A Little VGA 101 Love For Cauldron's Conan...

Digging up some ancient random stuff from the vaults, here's a look at the intro and attract mode for Cauldron's 2004 game CONAN (aka CONAN: The Dark Axe). If you haven't played it (well, it WAS only available in Europe for PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox and Game Cube), it's a third-person action game that has some quirks, but makes for an interesting experience thanks to the motion captured combat moves and some really creative camerawork in the cinemas. It's not the best-looking game featuring the Cimmerian, but it's probably one of the more interesting ones Conan fans in the US never got to play unless they imported it. I have the PC, Xbox and Game Cube versions in the library (and yes, I've played it all the way through on each platform). The chances of it ever coming out as a re-release here are slim to none unless the PC version gets put on gog.com or some other download site. Of course, there's probably some sort of licensing agreement that needs to be hashed out, but I guess that's up to the folks at gog.com and CIP... 

And Today's Moral Is...

Just because Bin Laden is kaput* doesn't mean THIS game SUDDENLY gets any better with age. Still, I bet it rises in value a bit on eBay from those sellers that have actually played it and know what it is (that mix of crude capitalism and cathartic revenge fantasies always seems to find its niche, huh?)...

*(Amusingly enough, I was looking for an empty poster tube and found a target poster with his mug on it sent out by Encore to promote the game. I'd give it away, but like the game, it's something that's quite a bizarre part of my collection. I'll send a scan of a photo to anyone who wants one...)

Win A PS3 w/Move in LOTR: Aragorn's Quest Sweepstakes!

Warner Bros. interactive Entertainment wants YOU to win a PS3/Move bundle, Nintendo Wii or a few other great prizes. Or at least try to win, if you're willing to be a little creative in a very short amount of time.

By visiting the LOTR: AQ contest site, fans of the epic The Lord of the Rings trilogy can create their own augmented reality video and summon a number of spells, including fireballs, ice crystals and sparks. Everyone who posts a video is automatically entered into The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn’s Quest augmented reality sweepstakes for a chance to win loads of great prizes, including copies of the game, a Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 3 with Move hardware.

The sweepstakes ends on September 30, 2010 (yikes!), so get a Move on! Wii really want you to win! (ha ha).

Astro Boy: The Video Game Wallpapers (Grab 'em here!)

Here you go: SIX nice images for your PC using game and movie assets - thanks, D3! These images should fit 1280 x1024 monitors. The game ships on October 20th for the PS2, DS/DSi and Wii. As huge Osamu Tezuka (and of course, Astro Boy) fans, I'm hoping to nab a few reviewables so we can see how it's turned out.

In Astro Boy: The Video Game, players become the iconic hero, Astro Boy, and take to the streets and skies on an epic adventure to save Metro City from the clutches of the evil President Stone and his robot army. Utilizing Astro’s entire arsenal of iconic weapons and abilities, players will battle hordes of fearsome foes including some never-before-seen enemies across Metro City and the mysterious Surface.