Author Archive for Brendan Ecock

Vampire Weekend Comes To Guitar Hero

For all you Vampire Weekend lovers, Guitar Hero picked them up for a three song pack as a DLC. This illustrious rock band is now available on your gaming console, with three songs including “Cousins” and “Holiday” from their new Contra album as well as “The Kids Don’t Stand A Chance” from their self titled album Vampire Weekend.

Naughty Bear Gets Naughtier

As everyone watched the first trailer of Naughty Bear, one would wonder how Naughty Bear would get even to those who treated him badly. Well you did not have to go far in that head of yours. His name is Naughty, and I have a feeling he was dubbed that name for a reason. As we can tell in this next trailer of the Naughty Bear game, Naughty Bear only wants to play with his boom stick.

Naughty Bear Trailer Part One

I’m proud to introduce to you all a game that I hope to be an underdog, where people take a first glance at it, thinking it will never get much popularity, but to rise up and be number one on the consumer’s charts. The game is called Naughty Bear, and the star of the game is, you guessed it, Naughty Bear. The first trailer that came out shows us that Naughty Bear did not get invited to Daddles’ birthday party. He feels bad about it, and hopefully to make amends he has a present for Daddles. As he was heading over there, Chubby and Giggles, two other bears in the village, laughed at Naughty’s little present, and made Naughty go home sad. The narrator asked Naughty why not do something about it. To see Naughty’s face after hearing that idea, something good is going to happen.

The iPhone Gets “Samuel L. Jacksonized”

When you know you can not live without saying “I’ve had it with these motherf-ing snakes on this motherf-ing plane”, you know Samuel L. Jackson inspired you. Who hasn’t he inspired? I loved all his movies, even Soul Man. That filth mouthed celebrity makes us all feel warm inside, and now he can be right in your iPhone with a new application called iSamJackson. Don’t get confused with I Am Sam, which I thought was a horrible movie; this application brings the best of Samuel L. Jackson, in quotes, readings, and just stuff he has to say everyday that makes others around you question your sanity.

MLB 2K10 Signals For A Super Promotion

Just when you thought Evan Longoria would alone be a powerhouse for 2K Sports “MLB 2K10″, the creators decided to partner with a few MLB big leaguers to help promote it. Some of our favorite players, like Andrew Bailey of the Oakland Athletics, Felix Hernandez or the Seattle Mariners, Jose Reyes of the New York Mets, Justin Morneau of the Minnesota Twins, Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers, Kendry Morales of the Los Angeles Angels and Nelson Cruz of the Texas Rangers, were called to put their own experience into the game. With the help of these players 2K Sports can help make way for what is to be believed the best realistic baseball game yet.

Order Up For Fast Food Panic

Some people out their think it is easy to run a restaurant. I once thought that too, until I grew up, and realized there is a lot more behind the scenes to it than managers show. An easy way to get a taste behind being in control of a restaurant is by playing the new Wii game Fast Food Panic, also available now for the DS. We have played games that involved cooking for the customers, but when you have to cook multiple items at once, and also worry about taking out the trash, calculating checks, chasing away nasty pests, and washing dishes, the experience is more realistic than you think. Though the game is available for both the Wii and DS, does not mean it has the same game play.

The Vent: Microsoft Failure

Microsoft needs to stop. Everyday a customer comes into my Best Buy store and demands their money back, because supposedly our product was defective. By our product, I mean the Xbox 360, and by defective I mean the glorious Red Ring of Death, whose name is renown throughout the world. Then I have to tell these poor schmoes that it was not us who gave them those defective products; we just sell them, not make them. Dumb ass. Then I tell them “the only one to point the finger at is Microsoft.”

A World Without Mario

In the Old Testament of Gaming, one can look up our forefathers and see Nintendo’s prowess. All their systems, the NES, Super NES, Gameboy, the failed Virtual Boy, Nintendo DS, Gamecube, and the Wii, all shared a common association with a certain founding father, which is Mario. Our beloved Mario, that gluttonous plumber whose only diet is mushrooms, flowers, and spaghetti, made way for Nintendo’s success. He saved Peach, or Princess Toadstool, more times than we can remember. He made lots of friends, and of course, lots of enemies. Ultimately, gamers can safely assume that Mario has made an impact on our world in such a way, that if he was never created, the world of gaming as we know it would be a devastating scene.

Nintendo banks on Mario as their cash cow. The games that have his picture on the cover always sells for the maximum price. The Wii sells them at $50 and yet it was the same price back in the 90’s. When customers ask me why the New Super Mario Brothers for the Wii costs so much, I just tell them that Mario is on the cover. Even now people still look to buy Mario games, even for the old consoles. People are selling Mario Tennis for the N64 for $130. It is insane to see that price for a game, yet we get calmed quickly knowing it is a Mario game they are selling.

Now if we were to remove Mario from the picture, which at this point it is almost quite impossible to do, in theory, Nintendo would be in some trouble. If Mario became a “never was”, who would become the cash cow for Nintendo? Would Nintendo have such a dominant being that a particular game would drive in the most sales, or would it be a group of superior games, making it a muilt-game conglomerate? To my knowledge, I know somewhere the Legend of Zelda Franchise would be at least one of the mighty beings. Those games to me were a close second to the Mario games. Pop quiz hot shots; which idea came first, Mario saving Princess Toadstool or Link saving Zelda. If you know the answer, don’t you think one game got the idea from another? Coincidence is what I do believe.

Without Mario, there would be no Peach, no Luigi, none of those talking mushroom heads, and of course, no Bowzer. Our favorite group of heroes and villains would forever be just a thought in our head after a nice smoke from the glass bowl. There would be no Super Smash Brothers Tournaments or spin offs of games based on Mario’s friends, like Yoshi’s Island, Luigi’s Mansion or any of those Donkey Kong games.

I am going to spin off into my own world without Mario. Theoretically it could happen, probably not, but if any of you have strong feelings against my beliefs, remember that this is just another alternate reality, because Mario still exists today. If Mario did not exist, Nintendo would not be the powerhouse it is today. With most of the sales Nintendo racks in by video games being Mario related, without him, what great Nintendo games do they have to offer to the masses. Clearly Just Dance will still be number one. There would be no spokesperson for Nintendo, no icon. When there is no spokesperson, every day Nintendo loses its credibility and control over the industry. Mario was like the Coca-Cola of video games; everywhere you go you saw Mario either on a billboard or in an ad, even in a plumbing ad. Without the sales Nintendo has received from Mario’s support, Nintendo might not have moved on to better means, like more advanced systems that were to come in the future, especially Virtual Boy.

Mario’s early rise in the gaming world as the Plumber in the Donkey Kong games helped him to what he is today, a God. Without that Donkey Kong game, Pong would still be popular. I have a lot of time on my hands, so a lot of thoughts arise in my head. One was the idea as to why Nintendo made so many Mario games. I can understand it was for the money, but could it be for something useful as well? Maybe, there is a man out there who is so crazy he is willing to blow up the whole world, with just a simple push of a button. Nintendo saw this, took action, looked up his profile and realized he is a big advocate for Mario. Hence came all these games, real good to real crappy, and this crazed fiend has to play through all of them before he feels like blowing up the world. He’ll never get a chance to do his dirty deed because Nintendo will never stop making Mario games. If Mario did not exist, we would all be dead. You wouldn’t know, would you. It’s a crazy thought, but you’ll never know. The world without Mario could also bring an apocalyptic era to us all, with volcanoes erupting, the dead rising from their graves, and George Bush still having supreme command. What a terrible world that would be.

With all those troubles we could have had without our beloved character in our hearts, we should all be thankful that Mario did come along. It gave competitors a strong will to create better games, and for us gamers, more enjoyable games at out fingertips. Gamers can unite under one symbol, one flag, under a single unity, and that is Mario. Italians gained respect to us gamers, knowing that Mario was also Italian with his rich accent. I wonder how the world would be to Italians if Mario did not come to be. With the birth of Mario came wonderful catch phrases, like “It’s a me, Mario” or the sound he makes when he falls off a ledge in the later Mario games, or singing the musical notes to when Mario dies in the early Nintendo  games. In all seriousness, the world, especially the gaming world, would not be where it is today without the birth of one of our greatest game forefathers.

Trauma Team Ready To Operate

Nintendo Wii goes back to the hospital with the April release of the Trauma series, Trauma Team. As we all know, Trauma is a doctor type game, where surgeries and healing occur, and you are in the driver seat, or in this case, the one with the knife. In this genre Trauma has been a popular game for certain advocates. Basically, it is the only game of its kind. There might have been others, but none ever stood up to them.

The Vent: Card Games

Card games are like an extension to the gaming world; it is not video games, but it is still fun and enjoyable. My favorite card game of them all was Magic the Gathering. With over 10,000 different cards to collect, each edition having its own book to read, it was very time consuming. When I was a kid I went to school and bought a deck or two to play against my friends. I was not going to bring in my Sega Genesis system if that was what you were thinking. Years have passed by, I graduated, and my card games have remained the same in its true form. I wished that the card games would evolve as we would grow older, and to my surprise it did, but then again, the attempt was not as awesome as I expected it to be.

Gerbils and XBOX Make A Fun Pair

I remember when I was kid that my sister had a pet gerbil. The name was fluffy of course. From time to time she used to put it in a clear ball, where it can roam around the house. What I thought it was meant for was kicking it like a soccer ball. I did not know better, I was a kid. Long story short Fluffy died and I got yelled at. In remembrance to Fluffy and all the horrible things I, and all the other kids, who wanted to do evil to their gerbils, came a game made on XBOX 360. It is called Gerbil Physics. No more do I need to hold myself back on gerbil destruction.

MLB 2K10 Is Nearing Home Plate

From the past to the present, 2K Sports has given us something to enjoy, the MLB 2K games. Every in the Spring season the game is released with last year’s stats on all the players, and the expectations on what 2010 is going to be like for the MLB. One thing is missing from the equation. That is making me want to play this game. I love baseball, and yet, baseball on video games for the XBOX 360 have let me down these past few years. Hopefully this game, 2K Sports made a turn around for better baseball.