Words: Mav

Come in, come in... you know the drill by now. I look at some stuff happening, tell you about it, and crack wise about it. I just do it for attention.

There has been some Slipknot news recently with a bit of a gig cancel situation, Dawn of War 2 is looking juicy, and Strong Bad has joined the digital revolution!

Many of you will know that Slipknot were forced to cancel their string of European dates, including their appearances at the Reading and Leeds Festivals this coming weekend after drummer Joey Jordison broke his ankle.   The band issued a statement that reads as follows:
To Our Fans: It is with huge regret and disappointment that we have been forced to cancel our imminent European festival appearances at Leeds, Reading, 2 Days a Week, Area 4, as well as exclusive performances for MTV Europe and Virgin TV.  The other night, Joey Jordison broke his ankle and doctors have advised Joey to stay off his leg for 4-6 weeks to prevent further injury or permanent and more serious damage.

We know you will be hugely disappointed and so are we. Cancelling shows is never an easy decision and we apologize to all our fans, friends and family for not being there to throw down with you. We will be back in Europe this November and can't wait to see you all then.
Stay (sic),

Slipknot

So there you have it, Joey broke his ankle, probably playing basketball against Obama. Or something. However, it isn’t all doom/gloom, as they have now announced a third Hammersmith Odeon gig after their two previously announced shows sold out in less than 48 hours. The band will now play an additional date on Wednesday 3rd December. Tickets are on sale now at www.seetickets.com. Tickets for the regional arena shows are also shifting extremely quickly, so fans of the band are advised to pick them up as soon as they can to avoid disappointment.

All Hope is Gone has stayed in the charts and the special edition one-off thingy sold out in a matter of days. The next single to be released is supposed to be ‘Dead Memories’ on October 27th.

Here be UK tour dates:
Mon 1st Dec – London Hammersmith Apollo
Tue 2nd Dec – London Hammersmith Apollo
Wed 3rd Dec – London Hammersmith Apollo
Fri 5th Dec – Cardiff International Arena
Sun 7th Dec – Birmingham NIA
Mon 8th Dec – Glasgow SECC
Tue 9th Dec – Manchester MEN Arena
Thu 11th Dec – Newcastle Metro Arena
Fri 12th Dec – Sheffield Arena

So what’s this about war dawning? Warhammer, the tabletop battle game that combines strategy with painting stuff, has a history of producing PC game versions of their fantasy and Sci Fi combat with varying results. One of the most popular Warhammer 40k games was Dawn of War, and thanks to developer THQ we now get to play DOW2. Which doesn’t have a subtitle, but if it was me, it would be Dawn of War 2: The Morning After.

So you get the usual stuff with DOW2; space marines fighting space orks and space elves, while a space Tolkien turns in his futuristic fucking coffin. One thing which does excite about the new games is a new Essence Engine 2.0 jobby which will make your tiny soldiers more curvy and their particle phase beams more... particley. We also look forward to seeing what the Tyranid will be up to, a biological race far in evolutionary advance of our own similar to the aliens of Aliens and Starship Troopers, selfless in the extreme and capable of adapting lifeforms for any situation.

Some gamers will already be tasting the water as THQ gave away some Wonka style golden tickets with the DOW1 expansion Soulstorm, allowing a few lucky children to devour beta candy.

Also in the game sphere we have SBCG4AP Episode One finally available for hungry fans to purchase. For those not in the know, that’s Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People.
Strong Bad is a long running character from one of the biggest web comics out there- www.homestarrunner.com which is a flash based animated affair that has been running since the dawn of web comics. Readers will know Strong Bad as a wisecracking troublemaker clad in a Mexican wrestler outfit, who spends his days making mischief and sarcastic commentary.
There will be five episodes over five months, available as a set or individually. The first is out now and called Homestar Ruiner, and promises to be jam packed with the Strong Bad’s unique offbeat humour and references to gaming history. The game is a point and click adventure in the style of Sam and Max or the Monkey Island games, and features all of the voices and animation of the homestarrunner.com team. A variety of the comic’s characters will be making appearances from Homestar Runner himself to the Teen Girl Squad.

This is the latest in a growing trend of short episodic games and only a month ago another webcomic called Penny Arcade released an episodic rpg. This type of game distribution allows for short, cheap games and the producers Tell Tale Games (of Lego Star Wars fame) have already enjoyed success with Sam and Max episodes.

What makes Strong Bad’s game a bit different is that it’s available not just on pc but also on Wiiware, Nintendo’s new Wii Shop feature that sells full games. This is an extension of the webcomic’s history of producing small mouse based games that can be played on the Wii using the Wiimote. Hopefully this will be the start of some quality gaming coming through the Wii Shop and as such raise the value of this fairly unique console even more.

In Stoke news, we’re even more METAL! than before! That’s right, Stoke is so METAL *throws up the horns* that we even steal loads of METAL!. Music or hard building material? We aren’t sure.

POLICE are today examining a haul of suspected property (METAL!), believed to be worth £700,000, recovered from a scrapyard in the Moorlands. Officers recovered 200 tonnes of the stuff, which equates to 22 slipknot albums and the full Iron Maiden collection.
Humorously named Chief Inspector Simon Tweats, Staffordshire Police lead on METAL! thefts, said in the Sentinizzle:

“Recovering stolen METAL! is an ongoing goal for the Operation Amalgam team.

“The extensive search carried out at the Cheadle site by both Staffordshire and BTP officers is an excellent example of partnership working - which will continue as we work to bring offenders to justice.

“We have recovered a significant amount of stolen property, and efforts will now be made to reunite the property with its owners.

“METAL! theft is an international problem with local consequences and Operation Amalgam is determined to address local issues by targeting those involved in METAL! theft - including people who receive stolen goods.”

Yeah, like dance bands who make dodgy covers of songs like Alice Cooper’s Poison.

So there you have it. Depending on how the new SWM site pans out, the next Mav’s Dirty Briefs might be an audio/video podcast style of thing, so look out for that happening.
Stay METAL!