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Republican Leader is Former Computer Pirate

Thu, 01 May 2008 13:51:00 GMT

Tony Krvaric, head of San Diego’s GOP Committee, is a co-founding member of a computer piracy group that began in 1987.

The group, Fairlight, was one of the biggest gaming warez groups on the scene, but was eventually busted in 2004. Krvaric had left the group officially in 1994.

In an e-mail response to other Republican officials, Krvaric said:

"Apparently there’s a hit piece floating around on me, “exposing” my wild high school, teenage years where I was in a computer club where we swapped Commodore 64 games (similar to how kids swap mp3 music files these days). This was in the 80’s, on a computer that’s long since defunct!"

What should you take away from all of this? When your parents tell you to stop spending all that time on the computer playing games and hacking, you just say, "One day I could be the leader of the GOP Committee in San Diego. Also, I'd have a weird name."

GamePolitics: San Diego Republican Boss is Former Game Piracy Ringleader

Funny Or…Game?

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 11:36:00 GMT

As part of its one-year anniversary effort to expand its “____ or Die” franchise, Funny or Die will add a videogame site to its roster over the next six weeks.

Glover kept mum on most details of the new video game site, but did spill a few tidbits. “The videogame site will not be a game-playing site,” said CEO Dick Glover. “If we became a game-playing site, that actually limits who we could partner with, who we could align with, and advertisers we could get. We want to do a very broad-based site. Whether you’re my age and playing Pac-Man is your idea of a video game, or you’re younger and at the highest levels of Halo 3, or you’re in a retirement home, we’re going to have something for you on this site.”

Glover says advertisers are paying premium CPMs to be associated with the professional content across the sites, and that Funny or Die may even go global in the near future.

“We’re looking at at least two international sites,” Glover confessed. “Action sports might be big in one region, [while in] another region comedy might be better.”

Newteevee.com: Funny or Die gets into gaming?

Indie Games: Achilles

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 15:09:00 GMT

The cutest li'l hack n' slash Greek adventure is the indie game Achilles, and you're going to feel like quite the heel if you don't play it. Get it? Heel? Achilles? We slay ourselves, but you'll be slaying soldiers in this indie game.

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Indie Games: Doublewires

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 15:57:00 GMT

Swing from...um...weird color thing to other weird color thing using the surprisingly difficult, but kind of addicting Doublewires, an indie game that Kevin Pereira wants you to see. So, do as he says and watch the accompanying video. Or else.

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Indie Games: Angry Boulders

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 16:00:00 GMT

They're angry, and they want to kill flies. They're boulders, and what you know about them now is all you need to know about them. It's an indie game in which you portray boulders and kill flies, and it's called Angry Boulders. Do watch, won't you?

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Google's Android Unveiled in Barcelona

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 10:19:00 GMT

The Mobile World Congress show is going down in Barcelona and a few companies are showing off some prototypes running Google's Android OS.

Reports from the floor indicate that the OS is snappy and intuitive, but the prototype's capabilities were limited. It looks like a promising platform, but this is not how you launch a product, Google.

Where's your huge presentation? Your turtleneck? Your "one more thing"?

Head over to Engadget to check out a bunch of photos of this and another prototype.

Engadget: Google attacks: Android at Mobile World Congress

Indy Games Festival Finalists Announced

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 12:00:00 GMT

The 2008 Independent Games Festival (IGF) has announced the twelve finalists in the Student Showcase for its 10th annual set of awards. The finalists were chosen from a field of 125 entries, and will compete for the overall Best Student Game prize, to be awarded at the IGF Awards Ceremony on February 20, 2008.

All of the finalists will be showcased from February 20-22, 2008 at this year's Game Developer's Conference in San Francisco. The winner will receive a $2,500 cash prize, which will buy the lucky students a lot of Keystone Ice when they return to their respective campus.

In addition, all of the entrants will be able to show off their games in front of all of the developement studios at the GDC. So while a game like Gesundheit! might not garner much attention with the average gamer, it could lead to a team of students getting hired to create the next Portal.

Check out the finalists below:

Crayon Physics Deluxe, by Helsinki Polytechnic Stadia, Finland
Empyreal Nocturne, by DigiPen Institute of Technology
Gesundheit!, By Sheridan Institute
Galaxy Scraper, by Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
Mayhem Intergalactic, by The Australian National University
Poesysteme, by ENJMIN, France
Polarity, by Carnegie Mellon University
Ruckblende, by Uni Duisburg-Essen, Germany
Synaesthete, by DigiPen Institute of Technology
The Misadventures Of P.B. Winterbottom, by University of Southern California- School of Cinematic Arts- Interactive Media Program
Flipside (Half-Life 2 Modification), by National Academy of Digital, Interactive Entertainment, Denmark
Foamzilla (Unreal Tournament 2004 Modification), by Vancouver Film School

Independant Games Festival: IGF.com

Indie Game: Google Image Labeler

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 17:53:00 GMT

You never met a meta-game like this. Google Image Labeler pairs you with a random online partner and an equally random image, and you fire off as many descriptive keywords as possible in two minutes. If any of your words matches your partner's words, you are both awarded points. The game is surprisingly fun and challenging...and if you're as viciously dull as some of us are, your head may ache.

The upshot for Google (and everybody else, supposedly) is an improved Image Search function. Well, it beats not paying interns to do it.

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In an effort to conform to popular pressure from commenters, here's a link to Google Image Labeler.

Indie Games: Tap Tap Revolution

Mon, 15 Oct 2007 12:18:00 GMT

Games to play on your iPhone? You bet. This is Tap Tap Revolution, and, though we were praying it would be a tap-dancing simulation featuring the late Gregory Hines in a re-enactment of the immortal film Tap, it is not.

Wouldn't you like to know what it actually is?

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Find out more about Tap Tap Revolution here!

Indie Games: Boomshine

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 12:08:00 GMT

Wanna start a chain reaction? Sure, we all do. That's what's so good about Boomshine, a game that uses big old bombs to take out a whole lot of other bombs, and start chain reactions in the sky. What does that mean to you? How about a sky filled to the brim with a-splodin' stuff? Doesn't that sound awesome?

Well, check it out.

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Play Boomshine now!

Indie Games: 'Cloud'

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 16:59:00 GMT

You wanna fly around and mess with energy? Well, pookie, we got the shiz for ya. Out there in the well of indie games, there lies a little monster called Cloud, which is completely different from McCloud, the show featuring Dennis Weaver from the 70's. Nope, this one is all about...um, flying around and messing with energy. We thought we mentioned that.

Watch the video.

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In the meantime, check out the link to the game.

Indie Games: 'Hotel' Interactive Game

Mon, 06 Aug 2007 14:14:00 GMT

Another in our ongoing exploration of indie games, we offer you Hotel, an interactive story that features some of the strangest gameplay we've ever seen. It's seriously weird, which is perhaps why we find it to be so very endearing.

So, head on over to the site and start playing. It'll be a while before you figure it out, but we don't think you'll mind all that much. What with it being so very strange and all.

Do check it out, won't you?

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HOTEL - An Interactive Tale

Indie Games: Sumotori Dreams

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 12:05:00 GMT

G4 doesn't discriminate when it comes to gaming. We like games of all shapes and sizes, no matter where they come from. Essentially, we just like to play the games. Check out this really cool indie game that should keep you laughing as you play it.

Here's Sumotori Dreams, and you can go online and download the game to play yourself.

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Check it out.