If you weren't at PAX EAST in Boston then you missed out on some great panels. One of the wildest was The Escapist's Blankety-Blank panel, which recreated the classic TV game show Match game using a PAX East audience and a clever group of panelist to create a game-related version of the show.

Every once in awhile someone creates a parody that is absolutely brilliant, but this music video of Coldplay's "Viva la Vida" built inside Minecraft is quite impressive. The song is performed by TryHardNinja and the world map seems to have been built specifically for the video. 

The latest edition of The Escapist's The Jimquisition tackles BioWare's decision to make changes to the ending of Mass Effect 3 after fans applied public pressure on the company through petitions and general Internet rabble rousing. The latest episode of Jim Sterling's video show is called "Changing A Game's Ending And Destroying Art," and you can probably guess where he is going with it.

Here's the tease from the official site:

Even though we missed the shenanigans of covering April Fool’s Day this year (it fell on Sunday and it’s rare that companies issue press statements and stories on the weekend - unless there is a trade show or fan event going on somewhere), we liked Andrew Eisen's video so much that we thought we should share it with you.

Andrew shows you what happens when you think you have the most diabolical April Fool’s Day joke ever.

Check out the video to your left, it's vintage Andrew Eisen - and by vintage, I mean completely insane...

According to an Andriasang.com report, Nintendo of Japan will shut down its "Wii no Ma" video service on April 30. The service, which was launched in May 2009 offered a variety of paid content to consumers such as movies, anime and more from companies such as Walt Disney and Warner Entertainment.

The latest episode of Jim Sterling's The Jimquisition on The Escapist takes on Ubisoft for what he calls a "litany of crimes" against consumers. The outspoken Destructoid editor has said a fair share of unflattering things about Electronic Arts, and now he takes aim at the company he calls "the EA of Europe" for all the horrible things they put consumers through who simply want to enjoy their games. You can watch the video to your left or visit The Escapist to catch the latest episode.

Since we really love Andrew Eisen and because it's Valentine’s Day, we want to share the love for his brand new video, "How to Drop 15 Pounds, Right Now!" We'll leave the description to Andrew, stolen wholesale from his YouTube channel:

"My Valentine's Day video was going to be nothing short of epic. It had it all: special effects, music, sex, laughs, tears, dancing elephants.

But that didn't work out.

So you get this instead."
 

Andrew Eisen goes out of his way to pay as little money as possible for the latest Humble Bundle promotion in his latest video.

Microsoft has added some new streaming video services on Xbox Live that fans have been asking for for awhile. The company announced that the popular Crackle and CinemaNow services are now available to Xbox Live Gold members. 

Crackle, Sony's popular free movie and TV streaming service, is available in Australia, Canada, United Kingdom and United States regions. It offers a healthy selection of old movies and TV shows. CinemaNow, Best Buy's movie and TV rental and purchase service, is only available to US Xbox owners for now.

What would Destructoid's Jim Sterling be like if SOPA were to become the law of the land? Jim imagines that future in the latest episode of the Jimquisition on The Escapist. Jim calls it speculative fiction, but we call it plausible reality - even if ever so slightly. You can check it out on The Escapist or watch the latest episode to your left.

In his latest video, Andrew Eisen responds to a Ken Levine interview on OXM where the lead developer of BioShock Infinite seems baffled as to why fans seem so interested in the assets of Elizabeth - and we're not talking about her eyes here.

You can check out the video to your left or visit Andrew’s YouTube channel..

Leah Kauffman, who wrote and sang the popular song "I Got a Crush on Obama" (lip-synched by a woman who would later became known as Obama Girl), has released a new video about SOPA called "Firewall." In the video Kaufman dances with a man dressed as the "Internet" and begs him not to "put up a firewall."

The latest episode of The Jimquisition on The Escapist tackles Sony, EA and Nintendo's involvement in SOPA and Protect IP - two bills that propose doing horrible things in the name of protecting intellectual property rights, fighting piracy and killing the illicit counterfeit goods markets on the Internet.

Here's the lead in from irrepressible Destructoid editor Jim Sterling - or his The Escapist handlers (we're not sure which):

Wait what? The new Professor Layton game from Nintendo does not include the bonus game London Life if you live in Europe. Wait, what? Yes apparently European gamers don't get the bonus content. Our own Andrew Eisen gives us an impression of a European gamer buying the new Layton game to show you the irony of the situation...

It takes a unique kind of person to create a video promoting an obviously fake video game about slavery, a sad part of our history that the majority of Americans do not find much humor in. Nonetheless, we live in an age where the Internet allows for all kinds of free speech - even the kind we do not agree with, find offensive, or find to be outright disgusting. Still, sometimes you have to look straight into the abyss to see the foolishness of humanity. Perhaps this is one of those moments, so we present the promotional video for "Slavery - The Game."

If you think that the cease and desist letter Bethesda sent Minecraft developer Mojang over plans to use the word "Scrolls" in its next game is ridiculous, then Andrew Eisen's latest video will make a lot of sense. After all, if one company can go after another for "Scrolls" then they can go after anyone for any other seemingly innocuous or common word. Take the word "the," for example...

This morning Kotaku pointed out a video from Germany's RTL Television in which commentators took great delight in mocking what they characterized as the "computer freaks" that they filmed at last week's Gamescom in Cologne, Germany. Today the show, apparently embarrassed (and likely humbled by fans that were pissed off at their mean-spirited characterizations) is now apologizing for their bad judgment in airing the report.

In the latest video from our own Andrew Eisen he talks in-depth about the Mega Man conspiracy theory making the rounds. Some believe that Capcom cancelled Mega Man Legends 3 for the 3DS and Mega Man Universe, and omitted the Blue Bomber from the Marvel vs. Capcom 3 roster because Mega Man co-creator Keiji Inafune left the company late last year. You may recall that Inafune made several derogatory statements about the Japanese video game industry prior to his departure, which reflected poorly on him and his employer too.

“Uh, this game has spiders?”

PEGI, the ratings organization set to take over exclusive game rating duties in Europe sometime in the coming months, uses symbols instead of text for its content descriptors.  If you don’t happen to know what they mean, they can be a little confusing.  For example, the spider icon means: “Fear – Game may be frightening or scary for young children.”

Okay, good to know.

While everyone else is ranting and raving about Diablo III and having to be "always connected" to Battle.net to play it - even in single player - our very own Andrew Eisen takes a different approach with the following heartfelt letter.

If Blizzard listens, this could be the best Christmas ever! Check out his heartwarming plea to Blizzard to your left or visit YouTube.

Nothing is impossible with a little ingenuity, some software and some technical wizardry - as evidenced in the following video. While it is a messy implementation, the demonstration in the video shows Microsoft's Kinect being used with the PlayStation 3 game Killzone 3. Hacker Shantanu Goel created a PC program to make it work on the PS3, and as the video shows, the implementation can safely be called "alpha." Even though this Kinect hack has its share of issues, it is nonetheless an interesting and unorthodox way of controlling a game that is already designed to work with move.

How is it possible to be blind and complete a video game? While I can't imagine it, 23-year-old Terry Garrett has accomplished just that. Terry Garrett, is a mechanical engineering student from Colorado Springs who figured out how to play through and beat Abe's Exoddus, multiple times using only the game's quick-save feature and audio cues.

Using the game's sound and learning how it all worked, Terry played through the game and beat it. And then beat it again.. and again. Some describe his playthroughs of the game "nearly flawless." I know people who have sight and can't beat the game. Check out the video to the left to learn more.

You can't make this kind of stuff up.. George "Geohot" Hotz has apparently created a rap about Sony trying to sue him for jailbreaking the PS3.

The sometimes explicit rap video appeared on his YouTube account explaining the lawsuit and challenging Sony (though I think that's all bluster for the sake of the rap, son).

Some of the lyrics are NSFW, but you can find them below, slightly edited for the sake of work and school safety :

What happens when you are playing a game in the subway and you don't pay attention? A ten-year-old boy from Milan, Italy found out when he fell off a subway platform and onto the tracks below because he was engrossed in playing a PSP game. Luckily a police officer nearby sprung into action and lifted the boy back up onto the platform.

On a personal note, I have a 10-year-old son and I could see the same thing happening to him. But it wouldn't matter if he was reading a comic book or playing a video game - sometimes he pays little attention to what is going on around him. It happens.

Anyway, watch the dramatic video to your left. Yes, I’m overselling it.

Thanks to nightwng2000 for the tip.

Source: MSNBC

Would Cliff Bleszinski, Epic Games design director and lead on Bulletstorm, let his son play his next big shooter? In the latest edition of The Escapist's Bulletpoints, a video series dedicated to the game while it is in development, Bleszinski answers the question in great detail.

Bulletstorm is rated "M" for "Mature" by the ESRB.

We won't spoil it for you. Visit The Escapist to find the answer.

Police in Thames Valley, England have created a "video game" campaign where participants choose an action in a scenario similar to ones they might encounter when out in pubs and bars related to sexual assault. The video game is called Seal the Deal and is available on both YouTube and Facebook.

But the game is only one part of the campaign; another part involves true confessions from convicted rapists.

For example, a 41-year-old from Oxford calling himself "John" admits to raping his girlfriend when he was drunk in 2001 "following a difficult period in their relationship." He agreed to be interviewed as part of the new Don’t Cross the Line serious sexual assault campaign. He said during his interview that he felt "entitled to sex."

The campaign encourages young men to consider the consequences of their actions towards women - particularly when drinking is involved.

What is the best way to handle a news story about an adult-themed Kinect game you might have seen on YouTube? Create a report about it where parents are concerned about their kids playing it. Forget for a minute that it's not actually available on a regular retail Xbox 360 with a Kinect, or that it is basically just a video floating around YouTube..

That is exactly what Martina Valverde, Morning News Reporter at KFox TV in El Paso, Texas did in a report called Adult Video Game In The Works For Kinect System Has Parents Concerned. In the report, she apparently brings the video of an adult groping game to the attention of parents who have a five-year-old son. The son got the game system for Christmas.

Thinking of having unprotected sex? Maybe this public service video from Leicestershire Teenage Pregnancy Partnership in England will change your mind. The video for teens uses Super Mario and Mega Man style 8-bit graphics to deliver a fun little message. Check out the video to the left for a laugh.

Find out more about the Leicestershire Teenage Pregnancy Partnership here.

Thanks to Kotaku

Los Angeles TV station Fox LA 11 recently did a segment on California's law on violent video games featuring a debate between Gerry Block (IGN and G4TV contributor) and Michele MacNeal, Director of the California Chapter of the Parents Television Council.

While the debate is fairly tame and both participants are clearly nervous about being on TV, the "video game guy" does a good job of being articulate. Check out the video and judge for yourselves.

Source: Fox LA

 

We’ll just let this one speak for itself.

As Andrew notes, the video appears to have been edited a bit, but probably just to enhance the absurdity.

Pokemon is a game that teaches children how to enter into the world of witchcraft. How to cast spells. How to use psychic phenomena…  How to put to work supernatural powers against their enemies… How to fantasy role play… Pokemon world is a world of the demonic, of the satanic.

 

While you might not take it quite seriously, I assure you that demons take it quite seriously.

 

Satan takes it quite seriously.

Our kids are going out in gangs on the streets and they are so used to killing each other in their fantasy games and in their video screens and blowing each other away and blowing each other up, that when they walk down the streets and they pull out their .45 and they pump some friend full of bullets, they kind of think in the back of their mind, well, we’ll turn off the machine and they’ll get up and they will be there tomorrow and I will shoot them again.

It’s just a game, to which I respond, Russian Roulette is just a game.

|Via EveryThingisTerrible|