Rich Weil Interview

Check out this "examiner" interview with Rich Weil, FusionFall's esteemed community director!

Sweet FusionFall Bubbleheads

So I got me my Flapjack Bubblehead (thanks to some help from Why Seven) and I think it looks pretty sweet with my Dynamo Armor! To tell the truth, it actually looks pretty hilarious. Flapjack's giant head atop a badass mech suit is NUTS! But isn't that what FusionFall is all about? I daresay it is. If you want to know where to get one for yourself, you will have to go a-hunting. Just don't stray too far from the water...hint, hint!

And yet, the Fourarms Bubblehead totally matches better:

What do you think?

Play Classic Sierra Adventure Games!

Thanks to the good folks at Sarien Studios, a handful of the classic Sierra adventure games from the 1980s (King's Quest, Space Quest, etc.) are now available to play in your browser. They've been ported to Flash! How cool is that?!? The controls have been streamlined as well. And, adding an additional level of (modern) weirdness, there is a multiplayer component that lets you interact with other players who are also playing your game. Wow, this must be a labor of love...I don't think there are too many people out there who will appreciate the effort that clearly went into presenting these games this way.

So I fired up Black Cauldron (pictured), which has the unfortunate distinction of being based on a Disney animated film that was released at a low point in the company's history. I don't remember much about the movie, and the only thing I really remember about the game is that you had to do something with a chicken. (Nothing sexual, but hey, you never know.) So I'm playing this thing and it drops you into a dungeon, kind of like the opening scene of Oblivion, minus Captain Picard. The dungeon is not very effective, of course. Eventually, a gold totem appears from a hidden sliding panel in the floor. (It was only later that I realized that this gold totem was actually the hair of my female companion. Such is the way with shitty graphics.) Seriously, I don't remember any of this!

And on it goes. Crap, I need to get back to it. According to the game, my throat is dry!

Street Fighter Art Tribute

Hoo boy, I'm glad I'm not a big Street Fighter fan, or I would be pretty sad to be missing the Jab Strong Fierce Street Fighter Art Tribute, co-sponsored by i am 8-bit. Anyone who's anyone knows that i am 8-bit always puts together the coolest collections of game-themed art from contemporary artists. (I even bought a piece from the second iteration of the show.) This event even promises to have cosplay and a Street Fighter tournament!

Unfortunately, the website does not have any of the pieces available to preview. But keep an eye on that space...I'll bet awesomeness appears, along with a challenger!!

Spring Fling!

FusionFall is doing a fun "Spring Fling" event! "Hop" into the game and look for the hidden Spring Chickens. They will give you access to a special dungeon filled with Coco Eggs, and some of those eggs contain special surprises. Free players can find one Spring Chicken in the future zone, and premium members will find many more in the past. I know of at least two cool items that will only be available for a limited time, so start hunting!

EDIT: Oops, this event starts tomorrow, gang!

FusionFall Is Safe

Read a little bit about our chat monitoring technology, courtesy of the New York Times.

Webby Awards

Cool! FusionFall has been nominated for a Webby Award in the "Entertainment/Games" category. Head over to the People's Voice ballot to cast your vote now. Try to resist the temptation to vote for Mafia Wars.

Hard Games

GameDaily has a list of the 25 hardest games, and I'm pleased to see that most of mine made the list. What? No Bayou Billy?

(Thanks, Kotaku.)

One More Review

So, I totally missed this FusionFall review, but I found a link to it from the FF Wikipedia page, so better late than never. The writer seems to love the game, but gives it a "fair" rating, essentially because the game isn't free enough. If that's your biggest complaint, buddy, lemme see if I can get you a code or something. Sheesh!

Oh, and you can now get the FISKERTON BUBBLEHEAD HELMET, and I think there's another one somewhere out there, too!

Zak Saturday Bubblehead

Hey there, FusionFall fans! Head over to Cartoon Network's website to get your code to redeem a ZAK SATURDAY BUBBLEHEAD HELMET. It's so totally awesome, you will think about things that you used to think were totally awesome, and realize that your definition of "totally awesome" needs to be adjusted to keep up with the awesomeness of the ZAK SATURDAY BUBBLEHEAD HELMET.

If you need further convincing, here I am in my Underfist costume, chilling in the Cul-de-Sac with Wilt and my ZAK SATURDAY BUBBLEHEAD HELMET:

I assume that no more convincing is required.

EDIT: Also, we have 4 million registered users. It's true!!

Portal T-Shirts

I'd make a "the cake is a lie" joke here, but instead, I will remind you not to get icing on your clothes...especially if you are wearing these portal t-shirts. At 100 bucks each, you'll want to keep them clean. But check it: each shirt has a camera and an LCD screen in it, and they transmit to each other. So it's like a real portal!! Except that you probably can't jump into your friend's abdomen and emerge from your own. Although that would be pretty cool.

Probably the most geektastic novelty item of all time. PS - they make LCD screens that you can wear now?? What happened to rocket shoes?

Muramasa: The Demon Blade

Muramasa: The Demon Blade (coming to the Wii) has been on my radar for a while. Looks like it comes out in Japan soon. You can check out the Japanese site here. The game looks really similar to Odin Sphere, developer Vanillaware's previous PS2 sidescrolling action game. That is a very good thing, btw. Odin Sphere was gorgeous, and Muramasa appears to be no different. Maybe even gorgeouser!

I desperately wanted to like Odin Sphere. I played it on multiple occasions, but found the gameplay pretty impenetrable. The game looks like a simple beat-em-up on the surface, but in reality, requires some serious precision to pull off successful attacks. Mashing buttons would get you dead fast. You could call it a "tactical sidescroller" -- but I called it frustrating. A shame, because it is really one of the most beautiful games I've ever seen. Part of the problem was the complicated item management system used to power up your character, made more difficult by a clunky menu set-up and the fact that you have to pick up items from the ground while trying to beat back waves of enemies. Although I do seem to remember something about turning cute little sheep into meat.

Does anyone read this? If so, did you play Odin Sphere? Did you like it? Are you going to buy Muramasa? I am!