What's your favorite Joystiq T-shirt design?

by Justin McElroy on Sep 7th 2011 12:00PM

We've painstakingly compiled a gallery of all 118 entrants in our Joystiq T-shirt design contest. Now, this is where you come in: We need your feedback on the entries! You'll see the number of each design in the gallery (make sure you click through the whole thing). Just comment below with that number and a brief bit about why it's your favorite. Why does it make your heart thrum with passion? Why does it fill your blood with desire?

This isn't really a vote, but how you guys and girls feel about the designs is going to be a huge factor in which winner we select. And since the victor will not only enter the annals of Joystiq history, but also win a game console with five games, there's a lot on the line.

Note: We didn't want to bias you by making them too prominent, but if you check the file name on any image, you'll be able to find out the artist's name. Thanks so much to everyone that entered. We don't think we're overstating our point by saying we were honestly moved by some of the love put into these images.

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What's New on the Wii/DSi Shop Channel for March 7, 2011 - Blogcritics.org (blog)

Are you ready for bullets and bombs, Wii owners? Too bad if you're not: you're getting plenty this week! And DSi owners, you can have games where you get to be a gymnast, an explosives expert and a squishy little car made of jelly. I think that covers everyone?

This week's games are as follows:

On DSiWare this week, we have G.G Series HORIZONTAL BAR (Genterprise Inc., 1 player, 200 DSi Points), GO Series EARTH SAVER (Gamebridge, 1 player, 500 DSi Points) and JellyCar 2 (Disney Interactive, 1 player, 500 DSi Points). G.G Series HORIZONTAL BAR has you swinging and jumping from bar to bar, adding momentum to your swing and trying to hit each jump perfectly as a gymnast. Yeah, kinda weird but interesting. In GO Series EARTH SAVER, you pilot a ship that's off to save the world from a giant meteorite by creating combo chains of explosions. JellyCar 2 is a sequel to the first game in the series that features many of the same mechanics, with a few new game play modes to boot. Also, you drive around levels as a squishy car.

WiiWare has one full title this week: Heavy Fire: Black Arms (Teyon, 1-2 players, 500 Wii Points), along with a demo of Soccer Bashi (Icon Games Entertainment, 1-2 players). Heavy Fire: Black Arms is the sequel to Heavy Fire: Special Operations, in which you have to go to South America and destroy a massive weapons cartel operating out of the jungle. Oh, and it's got co-op.

The Virtual Console returns with a new release, Bomberman Hero (Nintendo 64, 1 player, 1,000 Wii Points). A bit puzzled here they didn't pick Bomberman 64 instead, but the two games are pretty similar in game play style. Story's pretty similar, too: Bomberman has to save the day by blowing up the things in his way.

Bomberman Hero was released on the PAL Virtual Console last week. It, along with Heavy Fire: Black Arms and the demo, is available for download off the Wii Shop Channel, while G.G Series HORIZONTAL BAR, GO Series EARTH SAVER and JellyCar 2 are available for download off the DSi Shop Channel.

Check back next week for the latest round of digital releases for the Wii and DSi. Until then, happy gaming!

Brian Szabelski is the Assistant Gaming Editor at Blogcritics.org as well as Associate Editor at Tomopop. He also maintains his own blog on IGN, "The Minus World".

Visit Brian Szabelski's author page

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What's in a Name: PopCap Games

by Alexander Sliwinski on Feb 28th 2011 8:00PM

During another long night of shakes and sweats, suffering from what was surely some PopCap Games withdrawal, we pondered the origin story of the electronic pharmaceutical giant's name. We spoke with PopCap Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer Jason Kapalka for the answer:

"First thing is that [PopCap Games] wasn't our name originally. The original name was 'Sexy Action Cool,'" Kapalka told us. "Back at university in Edmonton, there was an inside joke because some people had a basement suite with this big movie poster of Antonio Banderas in Desperado. It had this movie quote at the top that said: Sexy. Action. Cool."

"It became an inside joke on how nobody could imagine using Sexy Action Cool in a real sentence. We'd walk around saying, 'You see that movie?' 'Yeah, it was sexy, action, cool.' Or 'That couch? That couch is really sexy, action, cool.'"

The company founders snagged the related URL (which now directs to PopCap proper) and continued to not think much of the name, at first. As the site grew, however, it became clear that "Sexy Action Cool" was an awkward destination for mass-market family games.

"We liked the word 'pop,' that seemed like a nice sounding word. So we started looking around to see what URLs were available with the word 'pop' in them," Kapalka continued.

"But, even in 2000, those were mostly all taken. We went through a list of names like PopFrog, PopSlap -- but they were all taken. Eventually, down the list, we had PopCap, and that turned out to be the first one that wasn't taken. It was short; six letters long. It had this good feeling to it, like a bottle cap for a tasty beverage; something semi-nostalgic. And it cost $20 to register, which was a good deal."

Kapalka added that the name change from Sexy Action Cool to PopCap wasn't instant. The company incorporated under Sexy Action Cool, so for years after, employee checks would read as "Sexy Action Cool doing business as PopCap." Kapalka recalled a time when he was crossing the Canadian border through US Customs with his work visa, trying to explain to the border guard what type of internet company he worked for. Sexy Action Cool did "look funny," he admitted.

PopCap Games is currently working on several projects that you'll lose hours, days and weeks to.

Like this feature? Be sure to check out the What's In A Name Archives.

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