For the past couple of years, I’ve tried to highlight the best underdog games at E3, but this year was particularly hard. Partly because I spent most of the day waiting in line to see the Nintendo Wii, but also partly because the entire gaming industry is getting so weird. In catering to the casual gamer and trying to differentiate from the competition, every platform and publisher is spending serious money turning former underdogs into big-name titles.

I saw this trend everywhere at E3, but nowhere more prominent than Nintendo, which threw all the rules out the window with the Wii. The new controller forced every developer to invent new forms of interaction without relying on existing standards, so practically everything in Nintendo’s booth felt new and weird. Even the well-worn Tony Hawk series feels new and interesting when you’re waving your hands all over the place, though it doesn’t seem nearly as well-suited for epics like Zelda.

Beyond Nintendo, I was surprised to see games like Loco Roco and Viva Piñata with huge marketing efforts by Sony and Microsoft. (What hath Katamari wrought?) At this point, it’s hard to say that many of this year’s picks are true underdogs, but they’re all odd. If you want real underdogs, the indie gaming scene is thriving and almost completely unrepresented on the exhibit floor. Anyway, here are picks for the E3 Underdogs of 2006.

Continue reading “E3 Underdogs 2006” →

If you’re going to videotape your Star Wars fighting skills on a school camera, remember to remove the cassette when you’re done. Watch this embarrassingly good video.

(Some context may be necessary.)

Like every year, I’ll be rounding up my favorite pranks on Internet Jackass Day (aka April Fool’s Day). In case you’re thinking of getting involved, Anil’s got some advice for you. We’re a day early, but it’s April 1 somewhere, so let’s get started.

* ThinkGeek’s annual lineup of unusual new products

* Flickr goes catty on all “Explore” pages, in a timezone-sensitive hack; some screenshots

* Google Adwords unveils two new image sizes

* Google Rooms

* Bioengineering firm to create pet dragons

* Slashdot finds its feminine side (yawn!)

* Ask.com’s RhymeRank

* Yelp buys rights to the Pets.com sock puppet

* Bungie’s Pimps at Sea video game

* Yahoo buys Web 2.0, all of it

* Ars Technica reviews Duke Nukem Forever

* Google Romance (though Google isn’t far off entering the personals market, in reality)

* TeeVeePedia: TeeVee’s 10th annual entry carries on their tradition of the best written pranks ever

* SQL on Rails, don’t miss the screencast

* Gamespot previews World of Starcraft, among other news coverage

* Google Earth adds some visitors to Area 51

* Wordpattern, WordPress merges with Textpattern

* LinkFilter cribs Metafilter’s design

* Homestar Runner goes upside-down

* DeviantArt previews new Web 2.0 redesign

Comprehensive lists: If you feel like drinking from the firehose, try Urgo’s definitive list and Wikipedia’s rapidly-growing collection. As Greg put it, be prepared for “less than half-assed humor.”

Conclusion: Eh. The only two that made me laugh were the Flickr cats and SQL on Rails.

I suppose it was inevitable, but I got a cease-and-desist from Bill Cosby’s legal team for hosting the House of Cosbys videos and the out-of-print “Cosby Talks to Kids about Drugs” album. (View the cease-and-desist PDF.)

I’ve removed the album (even though it’s been out-of-print for as long as I’ve been alive), as that’s within their legal rights.

But I’m not removing House of Cosbys. House of Cosbys is parody, and clearly falls under fair use guidelines. I’m not taking it down, and their legal bullying isn’t going to work. They claim that hosting these videos “violates our client’s rights of publicity as well as other statutory and common laws prohibiting the misappropriation of an individual’s name, voice and likeness and unfair competition.” Sorry, but the First Amendment protects satire and parody of a public figure as free speech. Also, the right of publicity only applies to unauthorized commercial use, and not a work of art or entertainment.

More than anything, this strikes me as a special kind of discrimination against amateur creators on the Internet. Mad Magazine, Saturday Night Live, South Park, The Simpsons, Family Guy, and countless other mainstream media sources have parodied Bill Cosby over the years (see growing list below).

But because it takes so little effort to threaten a small web-based artist (or the blogger who hosts their work), the Net is constantly targeted regardless of just cause. Justin Roiland, creator of House of Cosbys, was forced to remove the videos because he couldn’t risk the possibility of an actual lawsuit. And when Channel 101 decided to take a stand, Cosby’s lawyers targeted their ISP instead, forcing the videos offline. (Read Channel 101’s excellent response.)

But I know my legal standing, and I’m not backing down unless ordered by the court. This is free speech and creative freedom, and even though it’s just one guy’s goofy labor of love, that’s worth fighting for, dammit.

Cosby Parody in the Media

This is hardly the first time Cosby’s been parodied in the mainstream media. If you have other mainstream examples, please post them or email them to me! Scans, recordings, and video clips are highly encouraged.

* Video: Cosby on Family Guy (July 18, 2001)

* Video: Cosby on The Simpsons (WMV, May 13, 2001)

* Video: Cosby on the Simpsons (Quicktime, April 30, 1995)

* Video: Saturday Night Live’s “Celebrity Jeopardy” (May 14, 2005) – Bill Cosby has been parodied on at least nine episodes of SNL by three different cast members: Eddie Murphy, Adam Sandler, and Kenan Thompson. Any other clips?

* Video: The Boondocks (Episode 11, “Let’s Nab Oprah”)

* Comics: Mad Magazine appearances – Wow, Michael Hunziker compiled a collection of 12 Cosby appearances in Mad from 1967-1998!

* Video: South Park, Episode 210 (“Clubhouses”)

* Video: South Park, Episode 512 (“Here Comes the Neighborhood”)

House of Cosbys: Mirrors Clones!

Watch the original House of Cosbys at any of the sites below. We really need more mirrors, so let me know if you’ve mirrored it!

* Google Video

* YouTube

* Download.com

* CommonFlix (BitTorrent, formatted for iPod)

* EOD.com (thanks, Greg!)

* Watching Paint Dry (thanks, Alek!)

* Stroeck.com (thanks, Michael!)

* Nonstuff.com (thanks, Robert!)

* I’m Just Sayin’ (thanks, Krup!)

* 1hug.com (thanks, David!)

* Panoptican (thanks, Jason!)

* R3V.com (thanks, cls!)

* I Eat Tapes (thanks, David!)

* Kaninka.net (thanks, Páll!)

* Waxy.org

Updates

Stay tuned. I’m calling the EFF and House of Cosbys creator Justin Roiland today.

Update: I was just interviewed by the New York Times for an article set to appear in their Monday business section. Journalist Lia Miller also interviewed Channel 101’s Dan Harmon for the article, but was unable to get a comment from Bill Cosby.

I also spoke to Jason Schultz, staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. He contacted me directly, providing some great feedback and offering the EFF’s support to help fight this. Their network of legal counsel is extensive and well-versed in cases like these, and the EFF’s powerful activist community will help raise awareness should this go to trial.

No word yet from Justin Roiland, but waiting patiently. Justin, if you’re out there, call or e-mail me! I got in touch with Justin through Myspace. He’s giving me a call on Monday to discuss.

March 5: The New York Times article is out. Nice!

March 7: I spoke to Justin yesterday afternoon. I was relieved to hear he’s not opposed to what I’m doing, though (rightfully so) he’s hesitant to get involved in a lawsuit himself. He’s going to speak to an attorney and get back to me.

Also, no word yet from the Cosby legal team.

Years ago, I’d heard about a mythical unreleased videogame developed by Penn & Teller for the Sega CD and 3DO. The game was supposed to be an oddball adventure game, with some cruel magic tricks and minigames thrown in for good measure. This Absolute Entertainment press release from March 1995 sums it up nicely.

Continue reading “Penn & Teller's Smoke and Mirrors” →