Unsought Input

You know you want to just laugh or cry with these. For those of you who are internet ignorant of what cosplay is, basically people dress up as cartoon or video game characters (the key to this is that most of the characters who are cosplayed are animated) and walk around anime conventions or sometimes at Halloween as well. Basically one would expect to see this during Halloween but cosplayers take it one step further and dress like this for events and conventions all year long. It’s really a strange hobby and most people who do this spend a lot of time and effort to make their costumes better than anyone else as to always be “pwning n00bs”. I am planning to go undercover one of these days to a convention of supreme nerdlyness so I can get some insider pictures and also really cheap comics and candy. Here are some pictures I didn’t take.

I am sure most people will recognize this famous trio, Mario, his brother Luigi and Princess Peach. This one in my opinion is not so bad. This will be the highlight of our trip through cosplay and for that I apologize. (more…)

See, I told you I wouldn’t let you down. And for your further review, Japanese arcade games part two.

Best Game for People Who’s Parents/Landlord Won’t Allow Pets: Dog Walker

In this game the point is to walk dogs. All sorts of dogs. You actually have a pretty good selection in some of these games, where you have some nice doggies to walk and then you have the pit bull. The game is basically a tread mill that you walk on while holding onto a leash. The antics begin as the dog goes to chase cats, cars, stops to pee, gets into fights with other dogs. Um, actually I don’t know about that because I have only ever seen this game, never played it. But I think that would make it more fun.

My Personal Favorite: Samba De Amigo

Samba is fun. You get your Maracas (which are surprisingly heavy) and you dance. The point is to hit certain heights with the maracas in time to samba style dance music. It’s simple but gets pretty challenging and it’s fun. As long as you like dancing with maracas and samba music. I think I must have spent like ten dollars playing this game when I was in Japan. (more…)

The Japanese have brought us many exciting and original experiences from environmentally friendly roller coasters to the current manga/anime phenomenon and everything between. I just thought I would put up some interesting arcade games that I have seen in my day and a few I found on the internet.

Strangest Arcade Game: IdolMaster

This is a weird one. I actually have never seen this one before but after reading about it I definitely give this one the winner of the strangest Japanese arcade game. This game console surrounds you for the full stereo effect. You get a comfy seat to sit your buns on for the hours you will sit enticed to spend just 100 more yen. So, what is the premise of this game? What do you do?

You manage a pop idol. You change her clothes. You give her dance moves. You pick her music. And you pay a lot of real money to do so. Here is a very detailed description of this game from several first hand encounters.

Coolest Arcade Game Setup: Silent Hill

The Silent Hill franchise is a recognizable name so I don’t think I need to describe play by play what kind of game this is or what you should expect from this. For a horror video game this set up is awesome. A nice creepy ambiance to shoot up some weirdo nurse freaks, body bags and the occasional pyramid head. Especially if the arcade was slightly ill lit in the first place and it was pretty abandoned? This could be a major creep out fest. I really want to play Silent Hill on this. (more…)

Check out this cool marching band.  Their halftime show is a video game showcase.  Way cool.  But don’t take my word for it!

If you had played Portals, one of the five games on the Half Life Orange Box available for Xbox 360, then you would know what I am talking about. Or you might have played it on an emulator, which is illegal and you will be found and flogged. But it’s a fun game that makes you think about the important things in life, like not following others commands blindly, whether to destroy your only friend and whether or not there is actually cake. While tooling around on the internet I found this cool site I wanted to share with all of you.

Check out ApertureScience. When you first go there it will look like an old computer with the black and green screen. Some of you may remember those back in the day. Anyway, there are several things you can do here. I don’t want to ruin the fun for anyone, especially those of us who remember how to use these green and black screens, so if are not getting anywhere, click here to be directed to a page that tells you how to do all the fun stuff on this page. I think the computer actually flicked me off while applying to work for Aperture Science. Well, either way, have fun.

And just because it’s the best thing, here is the portal ending song.

We’ve seen a lot of really bad movies based on video games. From Wing Commander to Super Mario Brothers to, well, everything Uwe Boll has ever made. And they don’t seem to be getting any better, or really making much money at the box office, so I can only imagine that producers green light them to punish humanity for some horrible war crime.

Once again, a million random people on the Internet are churning out better video than companies with $100 million dollar budgets. Well, they’re turning out better movie trailers, anyway. Below are the five funniest video game movie trailers we’ve seen on the web.

1. From the geniuses at College Humor, Where the f#ck is Carmen Sandiego

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The Virginia Tech murders got plenty of coverage in the press and on the Internet, but none of the writers here at Unsought Input weighed in on the subject. Really, there wasn’t anything left to say that hadn’t already been said a hundred times on a hundred channels already.

But now there is something interesting going on that isn’t getting enough coverage. Did you know that there are two more casualties to add to the list of 32 people killed by Seung-Hui Cho? In addition to murdering and wounding all those people, Cho somehow managed to kill common sense and reason in thousands of commentators and high school principals across the country.

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The video game industry covers a wide range of genres, but some of the most popular games allow players to engage in serious simulated violence. At the same time, your local evening news broadcast is filled with reports on violence in schools and gang violence.

But are video games (and rap music, and Elvis Presley, and Jazz, and, uhh… flappers?) really to blame for violence among our youths? Culture warrior Bill O’Reilly thinks so, as he told Oprah recently. He has a whole book on this and many other subjects which he ties together under the umbrella of the “Culture War” - basically, traditionalists defending America versus secular-progressives who want drastic changes through undemocratic means.

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In 1998, there was no bittorrent, no Kazaa, not even Napster. But there was still piracy. Not Johnny Depp piracy, which the MPAA likes, but movie, music and software piracy, which the MPAA hates.

Are you afraid of getting one of those scary letters from the RIAA? In fact, many of the old methods still work today, and so far they are under the lawyers’ radar.

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It’s great to be an Electronics Merchandiser for a megalithic retail corporation.

I got to play Wii tennis thanks to my employers, and honestly, having spent five minutes smashing a store manager friend of mine, I can honestly say the hype is real.

The control is right on responsive. I won primarily because I swung like I was playing tennis, as opposed to playing a tennis videogame. Even pulled off a tasty bit of spin with a little flick of the wrist.

Fighting with 7000 people to get on a system doesn’t leave you much time for replay. Nintendo had some of the other Wii sports on tap and some demo’s showing how the controllers work (including a targetshooting game that started off with the ducks from duck hunt flying around). Talked to another Electronics guru who said the baseball game was spot on.

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Today I read an article detailing how Electronic Arts (EA) has signed a massive deal to put advertisements into their PC and Xbox 360 games. This deal signals a lot of good and bad effects for the video game industry as a whole.

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