Gamestop kneels before Gabe and sells Steam Gift Cards

The press release says that Gamestop “thrilled to be partnering with Valve on this new initiative,” but we all know what’s going on here. Gamestop has made an agreement with Valve to start selling gift vouchers for the Steam PC download service in their stores across North America. The last video store in my town is just about to shutter, and its pretty clear that Gamestop will soon follow suit. They say that they are going to make a transition from software sales to refurbished hardware, but if you ask me, the future of retail is the face-to-face community surrounding their stores. Considering Gamestop’s relationship with the gaming community, it’s clear that the future is not for them.

Source:Forbes

George R.R. Martin and Chuck Palahniuk to Visit Seattle

Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin will be coming to Town Hall Seattle on July 3rd for an exclusive reading of the next installment  of the Song of Ice and Fire series, The Winds of Winter.

Chuck Palahniuk will also be making his way to Town hall on July 24th. The author of Fight Club and Choke will be promoting Invisible Monsters Remix, a re-release of his Invisible Monsters novel with additional chapters and behind the scenes memoirs mixed in.

Tickets for both George R.R. Martin and Chuck Palahniuk are available through Brown Paper tickets.

Source:Culture Fiend.

Rex Velvet Goes On AfterEffects-Fueled Rampage




Rex Velvet, Seattle’s premier super villain, has released a new video to taunt Phoenix Jones and the rest of the Rain City superheroes. Mr. Velvet appears to be emboldened by the response to his first video, and now has the ability to to take to the streets in many forms of motorized transport. Unencumbered by public transit, where will Rex Velvet strike next?

Source: Topless Robot.

Get Your Geeky Drink on in Jelly Form with this Minecraft Dirt Block Jelly Shot

Hey Folks! Do you like Minecraft? Do you like Jelly? Do you Like drinking? Then today is your lucky day! My friend Tarra has started an awesome blog about geeky jelly shots to spice up your next convention room party. This scintillating memorial to all of the dirt blocks we had to destroy to build our 50-story dong castles is a mixture of coffee, kahlua, irish cream liqueur, and pistachio pudding. Try out this recipe and enjoy!

Source: Jigglygeek Jelly Shots.

Paul Christoforo Sues N-Control

A new chapter has opened in the Ocean Marketing Saga. You may remember Paul Christoforo as the man who thought it would be a great idea to physically threaten the creators and staff at Penny Arcade because they exposed his less than admirable treatment of customers waiting for the Avenger controller for gamers with disabilities. Christoforo, now in need of a gig, has filed a lawsuit against N-Control, makers of the Avenger, for defamation of character. The following is a quote from his letter to Kotaku:

The grounds are defamation of Character telling lies about me my company and preventing me from making a living by lying about things that never happened and I plan on going after other people too esp .coms who printed the lies and did not retract after i asked nicely. Breach of contract for them not paying me an undisclosed sum of money Due to me at the time we parted ways and a few other things named in the lawsuit.

The question is, after all he’s said and done, after saying things like “Son Im 38 I wwebsite as on the internet when you were a sperm in your daddys balls.”, and after not possessing the google or grammar skills to figure out who he was dealing with? how could anyone possibly add anything to that lexicon that would count as defamation of character?

Source:The Escapist

My Other Me Gets Funded On Kickstarter




The cosplay documentary My Other Me: A Film About Cosplayers has surpassed its funding goal on Kickstarter and will be getting the funds it needs to battle post production costs and shady film executives. Most of the footage was captured at Sakuracon, Anime Evolution, and Cos & Effect, so if you plunk down $60 on the kickstarter, you might be able to see you and your friends in a movie! Hurry though, there are only 4 days to go!

 

Source: Kickstarter

Halo: The Thursday War Novel Drops October 2nd


Karen Traviss’ trilogy of Halo Books continues in “The Thursday War”, the sequel to last year’s “Glasslands”. The trilogy takes place after the events of Halo 3, where dissident groups in the Earth and Covenant forces conspire to ignite a new conflict over technology left by the mysterious forerunners. The novel will be released in Audiobook and Hardcover on October 2nd, 2012

Reviews on the Run.

The Scouring of PAX Prime 2012

In case you haven’t heard already, all badges, three-day, single-day, and otherwise, have sold out for PAX 2012. If that wasn’t surreal enough, Gabe wrote this heartfelt apology to the fans who couldn’t go. While it’s nice, I’m not sure that he needed to do that. Same-day sell outs have existed at big-name concerts for years, and for an event like this you need to manage your expectations. As big as PAX is, North America is in dire need of space like Tokyo Big Sight, where the 500,000 strong Comiket is held twice a year. You know those numbers are coming. But then I think, hold on! I’ve been going to conventions since they were nothing more than glorified band camps. How did we go from that to having enough numbers to literally storm Normandy Beach? What exactly happened here? Was it all the superhero movies? The invention of good video game graphics? Failures in institutions like school, religion, and major league sports franchises? All of those things I just mentioned had points in their history when they were only practiced by few and eccentric, just like video games, comics, and their ilk. Perhaps we’re on the verge of another such great expansion, but now we have the privilege of seeing it first hand.

Source: Penny Arcade

Microsoft to sell Xbox Bundle for $99 with Xbox Live Service Agreement

Microsoft wil soon be releasing a price drop for its Xbox 360 console, but not in a way you’d expect. Yes, you will be able to get the console and Kinect with 2 games for $99, but that’s only if you agree to sign a two year Xbox live gold membership at $15 a month. The total package will cost $459 over the course of ownership. This kind of financing will be critical as console sales took a dive over the 1st quarter of 2012. Are we headed toward the future depicted in Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother, where hapless mall employees dressed in Master Chief armor give consoles away for free in vain hopes of software sales only to have them over-written with a brand of Linux by fresh faced teen freedom fighters? The comments await your response.

Source: Ars Technica

Official Halo Live Action Web Series To Air This Fall

Although the Halo movie may be forever interred in development hell, but a new live action web series is going to be released as part of the lead up to Halo 4 on November 6. The production will feature many of the names attached to the Halo movie project like Neill Blomkamp, the director of District 9. Series will consists of 5 fifteen minute episodes released on a weekly basis, and maybe, just maybe it will lead to more live action productions in the Halo Universe.

Source:Reviews on the Run