Nearly a year ago, my friend Sebastien nudged me in the direction of this pretty cool and addictive game called Elements. I’m surprised to say that Elements has kept me playing on and off since.

What kind of game is it? Well it’s a free, web-based, flash, card, video game. Quite a mouthful, isn’t it?

It can be described as a poor man’s Magic Online, and it generally doesn’t have the balance and professionalism that Magic Online does, but it’s  far from just a clone. There are several elements that makes Elements (bad pun intended) stand out from it’s big daddy.

(more…)

So Kotaku is having a weekly Photoshop contest. The most recent being about showing what video game characters would do for money if times were hard. I decided to join in on the fun.

I’ll try to participate every week if possible, and I’ll of course post my entries on towardsmecca. This should theoretically mean that I should be posting weekly. Let’s see how long that lasts

Below is my entry: Pepto-Kirby! Enjoy

(more…)

My good friend Brandon Morris and his group of talented and dedicated modders have just released an incredible Naruto mod for Half-Life.

That’s right, as hard to believe as that is, this work of art is a total-conversion of Half-Life, but it’s impossible to see any of Gordon Freeman’s world in it no matter how hard you look. Not to mention that this community mod is better looking than most commercial Naruto games out there! Check out their blog here!

(more…)

My good friend Hugo has done it again! I thought that it would be impossible for him to keep surprising me since I’m now used to his epic artistic awesomeness, but it seems I was wrong.

Not only is he a great 2D and aspiring 3D artist, but now he can make figurines!

Check out this incredible Eddie Riggs figure that he made then painted himself! Wanna see more? His Deviant Art page is full of win, see for yourselves!

(more…)

While many loyal Valve customers were angry at the launch announcement of Left 4 Dead 2, placing the release date “only” one year after the release of the original, I was thrilled at the prospect of new content in my favorite zombie-bashing shooter!

In fact, I  pre-ordered Left 4 Dead 2, pre-loaded it, and played it the moment it was released. I sympathized with most of the points “the mob” was making, but the fact that I was excited about the upcoming product and was very willing to pay for it meant everything.

(more…)

I’m not much of a facebook normally, I log on only when I get a notification of a message by e-mail, so obviously I was pretty neutral about the announcement that Facebook was making it’s way to the X-Box 360. Still, I had to give it a try, and I’m sure glad I did!

I was expecting a heavy, clunky, feature-to-feature adaptation of Facebook on the 360. Instead, whoever developped this app was smart enough to strip it off a lot of non-essential bells and whistles and in-so-doing sculpt a mostly enjoyable experience out of a normally mundane one.

(more…)

Here’s the deal, my extremely talented good friend Nicolas Girard was returning to his native France for good. So what does he do with his remaining time here in Canada? Why he decides to build his friend (yours truly) the most awesome joystick ever! And so the NEStickle (not to be mistaken for the NES emulator NESticle) was born!

This thing is a new level of awesome, seriously. It has the best Sanwa buttons and joystick money can buy, is compatible with the X-Box 360, the Playstation 3, the Playstation 2, and any PC running Windows, Linux, or even a MAC OS! If I wanted, I could also get an adapter that would make it compatible with the original X-Box! Seriously, if that’s all it was it would still be amazing, but it’s built into and out of an actual, honest to God, Nintendo Entertainment System! Go ahead, lie and say you’re not jealous, I dare you!

(more…)

Check out pixelsandpoutine.com’s newest podcast and you just might recognize your favorite friendly neighborhood game designer’s voice Yup, Simon Prefortaine of Pixels and Poutine fame, a podcast dedicated to the game industry right here in Montreal, has chosen yours truly for an interview on the most recent installment of his podcast.

I must say, I actually sound like I know what I’m talking about Well, don’t take my word on it, check it out and let me know what you think!

With the news that Marvel was just bought out by big brother Disney for a whopping 4 Billion dollars, one has to wonder what kind of repercussions such a buyout would bring to both companies.

Look no further folks, for beyond this point lies predictions on what’s about to come.

A warning is probably in order, the following is ridiculous in nature and is to be read only by those with a sense of humor.

(more…)

Since it was announced, but especially since I played Street Fighter 4 and was mostly disappointed in it, I’ve been looking forward to King of Fighters 12. I’ve watched all of the youtube game play videos, read every bit of news about it as it came out, and even managed not to be deterred by the mixed but mostly negative press it’s been getting.

After all, King of Fighters does not share the mass market appeal Street Fighter has over the years and I can see how someone who isn’t a fan of the series (which I have recently become) would deduct automatic points for what they might see as a cheap Street Fighter knock-off.

(more…)