This Blog is Dead

Look elsewhere, like The Legal Arcade, for instance.

Idea: Gaming Radio

What if there were a service like radio for gaming? If someone could parse out demo levels of any number of games from any era with commentary during the load screens, that would be awesome. There'd be plenty of mainstream channels that would constantly cycle just the newest stuff, but channels for oldies and rhythm games and special things like that would exist as well. I think that'd be a great idea if it could possibly be implemented. Longer load times would require special interviews and histories of the game and stuff to keep people interested, but it'd be well worth it. Imagine everyone playing at once just a single level out of the same game at once, competing for a better aggregate score throughout the games for channels that would support that. I think the service could work commercially as well, with advertisements spliced into the commentary as well as some money coming from the gamemakers for featuring their game well on the service, perhaps. It seems like a great idea to me, anyway.

Politics in Gaming Blog to Split Off from This One

I really want to post about where politics and gaming collide a lot, but I have little opportunity when this is a site for regular gaming news. That's why I'm going to split those posts off into a new blog, The Legal Arcade. Look there for any interest you have in gaming issues in politics, studies, pundits, and generally uncool old people. Prepare to be angry.

[WPB] Call of Duty 4 Clan

Alright, I really want to start a CoD4 clan, so I'm just going to, and this is the recruitment post you should be taken to if you came upon an invite to the clan. There's a poll on the right sidebar to pick the nickname for it, you can also give suggestions by commenting on this post.

So, the Wii PlayBox is starting up a new Call of Duty 4 clan. I will only be able to play on the PS3, but if there are enough other system players to warrant 360 or PC divisions, then that's fine. Basically, I'm very soft on who to recruit. New players are welcomed, and I'd almost rather you not have a microphone so I don't have to be annoyed by anyone. Just friend me (PSN ID: kingpenguin1029) if you're playing on the PS3, and add the clan tag [WPB] in front of your name. Then we can sort of casually start gaming together, with scheduled events likely if this works out well enough. Comment on this post if you plan to join, but this is a clan done lite, not such a big deal as some others may be.

Update: We're now represented on gamebattles.com for official matches. Sign up there if you haven't already and want to participate in the official ladder matches for the team.

Brazil Bans Gaming Like It's 1999

Just look at this article. Brazil bans Counter-strike and Everquest? Where did that come from? Both games were released in 1999, and neither's especially over-the-top with violence or anything. But apparently they both "…[Encouraged] the subversion of public order, were an attack against the democratic state and the law and against public security." Don't ask me. I have little else to say on the subject, because I can't figure out why a country would do that. It's just not hip to ban old stuff, unless it's Don Imus. That I can understand.

Modern Warfare has Never Been This Much Fun!

Call of Duty 4 is the bomb. It also contains numerous bombs, which are hereby to be termed meta-bombs to avoid confusion. That's a joke, but seriously, I'm getting really lazy with my posts on the blog, and it's all due to Call of Duty. I'm rather late on the bandwagon with it, but I've gone through the single-player campaign on hardened difficulty and made it up to staff sergeant online pretty quickly.

As in the rest of the Call of Duty series, the single player the first time through it seems like the most exciting thing you've ever done. Then the next times through, it gets irritating how many times you have to die and start over, but that's what online is for. The online is really nice, and it forces you to unlock everything for it over time. I don't know of another game I've played where you didn't have access to all the online game modes until after you've played hours and hours. Very strange, but the weapon unlocks seem much more suitable and rewarding. My MP5 is unstoppable, now, I feel sure.

I just wanted to recommend the game, this isn't a full-fledged review. If you feel like playing me at any time, my PSN ID is kingpenguin1029. I'd love to start a Wii PlayBox clan, but I doubt I'll have enough signees here straight off. We'll see, just friend me if you want to play me on the PS3.

Waving My Banner on High

At the top of the page is the new "Clockwork PlayBox" banner for the site, assuming that you're looking at this post reasonably soon after I wrote it. I think I'm sticking with this one for a while, it's pretty awesome. Below are the previous designs:




"The Original" my first banner and before I took out those numbers from the name of the site. I thought that the numbers would be necessary for people to realize that Wii PlayBox is a combination of the three consoles' names, but it really just makes the name too long.



"Corporate Qbert" was a prospective banner that I haven't used yet. It has a wonderful Qbert background and the real logos of the three companies in it, but it's sort of difficult to see and there's some left over green crap to the right that I couldn't get out very easily. I sort of like it, though.




Here's the previous banner, which I'll call "KingPenguin PlayBox". It's alright, but having my avatar on the right doesn't really have anything to do with games especially, and the text isn't interesting enough.

You decide, I suppose. Is there one you like more than the other? If so, just comment here and tell me. Even if you think all four suck.