Your Podcast Hosts-
Cannonfodder- The PC
Xalaga- The PS4
Smikey1123- The Xbox One

Ending Music:

TBD

If you like the show, please subscribe to us on iTunes. Feel free to give us a five star rating, leave comments, and generally tell all your friends and family about us.

You can follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook.

We want to hear from you, so feel free to write to us with any questions, comments, or feedback to Geeklink@geeklinkradio.com and your responses could be read on the show.

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What did you think of the main 5 press conferences? Did you have any games that became Day 1 purchases? How about any games you were looking forward to, but now don’t care? Let us know below in the comments what you think.

STUNNER! STUNNER! $399! $399!

Talking points: NO ONLINE CHECKS! NO USED GAME RESTRICTIONS! GOOD GOD ALMIGHTY, MICROSOFT IS BROKEN IN HALF!

Ready to join Team Firmware Update? Click here to pre-order

Your Firmware Update Hosts:

Malcolm Spinedi: (@CowardDuck)

Joe Garcia: (@Wons23)

Music

“Celebration” by Kool and The Gang

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Dance, Magic, Dance

Daedalic Entertainment put a lot of work into The Night Of The Rabbit, most notably into it’s hand drawn art style. The art direction echos fairytale picture books, bringing you back to a childlike sense of wonder and imagination. Combine this with the voicework and lovely musical score and you become transported to a world that, to say that it’s idyllic would be an understatement. The ambient background sounds and animations make the environment feel substantial and grounded.

When you go down the rabbit hole with the Marquis you get introduced to Mousewood, a small hamlet that is filled with people of all shapes and sizes. Primarily those of mice, hedgehogs, birds, and frogs. As you introduce yourself around town you find that beyond the whole talking woodland creatures aspect there are some slight cultural differences as well. Namely you get called a weasel, blackmail a leprechaun, and your jokes are inherently offensive to the Mousewoodians. In spite of being an apprentice, you spend most of your time in The Night Of The Rabbit alone having to piece together what you have to do to solve the puzzles in the game. And although the game starts with an almost overly sweet tone, a dark undercurrent reveals itself through the story. The Marquis De Hotto may not be all that he seems. As you learn spells you find hints of a past that even he is unclear about.

Through the game you will come to discover sidequests, one is a card game that you can play with the characters that live in Mousewood and the other is item collecting that rewards you with bonus content.

Returning to school means you have to leave this.

No, That Is Not My Card.

While you complete tasks and pick up spells, the difficulty seems to wander a lot. One task takes just a little while to complete while others have you go back and forth across Mousewood and its surrounding wilderness more than 4 times at a minimum to complete them. The plot The Night Of The Rabbit is both confusing and convoluted. A large portion of the story is only told to you after the culmination of the game. Certainly a lot of the information is alluded to you throughout the game but none of it forms any cohesive sense until just before the credits roll. The one audio issue that you may have is that some of the characters in Mousewood have voices that get easily overpowered by the music in the scene. You shouldn’t find any visual issues so long as you make use of the magical coin that you can use to find all of the clickable locations on your screen. Although, you do have to be in the scene that the location is in for it to be useful which can be a challenge in and of itself.

This Is How The Trick Was Done.

As hard as the game’s puzzles are, the exceptionally difficult to understand plot makes this game difficult to really enjoy. But if you like a challenge and miss the good old days of point-and-click adventures it’s hard to say no to playing this game. The game is visually engrossing and sounds great. If you do pick up The Night Of The Rabbit you should expect to put in a lot of time. Most players should expect to take at least 10 hours, but probably longer to complete it. Keep in mind that it does have a limited replay value just because of the genre it is, once you know the secret the trick may lose it’s appeal.

The Night Of The Rabbit is available via Steam for both Mac and PC for $19.99 as well as a premium edition for 24.99 that includes the original soundtrack and 8 audio stories from Mousewood.

Malc & The Fat Kid are back! Join Malcolm and Ryan while they cover the latest movies and give their opinions on the latest big screen debuts.

This week, we saw the Man of Steel. Is Man of Steel the Superman movie we need, or is Man of Steel what we deserve?

Like the review of Man of Steel? Click here to see our review of The Internship!

Rocksmith 2014: The Fastest Way to Learn Guitar

Gamers can now use voice commands to select the band they want to help support them as they play the guitar to an array of songs, change instruments, and songs, including those from Alice in Chains. Now gamers can learn how to play the guitar while making it a fun and entertaining experience like never before. See ya later, Rock Band button mashers!

Splinter Cell: Blacklist

Debuting at E3 2012, Ubisoft showed a trailer with game play to excite gamers. Blacklist  is hitting the stores August 20th this year.

Rayman Legends

Joined by Barbra the Barbarian, Rayman sets out on a new adventure. The game will be released September 3, 2013. Ubisoft showed a trailer with game play for the game showing off the co-op capabilities to play along side friends or in verses mode. The game claims, “…to be the biggest Rayman to date.”

Mighty Quest of Epic Loot 

A free to play game that allows players to build up their castle, create traps, and try to keep people from stealing the treasure that you’ve built up. Players can pick which character they want to be and visit other players castles to try and rob them of  the loot they’ve piled up. The game is currently in a closed beta and can be joined at themightyquest.com

South Park: The Stick of Truth

Created based off the television series South Park, The Stick of Truth makes its way to game consoles. Ubisoft purchased the game from THQ earlier in 2013. The game will be released Holiday Season 2013 after being delayed from their Spring release.

The Crew

The next generation driving game, though we’ve seen two other driving games from both EA and Microsoft, this game is the first one to offer multiple players to play at once together in the same game as “a crew”. The game is open world allowing for friends to do solo missions, co-op missions, or versus. Since the game is open world, gamers can drive anywhere they decide to go, if you can see it, you can drive to it. The game allows for customizing of cars and can also be done through a tablet and be available for download over the game network. Due out early 2014.

Watch Dogs

A new age vigilante that can take over anything electronic by hacking it and manipulating it. Aidan Pierce challenges the criminals of the City of Chicago all with the few touches of a cell phone. Developers give gamers the ability to explore Chicago in an open world environment and decide what is right and what is wrong and how to deal with situations. All going from stopping a guy from stealing a woman’s purse to taking down a dangerous crime ring or perhaps, see what happens when all the stop lights turn green, or enjoy the reaction of someone using the ATM and their account has been depleted.

Just Dance 2014

Ubisoft announced Just Dance 2014 with a slew of new features, up to six players can dance at a time, On Stage Mode, create your own songs with Just Dance DJ where movement creates the songs, and Party Master where you create the moves as your friends dance. Just Dance 14, will be out on all platforms in October 2013.

Rabbid Invasion

A new interactive television series coming to Nickelodeon working with Ubisoft and Microsoft. While also being an interactive TV show that allows you to play as you watch with interactive actions. This works with Xbox One and the interactive missions through the Kinect.

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag

Ubisoft released another trailer for Black Flag, introducing more of what Captain Edward Kenway is about. What type of pirate he is, how he attacks his enemies on and off the sea. The trailer shows combat first at a pub but then when pursued by ship, Kenway dispatches his crew and takes over the other ship. The world is an open world to fight, roam, and explore the sea and land to fulfill that of what it is to be a pirate.

Trials Fusion & Trials Frontier

Announced for Xbox One and Playstation 4 is Trials Fusion and on mobile devices Trials Frontier. 

The Division

The Division is a brand new IP about a pandemic endued by an act of bio terrorism. Ubisoft introduces a new what if game that could potentially happen. A new Massive-Multiplayer-Online (MMO) style game allowing for drop in drop out playing capability. The game also allows for game play with tablets. The Division demonstrated how players can play in a group against A. I. characters, allow for friends to come in and play to help at any given moment and then when the fire fight is over, the open world allows for finding supplies ammo and other things needed to survive. After the fire fight with the A. I. of the game, the group was then approached by another group of players ready to fight player versus player.

A ton of new games, for every age group brought to you by the developers at Ubisoft. No matter the genre, they’ve got you covered, music, action, racing, single player, co-op. These guys have definitely showed off the capabilities of the new consoles and pushed the envelope for games.

If you missed the Ubisoft press conference, below is IGN’s recording of the conference. Enjoy!

Your Podcast Hosts-
Cannonfodder- The Show Runner
Xalaga- The Vacationer
Smikey1123- The Sickly

DCXM – The Fucking Peach

Ending Music:

TBD

If you like the show, please subscribe to us on iTunes. Feel free to give us a five star rating, leave comments, and generally tell all your friends and family about us.

You can follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook.

We want to hear from you, so feel free to write to us with any questions, comments, or feedback to Geeklink@geeklinkradio.com and your responses could be read on the show.

Are you interested in joining our writing staff? Then head over to the About Us section and fill out the application.

What did you think of the main 5 press conferences? Did you have any games that became Day 1 purchases? How about any games you were looking forward to, but now don’t care? Let us know below in the comments what you think.

Rumors have been a part of the gaming generation since the first games came out many decades ago. Today we are going to cover a few of the bigger rumors surrounding Microsoft’s Xbox One, and see which have come true and which were ultimately just gossip.

Rumor #1: The Name. In the last few years Microsoft’s next generation console has undergone a few rumored names, including: Durango, Xbox Infinity, and Xbox 720. However, during the May 2013 reveal Microsoft announced the console as the Xbox One.

Rumor #2: Backwards Compatibility. During Microsoft’s reveal there were two things they announced that sent gamers into an uproar. One of these was the inability to play 360 games on the Xbox One. This has been confirmed with no plans on a change, however Microsoft did say they would continue to “support” the 360 with new games, updates, and apps…but for how long?

Rumor #3: No Disc Drive. Although Sony’s PS3 beat it by a decade or so, the Xbox One will feature a Blu-Ray drive and a moderate amount of SSD space, with the addition of cloud storage.

Rumor #4: Xbox TV. One of the bigger topic’s covered not only during the May reveal, but also at E3 2013 was the Xbox being used as a “all-in-one” (hence the One name) entertainment system. This has been Microsoft’s recent selling point as they push the facts of Xbox running your cable provider for TV, running an “Xbox OS” similar to Windows 8 allowing you to use internet, stream videos, and ultimately turn your console into a one stop shop for any all online needs. While this isn’t a huge upgrade from the 360 we have now, they do promise to make it more streamlined, easier to manage and use, and with the ability to running two processes at the same time, this allows you to pause your game, hit the switch window button, look up a map or guide online, then switch back without ever having to exit the game.

Rumor #5: Games. While there have been a few games we all knew were going to be pushed onto the next-gen consoles there were a lot of games that were still just whispers and leaks that had not been confirmed. The list of games that were revealed at E3 this year was more then a lot of people expected, but only a handful stood out for the Xbox One (although unfortunately most of these titles are multi-platformers). A few of the games announced (and confirmed) are as follows: Forza 5, Watch Dogs, Assassin’s Creed IV, Destiny, Ryse, Minecraft: Xbox One Edition, Thief, and many more.

Rumor #6: The Price. Xbox One was announced at E3 for the price of $499 versus Sony’s PS4 that was announced for $399. The big difference here is that the Xbox One comes with the Kinect v2 where as the PS4 will not have it’s PS Eye that will be an additional $75-$100 for PS4 owners.

Rumor #7: Used games won’t be playable. The user can sell back licenses for games they no longer use, though Microsoft hasn’t made it easy. People can sell their licenses to stores that approve of Microsoft’s plan, or through Xbox Live itself. Though the outcome does mean that developers will now receive a cut of used game sales they hadn’t previously. Gamers can give games to their friends, but they must be on the persons friend list for 30 days or more. Also once that game has been given to someone else, the game can no longer be given away or sold. This has rightfully upset many gamers.

Rumor #8: Always On. The final rumor that we’ll cover is without a doubt the biggest and most controversially one to date. Microsoft’s reveal that its consoles will feature an “Always On” state has sent a lot of gamers into an uproar. The Xbox One features a low-power state that will keep the Xbox always connected to the internet even while in a “sleep-mode”. This allows the Xbox to run background downloads, record videos/shows (through cable provider), and ultimately never have to boot up its systems when your ready to start playing. The controversy here is the paranoia that gamers will be spied on and watched by the government through the mandatory Kinect v2 required for the Xbox. A friend of mine also pointed out that as a member of the armed services when he is deployed for months at a time he does not have access to the internet and relies on his offline games to pass the time. The Xbox’s mandatory always connected feature would be a huge inconvenience for that group of gamers and would ultimately drive the sales of its console down.

So there it is, a few of the bigger rumors covered and revealed. While most of the rumors did come true or came close enough, it’s up to you as a gamer to decide if Microsoft’s Xbox One is the console you want enter the next generation with or not.

Rumor 1-4‘s answers can be found in the Xbox One reveal event, held on May 21st, 2013.

Rumor 5-6‘s answers can be found in Microsoft’s E3 press conference.

Rumor 7-8‘s answer can be found in a statement released on news.xbox.com.

Plants Vs. Zombies:  Garden Warfare

EA showed off one of their newest sequels (of sorts), and that is Plant’s vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare. Gone is the tactical tower defense, as it more resembles a first person shooter. You won’t have to worry too much about the sense of humor being lost with this one, this title still looks very silly, like a shooter you won’t be afraid to play with the kids.

Peggle 2

For what it’s worth, we also got the announcement for Peggle 2. No trailer or gameplay, just a developer awkwardly celebrating.

Titanfall

EA then showed us more of Titanfall, which they showed first off at the Microsoft conference. They showed more of a developer side of things that gave some insight on how the players were able to do stuff like wall running, super jumps, and more.

Titan Fall is out in Spring 2014.

Need for Speed: Rivals

We also got Need for Speed: Rivals, a title that focuses on players being either a street racer or the police. Players will actually fight against each other as the racers try to complete their races while the cops try to stop them. Need for Speed: Rivals also showed off how seamless it is going from single player to a multiplayer game as two characters merged games.

Also an interesting point, this game also featured the ability to use your tablet to play, as the announcer used it to play as a police helicopter.

Star Wars: Battlefront

Nerds everywhere got to squeal with joy as we got a short teaser trailer announcing the reboot of a much cherished Star Wars title, Battlefront. No gameplay footage was shown, but it was enough to psych up  for the future.

Dragon Age III: Inquisition

Dragon Age fans got something to talk about, as we got our first look at Dragon Age III. The cinematic trailer showed off lots of monsters, a dragon, and some memorable characters (Namely Varric in the beginning, and Morrigan at the very end). No release date was given, but it looks like Dragon Age III will be one to keep your eye on.

Sports, Sports, Sports

It wouldn’t be an EA conference without sports. Here’s the titles they announced from the conference.

FIFA ’14

UFC

Madden 25

NBA Live

BattleField 4

EA also gave us a look at the first multiplayer battle on Battlefield 4 with 64 players. The battle itself was very epic with multiple vehicles and weapons used. The big piece of news out was the destructible environments. In the course of the battle, an entire skyscraper (which the players had just climbed and fought their way to the top of) collapsed after taking heavy tank fire. It was a true spectacle to watch.

This was yet another title that featured tablet play, as the announcer (called the commander) called an air strike using his tablet.

Mirror’s Edge 2

To end the show, EA gave the fans a great treat as they announced Mirror’s Edge 2.

Want to read our recap of EA’s conference with our live blog? Click here!

Be sure to check out our live blogs for: Microsoft | Ubisoft | Sony

Want to learn more about EA? Check out there official website!

PS4 is Revealed

To start off, we finally got a look at the new console. The black box has a kind of rhombus look to it. Nothing too substantial, but at least we know what it looks like.

Sony Says No to “Always Online” and Xbox’s Used Game Policy

In what many consider to be the beginning of Sony’s knockout to Microsoft, Sony announced that players will not have to worry about any issues with used games. PS4 users can lend games, sell them to other people, and more with no issues. This announcement left many stunned, as they never thought Microsoft would make such a move without Sony following suite. However, it appears as though many were mistaken.

The PS4 also doesn’t need the internet to function. Owners can have the console offline for over 24 hours and not worry about their PS4 shutting down.

The following announcement not only got great responses from the crowd at E3, but over the internet as well. Time will tell if this leads to Sony gaining any kind of advantage in it’s competition with Microsoft.

PS4 announced at $399; Still No News on Release Date

Sony continued by announcing the PS4 would be released with a $399 price point, a full $100 cheaper than the XBox One. Combined with Sony’s stance on used games and online connectivity, the masses have deemed this conference a huge success for Sony and the PS4. Once again, time will tell how this effect sales of the two consoles.

Conspicuous by it’s absence, there was no talk about a release date. Many assume it’ll be released in November 2013, but we have nothing solid as of this time.

One PS+ Account for all 3 Platforms; Drive Club an Instant Play Title

Sony revealed that your PS+ account will work with the PS4 as well. Meaning your PS+ account will work on your PS3, Vita, and yes the PS4. Sony also announced Don’t Starve, Outlast, Secret Ponchos, and DriveClub PS Plus Edition will all be free to play in the upcoming months.

PS+ Necessary for Online Play with the PS4

It was also revealed that PS+ would become less of a luxury and more of necessity for the PS4. Gamers will need Sony’s premium service for online or multiplayer play. This is much like the XBox Live Gold for Microsoft. Once again, if you already have PS+, you are all set.

PS4′s Cloud Service will Launch in 2014

Gaikai, Sony’s cloud service, will launch in 2014. The service will allow streaming of video games on the PS4 and Vita. The service also allows for many other features first revealed at the PS4 Reveal Conference.

Gamplay Demos for Destiny, Watch_Dogs, and Assassin’s Creed

Ubisoft’s conference left us shocked about no new gameplay for Assassin’s Creed and Watch_Dogs. However, we found out why as they were there for the Sony’s PS4 conference. On top of that, Sony had the first gameplay footage of Bungie’s Destiny, too.

Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag

Watch_Dogs

Destiny

Games, Games, Games!

We also got a ton of games at the conference. Here’s some the trailers we for these upcoming titles on PS4.

The Order: 1886

Batman: Arkham Origins

Transistor

Final Fantasy XV

Kingdom Hearts 3

Killzone: Shadow Fall(Launch Date Title)

Knack (Launch Title)

Drive Club (Launch Title)

InFamous: Second Son (Q1 2014)

Want to see the live blog from the PS4 event? Click here and check it out!

Miss the Microsoft E3 conference? Click here for the recap!

Need to preorder the PS4? Click here!

Xbox 360 News

Is it made to be stacked underneath your Xbox One?

A new console is available today, it looks cute. It’s coming in a variety of flavors, a 4GB (no Kinect) edition running $199.99 and a 250GB model priced at $299.99 as well as a 4GB system that includes the Kinect that will cost $299.99. They will be making games for the 360 for at least the next year. It’s not a dead platform! Xbox Live Gold 360 subscribers now getting two free games a month including Halo 3 and Assassin’s Creed 2. The program will start July of this year. World of Tanks is coming to Xbox Live this summer on 360. Other new games for the next year – Max: the Curse of Brotherhood – it’s like Labyrinth – no date mentioned. and Dark Souls II in March 2014

Xbox One News

THE GAMES -

Ryse – Game play demo consists of what can only be described as a QTE filled Roman landing at the beaches of Normandy. In Ryse you play as General Marius Titus. Ryse is a Xbox One launch exclusive title.

Killer Instinct – Bringing me back to my 12th birthday in my local arcade. Mad Catz is bringing a fightstick to coincide with the console launch, so no worries about a bad d-pad.

Sunset Overdrive – Insomniac Games brought out an open world shooter that appears to be Mountain Dew’s hipster alternative to Left 4 Dead. Seriously, there was a record gun. A GUN that shot RECORDS.

Forza 5 – Turn 10 Studios brought a car to the show. You get a “driveitar” in the game. Forza learns how you drive and while you aren’t playing it plays other people in your driving style earning you credit in-game.

Quantum Break – The game involves a failed science experiment that broke time, causing it to freeze and stutter but you are immune to the effect.

D4 – A cell shaded game directed by Swery65 of Deadly Premonition fame.

Project Spark – A game creator that lets you create your own game with both the Xbox One and Smart Glass.

Crimson Dragon – remember Panzer Dragoon? It’s like that because it’s being made by a lot of the same people.

Dead Rising 3 – Play as Nick Ramos as you try to escape Los Perditos after a zombie outbreak. = Holiday 2013

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – You know it’s impressive and it’s on Xbox One.

Battlefield 4 – The demo is like the beginning cut-scene from Tomb Raider but with gun play. The Frostbyte 3 Engine sure does have a lot of particle effects. Battefield 4 is releasing their first map pack DLC “Second Assault” on Xbox One first.

Below – a top down dungeon crawler.

HALO 5 is coming… Sometime.

Titanfall – An FPS that has mechs, short burn jet packs and wall jumping. Coming in spring 2014 as a console exclusive.

Minecraft is coming to Xbox One.

XBOX LIVE ON XBOX ONE

Smart Glass allows you to see, in real time, your friends and their status in games compared to yours in a variety of metrics. You can upload game play after matches, as well as live Twitch.com streaming from the console whenever you ask. There is no friends list cap anymore. Xbox Live Gold is shared on your console to other family members but no details were given about this.

AVAILABILITY AND PRICE

Xbox One is launching officially in November.

Price – $499 US, €499 in Europe, and £429 Great Britain.

You can pre-order the Xbox One right now at xbox.com.

Be sure to keep up with us here at GeekLinkRadio.com as we find out more from E3.

Malc & The Fat Kid Movie Review is back! Join Malcolm and Ryan while they cover the latest movies and give their opinions on the latest big screen debuts.

This week it’s The Internship! Can Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson rekindle the magic from The Wedding Crashers? Find out!

Like Malc & The Fat Kid Movie Review? Check out other Geek Link videos on our Youtube Channel!

Like the review? If you’d like us to review a movie for an upcoming episode of Malc & The Fat Kid Movie Review, let us know in the comments below!

Miss the last Malc & The Fat Kid Movie Review? Click here for After Earth!

All this and more on this week’s Firmware Update!

Next week, Firmware Update teams up with the Geek Link to cover E3! If you haven’t heard them before, click here to hear their latest episode!

Want to see E3 Schedule, as discussed on the Firmware Update? Click here!

Your Firmware Update Hosts:

Malcolm Spinedi: (@CowardDuck)

Joe Garcia: (@Wons23)

Music

Intro - ”Eyes on the Prize” by George and Jonathan

Outro -  ”No More Lies” by George and Jonathan

Send us an Email

If you want to send us questions or feedback, email us at FirmwareUpdate@GeekLinkRadio.com

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Dance Dance Revolution Classroom Edition

• Partnered with United Healthcare, the American Diabetes Association, and the Let’s Move program.

Social Games

• MLB Dream 9 ported from Facebook to iOS with new content for the 2013 season.
• Puzzle Chasers co-published by Zynga
• Domo Jump by Kung Fu Factory will be out soon for iOS.
• MLB Live Challenge mixes fantasy and team management and is coming to facebook and iOS.
• Orange County Development Studio to make social Casino apps. (Slot Revolution and Casino League Texas Hold’Em)

Pro Evolution Soccer 2014

• New engine based on the fox engine
• 6 new aspects to the new engine
• True Ball Tech- better control of the ball from every direction. Including controlling the weight of the ball and player seperately.
• M.A.S.S. (Motion Animation Stability System) controls contact between characters in motions
• PES ID
• Team Play
• Heart- Used to capture the morale of the team playing at home and away. Team play and player morale fluctuate with how the team plays both home and away.
• The Core

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

• Darker tone with topics of race and revenge.
• More subdued Snake that gets things across through facial expressions and tone of voice over use of words.
• Takes place in 1984 when Snake is 49 years old.
• Kiefer Sutherland will voice Snake.
• ”I’m not a gamer and even I understood the legacy of these games” – Kiefer Sutherland
• Fox engine require captioned people instead of hand created people.
• Focused more on open world than stealth style gameplay.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2

• Dark and cruel story.
• Dracula (the main character) has new powers and abilities.
• Enemies have shields and armor you must break through.
• Players can traverse the games universe without loading times and feeling organic.
• No fixed camera.
• Set in a modern age.
• Releases winter 2013 on the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.

There you have it. The only real thing you need to take away from this is that the new voice of Snake will be Kiefer Sutherland. But if you want to suffer, you can watch it in its entirety on Konami’s YouTube channel.

McMahon Family Reunion

In, hands down, the biggest shocker of the night we saw a return in the form of the very awesome Stephanie McMahon. Kudos to her for returning to ring shape after three kids, McMahons don’t mess around on fitness.

Going into tonight, we were told we were going to get the rematch between Triple H and Curtis Axel, which Steph came to tell us was not going to happen. The reason being is that her husband is obviously not well, and is putting himself at risk. This… is a pretty compelling reason. Now here’s where I become ashamed to be a wrestling fan, because the crowd boos her out of the building… for trying to help protect Triple H’s health… great job guys. This brings out WWE Chairman Vince McMahon, who immediately asks people to stop booing his daughter. The WWE Universe then proceeds to boo him because they were hoping to see Triple H get another concussion. Seriously, I hate it when the WWE makes a point to show us what a-holes we are.

Now here is where it gets good, cause the McMahons start to turn on us. They call us bloodthirsty and point out how when Ryback attacked Kofi Kingston (Putting him through 3 tables), we didn’t care about Kofi and just chanted “One More Time!”. To which the crowd, like puppets, start chanting “one more time”. Really, WWE Universe? Vince stands by Stephanie and says not only will the match not happen tonight but it will never happen. (*Whispers* Except for the PPV.)

Triple H would later come on to show us how to be face by:

• Ignoring his wife’s pleas to listen to reason and think about his own health.
• Threatening to beat up his father-in-law for not giving him what he wants
• Ranting that he will get his match like a magnificent baby.
• Brings up beating up Vince while his grandchildren watch.

Hunter, how are you the face?! This isn’t even funny anymore, you’re a bigger jerk than Punk!

So as I hinted, we’ll probably get Triple H vs. Curtis Axel at WWE Payback. If the WWE isn’t dumb, we’ll get Curtis going over to continue his build. Of course, this is a Triple H match against a noob no less. So there is a chance Hunter will just put himself over to get his heat back after losing to Brock Lesnar. Regardless, it’s very interesting to see the McMahons back for this. They tell the story well that they still hate Heyman and his cronies while looking out for Hunter’s health. I’ll give this storyline a chance, even if I don’t think it’ll go anywhere.

Also, boo to Stephanie for her repeated comments that Axel “is beneath Triple H”. You’re supposed to be building the kid up, remember? Pointing out he’s midcard is not helping.

They’re Doing Something with Sandow!

In happier news, it appears Sandow is finally geting a storyline! A testament to how lacking the creative team is right now is that they just now have a storyline for Sandow, which is criminal. The WWE is a place where characters thrive, and I dare you to find someone more in character than Damian Sandow. (Upon saying the phrase “in character” I want to say that I’d love to RP with Damian Sandow. That would be epic.)

I wish I could say the WWE waited this long because they had this incredible storyline for him but no; it’s another dumb Sheamus story. You know the one, where they throw a heel at Sheamus just so he can get another PPV victory. Remember how people hated Triple H because he went over all the time, even when he didn’t need to win? Well, that’s Sheamus in the WWE now. Sandow will carry the build just for Sheamus to win at WWE Payback. That’s just how it is.

We’ve actually gotten some funny build here (again, thanks to Sandow) in the form of him challenging Sheamus to tests of intelligence.  The segments were very humorous though I had one issue. Sandow is supposed to be the smartest guy in the WWE, did he really need to cheat? I mean I know he’s a heel and all, but let him have one thing over Sheamus. The first segment was especially good, with Sandow avoiding a Brogue Kick since he knew Sheamus would “resort to violence”. Since then, not so great. He and Cody lost to Orton and Sheamus (with Sheamus pinning Sandow. Why watch the match now?). Then on the following Smackdown, after Sandow knew Sheamus would try to kick him, Sheamus kicks him… after telling him he’s going to kick him.

Well… it’s something, I guess.

Cody Rhodes Cryptic Tweet

Since the WWE really didn’t do too much this week, I thought I’d mention this tweet by Cody Rhodes from a few weeks ago.

“The first step is always the hardest” #ForwardMarch 7/24/2013

— Cody Rhodes (@CodyRhodesWWE) May 22, 2013

Most assumed he was talking about the WWE Money in the Bank PPV, and this was a declaration that he was winning. However, Money in the Bank is actually on 7/14/2013. Which brings up the next conclusion… he’s going to let his contract expire, and he is parting ways with the WWE.

Some may ask why, Cody is an awesome talent. That’s very correct. Cody became a must watch superstar with his feud with Rey Mysterio, when he gained that awesome mask, and got this supervillian gimmick. The character is still one of my favorite gimmicks and I have no idea why the WWE felt the need to end it when they did. However, Cody would go on to have one of the most meaningful reigns as IC champion ever. He even brought back the classic old school design that people still thank him for. He was a definite star on the raise, so how does the WWE thank him? They have him job to Randy Orton repeatedly and make him a lower midcarder.

Perhaps Cody is tired of waiting for the WWE to come up with something for him and has decided to journey out to find himself? It’s a shame because again Cody is an awesome talent and deserves better. If this is true, he’ll either head straight to TNA for a guaranteed push, or tour the indies and make good money for being a WWE guy. Either way, sucks he might leave.

Anyway, here’s hoping I’m wrong or the WWE comes to it’s senses. Oh, in case you think I’m reaching…

Today might be the day…might shave this thing…

— Cody Rhodes (@CodyRhodesWWE) June 5, 2013

Believe in Daniel Bryan!

I have a friend named Joel and he’s a huge wrestling nerd like me. Actually, he’s bigger than me since he used to be a wrestler himself (Even had a bout with legend “Macho Man” Randy Savage). I don’t get to see him that often, but when we do we of course go right into the state of the business. He usually asks me one question more than he realizes: “When are they going to push Bryan as a serious wrestler?”

Now, as I’ve explained, Bryan is being pushed. It’s easy to miss cause A) It’s a goofy WWE push and B) it’s a very gradual one. It’s a simple thing to miss, as he was part of some very goofy segments with Team Hell No. However, keep in mind this is the WWE, where humility goes to die. This is the same company where Vince McMahon (the owner) once pee’d his pants on live TV just to further a storyline.

So really you can’t feel like the WWE is treating Bryan with disrespect, it’s the same thing they do with everyone.

On top of this, Team Hell No are the total package. Not only are their matches fantastic, but I love to hear them talk too! Their matches with the Shield are my favorite things to watch every week. Plus, I don’t know if you notice, but they had a very lengthy reign as tag team champions going over 240 days! They brought back a lot of respect to those titles (which continue with the Shield) and that alone makes everything up until now amazing.

However, I do have some great news for Joel, as we appear to be on the cusp of a huge push for Daniel Bryan. D-Bry has started a new storyline where  (Since he lost the belts to Shield) he has started to doubt himself, and feels the need to prove to everyone that he isn’t the weak link of the team. The result has been some of the best Daniel Bryan moments in recent memory. His matches have been fantastic, especially his one-on-one with Ryback on RAW this week where it made him look like a million dollars. You really believed he had a chance, and to be fair, he did win. Listening to the crowd come alive whenever Bryan fought back, you have to believe the WWE realizes what they have in him.

Kane has been great with this angle too. Watching him interact with Bryan, you really do see the pain in eyes when he tries to console Bryan during his rants. It does a lot to make you buy the friendship of these two, and it’s going to make the eventual break up all the more emotional. There hasn’t been a break-up I’vs dreaded this much since since DX.

As for Bryan, I can honestly say I’m not too sure where it’s going. I mean more than likely, it’s a heel turn. Yes I know, he’s getting all these cheers and the WWE wants him heel. But hey, it worked for the Rock. Plus, who is Cena going to feud with after Ryback? Exactly, he needs something believable. However, we’re low on top faces too. A strong face push could happen. Either way, expect a lot of Bryan in the future.

So I hope you’re happy Joel. Punk’s still better though.

Miss the last WWE Report? Check out last week’s Sport Entertainment Weekly here!

Want to find out more about WWE? Check it out here?

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Halo Theme – Lindsey Stirling and William Joseph

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Want to see the first video we did that helped lead to these Assassin’s Creed 3 videos? Click here for our unboxing of the Wii U!

Malc & The Fat Kid Movie Review is back! Join Malcolm and Ryan while they cover the latest movies and give their opinions on the latest big screen debuts.

This week it’s After Earth! Malc let’s you know if Jayden Smith will be a star or not on this installment of Malc & The Fat Kid Movie Review.

Like Malc & The Fat Kid Movie Review? Check out other Geek Link videos on our Youtube Channel!

Like the review? If you’d like us to review a movie for an upcoming episode of Malc & The Fat Kid Movie Review, let us know in the comments below!

Miss the last Malc & The Fat Kid Movie Review? Click here for Now You See Me!

Malc & The Fat Kid Movie Review is back! Join Malcolm and Ryan while they cover the latest movies and give their opinions on the latest big screen debuts.

This week it’s Now You See Me! Fat Kid answers the question of should you see this one on this installment of Malc & The Fat Kid Movie Review.

Like Malc & The Fat Kid Movie Review? Check out other Geek Link videos on our Youtube Channel!

Like the review? If you’d like us to review a movie for an upcoming episode of Malc & The Fat Kid Movie Review, let us know in the comments below!

Miss the last episode of Malc & The Fat Kid Movie Review? Click here for Fast and Furious 6!

Super Mario Brothers is one of those rare things that lurks in your youth like a toy in the back of a closet in your parents house and when you dig it out you are immediately overwhelmed with nostalgia. In my case, that nostalgia was always coupled with the feeling of dread that I most likely would die 3 times before I ever got to world 2. I took this challenge for two reasons;

1. My friends still make fun of me for never beating it.
2. So does my wife.

It’sa Me! Mario!

And so, on the eve of my 31st birthday I took at trip back in time to 1989, picked up the controller and pressed Start. Feeling pretty excited, I ran Mario at full speed into the first Goomba in the game. My wife was watching me play, providing encouragement and tips (like the warp zone locations). The moment that I died she was less encouraging and more laughing her head off. None the less, I forged ahead. I got through both worlds 1-1 and 1-2 unscathed and decided to take the warp zone to world 4-1. I managed to traverse 4-1 and 4-2 no problem taking the warp zone to world 5-1. At this point I am flipping elated. I have never been this far in all of my life. Then my luck comes crashing down at the beginning of 5-2 as I lost another life to a Bullet Bill.

At this point I am getting all to familiar with this sound.

Once I regained my composure I got up to the warp zone at the top of the beanstalk. I traveled to world 8-1. This is a long level, so many Spinys. When I get to 8-2 I am freaking out. There’s so much pressure. I have one life, no idea of whats next, and I’m confused that I haven’t hit a swimming level yet. I managed to get the 1-up in 8-2 as I dodged Bullet Bills, Buzzy Beetles, Koopa Troopas, and Piranha Plants all the way to the end. Starting Mario off on world 8-3 I was startled by the many Hammer Brothers. I was used to seeing them only on multiple platforms, not on the ground, it made getting around them more difficult. It was a little too difficult because one of those jerks hit me, I died again. I was a world away and had only one life to my name. Having learned from my misstep I was able to get through 8-3 with my one remaining life.

Please press play for ambiance. 

This Is How The World Ends.

Having never been near this part of the game before, and only having seen it once years ago as a spectator, I had no idea what I was in for. With the castle theme music playing making me more and more on edge I proceeded. The first thing I found was that now the pipes can teleport you backwards!? Where has this been? Continuing on I go through the second pipe instead, of course I try going down each pipe until I’M BACK AT THE BEGINNING AGAIN! Miyamoto, you sneaky bastard. Realizing I couldn’t trust the pipes I had to go with my gut and instead of taking the next one in order I just take the last pipe. It takes me to a new room with Cheep-Cheeps, flying fish enemies that I haven’t had to deal with at all. I’m panicking because I hate these guys and still don’t trust the pipes. I take the last one at my wife’s direction and suddenly I’m underwater. the change of music to the water theme is more jarring than the environment. I have always been terrible at water levels in Mario games but this isn’t too bad. There are only 3 Blooper squid creatures and I get past them and the rotating arms of fire to face my nemesis.

Bowser, armed heavily with throwing hammers and his impenetrable shell, takes the offensive as I approach. Throwing his hammers left and, well really just to the left as he comes closer to me. I take advantage of his hurry by slipping in between him and where his hammers actually land. This makes him even more angry as he starts to jump. I dive underneath my terrapin opponent and get off of his poorly built bridge. Grappling for footing I bump an ax that Bowser seems to have left standing, unfortunately for him it falls directly onto the main support line that holds both his bridge and himself above a giant lava pool. As the line is cut and he begins to fall, I look into his eyes and see an expression of disbelief. Disbelief that he was bested by a simple plumber named Mario Mario.

I’m already feeling the Nintendo Thumb.

My Thoughts.

As you play Super Mario Brothers, you can see why Nintendo used it to introduce people to their console. It conveys a story without having to say anything, the creatures are bad, mushrooms, fire flowers and stars are good. The music sets up the feel of the game so perfectly that when you are in a castle or cave level you feel apprehensive. That Nintendo was able to do this with Mario in 1985 is amazing. If you can I highly advise you to purchase a copy and play it on the NES or buy the game on the Wii through the Wii Store or with the WiiU or the 3DS via the eShop. If you haven’t played it before, do. If you have, go play it again.

*Editor’s note: Super Mario Brothers was played through on the Nintendo Wii.

Talking points: PS4/Vita Remote Play across the board; SNAAAAAKE; E3 on Vita; Rayman Origins gets a Vita release; Limbo on Vita next week; Flower on Vita, too; Mirror’s Edge 2 one step closer to reality; a new studio from the ashes of LA Noire; PlayStation Plus update; Notch’s golden PSone; Curiosity; the Fast & Furious mythos; R&R.

Want to check out Malc and the Fat Kid’s review on Fast and Furious 6 as discussed on the Firmware Update? Click here!

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Malcolm Spinedi: (@CowardDuck)

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Gone Home is the first game created by The Fullbright Company, a four person team based out of a house in Portland, Oregon. Founded by Steve Gaynor, Johnnemann Nordhagen, Karla Zimonja in 2012 and later bringing in Kate Craig. They have set out to make a game that takes the world building mechanic of finding items that explain the back story in most games (think voxophones in BioShock Infinite) and make that the core of the game.

We were able to sit down to speak with Steve Gaynor and talk with him about the game and how games are best made.

Geek Link Radio: What was the origin point that started you towards making Gone Home?

Steve Gaynor: The beginning of the company and the beginning of the game were tied really closely together. I started the company with two other people who I used to work with down in California at 2K Marin. I worked with them on BioShock 2 and then I went to Boston for a year to work on BioShock Infinite, and it wasn’t really the project for me. Also, my wife and I weren’t super excited about living in Boston, so we decided to move back here to Portland. It’s where she’s from and I used to live here before I got in the games industry. Because Portland doesn’t have an established games industry, I knew that if I wanted to keep making games I would have to start from the ground up.

“Making Gone Home was really about how can we make a game that’s about story, exploration, atmosphere, and being in this immersive environment without it being impossible to build.”

I reached out to a couple of people I knew in California and they agreed to move up here to start the company. Coming from working in groups of 80 to 100 people the 3 of us had to think about what you could actually make. We knew we wanted to make something in the realm of the kinds of games we had made before, atmospheric first-person exploration games with a story in them. Gone Home was really an answer to the question of how do we make something like that with the people that we had. What makes us really excited about it is that the parts of projects that we’ve already worked on, that are the most inspiring to us, were stuff that’s usually kind of the sideshow. The part that comes after you shoot guys, gather loot, or complete quest objectives. Then along the side you find audio diaries or environmental storytelling that builds the story of where you are as you explore. We took the 10% of the experience that other games have and made it the core of Gone Home. The game is finding that story in the world. That isn’t something that we could have done in any other kind of development environment other than us doing our own thing.

GLR: Were you influenced by any other games in particular?

Gaynor: We all come from a Looking Glass background of System Shock, Theif, and BioShock. These games are much more about an immersive first-person environment and fully simulated physics. Both System Shock games are the closest inspiration for us because they are about exploring this non-linear space and finding distributed story throughout the scenes. For us it’s really subtractive from that, no weapons, no enemies, but our level fidelity will be better. With the smaller levels that we have in Gone Home we want to put a lot of care into our environments. In terms of structure and game play I think those are our biggest influences.

When it comes to the story of Gone Home, we focused a lot on the films, books, and tv of the setting, with it being set in the 90′s we re-watched the TV series My So-Called Life which is big inspiration for us, it’s from this character’s point of view and it’s very down to earth. The show makes it interesting to see the drama in the minutia in these characters lives. It’s interesting for us to be drawing from sources that are much more internal and tied to a relatable everyday experience that anybody that has grown up might have had versus the kind of context that the games that we were inspired by usually have in sci-fi or fantasy. It’s about making an everyday person’s story discoverable and making that interesting.

Steve Gaynor when he isn’t building worlds.

GLR: How did your experience working at Irrational Games prepare you to build your own studio?

Gaynor: It was a big inspiration for me to work with guys that made games that I really loved. There were people at Irrational that had worked on System Shock I, and II, and Thief. Working with people who had been directly involved in making those very seminal experiences and have continued to do so in the present, bringing those ideas into BioShock and BioShock Infinite was an experience that I was really grateful for because I learned a ton of things from them. Those guys have a lot of things figured out. The way they think about stuff is really interesting to watch, be in meetings with, interact with, and learn from.

Ken Levine left Looking Glass and started Irrational when he was 29 and I left Irrational to found the Fullbright Company when I was 29. I just feel that being around somebody that started their own thing and had taken it to such amazing places was an inspiration for me to try to do my own thing as well. In a lot of cases there’s only so much that you can do by trying to climb the ranks within an established organization. So part of the reason I left was because I felt it was time for me to do something that was completely my own thing and not anybody else’s. I am really glad to have worked on Infinite and have contributed stuff that was valuable, to have put my time to something that I think was worthwhile. But my time working on it made me realize that the kind of game that I want to make isn’t one that does take 150 people or more to make, or all the incredibly complex production issues to deal with. It made me want to focus on a game that did one thing and hopefully did it well.

GLR: Do you feel that a smaller more focused team has a better chance to make a better game than larger big budget team?

Gaynor: Quality is a really big word, there are production values that you really can’t achieve without a lot of money and a lot of people. Just as far as effects, characters, fidelity, and what you can put on-screen. There’s only so much you can do with a small number of people and not much money. On the other side of it I do feel that with a really big team with a lot of marketing expectations behind it, and that it needs to recoup a certain amount of money it is very difficult for it to do something that is focused and personal. However, one creative person may want to make one very specific thing and that may sell 10 million copies on Xbox or Steam, but I think that the place where those two desires line up is rare.

“I do think that smaller projects allow greater focus because you can say ‘I only want to make this game to look as big or is expensive looking or sell as many copies as it needs to in order to support the idea that mandated its creation in the first place.’”

I’d bet that with Gears of War that the final result was pretty much what Cliff Bleszinski wanted to make because he was really enthusiastic about making that kind of game and because it’s the type of game that could sell millions upon millions of copies. And that’s great, but the other side is that there are a ton of indie game concepts that are by their nature small and personal. You couldn’t even imagine how you would spend another 100 million dollars making them into a triple-A version of themselves. At that point you just change what the game is. I think that the balancing act is very hard and that the genre expectations are really hard too. Say you wanted to make a game that was personal and meaningful that connects with people and also has to fit into these specific genre expectations. For example, it’s a 3rd person shooter with a campaign that’s at least 8 hours long and has multiplayer, in the end those things will just be fighting each other for your attention as a creator.

I do think that smaller projects allow greater focus because you can say “I only want to make this game to look as big or is expensive looking or sell as many copies as it needs to in order to support the idea that mandated its creation in the first place.” But I definitely don’t think it’s impossible to have a big expensive triple-A game get really personal feelings from the creator across to the audience really effectively, I just think that it’s really hard to strike that balance in a way that the core of what the game is that appeals to a mass audience doesn’t reduce the human aspect that you’re trying to convey. Journey had something like 20 people who worked on it and I don’t know if it would have been the same if it had to be $60 and in a box with 150 people on the team. Journey was a game where the resources put behind it were commensurate with the idea that they wanted to get across. But once you try to put out a major release and put boxes on the shelves at Wal-Mart you don’t have the freedom to say that the game can be as small as the idea needs it to be, your game’s going to be big. It’s hard to find that balance of that idea that still connects with people but is big enough not to get smothered by the production.

GLR: Have you decided on a release date yet for Gone Home?

Gaynor: It’s going to be later this year, we don’t have an exact release date yet. We are just too far out to want to set a date. We would really like to be out before all of those big $60 games and new consoles and stuff just so we can actually get some people’s attention, but definitely before the end of this year.

GLR: Will Gone Home just be a PC release?

Gaynor: Windows, Mac and Linux. Because we’re using the Unity engine for Gone Home we can build for any of the platforms and we will be selling it through Steam. Once we have that version out we may start looking at putting it out on other platforms.

Thank you Steve for talking with us. You can follow his twitter feed here.

 First, A Quick Recap!

Extreme Rules Needed More Shield

Extreme Rules was pretty… um, well it was there. Thing is we never got any kind of resolution to anything. Ryback and Cena ended with no one being counted out, despite the fact people were in fact knocked down. The WWE seems to think we care about Triple H (or at least he does) way more than we do by giving us Trips and Brock last. We even got a crazy “I need to check the instant replay” moment, that led to an ADR victory. But really nothing happened in those matches. All that did offer was a lot of filler so the WWE doesn’t need to think to hard for next month’s PPV.

However, we did get bit of awesomeness with the above pic. Dean Ambrose defeated Kofi Kingston clean (with no outside Shield interference) to become the new United States Champion and Rollins and Reigns defeated Team Hell No to become the new Tag Team Champions. The Shield now all have gold. Now don’t let the status of the belts (though Team Hell No did a great job of making the tag titles relevant again) fool you, this is a big deal. This is the WWE putting the stamp of approval on 3 young talents. In fact, when you think about it the WWE is slowly but surely becoming the greatest indy fed ever. Think about it: CM Punk, Ambrose, Seth Rollins, Antonio Cesaro, Sami Zayn (El Generico), and Daniel Bryan are all here and putting on fantastic matches with more to come. This moment we all saw was, maybe, the beginning of a new era in WWE.

Enter: Curtis Axel

So with Brock Lesnar and CM Punk out of the picture for the time being, Paul Heyman has nothing to do. So I must give credit to the WWE, who could have just cut ties to Heyman. Thankfully I think they realize what they have with Heyman, so they decided to give him a new guy to manage. Many rumors came out of this: Shield, Ryback, and Mark Henry were all names thrown out there (though, none of those guys needed Heyman). But no, we were all fooled as the pick went to Micheal McGillicutty, now called Curtis Axel. This name was explained to be a way for him to honor his father (“Mr. Perfect” Curt Henning) and his grandfather (Larry “the Axe” Henning). Granted, a simpler way to go about it would have been to just have him go under his real name (Joe Henning), but the WWE likes making things complicated, I guess.

So despite the past jobber history of Axel, I can let that go. This is a new beginning for him with a new manager, new name, and a new theme. It’s a new guy, so I can pretend all that never happened. Heyman then talks him up nicely, so it’s looking good for him… until Triple H comes out. He then slaps Curt in the face and he falls on his ass…. I hate Triple H.

Triple H Is A Moron

So after almost ruining Axel before he got started, we had a match made between Triple H and Curtis Axel. If this was literally any other main eventer out there, I’d have been thrilled because I would have trusted them to put the new guy over. Not so much with Hunter, who proved me right. Oh Curtis went over, but you never knew that by watching TV. See, they never announced it. You had to go to WWE.com to find out, cause the show just ended. Really? We needed to protect HHH that much? But I digress, this is the tail end of the idiocy.

So leading up to the bout, we get a Triple H backstage segment. Some dude walks in and tells Hunter his doctor advised he not do the match due to injuries (A sledgehammer to the skull) at Extreme Rules. Hunter tells the guy to tell his doctor that if he says anything that he’ll be out of a job and his family will have no food. Yup, cause that’s what a face does… threatens a man’s family just for trying to protect his health. I hate Triple H.

So the match happens and Hunter does a great job of selling the injuries of the head trauma. That is until Triple H finally goes to the outside and can’t find a way back to the ring. He sells the injury like a severe concussion, which is in great taste. Cause it’s not like a major superstar missed a PPV because of a concuss- oh wait.

Last time Dolph was this annoyed, his hair looked like this.

So the match happens and Hunter isn’t exactly making this guy. Look WWE, you’re either going to try to make this kid, or you’re not. Him getting in there, getting destroyed, and him going over thanks to the main eventer having a heart attack isn’t cutting it. HHH and the other main eventers have to lose semi-legit, or else we’ll have Jack Swagger 2.0. I think Curtis could be something, but the WWE needs to give him something. Here’s hoping.

…And Now, This Week’s Stuff! 

Believe in The Shield Part 3

Back in the day, midcard titles meant something. See back then the WWE champion was the top draw, he was the guy that would get people to buy tickets. The IC champion, on the other hand, was the workhorse. He was often times the best worker on the roster and would give us the best matches. Now, it’s just an accessory meant as desperation to get someone over. However, there are times where it feels like the good old days.

All members of the Shield defended both belts this week as the former champions all got their rematches. Both matches were easily the match of the night and I don’t how Shield manages to do this every night. Honestly, I’m struggling to come up with a time they wrestled and weren’t match of the night. Watching Ambrose put on a clinic with Kofi reminded me of why I got into wrestling in the first place. Rollins and Reigns Tag Title match, as well as the story of Daniel Bryan’s internal struggle over whether or not he’s the weak link, was a PPV quality match. Honestly, I wonder if I should talk about it anymore. At this point, if they wrestle, we all know it’s going to be a great match!

The one thing I can critique them on is their story. Are we going to get an angle from Shield aside from “They’re just awesome”? It does look like we’re heading for Orton and Sheamus vs. Roman and Rollins, but I’m not sure what happens with Ambrose. Aside from Kofi again, who else is there? There really isn’t too many face mid card challengers that aren’t complete jokes. Oh well, time will tell.

3 Cena vs. Ryback Matches in One Night

So Cena made his return to the WWE and guess what?! Despite nearly being carried out on a stretcher, he was still laughing and goofy and… I hate Cena too. Anyway, he answers Ryback’s challenge for an Ambulance Match by making the match as over the top as you can get. It’s now a Three Stages of Hell match… which is an apt name for it as we now have to live through 3 Cena matches.

For those who don’t know, these matches are 3 specialty matches in a best 2 out of 3 falls. The first fall is a Lumberjack match, with wrestlers surrounding the ring to keep the other guys in the ring. The second fall will be a Tables Match, with the loser being the first guy to go through a table. Finally the mentioned Ambulance Match, where the winner stuffs his opponent in an ambulance. I’ll give the WWE credit; they are trying to make this match interesting.

Something to note, they are continuing to sell that Cena is fighting through injuries to do this match. Logically, you’d think this is setting up for Cena to lose, recoup, and then come back by say Summerslam to get his belt back. However, it’s Cena and logic doesn’t apply with him. Eh, when in doubt, Cena wins.

WWE pulling the trigger on Big E. Langston?

We also got an interesting segment as it pertained to a rematch between ADR and Big E. Langston. It seemed to be simple enough, with Alberto getting the win back from last week after some AJ interference backfires. Normally you just shrug and be thankful they gave Big E. an excuse as to why he lost (actually the WWE did a great job in making Langston look good in defeat). However, there were two things that made me think. First, the WWE commentators where going on a lot about “Now that Big E beat the number one contender, how long till he wants a title shot at Ziggler?” Interesting statement. Way to plant the seeds, WWE. Then after the match, we got a very annoyed Big E. walking out on AJ, who was pleading her case that she was just trying to help.

So is the WWE setting up for Big E to set out on his own? I hope not. Granted, I just mentioned that Dean Ambrose has no challengers for the title, but I still think the trio of Ziggler, Big E, and AJ still have some great moments… but at the same time, I’m happy for Langston. I think he’s great on NXT and he could do great things in the WWE. I look forward to what the WWE has planned, as Big E has legs to be someone. And for god’s sake, give him some mic time!

Paul Heyman’s Favorite Suit… and CM Punk

Folks, the nightmare appears to be coming to an end! The WWE will finally become interesting again as the return of CM Punk may be imminent.

Last night, Jericho (apparently done with putting over Fandango) had a special episode of the Highlight Reel with Paul Heyman. It was a good segment as both of them played off each other wonderfully. But then it got really interesting when Jericho brings up CM Punk and challenges Punk at the next PPV, WWE Payback.

First off, as great as the idea of another Punk/Jericho match is, the motivation for this one comes out of nowhere. Jericho’s reasoning being “He says he’s the best in the world, but he’s staying at home? That sucks!” Which is a pretty lame reason to start a feud, but I guess it comes down to do you want to a Jericho/Punk match or not?

Some important things to note, WWE Payback will be in Chicago. So if you’re expecting a heel reaction, think again. That is if Punk shows up. A popular theory is that Punk is going to no show and continue to do so till Rumble. So if he no shows, expect him to remain a heel as the boos will be defining. However, if he shows up, he’s pretty much instantly a face.  Which opens up possibilities, such as a Punk/Brock feud. Time will tell. But I will be honest, I am starting to look forward to WWE Payback.

The Count Out Kid

 So at the end of the Cena promo, Curtis Axel comes out and challenges Cena to a match because he’s young and hungry. As for said match (which main evented RAW), it has to be said that Cena did a tremendous job of making Axel look good. Yes, the ending was lousy. Yes, Cena kicked out of the Perfect Plex (ARGH!). However, the match was fine and Curtis looked like he belonged wrestling the WWE Champion.

However, what is with the ending? Curtis went over thanks to the easily bamboozled Cena being distracted by an ambulance. I guess the WWE   doesn’t want to jump to a pinfall victory for Curtis too soon, but if that’s the case why do it? Then again, maybe this is better. It wasn’t so long ago that I was complaining about how weird it was that Jack Swagger (How ironic that I use him as an example again) was main eventing a Wrestlemania when he was a jobber for so long. I guess it wouldn’t be realistic if all of a sudden he was pinning Cena and Triple H, so I guess I can forgive the ending… I still hate Triple H though.

It all depends on what the WWE has planned. It’s not a main title,  and not even the secondary title. I think the WWE wants to do right by him, hence the addition of Heyman. However, for once, I have no clue what you do with him. Time will tell, as the WWE continues to bring in more and more new talent. Speaking of which…

Meet the Family

Speaking of the WWE introducing new stars, allow me to introduce the Wyatt Family whose first promo video debuted on RAW. If you haven’t been checking out NXT (one of my favorite shows) you’ve really missed out. To describe it, it’s a small stable consisting of Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, and Erick Roman. Bray is is the leader and the whole stable has a fantastic cult feel to it, with a touch of creepy. Bray Wyatt leads Harper and Roman, who play the huge brainwashed muscle perfectly. The above video is but a mere taste of what’s to come, and if the WWE does this right, we’re in for some very interesting times.

Miss the last WWE Report? Check out last week’s Sport Entertainment Weekly here!

Want to find out more about WWE? Check it out here?

*SPOILERS*

The Geek Link (www.geeklinkradio.com) presents it’s walkthrough for Assassin’s Creed 3 and we hit every optional mission so you can get the Perfectionist Trophy/Achievement in Assassin’s Creed 3.

Sequence 12-2 is the final challenge! In this tough level don’t touch anyone, keep close to Charles Lee, and don’t touch the fire. Do this and congratulations! You got the Perfectionist Trophy/Achievement in Assassin’s Creed 3.

Stay tuned to this channel for more updates and video on Assassin’s Creed 3 right here at the Geek Link.

Miss the last Assassin’s Creed 3 video? Click here!

*SPOILERS*

The Geek Link (www.geeklinkradio.com) presents it’s walkthrough for Assassin’s Creed 3 and we hit every optional mission so you can get the Perfectionist Trophy/Achievement in Assassin’s Creed 3.

Sequence 12-1 is the beginning of the end. Limit your kills except for that ship captain, and remain undetected to get that Perfectionist Trophy/Achievement in Assassin’s Creed 3.

Stay tuned to this channel for more updates and video on Assassin’s Creed 3 right here at the Geek Link.

Miss the last Assassin’s Creed 3 video? Click here!

Your Podcast Hosts-
Cannonfodder- Average
Xalaga- Giggly
Smikey1123- Loopy

DCXM – Vengeful

Ending Music:

Badger Rap – Dan Bull

If you like the show, please subscribe to us on iTunes. Feel free to give us a five star rating, leave comments, and generally tell all your friends and family about us.

You can follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook.

We want to hear from you, so feel free to write to us with any questions, comments, or feedback to Geeklink@geeklinkradio.com and your responses could be read on the show.

Are you interested in joining our writing staff? Then head over to the About Us section and fill out the application.

Malc & The Fat Kid Movie Review is back! Join Malcolm and Ryan while they cover the latest movies and give their opinions on the latest big screen debuts.

This week it’s Furious 6! How over the top can they go with this one!? Can the Rock top the box office again?! Find out in this installment of Malc & The Fat Kid Movie Review.

Like Malc & The Fat Kid Movie Review? Check out other Geek Link videos on our Youtube Channel!

Like the review? If you’d like us to review a movie, let us know in the comments below and we’ll talk about in the next episode!

Admittedly, I took my sweet time in finally sitting down and beating Demon’s Souls. I pre-ordered it as soon as I heard reviews for it, played it for a bit… and I never made it past the first level. I guess I couldn’t figure it out and I just died over and over. What’s more, the first section of Demon’s Souls, you can’t level at all.

Yes, I’m afraid I’m one of those guys who levels up a bit before doing anything in Dark Souls. Honestly, I don’t understand why leveling is so taboo amongst the  community. In my experience, the leveling doesn’t make either Demon’s Souls or Dark Souls a cakewalk. For example, instead of a boss killing you in one hit, it makes it take 2-3, and that’s after I leveled up 20 times. You should still expect to have to pull off a lot of trial and error to understand and ultimately beat the boss, so in all honesty, I don’t get why more people just don’t do it more often (aside from just wanting a challenge).

Now I want to make something clear, despite giving up on Demon’s Souls, I still thought very highly of it. My being stuck was on me, not on the game. I still thought very highly of it and thought the difficulty I faced was more on me and not Demons Souls.

I digress, so I gave up on Demon’s Souls for awhile until Dark Souls was announced. For some reason, this clicked something in me. Before I knew it I decided I had to beat it before Dark Souls before it was released. I was back in Boleteria and finally beat the Phalanax at one level. I started making my way slowly but surely through all the bosses. I even lucked out and gained what would become my favorite weapon, the Dragon Bone Smasher. Then I got stuck on False King Allant for eons. However, I persevered and won. Soon after I beat Demon’s Souls. Yay me.

So triumphantly I purchased Dark Souls… and had history immediately repeat itself as I put it down again. To be fair, I had just gotten into video game journalism and I had had little time to stick with simply one game. So shortly after I had written my review of it, back on my shelf it went… until Dark Souls II was announced.

So here I am again, trying now to get through Dark Souls, and once again I am entrenched in the experience. So I thought it would be fun to write about my experience as I play through this very epic game. Also, the bosses at Geek Link won’t yell at me for mucking about on a game. In the industry, we call this a win-win.

So we start with the my favorite part of every RPG, the character creator. This statement, by the way, is dripping with sarcasm. I hate character creators. My first inclination is to make myself and I end up with the reminder that I’m no Brad Pitt. One time I asked the wife to do it for me in Dragon Age 2 and let me tell you… that was a mistake. Let’s just say my nose is bigger than I thought.

So I end up doing one of two things: 1) Just use the default character model, or 2) add a bit of myself into the character. For Dark Souls however, I try to make the character look evil. I usually do this by make the eyes red and darkening the areas around them to make the guy look evil. The idea is to make the character look as demonic as the baddies they’re facing. Sort of a psychological advantage… on creatures that aren’t alive and therefore psychology has no use on them. Well, I like using it.

Though to be honest, I don’t understand the need for a “character creator” in Dark Souls or at least for the stuff pertaining to your face. Most of Dark Souls you’re going to have a helmet on that obstructs the view of it and other times (unless you’re a bad ass player) you’ll be a Hollow. Sadly, this is nowhere near as cool as in Bleach since you become a mummy, and now look nothing like your character that you spent all that time creating. On top of that, there are very little cutscenes in Dark Souls and when there are, rarely is it focused on your face. It just makes the process (at least working for awhile on it) seem unnecessary.

There are two important parts to the character creation however, the first is picking your character class. Now they give you a few to pick from: Warrior, Wanderer, Knight, Thief, Bandit, Hunter, Sorcerer, Pyromancer, Cleric, and Deprived. Now for the most part, it doesn’t matter that much. The reason being that Dark Souls makes it easy to change your mind and make your character as you wish. For instance, let’s say you chose a Sorcerer and after awhile you decide that spells aren’t your thing. You can decide to build up other stats and focus on something else. Very simple.

However, if we’re talking about my opinion, Warrior is a great one for beginners. It’s stats are focused on swordplay (which is what you should focus on and learn in the beginning) while giving you some decent armor to start off with. It doesn’t make Dark Souls that easy, but it will help you out. The Pyromancer is also a great pick if you want some magic and some good weapons. Granted, the armor and weapons aren’t as good as the Warrior, but you get a great item in the Pyromancy Flame. This item (along with the spell Fireball) gives you the ability to use a fire spell at the start of Dark Souls, and while it’s use is limited, it gives you definite  advantage in the early going. Plus, the Pyromancy Flame isn’t powered by any of your  stats, meaning while you may change your focus and the Pyromancy Flame can remain an asset in you disposal. However, if you want a challenge, the Deprived Class is what you want. You literally start naked, with a lousy weapon. If you want to get stronger, you have to work your way up. A great class for the criminally insane.

Next is the starting gift, which is an item you can use at the very beginning. Tip right off: Ignore the disposable ones. You get your fill of those as you play. All the other items provide some kind of advantage, with the exception of one: The Pendant. True story, the pendant was invented as a joke and it literally does nothing. The director of Dark Souls, Hidetaka Miyazaki, had the item created and said in a interview “The player should pick the pendant or nothing to enhance their experience.” As a result, for a long time players picked the pendant and did everything they could think of with it to maybe find a secret to Dark Souls. Later however, Miyazaki would reveal that this statement was a prank to the players. No, seriously.

Your best bet is the Master Key. The key has many uses, including opening more than a few shortcuts in Dark Souls to make traveling easier (more on shortcuts later). It’ll give you an easier time of it for sure, that is if you’re looking for an advantage. IF that is what you’re seeking. You want a challenge, you can easily skip the gift. By the way, if you decide to take my advice on the Master Key, keep in mind that the Thief starts with a Master Key automatically. So remember to not pick it twice.

And with this, we begin our quest. So join me as I conquer Dark Souls! And by conquer, I mean repeatedly die till I just squeak by. Should be fun!

Want to study up on the lore of Dark Souls? I recommend checking out EpicNameBro’s YouTube channel. Very informative and he’s one of those players who make this look easy.

Talking points: The WCW cruiserweight division; next-gen horsepower; GTA V special editions; Freedom Wars; does anyone still care about Final Fantasy XIV?; Square Enix of America prez calls it quits; Super Stardust lives on; what about Mirror’s Edge 2 now?; Killzone: Mercenary won’t be brutalized by GTA V after all; your annual Need for Speed game revealed; Rhode Island selling Kingdoms of Amalur; play and download The Last of Us at the same time; PlayStation Plus; Xbox Won (for most confusing reveal)!; multiplayer and reboots.

Liked the news stories mentioned on the Firmware Update? We got them all thanks to Stealthy Box.com, so go check them out!

Your Firmware Update Hosts:

Malcolm Spinedi: (@CowardDuck)

Joe Garcia: (@Wons23)

Music

Intro - ”Eyes on the Prize” by George and Jonathan

Outro -  ”No More Lies” by George and Jonathan

Send us an Email

If you want to send us questions or feedback, email us at FirmwareUpdate@GeekLinkRadio.com

Follow us on your Twitter machine!

Check us out on iTunes!

With the inclusion of a Chocobo comment in the trailer, does this mean they will show the long awaited Final Fantasy Versus XIII? We will have to wait and see. What do you think of Square trying to reach out to the fans? Will this be enough to reconnect fans who are tired of the silence on some of their favorite games? Leave us a comment below and tell us what you expect from Square Enix this E3.

With his inclusion, a Disney Infinity 3 Pack including Randy, Syndrome, and Davy Jones was also created called the Villains pack. You can preorder this Disney Infinity 3-Pack on Amazon right now.

Disney then talks further on the upcoming Monsters University Playset:

Within the Monsters University play set, gamers can take on the role of Mike, Sulley or Randy to prank their major rivals at Fear Tech. Avalanche Software worked closely with Pixar to develop the look of Fear Tech’s campus, which makes its debut in the play set. The two universities must compete to see who has the most school spirit during the annual Fear-It Week. Key highlights include:

• Pranks, Humor and Customization: Players can utilize scare tactics to prank opponents and perfect the art of sneak attacks. They can also customize their own Frat Row buildings with a collection of colors, designs and decorations found throughout the play set. Students in the world come in all shapes and sizes and can be customized with wings, fangs, spikes, tails and other accessories. Bikes can be unlocked to perform stunts, tricks and other speedy maneuvers.

 

• Play Set: The Monsters University play set adds its own specialized game play mechanics and pieces to the Disney Infinity world, including unique gadgets such as the toilet paper launcher, paintball launcher, foam hand and the ability to ride on Archie the Scare Pig. These can also be activated in Toy Box mode which will allow players to create all-new prank challenges, build and customize worlds and much more.

 

• Toy Box mode: The trio of Mike, Sulley and Randy are able to interact with all of the previously revealed Disney Infinity characters from The Incredibles, Pirates of the Caribbean and Cars to create new and exciting adventures in customized worlds.

You can also check out a trailer for the upcoming Disney Infinity Playset below. So what do you think? Can’t wait to pulls some pranks? Let us know what you think in the comments below!

*SPOILERS*

The Geek Link (www.geeklinkradio.com) presents it’s walkthrough for Assassin’s Creed 3 and we hit every optional mission so you can get the Perfectionist Trophy/Achievement in Assassin’s Creed 3.

Sequence 11-2 is the final clash with our paternal adversary! Rush through the rooftops, and remain undetected! Keep your health up and you’ll get that Perfectionist Trophy/Achievement in Assassin’s Creed 3.

Stay tuned to this channel for more updates and video on Assassin’s Creed 3 right here at the Geek Link.

Miss the last Assassin’s Creed 3 video? Click here!

*SPOILERS*

The Geek Link (www.geeklinkradio.com) presents it’s walkthrough for Assassin’s Creed 3 and we hit every optional mission so you can get the Perfectionist Trophy/Achievement in Assassin’s Creed 3.

Sequence 11-1 is the last big naval fight in the campaign! Use those broadside cannons! Blow up those gunpowder rooms! Kill with your counter attacks on your way to a Perfectionist Trophy/Achievement in Assassin’s Creed 3.

Stay tuned to this channel for more updates and video on Assassin’s Creed 3 right here at the Geek Link.

Miss the last Assassin’s Creed 3 video? Click here!

Console:

• XBOX ONE – the other two don’t count

• 5 billion transistors, it’s likely that is a combined count from both video and system processors. This is the only processor that we found that had 5 billion http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xeon_Phi#Xeon_Phi MSRP about $2000

• 8gb ram

• USB 3.0

• 801.11n wireless with Wifi Direct

• 8 core CPU

• Blu-ray

• HDMI in and out ports

• 500 GB hard drive

• Console seems big – reminiscent of old stereos from the 70’s and 80’s, or Tivo st top box. Bigger is better since the “Slimming Lines” was what caused for the units to overheat and melt. More room…more air to circulate. Plus, it’s a BOX as it should be!

• Kinect comes with each console.

• No backwards compatibility including all Xbox Live Arcade tiltes. What’s going to happen with Destiny and Destiny pre-orders??

• Launching by holiday 2013.

• “Always ready and connected” – does this mean always online?

 Kinect:

• Voice operated power switch that knows your voice. Finally! after 5 years of waiting for it >_>

• Kinect binds you to the controller you pick up.

• 1080p camera in the kinect.

• 2GB per second reading.

• Kinect recognizes individual voices.

• Smaller camera.

• Reads user’s body heat and heartbeat.

• Recognizes the controller.

• Instant switching – switch between media by voice instantly.

• Universal gestures for switching between media.

 Controller:

• Look at that controller!? The design is very reminiscent of the “DUKE” controller from the original Xbox. Uses new integrated removable battery compartment.

• Triggers provide dynamic haptic feedback.

 Xbox Live:

• New area on home screen “trending”

• Remembers recent activity

• Skype will be on Xbox One including group video calls

• Same memberships

• Gaming DVR built in

• Achievement based on how you play.

• Snap mode allows for multiple apps to run simultaniously.

• Xbox One Guide – Search, favorites, and trending for TV with voice controls.

• Cell phones are controllers as well.

• ESPN partnership to include fantasy teams, scores, and highlights all while watching a game.

• Watch live tv through unit.

• Works with at least comcast.

• Changes channel based on voice commands of both channels and shows.

• Halo – live action television series to be helmed by Steven Spielberg.

• NFL is combining with XBOX ONE, Fantasy league stats are integrated.

• Will all NFL games be watchable regardless of local coverage? No idea.

• great, frames… hello 1996 internet. This will make using GameFAQs easier.

• XBOX Live will have 300,000 servers at launch of XBOX ONE.

• Asynchronous matchmaking will match you in games while you play different games, watch tv or movies.

 GAMING:

 EA:

• FIFA, Madden, NBA, UFC – all coming out in the next 12 months.

• New engine “EA Sports Ignite” provides true player motion, living worlds, 4 times the calculations per minute, and greater field of vision.

• Daily stream of new content on Xbox Live.

• New mode for FIFA 14 exclusive to Xbox One – Ultimate Team

 Remedy:

• Quantum Break is their new game.

• Choices affect gameplay and outcome.

• Young girl, Payton, has some kind of powers.

 Microsoft Studios:

• 15 exclusive games, 8 are new IP’s

Forza:

• Forza Motorsport 5 will be a launch title.

 Activision:

• All COD DLC will launch first on XBOX ONE.

• Call of Duty: Ghosts was announced.

• Call of Duty: Ghosts is made by Infinity Ward.

• Entirely new cast of characters and world.

• Written by Steven Gaghan.

• Features a new engine.

• Dogs are an actually cared about character.

• Dynamic multiplayer maps featuring earthquakes and player driven consequences.

• MP customization for your character.

Editors note: This article was a combined effort of Xalaga, Beezn, and Smikey1123.

*SPOILERS*

The Geek Link (www.geeklinkradio.com) presents it’s walkthrough for Assassin’s Creed 3 and we hit every optional mission so you can get the Perfectionist Trophy/Achievement in Assassin’s Creed 3.

Sequence 10-3 has you shooting platoons with cannons! All that plus saving hostages so you can get that Perfectionist Trophy/Achievement in Assassin’s Creed 3.

Stay tuned to this channel for more updates and videos on Assassin’s Creed 3 right here at the Geek Link.

Miss the last Assassin’s Creed 3 video? Click here!

Your Podcast Hosts-
Cannonfodder- Grumpy
Xalaga- Doc
Smikey1123- Sleepy

Ending Music:

Space oddity – Commander Chris Hadfield

If you like the show, please subscribe to us on iTunes. Feel free to give us a five star rating, leave comments, and generally tell all your friends and family about us.

You can follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook.

We want to hear from you, so feel free to write to us with any questions, comments, or feedback to Geeklink@geeklinkradio.com and your responses could be read on the show.

Are you interested in joining our writing staff? Then head over to the About Us section and fill out the application.

Talking points: Gran Turismo blowout; shirtless Joe Biden; Cyberpunk Monster Hunter: London; EA kills online passes; 1666 put on ice; shoddy attempts at faking Destiny on Vita; Citadel Noire; C-Wars coming to Vita; powerslam simulators; weekly Playstation Plus update; NextBox imminent; R minus R.

Liked the news stories mentioned on the Firmware Update? We got them all thanks to Stealthy Box.com, so go check them out!

Your Firmware Update Hosts:

Malcolm Spinedi: (@CowardDuck)

Joe Garcia: (@Wons23)

Music

Intro - ”Eyes on the Prize” by George and Jonathan

Outro -  ”No More Lies” by George and Jonathan

Send us an Email

If you want to send us questions or feedback, email us at FirmwareUpdate@GeekLinkRadio.com

Follow us on your Twitter machine!

Check us out on iTunes!

E3

• A separate Nintendo Direct will be released around the time of E3 informing of new Wii U content

 Mario & Sonic: Olympic Games

• Wii U game

• Enhanced Environment

• Detailed characters

• Will use Wii Remote + Controller

• Snowboarding and ice skating has been added.

• Curling will use the Wii Pad to share strategy

• Biathlon event: Cross country skiing and shooting, the player has to switch between controllers, depending on the strategy

• Free events have been added, able to do dynamic moves not possible in real life

• Also contains “Mix Events” that can be composed of Skiing , Snowboarding, skating and boat play [? count not understand the last word] All in one race.

• Release date: TBA

 Nintendo and Sega Partnership

• Nintendo has entered a partnership with Sega.

• Soon to be released on the nintendo market, a collection of sega games.  A few of the Game Gear’s games have been released and more are coming soon.

 Sonic: Lost World

• Action Platformer

• Coming to the 3DS and WiiU

• Release date to be determined.

 Zelda Oracle of Ages and Zelda Oracle of Seasons

• Coming to Nintendo 3DS on May 30th

• When you play both, the games have a link system that will open different bosses and more.

• Regular Price on the E-shop $5.99 each

• If you purchase between May 30 – Juno 20 the price will be $4.99 each

 Donkey Kong Country 3D

• 8 new levels to unlock

• These stages can be unlocked through “new mode” which contains new items to help you through the original levels. Original mode will let you unlock them as well.

• Available May 24th

 Animal Crossing New Leaf

• Available June 9

• New Animal Crossing set for Puzzle swap in the Mii Plaza

 Game & Wario

• Coming to the WiiU

• 2-5 players, but only 1 gamepad is needed.

• Launch Your Fronks, Patchwork, and Kung-Fu are a few of the games featured.

• Launches on June 23rd for $39.99

 Resident Evil: Revelations

• New content and difficulty, Inferno, are in the WiiU version.

• Hank and Rachelle have been added to the Raid Mode.

• Full game is available in Off-TV Mode.

• Launches for both physical copies and on the WiiU e-shop on May 21st.

 New Super Luigi U

• Mario doesn’t make an appearance.

• Play as Luigi, Blue Toad, Yellow Toad, and Nabbit in multiplayer.

• Available for download on June 20th in the WiiU e-shop for $19.99.

• Will have a special standalone version that doesn’t require New Super Mario Bros. U.

• The standalone version will be available on disc on August 25th for $29.99.

 The Wonderful 101

• Launches for the WiiU on September 15th.

 Pikmin 3

• Alph, Brittany, and Charlie are the main characters.

• Players can only complete tasks during daytime hours in game.

• Areas are saved in days, allowing you to retry days to get better results.

• No limit to the number of days.

• Gamepad, called KopPad in this game, has your map using “fog of war” for unexplored areas.

• Scrolling the map on the KopPad shows you the detailed areas on the TV.

• Compatible with the Pro controller.

• Off-TV Mode will be available with the Gamepad. You can also use the Wii remote and nunchuk and have the monitor be the Gamepad.

• Launches August 4th

 Nintendo and Best Buy partnership

• Select Best Buy’s will have unreleased WiiU games for players to try during the week of E3.

Malc & The Fat Kid Movie Review is back! Join Malcolm and Ryan while they cover the latest movies and give their opinions on the latest big screen debuts.

This week it’s Star Trek Into Darkness! Can the Star Trek sequel rekindle the magic of  it’s predecessor? Find out in this installment of Malc & The Fat Kid Movie Review.

Like Malc & The Fat Kid Movie Review? Check out other Geek Link videos on our Youtube Channel!

Like the review? If you’d like us to review a movie, let us know in the comments below and we’ll talk about in the next Malc & The Fat Kid Movie Review!

First of all, Defiance is for those of us that like to play with others. If you enjoy getting a party of people and doing things together, this is the game for you. If you enjoy playing the game often and having the content change, then this is the game for you. If you like to play solo and be able to pick up where you left off while maintaining the same level as everyone else? Maybe you might want to pass on it. Defiance is an ever changing, ever evolving world that has kept me captive for longer than I expected. My first time in the game was a bit overwhelming. They do have a tutorial, but at the time, I don’t know if I was rushing through it or was not paying attention enough, I didn’t get some of the key elements I needed. In part this was due to the fact that the controls are extremely intuitive and thus I didn’t pay enough attention. If you have played Borderlands or games like it, you’ll find that you can pick up the game and find yourself shooting, reloading, jumping, looting, etc. The “Start” button takes you to the characters menu, weapons, modifications, stats, and much more. The Back button is the map. D-pad right opens an on screen menu so you can add people to your party, clan invites, join the que for matchmaking, co-op maps, and even visit the Defiance store. D-pad left opens a menu for emotions you can do with your character to say “Hi” to other players and even dance. Seriously, no MMO is complete without the /Dance command! But since this is a console version, the D-pad handles that side. The menus are easy to navigate, as you can use the bumper buttons to go back and forth. Sadly, at first you find yourself lost with where is what and why. One easy rookie mistake is how to add points to your Ego powers and how to equip them. Defiance’s Ego power is like a perks menu. You gain Ego [aka XP] as you play the Defiance. You can then add points to different Ego powers. The Ego powers are divided into four categories: Overcharge, Blur, Cloak and Dekoy. Each give you special abilities that will fit your game playing style. Only one Ego power can be equipped, but since Defiance has more than one load out, you can mix and match while fine tuning what you want to use with specific guns. But how do you get to the Ego powers? This is where the problem came in. It was easy to figure out that by using your right stick to move between the guns and pressing “A” you can change them. Pressing the D-Pad to the right sends the gun to the right of the screen so you can compare with the other guns. Now, it was not intuitive that you can go to the right, on the main menu, next to the guns and select Ego Powers.  I also unlocked Ego powers and did not equip them. It wasn’t until I realized that the boxes were empty, for me to read the bottom of the screen and see that I had to press “A” to equipped. Once equip  it puts an “E” on it and it shows in the main menu. Explaining it now makes me feel dumb, if I have read the bottom line this would have clued me into the equip part, but getting the mindset away from console games where they spoon feed all the information to a more MMO approach, has been a bit of a challenge. 

The good news is that it can be done! In no time I had changed my guns, compared them to the best I had, equipped all of my Ego Powers, changed my outfit and head gear, and two weeks later realized that Matchmaking outfits can be changed and are different.  Yes, I am constantly learning new things in Defiance, but I feel it is going at the same pace as any MMO. It usually takes some getting used to, but mostly your friends will guide you through the commands and keys you need to use in order to equip items, looting, etc. 

Defiance has a ton of things you can do in it.  Dailies, Weeklies, Episodes, side quest, main quest, time trials, deathmatch, co-op maps (up to 4 players), Shadow Wars (capture territories like game) and much more. One thing to note is the episodes missions. These are usually linked to what just happened for that week in the show, and they are only available for that week. It goes without saying that the show and the game are set in the same space and time. The Episodes in the game coincide with the show with quest you must do. For the Pilot, one of the biggest scenes was celebrating “Armistice  day,” which is the day that marks the end of the “Pale Wars” that almost destroyed the planet. In the game, you were able to join celebrations around the entire map and dance with the locals. In the game you always fight Hellbugs, and they were introduced in episode 3 of the show. While the viewers were finding out about this creature, the gamers have a wealth of knowledge about them. In episode 4 of the show, we find about Adreno (a drug) while in the game we encounter instances where we have to face bad guys under the influence. Many a time the tv show will mention characters that you have only seen in the game and vice versa. They have a symbiotic relationship and cross-over in small things, like mentioning characters and such to having full events. I would like to go more into depth, but I fear that I will bring even more spoilers than what, perhaps, I have already said.  Don’t worry, they are not that big of a spoilers. 

Graphics are less than what you’d expect, since we know what the xbox 360 is capable of. With that said, I really don’t like to review games based on the graphics, as I don’t play them based on how realistic or how much lens flare they contain.  Yes, those are pretty and games like Heavy Rain benefit from it, but that is not the reason why I buy games. My main reason is fun. A game that can grab me to the point that it makes me think of it while I’m at work and makes me wish that I was home playing instead of anything else. Defiance has been this type of game for me, where it has been so much fun to play that I am constantly checking to see what the new dailies are and how to achieve them in the short amount of play time I currently have. Yet I have managed to squeeze 49 hours by the time of this review, and I’m sure I’ll clock in even more over the days ahead. 

One of the most stellar things I have seen is Trion’s response. They have kept an open line of communication with the gamers, making sure that they are heard and they feel heard as well.  After each episode of the show, Trion takes to Twitch.tv to broadcast live a half hour-ish show called “Across the Badlands.” If you join them on the live chat, you can win copies of the game or get questions answered. You get a recap of the show, how this is going to affect the game, and contests that are usually run an hour after “Across the Badlands” have aired. They also have their own blog, where they post a comprehensive list of what the patches they will release are going to be, talk about the Season Pass, and future DLC’s. The twitter feed has been very useful to know when the patches are going to drop and what they fix.

 They also have a very active forum and a reddit community at r/Defiance. If you don’t want to partake in any of those, you can live chat with a Trion GM. They are very polite and quickly able to help you fix most of the problems you might encounter in game or out of it. I know this, because I used it.  The support net they have put on top of this game reminds me of Riot and how they handle the enormous fan base that League of Legends has. 

Defiance took pages from various games, broke the mold, reshaped it and partnered up with Sci-fy to do something no one has dared to do before. With the renewal of the show for a second season, I can only imagine that Trion will keep delivering new ways to play the game and learn more about what is going on with the show. If you are looking for a fun game to play with your friends, for an MMO you can play from your couch, or you simply like the show, Defiance is the game that will give a Shtako load of things to do.

Read about Defiance: The Show review or go learn more about the show and the game from Defiance.com. You can listen to The Geek Link Episode 61: A Man Down for more on Defiance.  With the renewal of Defiance for a second season, I hope you start getting caught up with the episodes.  Leave us a comment and let us know what you think about the show…

Thanks to McNarnia for supplying the pictures (PC version).

*SPOILERS*

The Geek Link (www.geeklinkradio.com) presents it’s walkthrough for Assassin’s Creed 3 and we hit every optional mission so you can get the Perfectionist Trophy/Achievement in Assassin’s Creed 3.

Sequence 10-2 has you killing messengers in minutes while never touching the ground.
Don’t be lethal with those Native Americans so you can get that Perfectionist Trophy/Achievement in Assassin’s Creed 3.

Stay tuned to this channel for more updates and videos on Assassin’s Creed 3 right here at the Geek Link.

Miss the last Assassin’s Creed 3 video? Click here!

Defiance. Where to even start? The definition of the word defiance is “open resistance; bold disobedience.” I believe this is both true about the show and the game. Another word that should come to mind when you hear people talk about Defiance is ambition. This whole world is beyond the scope of what we consider to be standard in both TV and video games. Sadly, it has received mixed reviews and the scores are all over the place. So I’ll tell you the reasons why you should perhaps avoid the show and/or the game like a plague of Hellbugs, or give it a chance.

Syfy has done a marvelous job at presenting the story of Defiance to us in a way in which you really don’t know what is going to happen at the end of the season. How many shows have you watched where the pilot (be it one hour or two hours long) lays out the entire arc in front of you? Nearly all of them. You know who these characters are, why they are the way they are, where are they going, why are they going that way, and the rest is just watching it happen. There is nothing wrong with this format, but sometimes it gets old. One of the many things Battlestar Galactica did right was the first episode. Something happened, we don’t know what or why. These people are in trouble and you have a feeling that artificial intelligence might be the reason, but at the end you are left with more questions than answers and you wanted to watch more. Defiance started the same way, which is not strange given that some of the writers and producers of BSG are working on this show. It opened up with two likable characters, introduced a town, what is going on, some of the economy, the archetypes, and who is boss. At no point did it feel overwhelming or confusing.  It had enough information to make me want to know more and watch the second episode. The keyword there is “enough.” As Coco Chanel would say “less is more,” and in this case Defiance did a wonderful job at showing just how that is achieved in a pilot. 

But enough about execution, what is the show about? Simple. Things that go bump in space, bump with the earth. Fast forward to 2045 and we barely come out, sort of victorious, with no full human extinction. We also find out that not all alien races are bad, so now we hang with them and fight against the bad aliens. If this sounds familiar, well, that’s because you like Sci-fi and have watched a lot of it. The intricate parts come with character development, what happened since the first alien encounter, how did we survive, how did we make alliances with the different aliens, why are different aliens on earth, and why are they on our side? Where did the rest of the humans go around the world? Why did the different plants, animals, and earth change? What is Terraforming? etc, etc, etc. The show focuses on the town of Defiance named after the monumental “Battle of Defiance.” The town is actually Saint Louis, and you know this since the iconic arch is still, sort of, there. I could go on, but I really don’t want to spoil things. Given that you find the location of the town not a spoiler as you figured out from the preview that the arch looked familiar. I really wish I could go into much further details about the plot, but I feel that some of the magic of this show is watching it and being surprised as to what you are about to see.  Explaining further, I feel, will rob you of that experience. 

Most tv shows suffer from the “second episode blues;” it wasn’t as good as the first, but it does tie some loose ends from the pilot and perhaps hints at or starts a story arc. Once again, they did not stick to that formula. The show boldly disobeys tradition and instead showed us more about the town, a deeper look into the characters and no neat little plot knots were made. More questions were added and I wasn’t even mad! 

Now, once you start watching the Defiance, you’ll be greeted by a heap of familiar faces. Starting with the Mayor of the town played by none other than Julie Benz. You might remember her from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the voice of Miranda Keys in Halo 2, and Dexter, among other things. As the mayor of Defiance, you’ll not only see her often, but watch as she grows into her new role.  With her is Mia Kirshner who has had a very interesting career, “Not another Teen Movie” and “The L word” are some of the things you might have seen her in. Her character, Kenya, is an interesting mixture of good and evil as she runs the local brothel named “Need, Want.” Kenya has a heart of gold and I can tell you that she’s quickly becoming a fan favorite among the viewers. Grant Bowler is also on this show, playing the Lawkeeper Jeb Nolan. You might remember him from True Blood as well as Ugly Betty. He brings a kinder, crazier, relaxed type of personality to his character. Someone who has been forced to be go through hard situations, but he would have rather done something else instead. A noble man, with a code, which is why he becomes Defiance’s Lawkeeper. Datak is played by Tony Curran, who is known for Underworld, League of extraordinary Gentlemen (Great comic book, horrible movie),  and the voice of Capt. MacMillan in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Datak is another character that will pull you in both direction as you want to like him, but you want to hate him as well. Tony, as well as Jaime Murra who plays Datak’s wife Stahma, have done a extremely well job at playing their roles as they have infused glamour, mystery, and majesty to the Castithan’s race.

The Scifi channel or SyFy (pronounced “See-Fee” >_>) has done a wonderful job at having the pilot, and all episodes, since they released, available on their website and/or Hulu. For those of us that do not have a cable box, this is amazing and I wished more shows would do this. I can’t emphasize enough that you should watch this show. It’s not complicated, and have left some with a “meh! not bad…not great” sort of feeling, but so did Battlestar Galactica and look how that turned out! It has potential. I tried to watch “Fallen Sky”, a show that tends to be compared to Defiance, and it just didn’t not grab me, but Defiance did. The future of the show is a bright one as it has done really well in the ratings and that is huge. Sadly, Defiance will only be a 13 episode season, which can be good or bad. The good part is that there is a game that you can play while you wait for season two.

Read Defiance: The Game review and go learn more about the show and the game from Defiance.com or you can listen to The Geek Link Episode 61: A Man Down for more Defiance.  With the renewal of Defiance for a second season, I hope you start getting caught up with the episodes.  Leave us a comment and let us know what you think about the show…

*SPOILERS*

The Geek Link (www.geeklinkradio.com) presents it’s walkthrough for Assassin’s Creed 3 and we hit every optional mission so you can get the Perfectionist Trophy/Achievement in Assassin’s Creed 3.

Sequence 10-1 has you tackling some dude from above! Then use two guys as a human shield so you can get that Perfectionist Trophy/Achievement in Assassin’s Creed 3.

Stay tuned to this channel for more updates and video on Assassin’s Creed 3 right here at the Geek Link.

Miss the last Assassin’s Creed 3 video? Click here!

Lost Planet 3, published and developed by Capcom, is their third installment in the series, only this time they are doing things a bit differently. Unlike the previous two Lost Planet games where you played as nameless soldiers, mercenaries or pirates, Lost Planet 3 gives their new campaign a  protagonist -  a face, a name and a back story.

Welcome Jim Peyton to your screen! A rig pilot from Earth that left for E. D. N. III to make money so he and his family can survive back home. Peyton seems to only be interested in making fast cash so he can return home before he’s supposed to. However, in his efforts to help the NEVEC army collect the planet’s resource of Thermal Energy, things go terribly wrong.  Peyton does whatever job he can to earn enough credits to get home but he uncovers hidden truths about E. D. N. III and its history with NEVEC, thus realizing there is more going on than meets the eye. (Information obtained from Lost Planet 3‘s official website.)

Lost Planet 3 will be released on August 27, 2013 for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC. The game takes a turn from its traditional shooter type to an action, adventure game. Playing in third person as Jim Peyton, this new game style allows for game play that is reminiscent of the Gears of War series. You can now take cover, shoot from behind cover, aim grenades and have up close and hand to hand combat. The game still shows the tension between the Snow Pirates and NEVEC, but now we find out why. Additional enemies include various types of Akrid; this game introduces new types such as, “Spitters” and “Fire Wasps” as shown in this game play recording by IGN.

Lost Planet 3 will also allow four mulitplayer modes and six maps at launch. Two of the game types have been revealed as Scenario and Akrid Survival. Scenario multiplayer mode enables eight players, two teams of four, to compete as NEVEC and Snow Pirates in an offensive, defensive mode where one team’s objective is to destroy something while the other team defends it.  In Akrid Survival, there are two teams of three fighting off waves of Akrid in separate areas of any given map. At the end the two teams are then brought together to fight against each other.  The below video from Polygon.com shows game play of  Lost Planet 3‘s two multiplayer modes in action. Don’t worry, you still get your grappling hook to get to advantage areas and grapple your enemies. However, in the single player campaign, the grapple hook will not be seen as much.

If the game play strikes you as interesting, remember to pre-order your game. Bonuses for pre-ordering Lost Planet 3 depend on which retailer you choose to pre-order from. Getting Lost Planet 3 from GameStop entitles you to the “Freedom Fighter” Pack, five playable characters for multiplayer mode and two rig upgrades. Pre-order from BestBuy includes three additional weapons and two rig upgrades. Pre-order from Amazon.com and get three additional weapons and two rig upgrades. Pick the location that has the coolest pre-order gear and I’ll see you in the frozen mountains of E. D. N. III, this August!

*SPOILERS*

The Geek Link (www.geeklinkradio.com) presents it’s walkthrough for Assassin’s Creed 3 and we hit every optional mission so you can get the Perfectionist Trophy/Achievement in Assassin’s Creed 3.

Sequence 9-4 has you chasing within 500 yeards of a ship while avoiding rocks in the water. Kill 3 guys quick so you can get that Perfectionist Trophy/Achievement in Assassin’s Creed 3.

Stay tuned to this channel for more updates and video on Assassin’s Creed 3 right here at the Geek Link.

Miss the last Assassin’s Creed 3 video? Click here!

Your Podcast Hosts-
Cannonfodder- The Sith
Xalaga- The Jedi
Smikey1123- The Space Cowboy

Ending Music:

BIOSHOCK INFINITE RAP | Dan Bull

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Malc & The Fat Kid Movie Review is back! Join Malcolm and Ryan while they cover the latest movies and give their opinions on the latest big screen debuts.

This week it’s The Great Gatsby! Is this remake worth your time, Old Sport? Find out in this installment of Malc & The Fat Kid Movie Review.

Like Malc & The Fat Kid Movie Review? Check out other Geek Link videos on our Youtube Channel!

Like the review? If you’d like us to review a movie, let us know in the comments below and we’ll talk about in the next Malc & The Fat Kid Movie Review!

Talking points: Batgirl in Injustice; Star Wars crosses over to the Dark Side; Sony figures out how to make money; Studio Santa Monica’s mystery project; Gran Turismo 6 closer to reality; Ubisoft fires Assassin’s Creed creator; Sony announces three new indie games; Firmware Update: The Game; the Wolfenstein no one asked for; PS2 is super officially done; Plants vs. Zombies 2 doesn’t have the best subtitle; a new Vault Hunter for Borderlands 2; ¡arriba, Guacamelee!!; May’s PlayStation Plus outlook; Slayer or Uncharted?; laziest listener; gaming habits.

Your Firmware Update Hosts:

Malcolm Spinedi: (@CowardDuck)

Joe Garcia: (@Wons23)

Music

Intro - ”Eyes on the Prize” by George and Jonathan

Outro -  ”No More Lies” by George and Jonathan

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Triple Threat Ladder Match Set to Steal the Show

At WWE Extreme Rules, it’s Dolph Ziggler vs. Jack Swagger vs. Alberto Del Rio for the World Title in a Ladder Match. I admit I was pretty “meh…” about this one, but over time I’ve come to realize a few things. All three guys are great. ADR has been a breathe of fresh air as a face, and the chemistry with Richardo has kept him from becoming one of the default faces (I’m looking at you Sheamus and Orton) who’s only distinguishing trait is that’s he’s a face. Swagger is a moron, yes, but he still looks viscous in the ring and is actually fairly agile for a big man. Ziggler continues to impress me each and every week as he and the Shield trade off on having the match of the night every RAW. Plus Dolph is still the best seller in the business. Add all this plus the fact all three have something to prove to the WWE, and we could have the PPV’s Match of the Night.

Last RAW, it was Swagger’s time to shine. He caused a DQ ending to what was a very nice match between ADR and Ziggler and laid everyone out with a ladder. I’m sure we’ll have a similar shine sequence with Ziggler and ADR leading up to the PPV, which is standard. However, I do wish the WWE did a better job promoting this match. Did anyone else catch the defeat in Zeb Colter’s voice as he had to be the one on the commentary team to bring up that all three guys won MitB? Zeb is supposed to be a heel, so he shouldn’t be talking up the competition; but Cole and company have now missed this point for 2 weeks so what was Zeb to do? God forbid the commentary team remember anything important.

Mark Henry Whips the Sh** out of Sheamus

Sheamus (as boring of a face as he is) is a great wrestler. I do like his look and his barbaric style. On top of that, he’s the only guy in the WWE to have battle damage. See, thanks to the fact he’s the whitest thing not only in the WWE but on the planet, touching him leaves a mark. Heck, poke at him hard enough and it’ll look like he just got shot. So you can imagine what it looks like when Mark Henry goes nuts on him and whips him like the proverbial government mule. Actually, you don’t have to imagine, I put the picture of it up.

The moment came when Mark Henry got Brogue Kicked by Sheamus because Sheamus is a giant five year old who expects no consequences for his actions.  So Henry gets pissed off and grabs… someone’s belt. Yeah, after seeing wrestlers reach for chairs, steps, or a ladder for so long; a belt seems a little weak. However, Henry and Sheamus did a great job of making this look like the most brutal whipping ever made. So bad, I nearly called social services.

So it looks like Sheamus vs. Henry will be a Strap Match. One thing for sure, these two are going to beat the living hell out of each other. So for those of you who love stiff matches, this is your match.

Last Man Standin- Oh Whatever.

Okay, I think I’ll be very direct about Cena stuff from now on. The reason is his stuff is very black and white and by the numbers. In other words, everything he touches turns boring (unless it’s CM Punk because…awesome). So just some bullet points here:

• I love what Ryback has done with his heel persona. It’s like he decided “Okay, if Cena wants to be the hero to all children; I’ll be their bully” and it works! I even love how “Ryback Rules!” is his answer for everything! I think he’s going to be something great in the WWE one day, after he’s done jobbing to Cena. 
• Their match at Extreme Rules is now a Last Man Standing match, which they did a good job of making that look like it could be an issue for Cena as standing “shouldn’t” be easy for him.
• Cena already flushed the suspense down the toilet however, as he’d been tweeting about how his heel felt great and even ran down to the ring. You’re a true credit to the WWE, Cena. ~_~;;;

Great Khali – Undercover Super Spy

So in a bit a plot twist that kind of proves that the writers for the WWE are terrible people, a strange addition was made to the Kaitlyn secret admirer storyline. It appears that Natalya and Kaitlyn are best friends as she enlists her boyfriend The Great Khali to go undercover and find out which guy is the admirer. I say they’re terrible because Khali can’t speak English. He sounds like Andre the Giant after he bit his tongue. So he’s now being put into these speaking roles because that’s funny. This is the same WWE that has that anti-bullying campaign, right?

I’m sure this will be funny, as Khali has done a huge 180 of his original character and now is a completely comedic character. I remember him destroying John Cena on Saturday Night’s Main Event shortly after his debut. Now he’s getting the tar kicked out of him by guys like Fandango on a weekly basis. I’d feel bad for him, if it weren’t for the fact that he’s rubbish. He’s kept around for two reasons:

A) He is a huge man and that simple fact makes him an attraction.

B) Kids actually like this guy and kids are the big demographic for the WWE.

I’m sure this whole thing will be fine, and hey it gives a storyline to the Divas, so yay them. But I have to ask one thing. If I’m understanding this story, the dude has Kaitlyn’s phone number and she still doesn’t know who this guy is…. and she’s fine with it? I’m pretty sure a lot of horror movies began this way. Just saying.

Antonio Cesaro Drops Pipe Bomb?

In a curious moment on RAW, Antonio Cesaro took on Zack Ryder. The match is notable for two reasons. First, it ended the losing streak of Antonio as he massacred Ryder. However the real interesting moment came after the match, as he grabbed a mic and shat on the WWE. Now, it’s not a moment like the CM Punk pipe bomb of 2011, but you could sense his frustrations and belief in his own words. He made it known that he is the best in WWE, and he puts the W in WWE. Whether he means World or Wrestling, I’m not sure as both work. So probably both.

So could this be the start of something great for him? I hope so. The man is loaded with talent and has had great matches with everyone he’s been with. Heck, Main Event has become his show as he’s in the main event most weeks. Hopefully, the WWE realizes what they have, or else this promo maybe Antonio giving his notice.

Brock Lesnar Shocks World By Showing Up to Work

In one of those instances the WWE tries to make something sound like a big deal (when if fact it’s not), they tweeted throughout the day (by they, I mean Paul Heyman, WWE employees, and Stephanie McMahon herself) that Heyman and Brock Lesnar “invaded” the WWE headquarters. Right off, no. An employee cannot “invade” on a place they already work at. When I punch in at work, I’m not invading. If this is real, does mean wrestlers never show up at the WWE headquarters? Wow, that’s like finding out the Staples headquarters doesn’t contain any office supplies.

So Brock goes around terrorizing people while Heyman records it all on his iPhone. It gave the whole scene a “lost footage” feel, like the Blair Witch was going to do a run in or something. We did get a little moment where Brock stared down a picture of the Rock, teasing the match for later in a scene I’m sure will be shown again in a video package.

So Brock heads into Triple H’s office and destroys it. This is a big deal for about 2 minutes before Triple H comes out and it’s a pretty hysterical entrance when his Titantron is Heyman’s grimacing face.

So Hunter comes out and he’s like “Whatever, the ring is my office.” That’s it. He wasn’t mad at them for “invading”, terrorizing his employees, or destroying his personal effects. Wasn’t phased at all. So what was the point? This whole ordeal took up a big chunk of time and it got no build for their match because the face doesn’t care! These segments are supposed to make this feud more personal, more serious, and thus drive up more interest for the match. Hunter didn’t sell any of it and the whole thing came of as a joke. Why would you do this?!

I know in real life, this problem is fixed with Hunter picking up a phone and saying “Yeah, I need more stuff for my office.” But you’re not supposed to act like this was no big deal… and who invades their workplace!? Dang it, WWE!

Miss the last WWE Report? Check out last week’s Sport Entertainment Weekly here!

Want to find out more about WWE? Check it out here?

*SPOILERS*

The Geek Link (www.geeklinkradio.com) presents it’s walkthrough for Assassin’s Creed 3 and we hit every optional mission so you can get the Perfectionist Trophy/Achievement in Assassin’s Creed 3.

Sequence 9-3 has you spending time with Haytham to keep his health past 50%. Do this and don’t touch the fire so you can get that Perfectionist Trophy/Achievement in Assassin’s Creed 3.

Stay tuned to this channel for more updates and video on Assassin’s Creed 3 right here at the Geek Link.

Miss the last Assassin’s Creed 3 video? Click here!

*SPOILERS*

The Geek Link (www.geeklinkradio.com) presents it’s walkthrough for Assassin’s Creed 3 and we hit every optional mission so you can get the Perfectionist Trophy/Achievement in Assassin’s Creed 3.

Sequence 9-2 has you stealing someone’s clothes….. no seriously. All so you can get that Perfectionist Trophy/Achievement in Assassin’s Creed 3.

Stay tuned to this channel for more updates and video on Assassin’s Creed 3 right here at the Geek Link.

Miss the last Assassin’s Creed 3 video? Click here!

*SPOILERS*

The Geek Link (www.geeklinkradio.com) presents it’s walkthrough for Assassin’s Creed 3 and we hit every optional mission so you can get the Perfectionist Trophy/Achievement in Assassin’s Creed 3.

Sequence 9-1 has you tackling smugglers and murdering 3 guys in secret. Don’t hide in the hey so you can get that Perfectionist Trophy/Achievement in Assassin’s Creed 3.

Stay tuned to this channel for more updates and video on Assassin’s Creed 3 right here at the Geek Link.

Miss the last Assassin’s Creed 3 video? Click here!

Your Podcast Hosts-
Cannonfodder- The Past
Xalaga- The Present
Smikey1123- The Future

Ending Music:

Game Theory – Ithaca Audio

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After the epic debacle of the PSN attack that happened in April of 2011, companies across the internet took a serious reexamination of the security measures that they had in place. Many websites required you to change your password on their site if you happened to use the same password on multiple networks. The way that PSN was attacked was by a direct assault to their network. That attack was the largest data breach in history compromising over 77 million PSN accounts. However, as bad as that was, when it comes to your login information, the biggest security hole is the end-user.

Ah Memories…

When someone “hacks” into a Xbox Live account, that isn’t hacking. That’s called social engineering. There are a few different ways to do it, but more likely than not, someone was able to learn enough about a user to convince a tech support agent to reset the users password. Doing this isn’t terribly complicated and can be done pretty easily in about 20 minutes. All it takes is patience and a little effort.

Another surprisingly effective way is by simply asking a user to give them their email address and password. A very frequently used manner of this happens when a user tries to pay another gamer to play and level up their character for them. This happens a lot with the Call of Duty: Black Ops series. I’ve personally seen the aftermath of several of these arrangements gone bad back when I was a tech support agent. Much too often I would have to break the bad news to account holders that they had their account stolen, debit cards charged, and their gaming history, including game saves, ripped out of their hands because they were trying to cheat the system. The worst ones were the parents that didn’t know that their kids had access to their bank cards or that their child was lying or straight up stealing from them.

Sure! Here’s my mom’s credit card number.

You see, parents would buy a gaming system for their kids. During setup either the kids or the parents would have to set up an account on the console, a lot of the time only one account would be made. It would be set up as adults account but the kid would be the one that uses it. it was a lot less of a hassle because you only had to make one and nobody would think about it until something happened. Usually, it was because the child made purchases with the bank card on the account, and the parent would call tech support complaining that their kid made purchases on the adults account that had no password. Basically it was almost always the users fault for not implementing basic security measures.

This last week my 14-year-old cousin had something like this happen. A deal was struck between he and someone who was going to earn him prestige on Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. The deal fell through, luckily the account information had not been exchanged. Shortly after that the person on the other end told my cousin his IP address (not hard but looks like magic to non techies) as well as the email address (his dad’s) on the Xbox Live account. Shortly after that the email address was hijacked and so was his dad’s Facebook account. Once the attacker was into the Facebook account he told my cousins’ dad to ground him for being a liar. Because my cousin’s parents aren’t tech savvy they didn’t know what might happen next, so they cancelled the card that was on the XBL account instead of just removing it from the account. Then they reset all of their passwords for every site and service that they could think of and then got in contact with me. Fortunately the passwords for the accounts that the hijacker used weren’t changed and all the accounts were recovered but this is rarely the case.

Basically, this happened.

How do you keep yourself and your family safe?

Always remember that account security is of paramount importance if you’re going to be online. As much as we all want to have a good time playing with our friends, you have to take steps to make sure that your information and money is safe. Never give anyone your password for any accounts. If you want to use an online service or buy goods through them keep in mind that they all have prepaid cards available both online and at major local retailers, sometimes for less than what they cost through the console. If you are a parent, please set up your own account and lock it down. Make your children their own accounts and make sure to use their info on them so that, until they are adults, you are able to protect them from things like this. Also, remember that you can always take a credit card off of an account after a purchase as well.

Be careful now.

For more information, here are some links to the network and account security pages for Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo, and Steam.

Malc & The Fat Kid Movie Reviews is back! Join Malcolm and Ryan while they cover the latest movies and give their opinions on the latest big screen debuts.

This week it’s Iron Man 3! Did Marvel hit another home run or did Iron Man 3 disappoint? Find out in this installment of Malc & The Fat Kid Movie Reviews.

Like Malc & The Fat Kid Movie Reviews? Check out other Geek Link videos on our Youtube Channel!

Want to pre-order Iron Man 3? Head over to Amazon to get yours!

Like the review? If you’d like us to review a movie, let us know in the comments below and we’ll talk about in the next Malc & The Fat Kid Movie Reviews!

Talking points: executive pay cuts; GTA V trailers; Final Fantasy XIV refuses to die; a Conroy-less Origin; SHOCKER: a new Call of Duty in November; a microtransaction Destiny; a Tiny Tina DLC scoop; XCOM rebranded; Watch Dogs in November on all platforms; preorder Diablo III PS3, idiot; a replacement for BioShock Infinite’s Elizabeth; Injustice: Gods Among Us DLC; Dragon’s Crown art called out by Gearbox; Capcom might have broken your Dragon’s Dogma save; GTA Prime coming to PSN; PlayStation Plus update; look at RK’s friend’s thing!

Want to check out that Next Game Dave video we mentioned on the Firmware Update? Click here!

Your Firmware Update Hosts:

Malcolm Spinedi: (@CowardDuck)

Joe Garcia: (@Wons23)

Music

Intro - ”Eyes on the Prize” by George and Jonathan

Outro -  ”No More Lies” by George and Jonathan

Send us an Email

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First on the Docket, Lost Planet 2. On review sites, Lost Planet 2 rated a 7 out of 10 on average (IGN Lost Planet 2 Review & Game Informer Lost Planet 2 Review). It is a nice entertaining Third Person Shooter that drops us into immediate action without a lot of long winded dialog, (fantastic game but I am looking at you, Mass Effect).

Do you like big (and I mean huge, Monster Hunter sized monsters) bosses and monsters to kill? Do you like to shoot guns? Do you like a challenge?  If you answered, “Yes!” to any one of these questions, Lost Planet 2  will ensure a good time. Lost Planet 2 is based on a world  called E. D. N. III, that is being mined for a rare resource not only from the planet itself, but from the creatures inhabiting the E. D. N. III, known as Akrid.

The “Need to Know”

GameStop & Best Buy Pre-Owned: $9.99-$12.99

GameStop & Best Buy New: $19.99

Approximate Game Play Time: 8 Hours

Available on: PS3, Xbox 360, PC

Game Type: 3rd Person Shooter

Co-Op: 1-2

Multiplayer: 2-16

Developer: Capcom

Publisher: Capcom

Rating: Teen – Animated Blood, Language Suggestive, Themes Violence

Lost Planet 2, is set on the planet E.D.N. III ten years after the first game. You play through the campaign as five different character classes (alone or co-op with a friend) to try to survive not only against the other people on the plant who are trying to harvest the planet’s resource of Thermal Energy for themselves, but you must also survive against the vastly dynamic Akrid who manage to always show up to make things just a little bit more interesting. The game’s campaign style is very simple, complete a mission, fight in a huge boss battle. This continues for all the character types you can play as – Mercenaries, Jungle Pirates, NEVEC Black Ops Task Force, Snow Pirates, and Waysiders. Keep an eye on when you play as each character type  for heavy weaponry, such as mech suits and mini guns that help rip through the bad guys faster and level up your character class in style. Play the game on a harder difficulty to level up each individual character class to unlock weapons, character skins, and class customizations for your multiplayer character class load out.

That’s right, this game includes not only a co-op campaign (this includes split screen) but up to 16 players for multiplayer mode. Play tradition Team Death Match, Free-For-All, Domination type play styles, along with many others. There are additional Downloadable Content available for the game:  Map Pack #1 – $5.00, Map Pack # 2 – $5.00 & Rush Arena – $2.50.

Lost Planet 2, is a fast paced action shooter that allows for you to get lost in endless battles from the start, with minor interruptions from cut scenes. Play as each character type to find the one that best suits your game style and win against the battle of man vs. Akrid and continue your experience with multiplayer mode with your friends.

If you enjoy Lost Planet 2, be sure to check out Lost Planet‘s third installment, Lost Planet 3 launching August 27, 2013.

It’s Only a Flesh Wound!

All right, we’ll call it a draw!

The big news this week is Super Cena hurt himself while on the European tour. I’m not talking about a little soreness or anything small like that. No, he hurt his Achilles Tendon. How bad is that? Well Adam Copeland aka Edge got his tendon injured, and he was out for 6 months. So needless to say, this whole thing has set WWE in a tizzy.

Well, that’s if this is real. Keep in mind, this is the WWE. Meaning this whole thing could just be to make it look like Ryback has a shot at beating Cena. I mean let’s be honest, The first 3-4 PPV title defenses for Cena are going to have very little interest from us because we know he’s going to retain. It’s Cena’s first real title reign in years, and we’re getting a nice long reign from him. If we think Cena is hurt and start to think maybe Ryback will get it via default, then there is your drama and intrigue for the match.

Personally, I think this is a work and Cena will be fine again after Extreme Rules. I want to think this, because if he is legitimately hurt, both he and the WWE  are risking his career. An Achilles Tendon injury isn’t something someone walks off. As soon as Edge was hurt, he was sent home. I don’t care what kids were there, if he is hurt he shouldn’t have been wrestling.

I must say this “injury” sure does make you think. If Cena was hurt and had to be away, how f***ed would the WWE be? Punk is going to be out most of the summer, and the bigger names are part time. Aside from Sheamus or Orton, who else is there to be the top baby face? I would have thrown Ryback’s name out there, but he’s a heel now. Oops. It’s a shame that it’s a fake injury. Cena having to leave would mean the WWE would have to think outside the box and created a new star, which would be awesome.

Cena did wrestle in a losing effort to Shield (More on that later), but he seemed fine. He ran around well enough for someone with an “injured tendon”, so I doubt it’s real. Though who knows? Cena did kick out of 5 Rock Bottoms at Mania, maybe an Achilles Tendon injury might be nothing to him.

World Title Ladder Match at Extreme Rules!

“Miiiiiiiiiisssssttttteeeerrrrr Deeeeeeeel Riiiiiiiiiioooooo………Deeeeeeel Riiiiiioooo.”

In what had to be the weirdest opening match for a WWE show in recent memory, Richardo Rodriguez defeated Big E Langston and Zeb Colter in a Triple Threat. The prize for victory here was that the winner got their guy (or according to the WWE, their owner) the right to pick what stipulation they wanted for the triple threat match at WWE Extreme Rules. ADR picked a Ladder match, because why not?

Have you figured out the irony in this being a ladder match yet? Yup, that’s right. All 3 guys have won Money in the Bank matches. So needless to say we should expect a good match here… from 2 of them. Sorry, but my faith still hasn’t been restored with Swagger. Drinkey McDriverson is still very boring in the ring, and I still have no idea what the plan with him is, cause it ain’t “win the title”! I think the WWE lost a lot of faith in him too after the “Weed the People” incident, and rightfully so. I suspect Swagger will be getting the Antonio Cesaro (sigh) treatment and be pushed down the card.

Ziggler’s reign as champion is just starting, so I don’t see any change at ER. Dolph retains easy on this one.

Believe in the Shield 2: Believe Harder

We want….. ANOTHER SHRUBBERY!

Holy cow, the WWE is pushing the Shield! They have looked really strong this week, especially Dean Ambrose, who is slowly but surely coming out as the leader of the group.

Starting at Smackdown, Dean Ambrose took on Mean Mark Callous, or as most in the WWE know him, THE UNDERTAKER! You know it still blows my mind. It hasn’t been all that long since Dean Ambrose was lucky to get a dark match, and now he’s getting a main event match with the Undertaker. It’s amazing. The match itself was alright, with Taker going out of his way to make Ambrose look great. However, there was a Hell’s Gate out of nowhere and Taker gets the win. Now if that had been it, I wouldn’t have been surprised. It was a lot that Dean got a match at all, but now we got the added treat of Shield murdering the Undertaker with a triple powerbomb through a table. The end result is Taker is now off TV for the foreseeable future, and this was a great write off. This doesn’t hurt Taker in the slightest and Shield looks that much stronger for taking out the legend. Brilliant!

Then on RAW, Shield beat John Cena and Team Hell No. Sure Cena’s injured, but they still pinned John Cena clean. Even better, they went over the WWE Champ and the Tag Team Champions in a single match. A match with Team Hell No will happen, the question is will Shield win the titles right off? I hope so, cause they need to look strong as long as possible. The WWE has shown they learned from their mistakes with Nexus in that regard, as Nexus started jobbing to Cena and company really quick.

Time will tell, as this match is the Extreme Rules match that I’m looking forward to the most.

100% Increase in Divas!

For those of you out there who think “It’s a shame the WWE does absolutely nothing with the Divas”, this was a great week for you. See the WWE struck up a deal with E! and the WWE Divas will have  a reality show that will follow their daily lives in the WWE. No word yet if the Divas will remain in character, or if this will be a fluff piece. One thing is for certain, with this incoming series, expect the Divas to get a little more focus now. This is why we went from having maybe one diva segment, to having two. Progress!

We got Funkadactyls’ Naomi vs. Brie Bella to further that feud. Bellas did the Twin Magic and got a pin. Question… how come when they do a switch, the small package is unbreakable? I know the new one is fresh and all, but if one small package is enough to end it, did they even need a switch in the first place?

So Brie wins, and then the most nonsensical thing ever happens: Cameron tells the ref she cheated, and he’s like “Okay.” and reverses the decision. WHAT?! It would be one thing if we saw the ref checking the replay himself, but from our perspective it’s like he just folded. WTF? Anyway, the Bellas don’t appreciate reverse decisions, so they jump Cameron and Naomi. This will probably tie into the Tons of Funk/Rhodes Scholars feud.

Finally got a an interesting backstage segment with Team Ziggler and Kaitlyn (Video above). We got some more build for the match, in which Kaitlyn pointed out she never took out AJ because she hoped there was something left of her best friend. However, she’s realized AJ was never her friend and now only wants revenge. Awesome. Love how these two have grown over the years, and looking forward to their match at… oh yeah, they never mention it. Probably because the WWE isn’t going to put this on the PPV, which is a damn shame. If I was to make a bet, I’d say the RAW after Extreme Rules. Prove me wrong, WWE.

The final take away was a gift that came from a secret admirer. Classic story line, WWE. You have my interest, but that raises the question of who could it be? Cody Rhodes ALMOST had a thing with her, but that was dropped to bring back the Bellas. It could be someone from NXT. Imagine if this is how they bring back Kassius Ohno (With a better name please)? Or maybe we get a redo of the Mickie James/Trish Stratus storyline and we get a new girl? I recommend Paige from NXT, but we’ll just have to wait and see. In a WWE full of predictability, I am shocked to have an interesting storyline from the Divas. Maybe things are getting better…. at least till the E! show is cancelled.

The Problem with John Cena

Okay… here’s where I become “that guy”. I actually had a problem with the Cena Make-A-Wish segment.

Can’t think of a Holy Grail quote for this one. Sorry.

Okay, hear me out here! I’m not saying it shouldn’t have been on the show or anything. Honestly, it was a wonderful thing that the WWE and John Cena did for those kids. In fact, kudos to the kids! That’s genius thinking right there. Most are just simply happy to meet Cena or whomever. No, they were smart and said “I want to be a WWE superstar!” Smashing job, kids. I wonder how far WWE went for them. Did Vince sit down with them and sign contracts? Did creative tell them they were winning the tag titles and then suddenly tell they the story line had been cut? Did Randy Orton poop in their lunch boxes? Did Cena go behind their backs, and tell Vince he doesn’t think they’re ready for main event?  Hey, if they’re joining pro-wrestling, let’s give them the whole experience!

My problem comes from after. See this situation is a great example of what I don’t like about Cena. See the segment was fine, and I genuinely was happy to be a wrestling fan. However, then the WWE started showing it over and over. Then I went on some of my favorite message boards, and I see that video EVERYWHERE. I don’t mean like there was one giant thread, there were 8 threads dedictated to this video.  That’s the big problem with the WWE and Cena, he’s everywhere. Not only that, everything about him is shoved down throats. It’s not like the good old days where you were a Bret Hart fan, or a Shawn Michaels fan, or an Undertaker fan, or Steve Austin, etc. All there is now in the WWE is Cena, and the WWE is doing everything in there power to keep it that way. Punk and Ryback would have been great alternatives for top faces, but no. “Let’s turn them so they have to love Cena!” Seems to be the thought process. I’m not saying Cena has no talent, he exudes it! However, you have to admit it’s interesting that the two biggest babyfaces aside from Cena became foes for Cena.

Plus, there came this belief: “Look how much of a nice guy Cena is! You can’t boo him now!” Oh wanna bet? Look, I’ve said this a million times, but I love John Cena (human being). He’s a great dude, and a great example of humanity. However, this doesn’t mean his character is exempt from criticism.

Let me further explain; take Keanu Reeves. Keanu Reeves is actually a very generous person. Did you know he gave gave ”$80 million of his Matrix salary away to the special-effects team and costume designers who worked on the trilogy, as he believes they are the ones who deserve all the credit” (credit cracked.com)? Well he did, as well as a host of other things that involve giving away lots of his own money. So you agree he’s a nice guy? Okay, question then: Is he now a great actor? No? Exactly my point.

I’m actually a little annoyed with the WWE for trying to guilt people into cheering Cena. See, I already knew Cena was a nice guy back at Make-A-Wish kid #300. I don’t need further reminders, WWE. Just have Cena do his thing off TV, and I’ll watch him wrestle on RAW. Simple.

Still… those kids sure did look happy ^_^

Miss the last WWE Report? Check out last week’s Sport Entertainment Weekly here!

Want to find out more about WWE? Check it out here?

The rumors have been confirmed,  May 1st, Call of Duty Ghosts, has been announced for a release date of November 5, 2013. Visiting the Call of Duty Ghosts’ official website, advises there will be live game play of the new COD title during the Microsoft next generation reveal announcement on May 21, 2013. Call of Duty Ghosts is being published by Activision and developed by Infinity Ward, which created the Modern Warfare Series. Activision has announced they are creating a new story and game play with Call of Duty Ghosts to make it highly a highly anticipated new installment.

The previous rumors of  the next Call of Duty game being exclusive for next generation consoles has been laid to rest. Call of Duty Ghosts is available  to pre-order on current consoles. Pre-ording from GameStop, entitles gamers to an exclusive two-sided poster and in game camo for Call of Duty Black Ops II. Amazon.com pre-orders, currently are two free wallpapers for your phone. Best Buy pre-orders, are currently get a $15.00 gift card when Call of Duty Ghosts is pre-ordered and another game is purchased.

Enjoy the official teaser trailer for Call of Duty Ghosts.

*SPOILERS*

The Geek Link (www.geeklinkradio.com) presents it’s walkthrough for Assassin’s Creed 3 and we hit every optional mission so you can get the Perfectionist Trophy/Achievement in Assassin’s Creed 3.

Sequence 8-3 has you saving George Washington’s life! Also save his bodyguards and kill two enemies so you can get the Perfectionist Trophy/Achievement in Assassin’s Creed 3.

Stay tuned to this channel for more updates and video on Assassin’s Creed 3 right here at the Geek Link.

Missed the last Assassin’s Creed 3 video? Click here!

*SPOILERS*

The Geek Link (www.geeklinkradio.com) presents it’s walkthrough for Assassin’s Creed 3 and we hit every optional mission so you can get the Perfectionist Trophy/Achievement in Assassin’s Creed 3.

Sequence 8-2 sees you in jail! Don’t kill guards and get to the cell quick so you can get the Perfectionist Trophy/Achievement in Assassin’s Creed 3.

Stay tuned to this channel for more updates and video on Assassin’s Creed 3 right here at the Geek Link.

Missed the last Assassin’s Creed 3 video? Click here!

*SPOILERS*

The Geek Link (www.geeklinkradio.com) presents it’s walkthrough for Assassin’s Creed 3 and we hit every optional mission so you can get the Perfectionist Trophy/Achievement in Assassin’s Creed 3.

Sequence 8-1 has a bunch of chases. Find out how to eavesdrop on two people and catch someone without touching other people so you can get the Perfectionist Trophy/Achievement.

Stay tuned to this channel for more updates and video on Assassin’s Creed 3 right here at the Geek Link.

Missed the last Assassin’s Creed 3 video? Click here!

Your Podcast Hosts-
Cannonfodder- The Man
Xalaga- The Woman
Smikey1123- The Guy Electronics Hate

Ending Music:

Persona 3 RMX

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Talking points: Higher learning and 8-bit sharks; THQ is super-done; Shinji Mikami’s new game; the evils of EA; save the Rayman date; Skyrim gets a complete edition; the problematic art of Dragon’s Crown; g-g-g-Ghosts!; Metal Gear Solid collections; Ratchet & Clank at the movies; marketing to women; self, role, and mastery; MGS3 really is the best, you know; all the comics you can handle.

Guests: Rhonda Ogelsby (@rhorhoom), Regina McMenomy, Ph.D. (@doclizz)

Want to take that Gamer Type Quiz the Firmware Update hosts took? Click here and get you one!

Your Firmware Update Hosts:

Malcolm Spinedi: (@CowardDuck)

Joe Garcia: (@Wons23)

Music

Intro - ”Eyes on the Prize” by George and Jonathan

Outro -  ”No More Lies” by George and Jonathan

Send us an Email

If you want to send us questions or feedback, email us at FirmwareUpdate@GeekLinkRadio.com

Follow us on your Twitter machine!

Check us out on iTunes!

Want to see Joe’s Stealthy Box website that he mentioned on the Firmware Update? Click here!

How about The Geek Link website that Malcolm mentions on the Firmware Update? Click here!

Malc & The Fat Kid Movie Reviews is on the air! Join Malcolm and Ryan while they cover the latest movies and give their opinions on the latest big screen debuts.

This week it’s Pain and Gain, The Michael Bay “comedy”. Bad Boys, it is not. Sit down and find out why on the latest episode of Malc & The Fat Kid Movie Reviews.

Like Malc & The Fat Kid Movie Reviews? Check out other Geek Link videos on our Youtube Channel!

Like the review? If you’d like us to review a movie, let us know in the comments below and we’ll talk about in the next Malc & The Fat Kid Movie Reviews!

 Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar… Whatever

So in one of those “I guess we needed to see this” segments, RAW opened with Paul Heyman. The manager of Altered Beast (Raise from your Grave!) told us of an email he got from Triple H, stating he’d be back next week to explain whether or not he accepted Brock’s challenge. Heyman starts to call him a coward, and then Hunter’s music hits and he reveals he is in England. WWE Shenanigans!

Triple H has a good laugh, and even Heyman admits he got him this time. It was weird, it was like Wiley E. Coyote shrugging into the camera after the Road Runner just out maneuvered him.  He accepts the challenge for the cage match, and Pedigrees Heyman because he’s a face. Then thats it. He poses, music hits and he leaves. Literally the quickest HHH thing done in WWE in months!

Have to wonder why they even bothered? Probably so the UK fans could say they saw Triple H do something. What lucky people! Years from now they will tell their grandkids about that one time Triple H hit his finisher on a defenseless fat guy. It’s the stuff WWE legends are made of!

I apologize, I don’t know why I’m so goofy. Probably because really nothing of incredible importance happened this week. Just a lot of filler, and treading water. I mean it’s a show done outside the US, so that’s expected. But otherwise it was very meh. This report is going to be pretty short because of this. Remember when WWE used every week to make these incredible builds to PPVs? Now it’s like they wait until the last minute before we get anything major. Oh well, Brock vs. Triple H III… is it possible to just skip to the next PPV, WWE?

Fandangoing Gets a 1 Week Reprieve

 So Fandangoing made a return as Fandango was in England. For those who don’t understand, a lot of the people at the RAW after Wrestlemania were actually from the UK. This explains why the crowd was so full of energy as they are the same way during soccer games. Also, the UK was the country that started the drive to make Fandango’s theme music to be the number one song on iTunes. So while the fad is quickly dying here, everyone over there was literally waiting to do this since Wrestlemania. They got their chance when Fandango interrupted Jericho’s match with Ziggler (where it cost him the match, and a shot at the World Title) and during his match.

Humorously, the Fandangoing immediately ended when William Regal came out (who was Fandango’s opponent). This is because people actually care about Regal, and are just f***ing around with the Fandangoing chants. Once again people, 2 months tops till Fandango and his WWE push are through. Jericho jumps Fandango after the match, and it looks like we have another rematch for WWE Extreme Rules. This is normal, as EC is normally the rematch show anyway.

By the way, congrats to NXT hopeful Summer Rae, pictured above with Fandango. The Diva division over at NXT is phenomenal and gives you hope for the future. Granted, the hope is quickly dashed once you remember it’s WWE, but I digress. Summer is actually really good both in the ring and with her blonde heel persona. We’ll see where she goes from here.

Believe in the Shield!

Okay WWE, you got me. I really did think you’d be dumb to end Shield’s streak on free TV, but you stayed strong WWE. Last Monday night, we saw the Shield defeat The Undertaker & Team Hell No. Let me repeat that: Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns beat the Tag Team Champions and The bloody Undertaker! Not only that, but they had the match of the night to boot. We also got this awesome image.

See that’s why Taker’s awesome. Seth Rollins had the stones to talk directly at Taker. Taker could have been like “Whatever.” and interest in the match is lost. However, he makes this over the top gesture to the “You’re going down!” from Rollins.  The crowd lights up, and now it’s Rollins and Taker at Wrestlemania XXX! Okay, that’s not going to happen, but for this one moment that’s what it felt like!

As for Taker, he was still Taker. That’s not me complaining, Taker was his usual level of excellence. Here’s a question, do you remember the last time you saw a Taker match that sucked? Nope, and this was no different. When Taker got that hot tag, I must say I thought it was over. However, Shield squeak past the good guys again, and are still undefeated.

The question has to be asked, who can stop them? They got past Taker, Orton, Sheamus, Big Show, Ryback, and even John Cena. I’m shocked they got past them all, which shows WWE has big plans for them. In fact, WWE is currently spreading rumors that a 4th member is joining them. Could the new guy someone brought up from NXT? If it is someone from WWE’s current roster, one has to believe it will be the newly heel Ryback who does it, but more on that later.

So Shield wins, and we have to think next up is a WWE Tag Title reign. It’s starting to feel like Shield is the beginning of something bigger, and it’s great. WWE needs a jump start, and I love how seriously they are pushing these guys. The only question left is where is this leading to?

AJ Gets a Diva’s Title Match

In crazy news, we got an interesting storyline brewing in the Diva’s Division! AJ in perhaps the cutest way possible, won the most pathetic battle royale in WWE history as she went over 4 others to get a shot at Kaitlyn’s title. Why is this a big deal? Because for once we have a Diva’s match with some actual back story to it! This is a grudge match!

See kids, back in the day Kaitlyn and AJ were actually really close friends (They still are but Shhhhh!). They met on NXT season 3 with both of them going for a contract. You could see how quickly they bonded, as they are both very goofy people. It was touching; AJ, who was homeless up until the competition, and Kaitlyn, who many say shouldn’t have been in the competition. They became so close that when AJ was eventually cut, Kaitlyn was visibly shaken that her friend was gone. It was actually one of the more emotional moments in WWE.

Then they made the roster together, and were a tag team for a little while as the Chickbusters, and jobbed a LOT. However, when AJ started dating Daniel Bryan, Kaitlyn tried to warn AJ about him… to which she slapped her hard in the face. From there, AJ has literally been torturing Kaitlyn for awhile, especially when she became a GM in WWE Kaitlyn got a little revenge in the six man she had with Team Hell no vs. Team Ziggler on Smackdown, but now it’s on PPV and it’s the most excited I’ve been for a Diva’s match in sometime.

Will Kaitlyn get her revenge or will AJ finally become the Diva’s champion? We shall see.

Ryback Can Talk

Last night’s Raw’s main event was Mick Foley with a chair. No seriously.

Okay it was much better than that. Foley came on RAW to shill his new DVD (BTW, I WANT!) and talk about how much of a disappointment Ryback is. This is fine, this is what Foley does now. Main eventer turns heel, and he arrives to be the voice of the fans and asks why. Ordinarily this is fine… however, Ryback just explained why last week. Really Foley? You needed more explanation on this one?

On the plus side, this was a great interview by Ryback. No really, he was really good here. He stuck to his guns about Cena never sticking his neck out for him, and wanting revenge. He also destroyed any chances of this not being a heel turn when he completely turned on the fans by calling them idiots. I still roll my eyes at faces like Foley eternally giving excuses for Cena or acting like Ryback is being dumb for just being upset that the guy who said he had his back in fact didn’t have his back. Most people who turn heel on Cena have a legit gripe but it’s usually ignored because shut up. See that’s kind of necessary for a story. Yes, it’s great for the antagonist to have a reason for being evil that’s relatable, but the hero still needs a just reason for why he does things. Otherwise, Cena is the bad guy here! And no, him just hitting an AA on the other guy doesn’t make his point!

Ryback is about to destroy Foley, but Foley can’t take bumps anymore, so Cena comes out for the rescue. We have a stand off until Shield’s music hits again. Cena decides to bow out and let Shield get to Ryback. Now I admit here I was thinking this is where The Shield surround Ryback, shake his hand, and Ryback becomes a new member of the Shield. However, that’s much too quick. You can’t talk about how Ryback hates the Shield last week and then have him spray painting SHIELD on Cena’s back next week. So Shield attacks Ryback, and Cena actually acts like a face and saves Ryback anyway. He does so by chairing up the Shield something fierce! That chair had some serious dents on it. Then Cena hits Ryback suddenly with an AA, cause showing the Shield and Ryback that they have a common enemy is a smart move.

But long story short, Ryback is impressing me as a heel. Granted he’s still going to lose against Cena at Extremem Rules and I still don’t understand why they had to turn him, but last night gave me some hope back for the future.

Miss the last WWE Report? Check out last week’s Sport Entertainment Weekly here!

Want to find out more about WWE? Check it out here?

*SPOILERS*

The Geek Link (www.geeklinkradio.com) presents it’s walkthrough for Assassin’s Creed 3 and we hit every optional mission so you can get the Perfectionist Trophy/Achievement in Assassin’s Creed 3.

Sequence 7-4 sees you at the Battle of Bunkerhill. Find out how to finish unscathed and undetected so you can get the Perfectionist Trophy/Achievement in Assassin’s Creed 3.

Stay tuned to this channel for more updates and video on Assassin’s Creed 3 right here at the Geek Link.

Stay tuned to this channel for more updates and video on Assassin’s Creed 3 right here at the Geek Link.

Missed the last Assassin’s Creed 3 video? Click here! 

One has to appreciate what we have with Injustice, and that’s a fighting game featuring most of our favorite DC characters. Such a game could have easily been done simply as a cash grab, but NetherRealm Studios put a lot of work into Injustice. First and foremost, the game plays amazingly. Netherrealm definitely took the lessons they learned from the recent Mortal Kombat reboot. One shouldn’t be worried about any learning curves, as it’s pretty simple. Most of the big time moves are accomplished by a simple press of the button. Want to smack Doomsday into the helicopter? Just hit R1 when you’re in the right spot. That awesome super combo where Superman smacks the guy into the stratosphere and then smacks them back? Just hit R2 + L2 to do the move. The simplicity of these super moves is refreshing and makes getting into Injustice (especially for those who aren’t fighting games enthusiasts) all the more simple.

The basic moves are also easy to learn. People who have played a fighting game before will have a leg up, as a lot of the special moves are exactly what you think: roll forward punch, back forward punch, etc. The great news is, these are as complex as it gets. Forget a move? No problem. Hit start and you’re treated to a complete moves lists to help you learn.

Remember that time Deathstroke shot Batman in the head?

All the characters are distinct and unique. Each of them have their own unique fighting style and superpower, which can by used by the pressing the Circle or B button and is different for each character. For instance, Green Arrow it’s a way to rapidly shoot arrows, Green Lantern powers up his ring, Lex Luthor gains a force field that will absorb one attack, etc. All these elements to come together and create a fight that is as epic as any fight scene from the comics.

Graphically, Injustice looks amazing. Gotham looks as awful as it always does, Metropolis looks amazing, The Fortress of Solitude is broken down to the last detail, and the Batcave is how I’ve always imagined it. It’s truly amazing to see it and realize how much of the environment is interactive. Injustice looks great from the normal view. However, when the camera does a close up on the character, the polish of the look tends to come apart. This is really a minor nitpick, as Injustice looks incredible as a whole.

NetherRealm Studios continues to prove that fighting games can have an engaging and interesting story. Essentially, in an alternative universe, Joker kills Lois Lane and causes Superman to finally snap. Believing that humans are a danger to themselves, he essentially tells the world that he is charge now and isn’t afraid to kill to drive this point home. What’s left of the Resistance builds a portal and takes some superheroes from our Earth’s dimension. What follows is a very interesting, desperate struggle. The story wonderfully illustrates how utterly slim our chances would be if Superman and company decided the Earth was theirs. The Evil Superman is a wonderful antagonist too, and will forever change how you view Superman. He is scary and I found myself wanting to finish the story to take him down as well as find out what happens next.

This is a job for… Soviet Man!

For those curious, if you are wondering if NetherRealm Studio’s supplies a reason why humans can now enter fist fights with meta-humans (i.e. why Batman can now punch Superman in the face,) they do give you a reason. Warning – it’s really not a fantastic one. It will make you ask a lot of questions, such as why does this exist? How does this cause the weapons to have an effect? That’s a small problem with the story as a whole, there are more than a few moments where you question the logic of it. However, at the end of the day it really comes down to this: Do you want a DC fighting game or not?

As well the story mode, we also got Star Lab Missions. Injustice’s version of MK’s Challenge tower. There’s well over 200 missions that focus on each individual character. Some are the standard “Beat this guy” or “Perform all your special moves”, however, for more than a few they really think outside the box for. Like for one of Catwoman’s missions, you control her pet cat as she tries to sneak into a museum. Others actually have you fighting characters who aren’t in Injustice’s roster. For instance, Raven has to do battle with her father Trigon in one of them.  On top of that, they each have 3 optional objectives to achieve for those who seek mastery, plus you get a prize for fully completing them.

The multiplayer is once again very reminiscent of MK. You still have lines as you wait your turn for combat, with one noteable addition. Now you can gamble away your XP. That’s right, you can bet on the winner of the fight as you wait your turn. This mode can give you even further reasons for getting into a fight, even when it’s not yours.

Flash’s Super slows down time for his opponent, which can change the complexion of a fight instantly.

As far as replay value, Injustice has this in spades. Star Labs Missions will keep you busy for awhile. Those looking to perfect their skill with a character can head into Practice or Battle Mode. Battle mode takes you through a ladder style fight as you go through characters. You can even have it set up with certain rules (like having heroes only) or special rules (Surviving with one health bar). An interesting note on Battle mode is how many blank entries there are. This could mean they’re unlockable or future DLC.

If you love fighting games or DC Comics, you will love Injustice. NetherRealm Studios created a great love letter to the fans with this one. However, the story does have it’s holes and the graphics look off when the camera is close up. But these problems didn’t take away from how awesome Injustice is. Definitely worth the price of admission.

Want to here more discussion on Injustice? Check out the last episode of the Firmware Update!

This review make you want to buy Injustice? Head over to Amazon and get you one!

Your Podcast Hosts-
Cannonfodder- The Minion
Xalaga- The Champion
Smikey1123- The Summoner

Ending Music:

Tetris Theme Remixed

If you like the show, please subscribe to us on iTunes. Feel free to give us a five star rating, leave comments, and generally tell all your friends and family about us.

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Malc & The Fat Kid Movie Reviews is a new feature on The Geek Link! Join Malcolm and Ryan while they cover the latest movies and give their opinions on the latest big screen debuts.

This week it’s Oblivion, the Tom Cruise sci-fi blockbuster. Was it better than Scary Movie 5? Of course it was, but should you see it? Sit down and find out on the latest episode of Malc & The Fat Kid Movie Reviews.

Like Malc & The Fat Kid Movie Reviews? Check out other Geek Link videos on our Youtube Channel!

Like the review? If you’d like us to review a movie, let us know in the comments below and we’ll talk about in the next Malc & The Fat Kid Movie Reviews!

Talking points: Sony’s PS4 launch date; Gran Turismo 6 spotted on Newegg; Final Fantasy Versus XIII will come with an apology; another Metal Gear Solid collection?; SuperBot Entertainment’s new IP; PlayStation Plus news; Injustice: Gods Among Us; R&R; punching above our weight class.

Want to take that Gamer Type Quiz to get ready for the next episode of the Firmware Update?

Your Firmware Update Hosts:

Malcolm Spinedi: (@CowardDuck)

Joe Garcia: (@Wons23)

Music

Intro - ”Eyes on the Prize” by George and Jonathan

Outro -  ”No More Lies” by George and Jonathan

Send us an Email

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*SPOILERS*

The Geek Link (www.geeklinkradio.com) presents it’s walkthrough for Assassin’s Creed 3 and we hit every optional mission so you can get the Perfectionist Trophy/Achievement in Assassin’s Creed 3.

Sequence 7-3 sees you in a war torn Charlestown. Find out how to get through without getting shot, air assassinate a soldier, and not get detected so you can get the Perfectionist Trophy/Achievement in Assassin’s Creed 3.

Stay tuned to this channel for more updates and video on Assassin’s Creed 3 right here at the Geek Link.

Missed the last Assassin’s Creed 3 video? Click here! 

Did we really need this Title Change?

In a hot opener (In all do fairness, the crowd was into it) Kofi Kingston defeated Antonio Cesaro to become the new US Champion. Thus continuing his legacy of the greatest default champion of all time.

It’s true when you think about it. Kofi has been passed the IC and US title at least once a year. Do we remember anything about them, other then him constantly going over people that we prefer to have either title? No, because like Kofi himself, they’re completely unmemorable. The reason is that he’s such a generic baby face that he makes Cena look edgy. Hell, look at his victory speech after the match. All he says is “I’m just happy to bring the title back to the US!” Really? Cause I thought you were from Ghana.

I don’t know what people see in him. He has no charisma and all his moves involve jumping into the air and falling. Plus, and I don’t like using this ever, but by looking at him I don’t buy him being able to hurt anyone. When I see him do a high cross body, I don’t understand why people don’t catch him every time.

Look, I see the argument for taking the belt off Antonio. While he was great in every match he was in, he didn’t do anything aside from it. (Plus the hope is this means WWE is building him up to Main Event status) But of all the people you could have gotten, you give it to Kofi? Does giving him another midcard title reign do anything for him for this point? Miz, Truth, Sandow, Cody, or anyone else would have been better than this!

Some people say it’ll get better when he finally turns heel, because heels are always cool. No, it’s not. How do I know? Because I’ve seen heel Kofi and it it sucked. See I used to watch him back in his indy days. His gimmick was that he was an evil Jamaican who wanted to remake American in Jamaica’s image. Oh, you need proof?

So we learned two things. One: in Jamaica, they don’t tear down buildings. Two: Heel Kofi will be just as interesting as face Kofi.

World Title Triple Threat at Extreme Rules

So after that amazing World Title win for Dolph Ziggler last week on WWE RAW, the WWE had to be strong and continue the push for Ziggler. A new champion was crowned and, after having him job for ages, it was time to get him back on the winning track! So what better way to do that then having him job to the guy who lost at Wrestlemania thanks to a DUI and drug possession charges? Wait, what!?

So RAW was weird for the World Title scene, but to be fair, that fact is part of the story. Alberto Del Rio wanted to use his rematch clause tonight, which almost happened. However, and surprisingly, Swagger comes out and is ticked that Ziggler won the title thanks to his handiwork. So he does the logical thing, and nearly cripples ADR with the Patriot Lock. Yeah! That will teach Ziggler!

So Teddy Long (continuing a story where he questions Booker T’s authority) books Jack Swagger vs. Dolph Ziggler…. because you want to reward Swagger for ruining the main event? Fast forward to the match and Swagger, shockingly, wins clean. Okay. So WWE still believes in this guy? Enough to give him a Wrestlemania payday and victory over the new World Champ? Really?

An enraged Booker T (not happy about the match) decides that since everyone has a claim on Ziggler’s title, we’re having a triple threat title match at Extreme Rules. Fine by me, I think we’ll see an excellent match thanks to it. As long as Ziggler retains, we’ll be fine.

Taker on Raw next week?!

So when Taker was almost attacked on last week’s RAW, I didn’t see it going anywhere. Taker at this point is a Wrestlemania act and only shows up to defend the streak. BTW, all the power to him. He wrestled a long and storied career to get here and is the one part time act I endorse. Back on subject, the Shield attempts to destroy the Undertaker, but he’s saved thanks to Team Hell No. Since Taker is part time and they did the same thing with Triple H on Smackdown, I assumed this was just a tactic to build the Team Hell No feud. However, this is not the case as now we have Taker and Team Hell No against Shield next week on RAW.

Got to tell you, I’m nervous for Shield’s undefeated streak. WWE seems to want RAW to have one historic thing going on every week now. They had Wade win the title back last week and we had Kofi win the title this week. Who’s to say Shield’s undefeated streak ending won’t be the next thing we see?

If the WWE is smart (Jury is out on that one) they would have Shield not only going over but taking out the Undertaker, with Hell No helplessly watching. An enraged Kane, not in his right mind, wants a piece of Shield so bad, he offers to put the tag titles on the line against them at the PPV. There is your match! Title vs. Streak gets a lot more buys, WWE. Don’t do something goofy and have the Shield’s streak end on free TV. I don’t care if it’s Taker, he doesn’t need this. Plus having Shield take him out explains him disappearing for the next… you’ve already booked the loss haven’t you? God darn you, WWE. ~_~;;;

Henry Fighting Sheamus

So, Henry has began targeting Sheamus for whatever reason. Due to the fact that he’s in a tag match with Show against Sheamus and Orton, I wouldn’t be surprised if we got a fatal fourway between these four to decide the next number one contender for the World Title. Not much else to say, just something to keep you’re eye out for.

Fandangoing is over before it starts

So after last week’s RAW, we have a new phenomena called “Fandangoing”. When Fandangoing you… well take a look.

So good for Johnny Curtis aka Fandango. This sort of crowd participation is great for a wrestler and can lead to new merch and maybe even a push… I’d say this if the WWE didn’t already ruin it.

WWE… how to put this… Remember being a kid and you had something you enjoyed? Then one day your parents start doing it or telling you to do it too, and suddenly you found it not to be so cool anymore? This is what WWE did with this craze.  Unlike Daniel Bryan and the “Yes!” chants (which they not only didn’t endorse, they tried to censor them out), the WWE tried to back up this craze. Showing videos online, telling the crowd to chant it, and talking it up the whole show. On paper, this sounds like a great idea, but the WWE doesn’t realize there’s a difference between advertising and shoving something down our throats.  That’s the reason people boo John Cena! It’s not that we hate him per say, but we’re sick of seeing him EVERYWHERE. Tout is dying a slow death because the WWE talked about it so much, the mere mention of Tout started causing people to get sick. Heck, the WWE’s focus on social media has even caused me to be irritated with using it. So yes, WWE is proof that you can advertise too much.

Such is Fandango, who the WWE has been hyping way too much all week and throughout the show. The result: Dead silence when he came out. As much as I don’t like the character, I had to feel sorry for him. You have this great week and you walk into this. Did the WWE have to give Fandango an entire segment? The guy has yet to work an entire match or cut a decent promo, but you give him a whole segment? A segment that bombed. Unless the gimmick is that he is in fact a terrible wrestler, I still don’t get Fandango.

Fandango comes out, teases, dances the crowd, and tells them to do Fandango themselves. Granted it does get some people to do it, but that does not make a great chant. Bryan fans knew to chant “Yes!” just as his music hit. Having Fandango have to instigate it is just force feeding it more. We’ll see what happens, as I suspect that this won’t stop the WWE from pushing it more. ~_~;;

R-Truth beats Wade Barrett

This is another quickie. Truth got a clean pin on Wade Barrett. Relax people, this is just how the WWE books title defenses. Challenger pins champion, gets shot at PPV, and he will lose more than likely. Yup, typically WWE booking here. Once again, nothing else to say here.

CM Punk Loses His Smile

So the above happened, and Punk walked out of the ring. From what I can tell, the shock with losing to Taker and Rock (going against his belief that he is the Best in the World) finally caused him to snap and he walked away to find himself. Punk has been rumored to be needing some time off and this looks like the send off.

Personally, I am happy to see him go. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll miss the heck out of him and RAW is going to be worse without him, but he’s been going strong for 8 years now. Especially more so after becoming the guy in the WWE. If he needs the time off, let him enjoy himself for once. I wish we had more wrestlers that thought like him. You know why Jericho gets those incredible pops? Because we got the chance to miss him and remember what we had with him. Imagine if Cena took a couple of months off?

So take care, Punk. If I was a betting man, we’ll see you at the Royal Rumble.

The Rematch No One Wanted

So after destroying 3MB (once again, a popular past time) Brock Lesnar gets in the ring and Heyman issues a challenge to HHH for a rematch at Extreme Rules in a Steel Cage…

Why?! Damn, I know why… but why?! This will hook in some people. The folks out there who still only care about the wrestlers of the good old days of wrestling. Hunter and Brock are still big names and this will appease  that group. That being said, we still have some issues.

Heyman is promising a brutal affair, that flesh will be meshed off the skin… No. No it won’t! Ever wonder why you don’t see cage matches anymore? Because you can’t use it! Take the much talked about “End of an Era” between Taker and Triple H. Great match overall, but as a Hell in a Cell match it sucked. The cage itself was rarely used and the match was more like a street fight that happened to take place inside Hell in a Cell. This is because the new WWE hates blood. Yes, cage matches used to be good, but they lost a lot of it’s coolness thanks to the PG Era.

Also, of all the matches for Brock, we’re doing this again? Did anyone hear the crowd at Mania for their last match? I can hear the rumbles already, and I understand. It was an open dome arena and sound works differently. Just the same, there was a definite contrast in crowd reaction as opposed to the other matches. I don’t think anyone else really wants this match. We could have ended it with Wrestlemania! Hunter goes over, good wins. This match is so unnecessary.

I hope Brock wins here. If the WWE wants people to take him seriously in future plans, he needs a victory. Otherwise, I dunno what they’re doing.

Ryback Goes Full Heel

So looks like I was wrong on a few things. Ryback is a heel and we’re doing the one on one right away. We got the above video with Ryback explaining his actions. I must say, it was really thought out and well produced. His reason for turning heel makes complete sense, John Cena was being kind of a dick. However, the awesomeness of this turn was lost because this involves John Cena, the biggest one dimensional wrestler ever. His response to this video to this is to tell Ryback he has no balls and laugh at the idea of him being the biggest threat he’s ever faced.

Where do I start?  First off John, let me get this straight. Mark Henry comes down to the ring, and you can look scared. Ryback however, you’re all brave with. Ryback, the guy who manhandled Punk and destroyed him every match. The guy who would defeat tag teams by himself. The guy who can pick up Henry like he’s nothing, you really couldn’t even look concerned? Way to sell the match, man.

It also annoys me despite the awesomeness of Ryback’s explanation, Cena could care less. Did he have to jump straight to “Fuck you!”? Remember the Rockers break up? What made that moment so tragic is that Marty Jannetty tried. They did argue, but Marty didn’t want to lose his friend and tried to make amends. He even apologized for anything he did, and asked that they talk this out and work it out. See, the face there showed how important that connection was and made it all the more painful when it was severed. If Cena even tried to work things out even just a little, I could have bought that there was a friendship, but now I just don’t believe it.

I’m also ticked off at the WWE’s booking. So let’s follow this now:

1: Ryback jobs to Mark Henry at Mania.

2: Cena goes over Henry at RAW.

3: Ryback is getting a shot at Cena at Extreme Rules.

So let me get this straight, WWE. You’re expecting me to drop $45 bucks to watch Cena defend his first (and therefore most likely to win) title match to a guy who lost at Mania to a guy Cena beat the night after? A guy who even Cena doesn’t take seriously? Yeah, not a fan of this main event which is doing Ryback no favors.

This turn makes no sense to me. Ryback was getting huge cheers, more than Cena. Why would WWE turn him and just make him Cena food? It makes no sense at all. That’s the big question: After this, what do you do with Ryback? I don’t know if the WWE thought more than a step ahead with this, and it possibly comes at the expense of Ryback’s future.

And the WWE wonders why it has no new stars?

*SPOILERS*

The Geek Link (www.geeklinkradio.com) presents it’s walkthrough for Assassin’s Creed 3 and we hit every optional mission so you can get the Perfectionist Trophy/Achievement in Assassin’s Creed 3.

Sequence 7-2 sees you saving hostages and assassinating Regulars so you can get the Perfectionist Trophy/Achievement in Assassin’s Creed 3.

Stay tuned to this channel for more updates and video on Assassin’s Creed 3 right here at the Geek Link.

Missed the last Assassin’s Creed 3 video? Click here! 

*SPOILERS*

The Geek Link (www.geeklinkradio.com) presents it’s walkthrough for Assassin’s Creed 3 and we hit every optional mission so you can get the Perfectionist Trophy/Achievement in Assassin’s Creed 3.

Sequence 7-1 sees you going on the Midnight Ride of Paul Revere! Find out how to go undetected and find that blasted Mr. Prescott so you can get the Perfectionist Trophy/Achievement in Assassin’s Creed 3.

Stay tuned to this channel for more updates and video on Assassin’s Creed 3 right here at the Geek Link.

Missed the last Assassin’s Creed 3 video? Click here! 

Your Podcast Hosts-
Cannonfodder- The Hobbit
Xalaga- The Wizard
Smikey1123- The Orc

To sign up for the Neverwinter Beta go here.

Ending Music:

Roll A D6

If you like the show, please subscribe to us on iTunes. Feel free to give us a five star rating, leave comments, and generally tell all your friends and family about us.

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Women make up half of the world and according to the Entertainment Software Association they make up 47% of all gamers. This is impressive because you never see games actively marketed to women, certainly not AAA titles. Gaming includes more than Call of Duty and Gears of War, everything from Yahoo Games to Farmville to mobile games on smartphones are included. Therefore, my mother plays more games than I do. But why the disconnect? How does the fact that literally almost half of all gamers are women, but in the eyes of the gaming industry, are still looked at as a niche market? Could it be related to the fact that women only make up 12% of the game development workforce? Perhaps it is the $10,000 annual salary difference that exists between men and women found throughout the game development industry as found in a 2013 survey published by Game Developer Magazine.

Back in November there was a twitter hashtag #1ReasonWhy that was a rallying call for women in the games industry from game development, PR and games journalism to give one reason why here were so few women in the field. The answer? Massive and rampant misogyny. Tara Brannigan, PopCap’s Community Marketing Manager tweeted this gem -

Filamena Young, a pen and paper game designer and writer posted this as well -

Along with the admissions of reprehensible things happening to women in the industry came realizations of being part of the problem. Jace Proctor, a Developer at Fifth Column Games, confessed -

No business exists without having to deal with equality issues. That’s just something that you have to deal with when different people get together. However, the level at which it seems to permeate in gaming competes with the fact that those in the field are largely highly educated.

What does this mean for games?

If we take a look back to classic games women appear in them a lot. Zelda, Princess Daisy, Princess Peach, Marian the girlfriend that gets kidnapped at the beginning of Double Dragon (bet you didn’t know she even had a name). Unfortunately, they have a tendency to be taken hostage by their game’s antagonist. In Double Dragon‘s case, after being assaulted by them.

An actual gut-punch of misogyny.

Only very rarely does a woman appear as a capable protagonist like Metroid‘s Samus Aran. Before Samus there had been female playable characters in games but she was the first one to take the traditionally male role of an action hero and save the day. One can only guess as how her influence helped to shape women in the world to not only love games, but also to strive towards a more equal stance with men in more male dominated businesses and in life in general.

In more recent times women have become more prolific individuals as seen with Gears of War 3‘s Samantha Byrne, and Halo: Reach‘s Kat. Not to mention all the women that have extremely deep story lines and emotional interactions with the player in the Mass Effect series, Liara, Miranda, Ashley, Tali, and Jack. Then there’s the Dragon Age series, Bioshock: Infinite, Tell Tale’s episodic The Walking Dead games. The list thankfully keeps getting bigger.

By far one of the most capable and encouraging examples of women in games is the newest incarnation of Tomb Raider’s Lara Croft. On the outset of the game she is confident and self-assured but inexperienced, unsure only in her capabilities to survive and help her friends get home safely. Lara is also psychically fit. She is an athlete, she isn’t a frail waif of a girl who constantly needs help. She can hold her own against very tall odds pretty believably.

Though there was some controversy late in the game’s development over a scene in which Lara looks as though she would be sexually assaulted, the game itself is inspiring and can be seen to have real feelings and motivations that you could tell came from a less explosion happy and testosterone fueled place. It’s less about saving a love interest and more about helping everyone you can and getting out alive.

Gaming, like all storytelling, should hope to make the player feel connected to the characters that they play and interact with. You can’t do that with heroes that are exclusively one gender. Take Mass Effect, you may want to play as femShep because it makes your experience more deep and meaningful. Perhaps the thought of women saving the world seems unusual because most media never goes that route. But doesn’t it sound fun?

Excuse me, I have a galaxy to save.

I started writing this article after I read a story about a father literally changing a world for his daughter. When Mike Mika, Chief Creative Officer at Other Ocean Interactive tried showing his three-year-old daughter Donkey Kong, she really enjoyed playing the Atari classic but then asked her dad a question.

“How can I play as the girl? I want to save Mario!”

Just because there wasn’t an option to do that in the original 1981 game doesn’t mean you can’t make it one in 2013. With the help of a friend and some free palette altering tools he was able to modify the game so that Pauline was able to save the day. His daughter became more invested in the game when she got to play as a woman, saving Mario.

We want to see ourselves when we play games. We want to believe that we can be the hero of our own story. If you aren’t able to connect to the character that you’re playing as, it makes wanting to continue much less fun.

Great art comes from great minds, and great minds come from great inspiration. We need to make better games, literature, and art that men and women both can enjoy so that both men and women can be inspired to do great things. Without Mary Shelly we wouldn’t have Frankenstein and his monster, and Harry Potter wouldn’t exist if J. K. Rowling wasn’t inspired to tell that story. They were both inspired to create these works and the world has celebrated them both. By not supporting women as creators who knows what we have already missed out on.

Malc & The Fat Kid Movie Reviews is a new feature on The Geek Link! Join Malcolm and Ryan while they cover the latest movies and give their opinions on the latest big screen debuts.

This week it’s Scary Movie V, proof we’ll cover any movie. Did it suck? Sit down and find out on the latest episode of Malc & The Fat Kid Movie Reviews.

Like Malc & The Fat Kid Movie Reviews? Check out other Geek Link videos on our Youtube Channel!

Like Malc & The Fat Kid Movie Reviews? If you’d like us to review a movie, let us know in the comments below!

Talking points: WrestleMania 29; Batman: Arkham Origins; David Cage impressions; Bethesda teases announcements; Tearaway gets a bad release date; Level-5 is working on a PS4 title; Mega Man FPS; Tales of Xillia comes to North America; PSN best-sellers for March; PlayStation Plus deals; the greatest Vita update there will ever be; Nextbox rumors; R&R.

Want to see Joe’s Stealthy Box website that he mentioned on the Firmware Update? Click here!

How about The Geek Link website that Malcolm mentions on the Firmware Update? Click here!

Your Firmware Update Hosts:

Malcolm Spinedi: (@CowardDuck)

Joe Garcia: (@Wons23)

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Intro - ”Eyes on the Prize” by George and Jonathan

Outro -  ”No More Lies” by George and Jonathan

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Team Hell No Becomes Giant Dinks

So a new thing we have is the resuming of the Team Hell No/ Shield feud. Apparently if you fight Shield, eventually you’ll forget you’re feuding with them (I.E. Ryback and John Cena). It appears that Team Hell No remembered that Shield attacked them back before TLC and decided to pick up the feud again.

RAW saw the Shield attempt to jump into the big leagues by trying to attack the Undertaker. Pretty smart move actually, attacking the Phenom on a day that’s not Wrestlemania. Probably would have worked, had it not been for Team Hell No running out to even the odds. It’s nice to see that despite causing a fire that killed Taker’s parents, Kane and Taker actually have a really close relationship. Oh WWE continuity.

From the sounds of it, this isn’t a one off, so it looks like we’ll have Team Hell No vs. Shield at WWE Extreme Rules. This is a pretty nicely built match. Shield, the undefeated challengers, and Hell No, the champions that appear to be unstoppable! I do want to see this match and can’t wait. That being said, I think we’ll have new WWE Tag Team champions. It’s been a good ride for Hell No, but Shield is the future and they are awesome. Imagine them defending the belts under Freebird’s Rules?

Freebird’s Rules – A tag title defense rule made famous by the legendary Fabulous Freebirds. The stable won the tag titles, but made a special clause in the contract. If they won, any pair of them could defend it. So you never new which two you would face, and it gave them a unique advantage.

Seems pretty open and shut, I look to see the WWE announce the match on RAW next week.

Ziggy Cashes In!

In one of the more exciting moments in recent memory, Dolph finally cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase and became the new World Heavyweight Champion. I have to be honest, I didn’t see this coming. I was a bit upset that he didn’t cash in Wrestlemania, and I assumed he’d want to do it at a PPV. However, I am so glad he did it last night as it was the perfect place for so many reasons.

ADR was fighting both Swagger and Zeb in a handicapped match and was victorious. Unfortunately for ADR, Swagger put him in the Patriot Lock quite a few times. I didn’t see it, but the crowd did (more on them later). Ziggler chants started to fill the arena and suddenly the music hit and the crowd exploded. Ziggler walks in and hands the ref the briefcase. I was expecting Richardo to grab it or do something. Maybe Team Hell No turns into dinks again. That never happened.

Dolph had the match and even did a nice bit of psychology using ADR’s injured leg to escape the Armbreaker. A Zig Zag later, we have a new World Champion. The reception the crowd gave him was incredible and really made a great moment out of this. Congratulations, Dolph Ziggler. He’s a great worker and one who goes out of his way to try to be the best he cane be. His skills on the mic have drastically improved and I love his little Triad with AJ and Langston. I think he has a bright future and I hope this is the start of it.

Now some of you may not like him for whatever the reason. That’s your call. However, considering he climbed up the WWE ladder from this:

That him on the far right.

And later this…

… you have to at least respect him for clawing his way this far.

Ryback’s NOT Heel Turn

Last night was capped off by Ryback running in on the Mark Henry/ John Cena match to save John Cena from a viscious beatdown. The match they just had ended in a countout victory for Cena, which is great because it gives you the doubt whether Cena can beat Henry cleanly. For those who remember that Cena has beaten cleanly before in the past, Shhhhhh! We’re talking about this month now.

Ryback extended the hand to Cena and things looked face-tastic… until Ryback decided to hit Cena with the Meat Hook. He then hoisted Cena up and nailed him with a Shell Shock to close out the show. Very interesting direction for Cena’s first WWE title defense.

However, there is a growing debate growing about it: Was this Ryback’s heel turn? In my opinion, nope. First off, this isn’t the first time another face wanted a title shot against a face champion. All I saw was Ryback proclaiming he wanted a shot at the WWE title, and nothing more. Until I see the next promo from him, that’s all I’ve seen. Maybe he’ll act like one for a month, but there are precedents for that in the WWE. Cena was essentially a heel for Rock and I remember Shawn Michaels was a Heel for Hogan.

Now if Cena didn’t have the WWE Championship, then yes I’d call this a heel turn. But the rules are different when the WWE Title is concerned. They have to be, otherwise Cena is going to run out of heels to face quickly.

Also everyone is forgetting Mark Henry. Keep in mind last night, we got these two shots.

It’s going to be a triple threat. They set it up pretty nicely. Henry has the argument that Cena won due to BS and the beatdown proved that Cena can’t handle him. Plus he still has beef with Ryback, so that adds to the match. Ryback wants to avenge the loss to Henry, and now there is animosity with Cena. Cena, meanwhile, will want to prove that he is the champion, and winning here would kill a lot of birds with one stone. It’s simple booking.

So my prediction is a triple threat for Extreme Rules. Who’s winning? Gimme a break here. If this match was happening 6 months from now, that would be one thing. However Cena has had the belt for a cup of coffee. He’s due a long WWE Title reign and I have a feeling he’s going to get one. It’s fair, he was without the WWE Title for a over a year, he’s due. I have a feeling the WWE Title isn’t going anywhere till next Mania. Look for Cena to pin Henry, as I suspect they’ll be building up the one-on-one between Rybck and Cena for Summerslam.

BEST. CROWD. EVER!!!!!!

It has to be said, this was the greatest crowd in the history of the WWE. They not only made this episode of RAW, they made the RAW better than Wrestlemania! Every crowd should be like this! If this was the case, the WWE would have no choice but to make a lot of changes. Actually, they did force some changes, as CM Punk never appeared because they didn’t want him cheered. Folks, if you want change in the WWE, this is how you protest. Granted this is the after Wrestlemania show, when the wrestling smark crowd is at it’s purist. But hey, I can dream.

Here’s a list of all the chants:

• “Boring!”
• “Same Old S***!”
• “Sexual Chocolate!”
• The Ole Ole (El Generico) Soccer Song
• “JBL!”
• “Michael Cole!”
• “Jerry!”
• “Justin Roberts!”
• “Mike Chioda!”
• “RVD!”
• “William Regal!”
• “DDP!”
• “Colt Cabana!”
• “Ice Cream Man!”
• “We Want Pretzels!”
• “Chris Benoit!”
• “We Want Lesnar!”
• “We Want Sting!
• “Randy Savage!”
• “We Are Awesome!”
• “We’re the Winners!”
• “End This Match Please!” – Sheamus/Orton match
• “Thank You Big Show!”
• “Break The Table!”
• “One More Chair!”
• “HBK!”

My favorite moment was how they complete destroyed the Sheamus vs. Orton match. No reaction when they came out, and they literally chanted for everyone BUT the two guys in the ring, it was unreal. I wish I could know what was going on in Sheamus and Orton’s heads during the match, but I think they handled it fine.

Good man, Sheamus!

Kudos to the WWE. They could have ignored the crowd, but the WWE embraced it. It made the night fun and listening to the commentators was actually fun. WWE.com even thanked the crowd for being there. It was really cool of them.

The big news out of this is that Fandango maybe a made-man after RAW. The crowd humming his theme has become a thing, as it was happening over at Smackdown this week too. On top of this, his theme music is the number #22 most downloaded song on iTunes. No joke, the humming maybe the new “YES!” chant.

The question now is how Johnny Curtis handles it. If he embraces it like Bryan, he’s set. However, if he ignores it, I sense badness, not greatness for his future. For record I still hate the character/gimmick, but I’m also craving something new for the WWE. I could see a Honky Tonk Man kind of build for him, so who knows? Sadly, I don’t know if Curtis knows how to handle the situation, so I hope he makes use of the legends who surround him for some knowledge.

Going forward from now on, maybe I should rethink my understanding of Mania. Apparently, the RAW after Mania is the proper Wrestlemania, because I loved this RAW more than Wrestlemania and it was a RAW without Punk! I really hope crowds channel a tenth of the awesome of this crowd from now on…. it’s not going to happen.

Want to find out more about WWE? Check out the WWE Website!

*SPOILERS*

The Geek Link (www.geeklinkradio.com) presents it’s walkthrough for Assassin’s Creed 3 and we hit every optional mission so you can get the Perfectionist Trophy/Achievement in Assassin’s Creed 3.

Sequence 6-4 has you assassinating William Johnson without being detected. Do this, save a few Native Americans, and jump into some water so you can get the Perfectionist Trophy/Achievement in Assassin’s Creed 3.

Stay tuned to this channel for more updates and video on Assassin’s Creed 3 right here at the Geek Link.

Missed the last episode of this Assassin’s Creed 3 walkthrough? Click here!

*SPOILERS*

The Geek Link (www.geeklinkradio.com) presents it’s walkthrough for Assassin’s Creed 3 and we hit every optional mission so you can get the Perfectionist Trophy/Achievement in Assassin’s Creed 3.

Sequence 6-3 sees you at the Boston Tea Party! Throw in crates, soldiers, and more so you can get the Perfectionist Trophy/Achievement in Assassin’s Creed 3.

Stay tuned to this channel for more updates and video on Assassin’s Creed 3 right here at the Geek Link.

Missed the last episode of this Assassin’s Creed 3 walkthrough? Click here!

Wrestlemania has come and gone, and what a Wrestlemania it was… in that it was very formulaic and boring.If you recall my WWE Wrestlemania XXVIIII predictions from a week ago, I finished 5-4. Hey, I’ll admit when I was wrong (but mostly right). I guess I was too optimistic. With a card that predictable, I guess I thought the WWE had to do something interesting. However, I forgot this was the WWE, who really doesn’t need to be exciting anymore. So what happened this year? Let’s run down the list.

Rhodes Scholars & The Bellas vs. Tons of Funk & The Funkadactyls

CANCELLED!!!

A lot of you ran through the numbers and realized that 5-4 means 9 matches took place; wasn’t there a tenth? In one of the more heartbreaking occurrences, the 8-man tag was completely bumped off the card due to time constraints. The frustrating thing is this match could have happened if the WWE didn’t run so many commercials, P Diddy, and Rock/Cena promos (the WWE did 3). Hell, the WWE had an hour on the pre-show, it could have been sent there. There was no reason this match couldn’t have taken place.

Plus, we were treated to this.

Thanks for this “Wrestlemania Moment”, WWE. It’s awesome to have the exact moment a dream is crushed forever on film. And yes that was was sarcasm! Believe it or not, I feel especially bad for the Bellas. Keep in mind they left because the WWE could care less about the Divas’ division. The WWE contacts them and tells them they’ve changed, that Divas are a focus now, and even throws them in an angle with Rhodes Scholars. They return and things go great, even getting a Mania match. For any wrestler that’s a big deal, and they were probably as ecstatic as everyone else. Then Mania comes and the WWE let’s the cat out of the bag that nothing has changed and that your Wrestlemania moment is cancelled.

That sucks.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: This one did happen on RAW and the faces won, as I predicted. So you know what? I’m 6-4.

The Miz beats Barrett by submission and becomes the New IC Champion!

In the first match of the night (technically) The Miz made Wade Barrett tap to the Figure Four and become the new IC champion. Not a lot of shock there. The best way to jack up a live crowd is with a new champion. Plus, the Miz kind of deserves it. He’s been picking up steam as a face and is about due for some kind of push.

The match itself was fine for what it was, which sadly is a common compliment with Mania matches this year. Nice back and forth and Miz didn’t mess up the Figure Four. What more can you ask for?

The Shield defeats The “Faces”

The six-man ended in the most boring way it could, with Big Show “turning”. Actually, I don’t what to call it. Was he still a Face going into Mania? Or was he still a Heel teaming with faces? Did they all become Tweeners for this? I am so confused.

Sadly we didn’t get that Orton heel turn, instead we got Big Show suddenly remembering he’s a heel and not breaking up a pin. Orton basically stole a tag and Big Show decided at that moment to throw away 3 months of preparation to take out the big bad Shield because of a tag. Yeah, that makes sense.

On the plus side, Shield continues to be a force and now have a Wrestlemania victory under their belts. Orton and company don’t change at all, but trust me, that’s not the most disappointing thing of the night.

 Mark Henry defeated Ryback

The result for this one shocked me, despite the logic of the booking. Ryback lifts the mammoth Henry going for Shell Shock, but the experienced Henry grabs the ropes and throws Ryback off balance. Ryback falls back and 400 lbs of Henry falls on his head, justifiably knocking Ryback out. Mark covers, 1-2-3.

I say I’m shocked because, once again, Ryback has the potential to be the next big face of WWE. So a loss at his first Wrestlemania… is quite shocking. This is what they mean when they say we’ll never have another Taker Streak, because WWE keeps jobbing guys out at Mania for no reason?

No sooner do I think this than Henry goes to induct Ryback in the Hall of Pain. However Ryback has none of it and hits him with a spinebuster followed by a Shell Shock, which was incredible to watch. However, Ryback gets up after, and his arm is noticeably in pain. Is Ryback injured? Was WWE right in holding off on pushing him? We’ll see.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: He’s fine.

Team Hell No defeated Dolph Ziggler & Big E Langston to retain the Tag Team Championship

Great match, as all 4 guys really gelled well together. Big E definitely has a bright future, as he moves well for such a big dude. Dolph Ziggler looked amazing, and Team Hell No were great as always. The worst thing I could say about this match was that it was a little formulaic. Faces take out the heel’s partner, hit a double team finisher, 1-2-3.

Everyone involved looked great, but as I thought Team Hell No looks to be holding the belts for a while longer still. Team Ziggler, however, I have no idea, but I look forward to finding out. Maybe WWE will give them some gold in the near future.

Fandango beat Chris Jericho

This was the first match to completely enrage me. This match was complete and utter garbage and Johnny Curtis didn’t deserve a Wrestlemania spot.

The match was all Jericho, literally and figuratively. You could tell Jericho was leading him through every step of this match and Fandango struggled to keep up. The match was 93% Jericho on offense with Fandango hitting a move sporadically. I think we finally saw a wrestler take on a broomstick. One botched up small package later and Fandango pulls off the most awkward upset in history.

So many things sucked about this one. The match was poor, Fandango didn’t deserve a debut at Wrestlemania, and the fact he made it but Cody Rhodes, Damian Sandow, and Kofi Kingston were left off is a crime. Nicest thing I can say about it, honestly, was that it was short.

Alberto Del Rio defeated Jack Swagger to retain the the World Title

Poor Swagger. Poor, stupid, drunk driving Swagger. You know you’re not winning the World Title when you get the jobber entrance for your match at Wrestlemania.

Swagger has no one else to blame for this but himself. I have no idea what possessed him to DUI while in possession of drugs leading up to his big match. After that, he was lucky the WWE kept him in the match.

The match itself was alright; it felt more like a 5 star Smackdown main event than a Wrestlemania one, but I’m just nitpicking. Nice back and forth with great use of the managers too. End comes when ADR locks in the Cross Armbreaker for the win.

Big let down for no Money in the Bank cash in, WWE. WTF?

The Undertaker defeated CM Punk

Easily the match of the night! I don’t know how Taker does it, but he constantly has the match of the night or nominee every Wrestlemania! For those wondering, Yes Punk was his usual level of excellence for this one.

Nice back and forth between this two. Some nice close calls for the end of the match; with Taker kicking out of an urn shot, and Punk kicking out of the Tombstone. Brownie points to Punk who did everything he could to make himself out to be the biggest piece of shit possible. He did everything from cheating, slapping Taker, and even using Taker’s own moves against him. End comes as Taker hits a second Tombstone out of nowhere to finish it off.

Only critique I could give it is never once in this match did I believe Punk had it. In all the matches for the streak there was always one spot where I thought “OMG, the streak is over!” Like last year when Taker got hit with Sweet Chin Music and stumbled into a Pedigree. This time, I never thought for one second Punk had him. Once again, great match and easily the best on the card, but I never thought Punk had him. Sadly, I think Streak matches my have lost there spark with me. Regardless, a nice match that was truly Wrestlemania worthy.

Triple H defeated Brock Lesnar

This match has been getting some negative press thanks to the crowd reaction. However, most of it was pretty fun. It was essentially both guys taking turns chucking each other into objects as well as each other. It was a very fun brawl until the very end, when it became a Triple H egofest.

After chairing up Brock’s arm, Triple H decided to be a dink and apply the Kimura Lock (Brock’s own submission) on Brock and re-applied it and re-applied it and re-applied it. This part of the match felt like an eternity and took away a lot of points. Plus this would start Triple H just destroying Brock in what felt like a huge receipt for Summerslam. Sledgehammer shot and a Pedigree on the steps later, and this one was over.

Happy this feud is over, I hope WWE can think of something more interesting for Brock to do now. As for Triple H, he’s going off TV… same as what would have happened if he lost… Next match please.

John Cena defeated The Rock for the WWE Title

Worst. Rematch. Ever.

To describe this match simply, imagine watching two guys playing WWE’13 against each other with unlimited finishers, and all they did was hit finishers over and over till one won. That was this match. Finally after the 20th Attitude Adjustment, Rock’s health bar was empty and we had a new WWE Champion.

I will admit that this match had some interesting moments that were a throw back to their first encounter, like when they almost recreated the ending to the last match. This match however is a pretty much an analogy for my entire issue with this PPV. There was a chance to make something truly memorable here (Cena heel turn or otherwise), but instead the WWE played it safe. So freaking safe that theWWE made Wrestlemania very…meh. That’s the thing, the matches weren’t awful, just that they were very predictable and safe. What we had was a very forgettable Wrestlemania.

So in closing: If you want to see anything, go with Taker vs. Punk. Otherwise, this is a WWE PPV you can skip.

Want to read more on WWE? Check out their website!

Your Podcast Hosts-
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Ending Music:

Andrew W.K. Mickey Mouse Club March

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The Geek Link (www.geeklinkradio.com) presents it’s walkthrough for Assassin’s Creed 3 and we hit every optional mission so you can get the Perfectionist Trophy/Achievement in Assassin’s Creed 3.

Sequence 6-2 sees you chasing after an angry cook while stealthy assassinating 5 people. Keep your pal healthy and keep the fighting to a minimum so you can get the Perfectionist Trophy/Achievement in Assassin’s Creed 3.

Stay tuned to this channel for more updates and video on Assassin’s Creed 3 right here at the Geek Link.

Missed the last episode of this Assassin’s Creed 3 walkthrough? Click here!

Two Dudes Movie Reviews is a new feature on The Geek Link! Join Malcolm and Ryan while they cover the latest movies, giving their opinions on the latest big screen debuts.

This week it’s Evil Dead, the highly anticipated remake from the 1981 version. Was Evil Dead able to live up to the expectations? Sit down and find out on the premiere episode of Two Dudes Movie Reviews.

Like Two Dudes Movie Reviews? Check out other Geek Link videos on our Youtube Channel!

Talking points: Yum; RIP LucasArts; Sony’s rumored pre-E3 event; Metal Gear Solid V; TellTale Games announces Poker Night 2; TellTale also announces a name for their Fables adaptation; Activision cans the Deadpool team now that the game is done; Demon’s Souls comes to PlayStation Plus; Rainbow Moon’s delightful soundtrack; the absurdity of Green Arrow fighting Doomsday; neither of us are Greg Miller; PS+ on PS4; a legit, big-ass Avengers giveaway from our pal RK.

Want to see Joe’s Stealthy Box website that he mentioned on the Firmware Update? Click here!

How about The Geek Link website that Malcolm mentions on the Firmware Update? Click here!

Your Firmware Update Hosts:

Malcolm Spinedi: (@CowardDuck)

Joe Garcia: (@Wons23)

Music

Intro - ”Eyes on the Prize” by George and Jonathan

Outro -  ”No More Lies” by George and Jonathan

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I have returned!!!! Many apologies for my long absence, but PAX East takes a surprising amount of time to cover. So for this article, I am just going to cover the meat of the matter, and thats Wrestlemania XXVIIII. Sure I could go over how WWE’s given up on Wade Barrett and why Fandango is stupid but let’s get real. It’s Wrestlemania 29, and you want to know what’s going to happen. Plus, everything in the WWE is building to these matches. So what better to catch up than to go over the matches and predict the outcomes. Birds falling due to a lesser amount of stones!

 WWE Intercontinental Title Match: Wade Barrett vs. The Miz

The build for this one has been weird. It began with making it look like Sheamus was feuding with Barrett, and then showing us Miz vs. Barrett 50 times during the road to Wrestlemania. Because that’s the smart thing to do if you’re building up a match for a PPV; show it off for free multiple times first.

On paper, this match should be awesome. This match is the battle of the movie stars with Wade and Miz both in movies… not that you’d know based on how WWE has been promoting this. I have a feeling that a big reason for that is because Dead Man Down (the one with Wade Barrett) tanked at the box office. Of course, a little of that blame could easily fall on the WWE, based on how they promoted the movie.

It’s basic logic, WWE. If you treat Wade Barrett’s role like it’s a joke; a wrestling fan isn’t going to want to see it. The video above is a clear message to fans “If you like Wade, don’t bother with this movie. He does nothing.” This could have been a big deal for Wade and the WWE, but they decided to shoot themselves in the foot. But I digress.

This match was recently announced for WWE’s pre-show, which I’m pleased with. Typically, the pre-show match is something I care to see and I get upset it’s not on the show proper. For instance, the WWE Tag Title Unification Match of Wrestlemania XXV and the US title match with Sheamus and Daniel Bryan of Wrestlemania XXVII. This year, it’s a match I’ve seen 50 times this month. So I’ll just consider this a WWE Miracle.

As for an outcome, we’re going to have a new champion. Wade has gone on to do nothing with his IC title reign, and has sadly squandered every push given to him. The Miz has been good as a face. Yes he had a really rough start, but I’ve come to actually enjoy him as time went on. Plus, he’s about due for a title reign, especially after his feud with Antonio Cesaro. Seems wasteful to have him put over both mid-tier champions. Lastly, nothing pumps up a crowd more than seeing a live title change. Miz winning the belt to start off will do wonders for the Wrestlemania card.

WINNER AND NEW CHAMPION: THE MIZ

Rhodes Scholars & The Bellas vs. Tons of Funk & The Funkadactyls

Expect this one to open the show proper. I’m sure this will be a very entertaining affair as all involved are commendable workers. Rhodes Scholars are future main eventers, and you may remember I’ve written about how much I love the story of Tensai and Brodus. The Funkadactyls are surprisingly good wrestlers and the Bellas have a lot of personality. Yes, the gimmick is they’re skanks, but you have to admit they do it well.

Not too hard to predict this one thanks to the WWE Law of Reverse Momentum: The stronger a wrestler looks going into a PPV, the more likely it is that he will lose. Both Rhodes Scholars and The Bellas have gotten wins over the faces, so it looks the faces are due for a win at Wrestlemania. Followed by a big Dance Party…. oh God. The WWE’s going to go for that Harlem Shake record, aren’t they?

WINNERS: FACES

 Ryback vs. Mark Henry

With the exception of one tiny thing, I’ve otherwise enjoyed the build for this match. I loved that they remembered Ryback still has an issue with The Shield and that he wouldn’t just drop that because Mark Henry walked past him a few times. Henry attacks Ryback to set up this feud, and Ryback surrenders his spot in the six-man to get Henry… least that’s what should have happened. Why did Teddy Long and Vickie pull Ryback out of the match? It would have made more sense if Ryback did it himself. What do they care if they destroy each other? But I digress.

I’m actually looking forward to this. Mark Henry has been one of my favorites since he turned heel. His matches with Big Show were amazingly entertaining as they felt more like monster movies than matches (Which can be fun). Ryback, mark my words, is on his way to  being the guy in WWE. His existence and the reaction he gets from the crowd, give me hope that we will see Cena heel turn one day. The WWE just needs to pull the trigger and we will have a star on our hands.

I think this one will surprise a lot, however make no mistake in who is going over. Ryback is the star on the raise here, and this win will do a lot for him. The WWE can tell the value of him, they just want to make sure his body can last. Till then, WWE will continue to build him up slowly and Wrestlemania will be a great stepping stone for him.

BTW, don’t be surprised to see him go over with the Shell Shock.

WINNER: RYBACK

Chris Jericho vs. Fandango

I’m shocked that I even wrote this match, still. Despite what I say in the next paragraph, I have to go on record that this is a terrible waste of Chris Jericho. The man is a legend and is here for a limited time; so you have him wrestling a comedy character? We could’ve had Ziggler vs. Jericho, but instead he’s wasting his time with a character that will be a jobber in 2 months. Come on, WWE!

That being said, the build has been very decent, even entertaining. The thing is it feels like a 80′s feud, which works really well. The whole thing is just so basic that it works. Fandango hates Jericho because he messed up his name. That’s the whole feud! I know it sounds stupid on paper, but the way Jericho plays it up is hysterical. Fandango has been playing up the role nicely too, jumping Jericho leading up to the event. So in the end, I can’t say I hate this.

As for who will win, Jericho all the way. I don’t even need the Law of Reverse Momentum here (though it works here). Unless Fandango has a brighter future than any of us can anticipate, Jericho is going over. I’d like to think it’s a thank you on the WWE’s part. Jericho has for the most part been jobbing since returning, and a Wrestlemania win would be very cool. Jericho beating Fandango doesn’t hurt him as he hasn’t been built up yet, so Jericho gets his win. Fandango’s time will come (next time I need movie tickets), but it’s not quite at Mania.

WINNER: CHRIS JERICHO

WWE Tag Title Match: Team Hell No vs. Dolph Ziggler & Big E. Langston

This one has become tough to call. At first I thought this would be a win for the Faces, as I thought Kaitlyn vs. AJ for the WWE Diva’s title was a thing (where AJ would win) and Dolph was going to cash-in. With Dolph winning the big one (I wouldn’t count out a MitB cash-in at Wrestlemania) and AJ winning a belt too, I didn’t think the WWE would splurge and have them win all the titles. However, the fact that AJ’s moment is going to have to wait awhile longer (though with the way WWE focuses on the Divas, I could see them booking the match at the PPV), Team Ziggler winning could be a definite possibility.

Just the same, I think Team Hello No has this. They’re still too big an act for the WWE to let go. Even (possibly) worse, I’m not confident the WWE has planned ahead as to what to do with Kane or Bryan after they break up. besides, it’s not like they’re stale yet. Granted, I don’t know who you put them up against after; but with NXT call-ups possibly happening, the roster could be getting bigger.

I really hope I’m wrong here, and Team Dolph wins. I really want to see Dolph covered in gold, but I don’t see the WWE doing that.

WINNERS AND STILL THE TAG CHAMPIONS: TEAM HELL NO

Randy Orton, Sheamus, and Big Show vs. The Shield

The wheel of faces for Shield to face landed on Sheamus, Orton, and (Random pick) Big Show this month as the WWE continues to drive home the fact that the Shield are a big deal. No offense to the WWE and it’s writing team, but I got the jist that Shield is a big deal after they went over John Cena at Elimination Chamber. Can you just do something with them aside from drive home the fact that they’re jerks?

The intrigue of this is the belief someone is turning among the faces. That is the big question mark on this one: Can the faces really work together? It is Wrestlemania, if the Shield’s leader (if there is one) is going to reveal himself, it would be cool if it was one of the faces. Of course, it could even just be one of them turning for the heck of it. The odds on favorite for this happening would be Orton, who has been begging the WWE to turn for 2 years now. You know, I don’t disagree with this plan. Let’s face it, Orton has been stale and boring for a long time now. If Orton being heel is what it takes to be interesting again, I’m for it. Or the WWE could play it safe and have Big Show (still) be a heel. No way Sheamus turns, he’s too marketable a face for that.

Whether someone turns or no, The Shield wins here. The WWE has an ultimate plan for these guys, one that involves them going over so many super faces that we have no choice but to take them seriously. If the Shield are losing anytime soon, it makes no sense to have them do it to these three.

WINNERS: SHIELD

World Heavyweight Title Match: Alberto Del Rio vs. Jack Swagger

The build for this match has been interesting simply because we started with this new gimmick for Swagger going from being so interesting and full of potential to realizing “Oh wait. It’s still just Jack Swagger.” Yes while the Xenophobe gimmick was interesting, the harsh reality is that Jack Swagger has a minus 40 to charisma. As a result, his new manager Zeb Coulter has done so much talking for him, that I thought it was Zeb vs. ADR for a while! Thankfully, I think the WWE has realized this, hence why this feud has become so vicious. Otherwise, all Swagger did leading up to this was say “We the People…” a few dozen times.

If Swagger had any chance of winning this, I think it literally went “up in smoke”. After Swagger was busted for a DUI while in possession of marijuana, it’s a shock he kept his Mania spot. While the WWE may have decided to keep him in the match, the odds of him regaining the title are slim to none at this point. I doubt the WWE would risk sending such a bad message as to have Swagger get a title reign out of all this.

WINNER AND STILL WORLD CHAMPION, ALBERTO DEL RIO

No Holds Barred: Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar

The match where if Triple H loses, he is forced to retire. But if he wins… he will be off TV for a majority of the year, and may as well be retired…. Who wrote this?

Awhile ago I wrote that this could be a cool match just to watch them destroy each other. This is still very true and this could be a fun match, but the build has been a bit on the dumb side causing folks to forget this. I blame this a lot on the match stipulation segment on Raw awhile back. It’s bad enough that they gave a Retirement Stip for a guy who doesn’t even qualify as a part time wrestler, but they made it also no holds barred. A stip that doesn’t hold a lot of weight when their previous match was also No Holds Barred. So a lot of it is stuff we’ve already seen, with a stip that gives away the winner.

Some have argued that Triple H could lose the match, and then use his powers to restore his job… but that makes no sense. Keep in mind, this is a retirement at Wrestlemania. Whether you all realize it or not, the WWE takes those seriously. Don’t believe me? When was the last time JBL, Shawn Michaels, or Ric Flair have wrestled? Not since all three retired at Mania. So if Trips loses, that’s it for him wrestling. If that happens, that’s a lot of potential storylines gone. Remember the magic of Mr. McMahon? You could easily pull that off in the future with Triple H, except with better matches. So for this reason alone, Hunter wins.

WINNER: TRIPLE H

The Undertaker vs. CM Punk

I’ll make several very bold calls about this one: 1) This will be the match of the night, and 2) The Streak will end.

If there was ever a time the Streak could end, it is this is the year, people.  The belief has been that the Streak should “be broken by a hot new rising star that would benefit most.” Hey look at that! A hot rising star named CM Punk! Punk, especially after his incredible 434 day reign as WWE Champion, is the biggest threat to Taker’s Streak in some time. It makes sense he’d be the guy who ends it. Plus, whoever ends the streak will be hated instantly, and who better to have that on than the biggest heel in the company?

Marketing-wise it’s perfect too. The WWE released a DVD called 20-0 about the The Streak last year. Ending it this year would make great sense, as now you have a DVD set to remember the Streak back in it’s glory, without having to make a new one for the extra matches.

As for the quick and questionable build (would we have this story if not for Paul Bearer’s death?), many feel this doesn’t have the proper build for it to be over. However, what if that was the swerve? What if all of that is to make you think the Streak isn’t ending, so you’re more shocked when it does?

The biggest and most understandable reason for it not ending is the fact the feud is built on Punk spitting on Bearer’s legacy. Cripes, Punk even rubbed his ashes on himself Kratos-style after dumping him on Taker’s body too. The argument is Punk has to lose, and it’s true. Taker has to get retribution, but he doesn’t need to win to do that. What if Taker becomes so enraged during this match, that he does get himself DQ’d like Punk said? What if then afterwards Taker fully loses it and hurts him so bad after the bell that Punk is on the shelf? Both guys would then win.

I acknowledge my belief is a long shot, however I can’t fight my instincts a,nd if I have to be the one guy who picks Punk, so be it.

WINNER: CM PUNK 

WWE Title Match: The Rock vs. John Cena

The million dollar question: Is John Cena turning? The last two weeks on RAW are screaming this idea. But would the WWE really turn their top face? The answer is yes, but maybe not this year.

After some study, I think I’ve gathered that the point of this entire feud is to turn John Cena. Rock is a personality that is simply loved by more people, and lot of that isn’t Cena’s fault. The fact that Rock steps out of the limelight as often as he does, really does help him as the fans have that opportunity to miss him. Cena is here everyday, yes, but that means we get sick of him. Plus the character is stale, so I understand the mixed reaction he gets. However, next to the Rock he’s not even close. This isn’t like Rock/Hogan where the cheers were perfectly split. Rock has the edge in fans each time.

This is a slow burn story. Cena failed to beat the Rock at last year’s Wrestlemania. Many assume he’ll win to even it out… but what if he doesn’t? What if after everything Cena has said about redemption and swearing to give the Rock a heartbreaking loss, he can’t deliver again? The idea of John Cena lowering into desperatation and finally giving into his demons could make for an amazing story. Personally, especially with rumors of Rock/Cena III next year, I think this will be the case.

So I think one of two things will happen.

1) Cena loses, and the turn comes next year.

2) Cena loses, turns heel and brutally assaults the Rock after the match. Rock is so hurt he has to drop the title, and is out till next year’s Wrestlemania.

Whatever happens, the single common thread remains.

 WINNER AND STILL CHAMPION: THE ROCK

So what do you guys think? Am I spot on or do you think differently about how Wrestlemania is going to go? Write in on the comments below and let us know!

Want to read more on WWE? Check out their website!

*SPOILERS*

The Geek Link (www.geeklinkradio.com) presents it’s walkthrough for Assassin’s Creed 3 and we hit every optional mission so you can get the Perfectionist Trophy/Achievement in Assassin’s Creed 3.

Sequence 6-1 sees you blowing up crates with gunpowder, while keeping your gun play and notoriety to a minimum. All while avoiding awful optional missions so you can get the Perfectionist Trophy/Achievement in Assassin’s Creed 3.

Stay tuned to this channel for more updates and video on Assassin’s Creed 3 right here at the Geek Link.

Missed the last episode of this Assassin’s Creed 3 walkthrough? Click here!

*SPOILERS*

The Geek Link (www.geeklinkradio.com) presents it’s walkthrough for Assassin’s Creed 3 and we hit every optional mission so you can get the Perfectionist Trophy/Achievement in Assassin’s Creed 3.

Sequence 5-5 has Saaaaaaailllling awaaaaaaaay! This plus we show you how to navigate the reef, when to dodge the cannonballs, and how to shoot those little boats down in this video!

Stay tuned to this channel for more updates and video on Assassin’s Creed 3 right here at the Geek Link.

Missed the last episode of this Assassin’s Creed 3 walkthrough? Click here!

MALCOLM: Aright I am here with Jay Stuckwisch from Twisted Pixel. So what is LocoCycle?

JAY: So Lococycle is a story about a sentient motorcycle who went a little haywire after being struck by lightning. She decides to go on a cross-country trip and attaches her mechanic Pablo to her swing arm and drags him across the country with her on her adventures.  Throughout LocoCycle you do a lot of of melee fighting, Kung Fu, and ariel fight scenes with a human being dragging behind.  Kind of a little weird but not too weird for Twisted Pixel.

MALCOLM: How long is LocoCycle?

JAY:  We’re not really announcing how long LocoCycle is yet, we’re still early in development on it. But you’re definitely going to get a good chunk of time with it. Lot of time, lot of man hours went into LocoCycle to make it look good and feel awesome.

MALCOLM: Will we have multiplayer or co-op?

JAY: This will not be multiplayer; single player only.

MALCOLM: You guys have got some nice voice actors. You got Robert Patrick, Lisa Foiles, and Freddy Rodriguez as Pablo. What was it like to work with these guys?

JAY: You know we couldn’t have picked a better crew. We reached out to these guys and we knew instantly that they were who we wanted. We reached out to them and told the idea about LocoCycle and they thought it was hilarious.

Robert Patrick was on board right away, he’s a huge motorcycle buff anyway. So he was on board definitely to be the voice of Spike.

Lisa Foiles has been a good friend of ours forever. She just had the perfect pitch and tone that we were looking for to get that robotic voice and nailed it to a T.

Freddy Rodriguez was just a treat to work with. Such an awesome guy; really willing to do whatever. He was on call whenever we needed anything for voice acting; screaming, yelling, and acting like a goofball was all perfect.  He speaks amazing Spanish and that’s what we needed.

MALCOLM: Now I’ve seen footage of poor Pablo. Does he ever get to actually ride the bike?

JAY: Sadly, Pablo is pretty much in tow on the back of the bike.  We do mix up some gameplay elements where you will play as Pablo at certain points to help I.R.I.S. out. But for the most part, Iris is taking Pablo along and using him as a weapon and company on her road trip.

MALCOLM: Nice! Now I’m curious, back with the game Comic Jumper, everyone at Twisted Pixel had a scene in it.  Can we expect anything like that in LocoCycle.

JAY: You know, were always looking to kind of freshen it up a bit, so we have some surprises in store but nothing that we’re really talking about too much yet.

MALCOLM: Now whats the release date for LocoCycle?

JAY: We don’t have the release date yet. We’re actually waiting on that; we’re hoping to hear back on that really soon. But as it stands right now, it’s 2013 for sure. So hopefully we can touch base on that soon.

MALCOLM: Any word on what platforms will LocoCycle be released on?

JAY: Still waiting on that.

MALCOLM: You recently brought Ms. Splosion Man to iOS. Was the port difficult?

JAY: (chuckles) Well as you and your readers know, we announced this as launching in last summer. We didn’t quite get there, but we wanted to take our time with this as our first mobile game.

So it may not have seemed easy looking in, but it was actually pretty good. We worked with Iron Galaxy in Chicago, they helped us with the Windows phone 7 and the iOS version.  So trying to get those two to look like each other, it was a little bit of a challenge.  But we think they really nailed it and did a good job with it.

MALCOLM: Now you’ve announced that Ms. Splosion Man on iOS, and The Wavy Tube Man Chronicles on Windows8. Are there any other titles you’re working on any other ports?

JAY: Not at the moment. Not that we don’t want too, it’s just that we’re so deep into LocoCycle and we just dived into another project. Mobile has been backburnered a little bit, but we still want to do some stuff (For it) Maybe entirely new content or something if we can.

MALCOLM: One more on Ms. Splosion Man; Are there any other extra features on the iOS version compared to the other ones.

JAY: Yes! In the iOS version we’re featuring in power ups, which is kind of big. You go into a store and make purchases with the coins you get during the game.

You can get select quad-core sploding, which gives you a fourth splode. Nuclear explosion, which will blow up tons of things around you. We also have sonic speed, extra armor and “Cheat on the game” as some of the purchases.

In additions, we have challenges for each level and multiple tiers of challenges which we like to call fame; in which (Ms. Splosion Man) builds up her fame level. In total we’re looking at 1500 different challenges.

MALCOLM: So after LocoCycle, what’s next for Twisted Pixel?

JAY: I think what Twisted Pixel is going to do next is jump over here and beat up these Ghostbusters. (Laughing)

(AUTHOR’S NOTE: No joke, the New Hampshire Chapter of the Ghostbusters at this point crashed the interview. One glorious battle where some streams may have been crossed, a victorious Jay continued.)

Actually, we’re full in development on another unannounced game. So we’re really, really excited about what’s coming down the pipe for Twisted Pixel and hope to be announcing something on that soon.

MALCOLM: Anything else you like to leave our listeners as far as what to expect with LocoCycle?

Jay: Just keep your eyes open. We got some more surprises coming, some new things that we’re really excited to announce, and we’re hoping to do this in the next couple of months.

MALCOLM: Alright, thanks very much.

After this interview, he sat down and gave us a a demo. Rather than describe it, why not take a look yourself? This video is courtesy of IGN.

As you can see, LocoCycle is is beyond bonkers. So bonkers that I cannot wait play it. LocoCycle plays a lot like a live action cartoon with over the top martial arts, gunplay, and racing. They do a great job with the quick time events which really add to the spectacle of LocoCycle. On top of this, they did a great job of changing up the gameplay. One second Jay was shooting at cars and the next he was fighting in the air with a 79 hit combo. Next he was barreling through a small army of suits like a bowling ball in order to rack up points. After that he was engaged in this crazy quick time event that showed I.R.I.S. riding all over a canyon and taking down a helicopter. It was sick!

So I can’t wait for LocoCycle, but what about you? Does Twisted Pixel have a winner? Leave a comment below and let us know what ya think?

 Want to learn more about LocoCycle? Check out Twisted Pixel’s official website!