Thanks to our new east coast staff writers, Bob, Justin and Rett, we now have this whole nation covered.  Our 3 east coast boys will be covering PAX East and almost everything around it.  Expect videos, photos, interviews, hands-on previews, and more from Penny Arcade’s first event in BAH-STOHN. If it’s funny, interesting or weird, our boys will capture it. Oh, and I hear there is going to be a party some where there. So, expect photos and videos of that as well.

Hey BAH-STOHNIANS! If you see Pleek, make sure to wave to the camera or do some weird pose. We’ll be sure to post you up here.

Pop Cap announced last year that it would be bringing it’s popular tower defense strategy game, Plants VS Zombies, out on the iPhone.  On February 15th, they will make good on that promise. Get ready to have even more fun while on John (American) or the Loo (British) while killing some zombies. To see what it will look like on the iPhone, watch the trailer below.

[via @PopCap_games (Twitter)]

After seeing Google’s 2 million dollar ad run during the Super Bowl’s 3rd quarter, first word that came to mind was “meh.”  Yea, it was cute. Yes, it told a good story. Yes, it was a perfect way to further brand Google. But, what it have killed them to use the Batman Search story? That one seems more lively and energetic.  It would have fit better with the overall atmosphere of the Super Bowl.  Plus, how many Super Bowl parties or Sports Bars actually heard the cute ending of a baby laughing? I bet not much.  Now, if you played the sounds of the below video, I bet you’d get more people turning their heads back to the TVs.

Btw, thanks again to DulaTV for keeping a copy of this.  I’m not sure why Google took their copy of this search story down.

Old Spice’s current campaign of telling the viewers why they should trust their body scents to the scent of their product has always been humorous.  You might have remembered ones like this or this.  Maybe you even remembered that fake doctor, Mr. Neil Patrick Harris.  But, it was not until this afternoon, after watching this ad, did I actually LOL.

Oh and btw. I’m on a horse.

One follow up commercial in this same theme, after the break. (more…)

With nine nominations for Academy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards (including Best Motion Picture – Drama) and $2,105,517,744 gross earning worldwide, there’s no doubt Avatar has been a commercial and critical success. Directors, audiences, and critics alike have all sung its praises. The more honest among them have been willing to concede much of its appeal is derived from its genuinely gorgeous visuals, but some have also praised its storytelling and characterization- a positively mystifying conclusion.

Avatar tries to set up a basic struggle between the primeval forces of an unspoilt alien world and the mechanistic, industrial forces of its Terran exploiters. (Given the attention the movie has garnered, Avatar’s story should not be a surprise to anyone, so I won’t bother to hide it.) It’s an age-old theme, usually setting noble surrogate aboriginal types against decadent industrialists, and one particularly evocative in our own times of environmental crisis.

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The Grammys were last week, and once again dozens of undeserving artists were recognized for performing crappy songs that most of them didn’t even write.  Whether it’s the Grammys, Oscars, or Emmys, I’m a sucker for awards shows, though in recent years they’ve become consistently disappointing.  Even so, I normally feel like there is at least one Grammy-worthy artist nominated in each category, and foolishly I continue to watch hoping that the award goes to the right artist.  The silver lining is,  even if a nominated artist doesn’t win the Grammy, the nomination is still an honor that will be attached to the artists name  forever.

So here’s the bullshit.  Lady Gaga, Beyonce, and Green Day were all given awards for their embarrassing contributions to the music-world, while some of the greatest songwriters and composers in the world remain mostly unrecognized for their music.  I truly believe that long after “Poker Face” and that “Put A Ring On It” song are forgotten, our favorite video game franchises will still be recording and re-recording their brilliant theme songs that seem to NEVER to get old.  The sad part is, there’s no Grammy for “Best Song in a Video Game”.

After the break, check out seven songs from video games that truly deserve awards.  Please comment and let us know which video game songs you’d like to see recognized!

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I’m sure we’ve all heard the news by this point. Sega has recently revealed their secret “Project Needlemouse” as Sonic the Hedgehog 4, the next iteration of the 19 year-old Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. I’ve always been a fan of that speed addicted hedgehog that could put Speedy Gonzalez to shame, but even I have to admit that the series has been on a very deadly downward spiral for the better part of the last decade, beginning with the series’ major breakthrough into 3D gameplay in 1999. If Super Mario 64 can be considered a shining example of how to translate a 2D platforming series into 3D, then Sonic could be considered the opposite. While earlier 3D entries weren’t by all means bad, there’s been a very sharp decline in quality with every successive entry, ending with the atrocious Sonic Unleashed. And with fans begging for Sonic’s return to 2D, it seems that Sega is ready to give the fans what they want. But is it too little too late for the little blue speed demon? Where exactly did Sonic go so wrong? Is it even possible for him to redeem himself at this point?
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As you might have heard by now, Live support for original Xbox and original Xbox games played on the 360 is being shut off. Of course that includes games like Bungie’s Halo 2, an iconic game in it’s own right and it’s sad to think that it’s day is passing. Bungie however is not going all sad and mushy on us, but wants to send Halo 2 off into the sunset with one last shin-dig:

Mark your calendars now – on April 14th let’s all rally to go online for one last hoorah. One final farewell and one final opportunity for all of you to kick our asses at Halo 2.

So if you’ve got an Xbox of either flavour and a copy of the legendary Halo 2, then get your asses online for one final frag-fest on April 14th. You never know you might even bump into one of the PG staff, just be kind and gentle eh? We’re a crotchety old bunch.

[Bungie.net Via Kotaku]

Congratulations to the New Orleans Saints for upsetting the veteran Super Bowl champs, the Indianapolis Colts, 31-17.  The underdogs win this year and Madden 2010 predicted correctly. It feels just like yesterday, when I was playing Joe Montana Football for the Sega Genesis and football games were trying to play catch up with the realism of the sport.  Now, the tables have turned with the sport having so many motion graphic guys and special technologies just to make it catch up with video games.