Rejected ENN – May 19, 2010
May 19th, 2010

Posted by Graham

With this week’s ENN we made a couple changes to how we write/shoot the episodes. We’re hoping it will add a bit more character and punch to the series, which we feel the newsdesk stories need (we’ll talk about this more in the forthcoming LRRcast).

Now, will these changes work? That remains to be seen, though we like how this week’s episode turned out. We’ll still need a couple weeks to get into the groove though.

Until then, check out a story that got cut!

(We like this one too—it was cut for time and the feeling that it wasn’t as strong as the others, as are the usual reasons for stories getting the axe)

Not-So-Rejected ENN-March 10, 2010
March 10th, 2010

Posted by Jeremy

While I normally use this space to post ENN stories that didn’t quite make it into the final episode, the truth of the matter is we didn’t write any this week. After the whole Infinity Ward thing hit the fan last week, we knew we had to do something about it, and by the time the feature story was done, it became obvious it was time to pull the trigger on an idea we’ve been tossing around for some time: a full-feature episode of ENN.

To get things done, however, we needed to call in the help of our good friend Derek Hand, aka Tensen01. Tensen produced some great concept art for our extremely tasteless take on Modern Warfare, so we figured why not give you some full-rez versions of his work.

UPDATE: the version that went up on the Escapist 2010-03-10 was missing a couple lines of dialogue. The final version is now live.

Rejected ENN – March 3, 2010
March 3rd, 2010

Posted by Jeremy

Every week, Paul, Graham, Kathleen and I get together to write ENN. Over the week, each of us actually writes stories separately, then we get together on Fridays to choose what to use, what to revise, etc. Sometimes the stories we throw out aren’t very good; other times, they are too obscure for a wider audience. Even so, sometimes very good stories have to be thrown out because there is just not enough space for them in the episode. Here are several such stories from this week’s episode:

PSPgone

Instead of offering players their choice of free game when purchasing a PSP go, Sony will instead assign a game to them based on the age associated with their PSN ID. The company cited that actual choice might entice someone to buy a PSP Go, which could be quote: “creepy”.

Super Mario World Galaxy 2

Nintendo has revealed additional details about Super Mario Galaxy 2 to show how the game will be completely different from any Mario game before it. Primarily these innovations include the return of Yoshi and a power up that allows the player to inflate and float. When ask how this can be considered innovation, since both of these features existed in 1990’s Super Mario World, Nintendo executives directed the assembled press to look behind them and then threw a smoke bomb on the ground and escaped the the resulting confusion.

Can’t Stop the Bumrise

European hobo simulator Bumrise will soon make it’s way to North America. The game, which tasks players to rise to the top of the homeless food chain through theft, violence and other such endeavours, has already raised controversy in France over its questionable content. The International Game Developer’s Association has raised further concerns citing the game as a an all-too-real simulation of the present life of a game developer.

The One I Don’t Want

505 Games has announced a new title for Wii and DS based on the hit musical Grease. A rep for the company said that the Wii and DS audiences are a perfect fit for a musical with the actual lyrics “You know that ain’t no shit, we’ll be getting lots of tit, in greased lightning”.

or

In the game, as in the movie, the player controls Danny Zuko as he attempts to hide his burgeoning homosexuality by dating some prissy bitch he met during summer vacation.

Obligatory FFXIII Headline

In response to news that the installed size for Final Fantasy 13 would total 18GB for the 360 and 38GB for the PS3, Square Enix ÜberMench Imperial Hot said “We artificially inflated the install size to give players a greater sense of the game’s true value.”

Rejected ENN – Feb 24, 2009
February 24th, 2010

Posted by Jeremy

Every week, Paul, Graham, Kathleen and I get together to write ENN. Over the week, each of us actually writes stories separately, then we get together on Fridays to choose what to use, what to revise, etc. Sometimes the stories we throw out aren’t very good; other times, they are too obscure for a wider audience. Even so, sometimes very good stories have to be thrown out because there is just not enough space for them in the episode. Here are two of those stories for this week’s episode, along with some of my favourite art because I can:

PikMEN (cut for space; possibly too obvious)

At a recent symposium, Shigeru Miyamoto’s noted, that the design goal of Pikmin was to be appealing to teenaged girls. He noted character design as a focus for this initiative. [shot of a Pikimin looking like a dong]

SRSBZNSSKTHXBYE (cut for space; possibly too obvious)

Game Developer Zynga is buying Serious Business, developers of the Facebook game “friends for sale”. Analysts have stated that this transaction demonstrates that social gaming on platforms like Facebook, has in fact, reached the level of “serious business.”