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Kevin-V – Kevin-V's blog: Neverwinter Days
- Jun 24, 2009 2:46 pm PT
- 26 Comments
As you probably know, I really like the Spore expansion pack, Galactic Adventures. I am pleased with the adventures I created (check out Perseus' Quest, which I think turned out well; too bad the Sporepedia hasn't updated yet with the correct number of plays and so on). I am now in the process of another one based on Korean legend, and can't wait to finish it this week.
But this is where you come in. Once I am done with the current project, I need a good idea for the next one--and I want you to be my muse. So come up with a little story idea. I'll choose the one I like most and seems most feasible to create, craft the adventure, and capture a playthrough so you can see how it turned out. Even better, I will send you a copy of Spore and its expansion, either a physical copy, or via Steam. (If you already own both or either, we can work out a different PC game). Here's the nitty gritty:
1. Give me a loose idea of a small game story that can be played through in around 10-12 minutes. It can be an original idea, a favorite legend or myth, a parody, or something else entirely! Feel free to be creative.
2. Just don't get too carried away. The Spore adventure creator has limitations, so I can't explore the seven levels of hell or anything. But it can have up to eight acts, and include combat, dialogue, fetch quests, and so on. But be as nonspecific as possible (rough outline), because the more specific you get, the less able I will be to create an adventure that intricate.
3. Reply here with your idea. I'll choose the one I like most based on a combination of how good it is, and how feasible it will be to create. Reply by July 1 at 12 PM (noon) Pacific Time, and you'll be eligible.
4. I will announce the winner in my blog. If I choose your entry, I will create it, and when done, I will record a playthrough and post it on the site. I will also credit you on the published adventure. And finally, I will send you a copy of Spore and Spore Galactic Adventures, either via Steam, or via snail mail. This will entail giving me either your Steam username, or your name and address. These would be emailed to me and kept private.
5. I like waffles. Mmm.
So that's about it. I look forward to hearing your ideas and bringing it to life. In the meanwhile, I keep my Twitter updated with all sorts of weird exploits, including Spore ones. And who knows, maybe I will like more than one adventure. If I do, I can't give the game to more than one person (how much money do you think i make!?), but I would certainly create your work of art!
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Polybren – This just in...
- Jun 15, 2009 9:06 pm PT
- 31 Comments
The ESRB ratings description site says we have Warner Bros. to blame for this:
The Clique: Diss and Make Up
Platform:Nintendo DSRating:Everyone 10+
Content descriptors:Comic Mischief, Suggestive Themes
Rating summary:This is a social simulation game in which players assume the role of a new student who aims to fit in with groups of girls or cliques at her new high school. Players can gain favor with specific cliques by dressing in a certain manner, gossiping, and running errands for that group. Text-based conversations and gossip can sometimes include suggestive references (e.g., "I saw Meagan Fellers putting makeup on a HICKEY!" and "Someone saw Kara inflating her air bra this morning at the car circle."). Characters occasionally make crude references to "soy snot," "poo," and bad hygiene (e.g., "Cindy Bennett had the dirtiest, smelliest feet today in homeroom" and "Becky's armpits are hairier than Vincent's goatee!").1) Are you the new kid in school? Be sure to dress like everyone else, gossip, and be a lackey for more popular kids, or you'll never fit in!
2) Clearly, Meagan Fellers and Kara are total sluts. Let's ostracize them now.
3)What are you doing spending your home room examining and smelling Cindy Bennett's feet?
I don't know what makes me angrier, Warner Bros. exploiting perhaps the ugliest side of teen culture to make a buck, or the fact that there are enough people out there who would play this that they think it's a good investment.It doesn't help that the game is actually targetted toward pre-teens as some sort of twisted wish fulfillment depicting and reinforcing their ideas of how high school is supposed to be. This kind of dreck makes Lord of the Flies seem positively civil by comparison.
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JodyR – Breezing By...
- Jun 6, 2009 3:27 pm PT
- 36 Comments
Wednesday kept me super busy. I made some time in the evening to do some catching up with my roomie, Sophia Tong. The video shares her experience until then. There was also a weird noise that was coming from our bathroom on Tuesday night so beware of strange noises!
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On Thursday morning I got up at 5am because I went to bed at 9pm. I headed out to the booth early after having breakfast with Guy, Ashley and Sophia. The purpose of getting to the booth early was to ask some editors and staff about how their E3 is gong for them and what they had to do before E3 was over on the last day. Check out the four part series I did on the last day!
Video 1
- Last day the four of us went to eat at the hotel because we had the same breakfast every day at the GameSpot E3 booth.
- Guy shared a few things he planned to do for the day.
- This was Ashley's first E3.
- I show the food we've had every single morning.
- Tyler talks briefly about the Splash Damage's Brink game.
- Marco from the data team shares his experience about how E3 is going.
- Kayvan from movietome.com talks about his experience of the show.Video 2
- Homer loves Mass Effect; shares a comparison of 2005 booth versus 2009 GameSpot booth, and is not interested in the Old Republic game. I tell him to talk to the hand.
- I ask Brian about his thoughts on future Sports MMOs
- Shaun loses his witty super powers early in the morning. It's so extremely rare to see him like this so be kind to him!Video 3
- Tor shares his thoughts about how well it went this year.
- Dan and Laura from GS AU talk briefly about how their E3 went. IT was Laura's first year!
- A super tired Justin Calvert shares his thoughts about this year and games he needed to play before the show ended.
- Kim Cuartero from the data team talks about tennis and skateboarding
- Kevin VanOrd talked about games that were missing on the show floor and more!
- Chris Watters' shares his experience of the show and there is a clip of a segment he hosted.Video 4
- Giancarlo has returned to GameSpot! He talks about his history with E3 and we welcome him back to the team! It's so great to have someone who shares the same love of gaming, but also has a history with GameSpot and E3.- Ryan MacDonald explains how E3 went as the primary host for the show. He could have had much more sleep, but rarely did early into the show. He also thanks the team for all of their effort this year.
- A quick circle around the GameSpot stage.
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Here's my best of E3 list!
Games, Games, Games
Best trailer: The Old Republic
Best press conference: Microsoft
Most intriguing: Singularity
Most edgy: Brutal Legend (come on, there is a hot rod!)
The best of rhythm games: DJ Hero
Most fun looking: Spyborgs
A game that made me believe in rocket/jet packs again: DarkVoidGuests on the E3 stage show!
Majority of the guests were uber neat to deal with during the preparation of getting them ready for the stage show. Here are some that I stamp as teh awesome!- Randy Pitchford was on stage for Gearbox's Borderlands game. He was one of the most energetic of the guests that were on the show; behind scenes and on screen. Super cool guy.
- Peter Sokal was on stage for id Software's Wolfenstein game. He seemed the most familiar. I thought I knew him for some reason, but it may be because he reminds me of how Rich Gallup was when I first met him.
- Most of the Harmonix crew for the Beatles game were all pretty awesome, including Alex Navarro. I've seen Alex so much over the past year, it is almost like he's still working with us. lol.
- Daryl Allison who talked about Spyborgs was a gentleman behind scenes and looked a bit like Greg Kasavin
- Ray Muzyka was a cool guy to talk to! While he was waiting to get on the stage for Mass Efect 2 I asked him how it felt being in one of the hoods for the press conference. He said it's incredible difficult to see walking up the stairs. Sounds like the whole crew had to pace themselves.
- TMNT dudes were also pretty neat to deal with. They reminded me of wrestlers, though.
- Lastly, I talked to two of the EA/Dragon Age guys that didn't get on stage. I didn't get their names. They seemed surprised that I was a Baldur's Gate fan.

There were more, but these are the people who stood out no matter how hectic it became behind scenes.
GameSpot Staff
Most dedicated: Sophia Tong
Best captain of setup/stage producer/teardown: Frank Adams
Best E3 virgin: Ashley Denton
Best host: Ryan MacDonald
Best laugh: Brian Ekberg
Requires a long load time before booting up: Shaun McInnis
Knows what to say at all times: Kevin VanOrd
Always energized: Chris Watters
Most informative: Lark Anderson
Most relaxed: Guy Cocker
One to ignore: Homer Rabara
Most fun to talk to: Luke Anderson (yeah, having an accent helped)
IT Wonder: Thomas Woods (he also helped remove furniture from stage for majority of the rhythm games) -
shaunmc – RumblePak Extreme!!!
- Jun 5, 2009 7:11 pm PT
- 17 Comments
I'm back home from Los Angeles, and before I sleep away the entire the weekend, I wanted to give you guys one last bit of behind-the-scenes access to our E3 coverage. Enjoy! It's a look at how everyone's doing right as the show was wrapping up.
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shaunmc – RumblePak Extreme!!!
- May 29, 2009 11:47 am PT
- 13 Comments
Couple notes about the video:
1. Yeah, I know it's shaky. I learned the hard way that if you plan on shooting with one of those tiny little Flip Cams, it's probably a good idea to hold it with two hands if you've just had a bunch of coffee. But hey! If you've ever wondered what the GS offices look like when shot in the style of the Saving Private Ryan beach scene, here you go!
2. Trollbos are hobos that live under bridges. Read this starting with the oldest entry for some background (mis)information on trollbos.
3. Oh, Tom. You shouldn't have said that on camera.
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JodyR – Breezing By...
- May 27, 2009 6:26 pm PT
- 49 Comments
As you already know, E3 has kept us all pretty busy the past few weeks. As we get even closer there's just such little time in the day. I planned to skip the weekly community report this week and post that E3 community coverage this Friday as promised. Also, I am still looking for some new and interesting E3 blogs worth mentioning. In fact, this week's community spotlight will be the person who posted the best E3 blog. Remember this new emblem?
Here are some ideas to consider in your E3 community coverage blog.
- You can do some lists about how many games you knew would be the best of game; how many times you've attended E3 virtually; how many times you've attended E3. The list can go on and on!
- What do you think it will be like now that E3 is going back to the traditional format?
- Do you think there will be more people attending this year than ever before?
- What does GameSpot HAVE to bring to the show floor this year or else you'll be throwing tomatoes?
- What will be the snacks you have to eat while watching all three days of the show.
That should get your creativity started. I know some of you can do much better than those. You may also want to consider asking other users to respond to your lists of E3.
After you post that blog shoot me a PM with the link. If you post a blog about your pre-e3 comments, be sure to let me know by Friday morning.
Another thing to be aware of is how awesome the E3 emblems look. They are very futuristic so those who like the sci-fi element to games will believe these emblems are the best we've had. You will not want to miss any piece of GameSpot's coverage this year! It is highly unlikely we'll be posting a missed your E3 emblem thread unless staff state otherwise.
We also will not be having a subscriber chatroom this year. You'll want to do most of your discussions in the E3 2009 discussion forum or post comments for each live show.
Another thing that you may have not noticed is our recent photo contest. It's as simple as taking a picture of your gaming entertainment area and posting it in a submission thread. The winners will each receive 8 video games. The contest ends on June 7th so post your photo earlier than later. Our coverage of E3 will keep you very busy next week.That's it for now.

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Kevin-V – Kevin-V's blog: Neverwinter Days
- May 13, 2009 5:04 pm PT
- 31 Comments
I will have more to share later this week, but in the meanwhile, check out some footage from this week's GameSpot Community Game Night. Chris Watters and I took aim at the GameSpot community, chilling out with them while simultaneously shooting them in the faces. If there was any doubt why Killzone 2 is so extraordinary, feast your eyes on the following video.
About the Soapbox
- Welcome to the GameSpot Soapbox, in which you can always find the latest rants, diatribes, well-reasoned arguments, and baseless speculation about gaming both from the GameSpot editors and GameSpot users. Want to be spotlighted? We'll consider every GameSpot blog post marked with the category "editorial" for inclusion. Sound off!
- Last updated: Jun 28, 2009 9:57 pm PT
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I ask my fellow GS editors what they're looking forward to and most afraid of about E3 2009.
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