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Kristen Schaal wants you to build her a shrine... in Minecraft
Kristen Schaal is a funny lady with an adorable voice. She's been in some of our favorite 3D-animated movies and is a regular commentator on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart -- if any silly woman in Hollywood deserved a shrine, it would be her. So go forth and build, build her a shrine, loyal followers, and build it in Minecraft! Schaal is the star of the very first commercial for Minecraft (cleverly disguised as an Xperia Play ad), promoting a contest to build something awesome in-game, such as a Schaal castle or her giant diamond face. The winner gets a trip to New York to meet with her and "share their Minecraft brilliance with the world." We suggest building an obsidian castle-shrine completely out of Schaal's giant, funny head.
Xperia Play ad rags on iPhone gaming
Sony has released a few tongue-in-cheek internet ads for its new Xperia Play smartphone (basically, the PSP phone everyone's been waiting for). In one of the ads, which you can see embedded after the break, performer/Daily Show correspondent/biggest fan of Flight of the Conchords Kristen Schaal goes after "another smartphone" and its gaming capabilities -- namely the iPhone and its button-free touchscreen. The actual criticisms are pretty vague, to be honest -- there are hints that touchscreen controls don't work so well and even some intimation that the iPhone's screen is somehow too small to see some of the gameplay. In general, everything lands more on the jokey side than any actual pair ups. But that's almost certainly an iPhone she's holding, and this is the most direct attack we've seen from Sony's side going after Apple and its mobile gaming market growth. The Xperia Play has lots of other things to deal with before taking on the iPhone (it's had a pretty disastrous pre-launch so far), but this is an interesting shot across the bow.
Xperia Play turns its marketing ship around with new ads (no more grafted thumbs!)
It's official! Against all odds, Sony Ericsson has finally ended its nearly year-long streak of embarrassing leaks, missed opportunities, and terrible advertising and come out the other side with this: a series of excellent ads for its "PlayStation Certified" Xperia Play phone. Spokeswoman (and comedian!) Kristen Schaal walks you through some of the phone's strongest features in a series of five ads, all found after the break. Did you know the Xperia Play is the perfect phone for downloading apps, looking at kitten pictures, editing spreadsheets, and watching YouTube? Neither did we. But it's also got a slide-out gamepad, which Ms. Schaal is all too happy to show off. Hey, Kristen ... do you mind if we call you Kristen? We know a guy you'd probably get along great with. Kristen, meet KB. KB, Kristen.
Sony Ericsson's latest Xperia Play ads are disturbing, yet awesome (video)
Kristen Schaal has eyeballs. Red, fiery eyeballs lusting for the blood of her enemies on the battlefields of the PlayStation Suite. Yes, Sony Ericsson is keeping up the fine tradition of freaking us the hell out with its Xperia Play ads, this latest round starring an innocent-looking lady with a devilish demeanor. Skip past the break for those vids and if you're wondering why Kristen's so psyched about the Play, check out our very latest hands-on with the device -- it's coming to Verizon with stock Android, don't you know! [Thanks, Calvin]
Hands-on: Toy Story 3: The Video Game (PS3)
Disney Interactive Studios has been making a lot of noise about refining and improving its approach to licensed games, and while Toy Story 3: The Video Game is still meant for the younger members of Pixar's vast following, it's the best evidence yet that Disney is serious about trying to use licenses right. I got to play the game at a recent pre-E3 event, and it was a solid, kid-friendly experience, with bright and beautiful graphics surrounding intuitive racing and platforming mechanics. With innovative features like a very dynamic difficulty system and lots and lots of collectibles and game modes, Disney's Avalanche Studios has created something here that you, as someone who enjoys fine game design, can actually be proud to have your kids play. %Gallery-93421%
The Guild wins at the Streamys
A big congrats to our friends over at The Guild, who picked up a trio of awards at Saturday night's Streamys Awards, honoring the best in web video over the past year. The show picked up Best Comedy Web Series, and Best Ensemble Cast, and Felicia Day was a big winner herself -- not only did she win Best Female Actor in a Comedy Web Series (beating out Lisa Kudrow, Megan Mullally and one of my favorites, Kristen Schaal), but that other little web series she was in, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, picked up a slew of awards on its own. And in other WoW Streamys news, as we said on the podcast post today, Alex Albrecht picked up an award for Best Web Series Host for his WoW video podcast, Project Lore.StoryGas has a list of all the winners (a list that's strangely missing from the official Streamys site) and LG15today has pictures from the ceremony, including a few cast members of The Guild all dressed up in their finest. 12seconds.tv has video of most of the award winners as well, including Felicia. Sounds like it was a blast. Congrats to all the winners -- this was definitely an excellent season of the show, and we can't wait to see the next one!
