Celebrate Your Geekdom
from J!NX:
Father’s Day is June 20!
If you haven’t found that perfect gift, you still have a chance. Come on over and check out our entire selection of expressive tees inspired by video games and geek culture. We’re making it even easier for you, giving you $10 off your order of $35 or more. Just use code DADSROCK during checkout.
While you’re here…
Check out the J!NX Design Arcade. You can win up to $1000!
from NCsoft:
Announcing the Warrior
Announcing our next Guild Wars 2 profession: the warrior! A master of weapons, the warrior marches into battle with swords, rifles, and just about everything in between. The warrior can absorb incredible damage as he builds up adrenaline to power his devastating attacks. Witness the raw power and blinding speed of the warrior in these incredible skill videos!
ArenaNet Summer Events
Tradeshow season is kicking off, and it’s going to be a busy summer for us! We can’t wait to get out there to spread the word about Guild Wars 2 and connect with our fellow gamers.
For more details about our summer activities check out our blog.
A Look at Dynamic Events and Personal Storylines in Guild Wars 2
Learn more about why Guild Wars 2 is a different kind of MMO. Lead Content Designer Colin Johanson explains the dynamic event system in Guild Wars 2 and how it challenges the traditional ways content has been presented in MMOs. Lore & Continuity Designer Ree Soesbee shares our approach to storytelling in Guild Wars 2, where you follow your own personal storyline and your actions have a real impact on the world around you. Visit the ArenaNet Blog for further information about events and personal stories in Guild Wars 2. Our blog is your official source for behind-the-scenes GW2 info, so bookmark it today and stay up to date!
Alienware and Razer Team Up with NCsoft This Summer
NCsoft is partnering with our good friends at Razer and Alienware for trade shows this summer, and we’ll be using their equipment in our booths. For more information about their gear, head over to the Razer and Alienware websites.
from J!NX:
New J!NX Classics Tee: Plasmids — Now Available in Women’s!
Your wish is our command. After the release of our men’s-only “Plasmids” T-shirt two weeks ago, we received such an overwhelming response from our female minions that we decided to do a women’s version as well! Enjoy your tonics, ladies. Cheers!
Your Art… We Wants It!
Last week, we announced our new Design Arcade, where J!NX Minions with epic art skillz can see their designs brought to life on a J!NX T-shirt… and if that isn’t reward enough, we’ll toss $1000 your way if your design gets used!
Win (Another) iPad!
We love giving stuff away. In fact, we had so much fun with our last iPad contest, that we decided to do it all over again! If you’re new to the contest, check out the details here. If you’re already a follower on Twitter and Facebook, simply comment each day for another chance to win! So simple, even a n00b could do it!
10% off all products
Use Promotion Code: ARCADELICIOUS
This offer expires Sunday, June 13, 2010 at 11:59PM EDT, so don’t wait!
from FreeRPGDay.com:
For Free RPG Day, Impressions Advertising & Marketing works with hobby game retailers and RPG publishers to bring NEW RPG Quickstart Rules and Adventure Modules into the hands of gamers.
Consumers WORLDWIDE will be able to grab brand new material for a variety of RPGs — no overstock, retail-priced or dead product here. The goal of Free RPG Day is to inspire gamers to play a new RPG, which will in turn, create sales through local game stores.
Look Who’s Already Involved! These are the sponsors who have already committed to being a part of Free RPG Day 2010. This list is not final.
Your friendly local game store controls whether or not they participate in this event. Each individual store determines how the free items are given out on the day of the event. If you have trouble with any of the stores participating in the event, please let us know.
from Nintendo of Canada:
Are you excited to hear all the news from Nintendo’s E3 Presentation but can’t make it to Los Angeles?
Nintendo.com has you covered. The website is setting up a special portal for fans around the world to watch full start-to-finish video coverage of the event.
Nintendo’s E3 Presentation will begin at 9 a.m. Pacific on Tuesday, June 15. Just visit e3.nintendo.com to get a front-row seat to all of Nintendo’s announcements.
from ThinkGeek:
ZOMG, NEW CATALOG!
Our monkeys went back to the drawing board and made it bigger, better, funner, and more awesomer! We wanted to give you a heads up so you can prepare for the mailbox invasion, so here’s your preview.
ALSO AND IN SOME WAYS COOLER:
ThinkGeek’s Ultimate GeekDad Giveaway!
We <3 Geek Dads and we thought it was time to make something really special, so we pulled together $1500 in prizes, including:
* 16GB iPad with wi-fi
* Microsoft Xbox 360
* $500 ThinkGeek Shopping Spree
* $100 iTunes credit
* $100 GameStop gift certificate
* Signed copy of Ken Denmead’s GeekDad
* GeekDad t-shirt
Enter for fatherly greatness now!
Find more What’s New items at ThinkGeek!
from Split Reason:
It’s contest time! Are you a Pirate, Ninja, Zombie, or Robot? Select one of the four character classes, and tell us how your character would defeat the other three! How would a mindless zombie defeat a brainless robot? We’re not sure either but we are sure you will let us know! All you need to do is submit a creative comment on our blog here. Each class will be entered into a random draw for a $50 store credit, so there are four prizes to be won!
In other happenings, Win Wednesday season 2.0 continues to roll and the addition of Facebook Friday offers more opportunity for you to win some free SPLIT REASON gear! Follow us on Twitter or join our Facebook fan page, and keep on the lookout every Wednesday and Friday for more geeked-out skill testing trivia! We’ve also seen a few requests for SR wallpapers as of late, they are back and available here.
This month has been short and sweet, stuffed with a holiday and a few top-notch game releases. With one ferocious bite, ModNation Racers sunk its teeth deep and quickly began to dive and spiral to an infinite depth of gaming awesome. The grip is tight and shows no signs of letting off any time soon. It’s not hard to imagine why, Superheroes and nostalgic video game characters are the current staple of the kart racing circuit, with Iron Man, Mario, and Spider-Man earning honors as top mods. We took Green Lantern for a spin and lost badly to a racer draped in Wonderbread sponsorship! Perhaps we need a new corporate sponsor, the non-profit Justice League can’t seem to handle the financial burden.
Don’t forget, you can still save 10% with the promo code: SPACECADET — Now, on to new products…
from Nintendo of Canada:
One of the most beloved video game characters on Earth is ready to embark on a spectacular new mission. Available exclusively for Nintendo’s top-selling console, the game Super Mario Galaxy 2 sends players on a remarkable interstellar adventure designed to please fans and series newcomers alike.
Like the original Super Mario Galaxy, Super Mario Galaxy 2 lets players take control of Mario as he travels to a host of imaginative planets, collecting Power Stars and striving to rescue Princess Peach from the malevolent Bowser. This new installment enhances the action with an array of new power-ups, gravity-defying levels and inventive game options. For the first time in this series, players can hop on the back of Mario’s pal Yoshi, who aids him on his quest in select stages. Also, players now can choose to play as Mario or later in the game in select stages as his brother, Luigi.
Super Mario Galaxy 2 brings so many fun new elements to the franchise,” said Ron Bertram, Nintendo of Canada’s vice-president and general manager. “Our developers have created entire new worlds filled with great characters, inventive power-ups and that distinctive Mario charm.”
New power-ups in Super Mario Galaxy 2 include Cloud Mario and Rock Mario, which enable Mario to create temporary cloud platforms or smash through obstacles as a boulder. With the Spin Drill, he can tunnel from one side of a planet to another. Items such as the new Dash Pepper and Blimp Fruit give Yoshi the power to move around in unusual ways, like running up vertical walls or floating to new heights. Yoshi can also use his tongue to grab enemies and items, or to swing across dangerous chasms. In addition to Power Stars, players can collect Comet Medals that unlock even more challenging levels.
For friends who enjoy gaming together and have an additional Wii Remote controller, Super Mario Galaxy 2 offers the Co-Star mode that was introduced in the original Super Mario Galaxy, but with even more ways to interact. This mode allows two players to team up and cooperate as they zoom from planet to planet, where the second player controls a Luma that can defeat enemies, grab coins and pick up Starbits. Super Mario Galaxy 2 also features in-game guides that illustrate how to perform certain moves and clear tricky levels, lending players of any experience level a helping hand as they progress through the game.
For more information about Super Mario Galaxy 2, visit supermariogalaxy.com.
Remember that Wii features parental controls that let adults manage the content their children can access. For more information about this and other Wii features, visit Wii.com.
from J!NX:
New J!NX Classics Tee: Plasmids
Living among the citizens of Rapture can get a little intimidating. All those Big Daddies and Little Sisters running around with their fancypants genetic modifications can make you feel down and depressed. J!NX has got the cure for you, with J!NX Brand Plasmids! Now you, too, can feel like part of the family. Don’t settle for those “other” brands. J!NX Brand Plasmids are the only ones that come with a guarantee to have no horrible disfiguring side effects. Natch!
72-Hour Sale!
For a limited time, you can get 25% off of your entire order when you enter the promotional code: MINIBOSS. Now is the perfect chance to snap up those new IDentity tees you’ve been eyeing! Sale ends Wednesday (11:59pm EDT), so quit draggin’ them heels!
from Vivendi Entertainment Canada:
What happens when Iron Man, Thor, The Hulk, Wolverine, and some of the best known heroes in the Marvel Universe get together? You get The Super Hero Squad Show, the greatest (and coolest) heroes on the planet uniting together to face the world’s most notorious villains — the biggest, most family-friendly Super Hero team-up in TV and DVD history. It’s no small job protecting Super Hero City from the wild, weird (& even wacky) villainy of VillainVille’s infamous baddies… but the Super Hero Squad is always up for the job. These brave heroes totally deliver the action — but with plenty of humour on the side.
The celebrate the highly anticipated release of The Super Hero Squad Show, Vivendi Entertainment Canada and Teletoon are teaming up to give away a grand-prize trip for two to Comic-Con in San Diego, California. Beginning May 4, fans are invited to enter online at teletoon.com for their chance to win daily prize-packs containing Hasbro Super Hero Squad action figures and Marvel Animation DVDs. The on-air promotion dubbed “Marvel May-hem” will run for two weeks leading up to the ultimate fan experience, a grand-prize trip to Comic-Con!
This is the first time the “Squaddies” have been available on DVD! Each DVD contains five episodes from Season One of The Super Hero Squad Show. Bonus features include a Stan Lee interview, Marvel Animation’s sneak-peek of the new series The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and a first look at a new Super Hero Squad online game.
Order now at Amazon.ca:
The Super Hero Squad Show, Volume 1 — Hero Up, Squaddies!
The Super Hero Squad Show, Volume 2 — Titanic Team Ups
from Weta:
Come, all ye Satyrs!
Weta wants to see more Centaurs, Satyrs, Demons, Gargoyles, Unicorns, Dragons, Minotaurs and other fantastical creatures roaming the earth! So we just launched Weta Legs with our good friend Kim Graham. If you are a performer, costumer or just want to change into a new creature, then Weta Legs will help you take your creativity to a whole new level (literally!).
The YouTube video has already been viewed 25,000 times in the last 2 weeks. Costume Actor Shane Rangi demonstrated a pair at the Elf Fantasy Fair in Holland on 24-25 April, and our good friend Meredith Yayanos will be showing them off at the Bay Area Maker’s Faire on 22-23 May in the US. These are the first digitigrade legs ever made available for the public. Here’s what Coilhouse Magazine had to say about them.
Now, take advantage of this SPECIAL OFFER! Order your Weta Legs by 25 May and you get an “Early Bird” discount of US$150!
Want to win an all-expenses trip to Weta Workshop in New Zealand?
Join in the digital rendering creativity at Dr. Grordbort’s Raygun Shootout. Entry is free. The challenge for April was to create the most “Futuristic Raygun”. Check out the awesome entries on the Leaderboard. The winners for April will be announced very shortly. There will be new competitions each month up until October. In May, your challenge is to create the finest “Alien Raygun” in the Universe. Get your entries in now. There are monthly prizes and spot prizes from Dr. Grordbort’s. If you are not into rendering you can still vote for your favourite entries. Just register your details, and vote for your favorites on the Leaderboard.
The Lord of the Rings
Middle-earth fans have got a range of new art to choose from:
Keep your own piece of Middle-earth close to your heart with engraved Stone Pendants from the South Island of New Zealand. Their journey began thousands of years ago in the mountains of the Southern Alps. Will they make their way across the globe to your home?
The first 3 of our miniature shields are now shipping from our warehouses in the US, UK and New Zealand. They can be displayed as collectibles or worn as a badge (there is a pin on the back). Stocks in our UK warehouse are already down to very limited numbers, so be quick. A fourth shield is already in production. Which will it be? Have your say on this thread at our fan forum.
Strider’s Sword from the Master Swordsmith’s Collection sold out very quickly. We will be shipping these beautiful works of art out to their 10 lucky owners in May (there are plenty of jealous staff in the Workshop who wish they could afford one!). If you have not yet seen the video on how these blades are crafted, it really is worth taking a look.
The Map of New Zealand as Middle-earth is proving very popular.
Pre-orders for the Bag End Collector’s Edition are racing along. Make sure you don’t miss out before it’s too late.
We will be sending out shipment notices for the Argonath next week. This item has already Sold Out, however you can put your name on the waiting list for cancelled orders by e-mailing us at info@wetaNZ.co.nz.
Please don’t forget if you are ordering 5 or more pieces at once, it pays to send us a note to see if we can reduce your shipping costs by packing them all in one bag.
District 9 fans — Watch Out!
We will be opening pre-orders for an all new D9 collectible in our next newsletter. So get your eyes off the cat food and watch out. The full scale Arc Generator gun sold out in only 4 days, so you don’t want to be late for this one. (You can still put your name on the waiting list for the Arc Generator). The Art of District 9 book is well under away and the design team are doing a terrific job. It’s full of never-seen-before art and tells the story of the design process. We are so excited about launching this book later in the year, we just might have to leak a few glimpses every now and again.
Weta Cave
The Weta Cave in Wellington, New Zealand is nearly 2 years old. We were thrilled to host 100,000 people from all over this world (and a few others) in the last 12 months. It’s a real motivation to all of us at Weta to know that people care enough to travel so far to come and say Hi. Please keep coming and please keep sharing in our obsession for creativity. Recently, we were delighted to host author Robert Rankin from the United Kingdom. We were geeking out about his books and were surprised to find out from his friend “Raygun”, they were both huge Dr. Grordbort’s fans. Huzzah!
We can confirm rumours of Trolls stomping around Wellington airport are true. Weta has a new shopping display at the Discover New Zealand store inside the airport. And yes, of course the trolls do come alive at night time. How else would they stay so well fed?
Dr. Grordbort’s
We are very sorry to advise the Superintendent of Grordborts Industries Misinformation Office has been replaced because of health (death by insect poisoning) reasons. However, on the positive side, we have now discovered where the last remaining live Blue Sacked Pillock was hiding. It has now been skewered through its sack and the new Superintendent is very pleased to announce another Venusian species has officially been made extinct. Our congratulations to the brave gentlemen and literate women at Grordbort Industries for bringing their combined total up to 814 species and counting. There are indications that more bugs are likely to follow in the footsteps of the unfortunate Pillock. Gossip is also rife in the Workshop at the moment. The doors to the paint room have been locked for days on end (luckily — that place stinks of heavy metals and nasty solvents), and the only visitors have been a space man, a well dressed gentleman with over-sized canines and a so called “graffiti artist” with rather loose fitting trouserage covering only the lower halves of his puny buttocks! Could there be more custom painted rayguns on their way? Look out for an imminent propaganda message from Dr. Grordbort’s for more misinformation.
Halo Console Auction
Weta recently created a Halo themed Xbox for our friends at Microsoft, which was auctioned off for charity on eBay. The winning bid was A$10,000. The piece was designed and sculpted by Weta Workshop’s Alex Faulkner. Check out the video! And the full range of Halo collectibles.
Comic-Con is Coming!
San Diego Comic-Con 2010 is only 2 and a half months away. We hope you’ve booked your tickets and will be visiting the Weta team at our booth. More news coming soon…
from OneUp Studios:
The wait is over.
The long-awaited album has arrived. 10 tracks of Super Mario Kart goodness. Now… Where to get it?
I recommend Bandcamp. You’ll be able to:
— Buy the physical copy of the CD
— Get an immediate digital download in whatever format you wish (MP3, Apple Lossless, FLAC, etc.)
— Pay what you want, as long as you pay $9.99.
— Get to hear the whole album for free before you buy to make sure you’re making a smart purchase.
— Now that sounds like fun, doesn’t it? The album is selling like hot cakes (what does that mean, anyway?). Get your copy now.
Also, for those of you who don’t want to use Bandcamp:
iTunes (may not be up at this moment but will be any day)
Music Video — Mario Circuit
I believe this marks the first time a video game music cover band has made a live-action music video. You will please enjoy. Shot and chopped by our friend Duncan Skiles at Waverly Films. Share with your friends!
The OneUps in San Francisco Area May 16 | Free Show All Ages
Holy smokes we’re playing a FREE show for ALL AGES on the Microsoft Campus on Sunday May 16 for the Bay Area Game Jam 2010. We did this last year with The Megas and it was friggin’ awesome. Please join us for a free show. We’ll have the Super Mario Kart Album and the new Volume 1&2 Combo Pack on hand for you to purchase for your long (or short) drive home following the show.
But where can I find out the address and stuff?
New The OneUps Web Site
Check out our baller new Web site via Mazedude Productions. You can head to the “News/Calendar” page to find out upcoming show dates, times, and link right to the map. You’ll also enjoy the new picture gallery, video gallery and new store with plenty of things to order like the NEW Volume 1&2 Combo Pack! We managed to squish Volume 1 and the two-disc Volume 2 onto two super-long playing CDs. If you missed physical copies of our previous albums, check it out! (Ships late May)
That’s it for now. Hope this is enough to keep you entertained until next time, Gadget…
-m
Mustin
Producer
OneUpStudios.com