Today the project I’ve been working on for the past two months (other than Tekzilla, of course!) is being announced to the world: Qore, an interactive program on the Playstation Network. I’m really excited about it, and also a little nervous, because it’s unlike anything I’ve done before. As we all know, video can be a lot better at explaining something than text, so here’s the preview video:

Honestly? It’s one of the coolest looking things I’ve seen in a long time, and I’m not just saying that because we’ve been working our asses off on it! Unfortunately, I don’t get to be in the first episode as much as we’d like, since I came into the project towards the end of the shooting cycle. But the stuff we’ve done already for episodes two and three is very fun.

Everyone is already fixating on the free demos, themes and betas, but it will take them until Thursday (when it goes live) to see how the video segments and behind the scenes clips are really what I think this whole thing is about. I’m just psyched that I get to be a part of it, and talk to the developers and artists behind some truly cool upcoming games.

There’s way more info on the Playstation Blog, but if you have any questions for me drop them in the comments and maybe I’ll whip up a FAQ for the next post!

Allow me to be honest for a moment. When I started this endeavor, I truly believed that I would keep up with the exercise routine. That being said, I got bored of the Wii Fit after about a week. Is it the WiiFit’s fault? Partially. Is it more GTA4’s fault? Probably. Anyhow, I promised that I would give you my impressions, so here they are:

1. The Wii Fit isn’t fun enough to make me come back to it. If they’re trying to reach out to gamers in some way, make it a little more entertaining.
2. The trainers speak like they’ve taken too much Vicodin. I need high-energy encouragement, man!
3. I have terrible balance, and apparently this is very important for doing almost every single exercise in the game.
4. The jackknife and push-ups were pretty effective, and they could actually tell when I was dropping my hips and being lazy.
5. The step aerobics game was pretty awesome, especially after I unlocked the advanced class, but it would be even better if I could use my own music.
6. The yoga poses are OK for stretching, but it’s really easy to do a yoga pose incorrectly and hurt yourself. These are basic, but I think it’s better to have someone (real) around to show you the right moves.

Overall, the best thing to come out of Wii Fit was that it got me motivated to head back to the gym again. If you’re really interested in fitness and feeling better about your body, take the $89.99 and spend it on a fun class at the gym, or put it towards getting a human trainer that will really get your ass back in gear.

If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments and I’ll respond there as well. Ryan also has an in-depth look at his fitness odyssey over at Engadget.

UPDATE: Twitterer @NinaSpezz showed me this parody that I missed! Hilarious, and also true…

Cliff Bleszinski (a.k.a. Cliffy B.) of Epic Games spoke to Wired about Gears of War 2, and how they’re planning to make it more “girlfriend-friendly.” Here’s the full quote:

How do you make a game girlfriend-friendly?

You do jump-in, jump-out co-op. You have configurable difficulty settings for the other player. You have very cool and bad-ass main characters that have a very human side. And you make sure that the female characters in your game don’t have ginormous tits and aren’t bad stereotypes.

Yes, stereotypes are annoying, but I have a feeling that’s not what is keeping your girlfriends from playing GoW. Because frankly, I think we’re all a little desensitized to stereotypes in video games: play 10 minutes of (the absolutely stellar) GTA4 to see what I’m talking about.
(more…)

As some of you may have seen on Engadget, Ryan is challenging himself to a month of suffering at the hands of the Wii Fit. And while he is nowhere near overweight, we do live a somewhat… sedentary lifestyle. A lot of sitting is involved. Therefore I’ve decide to come along on his fitness odyssey, not only as a supportive measure, but also to encourage myself to live a healthier lifestyle.

Yes, if it takes a video game to get me off my lazy ass, then so be it.

According to the little white board sitting on my living room floor, here are my stats so far:
Weight (I can’t believe I’m telling you these things): 117 lbs
Height: 5′7″
BMI: 18.5
Body Age: 35 (WTF?!)
Actual Age: 25

OK, so apparently I’m a little underweight (my burrito belly is begging to differ). I’m not sure how Wii Fit expects to solve this problem (“Please get off the Wii Fit and go eat a pizza while watching Battlestar Galactica”) but I guess I need to build more muscle mass. The Fit also told me that my balance sucks by asking me “Do you trip a lot when you walk?” You snarky bastard.

I’ll be reporting every couple of days to let you know how this thing is going. I know the Wii Fit isn’t exactly the same as training for a triathlon, but it’s more exercising than I ever do (except for climbing, which I hope to work more into this month as well). Wish me luck!