Self-described as a narrative paramedic, Rhianna Pratchett is most known for her work on the Overlord series with additional credits in Mirror’s Edge, Heavenly Sword, and Viking: Battle for Asgard. I had the opportunity to interview Rhianna about her creative approach to writing, general thoughts on videogame development, and emotive storytelling.

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At last the time has come for the 2nd movie night! The candidates have been selected and the poll is ready for you to rock the vote. For those of you who missed our first movie night, it was a complete blast and a ton of fun was had. This time around we’ve got Ghost in the Shell as the returning runner up as it finished 2nd on our last poll as well as 3 new candidates. Cast your vote, let your voice be heard and we’ll keep you posted!

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No, Bad Kids Go to Hell is not he name of the next hit reality series on Fox, rather a comic mini-series combining the talents of former Hollywood FX master and playwright Matthew Spradlin with Producer/Director/Writer and actor Barry “Bazza” Wernick into a rich storyline reminiscent of a demon spawn between John Hughes and Wes Craven. Filled with every teenage stereotype and excellently crafted panels by artist Anthony Vargas, Bad Kids pushes the envelope in terms of content, violence, and other “mature” themes. The best part is you are loving every moment of it. I had the opportunity to interview the creators of Bad Kids Go To Hell. I’ll let you read what they had to say about their teen angst story after the break. Read more!

The Zombie apocalypse is coming my friends! The Swine Flu is only the beginning, panic is already setting on the streets and it surely wont be long until the virus mutates and its victims start rising up from the dead. While naive soccer moms go out and buy mouth masks and Lysol by the pallet you know that the only thing that’s left to do is head for higher ground, the sea or at least your nearest mall. You’ve stocked up on water, food and weapons, lots and lots of weapons. However You’re gonna need something to do while you wait out the boring part of the Zombie apocalypse and can finally head back out and kick some undead ass. You’re gonna need games!

Luckily we’ve got you covered! We’ve taken some time out of barricading DDN HQ to pick the 5 best games for waiting out a global pandemic. These games will not only entertain you but teach you all you need to know to defeat the Zombie Horde and restore human civilization.

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When you were a little kid, did you ever tell yourself “I’d love a fantasy game that simulates everything”? One where you could be your little group of warriors and build the best base ever, go trade, wage war, drink beer, and breed cats indefinitely? Well, Tarn Adams told himself the same thing, but instead of just idly wishing it, he started to make it. And thus was born Dwarf Fortress.

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 Dark Diamond Interview: Tarn Adams [55:29m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Two weeks went by so fast! Its time again for the Dark Diamond Podcast to once again theaten to polute your aural space. On this, our fourth episode, myself along with Vekter and Ben ‘FBINinja’ Schmidt talk about the most important stuff that happened in the last two weeks. You know, in case you were lost in a deserted island for 14 days. Hit the jump for the show outline!

 

 Dark Diamond Podcast Ep 4 [64:13m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

So, on Saturday night I got a chance to check out Rock Band 2 a bit early at a local game store that held a midnight pre-release/tournament. Basically, it’s as good as the first, if not better. It has a huge selection of songs, and the difficulty, or lack thereof, has been fixed completely. Sadly, I didn’t get a chance to check out the drums, as the owner didn’t have any at the store at the time.

My first impressions after the jump.

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As a new feature, each Wednesday or so for a while I’m going to start doing some Top 5 lists, starting with the top 5 anime opening themes.

Well over a thousand anime series have been released over the years, each one with a different theme song, and some with more than one over the years. However, most are mediocre at best, so I took it upon myself to compose a list of what I consider the best 5 anime opening themes of all time. This list was hard to do; I ended up having to cut a few songs I loved that just weren’t as good as some of the others, including The Cruel Angel’s Thesis, Cutey Honey, and a few others. So, without further ado, here’s my list of the top 5 anime opening themes.

In 5th place on my list is "Obsession" by See Saw, the theme to .hack//SIGN. Obsession just barely got on the list, with the Evangelion theme The Cruel Angel’s Thesis coming up 6th. The only reason Obsession inched out Cruel Angel’s Thesis is because Obsession truly matched the overall feel of .hack//SIGN. The overall feel of the song seemed to go well with the feel of the anime, which at times can feel pretty trippy, technological yet very human. Plus, I just think it sounds great.

The other 4 after the jump.

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When things go awry in the video game world and everyone has an opinion,  “Meet the VG Press” tries to make sense of the whole mess and keep it real.

As you’ve probably already heard of by now, there has been quite the furor recently over this charming little game, right on the heels of Resident Evil 5’s racism controversy. The issue this time around is that the whole concept of upcoming PSN game Fat Princess is supposedly anti-feminist and promotes negative stereotypes about obesity. People have voiced this complaint because the goal of said game is fatten up the princess so that it makes it harder for the opposing team to steal her away to their home base, from yours. And in a humorous touch, you fatten up the princess with pieces of cake. I’ve seen a range of responses to both the game and to the feminists who wrote about it, and have come away disappointed from the whole thing.

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Last Saturday 15th of March Video Games Live gave its first performance in Mexico as well as its first performance with a student orchestra. Our very own Velcor being a music student fought for a spot on the show, read on to find out how it is to be on the inside of the beast as well as my account of the event as just another fan.

Velcor’s Account:

It all started in Ensenada, Baja California, a small city 4 hours away from the city where the concert was to be held, and also the place most of the members from the orchestra and choir were from. It was about 3 weeks ago that I heard from one of my classmates that Video Games Live was recruiting members for the orchestra. Inquisitive as I am, I asked him if there was room for one more voice at the choir (I’ve been a bass voice on various performances before so I was confident I’d do a well job); Yes, he replied, so as soon as class ended, I dashed to talk to the school’s administration and asked them about being a part of the show.

After some mean stares and threats to their physical integrity sweet-talking they didn’t seem to have any objections (smart choice). And so I was in and on my way to being part of this video game music phenomenon.

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