This display of frustration and anger is without a doubt impressive, but the question still remains as to whether the video is real or fake.  I would like to believe that the whole thing was staged because it really is a sad vision of the modern youth.  If this is how kids react to a deleted computer game account, how will they cope with getting rejected by girls, unfulfilled dreams, and the second great depression.   Unfortunately though, there are aspects of this clip that are too organic, too savage, and too similar to a demonic possession to have been unauthentic.

The first suspicious aspect of the video is how perfectly the camera is set up (0:10).  If the first young man in the video really set this camera up on the fly, he has some serious director of photography potential (at least for hidden camera pornography).  The framing captures every moment of the tirade with the exception of the young man’s brief trip into the closet.  It may be too good.

Also, some of the statements that the young man makes during his fit of rage are questionable.  “Get out of my room!” (0:13)  “I want to run away!  I want to run away and never come back!” (0:35)  “Is this what you want!” (1:20).  They come off as being too close to the stereotype of the angst ridden child.  Still, I believe these statements are consistent with the cliche filled speech patterns of a true child in crisis.  The object of the tantrum is to paint yourself as the victim.  The young man establishes that his privacy has been violated and his mother has caused him to exit the family.  The classic “I hate all you assh*les” impulse.

Finally, the outlandish actions caught on camera are deserving of close investigation.  In addition to the rampant flailing and pterodactyl shrieks, the young man expresses his anger with some fairly absurd actions.  At one point, he takes a television remote control and tries to forcibly insert it into his anus (1:10).  To me, this act is so embarrassing and so revealing of an unstable subconscious that it could not have been planned.  Later, he hits himself repeatedly with a shoe (1:21).  This is problematic because it is a very intelligent choice for someone who is in a very irrational state.  The sole is hard enough to cause some pain, but soft enough to not cause serious injury.  At the end, the young man gives his bed a stiff punch before exiting the room (1:49).  I believe this moment is a genuine kid reaction.  He wants to feel tough and unleash his strength, but he knows not to punch the wall because putting a hole in the plaster will only get him in more trouble with his mother.  An amazingly accurate representation of the feeble adolescent state.

For humanity’s sake, I hope that this video isn’t real.  But I think it is just too insane not to be.

Here we see Danny Johnson, the 14-year-old Guitar Hero phenom scoring 986,000 points playing Dragon Force’s ‘Through the Fire and Flames” on Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock. I don’t know about you, but Fire and Flames on expert makes me crap my pants in 10 seconds or less.

Anyway, this video was recorded at home, but young Danny performed the feat publicly at a Best Buy last week, scoring 973,954 points, to take the record away from some douchey 17-year-old (we kid, we know nothing about Chris Chike except that his 899,703 points can touch Danny).

Anyway, we racked our brains to think of world records that come with a smaller chance of getting laid, but could only come up with ‘longest fingernails’ and ‘fattest person’, so Danny, you’re in good company.

Readers, let us know if you think of any other records that don’t attract the ladies.

World of Warcraft has become a cultural phenomenon played by over 11 million people worldwide.  Unfortunately, just like every other online MMORPG, douchebag 12 year olds feel the need to not only ruin

my time playing the game, but ruin the entire gaming environment.  Below is the Top 5 list these d-bags and the havoc they wreak.

1.    The Gold Begger – Whether you beg your guildies or walk around Orgrammar begging randoms, people who sit there begging for gold are placed on my top 5 d-bag in WoW list. “Hey can I have 1g for _____.” Fill the blank in with whatever you want: a flight, repairs, a mount, and so on. Instead of spending your time begging people for gold, get your ass out there like everyone else and grind it out!

2.    The Flight Master Killer – Ok. This one is definitely the most annoying to me. It’s all fun and games to attack your opponent’s cities, but damn, leave the Flight Master alone! (said in the  whiney Chris Crocker voice). If I’m in a village and need to get somewhere and the Flight Master is gone, I’m pretty much forced to switch toons and ginrd another character.  Just the other day I was leveling my Pally and was in Sun Rock Retreat. Not only did this Douchy 70 epic Allie kill the flight master, but he sat in SRR and killed every char that walked by. This is a douchy move, let alone camping chars 40 levels below you (I’ll get to you D-Bags later).

3.    The Talking Politics in Trade Channel Guy – Thankfully the election is over because if I have to hear another 12 year old kid complain about Obama, when he clearly doesn’t know his ass from his elbow, I’m going to quit the game forever.  First of all, I play WoW to get away from reality, not to think about all the problems in this world. Secondly, why the trade channel??? Stop spamming my text box and PST someone if you really want to have an in depth chat about politics in a fantasy game with orcs and warlocks.

4.    The Camper – You bastards. You dirty bastards. You gain no value by squatting over my corpse for an hour as I try to run my level 30 character away from your epic mounted level 70 Pally. I have zero chance of getting away but somehow I think you won’t see me as I resurrect over and over again and run. I can imagine the 10 year old sitting at his parent’s computer laughing his ass off for an hour as he kills me repeatedly. Good thing the expansion came out so those gaybo’s will have something to do.

5.    The Mailbox Squatter – When 5 bear-mounted Taurens sit on the mailbox as I struggle to find the 1 pixel left to click on to open my mail, I almost shed tears. Same goes for the Flight Master when I’m struggling to find where to click to get away from the asshole talking politics in Org. Why doesn’t blizzard fix this already? The worst is when a bunch of people are dancing around the mailbox because not only can I not get to my mail, but now I have to watch them dance around for a half hour.

Thankfully the new expansion WoW: Wrath of the Lich King is on sale today and I can pray these super douchy’s  (AKA Super D’s) will finally have new things to do and stop messing with my level 30 Pally.

Microsoft announced that in honor of Gears of War 2 shipping this Friday, they’re turning the midnight release date into a huge event with over 20,000 locations taking part, and a few locations getting a few celebrity guests.

The writers and artist team of the Gears comic will be out and about, as will staff from both Epic and Microsoft, however, Universal City, just outside of LA is clearly the winner in terms of star power and promotions.

Here’s a list of some of the bigger locations:

*sigh* I’d be there if only I had a car…and money…and Friday off…and a pony…

Phenomic developed and EA distributed game Battleforge has announced that it will make available a public beta.  This is a good idea, as not much is happening on that day.

Battleforge is equal parts real-time strategy and collectible card game set in a fantasy world.  If done well and marketed correctly, the game would be digital crack. 

Info on the game and the beta can be found here.

Appleinsider.com has a huge story about how the Beatles catalog will be used in a game from the creators of Rock Band and Guitar Hero to be published by MTV games.

If that’s not a big enough story, this deal has been struck BEFORE the Beatles completed a deal to bring their music to iTunes.

This game is going to make eleventy-billion dollars.  An entire new kind of math is going to have to be invented to compute and total the cash rolling in from this game.  People involved with this game are going to swim around in swimming pools of money Scrooge McDuck style.

Read the story here.

God were we reaching with that title.

Anyway, Midway officially confirmed today that interim president since March ‘08, Matthew Booty has officially been named president of the corporation.  Booty worked his was up from the trenches, starting at Midway as a programmer and engineer, and started climbing the ladder from there.  He brings experience, knowledge, and a sweet last name to the job.  It works on two levels; babes and treasure.  Which is awesome.

I know this seems sort of like a non-story unless you’re an investor, but I have to write something or I’ll do is think about Gears of War 2 and how it’s not out yet.

See that?  It’s called bias in the media.

Press release as follows.

“CHICAGO - October 30, 2008 – Midway Games Inc. (NYSE: MWY) today announced that Matthew V. Booty has been appointed by the Board of Directors as President and CEO of the company. Mr. Booty has served as interim president and CEO of Midway Games Inc. since March, 2008.

Matt Booty brings a deep background with Midway anchored in product development. Mr. Booty joined in 1991 as an engineer and programmer, at a time when Midway launched iconic arcade franchises such as the original Mortal Kombat and NBA Jam. After serving in progressively more responsible roles, he eventually was promoted to Vice President of Product Development in 2002. Prior to being named President and CEO of the company, he served as Senior Vice President, Worldwide Studios.

During his tenure as interim president and CEO, Mr. Booty has demonstrated strong leadership and has successfully executed on a number of key initiatives aimed at developing top performing games and improving financial performance, including reducing costs through studio consolidation, exiting underperforming licenses and rebalancing the product portfolio to focus on key licenses and owned intellectual property such as TNA iMPACT!, Blitz: The League, Mortal Kombat and Wheelman.

“Over the past two quarters we have made progress reducing costs, realigning our studios, and improving execution on our game launches,” said Mr. Booty. “Along with the rest of our management team, I am committed to continuing to drive this progress and maintain a sharp focus on the successful implementation of our plans for the fourth quarter and beyond.”‘

EA has announced that Lord of the Rings: Conquest will ship January 9th, 2009 internationally and then in the US on January 13th, 2009.

It’s created by Pandemic and in the same vein as their Star Wars: Battlefront titles where you take part in a larger battle, and can play for either side in what amounts to giant capture the flag games as you try to hold points and respawn centers.

The games have always been a decent experience, so hopefully the graphics will be sharp and the controlsfurther refined, etc.

But what I really want to know is, why are e getting it later than the rest of the world?  This is America damn it.  Everything comes out here first.  What the hell?  Did we lose a war?

Press Release. Jump.

“LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Pandemic™ Studios, a division of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) announced today that The Lord of the Rings: Conquest™ for the Xbox 360^® video game and entertainment system, PLAYSTATION^®3 computer entertainment system, PC and Nintendo DS™ platforms, will ship January 9, 2009 internationally and January 13, 2009 in the U.S.

In a partnership with New Line Cinema and The Saul Zaentz Company, The Lord of the Rings: Conquest is an action-packed game created by the same Pandemic Studios team behind the best-selling Star Wars Battlefront™ and Star Wars Battlefront™ II titles. Set in “The Lord of the Rings” universe of J.R.R. Tolkien as depicted by the Academy Award^®-winning films, players will finally fight the entirety of these epic battles any way they want. In addition to crusading as the heroic forces of good, for the first time ever in a ‘The Lord of the Rings’ action title they’ll conquer Middle-earth while playing as the legions of Sauron’s evil army, including Cave-trolls, Oliphaunts, the Balrog and Sauron himself.

“We have been working hard to create a ‘The Lords of the Rings’ experience like no other,” says Andrew Goldman, Pandemic Studios co-founder and general manager. “And we are excited to finally confirm the launch of The Lord of the Rings: Conquest to ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and Star Wars Battlefront fans alike.”

“Players will finally be able to fight through Middle-earth along the frontlines of good or evil,” says Josh Resnick, co-founder and general manager at Pandemic Studios. “And what ‘The Lord of the Rings’ fan hasn’t fantasized about joining Sauron’s army to slay Hobbits?”

Fans of The Lord of the Rings universe can also participate in a Battle for the Ring community program. The social network offers activities for members to virtually fight against good or evil and earn temporary ownership of the Ring.

For more information about the Battle for the Ring program and The Lord of the Rings: Conquest game, please visit: http://www.pandemicstudios.com/conquest.”

Apparently the N-Gage is still around.

I’m just as shocked as you are. 

Also, EA has decided to release games for the N-Gage.  Including some you may have actually heard of, I know, I know, it’s messed up.

Do I even need to post the press release?  Do any of you even have an N-Gage?

ROME–(BUSINESS WIRE)–EA Mobile™, a division of Electronic Arts Inc (NASDAQ:ERTS), today furthered its support for Nokia N-Gage with the announcement of an extensive global release schedule for the platform. Key titles available in time for the Winter holiday season include EA SPORTS^TM FIFA 09, Spore^TM Origins and MONOPOLY Here & Now: The World Edition, with many other popular games such as Need For Speed^TM Undercover, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® and The Sims^TM 3 arriving in 2009.

“Nokia is thrilled to be bringing a tremendous roster of titles from EA Mobile to N-Gage customers around the world,” commented Gregg Sauter, Director of Third Party Publishing, Nokia. “The breadth and quality of this new games line-up is testament to the strong relationship between Nokia and EA Mobile. As N-Gage accelerates its growth through 2009 and beyond we look forward to continuing our close relationship with EA Mobile to deliver even more innovative and exciting games to the global N-Gage community.”

Peter Parmenter, Director, Worldwide OEM at EA Mobile, added: “We’re delighted to extend our support for Nokia with a superb games line-up from EA Mobile for N-Gage. We’re committed to exploring methods to make the experience of finding, buying and playing mobile games easier and more compelling and N-Gage gives us a robust ecosystem to bring to market some of EA’s most popular franchises as well as those of one of our key partners, Eidos, with Tomb Raider: Underworld^TM and Pandemonium^TM.”