Girth Industries will be at E3 this year!

Well hallelujah! I was able to get my E3 passes approved though work, so I’ll be heading downtown the first week of June to attend the ever so infamous Electronic Entertainment Expo.

It’s gonna be exciting checking out all of the new stuff that the Video Game industry giants will demoing and announcing that week.

It’ll also be great to see some of the old colleagues; like Alex from Primotech, Kevin from GoNintendo, and Chad from RIPTEN.

To those that are lucky enough to be attending, I’ll see you guys there.  I’ll be the one rocking the black fedora

Google pulls creepiest April Fool’s prank yet

Google has been known to post an April Fool’s easter egg, in the guise of some awesome new feature, every year as a long standing tradition. Some of the previous year’s joke services have included: free, ad-supported paper versions of your entire Gmail inbox, the ability to “pre-date” emails, and a job listing for an internship at their forthcoming “Googleplex” moon base.

These of course are all hilarious, complete with overly sarcastically enthusiastic user reviews.

This year, Google has not failed to deliver. Although in my honest opinion, I did find this year’s joke a tad creepy. The “Cognitive Autoheuristic Distributed-Intelligence Entity” (or CADIE) that Google introduced today only brought about that blood chilling burning stomach feeling along with flashbacks to scenes from Terminator 2 for me.

They took it even further too, suggesting that CADIE was already working on developing new technologies for the Free Software giant.  Well, to be factual, CADIE herself announced it. From her kick-ass Blogger page.

Happy April Fool’s Day everyone.

Nintendo President Iwata to deliver GDC ‘09 Keynote

via Press Release

Nintendo Co. Ltd. President Satoru Iwata will return to deliver the Keynote at this years Game Developer’s Conference for the first time since the launch of Nintendo’s infamous little white box, the Wii. The keynote, entitled “Discovering New Development Opportunities.” is more than likely an attempt to interest more developers in to making more quality titles for Wii.

1up Sold To Hearst, closes EGM, GameVideos.com and lays off well over half the staff.

This is one of the saddest things I’ve ever had to report here on Girth Industries. One of, if not the last reputable big time game journalism outlets has fallen to the corporate ax. The 1up Network of websites, which included 1up.com, Electronic Gaming Monthly Magazine, GameTab, GameVideos, MyCheats, and FileFront, has been purchased from the bankrupt Ziff Davis Media corp by Hearst Media and will be merged with the UGO network. Not only is one of the greatest, and quite frankly, more honest video game publications now gone, but the vast majority of the network’s writing staff has been laid off as well. The entire GameVideos.com team has been laid off as well. The worst part is that what was once, in my honest opinion, the greatest editorial team to cover the video game industry will now be fragmented. No longer will I be able to go to one place to get the best in not only game reviews, but industry news as well. The folks at 1up were something special. Their podcasts were unmatched. They were one of the few outlets that covered the industry with hard reporting, instead of just copy/pasting press releases like so many other sites do. It really is a shame to imagine such talented writers all with uncertain futures.

It wouldn’t sting so bad if UGO was keeping what made 1up so unique, but from looking at their homepage, only about 15% of the initial render is actual content, with the rest being advertisement, Hearst is more concerned with using the 1up name, not the talent. I for one am not looking forward to seeing the hollowed out husk that used to be 1up be slid over the sleazy, ad riddled UGO network. It’s really sad.

Here’s to wishing all of the former 1up-ers good luck in their future endeavors.

Tough break guys, hope you all land on your feet.

Spore finally on Steam, SecureROM free!

via Slashdot

Will Wright fans rejoice! If you’ve been waiting to buy the long awaited ‘life, the universe, and everything’ simulator because of EA’s draconian DRM that limits the players to only three installs, your wait is now over.  Spore, along with other ‘hit’ EA titles have been released on Valve’s ever-growing Steam platform.   The best part, Spore is now available under Steam’s terms and not SecuROM’s, giving savvy Steam customers much more freedom with their licenses.

! – MGS to come to iPhone!?

via Game|Life

As it turns out, the cryptic ad up on Konami’s website was a teaser for the upcoming game, “Metal Gear Solid Touch” for the iPhone and iPod Touch as apposed to a port of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots to the Xbox 360 like some speculated. The game will take place around the same time MGS4 did, complete with a elderly Solid Snake.

This announcement along with this morning’s release of Sim City in the iTunes Apps Store can’t help but strengthen the iPhone/iPod Touch’s reputation as a viable “Third Option” to Nintendo’s extremely popular DS handheld and Sony’s PSP.

Hey, I actually know that chick…

So I was watching Attack of the Show this week, and during their fan favorite “Women of the Web” countdown I couldn’t help but notice number 8, a ginger haired geek girl with the web handle Zendulo.

Probably cause I totally went college with her.

more about “Hey, I actually know that chick…“, posted with vodpod

We were both film students at Montana State University. She was actually a featured player in the local hit cable access sketch comedy show, “The Pizza Show”, which was created and produced by my good friend, and The w0rd interviewee, Josh Brandner.

I suggest you check out her work, she’s pretty damn funny.

10 Years of Half-Life feature – Mod DB

The fellas over at ModDB.com posted this video celebrating a decade of Half-Life mods. It’s pretty good, be sure to click on the link and give them a digg as well!

more about “10 Years of Half-Life feature – Mod DB“, posted with vodpod

I love this country.

I really do.  I love how in this day and age, we can have the fate of a white man and a black man in a major national election decided not by the color of their skin, but through the content of their character.

That is so beautiful to me.  Ever since I was a child, and I first learned about the civil rights movement, I couldn’t help but to agree with the late Dr. King’s message.  It’s not about race or creed, it’s about who you are in your heart.

Now I’m not naive enough to think that the entire country is healed, but it’s an amazing step in history.  I have witnessed many amazing moments in history, but nothing moved me more than Obama’s victory.  If 9-11 is the Kennedy Assasination of my day, then Barack Obama is my Neil Armstrong.

It feels really good to call the President of the United States (elect) an American Hero.

Just wanted to share that.

Hitchhiking the Galaxy once again?!

via Slashdot

...it really is excellent advice.

That’s right, the widely loved Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy saga will continue with a sixth book.  On the surface, this sounds like awesome news because that particular series is not only a personal favorite of mine, but nerds worldwide.  Douglas Adam’s take on life in the universe was a clever, sardonic masterpiece.  The troubling news is that Mr. Adams has been deceased since early 2001.  His widow, Jane Belson has tapped Eoin Colfer, an Irish author well known for his “Artemis Fowl” series, to pen the book.

Honestly, I’m not too fimiliar with Colfer’s writing so I can’t offer any kind of true opinion or speculation oh how the story will turn out.  What I do know is that he’s got his work cut out for him becuase *SPOILER ALERT*