Residents of Derby, UK, named a new street in honor of Lara Croft, a native of their town. It's called "Lara Croft Way."

The name was chosen from a shortlist by public vote, with 89% of those polled opting for the character devised by Derby-based game studio Core Design.

Article Link and Photo Gallery via Blame It on the Voices | Photo by Flickr user Arturo J. Paniagua used under Creative Commons license

(YouTube Link)

I had no idea that Batman did this kind of work. Apparently, he has a YouTube channel filled with short educational videos about all manner of common activities, such as reading, converting a .doc file to a .pdf, crocheting, and how to get out of the "friend zone" of a relationship. In the above video, the Dark Knight explains how a drive-thru window functions.

YouTube Channel via Great White Snark

Masked robbers entered an Internet gaming cafe in Hawaii. They took money from the customers. Then they made a big mistake. They tried to take a Nintendo console away from a customer:

Customers hand over whatever change they have while a suspect punches video monitors at the counter but the cameras are still rolling. That's when the suspect in black approaches Dylan Hays.

"They tried to take his DS, his Nintendo DS and he wasn't having that -- so he came back swinging," said Wolery.

"Then he hit me and I kind of just got angry and I bull-rushed him out there door," said Hays.

"I pulled him down the ground over here, the table got moved and I had him down on the ground he was still hitting me," said Wolery. "Dylan pulls off the guys mask -- he runs out the door -- his friends are outside waiting. Let's get out of here, let's get out of here and we were holding one guy in and still fighting him and the other guys come into the store --pull him out and take off."

Police arrived on the scene about minutes later and arrested the thieves. So why did Hays fight back? Here's the most interesting part of the news story:

"I mean we're gamers, we've been immersed in that culture where like we all want to Superman, you know we're missing something partial in our brain that says yeah this might be dangerous," said Hays.

Link via Kotaku | Screenshot: Kotaku

Pixelation user junkboy has, over the years, presented screenshots of modern video games in classic 8-bit pixelation. He's assembled many of them in a huge post, such as the above image from Red Dead Redemption. At the link, you can click on an image to see a larger view.

Link via Geekosystem

deviantART user ScarletVulture created a three-panel cartoon about Deadpool's predictable behavior upon discovering the Smurf Village. You can read the other two panels at the link.

Link via reddit | Previously: Goofus & Gallant/Deadpool & Captain America

(YouTube Link)

A mysterious and brutal killer known as the Red Hood is taking over Gotham City's criminal gangs. Whose face lies beneath the mask? And how did he get there? Those are the central questions in the new DC/Warner Bros. animated movie entitled Batman: Under the Red Hood.

By the standards of Warner Brothers' direct-to-video films (of which I am a fan), this is an excellent movie. The animation, pacing, storytelling, and screenwriting are optimal. A surprising but completely reasonable plot forms.

Spoilers below the jump....

Sadly, this is still just a concept -- not an actual, existing couch. But industrial designer Igor Chak, besides having a cool name, has a great idea. Let's hope that some furniture maker picks up on it. More pictures at the link.

http://www.igorchak.com/industrial/ via Kotaku

Either the government of the State of Maryland recognizes the awesomeness of Civilization, or it's sucking up to a game developers' conference. At any rate, Governor O'Malley declared:

"Sid Meier is known throughout Maryland and the world as a pioneer of electronic gaming, having co-founded his first studio in Baltimore County, Maryland in 1982, and today continuing a tradition of developing the talent and creativity of future generations," Governor Martin O'Malley said in a statement.

"Now, therefore, I, Martin O'Malley, Governor of the State of Maryland, do hereby pay tribute to the outstanding achievements of Sid Meier on this day, July 28, 2010, and hereby recognize September 21, 2010, as Sid Meier's Civilization V Day, and call upon the people of our State to join in celebrating this salute."

Which video game do you think is the most deserving of an official holiday, and when should it take place?

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/102480-Maryland-Declares-Official-Civilization-V-Day via Geekosystem | Photo: Game Developers' Conference

TV show host Jimmy Fallon decided to cover the history of video games by playing 10 different video game consoles in 60 seconds. Skip about three minutes into the video. Fallon tried to play The Legend of Zelda on the NES, Sonic the Hedgehog on Sega Genesis, Donkey Kong Country on Super NES, Crazy Taxi on Sega Dreamcast, Star Fox on Nintendo 64, Tomb Raider on PlayStation, Katamari on PS2, Halo on Xbox, Street Fighter IV on PS3, Tiger Woods on Wii, and Madden on Xbox 360.

via DVICE

(YouTube Link)

Toby Turner sang a literal, shot-by-shot, description of a Harry Potter trailer. You can read the lyrics at the video link. At the end, he asks viewers what movie he should tackle next: Narnia, The Expendables, or Little Fockers.

via Geekstir

Um, okay.

Filmmaker Kevin Smith was invited by DC to write Batman. This was the result. Chris Sims offers a lengthy take-down of why this was a very bad idea. Money quote:

Unfortunately, a creator -- any creator, in any creative field -- has to recognize his or her limits, and if he can't, that's what an editor's for. And you eventually come to a point where either the editor has to look at something and decide that it's an unpublishable mess or the creator has to take a step back and ask himself if he really wants his contribution to a 70-year legacy be a story where Batman gets high and pisses himself.

Link

(YouTube Link)

I'm sure that a lot of you young whippersnappers don't remember text-based games. Back in my day, we didn't have any of your fancy computer animation or virtual controllers or flush toilets. We had text and keyboards and two-holers and used them to navigate poorly-reasoned puzzles and obstacles, in the snow, uphill, both ways.

So watch this trailer for Get Lamp, a documentary about those early days when games like The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy were the epitome of cool. "Before there was the first person shooter, there was the second person thinker."

Official Website via Nerdcore

American artist Lockwasher made this R2D2 figure out of a 4.7 liter Heineken keg for the 2010 San Jose Super Toy Show. Heineken? That doesn't strike me as the right beer for Artoo.

So, I put it to you, my dear intoxicated readers: if Darth Vader, Han Solo, Leia, and Luke Skywalker were beers, which beers would they be?

Link via technabob | Artist's Blog | Artist's Flickr Photostream | Photo: Lockwasher

Michael Pinto wrote a long, thoughtful essay describing the many ways that George Lucas broke the standard rules of Hollywood business in order to become successful. For example, Pinto says that Lucas' decision to leave Hollywood immediately after the first movie probably preserved his creativity:

Not too long after the success of Star Wars in 1978 Lucas went to work on constructing the Skywalker Ranch near Nicasio, California. What’s amazing to me about this is that instead of embracing Hollywood as the center of his operations Lucas instead fled north to get away from tinsel town. From a corporate culture point of view this allowed Lucas to “think outside of the box”. And in many ways his move reminds me a great of how Microsoft founder Bill Gates made it a point to not center his company in silicon valley, but rather in Redmond, Washington where they would thrive in isolation.

On an immediate level this allows Lucas to focus on the product instead of getting caught up in the trappings of the film industry. The practical result of this is that it allows the people who work in the marketing department to avoid the “me too” approach. Hollywood is famous for not taking risks, but if you’re going break through the noise you have to chances — and Lucas has avoided that trap which in turn has helped his longevity.

Link | Photo by Flickr user brunkfordbraun used under Creative Commons license

So as I mentioned previously, there's an ongoing discussion among some political bloggers about the ideological affiliation of the Jedi. Are they libertarian, socialist, or centrist? The discussion has continued with further suggestions. Adam Serwer of The American Prospect seems to think (if I understand him correctly) that the Jedi had a problem with effective government. Jonathan Bernstein thinks that the struggles of the Jedi relate to decentralized governance. But Seth Masket offers this inflammatory view:

There are no great analogues for the Jedi in modern American society. They are a secretive, powerful religious sect contracted by the Republic to do vital governing tasks that include policing and diplomacy. Perhaps the Knights Templar were similar in some ways, although I don't think the Knights had any real authority within European society. Their jurisdiction was the Holy Land. In some ways, the Jedi sound more like the Taliban than anything we've got going in the U.S.

Link via reddit | Image: Lucasfilm