Limbo is out, video game charity work and 2112

Limbo is out today. I played it very briefly this morning before coming into the office and it’s everything I was hoping – creepy, atmospheric, unsettling, and very cool. I’ll be putting up a full review of it later but everyone really should check it out.

Just like Kenny in South Park, the Carmine family in the Gears of War series has a habit of passing before their time. Anthony Carmine in Gears 1 and Benjamin Carmine in Gears 2 both met untimely deaths and the same will most likely be true for Gears 3’s Clayton Carmine – but does it have to be? In an interesting marketing scheme, Gears developer Epic Games will be letting the fans decide this Carmine’s fate. By purchasing either a “Save Carmine” or “Carmine must die” Avatar t-shirt from the Xbox Live Marketplace, fans will be casting their vote for what happens to Clayton. Similar t-shirts will also be on sale at the upcoming Comic-Con event at the NECA booth. You can feel good in participating in this t-shirt selling scheme by knowing that all the proceeds will go to the online comic strip Penny Arcade’s charity Child’s Play. (http://www.childsplaycharity.org) Child’s Play is a charity that works with over 60 hospitals around the world to provide toys and games for children since 2003. Joystiq is hosting their own poll to see if their readers would kill off or save Carmine and, in a somewhat surprising turn of events (at the time I voted, which was for saving the big oaf cause I like to think of myself as a badass with a heart of gold) 490 (63%) had voted for saving him as well.

While hearing about my own personal chance to save a virtual life was a pretty interesting piece of news, another story I read just minutes later blew my mind. Rush is a pretty popular band – one of the most popular bands among nerds and white people [citation needed]. Being a nerd and also being white, I’d say I’m a fan of Rush, though I do feel embarrassed even admitting it. That being said, I’m fairly undecided about how to feel about this next bit of news – Activision will be including Rush’s 20-minute epic “2112” into its upcoming rhythm game Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock. If you’ve ever read anything I’ve written about rhythm games, you know I prefer Rock Band over the GH series any day and even Warriors of Rock’s more metal/hard rock influenced setlist can’t sway me. The inclusion of 2112 is a pretty gutsy move by Activision any way you look at it – on one hand it’s a pretty killer song to listen to and on the other it would be a killer to actually try and play (especially on drums or vocals). I get pretty bored playing songs that are 7 or 8 minutes long – I can’t see how playing one song for more than double that would be fun.

Check back soon – I swear my reviews for Singularity and Alan Wake will be up at some point.