Category: Viral

Cabbage Trick Shots: Things to Do in Skyrim

One of the things I love about video games is when you manage to find a “game within the game”, to speak. This has become more and more of a thing in the past generation due to open-world sandbox games, and there’s a certain kind of joy there that’s hard to match. As a kid, I remember playing Mario 64 during the summer when I was bored, just playing the flying missions repeatedly to see how low I could swoop to the ground without touching it and losing the flight. Somehow, we always find new ways to entertain ourselves.

That’s exactly what the guys at Achievement Hunter have done in their newest video, Things to Do in Skyrim, which features them creating trick shots that involve throwing cabbage into buckets. It’s very reminiscent of this Michael Jordan/Larry Bird Super Bowl ad for McDonald’s – and that’s a good thing. Anyway, you should watch it, the reaction shots at the end are priceless.

When’s the last time you guys got sucked into doing this kind of thing in a video game? Did anyone else die laughing when they freaked out?

The Banner Saga: A New Kickstarter Challenger

Although it’s already starting to become cliche just how many people are using Kickstarter to fund any damn thing in the world (why do people need $30,000 to produce a podcast – seriously), every now and then a project will rise above all the noise and show us something very cool.

On the heels of Double Fine’s Adventure game, The Banner Saga, by Stoic, promises us a Strategy RPG title, made by industry veterans, which happens to feature a mature story and some truly breathtaking art. Seriously, just the visuals alone were enough to sell me on the project, before even reading any of the impressive facts about it. I’ll let you watch the trailer.

The game is scheduled for release in June 2012, and just $10 nets you Chapter 1 of the game. I have to say, the whole thing really has impressed me, and I’ll probably be throwing some support their way – plus, it’s based in Texas, which is awesome.

What are your guys’ thoughts on The Banner Saga? How do you feel about the new fad of putting everything on Kickstarter? Go!

Source – The Banner Saga on Kickstarter

Project KARA Demo Shows Off the Uncanny Valley

Have we reached the Uncanny Valley yet, gentlemen? The place where robots or animation start to get creepy, because of the way they mimic life but happen to be just off? Who knows, but some of the results on the way there are interesting to watch.

Quantic Dream, creators of Heavy Rain, just debuted a new tech demo at GDC this week known as Project KARA, the story of a robot/AI that accidentally becomes self aware during production. Unlike their last project, KARA was created by use of full performance motion capture, rather than separate body/facial animation capture. The quality of the performance is rather impressive (even if the writing always isn’t) in this piece – and what’s more impressive is that all of this is being handled in real time through the PS3.

Cage has noted that this isn’t tied to a specific project at all, but rather a demonstration of where they’d like to go with their next project. What do you guys think of this short? Uncanny Valley territory? Impressive? Lame? Go!

GamerSushi Asks: Jamming with Skyrim?

Apparently this is the week where all of our wildest gaming dreams come true. OK, that might be stretching it a bit, but at least a few of our gaming wishes seem to be coming to light. Between Battlefield 3 rumors, Double Fine’s Kickstarter Adventure and Notch talking Psychonauts 2, we’ve got kind of a lot of things worth salivating over. But that’s not all!

You see, DICE 2012 is underway right now, featuring a number of sessions from well known people in the field of interactive entertainment, including none other than Skyrim boss Todd Howard himself. Last night, Todd Howard gave Skyrim fans the world over a bit of a tease, something to get their heads spinning as we look forward to future DLC.

The Skyrim Game Jam is a week-long project where developers at Bethesda were challenged to come up with and implement one feature that they’d love to see in the enormous open-world RPG. While Howard cautioned that some of these things are just tests and might not ever see an actual release, the possibilities are enough to keep people excited about where the game could possibly go. Howard showed a reel which boasted all the things that the developers came up with in just one week’s time, ranging from mounted dragons (!) to seasonally changing foliage. Go ahead, see for yourself.

Although this power gets abused quite a bit, it’s still pretty cool that we live in a time where developers can retroactively incorporate fresh new additions to gameplay that might need some polishing. So my question to you guys is this: which of these features would you actually want to see in the final game? Also, if you could add a reel of features like this to any other game, what would you do? Go!

Double Fine Wants to Change the Game

I love when you see something so simple yet so brilliant that it kind of blows your mind. Tim Schafer has been in the spotlight quite a bit this week, what with his Psychonauts 2 shenanigans with Notch and all. But this actually goes a step further:

Tim Schafer is letting you (meaning us) finance Double Fine’s next game, a classic point-and-click adventure. Normally, a game like this would have little chance of being put into production by a publisher, so he’s taking the game straight to fans on Kickstarter. Rather than blather on about it, I’ll let Tim tell you about it himself.

And there you have it. For $400,000, Double Fine will make an old school adventure game, and the fans get to be a part of the process. Meanwhile, all of it will be documented by 2 Player Productions, the dudes behind the Minecraft/Mojang documentary.

It’s hard for me to express just how excited I am about this. While I don’t think it’ll necessarily change gaming as we know it, it certainly opens the door to start developers down that path. They would answer to fans and cut out the middle man completely. At the same time, what we’re seeing of the game isn’t being dictated by marketing, but rather an in-depth documentary crew. It’s just a little bit rad.

So what do you guys think of this? I’ve already donated some money. The numbers are already past 100k in the first day of the campaign, so I don’t think they’ll have any problems hitting it. Do any of you think you’ll join?

Edit: At the time I published this, the Kickstarter was at 122k, up from 90k when I started writing/donating.

Source – Kickstarter

Half-Life: Origins Takes You Back to Black Mesa

I’ve often been a pretty vocal opponent to the idea of fan films. Sure, they’re flashy and a nice little pipe dream for the communities of the games they represent, but in the end they’re typically low on content. Most of them follow the same formula, and are entirely predictable.

Such is the case with this new entry, Half-Life: Origins. Why am I posting it, then? Because as miserly as I can be about fan videos on the Internet, I can’t help but admire this stylish recreation of one of the most iconic video game intros ever made. So, yeah. Enjoy.

Thoughts?

Gorgeous Skyrim Time Lapse Video

You guys, Skyrim. Skyrim, guys.

I’m sorry that there are so many mentions of Skyrim happening on the ol’ Sushi, but it can’t be helped. I’m fully vested in this game and its world, and I don’t know if I’ll be able to get away from it any time soon. It’s just one of those games that hits me in the right way (or the wrong way depending on how you look at it).

For anyone that has experienced it, you’ll understand when I say that Skyrim is a truly engaging world. In fact, I’d venture to say it’s one of video games most real-feeling worlds that I’ve ever played.

To prove it, I’m posting this gorgeous Skyrim time lapse video. Watch. And be amazed and stuff.

A Look at the Modern Quake

Ah, modern gaming. How often you’re lambasted these days for your simplistic ways.

This is always a tricky subject for me. We generally try to keep the discourse around here less cynical, but sometimes we do talk about the things we miss about gaming. Let’s face it: games have changed, and there’s no point beating around the bush about it.

I guess that means there’s no bush-beating in this video. It asks the question: what if Quake was made today? And agree or disagree with its conclusions, it’s hard to deny that it makes at least a few points, and hilariously at that.

While I genuinely think that in some ways, games are better than ever, I’ll admit that the things in this video are pretty spot on. I don’t know if I buy into all the negativity that I hear from the gaming community about this issue, but it’s still worth noting.

So what do you guys think about the ideas this video raises? Do you like/dislike the direction of modern games? Is it a more complicated issue than the video lays out? Go!

Corridor Digital Gives Battlefield 3 a Jolt with Shock Troopers

Ever since Battlefield 3 came out last week (I bet you thought I would stop writing about it, eh?) I’ve been kind of obsessed with the multiplayer portion. Seriously, you guys, it’s quite good and I’d say it’s going to end up as the best of the year. One thing I’m lamenting about the multiplayer, though is that defibrillators can no longer be used to kill your enemies. I’d say this is a serious oversight on DICE’s part, because killing people with defibs kind of feels like this:

I’m kind of a huge fan of Corridor Digital’s work, so expect to see more of their gaming related stuff on here. What did you guys think of the video? Any thoughts on BF3’s multiplayer?

Deus Ex Made More Like Deus Ex: Human Revolution

We’ve been going a bit Deus Ex: Human Revolution crazy around these parts. Judging by your responses to Mitch’s review, I’m sure you all are doing the same. For my part, the game might be at my list for favorite game of the year at the moment, but that could easily change once I finish it and some other games start landing in my lap over the next few months.

While many people enjoy the game, there are a few having some fun at its expense in relation to the original Deus Ex. Take Deus Ex Unreal Revolution, for instance, where the original game is mashed up with cues from Deus Ex: Human Revolution. It’s a little bit too on the nose with the whole “new games suck and old games are the best ever” train, but it still managed to have some pretty funny bits in it.

It’s interesting. As aware as I am of all of DXHR’s faults, I can totally get past them. As one review I read mentioned, that’s the difference in a game that’s well designed as opposed to well made. It’s also what happens when a developer takes risks and chances during development.

So what did you guys think about this? For the lulz?

A Live-Action Team Fortress 2 Short for Some Friday Fun

It is Friday today, faithful readers and I hope you are having fun, fun, fun, fun and looking forward to the weekend. As I have no career per say right now (except for my first year of college starting in September), I’ve kind of lost my appreciation for the end of the work week, but I still recognize the need to unwind. Now that I’ve completed my roundabout intro, I’d like to present you with the newest short from Corridor Digital, a couple of YouTube videomens similar to Freddy Wong. Their newest video offers up a neat interpretation of a game we all know and love, Team Fortress 2. It’s just a ridiculous as you’d expect it to be, but that’s half of the fun.

These are the same guys that made Minecraft: The Last Minecart in case you were wondering. What did you guys think of their latest video-game themed outing?

Today’s Awesome: Portal 2 in Halo: Reach

So Portal 2 is awesome, and all you guys love it. Well, I don’t like it (as much), and all of the other GamerSushi editors are pretty sure the reason is because Portal 2 is not a “bro” game (e.g. Call of Duty, Halo, Gears). Well, thankfully, some kind soul has cooked up an amazing Forge World creation that puts the reality-bending mechanic of Portal in the dudetacular world of Halo: Reach.

Pretty wicked, no? I was surprised that the Halo: Reach teleporters actually transfer momentum as you travel through them, so hats off to the creator x 7revorBlack x. What do you guys think of this odd mash-up?

Valve’s Impressive Portal 2 PotatoFools ARG

Portal 2 ARG

Wow. I’ve seen some impressive Alternative Reality Games before (namely, ILoveBees by Bungie leading up to Halo 2), but Valve’s new endeavor, PotatoFools, has certainly taken the cake… no pun intended.

If you’re unaware, Valve launched the Potato Sack pack of indie games on April 1st. It includes 13 games, features a few Portal 2 themed levels for those games and even some Portal 2 content for Team Fortress 2. However, a few users started noticing something weird about the updates for each of the indie games. A little bit of digging turned up a lofty and epic ARG straight from Valve.

I can’t even begin to describe how everything has gone down, so you should check out the PotatoFools ARG thread over on the Steam Forums for the full break down of all the events since April 1st. Needless to say, it’s absurdly impressive. We’re talking cross game clues, passwords, messages from Gabe Newell himself, anonymous e-mails from employees, a special clue hidden on the side of a building in the Netherlands, a surveillance camera watching the forum user that found the clue, secret frames referencing top ARG players in the newest Portal 2 trailers… and that doesn’t begin to scratch the surface.

The point of all of this? Nobody really knows, although speculation right now is that it’s pointing towards an early release of Portal 2 on Steam for this Friday. Who knows if that’s the case, though.

The funny thing is, I happen to be pals with Matt “LordNed” Hoffman, one of the main driving forces behind collecting information for the ARG (you’ll see him referenced in the thread quite a bit). I asked him what the current status is, and he had this to report:

Several ARG administrators are gone. A couple are acting strange, giving cryptic hints that translate about to “Please help she’s killing me”, a POTATO logo was updated to show a figure inside a portal. A whiteboard states that two people are dead, GLADOS took over the wiki and has control over it.

Yikes. So what do you guys think of all this craziness? Has anyone been following it?

Source – Portal 2 ARG thread on the Steam Forums

First Person Mario Takes No Prisoners

This sort of thing has been done to death, but Freddie Wong’s take on a First Person Super Mario incorporates some Call of Duty tropes that make it worth while. Once I saw the first experience bonus pop up, I totally dug the rest of the video.

Pretty great, no? Freddie Wong has made some neat stuff in the past, but I think this is my current favorite. What about you guys?

Today’s Awesome: Gabe Newell Chats with High Schoolers

Count me jealous. Last week, Gabe Newell, Darth Valve himself, did a teleconference with Tippecanoe Valley High School’s sports and entertainment marketing class. I’m not sure how this class got so lucky as to get 40 minutes of the CEO’s time, but they get schooled in some great lessons about digital marketing and online experimentation.

This is seriously some fascinating stuff. There are a few generic questions like “what’s your favorite video game”, etc., but eventually Newell digs into the nitty gritty, talking specifically about TF2’s marketplace as well as his background at Microsoft. It’s crazy to think that this guy now runs a company worth something between 2 to 4 billion dollars. For real, give this a watch.

Minecraft: The Last Minecart Gets Real

Minecraft mania swept the Internet a few months ago, and we went right along with it. We posted every cool video about the Enterprise or a mine cart interstate, so I understand if you’re a bit Minecraft weary. This video that I’m posting, though, is a different sort of Minecraft fan-film. Instead of showing off a crazy mega structure in-game, two dudes took the setting of Minecraft and turned it into an ass-kicking throw down.

I think this is pretty awesome, and the panoramic shot at the beginning showing off a Minecraft like terrain really sold it for me. So, did you guys like the video?

Rémi Gaillard Does Mario Kart IRL

If you’ve never heard of Rémi Gaillard, it’s time to educate yourself, fool. This guy is a French (and we all know that GamerSushi loves the French) improv artist who takes to the streets with various props and costumes and harasses people. While Mr. Gaillard has done the Mario Kart bit before, he once again hit the road in blue coveralls and a go-kart and the result is nothing short of hilarious. Go ahead and watch:

Don’t worry, no actual turtles were harmed in the making of this video, but I’m pretty sure that policeman had his feelings hurt. Hope you enjoyed this goofy little video on your Friday afternoon!

Fill in the Squares with Modern Gamedev Bingo

Bingo Balls

Ever feel like you just see the same things in video games over and over? Apparently you’re not the only one. Whether it’s FPS number 127 of a given year, the same voice actors/actresses or a similar bald male protagonist, sometimes gaming tropes get more than a bit tiring.

A new post over at I Get Your Fail takes all the cliches from video game development and turns them into a game in their own right, with Modern Gamedev Bingo. I have to say, it’s a pretty funny collection of gaming jabs, and it makes me want to do this for some of the games I’m currently playing. In particular, I like the squares for “realistic color palette”, “story based on war” and “has zombies/nazis”.

As funny as the whole thing is, it’s also a bit depressing to think that so many modern games can be summed up so succinctly. What do you guys think of this bingo board? Do you guys think these cliches are necessarily bad things? Go!

Source – I Get Your Fail

Little Big Planet 2 Meets Real Life

If the gameplay of LittleBigPlanet 2 does not put an immediate smile on your face, you might have no soul. OK, that’s a bit harsh, but still, the game is great and I love the creativity that both Media Molecule and the community at large have poured into it. I spent much of Friday night playing through the game co-op with Jeff, and then we spent an hour or so just sampling multiplayer levels that others had created.

But what does LBP2 in real life look like? The guys over at the Show About Games Show at the Escapist have taken their stab at it, and the results are just as charming (a word I will overuse when discussing this game) as the title itself.

Gran Turismo 5 Video Proves Real Life has too Many Jaggies

Gran Turismo 5 is out, and from all reports it’s amazing. I am dying to get my hands on it once it comes down just a bit in price, but until then, I’m forced to read about people being addicted to it (like Anthony and Nick) or watch awesome videos about it.

Take this official Sony video, for instance, which compares a run of the Nurburgring track in Gran Turismo 5 versus a real life run of the same track. Conclusion: real life needs better anti-aliasing.

Has anyone else played this that wants to taunt me with how awesome it is and how miserable my life is for not doing so yet?