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A portion of a G4 review…

The Pros

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New York, NY (August 11, 2009) /PRNewswire/ — Today, Pepsi, MTV and MTV Games, a part of Viacom’s MTV Networks (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), have announced the nominees for the “2009 MTV Video Music Awards Best Performance in a Pepsi Rock Band Video” category. These five nominated bands were selected by MTV, Harmonix, and Pepsi based on their creativity, viewer rating, and originality.

Over 650 Rock Band videos were submitted and only one band will take home this year’s first-ever Moonman for a Rock Band music video. Now the fates of the five finalists lie in the hands of voters, who can log on to www.PepsiRockBand.com through September 1 to cast their vote. The lucky band chosen will get to travel to the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, walk the red carpet, receive their Moonman, and be featured in a television spot airing during the MTV VMAs.

Hosted by UK’s controversial comedian, Russell Brand, MTV’s 26th annual Video Music Awards will air live from New York City, for the 14th time in its history, on Sunday, September 13, 2009 at 9PM (Live ET/Tape delayed PT.

Drum roll please… and the nominees are:

* Blaq Star: Performing Earth Wind & Fire’s ‘Shining Star.’ These talented musicians from the Bronx, New York take us on a psychedelic journey back in time in their seventies inspired video paying tribute to their music icons Earth, Wind & Fire.
* Nerds in Disguise: Performing Lit’s ‘My Own Worst Enemy.’ Putting Springfield, Illinois on the map, Nerds in Disguise features only 10 people, although through fancy camera work, it looks like a lot more. The talented director makes a cameo in the video doubling as the vengeful pizza man.
* One (Wo)Man Band: Performing Joan Jett’s ‘Bad Reputation.’ This Virginia Beach, Virginia trio comprised of two nerds and a hot chick reminds us why 80’s music videos were so awesome – hot chicks and pyromaniacs!
* The Sleezy Treezy: Performing OK Go’s ‘Here It Goes Again.’ These cutie pies from Birmingham and Homewood, Alabama (insert southern drawl here) put blood, sweat and tears – not to mention a Pepsi-inspired shower scene – into the making of this video and go on a cops and robbers-style chase to get their Pepsi back.
* Synopsis: Performing 30 Seconds To Mars’ ‘The Kill.’ These Amarillo, Texas natives totally remind us of Jared Leto’s adolescent days on My So-Called Life. This creative, thought-provoking video uses mirrors to represent how we all like to at times pretend to be someone we’re not.

The Pepsi Rock Band VMA category is part of a larger “Drink Up, Rock Out” summer long promotion giving away thousands of Rock Band® DLC music tracks and games. As part of an ‘Under the Cap’ promotion running through September 13, 2009, Pepsi drinkers who see a Rock Band icon on specially-marked caps of 20oz or 1L bottles of trademark Pepsi products are encouraged to look under the cap for a code and then go to www.PepsiRockBand.com for a chance to win from an abundance of prizes.

Quotes:

Attributed to Ralph Santana, VP of colas, Pepsi-Cola North American Beverages:

* “The variety of submissions that came in from all parts of the country offered the refreshed approach to music videos that we hoped to see at the start of the program,” said Ralph Santana, VP of colas, Pepsi-Cola North America Beverages. “We’re looking forward to learning which talented band the voters will award with a Moonman.”

Attributed to Christina Glorioso, Vice President Marketing Partnerships for MTV Games:

* “We were completely blown away by the level of creativity and passion of our Rock Band fans. We agonized over picking the nominees as there were so many original, funny, and diverse video entries to choose from!”

Nominee Band Members:

Blaq Star

* Musie Ghebremedhin
* Bereket Ghebremedhin
* Antonio Devars
* Jahmal Brooks
* Jazmine Casiano

Nerds in Disguise

* Matt Hartzler
* Jake Giganti
* Mike Ranos
* David O’Brien
* Charlie Clausner
* Mitch Falter
* Alec Veldhuizen
* Shane Reynolds
* Taylor Blake
* Ben Parks

One Wo(man) Band

* Justin Junda
* Scott Hansen
* Elisa Hansen

The Sleezy Treezy

* Robert Hill
* John Stevens
* Ry Keel
* Kevin Wehby
* Marty Donaldson
* Hannah Franklin
* Ian Hazzelhoff
* Cole Jolley
* Zach Lee

Synopsis

* Thomas Macias
* Kristofer Fredrick
* Jennifer Macias

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Sure, these are being sold as Street Fighter IV items, but as long as you’ve played any Street Fighter game, you should appreciate these.

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Populous DS –

Check out this ‘new’ feature that has been revealed for Dead Space: Extraction. In this Nintendo Power interview snippet, senior designer John Calhoun discusses an episode that Dr. Karen Howell goes through.

“She thinks she is the last survivor and her goal is to try and get to the tram station she’ll hopefully find more survivors. There is one little snag in her plan, the Necromorph infection is making her demented. She is hearing strange voices and seeing some alien hieroglyphic language on the walls, among other crazy things. The Necromorph infection is causing her to see flashes of color. The screen goes bright white and red for a moment before shifting back to normal.”

How does this not encroach upon the sanity system that Nintendo/Silicon Knights has patented? Don’t get me wrong, the idea sounds great for the game, but it surely isn’t anything new.

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“Corporately, they were dissolved… in actually, people and projects were absorbed. The reality is, Okami and Godhand had shipped and the headcount transition began after those games were completed. There were no new projects initiated after that point that I’m aware of.” – Christian Svensson, Corporate Officer/VP of Strategic Planning & Business Development

I’m just really happy that Clover is back…in spirit, even if they have a different name. I don’t know why so many gamers decided to ignore so many great titles. The closure of Clover really made me realize that millions of gamers want nothing more than shallow experiences…and that’s a very sad thing.

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Man, I’ll never forget that blast processing stuff. It was actually a point brought up in many grade school arguments. Damn you, SEGA! Damn you for your buzz terms that mean nothing! You cost many a Nintendo fan their playground battle of words!

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Why doesn’t Johnson and Johnson sell this in the states? I totally want to smell like Pikachu! That’s what this does, right?

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