Bioshock 2 chalk art

With the first-ever PAX East now less than a scant four months away, I’ve lately found myself spending a lot of time reminiscing over all of the incredible memories I gathered from PAX “Prime” 2009. Among my favorites are those made by the awesome presence that Bioshock 2 had at the convention.

Although the game was not playable at the show, 2K Games went all out, hiring a chalk artist to create the breathtaking painting seen above. FYGaming’s own Sam McConnell snapped this picture shortly after the 10 foot masterpiece was completed.

Bioshock 2 has a release date of February 9, 2010, and is scheduled to launch simultaneously on Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.

MAG beta key giveaway

PSA: The official MAG blog is giving away a massive number of beta keys for their upcoming 256-player online shooter. The keys get you into the latest release of the beta (4.5).

I’ve been in the beta ever since I got back from the Penny Arcade Expo earlier this year, and although the epic battles featured might not be up everyone’s ally, if you’ve got a PS3 this is definitely something worth checking out.

Click here to get your key before they’re gone!

Casual Game in the Running for PC Game of the Year

Just to show how the casual video game market is starting to slowly overtake those more mainstream AAA titles, Plants Vs. Zombies will be completing for PC Game of the Year at SpikeTVs annual VGAs. Although Plants Vs Zombies is certainly a worthy game in its own right, it’s going to have some stiff competition, as Dragon Age: Origins, Left 4 Dead 2,  and the Sims 3 are also up for the award. I’ve always tended to root for the underdog and would like to see more games like Plants Vs. Zombies get the recognition they deserve from the mainstream gaming community, but we’ll have to wait until December 12th to find out who wins. For now, head over to SpikeTV’s website to cast your votes in all the categories.

Desert Bus for Hope

Everyone at FYGaming would like to extend our congratulations and gratefulness to the team over at www.DesertBus.org! If you’ve never heard of Desert Bus before, it’s simply a video game created for the (never released) Penn & Teller Sega CD game. The objective of the game is to drive a bus in real-time from Tucson, Arizona to Las Vegas, Nevada. The trip takes about 8 hours and you have no passengers, no scenery except for the desert, and there’s no way to cheat! It’s the most boring video game in the world.

The team at Desert Bus for Hope decided that in 2007, they’d play the game and do a live-stream from their webcam in exchange for donations, which they then gave to Child’s Play - the charity foundation started by the Penny Arcade guys that provides video games to children in hospitals. They ended up raising over $22,000 and accidentally inventing the internet telethon. Then, in 2008, they raised an astonishing $70,423!

Now they’re at it again. At the time of this writing, they’ve been playing for almost 2 solid days and have raised over $34,000. And they’ll keep playing as long as the donations keep coming in.

Not only do they take flat donations, but they’ll also be your monkeys… for a price. For example, yesterday a kind soul donated $750 for them to go see Twilight: New Moon. And as their website mentioned, they’ll sing you the Portal theme song, “Still Alive”, for just $20.

Please check out their website, even if you’re unable to make a donation right now. Watch the live stream for a little while to get an idea of what’s going on.

Again, we’d just like to say “thank you” to everyone over at Desert Bus. Not just for making a huge donation to a wonderful charity, but also for being shining examples to the world that gamers aren’t just selfish, lazy pigs who sit around and play World of Warcraft all day (well, most of us aren’t).

www.desertbus.org

Gone but not forgotten: The Virtual Boy

In the late summer of 1995, Nintendo gave the world the Virtual Boy; a not-so-portable gaming system with a lackluster lineup of games. Nintendo, trying to do what it usually does best - innovate the gaming industry - was ahead of its time. Nintendo hyped the Virtual Boy to extraordinary expectations, but the resulting device didn’t live up to promises and resulted in poor sales for the company.

The Virtual Boy’s bulky head piece required that the player set the device on a solid surface to play. Then, looking into the head-mounted display, the machine transmitted red images that created a 3-D gaming effect for the player. The player would then use the connected controller to play the games.

The controller featured two D-pads that allowed for various different movements in some games, while in others, the pads did the exact same functions. The design of the controller also allowed games to give a left-handed user option making it much easier for us left handers to actually play. Another big drawback is that it requires six AA batteries to operate when not using AC power.

The system didn’t last long, and with the poor sales Nintendo quickly killed off this so-called disaster. Only 14 games were ever released in North America. Of those games Mario’s Tennis and Virtual Boy Wario Land are the only games genuinely worth playing. With the newfound rise in popularity in 3-D films, could we ever see another attempt at the Virtual Boy?  I doubt it, at least not from Nintendo, who I’m sure would still like to pretend it never existed.

Even with this blunder, and other failures in the big N’s history, Nintendo luckily never gave up on trying to innovate the way we play games. Pushing motion sensing technology with the Wii, Nintendo was the first of the current generation of consoles to introduce this new way to play. And regardless of your opinion on “waggle” controls, the big N certainly did something right, as both Microsoft and Sony will be releasing their own motion controllers in 2010: project Natal and the PS Sphere, respectively.

If you happen to be in the market for a Virtual Boy or some games, you can always pick up used units and games on eBay or Amazon.

IGF Spotlight: Attack of the 50ft Robot!

It’s amazing what those kids at the DigiPen Institute of Technology can cook up on their newfangled computers these days. An entry into the 12th Annual Independent Games Festival, Attack of the 50ft Robot! was created by a team of students over the course of 15 months, and utilizes Nvidia’s PhysX technology for ultimate robot-on-building destruction.

The game is set in a 1950’s B-movie and does an incredible job of sucking you in, straightaway from the moment you boot up the game and are presented with a grainy, black-and-white title card. You’re then given several play options, including “Feature Film” and “Endless Reel”.

Where the game really stood out to me was not in the combat (needs some polish), or even the graphics (Superb! for black-and-white, that is), but in the story-telling and creative use of environment. For example, on the first level you’re intended to run through a tutorial, with instructions being told via 1950’s retro-style billboards. If you already know how to play, you can easily demolish your way past these and get on with the game; but if you’re a first-timer, it’s a brilliant way to teach you how to play while still keeping you immersed in the voice-less, grainy, black-and-white world.

Also noteworthy is the health meter, displayed on the back of your 50ft Robot character. This is similar to the way Dead Space displayed your overall health, and it works so well that I found myself asking “Why don’t more games do this?”

The world is almost entirely black-and-white, save for the red health gauge displayed on your back, and a few red landmarks, such as lights on a water tower or nuclear power plant, that represent mission objectives or way-points. This clever use of color in the game makes it obvious what you need to be doing (or destroying) without pulling you out of the experience.

Combat is simple enough, with a “destroy everything that moves” feel to it. Attacks include lasers from your eyes (you can shoot them independently!), punches which can be charged up, and a grenade-like attack that has you removing your robot head and throwing it at your target (your head regrows after a few seconds). Movement is a little clunky, but I suppose I shouldn’t expect too much grace from a 50ft robot. You can also fly, but height and movement are extremely limited. It’s more of a super-jump, really.

Regardless of my few quips with the game, I had a blast playing it, and have booted it up several times since the first. It’s a great concept that I’d love to see fleshed out a bit more and maybe even end up as a downloadable title on Steam, Xbox Live Arcade, and the Playstation Network.

The entire game can be downloaded from the creators’ website here.

Upcoming video game movies that might not suck

Big name game-to-film adaptations being unleashed to cineplexes are finished for this year, so it’s time to take a look at some video game movies in the works for 2010. While you may or may not be looking forward to seeing your favorite games get the big screen treatment, only time will tell if these films will be one of the rare few that breaks the mold and is actually good.

1. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time - Release date: May 28, 2010

From director Mike Newell (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) and producer Jerry Bruckheimer (Just about every summer blockbuster ever) comes what will presumably be the highest grossing game-to-film adaption of the year. The Sands of Time stars Jake Gyllenhaal (Donnie Darko) as Prince Dastan, who as a juvenile is taken-in by the King of Persia as an heir to the throne. Accompanying Princess Tamina, The Prince goes on a quest to rescue the sands of time from the nefarious Nizam (Ben Kingsley). While the story will essentially be based off of The Sands of Time game, elements from both The Warrior Within game as well as The Two Thrones will be present.

2. Resident Evil: Afterlife - Release date: August 27, 2010

The fourth film in this trivial game adaption series. Afterlife will be directed by Paul Anderson, who helmed the first RE film.  Afterlife will transpire directly after the catastrophe of Extinction with Alice (Milla Jovovich) searching Los Angeles for any remaining survivors. However, the film tries to tie in to the video game by having the character of Chris Redfield (Wentworth Miller) as one of the few survivors. Like several film releases for 2010, Resident Evil Afterlife is being filmed specifically for 3-D.

3. Bioshock - Release date: Unknown

Originally to be directed by Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribean trilogy) the film was put on hold due to budgetary concerns. It seems as though the film may still be on track with a 2010 release with Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (28 weeks later) at the helm and Verbinski acting as producer.

Of course, these release dates are subject to change. There are additionally numerous video game-to-film adaptions in the works that could make a 2010 release window, including Kane and Lynch, Mortal Kombat, God of War, and Castlevania. We’ll keep you updated as to if or when any of these films ever make it to the big screen. Drop us a comment telling us what films you’re looking forward to seeing!