It's an age old question.  "Why the hell do so many people love this damn game?"  Over the years, I've seen quite a few games receive rave reviews and cult-like fan followings, while I'm left scratching my head, trying to see what everyone else sees.

One of those games is the Mega Man series.  While there are certain qualities I love about the games, to me, the bad outweighs the good.  By far.  Hit the link for my renouncement of the blue bomber.

Most video game premises would be destroyed if simple logic were applied. This one however is destroyed by simply applying another video game.

[Geekologie]

So we've all got our DSi's and our PSP's to keep us company when we're out and about, but what happens when we need more?  If you're technically inclined, you can take that old Gamecube and shove it into a Game Gear sized handheld.  Why stop with just one console though?  Why not have one portable device that plays actual NES, SNES, and Genesis cartridges?  A few able folks did just that, and while they may be functional, they could use a little more pizazz in the aesthetics department.  Keep reading to see the portable Gamecube, as well as the Frankenstein-esque SNEGENES (above) in action.

Call me crazy but I'd take this Green Goblin costume over the Power Rangers wannabe any day.  Sure, the Atari Spider-Man game sucked, but there's no way it was worse than Spider-Man 3.  I'm pretty sure the entire theatre heard my heart break into a jillion pieces the night of that midnight showing.

via Topless Robot

I'm a gamer, always have been. Problem is for a large number of years that's really just consisted of the video variety. That's a huge mistake on my part, to not enjoy the video game's analog brethren... the board game. There’s actually a vibrant and intense board game world out there that’s been pushed to the sidelines by game players such as ourselves for too long. In this column I'll be diving into this world, looking at games that hopefully you'd like to try out for yourself.

I've been doing my best with this column to show off all kinds of different board games, from card games like Dominion and Martian Fluxx to Euro-style games like Ticket to Ride to a game like Hive. Well, that trend continues today with the abstract strategy game DVONN. More complicated than checkers but less so than Chess, DVONN exists without any sort of theme whatsoever and just stands as "a game." Which is perfectly fine. One doesn't need to have a storyline to make a game engaging (just ask Tetris fans) and it just goes to show that like the video game world all different genres exist for board games as well.

So, just what exactly is DVONN?

As if the heavens opened up, and the powers that be came specifically to my front door and said "You could use some more 2D platformers in your life," I've recently found trailers for two killer looking indie games that make me swoon.  Ninja Senki (who looks like Haggleman, above) just screams out with influence from the NES's Ninja Gaiden, Mega Man, and Kid Niki.  Most impressive, it's a personal project by Jonathan Lavigne who worked on TMNT for the GBA and the upcoming Scott Pilgrim game.  Did you see those boss battles?  That'll take some balls (pun intended.)

And secondly, VVVVVV (below, which I'm assuming is pronounced "Veeeee") has an even more retro look, awesome music, and some crazy physics puzzles.  Made by Terry Cavanagh, VVVVVV's difficulty looks insane, and with enemies and platforms being blocks of text like LIES and YES, I wonder if there's some deeper meaning to be gotten out of all of it.  As long as it sticks to the platforming first and foremost, and doesn't get all pretentious and heady (cough*Braid*cough) I'm in.

via Tiny Cartridge and Destructoid

If you've been to a chip show in NYC you've seen Paris, whether it's via his patterns and colors scorching across a screen behind a musician, or if you just recognize him as the bald guy sitting sidestage tweaking knobs and controllers.  Paris does visual graphics for live chip shows, and in the above video explains what and how he does what he does.

More rad demo and speaking videos from the Data Beez West Coast Microtour can be seen here.

If you've been following this column, you've probably heard the term "ProSound mod" thrown about a few times.  Just so that we're all on the same page, let's describe what the ProSound Mod is.  As well as describing the mod, check out a series of ProSound tutorials brought to you buy lameboy (after the link) so that you can mod your own DMG.

We've been seeing some fantastic video game themed shirts lately, and design wise they're really starting to take it up a notch. I'm glad to see those Marc Ecko Halo shirts were just a shitty deviation.

Threadless rarely disappoints in their designs, and if I bought everything from that store that I liked I'd be a broke bastard. Take for instance the Space Invader themed Alien Autopsy shirt that just landed there this week. It's f'ing awesome.