Why don't more cars come with a beer tap? Oh yeah, the whole wasted morons killing people thing. Well Dream Arcades has just released the next best thing to getting wasted and hitting the road with the Octane 120, a custom built driving arcade cabinet featuring a 120 inch HD projection screen, a 5.1 audio system, a home theater PC complete with 12 classic racing games, a PlayStation 3 compatible steering wheel, and of course, dual beer taps, front and rear. Of course you don't have to put beer in it...you could easily fill it with Jack Daniels.

The Octane 120 doesn't come cheap, however, and with a price tag of $6,995 you might just be better off with your beer can hat and a nice old recliner. Still a very good alternative to getting drunk and actually driving, and if it keeps modestly wealth boozed-up idiots off the streets then more power to them.

Dream Arcades Taps Into Fun with the Octane 120 Beer Arcade

Ultimate Arcade Driving Cabinet Features a 120 HD Projection Screen, Dual Keg Taps, a Dozen Classic and Modern Driving games, Home Theater PC, and a PS3 Compatible Steering Wheel

Sacramento, CA Oct. 15, 2008 Dream Arcades (http://www.DreamArcades.com), announces the launch and immediate availability of the Octane 120, the ultimate home arcade driving cabinet. The Octane 120 is the ultimate in home arcade gaming, and combines three things every adult gamer wants: classic arcade games, arcade-style racing, and a beer tap to get your favorite beverage without having to get out of the seat!

"We designed the Octane 120 to feature everything that a guy could possibly want in a home arcade racing cabinet (or Home Theater!), including a beer tap, PC and PlayStation 3 compatibility, and a whopping 120 projection screen," says Michael Ware, owner of Dream Arcades. We even have the user interface hooked up to YouTube and Hulu.com, so you can watch 80 s classics like A-Team, Air Wolf, Star Trek, and The Fall Guy with friends between races."

Octane 120 Features:
120 HD DLP Projection Screen
Dual Taps for the keg Dashboard and Rear
12 Classic and Modern Arcade Racing Games PlayStation 3 Compatible Steering Wheel Home Theater PC
5.1 Audio System
Links to Hulu.com and YouTube to watch awesome classic 80 s TV shows, movies, and viral videos
Keg Tap supports any beverage available in a keg, including root beer, and sparkling apple cider for those gamers under 21.

Dream Arcades does not condone drinking and driving. The Octane 120 is designed for entertainment purposes only, we hope that it will demonstrate the extent to which alcohol can impair judgment and educate people on the dangers of drinking and driving.

Looks like the Grand Theft Auto IV machine is starting to kick into gear with this collection of videos. Rockstar has provided GameTrailers with five clips from the highly anticipated game that introduce us to some of the seedy denizens and businesses that make up the fictional Liberty City. The Steinway Beer Gardens commercial is may favorite. "This is male bonding the old fashioned way!"

Make the jump for all five clips.

Attendees at the Edinburgh Interactive Festival were witness to a prime example of spin control and knowing your audience.

Former SEE boss Chris Deering did a bit of dub work on the truth by using the price of beer to prove that the Playstation 3 is in fact cheaper than the original Playstation was when it was released.

"In terms of the number of pints of beer you have to forego to get a PS3 it's really just the same as the number of pints of beer you had to forego to get a PS1 back in 1995".

And the math checks out, according to Spong. The Deering Beers Scale proves that you could purchase a PS3 and nearly three beers for the cost of a PSOne. Whoever figured that out for Deering deserves a raise, in Guinness.

PlayStation 3 Cheaper Than PSOne In Beer [Spong]

I was hanging out around the outside of the Loews Beach hotel in Santa Monica Friday afternoon, trying desperately to ignore the growing red crispiness of my sun-punished forehead as I awaited the festivities promised by the Gamecock Media Group, when an all too familiar, mournful tune rang out through the dark...sunlit day. It really is hard to be moody and noir in Santa Monica.

In my austere reverence I decided there and then to take the air-conditioned shuttle bus in a circle around the city to ponder the heavy thoughts that the haunting image of this becockled piper stirred in my soul, and to get a Snickers bar. Upon my return, the festivities were beginning to get underway.

I entered the courtyard of the Hotel California, already filled with hopeful partygoers, with not one trace of Colitas rising up through the air. My disappointment was soon sidetracked by the strange items being passed around by the party organizers. Stylized black tambourines, black bandanas festooned with the Gamecock logo, dark umbrellas similarly festooned and, for some odd reason, a pickle in a bag, which remains to this day a subject of much speculation among my fellow press members.

In true Gamecock style the pre-funeral party was dotted with voodoo vaudevillians, dark and sexy creatures that were on hand to add a certain spooky beauty to the proceedings. The ghosts of booth babes past perhaps?

There was no time to ponder the origin of the specters any further, as the call had come, and it was time to give E3 the grand sendoff it deserved. The ever-growing procession of sad faces, black umbrellas and confused game reporters made its way down the long flight of stairs onto the sidewalk that parallels the beach. I found it a very moving ceremony and was ready to go back up the stairs for more beer, when the damndest thing happened. They kept walking!

Passersby stared at the mass of marching mourners in awe, perhaps wondering how those of the larger, sweatier persuasion (*cough*me*cough*) were able to maintain their footing without tumbling face-first into the crowd. Children followed along on their bicycles and skateboarder passed by us presenting very tempting lariat targets. Policemen on ATVs sat and watched us pass with the resignation of authority figures who knew deep down inside that if a group that large decided to start getting rowdy there was absolutely nothing they could do to stop us.

We walked and chatted and took picture after picture of other people walking and chatting as a brass band marched up front, setting the time. Then, despite my best efforts, I died of heatstroke.

Ahhh, but remember, I said I'd tell you about the time I almost died. *Rolling Stones music plays, digression ends*

Finally, after walking from the Hotel California to Venice Beach a full mile away, the procession lined a cement pier facing the ocean and urged the assembled gaming press to gather around to pay final tribute to the Electronic Entertainment Expo, taking a cue from Brutus by burying it but not praising it, only without the subversive undertones. Songs were sung and words were said. The Destructoid robot gave a speech I did not catch, too busy wondering when his brain was going to explode as the shiny metal helmet glimmered in the Santa Monica sun.

We stood and remembered the good times spent covering the gaming industry from the E3 show floor. Pondered all the good the show had done over the years to bring awareness to the business. Held a moment of silence for the...wait, beer? Later E3, they've got beer.

I learned so much that night at the Beer Garden. I learned that if you seem sincere enough when you tell the waitress the fried calamari is for your group, she will give it to you, just like that. I learned that if you accidentally call it katamari in front of several dozen members of the gaming industry you will never, ever live it down. I learned that Germans find it rude if you don't look them in the eye when you toast. I also learned that trying to keep up with beer-drinking Germans is a really, really bad idea. Most importantly I learned that you should write your flight time down on your body somewhere before attempting said keeping up, lest you find yourself running half-blind through the streets of Santa Monica screaming for a taxi cab nearly four hours before your flight is scheduled to leave.

Thank you Gamecock, and thank you E3. The lessons shall live on forever in my heart, as well as the inordinately large gallery that follows.

Morning!

Today, we were sent a couple cans of beer from Asahi. Apparently, they were canned only within the last 48 hours. Plus, we got a set of free beer glasses. That's the second time this month we've gotten free beer. Last time, it was two hoss-sized bottles. And before that a Baccarat beer mug from Suntory. My wife has been entering ad campaigns here to win free giveaways like a maniac, and it's been paying off in spades. We haven't won anything big yet — Like a trip abroad or a robot or anything. Though, the Baccarat crystal was pretty nice. And, in non-beer related news, the month's supply of canned coffee we won was killer as well. Know how long it takes to drink a month's supply of canned coffee? A week, give or take.

The action last night:

• British Sales dominated by *surprise* PS3 games


• Learn about "otaku." From a nerdy girl.


• Capcom on Dead Rising and Lost Planet hitting the PS3


• Sega can't do viral marketing very well

FYI: Luke's gonna be out of pocket for an hour or two tomorrow. He's going to an event in Sydney. I told him to take loads of pictures. Not of himself, preferably. :)

"What would you purchase for 146...? (The price difference between an Xbox 360 and a PlayStation 3)", asks the included Xbox 360-headed notice. "Well, for a start we thought you might like 146 worth of beer to kick start your weekend early."

MS sends CVG the difference between 360 and PS3... in beer! [ComputerAndVideoGames.com - Thanks Chris!]

The only thing worse than a PR hack trying to sound excited about a bad game is a PR rep who isn't excited about a good game. I do not envy either position.

Midway held a press preview event today in Manhattan, showing off several games, most of which will be released in the first half of the year. Most games were approaching completion , but don't mistake my off-the-cuff impressions for a final review.

BlackSite: Area 51
There is absolutely nothing new in BlackSite to differentiate it from any other first person shooter. It is a pastiche of two of the three default FPS backdrops, near-future infrantryman meeting slight-less-near robo-alien.

That is not to say that BlackSite is going to be a turd to play. Its controls seem logical, the Unreal Engine ever-capable, and the shootouts just up to snuff. And the art direction, while a kissin' cousin thematically to F.E.A.R. and Crysis, is attractive. The whipping chrome spines of the robo-alien walkers filled me with industry-standard dread. (There is no bot more terrible than the ISO 9000.)

That BlackSite does so little to distinguish itself was made squirmingly evident by my PR attendant, who talked blithely of how Midway Studios Austin had "really wanted to do something different" while a platoon of genetically-modified zombie soldiers began flanking my character. Nice-looking soldiers, mind you, with seemingly adequate duck-and-cover routines, but borne of sadly timid imaginations.

For a title based on a tepid arcade light gun franchise, BlackSite is a hell of a lot better than it has any right to
be. It played like a champ on the 360 (PS3 and PC versions are also coming), looked sharp (although not Gears of War sharp, no matter how many times they mentioned it), and would not be a game I would be upset to be assigned to review.

Unlike...

Hour of Victory
Yes, I nodded to the PR man showing me the first-person shooter Hour of Victory, I understand that games set in World War II continue to be popular. Who is buying them? Jim Louderback, Editor-in-Chief for PC Magazine, for one, exclaiming his love for the genre a few minutes later when getting the same apologetic spiel.

Developed by New Jersey-based nFusion, described to me as having a history of "budget" WWII titles, Hour of Victory could use some more time in the oven.

The aiming assist is a necessary evil in console-based FPS, but Hour of Victory would often allow me to spray bullets in the general direction of an enemy and score a kill, as if the fright of a passing bullet was enough to cause one of the identical beanpole krauts to get eternal vapors. nFusion should and almost certainly will
fix this before launch.

What they may not have time to fix is their ability to wring a good-looking game out of the Unreal Engine. Characters, specifically their textures, looked like melted plastic. Higher resolutions would swap in with a pop. I spent 30 seconds in front of a particular carpet hung from the side of a North African building stepping in and back to try to determine exactly what about it made my testicles torque.

Hour of Victory's claim to obscurity are opportunities to switch character classes between levels, allowing you to approach each map as a scout, say, picking locks into secret cubbies, or as a commando. Despite claims to the contrary, this isn't the first time a game—let alone an FPS—has allowed a player to do that. (System Shock is one of many examples.) Nor is the ability to drive vehicles like tanks a new feature, although Hour of Victory's implementation is more Battlefield than, say, Half-Life 2; you can drive vehicles pretty much whenever, no special mission required.

I was over WWII FPS right around the time that I saw an ad for Call of Duty 3, turned around to pull my copy off my shelf, and realized I was reaching for Call of Duty 2, still in its cellophane. I realize the inherent genre limitations to the FPS—the "S" specifically—but for Ike's sake, let's keep it socked away only for special occasions, like fine china, or actual World War II veterans.

Oh, and the name? I'll let Rob Beschizza's Ode to Banality in Flash address that one. (See his other projects hereabouts.

Hotbrain
Soulless "brain teaser" title for the PSP with boring puzzles, insipid FMV backgrounds, and the yet-to-be-added voice talents of Fred Willard. Wha happan?

Also, fuck you freestyle, "Rhyme Game," if you think that "steam" rhymes with "scene" but not with "scheme."

Lord of the Rings: Online
Abbreviated "Low-tro" by Turbine's Adam Mersky, Lord of the Rings: Online, being an MMO, is hardly the sort of thing that can be judged in a half-hour preview session. But that won't stop me.

Rather than playing one of the existing level-50 characters available, I decided to take a few minutes to play around with the character creation process.

LOTRO may end up being too austere for its own good, at least if the choice to make the label for humans, in the "Race Selection" screen, "Race of Men." Yes, I get that it's a Tolkien reference, but come on.

Soon Lady "Omg" the hobbit minstrel—complete with special healing music-playing move, including mid-battle lute strumming—was prancing past Nazgoueaauraral or whatever. Turns out the Dark Riders don't mind hobbits after all, happily turning a blind eye even when attacked by lute. But wood spiders on the other hand...

Gosh, who knows about this one. Dungeons & Dragons: Online, a Turbine MMO I had even higher hopes for, ended up plinking off World of Warcraft unnoticed. LOTRO is clearly their mainstream play, unabashedly modeled after Blizzard's frost giant, along with the requisite tweaks and upgrades.

There are about a hojillion ways to get into the closed beta next month, so if you're interested—and I still am, mind you—let me just leave you with these two thoughts: the ability to play actual player-created music with crafted instruments in the game will be awesome, but I am claiming dibs on the story about ASCAP royalty claims in an MMO; saturated as I am with Peter Jackson's vision of Lord of the Rings, I am actually looking forward to
playing in someone else's interpretation.

Mortal Kombat: Armageddon
I accidentally insulted one of the developers of this game by saying I was familiar with the previous, non-Wii versions, but did not actually own it—a subtle dig I am not capable of doing consciously and on demand, sadly.

It looks fine. It's Mortal Kombat. It's on the Wii, which even the developer acknowledges encouraged them to make it easier to execute special moves, because Nintendo consoles are for kids and retards. (Love mine.)

I could really give a flying, spinning, spine-dislodging fuck about fighting games these days; The entire genre has either fallen into its navel or is Mortal Kombat. At least Mortal Kombat doesn't have any illusions of grandeur.

John Woo's Stranglehold
I can't pinpoint the first time I realized Crecente was an idiot, but I do recall being reminded of it when he almost blew the butterfly collars off his shirt with excitement over this game at E3.

Everything about this game that is a back-of-box bullet point is misleading. The "destructible environments" don't really matter to the gameplay in any appreciable way (although the A.I. will try to take cover behind fallen furniture and other set pieces); I can model a few extra pieces to blow off of the model in Maya, too, but if those explod-o-bits don't affect the gameplay, it's all chrome. (I want to build my throne of skulls, damn it.)

That's what Stranglehold is all about at its core: the chrome. It tries to give you the feeling of being a Hong Kong badass, but dilutes it across a collection of set pieces, somehow doing the same thing Max Payne did years ago, but with less personality.

Movie special effects are cheap to reproduce in a game world, but that doesn't make them good gameplay.

I don't know, it's okay. I feel like I'm writing a review here, which isn't fair. I just played one level. But I just wasn't feeling it.

Unreal Tournament 3
I'm old enough to remember the first Unreal Tournament. Before it was released, many of us thought of it as an also-ran to iD's Quake series. How quickly that changed! UT was a better deathmatch game than Quake 3, at least for the casual player like myself.

Unreal Tournament 3 looks fantastic, or will, once we all have computers powerful enough to fully pump it out. (Although Epic Vice-Honcho Mark Rein mentioned—between complaints about how Microsoft was screwing over developers with the new Games for Windows Live by requiring that features like voice chat be disabled in games that were going to be part of the platform—that the 360 version of UT3 looked damn-near as nice as the PC version, to even his surprise.)

The test machines were quad-core Intel boxes with SLI'd Nvidia 7900s—nobody knew the exact model numbers—driving 1,920 by 1,200 pixel LCDs. I mention all that to note that while the game played with nary a hitch or stutter, the graphics were aliased to all get-out. It was disconcerting. I was at once marveling at the art
design and engine capabilities while wondering why everything looked so smooshy. (Tech term. Ask your father.)

I don't know how to describe it, exactly. It looked like everything had been rendered at a lower resolution and upscaled, but without any smoothing.

Anyway, whatever. It's Epic and it's Unreal Tournament—it'll be fine. The art direction was really nice,
though, if a typical mash of disparate influences, from the Far and Near East, to writhing insectoid parasites. (Revenge of the Writhing Chrome Spine, yes, but oh! what a chrome spine!)

There is a walking tank vehicle—one of 22—that actually uses tentacles to amble, which is even cooler when you realize it can walk up the sides of rocks and other irregular environment—they're actually animating its flappy legs slapping down on the rocks.

Each player now has a built-in hoverboard as well, adding a little bit of a Tribes feel, although even a single point of damage will send you flying off your board leaving you momentarily stunned. It helps you get to the action quickly, though, even if there are no vehicles around. And hoverboarding away with the flag is a gratifying,
if risky thrill.

The weapons have been slightly upgraded, although most of the old favorites remain. I'm not enough of a hardcore UT player to tell you if the spray patterns are ever-so-slightly different or if the goop gun has a 0.4 range increase—I just know they old favorites are there and they are still kill-enabled. Player movement is less floaty than previous versions, too, feeling more like UT of old.

One to watch, for sure, and I don't particularly give a rip about deathmatch games anymore, having graduated to more refined multiplayer experiences like Battlefield: Unchecked Expansion and Puzzle Quest: Don't Let My Girlfriend Know I'm Still Playing.

Think beer, evolved. Brewed by Oregon's Widmer Brothers Brewing, this "Broken Halo" India Pale Ale isn't some viral Bungie campaign for Halo 3, but a happy coincidence. The green label was a complete kawinky-dink as well—at least, we think so. Though the brewer's website claims, "The finish is juicy, clean, and short lived." Kinda like me playing Halo 2 on Xbox Live. Brian Ashcraft

Drink Here [Widmer] via Video Games Blogger

While I loathed the original "Wassup" Budweiser ad, this fan-made version staring game characters is worth a post. Heck, anything that features Duke Nukem sticking out his tongue is. Brian Ashcraft

Budweiser [Official Site]