things i know | thingsiknow.net http://thingsiknow.net/ Student. Gamer. Designer. Relaunched and ready to roll. en Copyright 2008 Mon, 16 Jun 2008 19:56:18 -0500 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Meet Chester Just tested out Spore's Creature Creator. He's so cute! See him in action over at the GameDaily YouTube Channel

Spore looks pretty amazing. It's been a long wait but all signs point to it being worth it. Look for the demo download on BigDownload.com tomorrow!]]> http://thingsiknow.net/2008/06/meet-chester.html http://thingsiknow.net/2008/06/meet-chester.html GameDaily Misc Mon, 16 Jun 2008 19:56:18 -0500 [GameDaily] Steal That Style: Niko Bellic We like to mix things up. Here's a recent feature that I put together detailing the style behind main Grand Theft Auto IV character Niko Bellic's badassery. The idea came from men's site Asylum.com's 'Steal That Style' series, where they dissect clothing choices of celebrity men. [Link] Steal That Style: GTA IV's Niko Bellic]]> http://thingsiknow.net/2008/05/gamedaily-steal-that-style-nik.html http://thingsiknow.net/2008/05/gamedaily-steal-that-style-nik.html Feature GameDaily Thu, 08 May 2008 10:20:58 -0500 How to Deal With GTA IV If you're a parent... don't buy it for your kid. It's violent, there is blood, and yes, there are prostitutes. You wouldn't let you kid watch Scarface, would you? If you're mainstream media... please research and actually play the game. Or just watch a regular gameplay session. You don't earn points by killing cops. You aren't forced to have sex with prostitutes and then kill them. It's called sandbox gameplay, and honestly? There are much more interesting things to do in the game, such as hijack an airplane (I'm kidding. Not really.) If you're a mature, responsible gamer... remember the moment you bought the game because your grandchildren will ask you about it in their future media studies classes and/or likely refer to some new "culturally deviant" form of entertainment as the Elvis or Grand Theft Auto of their time. If you're Jack Thompson... go away. I can use harsher words (like the ones they teach me in GTA) but I won't. It's really that simple, guys. ]]> http://thingsiknow.net/2008/05/how-to-deal-with-gta-iv.html http://thingsiknow.net/2008/05/how-to-deal-with-gta-iv.html GameDaily Thu, 01 May 2008 02:14:42 -0500 Interview with Jason Priestly Stopped by the Mario Kart launch party at Rockefeller Plaza today and snagged an interview with 90210's Jason Priestly!
Are there red and blue shells in real race car driving?
[Laughs] Uh, not really. Not so much. There's not a real comparison between the two, but Mario Kart is a lot of fun and that's really what it's for. The whole point of video games is to have fun, it's about having fun with your friends. And the Wii, I've found, is more fun for a lot of people than any other gaming platform.
[Link] Interview: Jason Priestly on Mario Kart Wii [Link] Flickr: Mario Kart Wii Launch Party (with Chace Crawford, too!)]]> http://thingsiknow.net/2008/04/interview-with-jason-priestly.html http://thingsiknow.net/2008/04/interview-with-jason-priestly.html GameDaily Interview Writing Sat, 26 Apr 2008 23:49:50 -0500 More Reasons Robin's Job Rocks mtvrockband.jpg From Newsweek's Level Up gaming blog:
Having sated our thirst for Judas Priest, we began to swap instruments and move on to some Rock Band staples. It was here that Yang convincingly channelled her inner rock star into songs like Hole's "Celebrity Skin," The Killers' "When You Were Young" and a one-two punch of Boston, consisting of "More Than A Feeling" and "Foreplay/Long Time." Had there been a million faces present, she would surely have rocked them all.
[Link] Page 110: Our One Day Early Hands-On With Judas Priest's 'Screaming For Vengeance' In MTV's Lab]]> http://thingsiknow.net/2008/04/more-reasons-robins-job-rocks.html http://thingsiknow.net/2008/04/more-reasons-robins-job-rocks.html GameDaily Tue, 22 Apr 2008 16:17:55 -0500 Mom's Videogame Boot Camp! GameDaily and All You (Walmart's women's magazine) teamed up to host a Mom's Videogame Boot Camp last Tuesday. Ten moms from the NYC area came over to 75 Rock, where Libe gave them the lowdown about the Xbox 360, the PS3, and the Wii. I demoed Motorstorm (PS3), Guitar Hero II (360), and Wii Tennis and then brought a mom up to learn each game. At the end of the session, we had a Wii Tennis tournament - everyone ended up walking away with a Nintendo DS Lite and a copy of "Brain Age." It was a pretty fun experience - the Wii was a hit, as expected. The best part - we made it on television! CBS, FOX, CNBC, and Telemundo came by with camera crews - FOX actually interviewed me but it didn't make the final cut. Check out the compiled collection of news clips below! ]]> http://thingsiknow.net/2007/07/moms-videogame-boot-camp.html http://thingsiknow.net/2007/07/moms-videogame-boot-camp.html GameDaily Thu, 26 Jul 2007 21:26:52 -0500 Interview: "Fatal1ty" -- Model, Athlete, Nerd? "Fatal1ty" -- Model, Athlete, Nerd? (May 2005) We talk to pro-gamer and media darling Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel about setting an example, the gaming revolution and abstaining from the 9-to-5 job. Johnathan Wendel, better known as ‘Fatal1ty,’ does what every kid really wants to do when they grow up. He plays video games and gets paid to do it. He's won over $500,000 by winning gaming competitions, practices eight to ten hours a day (right now for the upcoming Lanwar tournament) and – as he often points out -- still finds time to play tennis. Does this make him an athlete? Or some kind of super nerd? We ask him to fill in the blanks. Who knew that playing video games would turn you into a role model? Crazy, huh? Growing up, I always wanted to be competitive at whatever I was doing, but also be a good role model. When I grew up, I had my role models, too, like André Agassi and Michael Jordan -- anyone who was a hard worker and very competitive. But I understand that when you get to this high level, there’s this big responsibility that I have to be, and I want to be, a good role model for other people.]]> http://thingsiknow.net/2007/07/interview-fatal1ty-model-athle.html http://thingsiknow.net/2007/07/interview-fatal1ty-model-athle.html GameDaily Interview Writing Mon, 16 Jul 2007 08:31:48 -0500 Best Retro Video Game Commericals Link outdated - feature is no longer available on GameDaily. // Sept. 17, 2007 This line-up was published as a part of our "We Love Retro Games" package (for Valentine's Day... ish. For gamers who celebrate Valentine's Day - or don't... soemthing like that. It had to do with 'love' and so does Valentine's Day. ) back in February. My contribution was a list of ten best retro video game commercials (and corresponding Youtube clips) - and the fun part was, I think the only one I was old enough to remember was the Dr. Mario "Oo ee oo aah aah, ting tang, walla walla bing bang" one. This was the week when everyone around the office and during pitch meetings were like, "Oh my god, remember that one with Burgertime?" while I sat awkwardly until someone would ask me if I even knew what those games were. "No... I was born in 1987."]]> http://thingsiknow.net/2007/07/best-retro-video-game-commeric.html http://thingsiknow.net/2007/07/best-retro-video-game-commeric.html Feature GameDaily Mon, 16 Jul 2007 01:13:08 -0500 Interview: The Man Behind Lara, Toby Gard Updated links to new GameDaily URLs. // Sept. 17, 2007 As part of our coverage for Tomb Raider: Anniversary, we managed to secure an interview with Toby Gard, the original creator of the game's leading lady, Lara Croft. Phone interview, but still interesting. My boss assigned this piece to me roughly an hour before the interview was scheduled to take place - needless to say I was a bit frazzled. Thank god for Wikipedia. That thing is a lifesaver. I was talking to my boyfriend as I did research for the article. He quipped that Gard was probably a pervert - Lara Croft is ubiquitous for her curvaceous body*. Heck, she was played by Angelina Jolie in the film adaptations. Toby turned out to be a really down-to-earth guy who was staunchly against the 'sexy' image that the production company wanted her to have - he cited that as one of the reasons he actually stopped working on the Tomb Raider franchise for a while (I asked him about it in the interview). All in all, I got some pretty solid quotes out of him - and the chance to speak to Lara's creator was damn cool.
How do you think Lara will adapt to new generations of gamers? Well in the first game, literally I was thinking about someone who was really almost psychopathic, really dangerous. But her goals were modern. Tomb Raider is about exploring history, and history is always something that you see people interested in, or at least I hope would stay relevant. As long as we retain that myth and that uncovering then I think people will stay interested. And as long as she continues to age well. Ha, ha. That's the great thing about [her] isn't it? You don't have to worry about that.
*We shamelessly ran another feature for the Tomb Raider tie-in, a quiz called How Well Do You Know Lara's Assets?", in which our readers were asked to match an screenshot of Lara's beautiful bosom to the Tomb Raider game it appeared in. Did I mention that I wrote the raunchy question and answer set for that? (blush)]]> http://thingsiknow.net/2007/07/interview-the-man-behind-lara.html http://thingsiknow.net/2007/07/interview-the-man-behind-lara.html GameDaily Interview Writing Mon, 16 Jul 2007 01:10:15 -0500 Interview: Fred Willard’s Hot for Brains Updated links to new GameDaily URLs. // Sept. 17, 2007 This one was actually really fun - it's one of the few interviews for GameDaily that I got to conduct in person as opposed to over the phone. When my boss first told me that I was interviewing Fred Willard, I recognized the name but couldn't match it with a face. Naturally, I Wikipedia-ed him. Turns out I knew him as the wacky father-in-law of Ray's brother, Robert, on 'Everybody Loves Raymond.' I got to the hotel and was escorted upstairs to his penthouse suite. I introduced myself, we sat down and chatted a bit about the game (he was trying to beat a minigame as I walked in - the lead 'graph in the interview isn't a lie... :) ) before I started the recorder. He was a superb interview - very easy to talk to, funny, talkative, cute in that 'I'm old and I don't know much about video games but they're great!' way. Definitely an entertaining experience.
Was video game voicing a lifelong dream? It’s a lot of fun; it’s the kind of thing I love to do, to put your voice on something. In this, it makes you sound very intelligent. I’m the head of this Hot Brain institute, so people will think, “Gee, Fred Willard, they must have gotten him because he’s so smart!”
]]> http://thingsiknow.net/2007/07/interview-fred-willards-hot-fo.html http://thingsiknow.net/2007/07/interview-fred-willards-hot-fo.html GameDaily Interview Writing Thu, 05 Jul 2007 21:00:51 -0500 Interview: Showdown with Young Jeezy Updated links to new GameDaily URLs. // Sept. 17, 2007 I talked with rapper Young Jeezy over the phone about the PS3/360 fighting game, Def Jam Icon. The interview was... brief, to say the least. I had a hard time getting him to elaborate on his answers. Still fun, though. My boyfriend, a fan, was jealous.
So what do you think of the final product? For the most part, it turned out good, but it was like, people wouldn't know that it takes that much time for the voiceovers and all the other shit.
]]> http://thingsiknow.net/2007/07/interview-showdown-with-young.html http://thingsiknow.net/2007/07/interview-showdown-with-young.html GameDaily Interview Writing Thu, 05 Jul 2007 20:43:58 -0500