Toronto Thumbs

GAME PROMO ITEMS
Fallout 3 Does Them Right

Here’s a neat promo item that was given away as a pre-order bonus for Fallout 3: a soundtrack sampler CD. In keeping with the games retro-futuristic look and feel, the packaging is reminiscent of old 45rpm records. The CD itself contains five songs – something I don’t believe is possible on a small 45, but I’m no expert on such things.

The sampling of in-game tunes includes the haunting “I Don’t Want to Set The World on Fire,” as performed by The Ink Spots, “Way Back Home” as performed by Bob Crosby and the almost surreal but surprisingly fitting “Butcher Pete (Part 1) by Roy Brown. This CD sampler also includes two original tracks from the game’s musical score by composer Inon Zur.

While we’re talking Fallout 3, don’t forget to enter our contest for your chance to win your very own Vault Dweller’s Survival Guide, which is another promo piece from this excellent game.

Posted in Awesome, Music | No Comments »

GAME PROMO ITEMS
House of the Dead Comic Book

If there’s one thing we like here at Toronto Thumbs, it’s video games. If we had to choose two, the second thing would probably be “zombies.”

Sega Europe Ltd. has revealed its pre-order bonus for The House of the Dead: Overkill: an adults-only Collector’s Edition. This PAL version of the game will come in a slipcase and include a cool-looking comic book illustrated by Steve Copter of the punk band Black Mekon.

The House of the Dead: Overkill delves into the back story of the franchise and allows players to experience the mayhem from the perspectives of Agent (suffer like) G (did) and Detective Washington. It’s also a Wii-exclusive title and is looking to be a zombie-fightin’ good time.

There’s no word yet on whether this pre-order goodie will makes its way to Canada, but we’re obviously hoping it does.

Posted in Awesome, News, Wii | No Comments »

Bargain Alert
8GB Zune on sale for $99.99 at Future Shop

If you’ve been holding out on getting a Zune, now seems to be a great time to buy one. Future Shop has cut the price of the 8GB Zune to $99.99, but the sale ends November 20. This is the exact same model that I own and I consider it to be the best MP3 player I’ve used. Read my reviews of the 8GB and 120GB models for more details.

Posted in Awesome, Bargains, Zune | No Comments »

Donkey Kong Jungle Beat
It’s Coming to Wii

Nintendo news channels have been reporting that Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, one of the GameCube’s most underrated and fun games, is making its way to the Wii in the near future.

If you’re not familiar with the game, it’s a side-scrolling platformer with three-dimensional graphics. Oh, and it’s controlled by bongos. JUST bongos. You hit the right bongo and Donkey Kong moves right. You hit the left one and he moves left. Hit both at the same time and he’ll jump with the momentum of whatever direction you’ve had him running in. Clapping makes Kong clap, which is a useful move for stunning enemies and grabbing bananas.

Read the rest »

Posted in Awesome, Editorial, GameCube, Wii | No Comments »

Naruto: The Broken Bond
In Stores Tomorrow

It should come as no surprise to our readers that Toronto Thumbs is home to, among many things, a bunch of crazed and obsessed Naruto fans. Jorge has recently completed Naruto Clash of Ninja Revolution 2 for Wii and will soon be getting his hands on Naruto: Path of the Ninja 2 for Nintendo DS while I will tackle Naruto: The Broken Bond for Xbox 360, which is in stores tomorrow.

Although the first Naruto outing on the Xbox received some critical bashing from cool dude video game bloggers, I quite enjoyed it because it followed the story of the anime so well and made it feel like I was playing a cartoon (but in a different way from Dragon’s Lair, which I actually do not enjoy). Bonus points to the developers for later including the Japanese language track as FREE DLC. I understand The Broken Bond includes the Japanese audio option right out of the box, which means I’ll be reading a lot of subtitles this week.

Dattebayo!

Posted in Awesome, DS, Wii, Xbox 360 | 2 Comments »

THRUSH HERMIT
Smart Bomb EP

In the early 90s, Canada’s East Coast was ground zero for an indie rock explosion of monster proportions. Many of the notable bands that came out of that time and place were on Murderecords, a label run by Haligonian rock gods Sloan. Bands of that era have moved on, either in creative direction of physical location. Some even moved to Toronto.

Joel Plaskett, who now fronts Joel Plaskett Emergency and writes roughly as many love songs for Halifax as he does for girls, was (along with bassist Ian McGettigan, guitarist/vocalist Rob Benvie, and drummer Cliff Gibb) a creative force in a great band that went by the name of Thrush Hermit.

Read the rest »

Posted in Awesome, Canada, Music | No Comments »

STREET FIGHTER IV
Coming to North America February 17, 2009

Capcom’s been sending out Street Fighter emails like you wouldn’t believe. Today they let us know that the home versions of Street Fighter IV will be released here on February 17, 2009.

Related article: HANDS-ON IMPRESSIONS: Street Fighter IV

Posted in Awesome, News, PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 | No Comments »