know how he could possibly hope to keep his ability to practice law period and not just in the state of Florida.

Do not misunderstand me, I believe that it is every persons right to stand up and be heard on whatever issue is near and dear to them. Whether or not I listen to their opinion or even agree, is my choice and right as well. In a country where freedom is cited as being the right of every man, woman, and child, Jack Thompson has the right to believe whatever he likes. I agree with Mr. Thompson that not all video games are for children. In fact, most video games on the major consoles are not designed for children. I don't think that anyone under the age of 16 should play GTAIV as they game may expose them to language and themes that they may not be ready to see/hear. Where I differ with Mr. Thompson is on who holds the sole responsibility of keeping children away from titles like these. I do not feel that keeping games like GTA from ever being made is the solution, but rather it is the responsibility of parents to be involved in the entertainment purchases of their children. Parental guidance on what is and is not appropriate for acceptable levels of sex, drugs, and violence should be decided between parents and children, not the governing state.

My mom kept me away from truly violent games until I was 15 years old. Every game that came into our home had to be researched by her first before it was purchased. While we had an allowance, money was never put in my hand until I was 15. My mom held on to my money in a back up high where I couldn't reach it [yes, I am actually short] and would take it down for me any time I wanted to count it. [Even back then I was worried about my money being right] So when the time came that I had enough money, my mom would take me to the local Toys Is Us place and spend an hour or so with me in the game aisle going over every game I wanted with me. Explaining why or why not I could possibly buy the game with my money. By the time I was 15, my mom was sure that I had good common sense, knew I had a good head on my shoulders, and the common sense to tell the difference between reality and fantasy. It's at this point I was allowed to make decisions about gaming on my own, and that I was becoming an adult responsible for my own choices and actions. [I was also allowed to hold my own damn money thank you.] This is one core piece that I think Mr. Thompson is missing.

Right now, it is very easy to blame entertainment media for the things that go wrong in the world. It would be so easy for me to cite Paris Hilton as the reason behind the current rash of entitled pre-teen gang of kids coming up these days. A case could be made that [though I'm sure not intended] Ms. Hilton's published behavior publicly published for the world to see has influenced an entire generation in a negative and selfish manor. That her inferred hatred of underwear, and at best flexible morals have lead the youth culture of the country down a path of stupidity and ignorance the world has not yet seen the full effects of to this moment. It would be easy to say, but in fact would not be correct.

Entertainment media can only influence those who have no other strong influences in their lives.

As I said earlier, I agree with Mr. Thompson that games like GTA do not belong in the hands of 6-15 year olds, but there is an audience for games with more adult themes and language. That audience is called adults. People who are old enough to know the difference between right and wrong, real and play, killing someone, and destroying pixels on the tv simulating a person. With Mr. Thompson constantly condemning all video games that contain even a semblance of violence as the fall of decent society or ruination of mankind is a bit much to swallow. What is not hard to swallow, but in fact is something to savor is that the same legal system that Mr. Thompson has been flooding with complaints passing his own judgement on the video game industry for the past few years will be passing judgement on him.

Fresh Gagh anyone?

Thanks to Vicshus Smith for the heads up.

Finish What You Start...

Hothead Games has dropped Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode One worldwide simultaneously via XBLive Arcade (except Korea) and via the Greenhouse digital distribution platform for the Windows, Macintosh, and Linux versions.

There's a video after the jump.

Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode One is expected to offer players six to ten hours of gameplay, and is priced at $19.95 for the computer versions and at 1600 MS points on the XB360.

Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode One is an RPG-Adventure game set in a very deranged 1920s universe of New Arcadia, delivered to gamers via accessible episodic releases. You join Gabe and Tycho, the crime-solving team of the "Startling Developments Detective Agency" to combat savage enemies [miniature fruit fuckers start you on your path towards the precipice] and solve mysteries hidden deep in the sinister heart of New Arcadia.

The game is the bastard child of Hothead Games and Penny Arcade, featuring distinct artwork and characters designed exclusively by Mike "Gabe" Krahulik, story and dialogue by Jerry "Tycho" Holkins, both brought to life by the Hothead team. If you have an XB360, you should grab the demo now to see what it's about... then pony up yo money and get cracking. I've been playing Precipice during my GTAIV breaks and it's crazy fun which for me is saying something since we all know how much I loathe love RPG's.

Finish What You Start...

Videogames, manga, anime -- we've got it all in this week's episode.