Anyone want a room for flat rate $200/night checking in Tuesday March 6 and checking out Thursday March 8. It is reserved as a King… but at GDC sometimes things change. Still it is a block away and cheap if you need a place

The place is called the Mosser/ I have actually never even seen it- but it was close and cheap, so I reserved one just in case… and turns out I don’t need it for models afterall since all the ones hired were local afterall. If you do want it- email me. It will go to the person who pays the full $400 for it first. email me yvonna@CharismaPlus2.com

In a lawless, post-apocalyptic world, Wheels of Destruction pits you in a kill-or-be-killed competition of extreme four-wheel wreckage. This arcade-style, third-person multiplayer shooter features team death matches, free-for-alls, and capture-the-flag frenzies. 

You’ll battle to crush opponents, slaying everything in your path of relentless devastation, both online and off.

Check out the new Scout trailer here: http://youtu.be/4uGCAOk8S1U

The Scout is just one of five vehicular predators being shown off over the coming weeks. He’s a force not to take lightly, but there are plenty to come.

Wheels of Destruction pits players in an arena of demolish-or-be-demolished competition of extreme four-wheel wreckage. Five distinct car classes make for deadly cutthroat car combat with a unique futuristic aesthetic – all powered by the Unreal Engine.

Wheels of Destruction brings gamers together just to tear them apart again in an addictive, easy-to-learn yet hard-to-master, battle behind the wheel. Just make sure you’re ready for chaos and carnage!

I found out from Lauren’s FB that she was traveling for the wedding of the funny and cool Blair Herter and super awesome Jessica Chobot. I do not socialize with either the bride or groom so I did not know, but hearing the news made me smile super big being fortunate enough to have briefly visited with them at a couple conventions. It also brought to my mind an interesting phenomenon… our game celebrity perceptions.

I first met Blair at QuakeCon when he was interviewing the QC girls ( left to right Ashley , Stephanie, and Savanna are in the BG here). I think it was the first time I had gone from QC girl to QCgirl booking agent. He seemed like a super nice guy, incredibly humble, down-to-earth and all around good person. I don’t know him very well at all… but as happens frequently in life ended up getting to know one of his close friends who later worked at id.

As for the bride, I suppose the lovely Jessica Chobot has been on my mind because of all the Mass Effect 3 excitement & her being in it news! BUT even more in the forefront of my mind when I heard the wedding news was how completely wrong I was for so many years about the gaming starlette.

It was one of my first E3s when I ever so briefly met Jessica. I mean brief. It was during a short break of her filming for IGN and the lights had gone down for a moment’s breath. I am absolutely positive she would not remember me from that time (or even the next time in San Antonio). For me though it was a rather epic moment. I had been following her every word and felt like I knew her (common misplaced feeling for those of us out in the audience). So after my 5th time of making rounds on the convention floor to try to catch her at that booth back in a corner of one of the halls, she was not filming! yay! I was so excited! And then… I met her. I know now, after getting to meet her at a Gamestop convention 2 years ago, that she is an incredibly, sweet, person! She went out of her way to accommodate attendees, answer numerous questions, and take photos. She was patient when my camera fubar’d on us which made it take forever and was just a real fun, pretty, and kind person. But my initial impression was completely wrong. I totally misread her and was disappointed because of the faulty feelings. 

It made me think that Game Personalities are probably subject to even harsher fan critiques than the biggest movie stars.. not because their fan base is larger but because their fan base is so tech savvy and surf all day. Maybe it is me, but trolling seems to be subsiding a bit from a few years back, but I do know this: It is easy for us to feel like we know a Game Personality from a chance meeting, but we really do not know them at all. They could be having a bad day, one bad moment in a long day, or maybe most likely are just busy (they literally talk to thousands of individuals a day at a big convention, so getting even a “hi” should make us feel pretty darn special). Even for me, I am not on TV currently and will have people tell me after getting to know me, “You are so nice! I heard you were a ___ ” (insert whatever word for not nice person would fit because I have been called that most assuredly).

Lastly, it occurs to me, especially after having the C+2 agency,  that when girls are pretty, even if they go out of their way to talk to everyone they can, someone is going to slip through the cracks unnoticed and post hater comments about what a snob the girl is. How come it is that pretty girls who don’t talk to an individual are snobs, but unattractive girls are just considered shy? 

Anyway, that was just some food for thought. The big thing is that some of our favorite gaming personalities are getting married.

Congratulations, Blair and Jessica!

Biart Company, an independent development studio today announced that its science-fiction, third-person shooter Deep Black: Reloaded is locked and loaded and coming to PC on March 1st through digital download portals. Featuring 40 single player missions across land and water, Deep Black: Reloaded takes place in a desolate near future of global terrorism and espionage as players become involved in a desperate fight for world supremacy and the possession of a sophisticated biological weapon. To download the demo visit: www.deepblackreloaded.com/db_demo.zip

In Deep Black: Reloaded players take to the murky depths armed with a wrath of underwater equipment from a specialized underwater suit with jet pack and integrated harpoon to near future high-tech equipment in pursuit of terrorist enemy combatants. With the majority of the game play taking place below the water’s surface, action-adventure fans will need to master new skills to fight hostile enemies and infiltrate enemy bases.

Set in the near future, Deep Black: Reloaded is a complex science-fiction mystery mixing espionage and bio-terror as players become involved in a desperate fight for world supremacy and possession of a sophisticated dooms day biological weapon. 

The PC version is compatible with NVIDIA 3D VISION for the ultimate underwater experience and can be controlled using the Razer Hydra controller. Developed using Biart Company’s proprietary tech biEngine Deep Black will be coming Microsoft Xbox 360 (XBLA) and Sony Playstation 3 (Sony Entertainment Network) through 505 Games later in 2012.  

Biart Company will also be attending the upcoming Game Connection and GDC (March 5-9, 2012), where they will also be demonstrating Deep Black: Reloaded at the Intel booth.  

For more information about Deep Black: Reloaded and the latest news: 
- Visit their website: www.biart7.com
- Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/DeepBlackGame

To pre-order Deep Black: Reloaded please visit:-  http://www.biart7.com/node/11

In response to our Dream Valentine article, these were who we thought sent in the best replies. These winners received a feature in the magazine and because they told us they were PC types, Crucial 2GB DDR3 Ballistix PC3 memory cards. We had not pre-announced a prize because we wanted truly authentic answers + we like surprises! (winners, just leave a reply here and we’ll get your email addy [not published publicly] to find out where to send the cards!)

Our featured couple’s sweetheart picture and quote are from Larry Gipson about his wife, Mary. 

Our featured single guy’s reply to describing his dream Valentine? Michael Musick pictured below explains… Ya see? Not all the good guys are already taken!

Our single girl? None other than our own the fantastic Fiona Fab! 

There’s some serious passion in video games going as far back as the early 1980s. Remember Pacman and Ms. Pacman?

Yes? No? Well, how about when Nintendo entered our lives. Now, granted not all readers will have the same opinion regarding who counts as a ‘couple’. Look at Mario and Princess Peach; the princess could have any mushroom man in her kingdom but she gave her heart to a lowly plumber from Brooklyn, New York, who saved her time and time again from a vile lizard king.

Oh! No gamer could ever forget the kindhearted kinship between Princess Zelda and the dashing, heroic Link. There’s just something so romantic about a man with pointy ears wielding a magic sword, not to mention all the quests he has to endure to rescue the princess from a wicked sorcerer.

How about Drake and Elena from the Uncharted series. Have you ever seen two video game characters who are so brilliantly made for each other?

There’s almost a kind of Romancing the Stone feel between them. For those unfamiliar with the movie look here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romancing_the_stone

Seriously, don’t Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner remind you a little of Drake and Elena, or vice versa (for those of us who know the film).

Because everyone seems to agree that the Final Fantasy games have at least three couples scattered throughout the series (Cloud and Aerith/Tifa, Squall and Rinoa, Tidus and Yuna) we’ll move on to more darker elements in romance.

Let’s look at the tenderness between Jackie Estacado and Jenny Romano in The Darkness. Jackie is a cursed killing machine roaming around the mean streets of New York, yet he becomes vulnerable when in the presence of the endearing Jenny. Unfortunately, the forces of evil intervene resulting in devastating consequences.

Then there’s James Sunderland from Silent Hill 2 who is still in love with his deceased wife Mary, even traveling to the mysterious town of Silent Hill when he receives a supposed letter from her despite that she’s already dead. Both creepy and touching.

Since we’ve agreed that opinions vary, why not share yours?

What video game couples are most romantic to you?

I find Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning  as a blend of Elder Scrolls and God of War drawn in a Fable-esque art style world and characters. 

Since these are three of my top favorite non FPS games, it is easy to fall in love. Not having read any reviews or anything on it whatsoever, here are a few reasons why: 

Amalur:The Reckoning is incredibly easy to pick up and start enjoying. Many RPGs require a background in RPG gaming. While I do have that, I have many models who are new to the genre. I usually suggest the Fable 3  as a nice place to start, since it  has an approachable art style, has less gore (which is an option lots of girls, like myself, prefer), and the basics in learning about skills without too much dear of dying. Then probably Mass Effect before delving in deeper. I recall suggesting Oblivion to one of my friends/models not realizing she did not have the background for it. While talking she said she wanted to be a mage and vampire in excitement! I tried to discourage her from that suggesting she start as a warrior, but she wouldn’t hear of it. As you guessed, she dropped the game in nothing flat because it was too hard and she kept dying.

Amalur:The Reckoning lets you know from the beginning hour when building your character that you will be able to change everything including appearance later on if you want for just the cost of XP. I hope this continues to be a trend. I recall when picking up Skyrim (currently my very favorite game that finally booted God of War out of first place) that Todd Howard (also one of my fav devs) had made sure that the player would not have to restart after countless hours into the game if there was a desire to change the direction of the character’s skills. I’d say from how much I have played of A:TR that Skyrim is for a bit more experienced RPGer, but is far more approachable than Morrowind and Oblivion in that respect.

Amalur:The Reckoning  is quite intuitive and the training is ample and easy to pick up. The layout is not daunting like some RPGs, perhaps because of the way they lead the player into the game. Trying out all the weapons and overlooking all the skill trees, I ended up keeping my original plan for my Mage.  Above is a picture of her. Her name is VerenduSucus (which is latin for Awesome or Reverend Sauce). 

It introduces some of the God of War timed button actions and cutscenes type gameplay after getting the initial basics down pat. My new company Janimation actually makes in game cutscenes and trailers with the game’s assets *shameless plug* and it is super cool to be a part of that whole arena.

One of my biggest elations about it? It has AWESOME MAPPING! I cannot tell you how many times I love a game but get frustrated at the dang maps or lack thereof. A:TR has a great mini map that can be locked North, great local and world maps that can be very easily accessed. It is just all around win in the maps department. I can tell you this is a majorly important thing for me since I have a great irl sense of direction (maybe the Native American bloods in me) but almost zero in game sense of direction. I actually rage quit top tier AAA games because of the crappy maps. 

The storyline is great from the very first opening shot. I do not see why that would stop, and am hopeful it continues. It also sets the player up for a nice introduction into the gameplay.

Amalur:The Reckoning has fun weapons and I have just barely started. I wouldn’t say they are as innovative as the ones I recently played in Resistance 3 which were a downright endless ingenious amusement, but I am not that far into A:TR either.

As soon as you put in the disc, I mean from the first note, Amalur: The Reckoning has a breathtaking score and the voice over is fun. I wouldn’t say that it is always completely natural sounding, but thus far it is perfectly natural sounding for the characters and the way they are drawn. I find the VO delightful.

Ugh! I HAVE to get ready to go and have so much more to say- let me leave it with this incredibly important statement. With Amalur:The Reckoning I do not have to consult outside sources such as the inserted pamphlet or worse GameFAQs to get through the game! This is my NUMBER ONE complaint about games. I do eventually end up enjoying the consulting of outside sources, like when wrapping up achievements, but want to be able to play my game the first time through without having to turn on the lights, look through a book, or open my laptop and iPad. I want to be able to be able to access everything in my game OR I get taken out of it, literally. So thank you 38Studios for making it so I can get off work, go to my game, and just get transported into Amalur until I am ready to stop… which for these first few nights has been quite difficult.

HA! so I just opened up the wiki so I could link to it in this article! Looks like I am experiencing A:TR the way it was intended. hehehe I love it when that happens. I feel sort of validated in my impressions. Thanks again 38Studios for making what is sure to be a fun, addictive game.

Leaving the underwater and ethereal introduction room of talking madonnas and mermaids, one goes down the wavy striped hallway. It entices the viewer into being a willing participant in an “Alice” type rabbit hole. The space warping hall ends with a warm and inviting room of bustiers, shifting the spectator from the otherworldly expansiveness of displays to an intimate, human feeling of secrecy. 

The padded cube in the center of the room with suspended undergarment pieces in a showcase of black velvet evokes a feeling of  being in a prohibited area where one should simply not be trespassing. However, the display has no glass window barrier, so one can lean in and see such incredible intricacy ranging from Baroque to Post Modernism. 

 One might discover a subtle internal interrogation beginning to bubble inside when in the Boudoir Room of the exhibit. Interestingly the presentation opens with the softer creativity of more “acceptable” bustiers before delving into harsher waters on the backside of the cushioned room. 

The coned bustier is often considered unappealing to both men and women. Perhaps a bit of exposure to his foundations for this fashion might moderate the long held distate for the pointy peaks.

Discovering and seeing displayed JPG’s first fashion creation of a bustier was made for his teddy bear “Nana” out of newspaper when he was a little boy, one sees that the cones make sense. On top of that, though it is not stated so directly, the viewer sees that JPG spent a great deal of time with his maternal grandmother (perhaps primary caregiver?).With Bras in the 40s being the cone shape, perhaps this configuration is an image that stuck with JPG. He speaks very affectionately in the exposition when he mentions his maternal grandmother. Whereas modern day people may see the cone as severe, perhaps he has a more soothing and affectionate association that inspired this JPG feminism. 

Immediately to the right after entering the room, there is in fact, Nana on display next to a 40s themed set with music playing and a mannequin singing. The “umbrella” made from corset ribbing fabrics repeated that sensation of looking through the superficial cloth that hides to what lies beneath. 

The sides of the room leading to the back where those forbidden coned bustiers are boasting proudly are walls lined with photographs of Madonna. This too probably helps the casual on-looker to becoming more acceptable of the pyramid shaped corset.

The walls were carefully placed with photos of Madonna and other celebrities and models wearing the design JPG made famous. Against the back wall was a lovely corset with a train! Slowly JPG takes the Museum participant into the next room, a wee bit further down the Rabbit hole of fashion. 

What lies in this next room of such stark comparison in its shiny black and rich velvety reds? 

Tune in next week.

ORIGIN PC has recently announced the exclusive availability of their new FROSTBYTE 360 liquid cooling system. With the FROSTBYTE 360 ORIGIN’s professional overclocking teams are reaching speeds up to 5.2GHz allowing them to routinely set new benchmark records and stay on top of the competition. Featuring silent pumps, a high efficiency triple 120mm radiator, and zero maintenance, the FROSTBYTE 360 liquid cooling system allows for extreme overclocking in a more affordable solution. The award winning ORIGIN PC GENESIS configured with the FROSTBYTE 360 starts at $1599.

“Until now, extreme overclocking required hundreds if not thousands of dollars worth of components including pumps, radiators, coolant hoses, fittings, and expensive water blocks.” said Kevin Wasielewski ORIGIN PC CEO and cofounder. “With the Frostbyte 360, a maintenance free liquid cooling solution, ORIGIN PC customers can enjoy top-end CPU performance at a fraction of the cost.”

Don’t let this happen to your laptop and/or computer CPU!

The ORIGIN FROSTBYTE 360 is the most cost-efficient high-performance liquid cooling system in the industry and it’s backed by the best service and support. The FROSTBYTE 360 is a maintenance free solution and every ORIGIN PC is covered by free lifetime 24/7 toll-free technical support based in theU.S.

ORIGIN PC’s Exclusive FROSTBYTE 360 Liquid Cooling System features:

• ORIGIN professional CPU overclocking up to 5.2GHz on multiple cores
• Micro-channel copper CPU block and 360mm high efficiency copper radiator
• Embedded temperature sensor delivers the copper surface temperature with an accuracy of +/- 1C
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• Factory sealed, maintenance free operation
• Thermal resistance as low as 0.085 C/W

ORIGIN systems feature a 1 to 3 year free shipping and free part replacement warranty combined with the best in class integration, quality testing and support. ORIGIN PC offers a free life-time 24/7 phone and online service guarantee and each customer has a dedicated support team and free life-time labor for upgrade needs.

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