The Ultimate Game of "What if?"

What if ...

The reign of the Nazis spread across Europe, unchallenged, until 1950?

What if ...

The Nazis decided they wanted a piece of the U.S. next?

What if ...

In a horrific example of deja vu to the nth degree, they sent their air forces into New York
City, toppling skyscrapers into rubble amid clouds of dust and debris?


And What if ...

You were Dan Carson, 1950's New York City construction worker and just this regular guy, y'know what I mean, buddy?

Well, that wouldn't stop you from taking on the Nazis single-handedly in Codemaster's Turning Point: Fall of Liberty, a grippingly realistic alternate-reality post-WWII game set for release January '08.

This is one of those slap-your-forehead why-didn't-I-think-of-this brilliant concepts that seems destined for success.

Ya got yer bad guys, ya got yer good guy, and ya got yer stunning cinematics to bring the whole shebang together into one amazing killfest, amirite?

And, at preview, it seems that the game will live up to the hype.

The only (small) criticisms we have for the game here at Fuel the Rebellion are the rollback of the release date from the primo Holiday November 07 season to sometime-in-Januaryish and the over-the-top way a 'regular joe' like the protagonist Dan Carson takes out Nazis.

Really, the man gleefully chews through skilled enemy combatants like a rat through swiss cheese (and leaves them just as full of holes). He even throws in the occasional martial-arts kick (because all construction workers in 1950 are skilled in karate, natch).

Still, Turning Point: Fall of Liberty looks like a winner. We'll keep you posted.

Halo 3 2-CD Soundtrack Announced!

Sumthing Else Music Works, Inc., has just announced that The Halo 3 Original Soundtrack featuring the game’s original music score and much, much more is scheduled for release on November 20th. We've been waiting for this one. If the past Halo soundtracks are anything to go on, the Halo 3 edition is going right into our Ipod playlists. Looks like the team over at Sumthing Else Music Works (www.sumthing.com) thought of that too, because on November 20th The Halo 3 Original Soundtrack will also be available via digital download at www.sumthingdigital.com.

The 2 CD set features new symphonic compositions by the award-winning composers behind the best-selling Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2 Volume One and Halo 2 Volume Two soundtracks, Martin O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori. The Halo 3 Original Soundtrack is packed full of musical goodness, with new original tracks written for the Halo 3 video game as well as new arrangements of the game’s musical themes recorded with a full live orchestra and chorus by Martin O’Donnell, Bungie’s audio director and composer. The 2-CD set amounts to two hours of original music from Halo 3 !

Hello-o-o, Mistress Chief!

Look what's up for auction over at ebay.

That's right, that's not exactly the Master Chief. No, it's Master Chief's girl, and this sexy clay figurine is up for grabs to the highest bidder.

And the best part? The money goes to the Susan G. Komen foundation for breast cancer awareness (you DID know that October was Breast Cancer Awareness month, right?).

So, head on over and bid. 'Cause, you know, it's for charity.

Yeah, right.

What if WWII was an MMORPG?

4 Guys From Viewpoint came up with the concept, and it's simply brilliant. Here's an excerpt:

Hitler[AoE]: cool, i start with panzer tanks!
paTTon: lol more like panzy tanks
T0J0: lol
Roosevelt: o this fockin sucks i got a depression!
benny-tow: haha america sux
Stalin: hey hitler you dont fight me i dont fight u, cool?
Hitler[AoE]: sure whatever
Stalin: cool

Check it out here: If WWII was an MMORPG

This concept, of course, fits in nicely with Godwin's Law (wikipedia explanation below):

Godwin's Law (also known as Godwin's Rule of Nazi Analogies) is an adage formulated by Mike Godwin in 1990. The law states:

As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.

Prizes are Sexy

The Geeks Are Sexy (GAS) blog is giving away a ton of prizes for the technophile, and the contest runs all through this month. Winners will be announced the first week of November; the prizes are incredible (see below). If you have a blog, you'll especially like this: all you have to do to enter is write a "how to" post about something suitably geeky--gaming, hacking (of course we don't want you to do anything illegal! That would be wrong. So very, very wrong), solving quadratic equations, running away from girls, etc.

Here's the awesome prizes we're drooling over here at Fuel the Rebellion:

First-place prize:

• $271.82 from Chitika, a leading merchandising network for bloggers
• $250.00 from GFI Software
• $70.00 from [GAS] Technology News
• One 1GB Mimobot USB key of your choice from Mimoco ($59.95 value)
• One-year subscription to the PMetrics stats engine from Performancing.com ($49.99 value)

Second-place prize:

• $150 Amazon.com gift certificate from [GAS] Technology News
• A six-month sponsorship of a BlogCatalog category ($60-$90 value) from BlogCatalog
• One 1GB Mimobot USB key of your choice from Mimoco ($59.95 value)
• One-year subscription to the PMetrics stats engine from Performancing.com ($49.99 value)

Third-place prize:

• $50 via PayPal from [GAS] Technology News
• One 1GB Mimobot USB key of your choice from Mimoco ($59.95 value)
• One-year subscription to the PMetrics stats engine from Performancing.com ($49.99 value)

Fourth- and fifth-place prizes:

• One-year subscription to the PMetrics stats engine from Performancing.com ($49.99 value)

Additional prize:

• $50 via PayPal to a randomly selected blogger who posts about the contest on their site.

So, head on over to Geeks Are Sexy and check it out. We'll be here when you come back, working on our own "How To" post. ; )

Do I look....Different?!

Anyone else notice these similarities between Halo 3 and other recent popular video games?

Resistance Fall of Man for PS: I know some of you are diehard Xbox 360 fans, while others wouldn't even look at an Xbox while PS 3 is available, but the new Bubble Shield in H3 more than just resembles the Backlash Grenades in RFOM.

Gears of War: The new Laser in H3 has the same basic premise as The Hammer of Dawn, sans sunlight.

Bioshock 3: The fantastic water effects we first saw in Bioshock rule, but the world as seen through the Bubble shield has the same familiar distortion. Who know why the H3 team chose not to make your character see so well underwater when you accidentally fall in (yeah, like you haven't done it).

Halo 3 Tips, Tricks, etc.

So, what do YOU think of the new Hammer?! Rocks, doesn't it?

We also like the new ATVs, and the ability to move bases via the huge, slow-as-molasses Elephants.

And how about the moonwalking, ass-kicking jumping ability of H3's Master Chief? Fly lately?

Try this:

Ride an ATV through a teleporter! Ideally, ramp to the teleporter first to get up speed. You'll find some great maps allow you to do this.

Tips:

Learn the new icons for pick-ups like the shield regenerator, flare, etc. Last thing you want to do is blind yourself when you think you are creating a bubble shield, and the difference is as simple as recognizing the difference between a blue daisy or a blue cross.

Beware. Winning an Energy Sword duel isn't as simple as lunging any more. It takes several serious swipes to beat down your enemy.

Friendly icons, along with the traditional "double kill!" add some fun to the game. End a friend's killing spree to pick up "killjoy" and you'll see what we mean.

New Jobs for Game Testers, Designers, Developers!

New jobs have posted over at our Job-A-Matic website for Game Testers, Designers and Developers! You can always click on the link on the sidebar for the Fuel the Rebellion job site.

FREE to job seekers!

You can read about what it takes to become a game tester here.

Employers, post your jobs on the Fuel the Rebellion job site for $5/2 wks.

pic from here.

Midnight Madness: Halo 3 is FINALLY here!

I picked up the phone over the weekend and heard this, "Hello, this is Gamespot..."

It was a recording reminding me to pay the balance on my reserved copy of Halo 3. For any of you with attention deficit, remember you can pick up those reserved copies at MIDNIGHT tonight.

And if you didn't reserve a copy, WTF were you thinking?! This is Halo 3, moron!

Seriously, the game is looking good, and we'll have a review posted here in a few days once I've thoroughly vetted the game along with resident gamers Fuzzy Truffle (his name kills me) and Edible Sofa, who has recently started calling himself God (as his gamertag, he's thought he was God for a while. heh)

Simply the Best Game Trailer Ever

PS3 Little Big Planet - GDC 07 Online Co-op Trailer

Coming soon--Now, does this look like a Nintendo game to you, too? Anyway, Little Big Planet is scheduled for release at the beginning of 2008.

Is Sony looking to launch playstation phone? Madcatz takes over Take-Two divison

Rumors abound that Sony Ericsson is upping the mobile phone competition, recently brought to a head by Apple's successful launch of the iphone, by introducing a playstation-themed gaming phone.

According to PocketGamer.com, spokesman Peter Ahnegard from Sony Ericsson hedged, “It’s obviously something that we’re looking at but right now I can’t really comment. Before Christmas, certainly … but exactly which Christmas I can’t confirm”.

Projected launch date for the playstation-themed phone from Sony is prior to February of next year.

.....

In other news, on Friday Take-Two announced it was selling off its videogame accessories division, Joytech, to Mad Catz, known for their third-party accessories and console controllers.

Take-Two is the publisher of the upcoming Grand Theft Auto IV and the just-released contender for Game of the Year, BioShock.

What Kind of Gamer are You?

Via Destructoid.com: Find out what profile fits your gaming style, or analyze your friends for fun and profit with this Guide to Recognizing Your Gamers:

Chapter One, The Backseat Gamer and The Closet Gamer

Chapter Two, The Chav Gamer

Chapter Three, The Fluffy Gamer and The PC Snob

Chapter Four, The Technical Gamer and The Japanophile

Chapter Five, The Aggressive Gamer and The Ghost

Chapter Six, The One-Game Gamer

Chapter Seven, The Collecting Gamer

Chapter Eight, The Defeatist Gamer

Chapter Nine, The Tragically Unfortunate Gamer

Bioshock Review

Update on Bioshock's awesomeness! Our affiliate site, GameZone, has a new review up, and they're saying it's easily the game of the year! They've even given the game an Outstanding Award.

Halo 3 Preview Event

Seattle hosted an exclusive Halo 3 IMAX Preview last night, and the folks over at CyberRoach were lucky enough to attend. We may not be geographically gifted over here at Fuel the Rebellion, but we've got connections for you.

Check out CyberRoach's rave here.

Bioshock: Is It TOO Good?

PC game players report that Bioshock's awesomeness results in crashes.http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif

You know what THAT means?

You gotta get the game on XBox 360!

Because, really, how can you pass up a game that's so damn good your computer can't keep up?

Flight Of The Conchords - The Humans Are Dead

After the zombies took over and we reported it, the robots demanded equal time. So, here it is, the robots' perspective on the future.

We Are the Host With the Most at Fuel the Rebellion!

Welcome to the August 17, 2007 edition of the My Favorite Things Carnival! This is our special "Back to School" edition.

Thanks to Fuel the Rebellion for agreeing to host the Carnival for us!

First, Sam presents MMORPG Addicting Online Games, posted at Surfer Sam and Friends. This post should be of special interest to those faithful Fuel the Rebellion regulars!


Mr. Sat follows, with a masterpiece of TV geekery, The Free TV List: 100 Places to Watch Television Online posted at TV Geekery.

For those of you playing the Harry Potter games, and the few who actually finished all 7 books (we know how it ends, bitches!), Scott H presents Harry Potter's Guide to the People You Meet in College posted at College and Finance, saying, "Going back to school with a Harry Potter book in hand is always fantastic. Observing how people in college resemble Harry Potter characters is even better!"

In a similar vein, Cheryl Snyder Taragin presents Adam Sandler Pounds Potter at the Weekend Box Office posted at her deliciously oddly named blog, The Spewker.

And, for all of you readers that are sick of hearing about Harry Potter, Leticia Velasquez offers alternative reading with Nothing makes a homeschool mom happier than a box of books! over at cause of our joy.


Michelle Mitchell prefers reading Letters from My Son , which you can find at her great blog all about Motherhood in Alaska, scribbit.

Aspeth, however, is looking forward to more hedonistic pleasures. With tongue firmly in cheek, she calls her vintage post, Getting Past the Color Barrier . It's posted at Twelve Years Of Being Annoyed By Chloe Sevigny. Aspeth explains, "When the mercury starts to soar, my favorite shift occurs in my palate as the season ushers in the bacchanalian goodness of white wines!"

Finally, Rickey Henderson rocks the carnival with a rousing finale, Introducing our Newest Feature: Musical Accompaniment! posted over at his kick-ass site, Riding with Rickey.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of the My Favorite Things Carnival! using our carnival submission form.

Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags:

my favorite things carnival!, blog carnival.

Google and Viacom Fight to the Death

...would be a much more interesting story, but this one, from Fark, is still pretty good.

Seems that Viacom, the huge conglomerate that owns both The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report, is suing Google for $1 billion dollars. That's right, billion, with a b.

Why?

Because, as part of its Ultimate Plan for World Domination, Google bought out YouTube, and Viacom says that Google and YouTube encourage others to pirate copyrighted material.

So, in their defense, YouTube wants to depose Stewart and Stephen Colbert, who both work for Viacom, in addition to about 30 other people, to prove that, well, hey, if we are doing it, you are doing it, too.

Which seems like an excellent rebuttal, actually, considering Stephen Colbert's stunt last year with a light saber and a green screen, where he encouraged viewers to create their own viral videos of him.

Before Viacom ordered clips from The Daily Show and The Colbert Report taken down, those clips were some of the most popular downloads on YouTube.

Makes you wonder: did any Viacom employees download them?

This lawsuit could get sticky.

Bush Vs. Zombies

At last, a war we can agree on! President Bush knows a zombie when he sees one.

Top 100 Games of All-Time

Amazon 's new ranking tool, Unspun, says THESE are the:


Vote your faves up! Smack down the losers!

Review: The Bourne Ultimatum

If you haven't seen the first two Bourne movies, you might not get what's happening in the third one. Of course, even if you did, that's no guarantee you can follow the twists and turns in The Bourne Ultimatum.

Still, bet you have fun watching them all.

You do have to pay attention with these films, loosely based on the Robert Ludlum novels. Action-packed, with a complex story line built upon the flashbacks of semi-amnesiac assassin Jason Bourne, the films take viewers to London, Berlin, Moscow and India, just for starters, following vague conspiracy theories that get fleshed out (mostly) during the course of the Bourne trilogy.

Though some complain about Paul Greengrass's deliberately shaky camera work, which throws you right into the action ("Can't he afford a steadycam with all the money he's making off these movies?" is one question actor Matt Damon says he hears repeatedly), and others wonder if the continued sucess raises the possibility of yet another installment (Re-Bourne? Bourne Again?), The Bourne Ultimatum is riding high with number one at the box office this week.

Greengrass is already having to defend the latest Bourne movie against conspiracy theorists of his own. Some believe his sinister CIA axeman, played by David Straithairn, is modeled after Vice-President Dick Cheney. Greengrass counters with a categorical, “It’s not a political soapbox for me or anybody else."



Matt Damon, who joked recently on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart that, "in my quieter moments, I remind myself of Schwarzeneggar," is perfectly cast as Jason Bourne, an assassin who refuses to be controlled by the people who created him. Damon's low-key, quiet persona as Bourne throughout much of the movie provides the perfect counterpoint to the ruthless killing machine that emerges the moment Bourne is threatened.

That contrast underlies the movie's central theme: will Bourne find the answers he needs to get on with his life? And if he does, will the assassin in him take over? Or can he reclaim the person he was, the man he has forgotten, once he has found those answers?

We could tell you, but then, you know, we'd have to kill you.

Must Watch Video

From the Onion: Man Crashes the Internet. We especially like the crawler underneath with headlines like, "JCPenney announces gay-sex only bathrooms in all of its stores." How would we survive without the blogosphere to sustain us all? Dear God, the humanity!



This is just one of the "Top 50 Must-Watch Video Clips"on the web, via Britain's best news source, the Telegraph.co.uk.

300 video hits the streets

If you saw Fuel the Rebellion's review of 300, you know it had us gushing, with its stunning visual intensity and viscerally graphic action scenes. We're hoping 300 sets the trend for more graphic novels moving to the screen with high-quality renditions like this one.

Based on Frank Miller's highly fictionalized account, 300 dramatically re-enacts the Battle of Thermopylae, When 300 Spartan soldiers fought to the last man, strategically defending a narrow mountain pass from Emperor Xerxes and his huge assaulting Persian army. Though ridiculously outnumbered, the small band of highly-trained Spartans used the terrain and their superior fighting skills to devastate the Persians, who suffered so many losses that they had to fall back and regroup, enabling the Greeks time to mount a full-scale naval assault upon the advancing Persian fleet.



Historically, The Spartans then returned full-force to head a pan-Greek army against the Persians, and in the decisive Battle of Plataea, they routed Xerxes and the advance of the Persians completely, ending the Greco-Persian war and the expanson of the Persian Empire into Europe for good.

And in Frank Miller's fictionalized version? Xerxes is about 8 feet tall, golden and godlike, seductively persuasive and utterly corrupt.

Also, the intimidating Imperial body guard "immortals" have scary masks and jump like ninjas.

And don't even get us started on giant claw-handed lobster guy.

And now 300 is out on DVD, HD and Blueray.

We picked up a copy on Blueray yesterday, armed ourselves with popcorn and Sourpatch Kids and screened it on the PS3. In a word? Outrageous. We were giddy as school kids on Christmas morning.

Total ass-kicking action, up-close and personal, complete with incredibly detailed slow-motion decapitations.

You just can't ask for more than that.
DVD Blueray

HALO 3! New stuff

If you've been waiting for Halo 3--which means all of you who have ever owned an Xbox or Xbox 360--you need to sign up for the Halo 3 for 3 contest over at Xbox website. There's three rounds of giveaways, and in the first round alone, you can run away with:

Grand Prize Winner (1)
Halo 3 Legendary Edition game
Xbox LIVE 12-Month Gold Subscription
1600 Microsoft Points

First Place Winners (2)
Halo 3 Legendary Edition game
1600 Microsoft Points

Second Place Winners (3)
Halo 3 Limited Edition game

Third Place Winners (10)
Halo 3 Standard Edition game

While you're at the site, check out the latest HIDEF HALO 3 trailer from E3 '07!

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix--What Does the latest book do for this movie's success?

The fifth Harry Potter movie has been out for a while, but what happens in the seventh book will seriously impact the success of this movie, not to mention the entire Harry Potter franchise.

Now, if you've read the seventh book, you are sitting back smugly in your comfy chair (we can see you!), and you know whether this whole Harry Potter merchandising bonanza will continue. Really, there's only one question to be answered which decides the whole thing: does Harry die in the seventh book?

If Harry dies, it could be argued that any future movies are not only iffy to begin with, but in serious danger of "coming straight to DVD" fare. Fans interest in the franchise will die out just as surely as their hero did.

If Harry survives, the movies can only continue to enjoy their success at the box office, fueled by the books' current fans and future readers.

It doesn't take a marketing genius to know that it's best for Harry to survive in that last book, does it?

So, what's happened to the movie now that the seventh book is out? It came out strong, with over 32.2 million dollars, a real blockbuster in the box office. So, with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on the shelves, Is Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix holding its own?

Surprisingly, it's now losing ground to "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry."

I say surprisingly because anyone who has watched any review of the movie on any morning or late-night interview show already knows "Chuck and Larry" SUCKS. It's a shame, because Adam Sandler and Kevin James are likable, but even they couldn't save this homophobic train wreck from crashing and burning.

And yet, it beat out Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, a movie with a great storyline, fantastic special effects and the adoration of millions of fans around the world. Granted, the movie has been out for a few weeks now, and the popularity was bound to wane.

And it could be that the Harry Potter fans are so busy reading out there that they simply don't have time for the movie. Or maybe J.K. Rowlings decided to buck the whole marketing industry and kill Harry Potter off after all.

Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

We've read the book. We KNOW what happens. Do you?

Oh, yeah, and the games are out for the fifth movie, too.

Guest Post: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Review

This post contains no spoilers

I want to reassure you all here that I am not the type to just up and post all the best and worst specifics in the books and spoil it for the rest of you. I know you all want to read what happens to Harry, Ron, Hermione and the rest of the cast of characters for yourselves. I also know that posting spoilers, true or not, changes everything for the reader. You can't go into a book objectively once you've read the rumors, not knowing whether they are true or not. You look at each character in a different way--is he or she going to make it through this book? Will this character be in the last novel? What happens between this couple, or this group? Where does the action take place, and does it matter, and what mysteries evolve, only to be solved or left as cliffhangers as the book nears completion?



So I won't spoil the adventure for you. Instead, let me just say that in this last installment of the Harry Potter septology (thanks to Jon Stewart for the term), J. K. Rowlings delivers to her fans in a big way.

Naturally, it isn't a short book, but there's good reason for it. Rowlings has dealt with all the important, unanswered questions her fans have. She's plotted adventures and twists you can't imagine, magical duels and harrowing adventures, terrific new characters and creatures and the very best from those old characters she chooses to re-visit. (Vague enough for you?)

In this book, much of the plotting that has gone into the first six is revealed as part of a much vaster chain of events, which just goes to show, as her devoted fans have known all along, that Rowlings' phenomenal success is not the result of simple luck or formulaic writing. Hopefully, critics will back off a little and accept that her work is here with us to stay. Rowlings' series is not popular because it is the latest "in" thing among tweens but because it is a classic in its own right, a magical world that comes to life between the covers of each of the seven books, finally culminating in a resounding finale worthy of the author at her best.

Now, go out, get the book, sit down and read it.

Guest Poster: Thanks to Viv from Cool Moms Rule! allowing us to use her review

I am Murloc

I am Murloc

Simply the best WoW video ever.

My Hands Are Bananas

It's not new. But it's still...special.

Bewaaaaare the Milky Pirate!

So, I had a little free time...

We don't know what this Youtuber does for a living, but this is an excellent dance montage from WoW. (Bonus: Seriously hot French chick dancing in little black outfit.)

Smart Choice

So, went to see the latest Harry Potter movie (SPOILERZ: Harry kisses a real live girl!), and I was blown away. No, not by the movie, by the previews.

They're making Get Smart into a movie, and for once the Hollywood casting geniuses have it right. For all of you too young to remember, comic genius Don Adams, also known as the voice of Tennessee Tuxedo, starred in the original Get Smart series, in the title role of lovably inept Maxwell Smart. Smart, a covert agent for Control (think CIA without the humongous budget), battled evil in the form of the obviously intellectually superior, but sadly unlucky evil agents of KAOS, led by Smart's nemesis, the sinister Siegfried. Unfortunately, though cutting a snappy figure in a tux, Maxwell Smart was neither suave nor smooth, but painfully klutzy and not very bright. Smart's ultimate success was largely attributable to his beautiful partner, Agent 99, played by Barbara Feldman.

Without Don Adams, making a movie out of this classically campy series would seem disastrous, were it not for some inspired casting: Steve Carrell as Maxwell Smart. At least, that's what all of us sitting in the audience thought, as we watched the preview. Lots of excited murmurs, and "I used to love that show!" peppered with, "perfect choice, really," which is good news for all Carrell fans after the (less than stellar) Evan Almighty performance this summer. In addition, lovely Anne Hathaway (The Devil Wears Prada) plays Agent 99.

Special treat for fans of the original series: look for Bill Murray as the perpetually unlucky Agent 13.

Get Smart, the movie, is due out next year. You can catch the original 1965 series with Don Adams on DVD over at Amazon.

(Oh, and if you're wondering, more movie reviews are on the way, including the latest Harry Potter.)

Happy Fourth of July from Fuel the Rebellion!

Fireworks - Detonate the colorful rockets

Fuel the Rebellion!

Don't forget to cast those votes for Fuel the Rebellion over at Fuel My Blog! Keep 'em coming!
Remember, there's a free logo t-shirt in it for one lucky reader! Plus, we just want to win. A lot.
Now go vote!

Bloxorz!

If you haven't tried Bloxorz, you must go and do it NOW, if only so that you can feel the frustration and agony we have gone through to get to the end.

The game has 32 levels, each one more challenging, and though the goal is laughingly simple: "put the block in the hole," doing the dirty deed is wickedly difficult.

We'll make it easy for you to get started, at least, and give you the link to Bloxorz. Give us your comments if and when you beat the game!

Fuel the Rebellion Fuels Fuel My Blog

Fuel My Blog has a contest going on right now, and the winning blog gets fame, recognition and stuff.

Naturally, we want to be that blog here at Fuel the Rebellion. Our name even sounds like their name. It's like it's our Destiny, dudes. We're, like, the Chosen One. Chosen Blog. Whatever.

All you have to do is click the button below and vote for Fuel the Rebellion, and we'll win. Simple as that. Do it now. Really. You can vote for us once every day!

You didn't do it, did you? Snap! We know what you're thinking, "What's in it for me?"
Well, there's our undying gratitude, for starters!

What, you want more?!

How about this: a free Fuel the Rebellion Logo Tee, usually available exclusively through Gamer's Outlet.

Yeah, now we've got your attention. Greedy pigs.

So here's how it works: vote for us! Post a comment with your email in it saying, "Hey, I voted for you." Do this every day you vote. The more you vote, the more chances you have to win! We'll go to Fuel My Blog to verify (that's our policy: Trust, But Verify).

Then we'll pick an email from our comments to win the Fuel the Rebellion Logo Tee. Each time you vote and send us a comment, you get another entry! You can vote every day!
It's that easy!

Now, go vote! (Oh, and thanks for supporting Fuel the Rebellion!)

Evan Almighty Review

Evan Almighty has some stiff competition to live up to. Way back in the day, John Denver's Oh, God series of movies were incredibly popular with the right-wing, family values crowd (and the rest of us, though we were too cool to mention it at the time). More recently, Jim Carrey took the stage with Bruce Almighty, with the kind of success that makes movie producers drool, and croon "sequel" under their breath. Which is probably how Evan Almighty came about to begin with, sans its star.

Enter Steve Carrell, the newest hot comic on the movie block. Carrell, though, despite his meteoric rise to fame over the last few years, has only one mega-movie lead credit to his name with The 40-Year-Old Virgin--is that really enough Hollywood clout to bring in viewers to see Evan Almighty?

The answer is yes. Plenty of fans opted to see the film on its opening day last Friday. Unfortunately for the viewers, though, once they got through the door, they weren't quite getting what they were hoping for.

It's not that Evan Almighty is a *bad* movie. Media rumor suggests it cost a whole shitload of cash to make, and we all know that heaps of money thrown at a film help prop it up to at least "okay" status. There's even cute animals to add to its appeal to the younger viewers. And as family film fodder goes, you can't do better than a Biblical parable-cum-slapstick-comedy storyline.



Unfortunately, the film doesn't do enough to attract the demographic it should be courting: urban young professionals, to whom Steve Carrell, veteran of both the Daily Show and The Office, has always held the greatest appeal.

Instead, the movie flounders somewhere between family film and so-so comedy, never really achieving the cult classic level that 40-Year-Old Virgin did. Steve Carrell, to his credit, delivers the comic lines (such as they are) with perfect timing, performs the prat falls and physical humor admirably, and comes across the screen as an engaging, likeable leading man. And the animals in the film are cute as a button, as are the film's child stars.

But where Carrell has always shone is in that edgy, slightly off-color humor, the kind of comedy that makes us cringe a little inside even while we are laughing, and this movie is just not the appropriate vehicle for that kind of humor.

As a family film, it is up there with the original Oh, God series, complete with a morally-satisfying ecologically sound storyline.

But for Carrell fans, Evan Almighty is just...Evan All Right.

Funky Fur Flying over at MeFi and YouTube

Don't know where it started, don't know why, but over at Youtube, pianists (and even a couple guitarists) are fighting over the title for Funkiest Fur Elise Rendition.

Claims to be Funky, but doesn't know what the word means (sorry, Dude, it's impressively played for a nine-year-old anyway.

First Funky Fur Elise requirement: Shades



Fairly Funky Duet:


This Fur Elise Funk war has even made it over to Matt Haughey's Community Weblog, Metafilter.com, earning its own thread with the regular pundits judging the various levels of Funk mastery. If you're wondering about their funk credentials over there at Metafilter, check out just about any tune posted by a guy named Cortex and prepare to bow down to the Master.


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It's Quiet Now...Too Quiet

We boarded up the windows with the plywood we used to use when the big storms threatened. Funny how we used to think that was our biggest worry. The



younger kids have been polishing up on their skills, hitting the Xbox 360 in turns while the rest of us kept guard at the windows, peeking through the sunlit splits where the wood doesn't quite line up. We think we're safe for now--they seem to prefer the night for their attacks--but it's only a matter of time before the pizza and Twizzlers run out, and someone will have to go for a food run.

By unspoken consent, we've avoided the Walmarts where they congregate, and hit the small mom-and-pop operations for the staples--soda for the caffeine buzz to keep us going, zippo lighters (fire still scares the hell out of 'em, but we're not sure how long that will last; with each successive raid, they seem to grow more cunning), any potential weapons we can lay our hands on. Billy and Dimitri came up with some kind of improvised flame-thrower we load up with Aqua-net Hairspray and let fly--you should have seen their little faces light up when the undead turned crispy.

Makes me hopeful for the next generation, when we finally get out of this.

If we ever get out of this.

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Pirates 3: At The World's End

We were going to review Pirates 3 today, and we would have done a badass job of it, too. But really, after Phill Ryu's full-on Pirates 3 rave, which is rockin' off the charts over at digg.com, what else is there to say? Bravo.

Welcome, All You Cinema Carnies!

Or something like that! If you've been attending the Carnival of Cinema, thanks for stopping by Fuel the Rebellion to check out my Spiderman 3 review. If you missed my earlier review of the movie 300, you can find that here.

STARCRAFT II OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCED!

As the official Blizzard site says, "Hell, it took long enough."

Per the Press release:

SEOUL, South Korea – May 19, 2007 – Blizzard Entertainment® today unveiled StarCraft® II, the sequel to its award-winning real-time strategy game StarCraft, at the 2007 Blizzard Worldwide Invitational event in Seoul, South Korea. The announcement took place inside the Olympic Gymnastics Arena, in front of thousands of attendees, who received a presentation that included a StarCraft II cinematic trailer and a gameplay demonstration by the development team.


Designed to be the ultimate competitive real-time strategy game, StarCraft II will feature the return of the Protoss, Terran, and Zerg races, overhauled and re-imagined with Blizzard's signature approach to game balance. Each race will be further distinguished from the others, with several new units and new gameplay mechanics, as well as new abilities for some of the classic StarCraft units that will be making a reappearance in the game. StarCraft II will also feature a custom 3D-graphics engine with realistic physics and the ability to render several large, highly detailed units and massive armies on-screen simultaneously.

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A Gem from xkcd.com

The Perfect Gift for a Gaming Mom (plus, it's FREE!)

You know that tomorrow's Mother's Day, but you've been procrastinating, haven't you? There's only so many hours in the day, and so many games left to be played. So many levels you have to gain and bosses you have to conquer.

In other words, you don't have a present for Mom yet.

Never fear. Like a superhero soaring above the skies in primary-hued tights and a flashy cape, Fuel the Rebellion comes to the rescue!

With a little help from our old friends PopCap Games, that is.

Right now, you can get PopCap Games classic, original Bejeweled game absolutely FREE for Mom! All you have to do is click "BUY NOW" on the Bejeweled Game Page, and enter in the coupon code: "FREE4MOMS."

You're welcome. Now go kick some more zombie ass.

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Tenacious D Feat. Andy Serkis (GOLLUM) LIVE

Spiderman 3 Review

I won't waste your time re-capping the first two Spidermans; if you haven't seen them already I can't think why you would go see this.

There are four, that's right, FOUR basic plot lines in Spiderman 3.

First, of course, is Peter Parker's on-going romance with Mary Jane Watson, or MJ, whom he has loved since he was a kid and who finally decided to give him a shot at the end of the last movie. Naturally, the course of true love does not run smoothly, and the fact that Spiderman is enjoying some popularity at last just as MJ's career nosedives doesn't help matters.



Along comes Harry Osborne, the wealthiest kid since Richie Rich, who has been struggling with issues of abandonment ever since Spiderman killed his Dad (he thinks) and, wouldn't you know it, it turns out Spiderman is actually Peter Parker, his former best friend in the world. Talk about betrayal. (He conveniently forgets that he sniped Peter's girl, MJ, in a vulnerable moment, and went out with her until his Dad basically called her a gold-digging slut.) The knee-jerk reaction when you find out your best friend is a Dad-killing Superhero is apparently to go ballistic with pumpkin bombs and flying surfboards inherited from Dear Old Dad, aka the Green Goblin. This is a shame because there are some surprisingly touching moments recounting the two men's friendship. Of course, It's hard to believe that Peter and Harry were ever friends in the first place when you see how Harry lives compared to Peter. In fact, how Harry ever managed to end up a basically decent guy living such a spoiled life is beyond belief.


Topher Grace makes his entrance in the third film playing Eddie Brock in plot line 3, and he does a great job over-coming the "That 70's Show" Eric Foreman geekiness. Of course, next to Toby McGuire, Ryan Seacrest looks butch, but Topher actually would make a great salesman based on this performance. He has all the mannerisms and sucking-up down pat. Eddie is a rival photographer that threatens Peter's tenuous position with Jonah Jameson's newspaper, and frankly I would give him the job. He has great people skills, ass-kissing par excellence, and he has a hot girlfriend, Gwen. But Topher is slated to turn into pure evil personified--Venom. Venom rocks in the comic strips, and he's cool here, but I'm thinking they actually chose Topher because he was one of the few people who could fit into the infected black Spiderman suit. I mean, he and Toby McGuire are the same basic body type.


And lastly, we have the convict-Dad-with-the-dying-daughter Sandman, a surprisingly sympathetic character played by, of all people, Lowell from the old Wings series. I kept expecting him to break out with a toolbox and a wrench. The Sandman, incidentally, is a lot more impressive than I thought he would be. I was looking forward to Venom far more, and the Sandman actually steals the show.

So, four plot lines, culiminating in a big bad finale with Spiderman pitted against all the bad guys. Bet you can guess what happens in the big finale scene? No? Sure you have actually watched the other two films? Come on, it's easy.

Here it is: The Bad Guys Kidnap MJ! I bet you are kicking yourself right now. I mean, that's what they ALWAYS do, right?

The big question in the finale fight scene boils down to this: will Harry overcome his feelings of betrayal and help Spiderman save the girl, or will he join Venom and Sandman in their evil quest to...well, basically, to piss Spiderman off. They don't seem to have a plan after that.

Now, I could give you some spoilers here and tell you how it all turns out. But, really, if I have to tell you what Harry chooses to do, you probably also think MJ actually could die, or the kidnappers really could triumph.

That's really not the point of the whole film, though, the suspense of wondering what happens. It's more of an homage to Spiderman/Peter Parker as the quintessential good guy, and an action-packed tip of the hat to some of the best villains in the Marvel Spiderman series.

On a scale of 1 to 5 stars, I would probably give it a 4, based on what the movie tries to do. The action is great, even if the romance with MJ takes up quite a bit of film space, the villains completely rock the movie, and Spiderman finally gets some credit.

Go get 'em, Spidey.

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Virtual Terrorists Strike Second Life

According to Raw Story, the terrorists may be winning. At least in the virtual world of Second Life:

People controlling animated avatar members of a self-proclaimed Second Life Liberation Army (SLLA) have set off computer-code versions of atomic bombs at virtual world stores in the past six months -- with their own manifesto.

"As Linden Labs is functioning as an authoritarian government the only appropriate response is to fight," the SLLA said in a message on its website at http://secondlla.googlepages.com...

Creative dissent is welcomed in Second Life as long as it doesn't interfere with the ability of other residents to enjoy the virtual world, according to San Francisco-based Linden.

Second Life said it stopped charging a tax on items created by residents after avatars fashioned in the images of American revolutionaries recreated the Boston Tea Party in the virtual world about three years ago.

No word on what the Bush Administration intends to do about all this.


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"DEAD RISING" SHOPPING MALL RULES ('CEPT FOR THE ZOMBIES)

I've been playing a lot of Dead Rising lately, and I have to say the mall in this game is just incredible. Now, I know this isn't a "new" game, but it's eminently replayable, and I have some tips for you if you can just keep patiently reading along, but first I just want to say: why aren't more malls like this?

Sans undead, naturally.

This mall has a "leisure park," complete with lakes and bridges, right smack-dab in the middle. It's got a gym with LOTS of weights and barbells (okay, in a real gym I would like some more actual workout equipment, but you can't have everything). It has restaurants of all kinds in a Western-style food court (where you can mix interesting things up in a blender, btw. Like what, you ask? I'm getting to that).

There's even a kid's play area with a cool rocket shuttle monorail ride and neat blocks (and a crazy clown with two chainsaws, which I would leave out of the blueprints).

Little rivers of water with cascading waterfalls run along the sides of corridors (and make excellent short-cuts through the crowds of undead). Potted plants, heck, even trees inside the mall add to the scenery.

There's not one, but several bookstores, toy stores, clothes stores and sporting goods stores with everything from skateboards to bowling balls.

In short, it's an awesome mall.

The only problem is: how are they going to top this in Dead Rising, II? The game's popularity has guaranteed there will be a sequel. How can they possibly create another setting that can compare with this inter-active Utopia? That's really had me worried for a while.

Now, an airport has much of the same amenities, but people would just load onto the planes and take off to get the heck out of there when the zombies came around, so that wouldn't really be very realistic (obviously, I have no problem altering my reality to accept that scores of zombies are infesting the airport. But that people would stick around when there are planes available? Now THAT'S stretching it!).

Finally, though, I came up with the perfect setting. Yes, thank you, I am a genius. Ahem.

So here's what I thought of, and Capcom, you can thank me later: an amusement park! Told you it was genius. I'm just basking right now. Not convinced? Can't see the big picture? Let me cast some light on the black hole of your feeble brain.

In an amusement park, you can have rides, shops, carnival games (good place to insert a mini-game, Capcom!). You can even have animals if you make the amusement park a zoo. Add in show performers with flamboyant costumes (push B to change clothes! Yea!) and you have another winner. Plus, for those of us who haven't joined the legion of undead, there are ice cream stands, cotton candy machines (probably have to find sugar for those), and popcorn to eat. Junk food goodness galore.

Whew. That's a relief. I was really worried there for a while. Now I can sleep nights, knowing they have options for the sequel.

So, you stuck it out, huh? All right, here are my personal Dead Rising tips:

Mix orange juice with just about anything in a blender. Does the word "untouchable" sound good to you?

Hey, you know those people you have to save? You can give them weapons. Also food. And they get head-shot kills. Who knew?

Milk and something else in a blender is not a good combination, unless you LIKE being Zombait.

Try heating up a frying pan on the stove and THEN wielding it as a weapon.

When Frank dies, DON'T save status and quit, unless you like starting the game over every frickin' time. LOAD instead. This is an especially useful tip for those of us who saved money by buying the game used and freaked out at the ridiculous saving system before we (doh!) figured it out.

See you later (at UndeadWorld)!

---Viv


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CALL OF DUTY 4 TRAILER

The big news of Saturday was the announcement of "Call of Duty 4", and we have the trailer for you!




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Just Another Reason Chuck Norris is Cooler Than You

For those of you who haven't seen this yet (like maybe you live in a cave, or you have been in a full body cast for a year or two, or you are just plain old), Fuel the Rebellion proudly presents
The Ultimate Showdown to the Ultimate Destiny.


Still think you are as Cool as Chuck Norris? Don't delude yourself. Take our quiz and weep.

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SO YOU WANT TO BE A GAME TESTER? (3 Tips & the Right Links to Get You Started)

Doh.

So many of us have expressed this interest at one time or another that the question seems down-right ridiculous.

But--and think carefully before you answer--do you really know what the job involves?

Testing a game requires you to play the game as the developers demand, find bugs and report them, have an eye for detail and some knowledge of the various genres. It does NOT mean you play your favorite shooter until you win.

Expect: to work long hours with little financial compensation and even less appreciation. Make no mistake, unless you are a professional game developer yourself, as a game tester you are the bottom man on the totem pole.

Expect: A short-term gig. You are there for one purpose and one purpose only, and once that has been completed, your job is done.

Don't expect: job security, a high standard of living while the testing is going on (or afterward, if the salary is typical of company standards) or to work in the comfort of your own home, with your own consoles. That's just not the way it's done.

But we know, even after all of the above, you are still reading this. You still want to do it, don't you?

HERE'S HOW TO MAKE IT HAPPEN:

1. Move.

If you don't live in a town where the huge gaming companies have a base, move now. They will not come to you. No matter how many levels you have beaten on how many games, they are not going to fly you in to test their games. Get real.

So where do you move to?

California
Seek out Newport Beach for Shiny Entertainment, creators of Earthworm Jim and Enter the Matrix. While you're in California, check out Agoura Hills-based THQ.

Washington
Don't like California? Fine. Redmond, Washington is even more of a hot spot for potential testers. That's where Nintendo looks for talent.


2. Work on Your Writing Skills

WTF? I have to know how to write, too? Yep. If you want to get ahead as a game tester, you have to be able to document bugs and phrase criticisms and critiques into well-formulated sentences in written reports. Don't believe us? Check this out:

if you actually become a tester you're going to be writing up bugs quite often. I imagine they would want to see someone who can write properly since your writing is going to be floating around the company databases...
CS
QA Tester
Big Huge Games

My QA application included a cover letter that detailed all of the things I look for and/or enjoy in the games that I play. It was essentially a personal essay, but took no more than a single printed page. It must have helped, as I have just celebrated my sixth anniversary with the company.
SW
QA Ninja
BioWare Corp.
"Where quality begins with QA!"

Quotes from IGDA forum.

3. Learn Another Language

Hey, it may sound extreme, but if you want to run with the big dogs, you gotta...well, you know what we mean. Gaming is a global enterprise now, and the big game developers actively seek translators to avoid any "all your base are belong to us" glitches. And they just don't get any bigger than Blizzard nowadays, do they?

Oh, wait! Maybe they do. Ever heard of these guys?






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