Wow. Wow. Wow. I’ve had my DS Lite for about 5 years now, and when the DSi and DSi LL were announced I barely batted an eyelash. But this, the Nintendo 3DS… I knew I had to get this from the moment I heard about it. So I got one yesterday.

I will now transcribe my thought process as I bought and opened my new toy;

Dum dee dum, off to EB Games!
I sure hope there are still some 3DSs left!
Yes, I got the last one in stock!

I’d better be careful not to smudge this incredibly shiny surfac- …crap.
So, I have to charge it first? Alright…

CHARGE!

Let’s turn this thing on!
Hang on, do I want to start in 2D and work up to 3D, or start in 3D and work back to 2D (for comparison’s sake)?
Oh, the 3DS does that decision for me. Phew.

…

WOAH 3D WHAT THE HELL HOW IS THIS HAPPENING BEST THING EVER

…Yeah. Don’t take much from that. Basically its awesome.

So, let’s review!

I’ve been a Nintendo fan pretty much all my life, I grew up with a Game Boy in my pocket and a Nintendo 64 at home, and as the years went by I would progress to a Game Boy Color, a GBA, GBA SP, Nintendo DS, DS Lite; and from a Nintendo 64 to a Wii. We skipped the GameCube in my house, but thank god the Wii plays GameCube games!

In fact, the only other time I’ve ever truly played a console from another developer was the old XBox that we got in 2002. And that was fun too, but I still preferred our 64.

So with that in mind, going in to get a 3DS was an exciting moment for me, and let me just say that my excitement was not unfounded.

My Nintendo 3DS is amazing.

The 3D works so well, its just incredible. At times it does become a bit much, but a lot of the time its just amazing.

The camera is something special, being able to take 3D pictures of your surroundings is a completely new experience and very interesting.

The built in applications are alright, but there isn’t much variety in the Face Raiders game.

The AR Cards are pretty special.

And the Circle Pad, oh, its spectacular.

Really, the 3DS is just brilliant.

Of course, there are some problems, namely being the absence of promised features until the end of May through a system update, including the Web Browser and the eShop.

All things aside though, the Nintendo 3DS is a completely unique approach to a handheld console and I recommend anyone with a DSi to trade it in for a 3DS.

10/10

Jurassic Park

From the trailer to the reports that have been made of the style of gameplay this will have, I’m very much looking forward to Jurassic Park: The Game, because it will be so much different from anything Telltale has done before and I feel that they will do it well regardless. The graphics look amazing, I know Telltale have been pushing their engine to the max to do this and it shows. While it may not be in the same graphical range as some other games that are out there, for an action/adventure game it’s absolutely stunning. I especially like the direction Telltale is coming from by not including the original characters as the main focus of this game, thereby allowing new personalities to take prevalence and develop and be freshly implanted in the players mind.

So, basically, Jurassic Park is a game I’m looking forward to from Telltale this year. Unfortunately, that can’t be said for everything…

The Walking Dead

Yech. A zombie game. Really, Telltale? And I know that the series is very popular, and there’s comic books and a TV series and blah blah blah, its just that aren’t there enough of these kinds of games as it is? I thought Telltale came about because they wanted to make adventure games and no other company did. I thought Telltale was trying to stand out from the crowd. But what with the apparent probability of this being an action game and potentially also a first person shooter (unlikely as that seems), I worry that Telltale is thinking that it has to conform to the general, boring, currently popular releases in order to make money. (Dead Island or Call of Duty: Black Ops, anybody?) But here’s a tip for Telltale; by trying to change your games to appeal to a wider market, you also risk cutting off some of your longer supporters in favour of a group who will, lets face it, ditch you for the next big thing later on. Although I may sound harsh, this is my opinion, and I just don’t like zombie games. Granted, I’m still going to play it, because I think that any game Telltale makes is probably going to be in one way or another entertaining, but I don’t think I’ll be a rabid fan of this series. I hope there won’t be another one coming afterwards.

Fables

Ok, so after my displeasure at The Walking Dead, I’m happy to say that Fables, another comic book video game, looks like it will be BRILLIANT. First of all, the idea of this comics themselves is wonderful and creative, take this and add 2 heaping spoonfuls of Telltale brilliance and you get a potentially awesome video game. I had a quick look at some pages from the comics yesterday, and the writing is fantastic. I can’t wait to get into this game. It’s just a shame that it won’t be out until 2012…

Hector: Badge of Carnage

This game… This game… I can not wait for it to be on PC. Ok, granted, Telltale is not developing this series, merely publishing, its still brilliant. I got the game on my iPhone yesterday and am currently loving it. I wish I found out about it earlier. By the way, a review will be up sometime next week. It has classic British humour, llewdness, strong puzzles, great characters, brilliant voice acting, and I’ve only been playing for half an hour. This is another game that Telltale’s got me anticipating.

Puzzle Agent 2

Frankly, I’m very relieved that one game Telltale’s done before wound up on this list, and I’m especially glad that it’s Puzzle Agent because that damn game had no ending the first time around, and I’m looking forwards to seeing how the game wraps up, as well as the developments that are made in the puzzle, graphical, story telling and plotting departments. Also, the Hidden People are back, which makes me scared. Honestly, they are some of the scariest little… I can’t say that word… that I’ve found in games EVER! So it should be good…

King’s Quest

Wait, what? King’s Quest? When I saw this I got excited. And I don’t know why. I’ve never played a King’s Quest game. I mean, I’ve played Peasant’s Quest, but not King’s Quest. It’s just that hanging around all the old adventure gamers has made me sort of feel like I know these old games, and so I think I’m going to have a good time when this game gets out in 2012.

So that’s pretty much it. All in all, I’m pretty happy, I think Telltale can do a good job, except that damn zombie game that they seem to be so happy about… Oh well, maybe it will turn out alright. But what do you think? Tell us in the comments!

The first episode of this game was a tragedy. It really was. It was too short, the puzzles were too simple, it just wasn’t the best. In Get Tannen!, however, this is practically reversed. First of all, the game lasts you about 2 hours, which is at least double the amount of time you’ll spend playing episode one. But that’s really just the surface of it.

The writing in this episode is some of the best writing I’ve seen come out of Telltale for a while, and really puts you in the action. Coupled with the intense and very convoluted plot, this game really packs it all together into something really satisfying. It’s just a shame, however, that some of the voice acting is a little plain. It really doesn’t do lines of this caliber justice. And sometimes lines of dialog come out soft and loud for no apparent reason.

The character of Trixie Trotter is one of my favorite characters so far in this series, she has personality, and she’s pretty innocent despite being involved with Kid Tannen. On a slightly related note, it appears as if Telltale have managed to work “jiggle physics” into this game, and its subtlety and implementation works very well.

The puzzles in this game are a huge step up in complexity from the first episode. They’re not perfect, but they did have me sometimes needing to think for a minute, which is more than can be said for the first game.

The music, as always, is amazing. I really don’t think I need to detail the music in my reviews anymore, as it always scores perfectly with me.

So, despite this being a GLARINGLY short review, because I have to study and whatnot, I don’t really feel that there is much more to say apart from my rating.

This game performed very well with me. It was long enough to satisfy, had a detailed plot and good writing, great new characters, and jiggle physics. I feel this game is deserving of a rating of 8/10.

Ye can expect to see less seriousness around the site for the next few days! Yar! Because we be keelhauling the scallawags who run this magazine so uptightly right up until Talk-Like-A-Pirate Day!

So, what be Talk-Like-A-Pirate Day, ye ask? Well, we be assurin’ ye that ye’ll find out later in the week! We be having a great line up of booty to share with ye this week! Har Har Har! We sure do!

So, in our lead up to Talk-Like-A-Pirate Day, what can ye be expectin’ from the Keelhauler Gazest? Well, the goodness may include, but be not limited to;

• A summary of Talk-Like-A-Pirate Day, including its creation and legacy
• Monkey Island (of course!)
• Pirates In Modern Times
• And the possible possibility to win some maybe awesome stuff! (More info later)

Anyway, ye can all be expectin’ some stuff in the coming days! Yar har har har har!

Halldór Orri Björnsson is the football player who came up with that interesting celebration, and Cultural Zest got the chance to ask him some questions!

I imagine most people aren’t very familiar with the Icelandic football competition, so could you tell us something about Stjarnan, the club you play at?

Stjarnan is the only team in Garðabær, a town of 9000 people. Around 1000 people comes to every home game. Stjarnan has never won the Icelandic league.

How did you guys first get the idea to do these elaborate goal celebrations?

We get the most of our ideas for the celebrations in our lockerroom when we are relaxing after trainings.

Who comes up with the ideas for new celebrations, and how do you rehearse them?

All of the players try to come up with some new ideas for the celebration but I actually came up with the idea for the fishing celebration, our most popular celebration so far, when I was fishing with my father. Most of the time we just rehearse it one time after someone has come up with an idea in the locker room.

What’s your favourite celebration so far?

I have to say the fishing celebration, we got a lot of attention from all around the globe after that celebration.

There’s also a video of a football team in Japan copying the fishing celebration. What do you think of that?

I think it´s very funny and just shows how far that fishing celebration has gone. Even though I think we pulled it better off, specially Johann Laxdal who was the salmon in our celebration

Do you think this might become a trend among football players all over the world?

I really hope so, because I think it shows how much people enjoy playing the game when they celebrate like that.

Are you working on any new celebrations?

We actually played last Sunday and did some new celebration on a 3-2 victory and there are many more to come

And finally, what are your personal ambitions as a football player?

To play in a professional league and to inspirit people to have the guts to celebrate in an unusual way.

Thank you for your time, and let’s hope Stjarnan will score many more goals in the future!

You can see Stjarnan’s latest celebrations below, and be sure to keep an eye on this YouTube channel, where new celebrations will show up!

Whether it is the hilarious “advertisements” or film spoofs, YouTube comedian Ryan Higa truly has made a place in many people’s lives. And here he is now!

CZ: How do you come up with such original and constantly hilarious ideas for your videos?

RH: I’m always thinking of ideas and jotting them down.

CZ: I can’t speak for myself, but many other film reviewers have criticised Ryan and Sean’s Not So Excellent Adventure for lacking the pure randomness seen on your YouTube videos. What did you think about how the movie turned out and if you could change anything about the film, what would it be?

RH: It wasn’t our movie… We were hired as actors. We didn’t write the script or assist in the editing or directing.  It was a good experience, though, being our first time on a movie set.

CZ: Do you feel that YouTube’s demand that you remove over half of your videos because of copyright was justified?

RH: I’m not at all upset with YouTube… at the time I posted those videos, I thought it was okay since other people posted music videos, too.  Taking down the videos was a good learning experience… I’m more cautious now.

CZ: What is your favourite video out of ALL the one’s you’ve made?

RH: If I had to choose, it would have to be Ninja Melk, because it was an experiment in doing something more than a 1-3 minute video.

CZ: Would you ever buy any of the products you have advertised? (iPod Human, Hook on Fonik, ShamWOOHOO!) This of course excludes your ads for real products!

RH: Not for the price advertised! Haha!

CZ: Lamps. Explain.

RH: I like to be random!

CZ: Why do you think so many people have subscribed to your channel?

RH: I try to make videos that I feel the fans will like.  Sometimes, even after filming a whole video, I scrap it because I don’t think it’s a video the fans will like.

CZ: Where is Sean? Why do we not see so much of everyone else anymore?

RH: Sean goes to college in Oregon, I’m in Nevada and everyone else is in Hawaii.  When we were in high school, there was not much to do in Hilo so we made videos.  Now that we’re in college, everyone’s busy working or doing their own thing.

CZ: Ninja Melk was absolutely terrific, not just in terms of humor, but also in plot and the graphics, for an unfunded production. How long did it take you to flesh out the plot, and what video editing software do you use, in all of your videos?

RH: Thanks, that was definitely a big project for me.  It took me about a week to write the script, over 20 hours of filming and 2 weeks to edit.  For editing, I use Ulead, iMovie and Final Cut Pro.

CZ: Finally, I just want to know, do you feel like a celebrity? Do you act differently in any way than you used to? Has the fact that millions of people are watching you for YOU changed any aspects of your life?

RH: If anything, I’m probably more conscious of what I’m doing when I’m out in public since now more people know who I am.  I’ve gotten used to being recognized and so far, it’s been a positive experience.

CZ: Thank you VERY much, Ryan, and I hope you continue making videos and hopefully making a career out of your talent!

RH: THANKS!

I can safely say, this interview was one of my favorites! (How many have I done again? I think it’s two now… Darn that Jared Emerson-Johnson and his busy schedule!)

And don’t forget to subscribe to Ryan on YouTube! Seriously, it’s for your own mental safety. You’ll thank me once you’ve done it. And if you have done it, do it again, to be extra sure!

Once again, thanks Ryan, and best wishes for the future!

And here’s a little something from Ryan’s mom!

Being so recognized, we’re cautious for his safety but very proud of him for still being himself after getting so much recognition, for keeping his content “clean”, and for doing something that has affected people’s lives directly and indirectly……he gets many comments from people saying how they’ve had a bad day or going through a rough time in their life and his videos make them laugh or they feel better.  Sometimes we get emails asking for his help to promote a good cause or once, in CA they were looking for a missing girl, so he tweeted and sent a bulletin using his myspace.  And, there’s young people like yourself and your friends who are starting a nice website bringing together people from around the world…..that hopefully, Ryan has helped to make a difference in your lives!

Oh, by the way, we were flattered that you called him a YouTube Legend…lol

CZ: What tools do you use to create your masterpieces?

SS: Mostly Photoshop CS2 and a small Bamboo Wacom tablet, seriously I use that thing so much the tip of the tablets pen is wearing down! Hope I can buy a new one some place… anyway, I also like to do traditional stuff as well, painting with acrylics mostly. I love the feel of acrylics on a fresh canvas, you get the indents of brush movement and your hands can follow them, I’ve always liked that for some weird reason. Not only that but it looks great, the colours can really stand out, they can be soft or as hard as the painter chooses, we can look at are dear friend Mr Purcell for proof of that.

CZ: How long does it take you, on average, to complete a work of art?

SS: I’m very quick when it comes to sketching characters and depending on the method I can colour them in quickly as well but when it comes to the backgrounds and environments in general I struggle and my brain seems to freeze horribly, sometimes I’ll cop out and just do simple splash of colour behind them but when I know that I can do better than that I will knuckle down and try to something detailed and interesting so it can at times take me about 3 to 5 hours. When I do comic books however they can take a few days of course depending on how many panels are in play.

CZ: Have you ever had a poster made of your art or considered making it into a poster?

SS: Oh I don’t know if I’m good enough for that really, maybe if I get better and if my comic book gets a little more popular and people want a poster then sure I’ll go for it but right now I feel like I got a long way to go.

CZ: Is it difficult to do Max’s head?

SS: Not really difficult but it did take a few doodles to get it right, I think mainly because I always draw big smiles and small eyes in my regular art, as for the body though I struggle a little more but I think that’s mostly my struggle to draw hands.

CZ: What about Sam’s body?

SS: Oooh boy now that is a task, I can barely draw the six foot dogs head but the body is a job in it’s self, his feet especially, but I usually just try to build his body up with many little and big circles but I hope in time I’ll get the two legged canines body just right.

CZ: How long does it take to think up a concept for an artwork?

SS: It’s weird because I never just think “I’m gunna draw Sam and Max today!” I’m usually just sitting around or something and then an idea kicks me in the head and I then I have the throw this idea on paper or draw it on Photoshop as fast as I can before I loose it, that goes for any drawing really not just fanart. Sometimes the picture seems die halfway through sketching and it’ll ether been thrown away or DELETED (haha I shouldn’t of written this after watching Strong Bad emails) but if the idea is really good it’ll end up completed.

CZ: Did you teach yourself to draw, or did you get taught, or both?

SS: I’m not sure… I think I mostly taught my self but then again when I first wanted to be good at drawing I went to the school library and got out books, those god awful “how to draw manga” things that to be honest didn’t look like manga and I wasn’t even much of a anime fan (not to say I hate it mind you). Also looking for tutorials on Deviantart like “How to draw wolves” or “How to draw Invader Zim” … My god I was really stupid kid! Oh well, we all go through phases when we’re kids, live and learn huh?

CZ: What is your honest personal opinion of most of your works?

SS: I don’t really know, sometimes I want to say “Hey I’m not doing to bad!” but other times I just seem to hate it, especially my old stuff, like I said I was a very stupid kid. But hopefully my work can only go up from here.

CZ: Do you prefer cake or pie, and why?

SS: Gimme cake! I love cakes, mostly sweet sugary cakes; I’m a very unhealthy person in that respect… Oh gee thanks! Now I want to go to the shop and buy some! Oh but I did go through a phase when I was eleven-ish where I would say “I like pie” a lot and to be honest I didn’t that much but I simply said it because I thought it was funny… yeah, stupid kid remember?

CZ: How old were you when you started drawing, and were these early “artworks” any good?

SS: Let’s see my first thing I submitted to Deviantart was December 24, 2005 (huh I don’t remember it being so close to Christmas) so I was 13 but I was drawing before then, I remember, so lets say 12 for safe measure. I started getting “serious” because of a website called Neopets, a website I now despise, because I saw people drawing their Neopets and it looked cool, I thought only professionals could use fancy drawing programs and when I saw average people using it I flipped out and wanted to draw awesome pictures of my pets on programs like Photoshop as well, of course now I know it’s not the program that makes a good drawing but back then I was dead set convinced. As for them being good… no they are and always will be terrible but we all start off bad.

CZ: Are you currently working on anything?

SS: I’m working on small projects all the time, most never get done, but I’m happy that my comic series is coming a long so well. I think why is because I’m just having fun with them and I haven’t given them a serious tone or a continues plot line. I get this sense of freedom and I can do whatever I want with them. I also would like to do another Sam and Max comic like my other one, I carry on the ending of the latest episode in a bizarre way, though to be honest all the episodes end in bizarre ways so how I can add to that I don’t know. I have to wait a while before I can make/post them though because of spoilers and what not. I’ve been chucking around a few ideas so I suppose I’ll just wait and see what happens.

CZ: You have very interesting styles, would you ever part in search of a new style?

SS: I’m always messing around with art styles and evolving old ones; it’s all a game of wait and see.

CZ: Finally, can you tell me what your favorite artwork of yours is?

SS: I’m not really sure, I suppose I like my comic books the most because their simple and yet very expressive and full of movement, I love drawing that sorta thing.

Sam and Max wise… erm, suppose my latest one where they are fishing, background could use a lot of work though but I suppose I just like the idea of them being casual, what they might do when their not freelance policing.

I did get the chance to interview some other web entrepreneurs about their foray into the internet business though. Enter Kurt “Icedhope” Thingvold, Tom Pravetz, and Matthew “Ribs” Ryan. These three Telltale Games fans got it into their heads to start a little blog about games. That little blog has grown into something big though – i.e. the web site Games, Gold and Glory – and it promises to continue its growth. Enough rambling from me though, let’s hear what they have to say!

Could you tell something about yourselves?

K: Well, I was a former marine, and soon to be going to school for Paleontology… right now, I play video games.

M: I play video games too.

How did you guys meet?

T: Internet. XD I met Kurt and Ribs through the Telltale Games forums…

M: What Tom said.

K: Yeah, in all essence Telltale had a hand in us meeting.

It sounds like a bit of a dream scenario, a group of video game fans starting their own site.

K: It is kind of a dream, but with every dream there has to be hard work to maintain it. Well, that’s how I feel.

T: Kurt’s right. It’s tough work, but in the end, it’s worth it. Well, not in the end, but in the middle where I’m playing amazing games.

How did you get the idea to start Games, Gold, and Glory?

T: I was playing Tales of Monkey Island and I felt the need to review it. So I started my own blog, with no idea anything would come out of it.

M: Then I bugged Tom about it and he let me in for some reason that will never, ever be known.

T: I myself wonder about this.

K: Yeah… I was just kind of talking to Tom, and said, man… I’d like to write reviews, so then he and Ribs agreed and I was in.

T: Which was of course a very smart idea, because now we’re getting our own URL thanks to Kurt!

What will be special about GGG that isn’t found on other gaming web sites? In other words, why should people visit your site?

T: Because we’re them. We’re not some high class, wealthy man sitting in our New York office complaining about the B296 part of the game. I don’t consider myself a computer whizz or an expert in games. I just learned what E3 was this month. I write about what I, and hopefully the average Joe, would like and dislike about the game.

Where do you want GGG to be in say, 5 years?

K: Honestly I would be happy if we are taken seriously, and people do find us a good source of gaming knowledge and reviews.

T: Hey. If companies start recognizing us as serious reviewers, and readers saw us as a popular and helpful site, I’d be ecstatic.

M: ‘Nuff said.

Is there anything else you would like to share with us?

K: The next few months will be awesome for GGG.

M: Yeah.