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ORIGINALLY AIRED: 4/12/2005

Experimental Games, PSP Hacks, Mortal Kombat

Episode #5059

9107


This Just In
Look! Up on the Web!: Some breaking superhero movie images from Superherohype.com:

Keyword Gold: Here’s a list of top-rated Google ad keywords.

Back When Wood Was Just Wood: This gallery of unintentionally sexual comic book covers provides laughs galore.



Project: Experimental Gameplay
Shalin Shodhan and Kyle Gray, students at students at Carnegie Mellon University's Entertainment Technology Center, challenged themselves (and two other students, Kyle Gabler and Matt Kucic) with the “Experimental Gameplay Project.” Each student had to single-handedly create one video game per week using OpenGL or Flash. They ended up with some 30 or so titles since last January, many of which can be played at www.experimentalgameplay.com.

Here are Shalin and Kyle’s personal favorite titles:

Tower of Goo
Shalin: “We were able to make a constructive game—it’s not about shooting, eating or killing things—that’s fun. It’s the highest-rated game on our site.”
Kyle: “It’s also very simple and addictive. It’s kind of one of those games that it emerged as a good game, a diamond in the rough. It wasn’t created to be great, but it emerged as a really good game. It’s really easy to pick up—everyone can pretty much come up and use it in a matter of seconds.”

Square-Off
Shalin: “The reason I like it so much is because it’s really simple, and yet so innovative and fun for two people to play. We’ve had people email us back, “We’ve been playing this for hours.”

On a Rainy Day
Kyle: “That game is really beautiful art-wise. You’re building this tree of hands that’s constantly going up, and in order to do that you’re protecting these little paper boats with umbrellas. If you actually do make it to the top, all the hands applaud.”

Blow
Shalin: “It’s more of an interesting experience than a game. All you do is blow into a microphone and then you clap, but there’s something so interesting about that game, the way it looks and the way it feels when you blow into the mic and the balloon blows up. It’s a really interesting experiment.”

The Crowd
Kyle: “It’s this great game where you have about 500 people in an audience, and you can click on any one of them and the camera will zoom in, then you pick one of three options. You can advocate love, security, or violence. It’s not quite a game, but it feels like you have some sort of connection with each person even though there’s this massive amount of people.”



Cool PSP Hacks
Ever since the Sony PSP was released, industrious hackers across the nation have been working diligently to figure out new things to do with it. Here are some of our favorites:

Read E-books:

Browse the web:

Play multiplayer PSP games using just one disc.

Make a DIY USB PSP charger.



It Came From eBay!



Mortal Kombat vs. The World
Kevin R. is convinced that Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance is the greatest fighting game ever made. Kevin P. scoffed. After a short debate involving several other gaming titles, the two Kevins settled the matter with a round of Deadly Alliance. Kevin P. was thrashed, and the debate was tabled.



The Feed
Lexis-Nexis Hacked: The research database admits that its computers turned over passwords, enabling hackers to steal the personal information of over 300,000 members.

Mag Bounty: Intel is offering to buy the 1965 copy of Electronics Magazine that features an article with the first reference to Moore’s Law—for $10,000.

It’s G-R-R-R-R-R-eat!: Apple.com posts a Tiger Countdown Clock to remind everyone that the latest version of OSX is coming soon.

Fine Whine: France is apparently upset with Google.



Whoa! It’s DVDuesday!
FilmThreat.com’s inimitable Chris Gore gave us the scoop on today’s big DVD releases. Here are his comments straight from his keyboard to you:

Ocean’s 12
This film and its DVD edition is a HUGE disappointment. Under “special features,” there is only one thing listed: the theatrical trailer. A complete waste! Just wait for the inevitable special edition. Steven Soderbergh is probably one of the best directors doing DVD commentaries today as he usually offers insight into the process, as well as funny anecdotes. (He also does every commentary with the screenwriter for that film and begins the commentary with, “And now another episode of two white guys talking about movies.”) But there’s no commentary on this disc!  A crime! You’re better off getting any of Soderbergh’s other films that have commentaries, like: sex, lies & videotape, Out of Sight, Erin Brockovich, or The Limey, where he gets in a fight with the screenwriter over scenes he cut. If you are adventurous, find Schizopolis.
Verdict: DON’T BOTHER

Space Ghost Coast to Coast Vol. 3
This third volume collects 24 total episodes of the Adult Swim series on the Cartoon Network—cartoons for grown-ups. It’s just smart humor as SG mixes celebrity interviews with cartoon hijinx. You WISH other talk show hosts would get snippy with their guests, people like Bob Odenkirk, David Cross, Fred Schneider, and Beck. Plus, Space Ghost has my favorite surf band Man or Astroman providing the music.
Verdict: BUY IT

Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law Vol. 1
If cartoon characters had a lawyer to help them in times of need, Harvey Birdman would not be a very good one. But he is damn entertaining! This is another Adult Swim series collection with 13 episodes of Harvey defending the likes of  Shaggy and Scooby (who get caught with Scooby snacks) and Race Bannon in a custody case over Haji and Johnny Quest. Both discs contain a healthy dose of extras, including multiple commentary tracks (on one Harvey Birdman has the lawyers from Standards and Practices offering their thoughts), deleted scenes, alternate endings and more. In addition, the packaging is even cool, making these discs collectible.
Verdict: BUY IT

Bonus Film Threat Tip: You can actually download the entire Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith script right now—legally—at eReader.com. “It’s going to be a mix of the most exciting action sequences ever in a Star Wars film, and a lot of boring crap,” promises Chris. Spoil your moviegoing experience now and download away!



Sarah’s Damn Good Download
Wouldn't it be great if the open-source photo-editing software GIMP had a Photoshop-style menu system? Yes, it would. And your wish is granted with GIMPshop.