I;m actually not sure if this newest holiday move from Nintendo is downright genius or downright scary, but either way I'm sure it'll have an impact. It was announced today that you can visit http://mariowishlist.varitalk.com and check off Nintendo DS items that you want to see under the Christmas tree this holiday. After listing who the person is that you hope to get this gift from, they will receive a personalized call or email from Mario, letting them know that you hope to get a specific gift from them!

This really reminds me of being a kid -- handing my mom a very specific list of games that I wanted for Christmas, begging her not to deviate from it, and then somehow ending up with a copy of Friday the 13th for the NES despite all my pleading. WHY, MOM, WHY? 

Of course, if parents have no idea who Mario is, they may be a bit befuddled as to why an Italian plumber is calling to tell them what their son or daughter wants for Christmas.

Despite taking place in Los Angeles, Ubisoft had flown in snow and ice to help put the party attendees in the right mood. You can’t promote a game that takes place in the mountains with adding a little chill, right?

Via camera, here’s what Michelle saw…

“Full House”’s Stephanie Tanner (aka Jodie Sweetin) talks about her new child and loving Wii on the red carpet

Somehow the ice sculpture managed to not melt by the end of the party

Behind the ice sculpture was footage of the game in action on a giant screen

Shaun White talks to the press on the red carpet before heading inside to party

Even Kelly Osbourne, daughter of Ozzy Osbourne, decided to make an appearance

The party came equipped with snow-loving ladies to play the game all night

Pictures of the inside didn’t show up so well…but you can see the antler chandelier here!

Michelle takes to the virtual slopes with the Wii version of the game

(The ‘Shaun White Snowboarding’ guest-blogger project was made possible by a sponsorship partnership between MTV and the game’s publisher, Ubisoft.)

Related Posts
Tila Tequila, Bam Margera Talk Video Games At ‘Shaun White’ Party
‘Shaun White’ Launch Party - Our Guest Blogger Weighs In
Our Guest Blogger Checks In From L.A.
Meet Our Guest-Blogger For Next Week!

It’s GameTap Thursday again folks, and you know what that means don’t you? Another new episode of American McGee’s Grimm Volume Two has arrived. Like all other episodes of Grimm it is free to play for the first 24-hours–after which, you will have to be a subscriber to continue playing it.

King Midas is a fairytale or more of a lesson handed down the centuries by the Greeks, and most people are familiar with the tale, but I will tell you more about it anyway. For ten days and ten nights the Greek god Dionysus’ teacher, a Satyr named Silenus, told King Midas wonderful tales. When he was ready to leave, the King had an escort take him back to Dionysus and his way of returning the favor was granting King Midas anything he wanted as a reward. He chose the golden touch. Unfortunately for him, this means that his food, drink, and everything thing else he needed to sustain him turned to gold. Starving, thirsty and depressed, his daughter hugged him and thus unwittingly turned herself into gold. Now, how in the world can Grimm make that even MORE diabolical and depressing? Well, as the saying goes, “you ain’t seen nothing yet” or was that a song by Bachman Turner Overdrive?

He was kind of like Goldfinger in the James Bond movie of the same name, but not evil–just not very smart. Also, he does not have a minion named Oddjob to do his bidding, and instead of painting things gold, King Midas actually turned things to gold. Come to think of it, he is nothing like Goldfinger…ok.. never mind then….

Also available this week to subscribers is Space Hack. Developed by Rebelmind, Space Hack is a Diablo-inspired action-RPG set in a science fiction world. Taking on the role of a warrior, players must hack their way through a spaceship full invading alien creatures in a desperate attempt to reach emergency transportation and escape their cruel fate. The game offers a diverse level of character development, allowing the player to solve problems in a variety of ways.

No new free games were added this week since King Midas is free to play for the first 24-hours. However, GameTap has loads of free games just ready for you to dive into. 143 of them to be exact, and included in those is the original Hitman and Fallout, so what are you waiting for? Head on over to the official website now and sign up.

Next week, Grimm tells the tale of Cinderella… poor girl. I can only imagine what the nasty little troll has in store for her.

---
Related Articles at Gaming Today:

• GameTap to Publish American McGee's Grimm
• American McGee is Twisting More Childrens Tales With Grimm
• GameTap Thurday: American McGee’s Grimm: Little Red Riding Hood
• American McGee's Grimm: Volume Two Release Schedule Announced
• GameTap Thursday: Kane & Lynch Meet The Devil and His Three Golden Hairs

Welcome back to another edition of “Getting to Know Your Favorite Elder Scrolls Modder (that GTKYFESM for short). This week we’ve got an interview with Stefan Nibblett (aka Nicoroshi) that I conducted about a month ago. Residing in the Bay Area, Stefan loves building and creating — whether it’s at his job as a Union Sheet Metal Worker, doing woodwork and welding, or working on mods for The Elder Scrolls.

About a year ago, you did an interview with Planet Elder Scrolls. Since then, how have you changed as a modder?
Honestly I have slowed down a bit in my rate of creation. Now I tend to focus more on details. Rather than be overly excited about sharing what I created, and releasing the mod before it was done to my satisfaction. I use it myself, and send it to friends for a couple of weeks. This patience I have learned gives me more time to try different textures, modify parts of a mesh that may have bothered me, or consult friends for opinions from their playtesting of the mod. Having to release updates on four different sites (when things were done the old way) took up a bunch of my scarce free time. Waiting a bit while using it, and asking friends to play test for me has saved me from that. This method has allowed me to release a better more complete mod in version 1.0.

I have also learned more modding skills since that interview. My UVMapping, and texture creation have greatly increased allowing for more detailed items in game. I have also improved in deciding where a good bump map could replace extra vertices in the mesh. A prime example is Wyrmfang. 80% of the details on the crosspiece were done through the texture, and bump mapping  allows me to keep the final poly count of the model to 4143. My scripting ability has also increased. Through the help of Hobbs, Visman, and Katalysis, I can now write working scripts for my own mods. This was something that was beyond me not too long ago. It allowed me to bring auto-equipping arrows to Nicos Kynareth Archery (Withervines, and Kynareth’s Tempest being wielded by Wynnd), and dual crossed blades on your back when un-equipped for Nicos Scimitars. My thanks go to them for sharing their knowledge, and helping me to make better mods.

What projects are you currently working on?
My current project is a sword with quest to obtain it. Once again I am expanding on what I know by creating something unlike anything I have seen released thus far. I don’t want to give too much away about it, but I can tell you that I was inspired by the Tribunal quest to rebuild Trueflame, and by the Holy Cuteblade. Perhaps I have already said too much…oops.

Recently, my daughter expressed interest in doing some voice acting after being a constant companion during the creation of Arrows of the Ayleid King, in which both my wife and I did voice acting. My daughter is full of wonderful ideas, and one of my major inspirations when I mod — along with the fact that she’s really good at voice acting. Because of her interest, I’m casting her as the quest giver. There is still much work to do, although the concepts are almost complete. It should be fun to create another mod with her not only by my side, but helping with the content too. Modding in my house has become a family affair with all members offering suggestions and opinions on the things I am creating.

Outside of your own work, what projects are you looking forward to?
I have to admit that I am not as active in the community or on the forums as I once was due to real life leeching my free time lately — so I may not be aware of some projects in the works.

I have talked with Divine Avenger recently about the Predator mod which interests me. I very much liked the Predator mod for Morrowind, and am looking forward to seeing it converted for use in Oblivion by that team of talented people. I am also looking forward to seeing some of the people I have helped (or spurred on) release mods. It’s gratifying to spread the addiction that is Oblivion modding.

A lot of your projects relate to weapons. What’s your favorite one you’ve done?
A favorite would be hard to choose as I still have every mod I ever created as part of my personal game, and use most all of them from time to time. If I had to choose I would say Nico’s Scimitars. The swords I created are based on the ebony scimitars from Tribunal (my favorite weapon from that game), and they came out exceptionally well — thanks to input from my friends (scripting cleaned up by Katalysis, and dual crossed blades on the back idea by Ogramirad). I love the dual back sheathing of the blades on my current character. Their shape, color, and implementation fit her persona perfectly, and they are her main close combat weapons.

I’m scared to ask, but do you have any weapons like these at your house?
I do own one sword, although it’s not as nice as some of the models I have created. It’s a leather wrapped hand-made Katana I bought long ago. Now I’m more into collecting pocket knives and tools rather than swords or axes.

Any recent books/movies/games that have inspired some of the weapons you’re working on?
Although I love reading, catching the occasional movie, and gaming, I tend to work on one project at a time, and have tried recently to create unique things rather than copies of existing items.

Basic concepts for items tend to come from something I have seen. An example being the Elven bows from The Lord of the Rings movies. The last two bows I created — Nicos Tabaxi Bows and Nicos Kynareth Archery — evolved as they were being created. I started with a basic idea for the shape and size of the bow. I then modeled it, and started modifying the model until I was happy with the shape, and lines of it. They almost take on a life of their own during creation when I am not trying to duplicate something I have seen elsewhere. Both of those bows turned out far different than my original vision for them, though I think they both have the lines and feel I was going for when I started. They are truly from the mind of Nico.

Does your interest with the Elder Scrolls center more around the fantasy setting or the type of game it is?
Both. I played D&Ds when I was much younger, and have always loved the fantasy worlds of books, games, and movies. What really drew me into The Elder Scrolls series was the gameplay. Here was a game that had swords, bows, trolls, goblins, and all of the other things I loved in a fantasy world but was non-linear. I don’t have to finish one quest before I am allowed to do something else. I can go anywhere I want anytime I want to, and play the game however I choose. It doesn’t matter if I complete the main quest….Ever! I think I’ve  died and gone to gaming heaven. Now to top that Bethesda releases a Construction Set for it that allows me to create my own content. Somebody please pinch me…I must be dreaming! Then there is a whole modding community that all make mods, and upload them world wide for everyone to enjoy adding to their own game for free! I have found gaming Utopia. I have many other games installed on my computer, but I still come back to Oblivion and Morrowind more than any other for these reasons.

Do you think you’ll play Fallout 3?
No. It’s not really the kind of game that I would play. Post nuclear holocaust setting is not something that interests me.

What would you say your modding strengths and weaknesses are?
My modding strengths would include modeling, texturing, NifSkope usage, and basic CS usage. Things I still need work on would include scripting, quest creation, rigging, and advanced CS usage (although I have a basic knowledge of all these as well).

If you ever think of an idea that’s out of your comfort zone, do you pitch the idea to other modders?
I certainly would. In fact, I have an idea that I would like to pitch to Bethesda for their next Elder Scrolls game. The reason I choose to pitch to you rather than the talented modders is I believe this would require more than modders for Oblivion could accomplish on the scale I envision it to be.

I loved the “Through a Nightmare Darkly” quest in Oblivion, and the craziness of Shivering Isles. I always thought that sleeping in Oblivion was kind of a waste just watching the counter run down. Having no reason to sleep broke the role play aspect of the game for me. I love mods like Real Hunger and Real Thirst because of what they added in that respect. I see a opportunity to give the player a reason to sleep in the game. First make sleeping mandatory along with eating and drinking. Have the player enter a dreamworld whenever he/she sleeps. Leveling would occur in the dreamworld separate from the waking world as well as what items would be in their inventory. There could be similar places, and NPCs from game world as in the waking world (using the same models) but different quests, and different governing attributes as well.

An example would be the ability to somewhat control the outcome of the dreams as levels increase or the ability to fly or float at higher levels. I think it would make for a unique experience having basically two games going at once, and spending time between both. One could decide how much or little they wished to sleep (min 2 hours/ max 16 hours per night) depending on which game play the player liked better.

Creatures (and their AI) could differ as well between dreaming, and waking. Keep the need for a bed to sleep. The player would be swept away to a dream sequence upon sleeping but when the time of sleeping was over they would be spirited back to the place they fell asleep for return to the waking world. I see infinite possibilities of what to include in the dreamworld of this game, and it could even be based on the player’s infamy, fame or recent experiences (quest stages) from the waking world. Short dreamworld quests/ encounters based on the player’s own in (waking) game experiences creating a game within a game to create a completely unique gaming experience for the role player.

Interesting eh?

What other games are you playing these days?
I play COD4, and RB6 Vegas 2 with my clan at Firingsquad — although online multiplayer games are not my favorite. I play them mainly to have some fun with my friends. I still fire up Morrowind from time to time as well as the KOTOR games. Single-player RPGs are definitely more my speed.

Have you thought about a career in game development?
Yes, You’re talking about my dream job. Being a builder by nature, and creating mods for fun it would tickle me to no end to be making a living out of doing what I love.

Having done Sheet Metal for the past 21 years,  it’s kind of hard on the body. Although I am good at it, and run the jobs I work on, I wouldn’t mind a change in occupation to something that allows me to continue building, creating, and solving problems without the physical labor part of the equation.

Anything else interesting I’d like to share?
I am a builder by nature. I disassemble, repair and/or redesign, and re-assemble just about anything. I also enjoy woodworking, welding, and I play guitar. I am married to a wonderful woman, whom I have been with for the last 20 years, and we have two amazing children.

Pros

• Playground Feel: The game looks charming and adorable, but what’s really shocking is that the game is more charming and adorable to play than it is to look at. The whole game feels like you are playing with blocks and toys on a playground. The use of physics and materials takes simple simple play mechanics, like swinging over a pit or riding an elevator, which is really old-hat stuff in traditional platformers, and makes them surprisingly fun to play.
• Physics: The gameplay has as much in common with those playground-style Flash-based physics games as it does with a traditional platformer. One really nice aspect of the physics is the material system. There is a wide variety of cloths, woods, metals, glass, plastics, etc and they generally look and behave like you would expect.
• Vehicles: The vehicles in this game look horribly crude next to the ton of racers and modern platformers on the market, yet I honestly have more fun racing the DIY-style rockets or mine carts in this game than I do with a polished HD racer like Wipeout (I still love that too).
• Level Design: Even beyond the cleverness of the overall design aside, the core levels are extremely inventive, funny, and dazzling to play through.
• Co-Op: The co-op works extremely well. The character customization, emotion control, and gesture control really work well in combination.
• Fleshed Out: A lot of new-concept type games just tease the player with the possible potential rather than deliver a fully realized experience. With LBP, that isn’t the case at all. Right out of the box, this game is very well fleshed out. Beyond the core concepts of simple platforming and create mode, this game has a variety of well-executed, fun to play, and create-mode-extendable mechanics.
• Collecting: I really don’t care about collecting artificial points, but collecting custom stickers, and costumes, and create-mode objects and materials is very rewarding and fun to do.
• Passes the Kid Test: Most kids have terrible taste in games. They would rather play utter ad-ware style garbage on the Disney Channel website rather than anything that even warrants being listed on Metacritic. That being said, I was impressed by how well this passes the kid test. My step daughter does not normally like playing traditional games and she loved this one. She also shocked me by telling me all these ideas she was dreaming up for a level. She is not that kind of kid to sit indoors and play video games, much less work on a level, but the fact that this got into her imagination that much is astonishing.

Cons

• Short: Obviously, the user-levels will extend the lifespan of this quite a bit. But I wish there was more high quality professional story content that shipped with this game as well.
• Nothing: It’s just that good. It’s definitely not for everyone. Maybe the simple playground style physics based platforming won’t gel with everyone. Even for me, it took a while before it really won me over. I expected the creation mode to be impressive, but I wasn’t expecting the core game to be so much fun.
• Will it last: Right now, I’d hestitantly pick this as game of the year. But will it last? Will I still love this game six months later? Will we still be seeing new, exciting content coming from the user community? Realistically, the enthusiast and jouranalistic community tend to focus on games before launch and give them peak attention at launch, and then forget about everything a month later. I’m personally optimistic, but this is my biggest skepticism. I hope that by the time I can finish a cool level (and I really don’t have the time to invest that I would like), that people are still playing this game.

Many recent titles aiming to bridge the gap in gamers have offered HUB-centred Adventure titles with a deceptively simple premise. Utilising traditional videogame convention whilst never demanding more from the player than the likes of Animal Crossing: Wild World, these games are not built for Hardcore Gamers, and so they simply won’t buy them. However, when it comes to your little sister, cousin or perhaps even daughter asking you to pick-up that second Wii Remote, Bratz: Girlz Really Rock is more consistently enjoyable than most.

It’s not that fun.

I mean, it’s alright. The Sackboy is cute and all, and the levels I found online are somewhat interesting. Some of the stuff users are coming up with is quite clever. But I find the game more frustrating than anything. The jumping mechanic is very loose, and I find it hard to jump to exactly where I want. And the three levels of depth can get very frustrating too. And the levels often become a matter of missing a jump and trying it again. And I always fall off that stupid skateboard and have to walk to the end of the race. (And because the jumping mechanic is so frustrating, sometimes I miss getting on it once it’s moving in the first place.) And I complete a level only to find that I found 36% of the goodies, even though I tried really hard to find them all.

So now I’m wondering what’s wrong with me. Why do I find this game so hard to enjoy? Everybody seems to love it, why can’t I get into it? Why doesn’t anyone else have these problems? Beats me, but it’s quite annoying.

So I’m shelving the game until some friends come over. I’m sure it’ll be a lot more fun once there’s four of us playing it together. But for now, I find it more frustrating than anything.

Tags: Sony, PS3, PLAYSTATION 3, LittleBigPlanet

Actor Mark Wahlberg is struggling to recover from a dislocated thumb - because his young daughter continually calls on him to play video games with her. The star sustained the injury during filming for violent action film Max Payne, but he admits his daughter Ella Rae is enjoying taunting her father over his wound. He says, “My four-year-old daughter is loving the fact that I’m in pain. “She keeps making me play the Wii and the tennis really kills me. “Honestly, hearing me squeal, I’ve never seen her so happy! You’d have thought that I’d bought her a pony or something.”

What an evil, evil daughter! I think he needs to take her Wii away, and give himself some time to heal! Thanks to ReyVGM for the heads up!

Link