On the Next Game Show LIVE! Epic Zelda Violin Girl and America’s Got Talent star Lindsey Stirling will be joining us on the next Game Show! Come and listen LIVE here at padinga.com on Monday, February 20, at 10pm Eastern, 7pm Pacific! Link-tastic! Continue Reading... | 1 Comment

March is the New November



Ok, what the hell, Games Industry? I just survived one November, BARELY. I don’t need another one so soon. November is traditionally the big release month for the Games Industry, with October serving as a close second, but this year, it looks like Spring is getting its own November. The month of March has a staggering amount of new releases, preceded by a fantastic February, and it’s enough to make the average gamer’s wallet suffer a stroke from sheer overwork. Of course, February (and January 31st) had a strong month with releases like Final Fantasy XIII-2, Soul Calibur V, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, Twisted Metal, Syndicate, Asura’s Wrath, Resident Evil: Revelations, SSX, and a WHOLE NEW SYSTEM. Now, in March, we have the following:

March 6 – Mass Effect 3, Street Fighter x Tekken, Ridge Racer Unbounded, Major League Baseball 2K12, MLB12 The Show, Top Gun Hardlock

Mass Effect 3, Street Fighter x Tekken, Ridge Racer Unbounded, Major League Baseball 2K12, MLB12 The Show, Top Gun Hardlock March 11 – Mario Party 9

Mario Party 9 March 13 – FIFA Street, Silent Hill: Downpour, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations, Yakuza Dead Souls, Tales of Graces

FIFA Street, Silent Hill: Downpour, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations, Yakuza Dead Souls, Tales of Graces March 20 – Armored Core V, Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City, Ninja Gaiden 3, Silent Hill HD Collection, Kinect Rush

Armored Core V, Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City, Ninja Gaiden 3, Silent Hill HD Collection, Kinect Rush March 23 – Kid Icarus: Uprising

Kid Icarus: Uprising March 27 – Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12, Phantom Breaker Geebus, Games Industry! My wallet cannae take much more of this! Combine this with the game I’m importing directly from Japan, due to arrive on March 10th, or so, and yours truly is truly suffering. That is to say, suffering while having the time of my life. Continue Reading... | No Comments

Did You Know “Mass Effect 3″ Was Coming? The good people at EA seem to be obsessing over the possibility that there may be one gamer who is unaware of Mass Effect 3. Every day there seems to be some new promotion, publicity stunt, or PR release concerning the title. Don’t believe me? Here is a sampling of the madness from only THIS WEEK and the problems with each: Want some DLC for ME3? Then join the fight on Facebook! Simply add the Mass Effect 3 Recruitment App to your Facebook, tie it with your Origin account, harass your friends to join your farm fight for Earth, then find five of those friends that will complete the Mass Effect 3 demo. Simple, right? Notice that not only is the whole process needlessly complex, but getting five people to do anything across two platforms (Facebook and then the game console) is akin to herding cats. Throw Origin and an unspecified reward (just ambiguous DLC) into the mix, and I can’t find any real reason to suffer through this process. Facebook not your thing? Why not get a free copy of Battlefield 3 with any pre-order of Mass Effect 3? Awesome, right? On Tuesday, EA announced they would run this promotion through early March. To many, this sounded too good to be true. Good thing EA realized their mistake, and they have now killed the promotion. Further complicating matters, the shutoff time was announced through Twitter, so if you ordered recently you may not be getting your Battlefield download code. But wait, there’s also a trailer coming this Sunday, during The Walking Dead. There really isn’t too much to fault here. Why not just get Mass Effect 3 for free? Capitalizing off the hundred or so people that have made a splash online by sending home-made objects (usually an iPhone or camera) into space, EA will be launching copies of the game into the upper, upper atmosphere above six cities (New York, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Berlin, London, and Paris). Each copy will have a GPS on board, allowing users to track the games and collect them once they fall. That’s actually a pretty cool promotion. Every day of this week has seen a Mass Effect 3 related announcement. Trust me, EA, we get the message. Mass Effect 3 will be available March 6th. Continue Reading... | 4 Comments

Dr. Noh Loves Lego Who doesn’t love Lego? I can understand bashing on Duplo or Mega Bloks, but Lego is awesome. As a child, I like to believe that Lego had a hand in expanding my creative mind. I always did the same thing whenever I got a new Lego set: I’d build everything according to the instructions, then I would disassemble or modify things to make them better. Usually I would end up putting laser guns on everything. I had dreams to build many Lego things, but never had enough parts or the right parts I needed. My Lego fantasies included a city, space base, Airwolf, Knight Rider, Ghostbusters car, Back to the Future Delorean, and video games. One of my dreams is coming true…video game Legos! What game is it? Minecraft. Continue Reading... | No Comments

Does Tim Schafer’s Kickstarter Coup Mean a Change for Gaming? Sup gamers, As we are sure you’re aware, Tim Schafer – creative genius behind old LucasArts adventure games Grim Fandango and Day of the Tentacle, as well as such newer gems under his Double Fine banner Psychonauts, Brutal Legend, Stacked, Costume Quest and more – recently began a Kickstarter campaign. His goal? To raise $400,000 for a new adventure game divided into funding the project and funding a documentary from 2 Player Productions. Instead, Schafer made over a million dollars on Day 1 of the campaign. With about 28 days to go left as of this post, he’s got just over $1.5 million to play with. We’re wondering if this indie development means a radical sea change is coming to gaming, one in which the gamers decide what they want. Continue Reading... | 1 Comment

Gamer Love Well, its Valentine’s Day. Or, as may of us refer to it, Tuesday. If you’ve got a special someone, then enjoy them, and if you don’t, let’s not be bitter. There’s plenty of love in the world, even if its not for another sentient being, or expressed by flowers, chocolates, or genitals. In the spirit of shared love and joy in the world today, I thought I’d share with you a few things I adore about our domain, video games, and why it is that we continue to spend our lives devoted to our fickle digital lover. Video games, how do we love thee? Let us count the ways… Continue Reading... | No Comments

Eight Hours In: Reckoning







So here we are folks. Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning has been out for about a week now, and it has already occupied a strange little space in my heart. Personally, I’ve been looking forward to it since before it was even announced; Curt Schilling had announced his Amalur world previously, when it was under the codename Copernicus, and the concept of a full world being developed by someone which such a love for fantasy as Schilling, along with the writing powerhouse of R.A. Salvatore, had me in raptures just thinking about it. Now, many years later, we have the first game in the series in our hot little hands, and very rarely has such a new studio had the opportunity to wedge itself so firmly and unignorably into the Gamespace. EA has forced it into our view by associating it with other AAA releases like Mass Effect 3, but is the game worth it? Truthfully, only you can tell for certain, but we here at Padinga can at least offer guidance. Hit the link to jump after the Break and we’ll give you our Pros and Cons for Reckoning, after 8 hours of play. Continue Reading... | No Comments

Diablo III is Coming, Probably by June and Other Blizzard News Thursday brought us a decent amount of Blizzard news, all courtesy of the Activision-Blizzard investors phone meeting. Among the info released: -Diablo III will launch by the end of Quarter 2 of this year, which ends in June, narrowing the release window down to the middle of the year at the latest. -World of Warcraft saw a hit in player numbers, but that was to be expected. Currently, only (and I say only in jest) 10.3 million players are actively subscribed. Only. Considering the lack of a new expansion and the launch of a major competitor in Star Wars: The Old Republic, I think it is safe to say that World of Warcraft won’t be going away anytime soon. -Speaking of World of Warcraft, apparently their annual pass was a huge hit. Numbers weren’t released, but I would expect at least a million players committed to WoW for the year, judging by all the Tyrael’s Charger mounts on my server. -Now, the most important bit of news: Blizzard expects to ship two titles this year. You read that correctly: two. As in more than one, which is a number that Blizzard usually has difficulty with. This now raises a question: what will the second title be? Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm and World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria both seem like the safe bet here. I’ve seen several places online holding out hopes for the long rumored MMO project, Titan, but I think that’s a pipe dream. Anything in here that excites you? Share it below! Continue Reading... | 1 Comment

Dr. Noh’s Thoughts: XY VS XX I am not, nor will I ever be a woman. In terms of gaming, I will never quite know what it feels to be like as a female in a male dominated group. I will nonetheless try to convey my own feelings about what I imagine it must be like. The so called “girl gamer” is in a predicament when is comes to online gaming and social gaming communities. Women have two choices in conveying their identities as females, acknowledge it or deny it. Those that acknowledge their gender tend to do so in their usernames or profile pictures. The problem that arises from this is could be described as sexual harassment. The internet, filled with hormone-driven males react in a number of inappropriate ways. Men that are competitive end up calling women bitches and those that are horny or lonely end up sending pictures of their penises. I hate pictures of mens’ penises. Women that acknowledge their gender identities are also far more likely of being accused of being attention whores. Those that deny or hide their gender tend to do so with generic non-gender specific usernames and profile pictures. Some women may even avoid using in-game voice chatting features to prevent from being identified. While it may prevent from receiving ridicule and horrifying pictures or genitalia, the denial of being oneself due to fear is very unfair and upsetting. I’m not sure what it is about male gamers that makes them react in certain ways, but what they should keep in mind is that a girl gamer is a gamer. Male gamers don’t have to hide their identities, and if they are subject to ridicule, it’s not because they have a penis. Accepted online etiquette and interactions are troublesome in general, but that’s a entire topic that could be covered of itself. Gamers who believe in video games as an art form should keep in mind that for every group that is excluded from their club, whether its so called “casual gamers” or “girl gamers”, the less there will be wider acceptance of the medium. Image Source: 1 Continue Reading... | 1 Comment

3 Ways To Avoid Dying in a Game Cafe Sup gamers, Several days ago, the gaming community (and the world at large) sadly lost Chen Rong-yu, a 23-year-old Taiwanese gamer with a pre-exisitng heart condition, when he keeled over playing League of Legends in a Taipei game cafe. There’s no lighthearted snark to the last sentence (that comes later), because this is a sad and unfortunate story. According to reports, Rong-yu was dead for up to NINE hours and surrounded by thirty people before anyone noticed. Early police details may link his death to low temperatures that might have triggered a cardiac arrest. It’s difficult to spin a joke around this for someone with a pre-exisiting condition, but the real sadness might be in how intense the OTHER gamers were to not even notice Rong-yu’s death. What jerks! To put a positive, comedic spin on this story (and seriously we mean no disrespect to this guy), here are some helpful hints if you don’t want to meet your tragic demise playing games in public. Continue Reading... | 2 Comments

Details On This Month’s MW3 Elite Map Dear Reader, Activision released a screenshot and some new info on “Overwatch,” the new skyscraper-bound COD map that Elite players will get their hands on in a few weeks. “Overwatch drops you into a construction site atop a New York City skyscraper. The battle takes place along two levels in a near symmetrical layout, with the central bridge and side routes open to attack from multiple angles. Watch your every step, as a lack of safety barriers surrounding the perimeter leaves nothing between you and a 70 story fall to the ground below.” What do you think, guys? Sound like fun, or infinite frustration? _AA then the monkey is breaking the law Continue Reading... | 2 Comments

Free Ideas: The Wee Free Men



Here you go, Games Industry. Here comes another Free Idea. You’re welcome. Over the weekend, I finished reading an amazing book by my favorite author, Sir Terry Pratchett. It’s called The Wee Free Men, and though it’s targeted towards 7-11 year-olds, it’s one of those things that are made for kids but are packed with hidden adult-level jokes who have to sit through them as well, like Animaniacs used to do. If you’ve never read any Terry Pratchett books, especially his Discworld series, but love The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, you can’t go wrong by starting with Mort and just keep reading the books until you can’t stand it any more. But I digress. In The Wee Free Men, a young girl has to fight off an evil Queen who controls dreams, but she does so with the help of the Nac Mac Feegle, otherwise known as The Wee Free Men, a tribe of 6-inch tall Scottish gnomes in kilts with enough strength to head-butt a bull into submission, enough love of liquor to make an Australian blush, and barely enough brains to go around. Each Feegle is a fierce warrior and a cunning thief, 6 inches of red hair, blue tattoos, and pure mischief. There’s a big long story in the book, of course, but that’s not the point of this article, is it? While reading this book, I couldn’t help but think to myself… A tribe of miniature blue Scots with swords, taking to battle like a swarm of piranhas… This would make an Awesome Game! Let’s talk more about this after the Break, shall we? Crivens! Continue Reading... | No Comments

A Little Love for Link and Lindsey Stirling The video’s editor posted this to Destructoid back in November, but it just came to me via the page of the violinist. So I thought I’d share. The young lady in the Hyrulian garb is one Lindsey Stirling, once a contestant (not a winner, sadly) on America’s Got Talent or one o’ them shows. I’ve been following her since she’s been posting so much on Youtube lately, fan of the strings that I am, and I have to tell ya, this girl is a delight. She’s dancy, she’s silly, she’s a treat on the strings and on the eyes. …I gotta excuse myself for a second, I’m gettin’ all tingly in the nethers, here. Anyway, enjoy her vid:

Continue Reading... | No Comments

Sega’s “Aliens: Colonial Marines” Channels Its Inner “Dead Island” Do you remember the Dead Island trailer? You know, THE trailer? Of course you do. Apparently, so does Sega. Check out the latest trailer for Aliens: Colonial Marines: Ever since we were treated to the story of one family’s struggle (and failure) to survive in Dead Island, game companies have upped the ante for their trailers. Now they all feature content that is removed from the game, choosing rather to focus on slow motion / cinematic shots set to music that has little (if any) connection to the title. Hell, the above Aliens trailer uses music from the 2009 film Moon, which is an excellent little sci-fi film if you’re in the market for something this weekend. Now, I know I’ve been concerned about this title before, but I just wish I could figure out what feels so wrong about Gearbox’s Aliens game. I suppose we’ll find out later this year, when it finally bursts out of retail. Continue Reading... | 2 Comments

Dr. Noh’s Dictionary I’m a stickler for words, so it should come as no surprise that I have an issue with the modern usage of the words hardcore gamer and casual gamer. What defines a hardcore gamer and what defines a casual gamer? Is it the amount of time spent playing video games? Perhaps it is skill level or amount of video games one owns. Is it possible for someone born during the 6th generation of video game consoles to be a hardcore gamer? Do hardcore gamers only play specific video game genres, that casual players do not? The term hardcore gamer doesn’t actually tell you what kind of gamer a person is, because it’s current usage is too broad. The term also comes with air of elitism that to the uninitiated must undoubtedly seem uninviting. The term casual gamer is frequently used in a derogatory manner, often by those who identify themselves as hardcore gamers. I see this divide as detrimental, especially for the growth of the medium as an artistic form. Considering the continually evolving form of gaming, I believe it’s much more difficult to define video games. Video gaming is beyond the point of appealing to a small niche audience. Modern titles such as World of Warcraft and Call of Duty are difficult to categorize due to the fact that they appeal to all types of gamers. Whether you play Angry Birds, Shin Megami Tensei games, Farmville, Gears of War, Just Dance or Star Wars: The Old Republic, you are a gamer. Anyone that plays video games is a gamer. There is no hardcore and there is no casual. What you play and how you play is not defined by a word, you are free to play anything you want to play. If you need a term to signifies video games as a defining part of your life, I suggest using the term game fan. Fan is a much more positive word in its connotations than hardcore. The word hardcore just reminds me of porn. Image Source: 1 Continue Reading... | 5 Comments