Author Archive
November 7th, 2009, 12:25 am by Jayson Peters
 Happy Halloween … Boo!
Check out my first attempt at a video game-inspired jack-o’-lantern. Or else.
Weekend Reading
A handful of links that didn’t get their own posts.
Phoenix College book sale benefits scholarship fund
Pick up some new reading material at a good price, and for a good cause.
 David Tennant is coming to America
Doctor Who star in a pilot for NBC.
Give ‘Stray Bullets’ a shot! For free!
Read the first four issues online.
No Doubt’s Gwen Stefani ain’t no ‘Honky Tonk’ girl
Activision provokes another lawsuit.
Comic-Con founder, Sheldon Dorf, passes away
Ubergeek was 76.
 ‘Star Trek Online’ star-dated: MMO launches in February
Atari launching its enterprise before fiscal year ends.
‘The Box’ offers sci-fi morality tale
Turns out Donnie Darko wasn’t a fluke.
Princess Zelda comes out of the dungeon in ‘Spirit Tracks’
Who needs rescuing?
D&Deal: 2 Player’s Handbooks for the price of 1
A holiday bundle to rule them all.
Japanese TV mascot invades 7-Eleven stores
Domo-kun!
Posted in: Nerdvana Weekly | Post a Comment »
November 7th, 2009, 12:22 am by Jayson Peters
Ever heard of Domo?
Those not in the know are probably scratching their heads after visits to 7-Eleven convenience stores. That’s because Domo, the mascot of Japan’s NHK television station, has expanded his empire to include Slurpees, bad coffee and truly terrible hot dogs. The gassy, meat-loving, apple-hating, egg-born cave-dweller can be seen on 99 cent coffee cups and other products. (You can check out lots of pictures at Top Cultured, or just head on down to your local 7-Eleven.)
It’s not Domo’s first foray into American retail: In 2008 the character was used in Target’s Halloween promotions.
Posted in: Anime • Business • Geek gear • Kaiju • Manga • Television • Toons • Weird • 7-Eleven • Domo • japan | Post a Comment »
November 7th, 2009, 12:09 am by Jayson Peters
 According to ICv2, Wizards of the Coast has conjured up a holiday bargain.
The 4th Edition Player’s Handbook Collection includes both the essential Player’s Handbook and Player’s Handbook 2, which contains additional character races, classes and powers.
The bundle’s $34.95 price includes both manuals in a handsome slipcase, plus a $12 discount off a year’s subscription to the online D&D Insider service.
Not included: dice, Dungeon Master’s Guides, Monster Manuals or imagination.
See also: D&D parent co. pulls legal PDFs off market, starts flame war
Posted in: Collecting • D&D • Deals • Gaming • Geek gear • Holidays • Dungeons & Dragons | Post a Comment »
November 6th, 2009, 7:24 am by Jayson Peters
 In the popular Legend of Zelda video game series from Nintendo, Princess Zelda has always been some variation of the typical damsel in distress, and young hero Link has always been her savior.
That’s all about to change in the new entry for the DS and DSi handheld systems. Zelda is coming out of the dungeon and joining the adventure for the first time.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in: Gaming • Nintendo • DS • DSi • Zelda | 2 Comments »
November 5th, 2009, 2:47 pm by Jayson Peters
 Cryptic Studios and its parent company, Atari, have confirmed that their MMO Star Trek Online will be released Feb. 2, 2010, in North America. The European launch will follow on Feb. 5, the companies told Eurogamer. This will put the game’s release safely ahead of the end of Atari’s fiscal year.
Closed beta testing of the game, which is set in the generation after Star Trek: The Next Generation, began earlier this year.
Via Cinema Blend
Posted in: Gaming • PC • Star Trek • Atari • Cryptic • Star Trek Online | Post a Comment »
November 5th, 2009, 1:27 pm by Jayson Peters
The band No Doubt doesn’t like a feature in the new Band Hero video game that lets players control digital versions of real band members and change things up by making them sing other artists’ songs.
It’s called “character manipulation, and a lawsuit filed Wednesday against Activision claims this lets players have all sorts of bawdy fun by making lead singer Gwen Stefani perform suggestive lyrics from the Rolling Stones hit Honky Tonk Women, for example. It claims the band raised objections but they were not heeded, and the result is a “virtual karaoke circus act.”
No Doubt is seeking unspecified damages and an order barring Activision from using any band members’ likenesses with non-No Doubt songs.
Just a few months ago, the widow and former bandmates of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain railed against Activision for using the late grunge rocker’s likeness to play other artists’ songs in Guitar Hero 5. Before that, the company settled a lawsuit over Brutal Legend, a rock ’n’ roll adventure game starring Jack Black that the company tried to kill after it acquired a smaller developer. The game was published last month by Activision’s rival, Electronic Arts.
Via The Associated Press
Posted in: Business • Gaming • Music • Activision • lawsuit | Post a Comment »
November 3rd, 2009, 2:47 pm by Jayson Peters
David Tennant, the outgoing star of the British sci-fi drama Doctor Who, has landed the title role in an hourlong pilot for NBC.
According to The Doctor Who News Page, Rex Is Not Your Lawyer is about a hotshot Chicago lawyer who begins suffering panic attacks and coaches his clients to represent themselves in court. The show is directed by David Semel, who helmed the pilot for Heroes.
Tennant (pictured) has held the top spot on Who since Christopher Eccleston left the role after the relaunched show’s first season. Matt Smith will succeed him as the ever-changing Time Lord. Earlier this year Tennant was announced as the host of Masterpiece Contemporary on PBS, and next year PBS viewers will be able to see his performance in the title role of Hamlet when Great Performances picks up his recent production with the Royal Shakespeare Company.
See also:
Posted in: Doctor Who • Television • David Tennant • NBC | Post a Comment »
November 2nd, 2009, 12:02 am by Jayson Peters
Every year the Honors program at Phoenix College holds a massive book sale that helps students pay for books and tuition. This year the 17th annual Padriac Hill Memorial Scholarship Fund Book Sale will be 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Nov. 10 in Sophomore Square at Phoenix College, 1202 W. Thomas Rd. (MAP)
The fund is named for Padriac Meriadoc Hill, a student in the Classical Studies and Honors programs at PC who was shot and killed during an attempted robbery of the movie theater where he worked in 1993. His first name is the Gaelic spelling for “Patrick” and his middle name, “Meriadoc,” comes from a Hobbit character in The Lord of the Rings, a book his father loved.
I attended PC as part of the Classical Studies program, and the sale was always a lot of hard work but was also a lot of fun. If you can get out that way, please support this program and you’ll find some great deals on books! And if you can’t make it but would like to contribute, call the Honors office at (602) 285-7305 to arrange for a student to pick up your book donations.
Posted in: Books • Collecting • Deals • charity • fund-raiser • Padriac Meriadoc Hill • Phoenix College • Tolkien | Post a Comment »
November 1st, 2009, 10:44 am by Jayson Peters
Posted in: Weekend Reading | Post a Comment »
October 31st, 2009, 8:21 pm by Jayson Peters
 Here’s my first attempt at a video game-related jack-o’-lantern.
I’m no pumpkin artist, so in case it’s just so bad that you couldn’t tell, it’s supposed to be a Boo ghost from the Super Mario Bros. games.
Happy Halloween!
Posted in: Gaming • Holidays • Nintendo • Halloween | Post a Comment »
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