Killer video layout of some guy’s run through the classic Super Mario Brothers projected on a building. Looks incredible. (via Mental Floss)

Super Mario Bros. from Surfap on Vimeo.

-John

One of the greatest games of the 90s, NBA Jam, is making a comeback and now you can help vote for the players that will represent each team. I remember back in Jr. High my friend Joel got his dad to buy NBA Jam the day it came out when he got off of work and we played it for like 5 straight hours that afternoon, and then pretty much everyday for the next few months. It’s a great game and I’m glad it’s making a comeback. Right now you can vote for players on the Pacers, Bucks and Bobcats (Robertcats, Bobkittens et al). Voting for those three teams ends on Feb. 8th, and then a new group of teams will begin their voting session. Since PCC2C’s East Coast Headquarters are repped right in C-town, I encourage you to at least vote for the Bobcats players and recommend the triumvirate of Felton, Wallace and Jackson. Get out to those virtual polls and make a difference. Yes we can!

(thanks to JB for the tip)

-John

Back with a guest video game review for you guys. We had a couple of video game posts a while back and I like branching out into new mediums and attracting interest from the gaming community. Welcome, gaming community. The review below was done by guest video game consultant, Felipe. Here is Felipe’s review (edited for length):

So, before sitting down to play Dragon Age: Origins I looked at the cover and read the description on the back:

“You are a Grey Warden, one of the last of the legendary Order of Guardians. With the return of the ancient foe and the kingdom engulfed in civil war, you have been chosen by fate to unite the shattered lands and slay the arch-demon once and for all.”

Wasn’t sure I could handle all of that. Turned out, neither could my Xbox. I popped the game into my system and it asked to download an update. Sure, no problem. Except this time, during the download, my system just turned off. Strange. When I finally got it back on, the status circle, which normally is a friendly green arc meaning everything is great, suddenly flashed with 3 red arcs, known as the “Red Ring of Death”. It meant my Xbox had left this world for the next. Shit. At this point most people would probably freak out, crying in the fetal position. I am not most people. Thanks to my sweet warranty, I went home with a new 360 Elite (an upgrade from my previous system) and a new 2 year warranty all free of charge. Thanks Dragon Age: Orgins for the free upgrades. Special Note: The game was not the cause of the crash.

The game is an RPG (Role Playing Game). You create a character and control his/her decisions to complete the storyline, and thus, the game. The basic premise is that your character will help fight off the Dark Spawn; beasts that arise every few hundred years to attack your kingdom. You start by creating your character, choosing a race, class, and special abilities. I ended up with a human rogue, with a full beard and sweet Mike Tyson-looking-face tattoo, who is adept at dirty fighting and below the belt hits. I figured that was probably how I would fight in the real world if the situation ever arose.

Personally, I have a hard time getting into RPGs, but here is what I gathered from the short time I did play it. The graphics are pretty good, not the best I have seen on the 360, but solid. The sound and controls are pretty comparable with other RPGs, but what really makes this game stand out is the story and character interaction. Each character has a separate storyline and when you speak with others, you are given 3 or 4 responses to choose from which dictates how the rest of your scenario will continue. This is very cool because you can beat the game one way and come back and play a completely different character with a different storyline.

The game menu is full of details and even though I didn’t do a lot of fighting (I fought off some big rats from some lady’s kitchen), I learned you can either go in swinging or set up tactics with your team. I ended up giving the game to my brother (I have two kids, one is like 2 weeks old, so time is scarce), who is a big RPG guy. He thought the game was fantastic. He loved the interactive storylines, and declared it one of the better RPG’s he has played in a while. He was a little disappointed it didn’t crash his Xbox. He really wants one of those Elites.

-John

Instead of Johnny Mac - we’ve got a new spot with Tyson. Mike Tyson - not Cicely Tyson or the good people of Tyson chicken.

Kind of testing the waters on updating you guys about video games - seems like a medium we don’t cover very often.

-John

New EA Sports game featuring some sweet spots with Johnny Mac. That guy’s pretty awesome.

-John

PCC2C recently received an advanced copy of GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra for Wii, (even though we didn’t get it until after the game had come out - but that’s fine with us) so I handed it off to friend of the show, and resident video game expert, JB. It’s nice to tackle a new medium here on the show, as I don’t think we’ve ever done a piece on video games, other than mentioning that Rock Band and Guitar Hero are extremely awesome. This is his review in its entirety:

GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra is made by Electronic Arts (the king of sports-themed video games). For the Wii console, the game allows two players to play together and take on Cobra while using an array of GI Joe characters. Play starts with the ability to select either Duke or Scarlet, and more players become available after you reach certain point thresholds. From there, you can choose any two characters to attack a particular level (based on their specific attributes). I’ve only tried the first mission so far, so perhaps there are other things that I’m missing.

Things I liked: I thought the sound was good (had the actors from the movie), good use of “background noise” from other GI Joe characters as you explore levels. I also liked the fact that the storyline was different from the movie–same characters, but different plot. The cut scenes were pretty high quality, as well.

Things that weren’t great: The graphics were OK, but I think other Wii games (Ghostbusters, Resident Evil) have made better use of the system. I think that is due to the fact that certain games are designed just for the Wii, while others are designed for other systems and then ported to the Wii. This looks to be one of the latter. The functionality is fine (can move with the nunchuk and the controller), but it doesn’t make full use of the Wii’s capabilities, as the aforementioned games do (i.e. point-and-shoot, etc.). Finally, from what I can tell, this is a straight shoot-em-up game, without the occasional puzzles that make games like Resident Evil more enjoyable, in my opinion.

-John