If you didn’t buy the bundle yest (which includes games from other developers including Mojang and Wolfire) you can get in on the action until March 2 at www.humblebundle.com. So far they have raised almost $500,000 for the two charities.

Anyway, enjoy me dying…

We (Andrew Eisen, E. Zachary Knight and James Fudge) try a live episode of the show via Google + with mostly good results. We talk about the Sony PlayStation 4 two-hour long press conference and the sad news that several IGN employees have been laid off and that the web sites it bought – GameSpy, UGO, and 1UP would be shut down. We hope you enjoy listening to us rant and ramble as much as we love ranting and rambling!

Well, Sony revealed that the PlayStation 4 is actually called the PlayStation 4 and that it will be released during “Holiday 2013.” Price-point and other facts to be determined at a later date (you can find some deeper details on the press event here). The secondary chip to handle uploads and downloads is one of the best ideas yet because it will hopefully make those frequent updates to the system and games go more quickly.

While I mostly like some of the ideas that Sony was pushing for – like a system that is more instantaneous in its operations than the PS3 currently is, on-the-fly downloads, various social features, and the ability to play games while you are downloading them – there was one fact that bothered me a lot. The PS4 is not backwards compatible with any previous PlayStation Games because it does not use the Cell processor. This means that you will not be able to play those PS3, PS2, and PS One games on your spiffy new console.

Sony says that this alleviated by the fact that you’ll be able to play all your favorite games “in the cloud” but they do not provide any details on how that will work or if we’ll have to buy the games we already own in order to play them. Once solution is some sort of voucher program, but that is unlikely to happen – and if it did it would likely only involve first-party titles.

I would even be willing to buy some sort of add-on or adapter in order to play my library of games, much like I did when I bought the Sega Genesis way back in the 90′s to replace my again but much loved Master System.

Some might argue that I’m looking for an excuse to put a blemish on a fairly decent showing by Sony in saying this; I would say that asking consumers to adopt a new system that doesn’t recognize games from a very recent generation (at the very least) is going to make that adoption rate move slower than Sony wants.

Hopefully Sony will provide some clear cut details on how it plans to help players continue to enjoy their library of PlayStation titles and in turn convince them to adopt this interesting new system. I also hope that Microsoft will not make the same mistake with the Xbox 720… We’ll see.

Oh and I was disappointed that Sony decided not to announce a PS Vita price cut. Given that the PS4 is on its way at the end of the year, and the PS3 is likely to see a price cut at retail (from retailers) isn’t it about time that Sony slashes the price on this poor little hand-held? If the market decides to cut the price of the PS3 even a little bit that means the PS Vita will cost MORE than a brand new PS3. Dopes Sony really want that to happen? Will consumers see the price of the Vita alongside the (likely discounted) PS3 and think it’s a good value? I think not.

In the episode, Jake and Finn host another movie night with all their friends. Usually they show a movie that they dig up from the dungeons to the gang, but skip by the legal notice that is apparently on all the intros. At the suggestion of Princess Bubblegum, Finn has Bemo pause the film to read the notice and learns that he is “breaking the law” by allowing everyone to watch the movie in a group. So they decide to respect the authority of the message, even though it is clearly old and the film was made in ancient times before the horrific event often referred to on the show as the “Great Mushroom War.” This effectively ends the Movie Club – i.e. watching these old movies – because they are somehow doing something wrong. If this were a record, this would be the part where you hear the needle screeching across the vinyl.

But does watching an event on a small screen like the kind Bemo can project to a room full of your friends constitutes a public performance of the film, and even if it did, if the copyright holders are all long since dead, should Finn and Jake respect its authority? Would Finn and Jake be so compliant in respecting an ancient authority that said that all dogs should be on leashes and little boys are not allowed to adventure too?

So what is the law on watching a movie with your friends?

According to the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), here is what a public performance is and isn’t:

“Suppose you invite a few friends over to watch a movie or a TV show that’s no longer available on TV. You buy or rent a DVD or Blue-ray disc from the corner store or a digital video file from an online store and show the film or TV episode in your home that night. Have you violated copyright law by illegally “publicly performing” the movie or show? Of course not.

But suppose you took the same movie or TV episode and showed it to patrons at a club or bar that you happen to manage. In that case, you have infringed the copyright in the video work. Simply put, movies or TV shows obtained through a brick-and-mortar or online store are licensed for your private use; they are not licensed for exhibition to the public.”

The lobbying group for Hollywood goes on to say that the Federal Copyright Act (Title 17 of the U.S. Code) does not require an additional license to privately view a movie or other copyrighted work with a “few friends and family” (see the law here – PDF).

So not only are the writers of the show trying to indoctrinate our children, they are using data that simply isn’t supported by the law.

It is a sad attempt at propaganda, and it is wrong. Save your copyright infringement messages for the adults.

Image via Adventure Time Wikia, © 2013 Cartoon Network.

As always, you can subscribe to the show on iTunes, use our RSS Feed to add the show to your favorite news reader, “like us” on Facebook, and follows us on Twitter @SuperPACPodcast. You can send us feedback to superpacpodcast@gmail.com. Thanks for listening!

Anodyne is Link’s nightmare realized; born in a borrowed bed, crying out its first time into a world that is eerily familiar and yet drastically off kilter. Anodyne feels like a rag doll effigy of our old pal Link, a doppelganger left in a crib where a real child once laid its beautiful innocent little head. Link’s not here of course, but the spirit of your poor relationship with your mother and your poor social skills are rattling their ghost bones around some dark corner of this world.

This 8-bit homage to Hyrule’s little hero is really about you, the player. But though Anodyne is strangely dark, it is also genuinely charming, and its humor smooths out the sharp edges of its bizarre storytelling and psycho-analysis.

Like a dream, there’s talk of the importance of your tasks and how you are the only one capable of accomplishing this (a “chosen one” likely written about in dusty old tomes), but things quickly change to a reflection on how you as the player (or the protagonist Young) used the games of your youth as a way to escape the pressures of reality when you were younger.

You’ll be asked to find sacred cards and keys (a taller order at times) and the inventory you would normally amass to solve a variety of puzzling problems is non-existent. Your tool belt should have been left home, and i’m pretty sure the handful of cards you find could fit in a fanny pack. Your best tools are dust piles and brooms, it seems.

Signs are often  imprinted with faded messages, conveying useless information and magical stones dot the landscape, but offer thoughts on your poor relationship with your mother rather than providing you with any clues on what it is you are supposed to be doing.  There is also a lot of backtracking, map checking (Did I clear this whole area? Did I miss something?), and infuriating jumping and puzzles that will test your patience too. Cards you find in treasure chests and awarded to you after boss battles will unlock new areas and provide you with a little more insight on what the hell if going on in this game, but there’s little else you’ll do.

Ultimately Anodyne is about the exploration of a world that uses an interesting mix of art styles, music and slightly familiar gameplay. The message and the story it is trying to convey is often jumbled and confusing, and like the things we imagine in our sleeping minds, the littlest details seems so important.

Mostly, those little details are irrelevant; a series of false leads and conversations that are mundane and unnecessary to your tasks. There’s a fair amount of this fluff and filler in other games, but Anodyne’s fluff is so fluffy that it should float up, up, and away into the ether.

Anodyne is weird and engaging in its own unique way; the aesthetics will draw you in but the queer storytelling and exploration aspects are what ultimately make the game worth experiencing.

Score:

Three out of five confused protagonists.

While I haven’t talked a lot about it here in these pages, I am really proud of the hard work that my friends Andrew Eisen and E. Zachary Knight have put into the Super Podcast Action Committee. We’ve just finished our 32nd episode, which you can listen to here.

Like most podcasts we are working with an “out of my pocket” budget, substandard equipment, and recording and editing time that might be better spent with family, sleeping or doing something productive. But I think we all do it because we love games, we like to have decent conversations about the scene, and we want to give our listeners and informed opinion about important topics that may affect them. It also helps that Andrew and EZK are pretty entertaining to listen to.

So If you haven’t listened to the podcast yet, you should check it out on Libsyn. I think it’s a pretty decent show.

How can I complain about a bundle that gives me so many PC games for so little money?

Some people think that, by allowing a mega-corporation like THQ to take part in the Humble Bundle, the Humble Bundle organizers have sold out in a way. I am not one of those people because I think there is room for everyone and given that the Humble Bundle is the most high profile of all the pay-what-you-want bundles (and I do believe the first to officially put one together) it makes sense that THQ would go with them to take the model for a test drive.

But I see the other side too. The Humble Bundle is supposed to be mainly to promote indie developed game titles and the money goes directly into the pockets of those who make the games. One could argue that THQ is making money off of dead companies like Iron Lore Studios and filling their pockets while the original studios doesn’t see a thin dime.

That said, I’d like to see more big publishers participate in the Humble Bundle because it is a good opportunity for them to make some money, a good way to support the organizers of the bundle, a chance to contribute money to worthy charities and a great value for consumers who are willing to pay over the average price.

Think about it this way: those that paid over $5.67 for the bundle managed to get Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War Game of the Year Edition, Saints Row The Third, Titan Quest, Red Faction Armageddon (and the Path to War DLC pack), Darksiders, Metro 2033, Company of Heroes, Company of Heroes Opposing Fronts, Company of Heroes Tales of Valor, and soundtracks for five of the games listed above.

It’s hard to look at that as a consumer and complain about it. Sure it would have been nice if all these games were available on OS X and Linux and you weren’t locked into downloading them on Steam, but at the end of the day it’s a great trend for consumers who get a lot of games for little money. I hope companies like EA, Activision, and Take-Two are looking at the $4.4 million this bundle has generated and are imagining what kind of bundles they can put up to make themselves some quick cash and offer consumers a decent value..

You can learn about the Humble THQ Bundle at www.humblebundle.com. There’s one day left until the whole thing is done.

While everyone is putting together their end of the year awards, I hope that you’ll consider the games I am about to mention for inclusion in your lists. They certainly have been a delight to play, but I won’t give you any more of a pitch than a simple mention here.

I could blather on about how X-Com blends what made the original series so great with some new play mechanics and some tactically minded gameplay that it deserves an award, or I could yammer on about how Faster Than Light captures what it might be like to be the Captain of a ship filled with RED SHIRTS, or how Mugen Souls playfully dances on the edge of sexism without actually being sexist, or how Torchlight II adds to the gameplay of the Xbox Live Arcade and PC hits by adding multiplayer and over land maps, or how Dishonored channels the spirit of game mechanics from the like Deus Ex and Thief successfully, or how Hotline Miami makes murder a guilty pleasure…. but I won’t.

So while you handing out all those awards to the usual suspects ( the Call of Duty’s, Battlefield 3′s, Madden’s and Borderlands’ of the world) please consider some kind of award for all these games. Thank you.

One thing that the book is not is the gospel truth about the myriad of conspiracy theories that have been floating around ever since the former Senator former Illinois decided to run for President of the United States in 2006. But one could argue that the book does a good job of illustrating how a contentious conversation between the uppity ups in the White House might play out in a given situation. Sure, none of the conversations or caricatures portrayed in the Lizard King are real, but they strike enough of a chord of familiarity (based on public accounts we already know about the key players) that it will make you wonder if the book was really written by someone inside the White House… if only for a fleeting moment.

The book uses mostly real people to tell its story such as Rahm Emanuel, David Axelrod, and Valerie Jarrett. Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary get name-dropped, but the bulk of the book focuses on the president’s top three advisors and the president himself. Rahm Emanuel is portrayed as a foul mouthed exhibitionists who isn’t concerned all that much with being politically correct and a mortal enemy of Valerie Jarrett; David Axelrod is a wise old political hand and loyal soldier for Obama with bad fashion sense and propensity for consuming copious amounts of alcohol, smoking and take-out. Finally, Valerie Jarrett is described as the most loyal and trusted of Obama’s allies, though the book paints her as empty-headed, soulless and calculatingly cool to those she perceives as her enemies.

Probably the most unflattering portrayal in the book is of the president himself, but it would be hard to set up the coup de grace at the end of The Lizard King if the first African American president wasn’t painted as a monster – a power-hungry, self-absorbed leader with a secret agenda and an inability to listen to anyone other than his closest of allies.

By the end of it anyone that believes that President Obama is a closet homosexual, was born in Kenya (not an American citizen), is a secret Muslim bent on the destruction of the West (think Manchurian Candidate or Showtime’s Homeland) , or is a communist (or socialist, or Marxist) might feel silly that they have come to those conclusions. One thing they might not feel silly about is how the Lizard King does a grand job of providing an illustration of how a contentious meeting in the Oval Office might play out and how the authors(s) did a pretty good job of weaving what the press knows about the President’s inner circle into the overall plot.

Democrats and Republicans should definitely pick up this book and give it a read. It’s right around $5 bucks and even though the conservative news site The Daily Caller is associated with the book, that doesn’t mean that it isn’t entertaining. If I had to lodge one complaint against The Lizard King it would be that the book is just way to short — it makes it hard to flesh out some of the more interesting interactions between the protagonist and the key players in the White House. That aside, you should still check out The Lizard King because it is a very entertaining, makes fun of conspiracy theorists in America and Administration supporters, and is a light and easy read.

Final Verdict: Buy It

Five out of Five Shape-Shifting Lizard Men.