Angry Birds Star Wars will be released November 8th! It makes sense this paring is happening as Angry Birds is now a huge household game. After Angry Birds space it makes sense that Star Wars comes afterward. I wonder what elements it will bring to the franchise besides John Williams music? Don't get me wrong, John Williams music is superb I am just wondering what else it will have.

If all it brings is the Star Wars music and art we all love I will have to say that's enough for me to play it! I have Angry Birds Space on my phone and still have yet to get past more than the first two levels. Look forward to knocking my birds into Storm-pigs, Wampa-pigs, Sand-pigs, Jabba-pigs, Bounty Hunter-pigs & Jar Jar Binks.

Are you going to pick this one up or will you let it pass you by? Remember it only costs .99 midichlorians!

http://www.starwars.com/news/angry-birds-star-wars-announce.html

Blizzard recently posted a two part interview with the Starcraft 2 creative team and I wanted to share a few interesting bits. I am excited about Heart of the Swarm and I am still awaiting my beta invite. And if anyone from Blizzard reads this, I would certainly love a beta key!

Some of these questions drop game lore which may contain some kind of spoilers.

"
Question: How do units like the mutalisk and banshee fly in space if there is no air?

Answer: Another great question that has been the subject of internal debate, hair pulling, and furniture throwing. Basically, mutas produce a gas that pushes against their own mass as it’s excreted. Even in a vacuum, this causes propulsion, because the gas is pushing against the muta as it’s expelled. Maneuvering is difficult for a muta, but it can release the gas in a range of directions.

When mutas are in an atmosphere, they simply use their wings. The gas is reserved for space travel. And if anyone's wondering why they flap their wings in space? Instinct. Just like a dog pumping its hind leg when you scratch its belly.

For any terran or protoss unit, the answer is even simpler: it’s outfitted with standard propulsion equipment only for use when traveling in space.
"

"Question: In StarCraft, the Queen of Blades told Mengsk that she isn't interested in revenge. Why is killing him suddenly her life's purpose, according to the most recent trailer?

Answer: The Queen of Blades and Sarah Kerrigan are not quite the same person. The Queen of Blades is essentially Sarah Kerrigan under the influence of some devastating forces: incredible power, a dominating level of psi energy, and the presence of Zerg mutagen from the cellular level up.

To be clear, the Queen of Blades is not a separate entity that possessed Kerrigan. Kerrigan is (certainly in her mind) responsible for the terrible things she's done. She has immense guilt for those actions, but she was not completely in her "right mind" in Brood War.

All of that is a roundabout way of saying the Queen of Blades felt no need to kill Mengsk. She did not see him as a threat. Sarah Kerrigan, on the other hand, knows that Mengsk wants her dead, and she very much holds a grudge for his abandoning her on Tarsonis."

"Question: At the end of Wings of Liberty, Mengsk's empire was collapsing. The zerg had overrun most of the fringe worlds and were encroaching on the core worlds. Raynor had revealed Mengsk's genocide of Tarsonis to all the people of the Dominion, and they were in open revolt and rioting out in the streets of the major cities, including Augustgrad. His son had then commandeered half the fleet in a desperate move to kill the Queen of Blades. How has Mengsk maintained control of the Terran Dominion with all this war and conflict?

Answer: With a mix of brutality, incredible intrigue, and old-fashioned cunning. Mengsk's empire at the time of Heart of the Swarm is by no means secure, but he is crafty and has many mechanisms to hold on to power. If the Swarm had been out to dismantle his empire, that would have been too much to withstand...or if the Kel-Morians had still been a viable enemy at that time, that could have been the tipping point. But remember, the Swarm was taking planets only to search for the artifact, and the Swarm fractured when the Queen of Blades disappeared. And the Kel-Morians were barely holding it together at that time.

Check the blog entries posted for all the Q&A you can handle. As more entries are posted we will keep up updated.

http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/7493439/StarCraft_II_Creative_Development_QA_-_Part_1-10_8_2012
http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/7597722/StarCraft_II_Creative_Development_QA_-_Part_2-10_15_2012

YouTuber Timtimfed recently posted one of his new creations "When Gordon met Chell." People have mused about a possible Portal and Half-life mashup and this video delves into that territory.

I think its pretty fun that both characters sign in the video to keep cannon with both games having silent protagonists.

This comic gets at a little problem I have in games now.... Must loot every corpse... Must collect every item. I haven't played many hours of Skyrim but mu chest in Breezehome is already quite full. In Borderlands 2 even though I have full ammo I still open each case, locker and ammo container... Then again Eridium can be anywhere.

How much do you hoard in you games? Or do you breeze by corpses and chests with ease?

facepunch recently dropped some leaked art information from an un-named source at Valve about a new title they are apparently working on called "Stars of Barathrum." Again, this is rumor but this rumor comes with some leaked artwork that someone chopped up into the video above.

From facepunch:

"An inside source has confirmed that SOB (Valve's new IP) is an unannounced game entitled Stars of Barathrum (working title). Plays like privateer/freelancer but also with the ability to command larger cruisers and capital ships. It's a very vast and open-world game where you choose your own adventure, a lot of internal resources are being put into SOB."

This is interesting as if true, Valve is working on some new IP. I like the art style but the way they warp the faces is unsettling in a few of the shots. I wonder if that style is to outline the "bad" vs "good" or if its something different. The images do look valve like and I hope with the advancement of technology that the game comes out to look much like that art.

Does a new franchise from Valve interest you? What do you think of the leaked art?

For the entirety of the goods, check facepunch direct:
http://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1217651

A few weeks ago I was able to volunteer at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo and during my time I met the awesome guys that run the podcast "Watch Out for Fireballs!" Watch out for Fireballs! is a cool retro themed podcast that covers topics close to our hearts like Zombies Ate My Neighbors, Bionic Commando, Secret of Mana, Earthbound and the recent episode on Super Mario World.

The most recent episode is interesting in that it features a plethora of stories and opinions on the fantastic Super Mario World on the Super Nintendo. They set up a TV and SNES playing Super Mario World and recorded people's thoughts on the game. I point this all out, not only because it is awesome but because I contributed my own audio story in the podcast of a level I initially hated, but have since grown to love. A bit of context, I was playing the level as I was talking, I don't know why but I felt that was worth sharing.

Nab the episode and for your information my story starts at 34.10. You have me at Beck's Loser, yeah I talk about that song too.

Grab the episode here:
http://duckfeed.tv/woff/30

If you are interested in more retro rad, check out the Fireball guys on the web here:
http://www.watchoutforfireballs.com/

For more backstory about Portland Retro Gaming Expo 2012 and my involvement, look see here:
http://cheerfulghost.com/assets/social/cheerfulghost_mini.png

More information for you all that love to clicky click:
http://floatzel.net/smw/levels/
http://www.smwiki.net/wiki/List_of_Super_Mario_World_levels
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Mario_World

As there have been many Borderlands 2 posts recently and I wanted to celebrate the event with one more!

Gearbox dropped the last echo log entry for Gaige completing her entire back story. I really enjoy these recordings and they paint a compelling picture of her character and how she became a vault hunter. Gearbox writing style has stepped up with Borderlands 2 and the Mecromancer back story is a great example of it.

Without further text, here are all of the echo logs for Gaige:

1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ijs-FEk3OIk&list=UUSRO0JNUYTCjsk7VmMdNYKw&index=4&feature=plcp


2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zNk8kM2Qj0&list=UUSRO0JNUYTCjsk7VmMdNYKw&index=3&feature=plcp


3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Qe4m0Oydw4&list=UUSRO0JNUYTCjsk7VmMdNYKw&index=2&feature=plcp


4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6iFA1KFPQI&list=UUSRO0JNUYTCjsk7VmMdNYKw&index=1&feature=plcp

Rock Star just announced "Rockstar Games Collection" a backlog release of all its big modern titles to date on PS3 and XBox 360. In the collection are: Read Dead Redemption, Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City, L.A. Noire & Midnight Club: Los Angeles Complete Edition.

If you haven't played many of these games getting them all for $59.99 is a steal! They are mysteriously missing some DLC that comes with the Game of the Year editions, but even at this price that omission isn't a problem.

Does this collection interest you? Does this "Rockstar Orange Box" tempt you into getting it or do you already have these titles?

Sad to not see a PC version of this, but some of the titles missed a PC release entirely, like Red Dead Redemption.

http://www.rockstargames.com/newswire/article/45281/rockstar-games-collection-coming-this-november.html

Found this cool picture on the evolution of Link's Swords throughout the Zelda franchise.

File this under important historical information.

After watching Indie Game: The Movie I decided to try Super Meat Boy. From what I saw in the movie, it looked awesome. I know I am behind on giving this game a shot, but I am glad I tried it out as it is a really unique modern experience.

First off the game really feels like Super Mario Brothers. Well, that's not entirely true, it feels like a more... stripped down Mario Brothers. Something more... focused perhaps. Think Mario, with just platforming. It is also quite challenging but that didn't hit me in the feels, I like how hard it is.

The premise is you are Meat Boy and Dr. Fetus keeps capturing your girlfriend Bandage Girl. In every level you make it to her and that dastardly Fetus snatches her away for you to find again in the next level. Each World has a fun cut scene intro and each world end boss fight comes with a cut scene as well.

I enjoy the games humor and unabashed grotesquery. I mean the main character is meat and he bleeds... everywhere. I came at this game from having played The Binding of Isaac first so I was used to Edmund McMillan's unique art style and Meat Boy delivers.

The game is fairly pick-up and play as I beat the first world in under 20 minutes and hit a wall of difficulty with World 2. Now I can make my way through about 2 - 3 levels in a 30 minute sitting and enjoy that process. Unlike other games that are very hard I find Meat Boy's difficulty to be loads of fun. Death doesn't really penalize you like in the Binding of Isaac and starting again is simple, fast and fun.

If you have Super Meat Boy and haven't tried it, do so. Oh and I recommend playing it with a controller too, it just right playing it that way. Just like platforming was intended.

http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/607