Once More Into The Breach

I've decided - probably against my better judgement - that since it's been a year, Episode 58 will involve a look back at "Metroid: Other M." Since it's been awhile, please feel free and encouraged to post anything in particular you believe I need to re-think, or other opinions I should be reading, or thoughts in general in the talkbacks. Yes, that includes all those YouTube "takedowns;" and by all means don't forget to include some tacky cheesecake advertising that "proves" the "Handmaid's Tale"-level anti-woman agenda the Sinister Japanese are responsible for inserting into gaming - gotta cover all the bases ;)

Here is a LINK to the original Episode 40, "Heavens To Metroid!" Have at it, kiddies...

EPISODE 57: "Supreme Responsibility" (3rd UPDATED)

3RD UPDATE: The link at ScrewAttack seems to be working again, and for obvious reasons I encourage fans to visit THAT LINK. The YouTube link version has been removed, not out of disrespect to YouTube fans, but out of respect to ScrewAttack.com which is the primary host of the series.

Beautiful Mario 30th Anniversary Video

There are no words...

The TGO Section of ScrewAttack is Back Up!

GOOD NEWS! The original ScrewAttack episodes of the show are back up on the site after being unavailable for a short while during their upgrade to the new, improved site. SEE THEM HERE.

I'll be going back through the archive and changing the embed codes when I get a free moment, and probably tweeting the new links as well. For right now, I want to just very quickly touch on a way that show fans who are also ScrewAttack fans can, if they so choose, "help out" in support of both entities...

As you may or may not know, ScrewAttack is now offering an "Advantage Program" membership whereby users can subscribe to an ad-free version of the site that also offers early access to content. It's similar to premium or "prime" memberships offered by other sites, essentially.

Here's how this affects this show: Advantage members are able to "favorite" the particular shows that they like best on the site; and said shows get a 'cut' of the Advantage revenue. So, yes, this is blatant self-promotion. I encourage fans so-inclined the join Advantage and "like" the show, because it will give a tangible boost to my ability to produce and maintain this site and this series.

As always, I appreciate any and all support that this show recieves from it's fans and viewers - yes, even those of you who are exclusively logging in to demand that it revert to it's unrefined form, return to youtube, etc ;) TGO exists because it was, and continues to be, supported by fans and I truly thank all of them.

EXCLUSIVE Episode 57 Preview

Here's a small taste of Episode 57 - an itty-bitty little parody of "G4" that I'm kinda considering spinning-off into it's own thing. Have a look:

Episode 57 Coming WEDNESDAY SEPT. 14!!!

I know that, as of this writing, you still cannot see the 25 screwattack-exclusive episodes of "The Game OverThinker" on ScrewAttack's new site. I am sorry about that, it's being worked on and will hopefully be fixed by early next week. For now... GOOD NEWS! Episode 57, the much-demanded "Supreme Court" episode, will (if all goes correctly) premiere on Wednesday, September 14th. So keep an eye out for it.

Here's an announcement trailer...



ALSO! If you haven't yet taken a look at ScrewAttack's new site, you should - it's quite excellent. They're also offering something called an "Advantage" subcription, whereby users can sign up to not only get an ad-free version of the site but ALSO see new episodes of shows they've selected as well-liked faves. So, if there are any Advantage members (or prospective members) who're also OverThinker fans... it's REALLY good for BOTH of us (yes, this is NAKED self-promotion) if you make this show one of your "likes."

About Screwattack

Hey guys, quick thing:

Yes, I'm aware that you cannot currently access the show on ScrewAttack. No, I am not leaving the site - FAR from it - this is, as far as I am aware, a temporary issue as they transition to their spiffy-looking new site and should be resolved shortly.

On a related note, I am hoping to have a definitve date for Episode 57 soon. Stay tuned.

The Legends of Hyrule - Gallery 1988

**UPDATE**
On Saturday, November 19th, this design will be available exclusively at Shirtpunch.com for 24 hours only, then it's gone forever. The shirt will cost $10 (or about 100 Rupee's depending on the Hyrulian exchange rate). So be sure to mark your calendars and tell your friends!

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I grew up playing video games. At the tender age of 5 years old my family got a Nintendo Entertainment System and I got REALLY into it. Mario was great, but then about a year later, The Legend of Zelda came out. I must have sunk months... maybe years of my childhood into roaming around Hyrule, I really should have been granted dual citizenship. From then on, I was a gamer for life.

So when Gallery 1988 asked me to participate in their upcoming Video Game Show, I was beyond honored. Zelda is celebrating it's 25th anniversary this year, so it only seemed appropriate to create a piece celebrating one of my favorite game series. Combining three of my favorite things: Music, Video Games, and Illustration, I followed along my theme of creating retro children's albums for Firefly and Dr. Horrible I decided to set my sights on The Legend of Zelda.

Link and Zelda have taken a break from their adventures. The Princess is tired of constantly being kidnapped by Ganon and Link needed to relax and fill up his heart containers. During some downtime, the two came together and decided to put pen to paper and out of that came The Legends of Hyrule's new album "Songs of Time":



Here's the back of the album and it's track listing:



Click the links below to find out more about the meaning behind the song titles!

Side A:
Heroes of Time
It's Dangerous To Go Alone
Excuse Me, Princess
A Secret To Everybody
The Wind, It Is Blowing

Side B:
Come On!
Grumble Grumble
I Am Error
You Got A Piece Of Heart
Hey, Listen

In addition to prints, I always make one physical album that is mounted and framed. Since all of the Zelda games have shipped on gold cartridges I thought it would be fitting that the album would be pressed on gold records:



Here's the label printed on the record:



This framed album will be available exclusively at Gallery 1988 at the show opening: Purchase it HERE!



The album's Front and back prints will be available exclusively through my etsy store. To purchase high-quality prints, all you have to do is click HERE!.
Signed prints of the album front will be available exclusively at the gallery and online through Gallery 1988's Website.

If you love video games, or at one point in your life you did, then you will not want to miss this show. With about 100 featured artists, the Old School Video Game Art Show is likely to have something that interests everyone who ever picked up a controller at one point in there life.

The Old School Video Game Art Show
Friday Sept. 16th - October 8th
Gallery 1988
214 Pier Ave.
Santa Monica, CA 90405
http://www.gallery1988.com
http://www.joebot.etsy.com

Found out that one of my videos on youtube was rejected for "inappropriate content"

You know, I wasn't expecting this today.  I was checking my videos on youtube today, and noticed that my video, "Sims 2 PSP 1: Misadventures of my sim 1" was rejected for "inappropriate content".  The odd thing was is that I don't remember doing anything wrong with the video.  In the video, I was playing Sims 2 for the PSP, and decided to be funny with my character, such as having him get scared by the 2 ghosts roaming the house he is in, as well as having him become a ghost as well (in the PSP version, when your sim dies, he/she automatically becomes a ghost and you can control him), and apparently someone did not like that and my video was removed.  I tell you, some people can be very up tight about things on sites like Youtube.  By the way, has something like this happened to you before?  I still have several other videos from my games on youtube, including one where my sims get abducted by aliens at



Other comments:
You know the game play video I posted from Sims 2 for PSP is pretty mild content wise (no blood, gore, etc), and if they are going to remove that video, I wonder if they are going to go after other types of game play videos too, such as deathmatches on Call of Duty Black ops, going on rampages in games like Grand Theft Auto 4, and other games where characters "die"?  I tell you, some times social media sites can be very rigid about what you can post, especially whenever you get some wiered policies as well as the troll types lurking around (you know, the people that like to write inflamatory comments about what you post, do "false flagging", etc).

Is This Racist?

Below, the latest facepalm-inducing example of tone-deafness to ethnic-caricature in the video games industry, courtest "Deus Ex: Human Revolution."


So... is this "racist?" Eh... it's definitely a racial-caricature, so on the narrowest of terms... yeah, it kinda is. My colleague Jim Sterling seems to think so. My other colleague Greg Tito sees it a bit more gray. I think Greg raises good points, though overall I think my reaction more closely aligns with Jim's in this case.

Now, to be fair, one imagines that the developer - Eidos Montreal - is staffed either by full-blown racists or devoted fans of Minstrel Show routines; so one has to imagine THIS voice coming out of THIS character-design is a case of something that was obviously going to be a problem simply not getting "caught" before it went to pressing.

My question on this, just like with "Resident Evil 5," is WHY does this stuff slip by uncaught? This isn't a small-potatoes developer - do they not have a person in Quality Control who's supposed to watch for "issues" like this? Because, I'm sorry... not to take anything away from the game, but "end result of voice/character comes off like a Stephen Fetchit bit" is kind of a problem.