Because of that, I mindlessly surf the internet and then make note of the sites that I’ve found interesting so I can tweet them and also so I can email them to friends. I figured I might as well share them with you if I’m already making a list, so, here we go.

In no particular order:

1. Digital Game Tables: Takes retro and gaming and furniture and then tosses it all into an oven. After 20 minutes at 350°, you’re left with some awesome stuff.
2. 9 Levels of Cosplay Hell: Some of these pictures are just funny. And some of these pictures will burn themselves onto your retinas for the rest of your natural life.
3. Toad Has Been Giving Us “The Finger” Since 1985 – Who knew the little mushroom guy from Mario was such a douche?
4. Red Square game: I’m including this game on here because I’m an evil bitch. Plain and simple.
5. 17 Insanely Modded Game Console Controllers: Not only did these people have way too much time on their hands, but they also made some freakin’ awesome stuff. #1 is my favorite.
6. NES Sounds: Think of the fun you’ll have calling up your friends and then playing some of these gems for your friends when they say something stupid. There’s also the option of sharing the clips on Facebook or Twitter.
7. GameTab: Basically a big feed aggregator for all things “video games” including reviews, gaming news and downloads.
8. Left 4 Dead Playground Style: Left 4 Dead + playground=awesome.
9. Stunning Video Game Locales: Bioshock and Oblivion were givens for me but you know, I never considered Shadow of the Colossus or Fallout 3…something about the giants and radiation just puts me off. Maybe it’s just me?
10. 10 Most Wanted Video Games of 2010: The title pretty much explains it all. Santa, if you’re reading this, I’ll take Heavy Rain, Bioshock 2, The Last Guardian and please add Diablo III to the list? Thanks in advance.

Image|Emil Erlandsson

Post from: EveryJoe

Favorite Gaming Links of the Week

Hello? Mr. Obvious, it’s Amy. How are you?

Maybe it’s just me but for as long as I can remember, if I did something without being asked {whether that be cleaning my room or playing a video game} then I always got more enjoyment out of it than if I was asked/told to do the same task. I’m not sure if it’s just me being a contrary type person or what but this seems to translate into my work life as well.

Even if I weren’t getting paid to write about video games, I’d still be playing them. But, when I remember that I AM getting paid for writing about games, well, it begins to feel like a chore. And then, I realize that I sound like a big ole whiny baby and I suck it up and write something like this where I bitch about bitching.

I honestly believe that part of my problem isn’t necessarily the job {which I love} it’s the uninspiring fare that I’ve had to sample recently.

I’m holding out some hope for BioShock 2, Borderlands, Heavy Rain, and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.

Heck, I might even go back to playing casual games for a while; they’re good for taking your mind off of things for a while…and they’re pretty damn addictive.

Image|JulyYu

Post from: EveryJoe

Work Makes Gaming Feel Like…Well…Work

That game, Indigo Prophecy/Fahrenheit, was a brilliant mix of thriller, choose your own adventure and RPG all wrapped up in a beautiful visual package.

I played the hell out of that game and loved it even as it introduced odd side stories, and still loved it even as the ending left me going, “WTF?!”. It was one of those games that you play and love and try to ignore the ending because the ending is SO weird that you just don’t want to think about it.

I still love Indigo Prophecy but it’s become the bench mark for me when it comes to how a game ends. It almost seemed like the creator, Quantic Dream, had a bunch of writers in a room who were fighting to get their own storyline included and no one wanted to hurt anyone’s feelings so ALL of the storylines were included.

Like I said, it was weird and you’ll just have to play it yourself to know what I’m talking about.

Jump forward a bit and you have the announcement of Origami Killer announced at E3 ‘06 and then nothing. There was buzz all around the internet wondering when the game would be released, what the game was going to be like, and I personally couldn’t help but wonder if Quantic was going to end up with a repeat of Indigo Prophecy – starts out strong and then finishes with a whimper?

Now, we have Heavy Rain:The Origami Killer.

Same game just with a snazzier title and it was brought back to E3 this year for a better look at what we can expect out of the game when it’s released in early 2010.

You have four different characters that you can play and each has their own special take on a situation. It’s been announced that death is final in Heavy Rain. You will no longer have access to the dead character’s perception on what’s going on in the game and isn’t that how it should be anyway?

While I do occasionally enjoy the game where you can camp hide hang out somewhere and heal, the ability to run like hell and heal adds a big “cheat factor” to a game. You can just about get your ass killed and after a few minutes, you’re back to good.

I don’t know about you, but that leads me to make stupid decisions without thinking them out first and there are no repercussions for my actions.

I haven’t played the demo for Heavy Rain; I’ve only seen the demo videos and read the articles by people who have played the demos. But, I gotta say that I don’t think that “being dead forever” will be a bad thing. Quantic has a knack for reality [even if that reality is skewed by supernatural events] and I’m SO looking forward to a game with a hell of a story.

Let’s just cross our fingers that they don’t do a repeat of Indigo Prophecy’s ending.

Here’s a video of a Heavy Rain demo from E3 of this year. Skip to like 1:34 to get past the camera panning over the E3 floor.

Image|Quantic Dream

Post from: EveryJoe

Heavy Rain: A Cure for the Common Game?

The PS3 exclusive Heavy Rain is one of the most talked about titles of the year, though no one is entirely sure what kind of game it is. Is it an adventure? A shooter? An advanced platformer? The trailer and screenshots don’t make it all that much clearer, but what you will see is that the game looks stunning, with ultra photo-realism, and that it has a rather impressive storyline going for it as well. Take a look.

Images: Copyright 2009 ©Sony.

Post from: EveryJoe

E3 ‘09: Heavy Rain

A long LONG time ago, I wrote about a new game that was supposed to come out called Heavy Rain by a French company called Quantic Dream. Quantic Dream is also the company who created the awesome adventure game, Indigo Prophecy (also known as Fahrenheit in the UK), so the likelihood of this game being a ton of fun.

There hasn’t been any information about this game in a very long time, but recently a slew of videos were posted over at GameTrailers documenting the creation process of the game.

Check out the coolness that this game will be in the trailer below:

Unfortunately, the game is currently only being released on the Playstation 3, which is a bummer for me, because I have no Playstation 3! The game is supposed to released sometime in 2009.

[Image courtesy of Quantic Dream.]

Post from: EveryJoe

Heavy Rain – Some New Information

The game is called Heavy Rain. Sony showed a preview of what the game is suppose to look like at the E3 Conference this year. It’s been said that this was the best demo that Sony had at the conference. So it’s THAT good. All those E3ers were so lucky.

Anyways, here’s a look:

Now hopefully the game actually DOES look like it and if it does, I’m so getting it. Even if it doesn’t look like that, I’m getting it, because I had so much fun with Indigo Prophesy.

There’s some talks going around that it will only be released for the Playstation 3, but the director of the game said they might put it on PC, which would be the awesomeness. I’m not really sure I want to spend $600 on a PS3. I’d rather just buy a brand new computer for that insane amount of money.

Sony is CAAAHRAAAAZEEEE!!!

Post from: EveryJoe

Mmmm… new game goodness.