A Tree in the Woods Just Fell

Anyone around to hear it? I'm curious...

Gears of War 3 Trailer!

The strange part? The trailer made its debut last night on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon as part of a visit from Epic Games guru Cliff Bleszinski. Jimmy Fallon? Really?

Release date is one year from now, but you sense the countdown has already started. I know I'm excited! If the step up from the first game to the second is any indication of what to expect, part three should be amazing. I like the fact that everyone just looks weary from the fight. I also like the use of the final title to confirm that this is, in fact, The End of the story.

The real big news, though, is this: 4 PLAYER STORY CO-OP. Hot diggity. Stay tuned for more, I'm sure!

North Carolina: Feels Like the First Time

Remember that song? Not the North Carolina part... the First Time part. Foreigner? Anyone? They had some good tunes, man... not that one in particular, but some other really good tunes. Look 'em up.

Anyway, we're all headed down to the Chapel Hill area for our first show since the Richmond festival in November. And while that would usually make me a little nervous, it almost feels more like a reunion show somehow, which is awesome. Like the world is brand new again and full of possibilities. Or something.

We'll be playing at the DSI Theater on Saturday night at 9:30 if anyone wants to drop in and check us out... I can promise we'll be having fun, which is usually contagious...

Return to Richmond

Has it really been a year already? Superbest has just been confirmed for the 2nd Richmond Improv Festival, and will be playing on Saturday November 7 at 9pm. Tickets will be available on the festival website shortly.

Pictures from Richmond. Kinda.

Well, we never got the big kid versions of them, but the Richmond Improv Festival's Facebook page has pics from last year's show in a smaller size (pages 2 and 3). We're planning on going again this year... maybe we'll get a few full-res images of that in time for 2010...

Happy B Day

B being The Beatles, apparently. Today's Rock Band release has everyone waxing nostalgic and singing the praises of the Fab Four. 

I've heard that you're able to download and play full albums all the way through (with some studio banter between the lads filling in the pauses between the songs). Sounds like fun...

Comic-Con Links

"You had to be there" are the words that come to mind. But I wasn't there, so even that information is second hand!

All I know for sure is that loads of stuff was said and shown and swooned over at this year's Comic-Con in San Diego, and the only responsible thing I can do is provide links to some of the people who were there.

There were plenty of gaming panels, from Gears of War (and the GOW movie) to Assassin's Creed 2 and Dante's Inferno. James Cameron was on hand to talk Avatar (the movie and the game) and the cast of Iron Man 2 showed some hot new footage to some very appreciative fans.

It's all here and here and here. Geek out!

Gotta Know?

Today at 10AM San Francisco time, Apple kicks off their yearly Developers' Conference with a keynote address. Rumor has it they'll be unveiling the new iPhone, and I'm considering getting on to the Apple site and following along.

But why? I can't buy the new iPhone today, and even if I could, I already own a perfectly good one that doesn't need replacing. No, it isn't about the having of the thing... it's about the hearing about it. I realized over the weekend that something troubling is happening to me...

Last Monday I actually logged on and watched live streaming video of the Microsoft presentation at E3. I spent my mornings for the rest of the week snooping around the GameTrailers website for a first look at the latest videos. I even hit refresh a few times in the hope that something new would post while I was there... just for me.

What the hell? I'm usually not like that. Nine times out of ten, I'm the last to know and the first to admit that I'm okay with it... Brian sends me an email or tells me what I'm missing when we're in the lobby of some multiplayer shoot 'em up on Live. But I've discovered lately that there's something kinda cool about being there (or at least watching) when the word breaks. And I think I'm becoming addicted to it.

So what's next? Will I be one of those guys who logs on to a forum just to post "First!"? Will I actually GO to a gaming expo or tech conference just so that I can say that I witnessed the origin of the Next Big Thing? Will I get strung out on updates? Trade sexual favors for breaking news? God help me, will I subscribe to Twitter??

No, I've got to be strong... I'm relatively plugged in. I'll hear about the what's new or next soon enough, right? I won't... miss anything, will I?!?

Maybe just this one last announcement. You know, to help with the shakes. I'll quit after that, I promise...

Superbest. Flashpoint. Saturday.

This Saturday, catch Superbest with WIT's Jackie at Flashpoint in downtown DC. The show starts at 8, and tix are $15 here...

See These Three Jackasses at GW

This Friday night, Superbest will be headlining the Slate Festival at George Washington University in DC.

Hosted by resident improv troupe receSs, Superbest will take the stage as part of the 10pm lineup with WIT's onesixtyone and Anant Nag. Tickets are available at the door.

The show is a bit of a homecoming of sorts, as Brian was a member of receSs way back when. What does that mean to you? Why should you care? Because it means Brian will be fired up and bringing his A Game. That's why.

Superbest at the Comedy Spot

Superbest will be back in action on Saturday April 11 as part of the 7:30 lineup of Desert Island Comedy shows. We'll be plugging in at the Comedy Spot in Arlington... click here to pick up your tickets now!

Who likes to lose?

I do! Well, in a way. It's probably more accurate to say that I enjoy not always winning. Mike and I were talking about Left 4 Dead tonight -- a game that has mercilessly destroyed us any time we've attempted it with four human players -- and it led to the subject of difficulty levels in games. Mike, for example, might play through Halo 3 on the "normal" level of difficulty and be satisfied with the completion. It was apt that he used that game as an example, as I believe the original Halo was the first game I was inspired to immediately play through again on a greater level of difficulty after finishing the first time. Since then I've made a point of flogging myself through the likes of Call of Duty games on the Veteran level of difficulty. If it's an incredible challenge, I'm accomplishing something, right?

Last week I happened upon the play-by-post forum games of the Battlestar Galactica board game over at Penny Arcade. I maintain that the franchise is important enough to justify purchasing the game, comfortable with the likelihood that I will never find people to play it with. After reading through a couple of sessions of the game I admit that I am determined to try and rope people into it at least once. They do a great job of capturing the flavor of the show and sticking players in the middle of it. What you have is basically a big team game where all the players are good guys working together to accomplish a common goal. The chocolatey-awesome-excitement comes from the fact that a couple of those people are not on your team, and their job is to see to it that you lose without ever knowing they were against you. Assuming, of course, you are one of the good guys.

The game should arrive from Amazon tomorrow or Thursday. I may be super-geeky and play through a theoretical game all by myself, just to learn how it works. Then I'll post here about whether I was able to trick myself into believing that I was a cylon, when in fact I was the cylon all along.

Xbox Fixed and Xbox Fixed

I got my repaired console back today. Really a pretty quick turnaround in light of the two-to-four week estimate they give. I'm not sure if it's a repaired console or just a replacement because I haven't pulled it out of the box yet.

Hm. I'll bet you won't mind waiting a moment for me to open it.

Here we are. It's definitely not the same console -- different serial number and a 2008 manufacture date -- I'm guessing it's refurbished. I'll try plugging it in tomorrow in its new media-center role and see how it goes from there.

Of course it makes sense that the week my original console died was about when Microsoft came out and stated that the RROD problem has been solved. Granted it's an improvement in their design and repair process so my old console wasn't going to benefit. I'm content with the belief that my 360 was the one that inspired the solution, the final martyr to the cause.

That's right. My console died that yours might live forever.

A neat little bonus: the new box came with a free month of Xbox Live Gold taped to it.

So far I am satisfied.

Thanks, North Carolina...

Good shows, good crowds, good food... thanks to Zach and his team for putting together another great festival. We've got some video from the show that we'll put online soon, and we're trying to get in touch with the photographer who was roaming around during our set for pics. Stay tuned!

Press and comments about the fest in general have been scarce so far, but we did get a quick interview and mention here... it's nice to know that our love for TimeOut is officially on the record now.

If anyone else comes across any post-show buzz, let us know about it!

I <3 Southern Food

The Festival Formerly Known as Dirty South has always been a favorite of mine and I'm happy to say that this year continues that legacy. WIT had an overall outstanding showing and I'm really grateful that Superbest got to be a part of it.

If you saw the show but are not familiar with Katamari, it's probably easiest for you to just watch this video.

See? Makes total sense now, right?

Update: New Night for NCCAF

Superbest has been moved to a new time slot at this year's North Carolina Comedy Arts Fest, and will now be playing the ArtsCenter Main Stage along with the NCCAF All-Stars and Saturday Night Live's Bryan Tucker! Not too shabby, right?

So check and change your calendars; we've traded the DSI Comedy Theater on Friday for the ArtsCenter on Saturday. And are we happy about it? You bet your sweet little ass we are. See you in Carborro!

I <3 Adorable and Terrifying Things

We have two cats, Ripley and Hudson, the girl and the boy, respectively. Hudson requires that he be taken for a walk by me in the hall of our condo on a nightly basis. Tonight I arrived home from a show and post-show beers around 12:30 AM. According to Marjorie, Hudson had been quiet all night, but within seconds of my arriving home he planted himself in front of our door and meowed constantly until I opened it and we went for a stroll.

He trots down the hall of our building with confidence on these walks, occasionally looking up at me to mew a brief word of encouragement as we pass other units. We almost never see anyone else during these walks, though we occasionally encounter a little dog named Cleo. It would be clear to anyone who witnessed their tentative interactions that Cleo and Hudson are in love. It is the Cutest Thing Ever, along with a dozen other things our cats do.

On an entirely separate note, I had a fantastic time playing Dead Space. I'm generally not comfortable saying any given thing or kind of thing is my "favorite" of those things, but tonight I feel like I can go out on a limb and say that horror games fit the bill. The upcoming week of Dudemas presents the annually unique opportunity to turn my condo into a black box and totally submerge myself into a 65" video world of terror, surround-sound and all. I spent my first Dudemas doing just that with Fatal Frame 2 -- almost certainly the scariest game ever made -- on the original Xbox. I'm not sure there's anything quite on par with those two titles that I can play next week. I've heard decent-if-not-glowing reviews of the most recent Silent Hill offering, so I'm considering giving that a try.

I've tried to get friends on board the scary-train but have had not really had much luck. I have a theory that my more creative and imaginitave friends are averse to horror because it affects them deeply in what they feel is an unpleasant, squishy manner. My less imaginitave friends just don't get scared, so the whole point is lost on them. For me there's just nothing more visceral than getting the crap scared out of me. It's the definition of a thrill -- the mind balancing the terror of an immediately present, unthinkably horrible outcome against the absolute secure knowledge that you are just playing a game or watching a movie and nothing can hurt you at all. While I have a tremendous appetite for that feeling, I can grudgingly accept that it's not for everyone. I happen to hate cilantro, for instance, but if someone I know is a fan of its dishwashing-soap bouquet I'm not going to hold it against them.

Distraction

So I meant to post about an hour ago but instead got caught up most of the night building a little medieval village for an elf-like people to the tune of acoustic guitar background music the likes of which you might hear played over the static station identifier screen of a West Virginia public television station.

I planted three apple trees and didn't have to kill a thing. It was wonderful.

Giant Bow Unnecessary.

So have you seen these Lexus commercials? For the last several years, Lexus has had a line of commercials featuring yuppies receiving giant-bow-clad cars on Christmas morning. (Granted, this year's take is at least a little more inspired.) They're implying that this Christmas gift tops even the best, purest memory from your childhood. In one spot, a 40-something douchebag replaces the memory of receiving an Atari system when he was 8 with this new gem of receiving a $60,000 car from his trophy wife.

As mentioned in an earlier post, I recently received my XBOX 360 as a gift from a few friends. It immediately ranks itself up there with the coolest gifts I've ever received. It's up there with the Gameboy I received for my 11th birthday. Both were overwhelmingly generous, and both were completely unexpected. The Gameboy especially so, because we just didn't get stuff like that in my family. That was a big ticket item.

What's my point? I'm proud to say that these gifts are among the top of my favorites. Gifts that encourage communing with friends and having a good time should be. So if anyone wants to buy me a Lexus, just know it's not going to replace any of these memories.

Elite Geekdom

It's been a recent tradition that my friend Igor comes to visit us over Thanksgiving each year. He's one of those close friends that can stay in your home (a one-bedroom apartment in our case) for an extended period of time without causing any real disruption to life -- the kind of friend that Marjorie doesn't feel the need to clean for. I'd guess there are maybe two other people on the planet that fall into that category, and I'm only certain about the identity of one of them. The other, if he/she exists, may be some sort of dirty ghost.

So when Igor is here the whole visit manifests as a sort of festival we call Geekend. I took off the whole week of Thanksgiving and basically spent ten days drinking beer and playing games. It might come as a surprise to some that Marjorie not only tolerates Geekend, she encourages it. I think it's because it keeps me out of her hair while providing a steady stream of carry-out restaurant food. Everybody wins.

I played through the single-player campaign of Call of Duty: World at War, continued my progress through Fallout 3, and abused myself again and again through the fast-zombie slaughterfest that is Left 4 Dead. This is just on the heels of finishing Gears of War 2 online with Tyler and barely scratching the surface of Fable II. This has been one hell of a season for games, perhaps the densest I've experienced.

I started writing tonight with the intention of reviewing one of those games but it's later than I expected. I am apparently prone to digression in writing as in speech. I'll get to some game talk tomorrow.