Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians review: a few bad notes keep Beatbuddy from greatness

Usually, when a game claims to incorporate music and gameplay, the collaboration ends up as little more than, "Look! That thing in the background changes color after every fourth beat!" But Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians is different; in Beatbuddy, music is integrated in a way that playing the game without audio would not be impossible, but magnitudes less engrossing. That is because many puzzles and some character movements are affected directly by the music playing.

I was worried about Beatbuddy when I first started the game; not only have I been burned by claims of music and gameplay integration numerous times in the past--and quite recently with Rush Bros.--but Beatbuddy has one of the worst intro (and outro) videos I have ever seen, or, more accurately, heard; both videos feature voice acting that sounds like it is on a record being scratched constantly and it was incredibly annoying, so annoying I almost quit the game before it even started. But then the video ended and the game came to life, showing off some of the most beautiful visuals I've seen all year.

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Ouya ad: "Sixty bucks for a game?"

This ad can no longer be found on the official Ouya YouTube page, but, being the internet and all, someone has re-uploaded the video so we can all see the utter ridiculousness that is this video. I am speechless. Who thought this was a good idea? (Here's a screen capture of Ouya's official YouTube page prior to taking down the video.)

The Pixelated Sausage Podcast #038: Buy a Friggin' Vita Already!

This episode is pretty much all about Gamescom and the numerous bits of news that came out today--e.g., the release date for the PlayStation 4 and the details regarding independent development on Xbox One. Check out the site for more details on some of that jazz and hopefully you hate the show (not a typo). Anyway, if you're feeling extra generous, donate a little money or subscribe to show your support for the site and show(s), it's not free to host the site, the show; to make and record videos, and everything in between. Thanks regardless.

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PlayStation 4: coming to NA on Nov. 15 and Europe on Nov. 29

As you probably know, Gamescom is going on right now and Sony just held their little, not-so-little press conference, where they announced a whole bunch of details; however, there is one detail that sticks out more than the rest: the release date of the PlayStation 4. So, when is it coming out? Well, for those in North America, it is coming out on November 15th; for those in Europe, you'll have to wait a few weeks for the official release on November 29th.

Are these the dates you expected, or were you expecting something a tad sooner? And, I don't know about you, but I'm hoping the various Vita announcements--like a price drop to $199/€199 and Minecraft coming to Vita (PS3 and PS4 too)--help raise it up to where it deserves to be because it is a great little machine. (Buy a damn Vita people! It's greater than Frosted Flakes!)

Details on independent development for Xbox One revealed

Today, Microsoft has finally revealed the details regarding how they will deal with independent developers. The program is called, "Independent Developers @ Xbox (ID@Xbox)," and, for the most part, it looks like a pretty good deal.

Games that come through this program will be able to access the exact same features as any other large game company on Xbox One: Achievements, Gamerscore, Kinect, Xbox SmartGlass, Xbox cloud services and more.

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Every Xbox One launch game announced and confirmed

Have you been wondering what games will launch with the Xbox One? Of course you have! Launch games are one of the most important details when it comes to deciding which new system to buy over the other, if you buy either system at all. Anyway, the full list of the twenty-three announced and confirmed launch games can be found below and, while there's nothing too surprising--I don't remember hearing Crimson Dragon was a launch game earlier in the year--I, being a huge Forza fan and someone who thought Dead Rising 3 looked quite good, I'm pretty excited by this list--not to mention great-looking multi-platform games like Watch Dogs and Assassin's Creed IV--and, from what I currently know, don't think the PlayStation 4's launch games will top the Xbox One's. That said, what do you think about the Xbox One's launch lineup?

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The Pixelated Sausage Podcast #037: Badly Breaking Plants and Zombies

This episode is just a bunch of nonsense and I'm in a rush to head out for the night--I know, right!--so here's the show; I talk about Breaking Bad and Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time (and maybe some other crap I can't remember). Anyway, if you're feeling extra generous, donate a little money or subscribe to show your support for the site and show(s), it's not free to host the site, the show; to make and record videos, and everything in between. Thanks regardless.

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Pixelated Radio 61: A Tale of Charlie Murdering Two Brothers

This week's episode starts off with a little eye-poking, the short-lived return of The Perfect Gentleman, and my new role as all-knowing man on OkCupid! Sadly, Rich was not able to join us once again because he is on vacation; that is, not on a vacation out of town with his family, but a vacation from our oh so annoying asses. That last sentence may or may not be true, but, either way, the show is poorer without him. Me so funny.

So, after we get through the usual bullshit about our personal lives, we get to the meat of the show: them things y'all call video games. This episode's, "What We've Been Playing," is quite hefty and followed, as always, with some movie, TV, and book discussion. When all that other crap is over, we move on to a few bits of news--like Microsoft bending over and just taking complaint after complaint with a big ol' smile. Anyway, I do hope you enjoy the show and, won't you do us a kindness and be our favorite neighbor by rating us on iTunes? (Please do.) And if you're feeling extra generous, donate a little money or subscribe to show your support for the site and show(s), it's not free to host the site, the show; to make and record videos, and everything in between. Thanks regardless.

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Turbo: the game based on the movie about racing that is not a racing game

You know that Turbo movie about the snail who gets all super fast and eventually races in the Indy 500? Well, they made a game about that movie because, you know, that's what the all-encompassing they does. And do you know what kind of game it is? You don't? Want to guess? Don't worry, I'll wait...

Ok, you have taken some time and have your guess all hot and ready to serve, right? Great! A racing game, you say? You are absolutely, one-hundred percent wrong! "But why would anyone take a movie all about racing and not make a racing game about it?!" I wish I knew, but I cannot answer that question; however,  I can tell you what the Turbo game--titled, Turbo: Super Stunt Squad--is: a skateboarding game!

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The Pixelated Sausage Podcast #036: Americans are Stupid and Guncraft is Guncrappy

This episode is the longest one yet and absolutely ridiculous; I talk about Olympus Has Fallen, Guncraft (read my review), OkCupid, the Nexus 7 and a bunch of other crap for no good reason. If you make it through this entire episode, I'll give you a cookie...or a sketch; yeah, I'll sketch you a cookie. Anyway, if you're feeling extra generous, donate a little money or subscribe to show your support for the site and show(s), it's not free to host the site, the show; to make and record videos, and everything in between. Thanks regardless.

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