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Today's crossover video: Soul Calibur Star Wars
We hoped it was a joke, but trailers don't lie, do they? Sure, the best part of that one Star Wars was when Yoda flipped out and killed people. (Actually, it was probably the best part of all three.) But a Yoda-and-Darth cross-over to Soul Calibur IV? We're not sure if we should feel bad for Star Wars or Soul Calibur.But here's the trailer. Watch it with your splayed fingers covering your eyes after the break. Or drink from the HD faucet at GameTrailers.
SCIV: See Darth Vader and Yoda in action
Dear lord. We went to bed knowing that Darth Vader and Yoda were showing up in Soul Calibur IV (Yoda is apparently 360 exclusive by the way, whereas Darth joins the Dark Side PS3). That alone was very disturbing. All night we had unsettling dreams about the effects of Force powers on inordinately large breasts. And now we have this, a trailer showcasing them both. Honestly, if someone from Namco Bandai burst through the wall of Fanboy Towers right now screaming "Gotcha!" we wouldn't be surprised. After witnessing some hefty hoaxes and jokes over the years, making this a little hard to swallow, but we're doing our best. Alas, you won't actually see Yoda or Darth doing any fighting, but at least you can see them in motion. On a side note, the game is looking great. Check out the video and see what you think. Hit the "read" link for some HD goodness.
Soul Calibur IV's secret characters: Darth Vader and Yoda
Is it April already? A quick glance at our calendars confirms that it's still January, and an extended glance at 1UP's reveal of Soul Calibur IV's secret characters does nothing to evaporate the reigning feeling of utter confusion. The lineup of saucer-eyed assassins, scantily clad combatants and bizarre pain fetishists in Namco's anticipated fighter is set to be joined by the Sith's darkest lord and the Force's most diminutive master. Our little green friend can almost manage to fit in to Soul Calibur's ye olde fantasy trappings, but poor ol' Vader appears to have gotten lost and disoriented after leaping over some sharks on his space jet ski.Even better news can be found in 1UP's suspicion that even more Star Wars characters will waltz into Calibur's cantina, possibly via downloadable content. An interesting idea, but we reckon you'd save money by simply buying a copy of Masters of Teräs Käsi off eBay.Update: Gamespot reports that Darth Vader is reserved for the PlayStation 3, while Yoda will be included in the Xbox 360 version.[Thanks, Antonio]
Darth Vader and Yoda join Soulcalibur IV [Update]
Yes, this is quite possibly the strangest gaming news we've heard of in a while. Star Wars characters Darth Vader and Yoda have joined Namco Bandai's PS3 fighter, Soulcalibur IV. We could possibly write something funny to describe this situation, but we're confident that you guys will do much better than us.The franchise has been home to other non-canon characters, such as Link from The Legend of Zelda. What do you think about this Lucas-flavored addition to this fighter?Check out all the images at 1UP. [Update: Movie is now embedded.][Thanks, David C.!]
Roleplaying is like puppeteering
Jim Moreno writes quite a bit about roleplaying. For a long time he kept his own blog about the subject, and now he writes a special column about roleplaying for WoW WarCry, which precedes and in many ways inspired WoW Insider's own roleplaying column, All the World's a Stage. Jim's latest article struck me with an excellent point: roleplaying has often been compared to acting -- by myself no less -- when in fact it is closer to the art of puppeteering. He cites Jim Henson and Frank Oz as two of the best roleplayers ever, even though neither of them is known to have actually played roleplaying games. Both of them, however, used alternate physical bodies -- their puppets -- to tell stories and convey their characters to their audience, whereas regular actors would have used their own bodies and faces to portray their characters, no matter how different they are from one another. The example from Jim's article that stands out most in my mind is that of Yoda telling Luke, "There is no try, there is only do," conveying so clearly who this person Yoda is, what he stands for, what he talks, moves and looks like without ever giving a hint that the whole thing is just a "puppet with Frank Oz's hand sticking up his butt."Roleplaying, Jim says, is just the same. Instead of acting with our own bodies, we use the digital avatars that Blizzard has designed for us: we customize our characters with different abilities and appearances, but more than that, we give them actions and words that distinguish them as believable people, just like puppeteers do. A superb roleplayer can do what Frank Oz and Jim Henson did, only on a smaller scale; he can convey a sense of true depth, a human story, using a virtual puppet made of ones and zeros rather than cloth and plastics.This is just another example of how "roleplaying" is just a new form of the same basic creative endeavors that have been around for millennia. Someone who gets "freaked out" by roleplaying might as well get freaked out by Miss Piggy and the Cookie Monster, because roleplaying is basically just an adaptation of the puppeteering concept in a modern technological environment.
Flickr Find: Everyone really does like the iPod shuffle
Lots of wacky stuff finds it way into our Flickr pool. This just made me chuckle, and so I had to share (negative commenters be darned!). The caption is what really does it:Yoda: light and small these iPods i thought were Darth: well that's what the guy in the shop told me! Yoda: believed him you did like Palpatine....! Darth: oh give me a break - I was only a kid then! if you don't stop whining, you can use your force and carry this yourself!! Well done, yinyang, well done.
