Here at Robot Panic headquarters, staff has been working around the clock to tabulate the scores from last week’s Oscar prediction contest. It was a close race, with the runner-up coming only one point behind the winner. But we have a winner all the same, and they’ve won their choice of any one of the ten films nominated for Best Picture on DVD! That’s one hell of a prize, so be sure to send your mailing address to mailbag@drunkengamersradio.com to claim it!

Before I announce the winners, let’s give give out some superlative awards.

First is the Intuition award, given to the person who best predicted the final outcome. This was actually a tie between Alex Ma and Brian Bedard, who racked up 34 points in the prediction category. That’s a whopping 17/24 correct! Not too shabby, you two.

Next up is the In-Touch award, given to the person whose desired outcome was closest to the final results. This award goes to Grant Montgomery, who got 14/24 correct in the “want to win” category. Looks like you’ve got great taste, Grant!

The Well Duh award is given to the category or categories in which there was a unanimous outcome. This year’s award is a tie between Best Visual Effects (Avatar) and Best Animated Feature (Up).

Finally, the Who Now? award is given to the category or categories in which not a single person correctly predicted the outcome. This is another tied category. The first award goes to Best Animated Short. Our voters came out overwhelmingly for Wallace And Gromit: A Matter of Loaf & Death to win it, but it ended up going instead to Logorama. The second category is Documentary Short; Here the favorite was The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant, but the award instead went to Music By Prudence.

Now before we get to the scores themselves, let’s take a quick look at the breakdown (my statistics professor would be proud):

• Mean: 35.89
• Median: 36
• Mode: 36
• Range: 27
• Standard Deviation: 7.45 (With a standard variance of 55.56)

And now, for the part you’ve all been waiting for: The results! If you don’t see your name below, it is likely that you were disqualified, either for submitting your ballot too late, submitting an incomplete ballot or not formatting the ballot correctly.

1.) Brian Bedard – 46 points

2.) Geraldine – 45 points

3.) Alex Ma – 44 points

4.) Rusty Shackleford – 43 points

5.) David Webb – 40 points

6.) TIE: Scott Grannan & Josh Hunt – 39 points

7.) Nathan Godwin – 37 points

8.) TIE: Apoch, Tiggermango, Grant Montgomery & myself – 36 points

9.) Ryker XL – 35 points

10.) John Luedtke – 34 points

11.) Alek Shybut – 33 points

12.) Skeletonframes – 24 points

13.) Lag – 23 points

14.) Fluffynuts – 19 points

Thanks again to everyone for entering!

Over at Shmupmonth.com things are in full swing! MC Wilson and DJ Incompentent have put out the first of a weekly podcast dedicated to all kinds of shmup greatness. If you’re looking for some ideas on what to play or just need some SCIENCE! to help you play better, then the Weekly Shmupdate is the place for you!

Here’s a run down of what you’ll find on this week’s episode!

M.C. Wilson and DJ Incompetent present this first episode of the Weekly Shmupdate, a podcast that examines all that’s worthy of Shmuppreciating during Intergalactic Shmuppreciation Month. This episode features some great basic information on shmups presented by both the Couch Bandits and DJ Incompetent, as well as the first 2010 Shmup Month Contest entry. Good luck to all participants!

Add it to your list of podcasts today by going here:

Weekly Shmupdate: Week One

Hey Everyone,

Just a reminder that tonight at 7pm Central, Mitch (rwiggum) will be hosting a live Oscar chat in our Ustream page. In the meantime, we’ll be recording the podcast (not live) and chatting along.

If you haven’t already, fill out the ballot for our Oscar Contest. The winner will receive their choice of Best Picture Nominees on DVD.

Speaking of prizes, if you like free stuff, you’ll want to listen to the new episode of Drunken Gamers Radio, which will be released on Tuesday or Wednesday. We’ll have the Nation Red contest as well as an Xbox Live giveaway. Listen later this week for more details.

We hope to talk to you tonight!

You people are awesome. And by “you people”, I obviously mean the Jews our listeners. Take MSI Magus, for example. Not only did he donate the prize for the new contest (two copies of Nation Red, downloaded from Steam), but he also sent in a review of the game in order to give you a better idea of what the game is all about. And, without further ado, here it is.

Article by: MSI Magus

It seems that the market has been flooded with Zombie games recently. Off the top of my head, we have Plants Vs Zombies, World at Wars- Zombie mode, Zombie Apocalypse, Left 4 Dead (1 and 2), Zombie Driver, Zombie Bowling… You get the idea. With so many zombie games, people might see Nation Red and think, “Who needs another one of thes?” I would argue though that Nation Red is not just another cheap zombie cash in, but a great classic arcade style survival game from a developer who is actively communicating and listening to their fan base.

Nation Red sets you, as a soldier, in a zombie wasteland with the only goal being to survive and score huge points in the process. Think of it as Robotron X or Geometry Wars, but with zombies! The game controls via the keyboard and mouse, or with a dual-stick controller (your 360 controller being an option). The mouse/keyboard combo allows a little better accuracy with your shooting over the twin stick controls, with the trade off being the controller makes it much easier to use the barrel roll dodge. This is a trade off I’ll gladly taken given how important avoiding the mass of zombies will be!

One of the main things that makes Nation Red so fun and sets it apart from the flood of zombie and twin stick games on the market is its perks and item drops. As you kill zombies in most of the game modes, you will gain levels that grant you various perks. The simple ones give basic effects such as increased damage, attack speed or armor. Some perks, though, can majorly effect the way you play granting things like the ability to teleport or setting all zombies near you on fire. The zombies you kill, aside from giving experience, have a chance to drop new weapons, such as machetes, uzis, shotguns, and even some rather cool and unique weapons like the steam/nail guns. Zombies can also drop power ups from time to time that will last for a few seconds, giving benefits like a sentry gun that mows down enemies, grants invisibility, or inserts a doppelganger that fights with you, or double experience. All in all, there are dozens of perks, weapons and power ups that keep the game fresh.

There are several different modes you can play, most of which I find a blast. Read the rest of this entry »

The second film in the Heisei-era of Godzilla films is the classic Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla II.  I’ve chosen to skip the Godzilla vs. Mothra or Godzilla and Mothra: Battle for the Earth because it’s hard to find and the only noteworthy part of the film is the introduction of Mothra’s evil twin Battra.  For those unfamiliar with Godzilla lore, Mothra is a giant Moth and defender of nature.  Two fairies (no seriously) have the power to summon him whenever Godzilla or some other walking disaster threatens the Earth.  Mothra has his own line of successful films in Japan and they are mainly aimed at children.  They are kinda cool, but after awhile, the screaming kids just get to you and you wanna chuck something at your TV.  And if you’re like me, you just got a new TV so why go through all of that?  So we’ll leave Mothra for another time and deal with this killer movie.

In the Showa-era, MechaGodzilla was this bad ass robot created by the Simians (a powerful alien race that look like apes…damn dirty apes!).  He had a laser in his mouth and missiles on his fingers and toes.  Generally speaking, you didn’t wanna fuck with him.  He masqueraded as Godzilla, and when he was found out, proceeded to kick Godzilla all over Tokyo…until Godzilla teamed up with his buddy King Ceasar and ripped his head off.  He would later appear in subsequent films, but always as a menacing force controlled by an alien race.  As a kid, I loved MechaGodzilla because he was cool.  He had all the strength and fighting abilities as Godzilla, but with added weapons.  But I hated that he was controlled by aliens, as they would inevitably do something stupid and that would be the demise of the character.  Luckily for us, this Heisei-era film takes all that I loved about MechaGodzilla and turns it upside down for a very modern approach to the character.

The film starts out as leaders from the United Nations Godzilla Countermeasures Center (UNGCC) surveying the wreckage of Mecha King Ghidorah.  They decide to take the knowledge left from this future beast and create the ultimate weapon to use against Godzilla, MechaGodzilla.  This giant robot has an impressive and varied arsenal built only to destroy Godzilla.  Mechagodzilla is protected by an armor plating made from an alloy called NT-1, which is coated in a layer of artificial diamond that allows it to absorb energy from Godzilla’s atomic breath and transfer a plasma grenade, located on its abdomen.  The robot also has laser cannons in its eyes, a mega buster in its mouth with, tranquilizer missiles in its hips, paralysis missiles from the shoulders, and shock anchor cables from its wrists which deliver a powerful electrical surge into its opponent.  In short, he’s super bad ass! 

Not everyone is happy about this new ultimate weapon, a back up pilot named Kazuma Aoki believes that his prototype airship The Garuda is the real savior for the Earth against Godzilla.  Meanwhile on a mission to an island in the Pacific, a Japanese team discovers a dinosaur egg.  The decide to take the egg back to Japan to study it, thus attracting Godzilla and Fire Rodan who begin fighting over it.  The scientists escape with the egg and it hatches into another Godillasaur who is quickly dubbed BabyGodzilla.  Of course Godzilla appears to rescue the tiny creature and that’s when the showdown begins.  MechaGodzilla and Garuda are sent to intercept while the scientists study BabyGodzilla to determine if there is any weakness that they could use against Godzilla. 

This movie is a ton a fun and was originally written to be the end of the Heisei-era of films.  However that end scenario would be put on hold for two years and used in Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (to be reviewed later).  The fight scenes are well done and perhaps the best part is all the banter between the pilots and the UNGCC control center.  You get this Strategic Air Command feel complete with tons of computer shots of MechaGodzilla’s systems, as he battles giant monsters.  Granted, there is a ton of things going on (BabyGodzilla, Rodan, Garuda, merging robots, the kitchen sink, etc) but it’s well paced and things never seem to get out of control.  In fact I think that this is one Godzilla movie that uses the many plot elements to keep the movie interesting and fresh.  My only complaint is that the ending seemed kind of cheap to me, but after learning their desire to continue the series, I’m ok with their choice in direction. 

So be sure to check this movie out.  It’s available on Netflix Instant View and well worth your time. Or better yet, a group of your Godzilla-loving, Chromehounds-missing friends to enjoy!

We here at Robot Panic love a little glitz and glamor. Don’t get John started on red carpet fashion, he can talk for hours about some of his favorite dress/handbag combos throughout history. (His favorite was Holly Hunter at the 1988 ceremony, in case you were wondering). So to celebrate the most important film awards of the year, we will be holding another contest. It will be just like last year, but this year we will be offering a prize to the winner!

Now, on to how you enter. The scoring will be familiar to those of you who entered last year, but if you are new, it may be a little bit different than how you are used to doing it. For each category, you will make two picks, rather than just one. The first will be the film that you predict will win the award. If you get that right, you will receive two points. The second pick will be the film that you want to win the award. If you get that right, then you will get one point. For example, let’s say I want Coraline to win for best animated film, but I predict that Up will win. Here is what that will look like on my ballot:

Best Animated Film:

1.) Up

2.) Coraline

Remember, the first pick will be the prediction, and your second will be the pick you want to win. If it helps, you may put a (p) next to your prediction and a (w) next to the one you want to win. Another thing that I should point out is that you must fill in every category. Last year there were several people who would have likely won if they had not put “I don’t know” in several of the categories. To curb that this year, any incomplete entry will be disqualified.

The Prize

As I mentioned earlier, the winner of this year’s contest will be awarded a prize: any one of the ten films nominated for Best Picture on DVD. Considering the quality of the nominees this year, you may have quite the choice on your hands. In the event of a tie, a random name will be chosen from the first-place entries.

How to Enter

So here’s all you have to do:

1. – Copy the below ballot into the word processor/email client of your choice.

2. – Go here for a list of all the nominees.

3. – Fill in each spot on the ballot with your choices for that category.

4. – Send your entry to OscarPanic@gmail.com with the subject “Robot Panic Oscar Ballot: (Your name here)” before 4:00 CST on Sunday.

5. – Join us at 7:00 CST on Sunday at the uStream page (located here) to live chat the awards and see how you’re doing!

Now snag the ballot after the break and get to it!
Read the rest of this entry »

Email Us: mailbag@drunkengamersradio.com
Voicemail Line: 612-424-3835
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SHOWNOTES

00:00-Show Intro
05:39-Drunk Dials
18:00-Mailbag
31:18-Shoot1UP Review (XBL Community Game)
36:35-Sonic and Sega All Star Racing Review (360)
47:43-Heavy Rain Review (PS3)
53:44-Retro Review: Dungeon Explorer (TG16)
56:36-Feature Presentation-Inteview with Steve Lycett, Executive Producer, Sumo Digital
1:17:55-Five Things
1:35:40-The Last Shot
1:36:53-Show Close

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DGR: 02.27.2010

A “shoot ‘em up”, also known as a “shmup”,is a game in which the protagonist combats a large number of enemies by shooting at them while dodging their fire. The controlling player must rely primarily on reaction times to succeed. Beyond this, critics differ on exactly which design elements constitute a shoot ‘em up. Some restrict the genre to games featuring some kind of craft, using fixed or scrolling movement. Others widen the scope to include games featuring such protagonists as robots or humans on foot, as well as including games featuring “on-rails” (or “into the screen”) and “run and gun” movement. Formerly, critics described any game where the primary design element was shooting as a “shoot ‘em up”, but later shoot ‘em ups became a specific, inward-looking genre based on design conventions established in those shooting games of the 1980s. -from the Wikipedia entry on “Shoot ‘em up”

Welcome, friends, to Intergalatic Shmuppreciation Month 2010!

Once again, it’s going to be a great month of celebrating one of our favorite genres that rewards the skillful and revels in it’s unforgiving old school aesthetic! During the month of March, we’ll be celebrating the shmup (or shoot-em-up) along with a whole bunch of other podcasters and friends. Before we get too far into it, however, I suppose there are some of you wondering what this whole celebration is all about.

ISM is, at it’s most basic, a month set aside to devote at least a little of your precious gaming time to a shooter of your choice. The idea is to celebrate by playing. For some, this means a casual credit feed of a shmup that’s been sitting in your pile of games or XBLA/PSN list gather dust. For others, it’s a time to focus in on that goal of the illusive 1CC. However you choose to celebrate the genre is completely up to you. The main idea is to play shmups in March!

For may of you, this may be your first ISM or even your first attempt at playing a shmup at all. Well, March is a fantastic time to jump in! There are plenty of resources available for you to check out. First off, visit our own Shmuppreciation Category where you can find links to free shmups on the net, reviews of great shmups to play and even some tips on how to play shmups better.

Another great resource is the Shmups.com Forums where all kinds of great shmup players share their wisdom. It’s one of the best places to read up on the genre and learn how to play these games at a high level.

You should also visit the Intergalactic Shmuppreciation Month Website where information on past ISM’s can be found as well as any new information regarding events for this year.

As far as this site is concerned, keep checking back each week for Shmup Month articles from us as well as our contributors. In addition, tune into Drunken Gamers Radio to hear our Shmuppreciation Month episodes that include the latest edition of the Shmopera! What is the Shmopera, you might ask? You may want to go check out that Shmuppreciation Category I liked to earlier. More to come on that front later.

So go out and enjoy a shooter of your choice and have fun! And let us know how YOUR ISM celebrations are going by submitting your stories to us. Just click the Submit a Story link over there in the sidebar. We look forward to hearing from you!

Happy Intergalactic Shmuppreciation Month!

Aw yeah. This is the good shit.

This cartoon was HUGE when I was a kid. I had (and still have) dozens of He-Man toys, read the books, and rushed home after school to watch the cartoon. It blew my eight-year-old mind.

When Prince Adam raises the Power Sword to the sky and speaks the magic words, “By the power of Grayskull!” he turns into He-Man…the most powerful man in the universe! Christ, just typing that makes me want to churn out some embarrassingly awesome fan-fiction.

The cast of He-Man includes some of the greatest characters ever invented: Ram-Man, Skeletor, Trap-Jaw, Man-At Arms, Beast Man, Orko, Hordac, Teela… The list goes on and on and on.

So how does it hold up? How about fucking awesome?! The He-Man series has been reinvented a few times since the mid-80s, and the series from 2002 was actually pretty decent. But the original is still the best. From the cheesy acting to the stilted animation to the “what did we learn today?” segment at the end, there are fewer cartoons that better represent childhood in the 80s.

The classic He-Man series is available by season, but there’s also a “Best of” collection containing ten episodes, some cool artwork, and interviews with the creators. You can find it here: The Best of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (10 Episode Collector’s Edition).

Article By: Tribrix

Tom Baker returns as the Doctor and Louise Jameson as Leela in The Invisible Enemy. A four part serial which originally aired in January and February, 1977. It introduces K-9, the Doctors robotic Dog companion, but that is probably the only important detail to mention before the review proper. K-9 is, in retrospect, a clear R2-D2 ripoff. Granted, he has his own charm at times, but clearly the production felt the need to provide a cute robot companion, and then to make him a continuing character. K-9 is devisive among Doctor Who fans, but I could take him or leave him either way, not a big deal to me. In some ways, he breaks the show, by giving the Doctor easy access to too much weaponry, as one of the best things about Doctor Who is the lead character’s ability to get out of a jam with nothing but the junk laying around him. I’m at a loss to state K-9’s positive qualities, I don’t think he really adds much to the show at all. Enough about that, let’s review the story at hand.

Who knew white feathers could be scary? Infected by the ‘Swarm’ the Doctor lands the Tardis on Titan, one of the moons of Saturn, at a refueling station there, the infection continues. Thankfully, Leela is immune to the infection and is able to help. Clones of the her and the Doctor are miniaturized and sent into the Doctor’s body to try and neutralize the nucleus of the disease, but the plan backfires, as the nucleus itself escapes in place of the clones.

Borrowing from both Fantastic Voyage and Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Invisible Enemy is an ambitious effort on the part of producer Graham Williams and crew, but they are (mostly) up to the task. Despite the lofty aims, this production mostly succeeds, however, certain failures are notable.

This is probably the first space bourne production made following the release of Star Wars, and unfortunately, it shows. For example there is a ray gun battle in a white hall way, very similar to the one that opens Star Wars IV, but in Doctor Who, it is so slow moving, it’s obviously from a different era. Also, Invisible Enemy features plenty of flying space ship porn, for those who like such things, but as with the ray gun battle, it’s so slow and boring, you really can’t wait for it to end. Those are some of the down sides.

On the Upsides, Invisible Enemy features some decent sets for the interior of the Doctor’s body, which are very reminiscent of the Fantastic Voyage movie, and the outward effects of the disease are quite creepy (did I mention the white feathers?) Once a person has been infected, these white feathers seem to grow around the eyes, looking kind of like fluffy goggles, but don’t let that description fool you. It’s not a pleasant sight and kind of makes my skin crawl just thinking about it again.

Invisible Enemy is better than average for Doctor Who. It has it’s weak points, but otherwise, it’s quite a good story worth watching, if, for no other reason, than for the introduction of K-9 and the demonstration that white feathers can be scary.

*About Doctor Who

Doctor Who is a British sci-fi show which aired from 1963 – 1989 and again from 2005 to the present. In the UK, it is ubiquitous, watched by boys and girls, men and women, ages 9-99, most people, even if they are not watching, know what’s happening in the show each week. It typically airs in the early evening on Saturdays, right after the sports finish up.

Doctor Who in America is a bit more divisive. Some fans love it, while a lot of people in the genre community can’t stand it. It’s easy, even for fans, to understand this schism, because the show has a lot of rough edges, on account of low budgets and quirky temperament.

In Doctor Who, the main character, the Doctor, wanders the universe through time and space, in a telephone booth called the Tardis, which is larger on in the inside. He cannot completely control the Tardis, and often doesn’t know where he’s going or where he is. He is usually accompanied by a companion or more and they are usually female, though some have been male and/or robotic.

Originally it was to have been a time traveling educational show for kids, but the show’s first producer, Verity Lambert, keen on making a career for herself with a ‘hit’ show, gave it her own spin, downplaying the historical aspect, upping the sci-fi, and gearing it towards all audiences, instead of just children. This tradition continues today.

I am in the process of watching every episode of Doctor Who in chronological order (where those episodes have been destroyed, I am watching one of the recons). I have been at it for a couple of years and expect to be at it a couple more. I may occasionally post reviews out of order, but mostly I’m going to post them as I watch them.