Playing Tetris will never, ever be the same. Now we have a focus for our frustration and anger. I hope that actor is prepared to be punched in the face on a regular basis.

Thanks David!

You have to go through about a minute of this video to get to the germane portion. In all, it's a nice use of Grand Theft Auto IV, but what's up with the its-a-me-Mario voice? Elin Nordegren is a woman and a Swede, not an Italian dude.

New Tiger Woods Video Game [Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien.]

I'm not sure why I chortled at this. Maybe it's because I know that lightning-flash punch is coming. Maybe it's because anything is funnier with a censored bleep in it.

Mike Tyson's Paparazzi Punch-Out [YouTube, thanks Stephen B]

In case you don't understand the video, Pure Pwnage is coming to Canada's Showcase cable channel in 2010, with eight full episodes worth of socially inept Jeremy's antics beaming directly into the televisions of our neighbors to the North. To put this into perspective, Showcase shows reruns of House. Pure Pwnage is going to be airing on the same channel that airs reruns of House. The world is a strange and wonderful place, isn't it?

Comedy isn't easy, especially in the medium of the video game. Injecting humor is more than simply having a character say something funny. It takes precise timing, a certain amount of skill, and a strong knowledge of your audience.

What separates games from movies or books is the gameplay, and developers have to take that gameplay into consideration. They aren't simply riffing to a bunch of people sitting in a darkened bar. They're trying to entertain someone who just finished slaughtering enemy forces or solving a difficult puzzle. That requires someone possessing not only a strong grasp of humor, but an understanding of how games and gamers tick.

It's a task that is proving more difficult as video games evolve.

During the 80's and early 90's, humor flourished in the game industry, due in large part to the adventure game genre. Simple point-and-click mechanics and largely dialogue-drive gameplay gave adventure game legends like Roberta Williams (King's Quest), Al Lowe (Leisure Suit Larry), and the LucasArts' Monkey Island triple-threat of Tim Schafer, Ron Gilbert, and Dave Grossman ample opportunity to plunge players into hilarious circumstances.

Grossman's still at it, working on the resurgence of the classic adventure game in the form of Telltale Games' episodic Tales of Monkey Island for the Nintendo Wii and PC. He tells Kotaku that there's chances for humor in games to develop in some fascinating ways.

"As the games get smarter and start paying attention to more things about what the player is actually doing, using that ability not just to create challenges but to create humorous moments will be pretty cool. Eventually I expect to be out of a job over that."

But to get there, games will have to continue to surmount some challenges that the advance of technology has introduced, challenges that have sometimes made it tough to make new games funny games.

As technology improved, things began to get more serious. With the rise of 3D technology a strong focus was put on making games look good, delivering a more realistic — and often darker — experience to the player. Cartoonish comedic games became more of a novelty than the norm. Few titles, such as Rare's Conker's Bad Fur Day for the Nintendo 64, fully embraced humor.

The CD-ROM format, which allowed developers to add more voices to their creations, gave birth to games like Gex and Blasto for the PlayStation, both of which relied on repetitive celebrity wisecracks to keep players entertained. The humorous, cartoonish adventure games, once a haven for comedy, gave way to more mature adventure titles like Myst and The 7th Guest, both showcases for the emerging tech.

The cutscene also matured during the 90's, evolving from brief animated segments meant to give players a rest between rounds of Pac-Man to fully-voiced, CGI rendered movies. Even today, many games use the cutscene to present humorous occurrences, keeping the story and the gameplay separated.

What are the issues keeping today's games from embracing comedy?

Freedom plays a huge role. When a game takes a player from point A to point B, as in Valve's Portal, the game's writer basically knows where the player will be at any given time, and can react accordingly. The more freedom a player has to determine how they play, the more difficult it is to fire off a punchline at the right moment. A sandbox game like Grand Theft Auto, in which the developer has no way of predicting how the player progresses, turns to unconvential methods to deliver humor outside of gameplay, such as radio chatter and mock television programs.

Another big issue with today's game is the length. Writer/director Harold Ramis recently touched on the issue during an interview with GamesRadar around the release of Atari's Ghostbusters: The Video Game.

"To make a game so funny with so many comic alternatives, that would be like writing three hit movies. The scripts are impossibly long. That would be a considerable investment. And I was thinking if you wrote that much comedy, chances are you would put it in a feature film."

So is it more difficult for humor to thrive in today's games? Monkey Island co-creator Dave Grossman doesn't think so. He believes that the type of game you create doesn't dictate if you can successfully integrate comedy...only how.

"I don't know if it's easier to do in the adventure game format than it is in a lot of others. Really, the kind of humor that you do is dictated by what kind of game you're making."

Grossman explains that comedy doesn't always come from the mouths of video game characters. A game doesn't have to have an amusing script in order to be considered funny. In fact, changing trends in the video game industry have led to rise of new types of gaming comedy.

He brings up the example of the recent tower defense variant, Plants Vs. Zombies.

"The gameplay is real simple...there's nothing super elaborate about it, but as soon as I hear the first zombie going "urrrrr" I start to chuckle. There's a moment when you've built up all of these plants making "poot poot" noises and suddenly a giant wave of zombies comes in going. "arrghharghhargghh". It's the sheer pandemonium that's just hilarious."

It's the absurdity of games like Plants Vs. Zombies that sets them apart. Games that take traditional game play mechanics and place them in a completely ridiculous setting. The growing popularity of independent games and accessible distribution channels like Steam are fostering a rise in absurd, surreal titles, and the attention such games get could get more traditional console publishers to take chances on titles they might have once laughed aside.

Grossman inadvertently touches on another emerging aspect of comedic gaming, physical comedy. Where previous attempts at motion control had failed, the Nintendo Wii seemed to hit at exactly the right time, capturing the hearts of gamers tired of standard game controls and the attention of the non-gaming public, intrigued by the idea of a playing games in a more active fashion.

Any activity that requires people to physically perform is rife with comedic possibilities. Grossman recently found himself performing physical comedy while playing Ubisoft's Rayman's Raving Rabbids for the Wii.

"Just the fact that I am throwing a cow in the game is funny. The little action-y things I am doing...you'd think, "But how can they be funny?" but it's just the way that they're presented that make it hilarious."

Sony and Microsoft have their own alternative control systems on the way. Both Sony's motion controller wands and Microsoft's Project Natal are bringing with the potential to make otherwise stoic and reserved players look completely ridiculous. Now, that's funny.

As for the fate of tradition forms of video game comedy, the advance of technology doesn't have to be a hindrance. Any comedian can tell you how important observation is to good humor. Many games use primitive player observation to interject quips and snide remarks reacting to the player's actions. Simple things, like running out of ammunition, or turning the wrong way in a racing title; the games see what the player is doing and could react accordingly.

Building on the same sort of technology, developers would not only be able to deliver more accurate and situation-appropriate humor to the player, but also tailor the humor to the player's demeanor. That idea Grossman saw as something of a threat? It's in development — at least in a horror game:

Konami's Silent Hill: Shattered Memories for the Wii watches everything the player does, from specific actions to how long the player has particular objects in their view, using that information to build a profile that affects how the game plays out for each person.

That level of observation could easily be taken from the horror genre and applied to something a bit lighter. A funny game, crafted just for you.

Incensed at the lapse in security, the company's notoriously mean Team Fortress 2 blogger (byline says Robin Walker, but we have our doubts) has taken action. What began as a witch hunt with the noble goal of punishing those responsible for the "leak" has ended in a pink slip bloodbath, with all but one of Valve's entire staff shown the door throughout the day as investigations into the security breach snowballed.

Last to go were secretary "Marianne" and Greek intern Stavros Xanthis, who while now unemployed, should be proud they lasted until the end of the day, so ruthless was the blood-letting. Example: spare a thought for poor writer Marc Laidlaw, who somehow managed to be fired twice.

For a full play-by-play of these extraordinary developments, head over to the official Team Fortress 2 blog.

Team Fortress 2 Blog [Valve]

Organizers for Wiimbledon, to be held April 11, are looking to fill a field of 32 doubles teams playing Wii tennis. In addition to being reasonably competent at Wii sports, they're also looking for fun folks who can play well with improv actors, as there will be a ton on hand - meddlesome officials, snarky commentators, klutzy ball kids, unscrupulous opponents and heckling fans. Performers will appear live on a big screen before the rest of the audience, complete with player biographies and other stats.

Those around Seattle (the event is being held at the 911 Media Center), or so hellbent on proving their Wii sports prowess they'd fly there for this, must pay a $20 registration fee and answer a questionnaire, just so they can be sure the players don't lack all sense of humor or won't have a good time. Those who just want to see a zany Wii tournament can pay $8 to watch, and of course, beer and alcohol will be served.

Doubles teams will have to use Wiimotes provided by the tournament, and must create tournament Miis onsite. And the Wiimote strap is required. No code violations for controller abuse here, folks.

Wiimbledon [Official site]

And all that plunking you hear pocking Colbert's velvet voice? That would be Chaffetz bombing in Rock Band. He landed a 24 percent. Booooo!

Watch the video over on the site, so I don't have to deal with their 40-billion line embed code frightening our hamsters to death.

Exclusive - Colbert and Chaffetz Play Rock Band

I got around to picking up the season two DVD last week, and was greeted by these glorious menu screens, an even more perfect follow-up to season one's Head over Heels tribute. This is unnecessarily long (all in the name of thoroughness, we guess), so those short on patience should skip at 1:30 intervals. Those really short on patience, skip straight to 7:49.

That’s the best you can do?
I happen to know that you have robots, slapping machines, human Tetris, Katamari and sex bots, you could have just written the candidates names on meat hats and let a lizard pick the winner.

Colbert got into such a froth he actually used Mario’s name in vain. I've moved the vid to the jump because it was hanging up our page for some reason.

E3 2008's Rapidly Shrinking Floorplan Revealed! [the-minusworld]

Players are encouraged to focus on social interaction, which can be engaged in in a variety of ways. In fact it's extraordinarily difficult to solo anything whatsoever in Outside, apart from basic skill and knowledge accumulation quests. One of the major forms of social interaction in the game is based largely around the addition of new players to Outside, and is both complex and, in comparison to the storyline-driven romance quests of, say, Baldur's Gate or Mass Effect, they are immensely difficult.

"Bad Game turned out to be one of our favorite projects so far," said Sarcastic Gamer's Creative Director, Jeromy "Doc" Adams. "We got to use a cartoon voice for this song, because it seemed to fit the subject... Well, that and none of us could sing as high as Daniel Powter."

Bad Game: The Shadowrun Song [Sarcastic Gamer]

SARCASTIC GAMER 'TAKES AIM' AT SHADOWRUN Releases New Parody Song: "Bad Game"

Monday at 12:01am (central), Sarcastic Gamer readers discovered a new parody song.

Bad Game (The Shadowrun Song), is a parody of Daniel Powter's Bad Day and offers listeners an abrasively funny review of Fasa's Shadowrun. The Song also takes aim at several other titles that have been less-than-successful so far this year. It was co-written by Jeromy "Doc" Adams and "Lono".

"Bad Game turned out to be one of our favorite projects so far," said Sarcastic Gamer's Creative Director, Jeromy "Doc" Adams. "We got to use a cartoon voice for this song, because it seemed to fit the subject... Well, that and none of us could sing as high as Daniel Powter."

The song is available as a 128 kbps mp3 at the following URL:

http://www.sarcasticgamer.com/2007/08/bad-game-shadowrun-song.html

In addition to the song itself, Sarcastic Gamer is also offering fans the chance to compete for prizes, by creating their own video for Bad Game. "The winner's video will become The Official Bad Game Video, plus the winner will receive their choice of a free copy of Shadowrun, or a box of granola bars," said Adams. "Given the nature of the game, our money's on Nature Valley."

Mega64 Reveals 'Greatest Hits' DVD, Juarez Visit [Game Set Watch]

Simply submit your best efforts before June 29th, 2007 to the contest website. It can be animated, live-action, sci-fi, horror...anything as long as it is funny. In fact, this is an excellent chance to find out if you really are amusing or if people just like to humor you, much like writing for Kotaku. Hit up the website for the official rules, and hit up the jump for the official press release. Michael Fahey

It's Showtime: Microsoft Invites Contestants to Create an Exclusive TV Show for Xbox LIVE

Xbox 360 and the New York Television Festival team up to host Xbox LIVE Originals contest, offering a chance to produce original TV programming for Xbox LIVE.

NEW YORK — April 16, 2007 — People can not only play games and watch premium entertainment content on their Xbox 360 , they can now create content for it, too. Microsoft Corp. and the New York Television Festival (NYTVF) today announced the Xbox LIVE Originals contest, granting aspiring television producers the opportunity to create a pilot that could be chosen for the first original series developed specifically for the Xbox LIVE online gaming and entertainment network. Microsoft will award the winning entrant a $100,000 budget and an opportunity for a six-episode commitment to air the television series on Xbox LIVE, the largest social network in the living room. The pilot episode of the winning series is scheduled to debut this fall at the third annual NYTVF, the industry's first showcase for independent television, before being featured exclusively on Xbox LIVE, home to a community of more than 6 million people worldwide. This marks the first time that user-created entertainment content will be available worldwide for download exclusively on Xbox LIVE.

"Not only can aspiring TV producers from across the globe try their hands at creating new TV shows, but because of Xbox LIVE Marketplace, they can now win a chance to have more than 6 million people worldwide see their work," said Bill Nielsen, senior director of Xbox LIVE at Microsoft. "This is an incredible opportunity for us to participate in the festival, and we are thrilled to be able to bring community-created TV content to the Xbox community for the first time."

Xbox LIVE is already home to more than 1,500 hours of full-length films and TV series in the United States. This contest will showcase the user-created content alongside films and TV shows from many of the top networks and studios in the entertainment industry.

"The New York Television Festival has always strived to give artists opportunities to get their voices heard in the industry, and we think that showcasing their work on the Xbox 360 will give our artists unprecedented exposure," said Terence Gray, founder of NYTVF. "The Xbox LIVE Originals contest acknowledges that new technologies are enabling artists to tell their stories in innovative ways, and Xbox LIVE Marketplace, one of the top digital distributors of online entertainment content, is a great place to showcase the talent that takes part in the NYTVF. The NYTVF is proud to join with Xbox 360 on its groundbreaking initiative to create and provide original programming."

To participate in the Xbox LIVE Originals contest, entrants must produce and submit a short comedy pilot running between five and 15 minutes long. Submissions will be accepted from April 16 through June 29, 2007, from contestants in any of the 25 countries currently supporting Xbox LIVE. A group of selected finalists will be shown on Xbox LIVE Marketplace's video-on-demand service in July, and a winner will be announced at the end of the month. The creators of the winning pilot will receive a budget of $100,000 and an opportunity to produce six additional episodes of the comedy series for Xbox LIVE, and the first episode will premiere at an exclusive event at the 2007 NYTVF in September. Official rules to the Xbox LIVE Originals contest are available at http://www.newyorktelevisionfestival.com/2007_contests_xbox.htm

Tabloid TV has yet to release it's stranglehold on America, especially on channels like E! which are dedicated to turning up the seedy underbelly of the entertainment industry. One of the great things out such outlets are that they are so cheaply done that they are easy to parody. And that's just what the makers of True Gaming Legends Confidential have done, taking the mick out of E!'s own muck raker "True Hollywood Story." This episode deals with the rise and fall of two of gamings most beloved characters, Pac Man and Dig Dug. Watch in amusement and terror as Pac Man's meteoric rise to fame gets him everything he ever wanted and leaves poor Dig Dug drunk and flailing in the gutter like McWhertor at game launch party. Flynn De Marco

Flynn De Marco

GamesIndustry reports that Gas Powered Games, still entrenched in the final tweaks for Supreme Commander development, are already hard at work on hyping their next title: a console comedy.

You've previously worked as a stand-up comedian. Would you ever do a comedy game? Do you think that's worthwhile?

"Actually, well, we've got something we think is going to be very funny, very entertaining... When you get this next game, a couple years from now, and you're like, 'Okay, finally, I get to check out what this guy's talking about,' you're going to sit back, you're going to relax, you're going to enjoy yourself. And you're going to go, 'Oh, I know what he means now.' That's the next thing I want to try to do."

Very funny indeed...Brian Crecente

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