What if an ordinary night with friends turned into a Sims micro managed hell? This is the premise for one of the funniest College Humor skits I have seen in a long time. Check it out. Read more…

It seems that the Chris Farley DirecTV advertisement did more that just piss a bunch of people off – it also inspired the team at LandlineTV to drive the point home with a set of parody advertisements of their own. Why stop at Chris Farley when you can utilize the power of even more dead celebs?

Landline included the following comment with their reveal:

After testing the boundaries with their Chris Farley spot, DirecTV wrangles more famous people from beyond the grave to be in commercials.

Have a look at the parody video below. Read more…

If you can’t wait to see some video of Jake Gyllenhall with his chest and arms exposed in the movie adaptation of Prince of Persia, you can thank the wonderful world of YouTube for the blurry trailer leak below of IGN big money exclusives for the first “officially sanctioned” look. Read more…

Last night’s Southpark episode featured Cartman as Rock Band lead singer proving that, like the baby in the E-Trade commercial, he too has been blessed with the gift of golden pipes.

His stunning rendition of Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” is backed up by Kenny and Kyle on Rock Band guitar and drums. I must warn you though, this cover is very catchy and may get stuck in your head for a day or two. You’ve been warned. Read more…

We reported a rumor regarding the possibility of third person gameplay in Infinity Ward’s upcoming shooter Modern Warfare 2 less than an hour ago. The main supporting elements at that time consisted of supposed leaked in game video and a screen capture of what appeared to be a game mode selection screen.

In addition to the above, we’d like to now add a promotional email from G4TV’s X-Play to the mix, and ultimately a confirmation from Infinity Ward community manager, Robert Bowling, that seals the deal. Read more…

The “anything you can do I can do better” competition between the Sony PlayStation 3 and the Microsoft Xbox 360 for the title of ”Master Swiss Army Knife Console King Toaster Oven” continues as Sony announced their partnership with Netflix on Monday. Remember when video game consoles didn’t cost 500 dollars and just played video games? I do.

Starting next month, PS3 owners (who are also Netflix subscribers) will be able to instantly stream thousands of movies and TV shows from the Netflix catalog to through their PS3. The only stipulation with the service out of the gate, is that PS3 owners will need to have a free Netflix-provided Blu-ray disc (available from netflix.com/ps3) in their console to utilize said service. This may be something that is eventually phased out by a future firmware update, but that’s purely speculation at this point.

Sure all these “extras” are nice to have, but its getting to the point where console manufacturers are going to need their own “Jimmy Football” and a slew of infomercials to justify the cost and explain the “jack of all trades”  functionality. Geek-gate tested! Geek-gate approved! Hit the jump for the full press release. Read more…

In an age where social networking and word economy reign supreme, it’s hard to find a rumor that didn’t originate or spread through Twitter. Geoff Keighley, host of Spike’s GameTrailers TV, knows this, and recently took to his Twitter to stir the rumor mill regarding a brand new LucasArts IP to be announced on GTTV this weekend.

“LucasArts will announce a brand-new original game on this week’s GTTV – with first footage. More details soon.” tweets Keighley. Keighley, you’re such a tease! Come on, give us more than that. A name, a genre, a platform- I’ll even accept a 32 x 18 screenshot! But until Thursday, when GTTV airs (at 12:30AM) I’ll just pray that you were lying about it being original. I just want a new Grim Fandango, LucasArts.

Violence and video games is a topic almost as old as time itself, and we’re all getting tired of hearing people discuss whether or not violent video games are a stimulant for violence & aggression. While the entire gaming community will probably answer that query with a resounding, unanimous “NO”, many analysts and therapists alike disagree. The comedic, critical duo of Penn & Teller recently tackled this topic in the latest episode of Showtime’s Penn & Teller: Bullshit!, and the outcomes of the so-called “investigation” might surprise you.

The first part of the episode is embedded above, courtesy of Kotaku, and the second & third parts are embedded after the jump. Everyone’s favorite Floridian makes an appearance in the episode, but unfortunately, they made him out to some sort of game-hating misanthrope, rather than the forthright, but misguided man he seemed to be when I heard him speak at SGC last week. While I enjoyed the episode, and thought they made a lot of good points, I could’ve done without the crying kid at the end. Luckily, no one at his age probably watches or even gets Showtime, or the kid would be teased for life.
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A while back there was a rumor making its way around the internet saying that Megan Fox may play Lara Croft in the next Tomb Raider movie, as it was an origin story that called for a younger actress. This rumor finally made its way to Angelina Jolie and she is none too pleased. Read more…

Keeping in line with other game-to-film adaptations, Hitman was pretty bad. It was a clumsy mess and Timothy Olyphant looked really goofy with a shaved head. Nevertheless, it made a killing, so a writer has been hired to pen the sequel. Read more…

Ryan Reynolds, the actor funnyman that most recently played Wade “Deadpool” Wilson in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, doesn’t play video games. He thinks they’re a waste of time. Read more…

You know, Dan Landis and I discussed this very same topic in an upublished “From the Throne” debate. Yes, the two of us went back and forth on the topic while I was taking a dump.

I had the brilliant idea to end the debate by typing “flush” but I never took notes and therefore it never materialized. Luckily, G4TV’s Adam Sessler has a camera crew and a slightly more professional outlet to convey his opinions. Enjoy. Read more…

Mountain Dew and popular MMO World of Warcraft team up to offer gamers two new beverages capable of changing skin color, muscle tone, and sexual orientation. Oh, I’m sure they promise to give some sort of energy boost too.

Hit the jump for a lovely demonstration of the beverages in action by a gamer who looks nothing like the lovely ladies in the commercial above. Read more…

A brief but powerful email just hit our inbox. What it lacks in words, it makes up for in saliva inducing premonitions. Tune in tonight at 7pm ET/PT to see the Olivia Munn Playboy cover revealed on G4TV’s Attack of the Show.

As for all you hot and heavy gamer girls, sit tight, I’m sure G4TV will announce the Kevin Pereira Playgirl cover soon enough.

Press release and video after the jump. Read more…

Straight out of E3 today is yet another video for The Beatles: Rock Band, but this time with gameplay. The trailer for the game gives us a good look at some of the visual changes added to The Beatles: Rock Band, namely the psychedelic background visuals, addition of 3-part harmonies, and slight changes to the note boards.

One of the things that kind of irks me about the trailer is the game’s rendition of “Get Back”. It’s a lot different than the one I’m used to, but it still takes place atop the headquarters of Apple Corps. I’m sure I’ll get used to it eventually, but I’d much prefer the version with McCartney’s higher-pitched vocals. Oh, and the trailer’s gorgeous too!

If you care, hit the jump for a list of the songs featured in the trailer, in the order you hear them in. I might be wrong, but this is what I got, and I’m pretty sure it’s right. Read more…

There’s really no other way to describe this cinematic, other than to say it’s absolutely fantastic. It’s beautiful. From the style, to the animation, to the music, to the surreal ending, it’s absolutely gorgeous, and it hurts my brain to even think of how much work went into making this on Harmonix’s part. I challenge you all to find a better cinematic than this, because I simply can’t find one.

But enough of me singing it’s praises. Although I knock on Activision for their use of the Guitar Hero franchise, I can’t wait until September 9th, when The Beatles: Rock Band comes out. Although it’s only 45 Beatles songs, as one of the greatest bands ever, I’m sure I’ll have an insane amount of fun with the game. You can look forward to it too, when it hits the PS3, Wii, PS2, and Xbox 360 this September.

The last batch of BlizzCon 09 tickets have come and gone. If you want guaranteed access to the show now, you’re going to have to down some serious scalpers — BlizzCon tickets are phat loot, and they won’t come cheap.

The good news is, there will likely be a lottery/contest of sorts for you to try your luck at as well as the tried and true DirecTV televised version of the event.

If you go to the official website for The Beatles: Rock Band, you’ll be treated with two new suprises. One is a entrance section to the preorder club, for those who preordered the game, and the other is a brand new site backdrop, with the sounds of a million screaming fans in the background. But what is that background? Why, it’s the set for the Ed Sullivan Show, of course!

Beatles fans out there surely know just how popular and frequent the Beatles were on Ed Sullivan’s show, so it only makes sense that this stage would appear in the game in some form. Though we don’t have a surefire confirmation, it’s pretty safe to say that the Ed Sullivan Show set will indeed be a stage/arena for you to play in in The Beatles: Rock Band. Click the image above to see the full image.

The charm of the Ripcast, as our regular listeners know, is the overwhelming enthusiasm of the Ripcast crew. You can tell we really love what we do. Listen to Beau yawn as John, Dan, and Sam talk about strategy games, and we once again manage to make racism fun!

Marmite. Read more…

As the Ripcast hits sweet 16, we recap last week’s show, go over our playlists, and talk a bit about some stuff in a really snotty, entitled tone. You know, because that’s what everyone does for their sweet 16. Television taught us a lot about the ways of the world.

Join Solid Snake, Not Zungre, and Sam for a 16 so sweet you’ll puke rainbows. Read more…