(Posted by: Kyle)

A Missouri company based out of St. Peters recently teamed up with their local Best Buy store in a pilot program which they hope will bring more people into the store.

The new Gamer Lounge, which is located in-store, will offer a place to host gamer tournaments, midnight launch parties and even customer purchase help. During regular store hours it will be a place for gamers to test out games, relax on the comfy furniture, or check out the life-sized ODST drop pod with functioning hatch.

"Our goal with this entire endeavor is to provide gamers with services that we believe they will enjoy and to do it completely free of charge, said Gamer Lounge owner Robert Lutostanski in an e-mail. "We are also encouraging gamers to socialize, meet new people, and come to a place where they can openly talk about video games with others who are just as passionate as they are."

He went on to say that he would like to see a Gamer Lounge in every Best Buy store.

The Gamer Lounge had its grand opening on Valentines Day. I guess they were trying to give us lonely nerds a place to go sulk. I can't wait to check this out. The Best Buy store this is taking place in is the Best Buy that I grew up shopping at near Midrivers Mall. I'm stoked because Missouri doesn't see that many interesting things happen in general and even less so when it comes to gaming and technology.  

More pictures from the grand opening after the break.

(Posted by: Harrison)

Remember the 2007 video game documentary, The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters? You know, the one where a Washington state resident named Steve Wiebe broke the Donkey Kong arcade record but it was later eclipsed by the original record-holder? Yeah, the ending to the award-winning documentary proved to be a disappointment for Wiebe's claim to fame, as a tense rivalry formed between him and world-renowned video game competitor, Billy Mitchell (the man currently holds the world record in high scores for Donkey Kong and Pac-Man).

Despite the rough outcome, Wiebe can now hold his head high as today he finally reclaimed his previous Donkey Kong Jr. record, with a score of 1,190,400 points. Mitchell still owns the pivotal Donkey Kong record (a score of 1,100 points separates Mitchell and Wiebe) and has not stated whether or not he would attempt to break Wiebe's score in Junior. Wiebe had previously attempted to break Mitchell's Donkey Kong record at E3 2009, but the game's "kill screen" thwarted him by the fourth try.

If you have a chance, go and brush up on some classic arcade history (along with Mitchell and Wiebe's backstory) and watch The King of Kong. The tense rivalry between Mitchell and Wiebe is one not to miss.

(Posted by: Kyle)

If you’ve perused the XBLA marketplace lately you may or may not have noticed that there are a few games missing. Major Nelson recently reported on the Official Xbox Blog that nine games would be removed due to what he calls “evolving publisher rights.” The following is the list of games removed: Cyberball, Defender, Paperboy, Rootbeer Trapper, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, Robotron, Joust, Gauntlet, and Smash TV.  Nelson denies that the de-listing of these games has anything to do with the upcoming launch of the “Game Room,” but I’m still a little suspicious.

 NOTE: Removal of these games means that no NEW customers can purchase and download the games. If you already purchased any of these titles you will still be able to re-download them if you need to.

(Posted by: Alex)

Richard Garriot, creator of "Ultima" and in many peoples opinion, the father of the computer RPG, has returned to gaming after two years out of the industry and twelve days in space with the Russians.

Garriot has signed on as the Technical Director of Texas based Portalarium, a social media company.  The companies first product is the "Portalarium Player", a browser plugin that allows for the seamless and easy playing of games on various social media sites.  It is currently being used on the poker game "Sweet @$! Poker" (yes, that is the real name), which is in beta testing on Facebook.  "This really takes me back to my roots in the game business." Garriot Said. "Small development teams, low barriers to entry, affordable budgets for quality projects, and unlimited new interactive frontiers to explore together with our customers."  The chairman Dennis Snell and CEO Fred Schmidt are both veterans of Garriots old company, ORIGIN Systems, as well as EA and NCsoft.  Also, Steve Nichols, lead programmer for "Dungeon Runners" will be the Vice President.  This team of industry giants will surely be one to keep an eye on in the coming years.

(Posted by: Alex)

USA Today ran a story yesterday on the upcoming release from Bethesda, "Fallout: New Vegas".  As the title implies, the game takes place in Las Vegas long after the nuclear war central to the franchise.  Those who played the 2008 smash hit "Fallout 3" will remember extensive character creation that involved playing through various stages of human development and making decisions to effect stats and skills.  According to Pete Hines of Bethesda, this has been thrown out.  "Unlike the previous Fallouts, where you start in a vault and you are a vault dweller, this one starts with a curveball." You are shot and almost killed in a desert when a robot manages to find you and take you to a doctor, which is where you begin making the customizations to your character.  While the game takes place in a nuclear wasteland, Hines assures us that Vegas is "up and running. It is not a ghost town."  Look for "Fallout: New Vegas" in the Fall of this year.

(Posted by: Kyle)

I stumbled upon this video this morning and had to share it. I love the Lonely Island stuff and even more so because it inspires fantastic parodies like the one above. (Caution: This is not safe for work)

(Posted by: Kyle)

An anonymous source recently sent 1Up this fantastic screenshot as well as some gameplay footage for Sonic 4: Episode 1; which appears to be a reboot of the Sega classic. Unfortunately the gameplay footage was recently removed from  1UP at the request of Sega.

Upon further investigation I found a YouTube video; A trailer for Sonic 4: Episode 1! Hit the break to watch it.

In this episode we talk about Bioshock 2, Pokemon Diamond, the red ring of death, how to write a Zelda game, and the new Microsoft 7 series phone

As a special treat in this week's podcast we've included an AWESOME song composed by Kabuto the Python as a tribute to the mining system in Mass Effect 2! (Hint: It's at the end of the podcast)

Song Title: Those Minerals
Artist: Kabuto the Python
As hosted in Tindeck: http://tindeck.com/listen/lqip

Head on over to the Podcast page to stream it, or Subscribe via iTunes here

(Posted by: Travis)

At the SpikeTV Video Game Awards in December, a few brand-new titles popped their heads onto the world stage to announce their presence.  Among these, the enigmatic Halo Reach, a new Medal of Honor title that looks to contend with the popular Call of Duty franchise that has become a powerhouse over the past few years, and the somewhat confusing Green Day: Rock Band (can you say chordfest?).  

However, one title seemed to slip under the radar at the awards show.  “Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II” has the potential to be one of the better games in a somewhat illustrious LucasArts video game company.  

The first game in the series had a few problems that kept it from being considered a great game.  Bugs were a major issue, along with unrealistic lightsaber effects and the frustratingly cheap “Sith Master” difficulty.  However, most reviewers gave the game high marks for its story and voice acting, and stated that the concept drove the game to near excellence.  

If the developers can fix the problems of the original, then this could be a title to watch in the future.

(Written by: Travis Zimpfer)

Hi, guys!  I’m going to teach you how to deal with Wasteland on Standard Team Deathmatch, arguably one of the most widely hated maps in the game.  Here are some strategies which will help you rule it. (Note: I encourage people to play the game in their own ways, but here are three main strategies that I find useful.)