bit·ter·sweet (btr-swt)
adj.
1. Bitter and sweet at the same time: bittersweet chocolate.
2. Producing or expressing a mixture of pain and pleasure: a movie with a bittersweet ending.

n.
1. A woody vine of the genus Celastrus, especially the North American species C. scandens and the eastern Asian species C. orbiculata, having small, round, yellow-orange fruits that open at maturity to expose red seeds. Also called staff tree.
2. See bittersweet nightshade.
3. The name of the girl that’s fragging your ass on Halo. See BiiTTERSWEET


BEHIND THE TAG: BiiTTERSWEET

Name: Celeste Anderson
Age: 20
Gamer Tag: BiiTTERSWEET (XBL)
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
System of Choice: XBox 360
Game of Choice: Halo 3
Unique talent: She can solve a rubik’s cube in under 25 seconds!
Favorite Gaming Quote: “Spartans never die, Jorge. They’re just Missing in Action.” – Halo Reach
Twitter: @BiiTTERSWEET
Youtube: MissCeleste’s Channel

I had a chance to catch up with BiiTTERSWEET at the Tritton booth where she was one of the pros to beat in the “Beat-A-Pro” challenge for Galaxy4Gamers.com and do a short interview. BiiTTERSWEET is considered one of Canada’s top female gamers in many games. BiiTTERSWEET traveled across Canada on the first ever National Video Game Tour (AMP Your Game), and has also worked with Axe, Rogers, Toshiba, Gameology and MLGCanada/AMP for gaming content, appearances, writing reviews and blogs. This girl has some game, and I hope that we see more of her at events here in the US!

Energizer is giving away 5 smart chargers to some lucky Tweeters. Want to win one? Here’s how to qualify!:

1) Take a pic with StarSlay3r and upload it to Twitter. You must use the #EnergizerE3 hashtag

2) ReTweet: “To power your XBox controllers, try the new Energizer rechargeable batteries.” #EnergizerE3

3) Tweet anything about how Energizer powers your life (as long as it is positive). Just make sure to use the #EnergizerE3. You don’t have to be at the show for this one!

About Energizer Smart Chargers:

New Smart Charger Communicates Current Battery Power and Remaining Charge Time

Gone are the days when consumers have to guess how much power is left in their rechargeable batteries, thanks to the introduction of the Energizer® Recharge Smart™ Charger. Developed in response to consumer interest in understanding more about their batteries’ charging status, the Energizer® Recharge Smart™ Charger features a large LCD screen with a countdown clock displaying remaining charging time and a fuel gauge indicating the current level of power in the inserted NiMH rechargeable batteries.

“We are committed to listening to our consumers and providing solutions to help make their lives easier,” said Jim Olsen, Vice President of Marketing for North America. “We know that people have more battery-powered devices than ever before, and are looking for ways to keep them powered up so, for example, they don’t miss that perfect picture because of a drained battery.”

According to a survey conducted by Impulse Research, 74 percent of parents long for a “fuel gauge” on a battery charger indicating the current level of power in their rechargeable batteries, while 68 percent want a charger that will let them know how much charging time remains — both key features of the new Energizer® Recharge Smart™ Charger.

The ENERGY STAR®-certified Energizer® Recharge Smart™ Charger also features a slow charge rate, which extends the number of battery life cycles, and a bad battery alert that automatically indicates if the batteries are no longer useful or if a disposable battery has been inserted by mistake, also a feature that will help make consumers lives easier. Sixty-one percent of the parents surveyed believe an ideal battery charger would indicate when your battery is no longer worth charging.

“Knowing more about the charging process can help people avoid running out of power at a critical time,” said Olsen, Vice President of Marketing for North America. “Parents, in particular, rely heavily on battery-operated toys and can get frustrated when their child is upset because a toy runs out of battery power. They are looking for ways to be prepared and the Energizer Recharge Smart Charger is a solution.”

More than half (60%) of the parents surveyed say they’ve had to cope with an upset child when a battery-powered toy or electronic device would not operate because of drained batteries. Fifty-two percent of parents have been exasperated when they have attempted to replace batteries and found that the replacement or spare batteries were drained.

The charger, now at most national retailers for a MSRP of $19.99, will charge two or four AA or AAA NiMH batteries. This latest innovation in battery chargers comes right on the heels of new and improved Energizer® Recharge NiMH AA batteries. These 2300 mAh batteries can now be charged up to 250 MORE** times, and will last up to 4X longer* in digital cameras.

For more information visit www.Energizer.com/Smartcharge.

*vs Energizer® MAX® AA, results vary by device and/or usage patterns.

**vs Energizer® 2450 mAh Rechargeable AA battery.

About Energizer:

Energizer Holdings, Inc. [NYSE: ENR], headquartered in St. Louis, Mo., is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of primary batteries, portable battery-powered devices, and portable flashlights and lanterns. Energizer is a global leader in the dynamic business of providing power solutions with a full portfolio of products including Energizer® brand battery products Energizer® MAX® premium alkaline; Energizer® Ultimate Lithium; Energizer® Advanced Lithium; Rechargeable batteries and charging systems; and portable flashlights and lanterns.

Energizer continues to fulfill its role as a technology innovator by redefining portable power solutions to meet people’s active lifestyle needs for today and tomorrow with Energizer® Energi To Go® chargers for rechargeable portable devices; charging systems for wireless video game controllers; and specialty batteries for hearing aids, health and fitness devices, as well as for keyless remote entry systems, toys and watches. Energizer is redefining where energy, technology and freedom meet to bring to market consumer-focused products that power the essential devices that help people stay connected and on the go at work and at play. Visit www.energizer.com, www.facebook.com/energizerbunny.

Hot on the heels of a new Mortal Kombat movie’s viral campaign a new trailer hits for a new Mortal Kombat game. What is some what surprising is that this game looks more like traditional Mortal Kombat than ever before. There’s no gritty real world take, and the trailer features many of your favorite characters. After MK vs DC it’s nice to see that it has Fatalities as well as brutal violence through out the game. Oh, and this is “Mortal Kombat 9″ or “Mortal Kombat: Random Extra Confusing Title”, but just Mortal Kombat. BUT there are too many characters for it to be a reboot.

The trailer starts with gorgeous graphics showing off the detail behind Shao Kahn and Raiden before they go into battle. Then the actual gameplay hits and I was impressed. Mortal Kombat seems to be in the combo game, as most of the gameplay shown in the trailer involves juggles and special moves. Favorites like Johnny Cage (with a douchey new chest tattoo that says *groan* Johnny), Kung Lao, Sub Zero, and Reptile.



Perpetual damage taken through out the the match seems to be a hold over from MK vs DC, as does their up close combat system, but this time damage during these encounters is shown with X-Rays that reveal cracking ribs, broken jaws, and mangled bones. It’s a nice touch to be sure.



What really surprised me is that the game is taking the 2.5 D route rather than full 3D like MK vs DC. All of the levels shown are on straight forward 2D planes, with no room to move side to side. Again this is a great return to form. One of the biggest complaints gamers had with MK vs DC was that special attacks and projectiles were easy to dodge with a simple side step. Levels like the sky bridge, the acid pit, and the evil forrest return, as well as levels like Shang Tsung’s throne room, an arena packed with spectators and a city rooftop. They all have great detail, and one moment in the trailer featured a man being lowered into an acid pit, guaranteed carnage, even when fighters aren’t doing anything? AWESOME!



The biggest shock may be that the Mortal Kombat may feature a tag system. There were a few moments in the trailer when other characters popped on screen to attack with special moves. This could just be an ally system, but here’s hoping we can see some crazy tag team matches.



I’m incredibly excited about this Mortal Kombat game. The graphics look great, the environments look really well rendered, and the gameplay looks solid. Honestly, I didn’t think there was much wrong with MK vs DC. I felt like it was a very well balanced game, with a lot of re-playability. My friends would come over all the time and we’d smash each other all day. The only problem was that Street Fighter IV then came out and we started smashing each other with that.

This could be the first Mortal Kombat game in years to be worth of tournament play! Here’s hoping we see a group start to support the brutal killer and that it has some long life ahead of it.

For a long time Mortal Kombat has gotten the short end of the stick as far as content outside of the games goes. Toys have sucked, t-shirts, books or comics have all been garbage, and don’t get me started on the films. While the first one was a fun take on the deadly island tournament formula that was popularized by Bruce Lee’s “Enter the Dragon”, the franchise has never taken off in a way that it deserves, until now.



A new short film called Mortal Kombat Rebirth hit the web today. It’s a 7 minute long, super gritty, real world take on Mortal Kombat that could not only revitalize the movie franchise, but also the video game franchise. It’s directed by Kevin Tancharoen, the man who was behind the camera for the remake of “Fame”, and it’s entire purpose is to show Warner Bros that a that a great movie could be made from the franchise and get funding for it.

Personally I think it’s cast very well so far. I love the real world take on these bigger than life characters. The way they handle them is just as extreme, as ever. Baraka being a made scientist who’s embedded claws into his own arms, and Reptile being a freak of nature all work for me.

Some one recently commented no the video that this approach is “fucking up” something good and original, when I think it’s almost the exact opposite of that. Mortal Kombat itself is an amalgamation of every good martial arts film of the 70s and 80s. It’s premise had been seen before. It’s story was never all that deep or involved, and when it tried to be in later games is when the series fell apart, long before the Mortal Kombat characters tangled with the DC Universe.

I think this could work, and start a cool series of Mortal Kombat films that please the fans, first timers, and set both the movie franchise and the game franchise in a new direction. Here’s hoping Warner Bros listens up and stars production right away. Honestly while I like the video I don’t want Kevin Tancharoen directing. Most of his experience is in music videos. I’d rather see some one like the Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, the men behind Crank, Crank: High Voltage and Gamer to do it.

What do you think of the seven minute promo?

Well everyone I’d first like you to welcome Kent Lundblad to StarSlay3r.com! Kent will be writing game reviews for the site and is one bad ass gamer! Please shoot him a welcome message and follow him on twitter @IamKent and check out his first game review of Red Dead Redemption. Hopefully this will help you decide if this game is up your alley. -StarSlay3r

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GAME: Red Dead Redemption
DEVELOPER: Rockstar North Rockstar San Diego
PUBLISHER: Rockstar Games
GENRE: Sandbox, third-person shooter, action-adventure
RELEASE DATE: May 18, 2010
PLATFORMS: XBox 360, Playstation 3
GAME MODE(S): Single Player, Multi-Player

Red Dead Redemption is big, it’s beautiful, and it’s probably the standard for well designed sandbox games on this generation of consoles. It has that same Rockstar flair that you may be used to from games like Grand Theft Auto 4, it even starts out the same, with getting off a boat, but it has so much more to offer than just GTA in the old west.


You play as John Marston, a man who’s past reckless past has come back to haunt him. Marston’s family has been taken captive by twisted government agents, and he’s been tasked with taking out members of the gang he used to ride with in his youth. Your adventure will take you all across a Texas like state called “New Austin” and down into Mexico, as well as a snow covered forest in the north. As your journey progresses you’ll meet more than your fair share of insane characters, each one crazier than the last, but all of them helping you towards your end goal.

The story is impeccably well written, and the voice actors are a joy to listen to. Marston alone sells you on his character with a gruff honesty, far less comical than GTA’s Niko. Some characters are over the top but fit in a world where they’ve clearly been twisted by the environment they’re living in. The west is not a kind place.

Red Dead Redemption is one of the most gorgeous games I have ever played. It’s day/night system is absolutely breathtaking. The same environment can look totally different but still be gorgeous, depending on the time of day you arrive there. The night sky is so impressive that it’s a shame most of the missions take place in the day. The character animation is just flawless, and the lip synching is some of the best I’ve ever seen. Each character is unique and fits the environment very well. Little touches like kicking up dust on the unpaved roads, or the way your character will tip his hat at certain people just make the game feel more alive.



It takes around twenty or so hours to get through the main mission, but there’s no way anyone who picks up the controller won’t be side tracked by all the amazing moments that come with it. Simply riding from point A to B can be an adventure with over turned wagons on the side of the road being a hiding place for bandits and raiders, getting to a town can quickly be followed by a gang rolling through on horses shooting everything they see, or a random man will tell you some one’s stolen something from his store and it’s up to you to capture or kill the criminal. Moments like this break up the game into interesting moments that you’ll remember long after you play, and they’re just the random moments you have no control over.

There’s also hunting, gambling, bounties you can take on, night jobs, cattle rustling, breaking in horses, and of course they’re goofing off and shooting everything that moves. Normally there’s no real consequence to being a jerk in a game made by Rockstar. In GTA 4 you can go on a rampage killing and maiming everything that moves until you die or get arrested. But after that you get let free and the world doesn’t really change for your character. In Red Dead Redemption, if you go on a killing spree you lose honor and carry a reputation with you, that is unless you have a bandanna. If you put on a bandanna you can do all the killing and murdering you want and you’ll strike up a bounty, but will never lose honor for your reputation. Amazing how a piece of cloth can do that for you.



Moving around in Red Dead’s world is just fun. The controls are spot on accurate, and while riding a horse and shooting at the same time can be a little difficult at first, it quickly becomes natural. The dead-eye feature is what really shines during combat. Clicking down on one of the thumb sticks takes you into a slow motion world where you can mark your targets and blow them away quickly. It’s as if the Matrix and Unforgiven had a love child.

The weapon selection is well rounded and interesting. Everything from handguns, to sniper rifles, to shotguns, to throwing knives, the game has a large assortment of weaponry. It’s up to you to find what works best. Each gun allows you to tackle situations the way you want, allowing each player to take on the same task a different way.



The single player game is fun, and if that’s all there was to it, I’d say it’s definitely worth a full price buy, but there’s so much more to the game. The multiplayer alone is one of the best online experiences anyone can have.

Red Dead Redemption has your regular online battle modes involving variants on Capture the Flag and King of the Hill, and they’re really fun to play, but where the game gets incredible is Free Roam. Free Roam is a feature that puts you in an open world version of the map from single player, along with several strangers, or smartly it’ll put you in a room with all your friends already playing (if there’s room). It’s here that you can take on gang hide outs with your friends, go hunting, ride around causing chaos in the world as a posse, or even find other posses to battle in multiplayer modes.



It has everything you’d want from the single player campaign, minus the story, but with a persistent leveling up system like Call of Duty. The more gang hide outs you take out, the more bad guys you gun down, the bigger the bounty you rack up causing chaos, all contribute to XP that levels your character up. There are also challenges involving hunting, gathering plants, getting so many head shots and the like that also give you XP. Leveling up isn’t without it’s rewards. You’ll get new characters, horses or mounts to ride on, and new weapons. Like Call of Duty there’s a prestige system that allows you to go back to square one after you reach the cap of level 50. Once there your character flips back to zero, but you keep all the titles you’ve earned, and get legendary characters and mounts and gold weapons for each time you do it.

Red Dead Redemption has this and a whole lot more to it. It’s a gigantic game, and even with being over 100 hours into it I haven’t experienced everything, and with free Co-op missions coming soon the game is only going to get better. This is a nearly perfect game. There are still glitches in multi-player allowing people to fall through walls, but in a game this big it’s almost expected, and doesn’t really hinder the experience.

With how gorgeous the game is, how well it plays, and for all the features it has, Red Dead Redemption is the new gold standard for sandbox games. It deserves as much credit as it’s getting. I give it a 9.8 out of 10.

Well I’m going to start this off with the statement that I’m not afraid to admit when I am wrong. I’m sure you all read my “say bye bye to guitar hero post”. Basically it looks like Activision actually listened to the people on this one and made the smartest move they could have ever done and they decided to bring Guitar Hero back to it’s roots. I believe that Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock is going to help save Activision’s ass quite a bit after the failures known as Guitar Hero 5 and “Crap Hero”. Yeah, I said it. Basically just when you played Guitar Hero: Rocks the 80’s and Aerosmith and thought “well it can’t get much worse” they came out with GH5 and the pop hits aka Band Hero and totally turned me, along with 75% of the hardcore Guitar Hero crowd, off to the series.



One of my biggest complaints with the series was that ever since Guitar Hero 3 it seemed like they focused more on making the game mainstream by getting the big name pop stars like “Taylor Swift” instead of making the game challenging and fun. They also came up with the gimmicky slider bar for the GH World Tour and GH5 guitars which was a total flop as most people didn’t even use the touch bar since half the time it would malfunction causing it to go off on its own ruining your streak and became completely useless.



When it comes to Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock’s setlist it’s looking like they’re going back to the roots of GH1 and GH2 and bringing in some killer metal tracks and some awesome artists that are going to make for some decently hard and fun to play tracks. So far the following have been released:

AFI – Dancing Through Sunday
Anthrax – Indians
Avenged Sevenfold – Bat Country
Black Sabbath – Children of the Grave
Buzzcocks – What Do I Get?
Children of Bodom – If You Want Peace… Prepare for War
The Cure – Fascination Street
Def Leppard – Pour Some Sugar on Me
Dethklok – Bloodlines
Dire Straits – Money For Nothing
DragonForce – Fury of the Storm
Drowning Pool – Bodies
Fall Out Boy – Dance, Dance
Foo Fighters – No Way Back
Foreigner – Feels Like The First Time
The Hive – Tick Tick Boom
Jane’s Addiction – Been Caught Stealing
Jethro Tull – Aqualung
Kiss – Love Gun
Linkin Park – Bleed It Out
Megadeth – Sudden Death
Metallica & Ozzy Osbourne – Paranoid (Live)
Muse – Uprising
My Chemical Romance – I’m Not Okay (I Promise)
Night Ranger – (You Can Still) Rock in America
Nine Inch Nails – Wish
The Offspring – Self Esteem
Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody
Rammstein – Waidmanns Heil
The Rolling Stones – Stray Cat Blues
Silversun Pickups – There’s No Secrets This Year
Slayer – Chemical Warfare
Tesla – Modern Day Cowboy
The Cure – Fascination Street
ZZ Top – Sharp Dressed Man



I had a chance to chat with Herman Li of Dragonforce about GH:WOR a while ago and since his band has a song in the game he was wondering what my thoughts were on the game. He wrote “So do you think people will still care about the next GH or Rock band games? It’s getting repetitive now and saturated no?”. Of course after seeing the other artists that are going to be on here and knowing that this is only PART of the list I’m extremely confident that this will be one of the best selling Guitar Hero titles to date and difficulty wise will probably sit at a level comparative to Metallica or Van Halen with the fun factor of Guitar Hero 2 mixed in. I don’t think Herman needs to worry about their song being in THIS version of GH at least. So far Dragonforce has been one of the selling points for Guitar Hero 3 and Smash Hits especially since they had a 3 track downloadable content pack for GH3 that everyone couldn’t get enough of.

On top of the new incredible setlist Activision, of course, felt the need to introduce two new guitars into the mix. I was surprised to see that the new guitars are lacking their slider bar since that seemed to be the new thing that they were all excited about. Gizmodo had a write up about the new guitars and revealed that they will have one cutaway section with all of the electronics inside of the fretboard and neck which means you can change out the bodies or even play without a body at all which is definitely an interesting new approach.



This new concept comes with positives AND negatives however.



Positives:
-The guitars have a more edgy “hardcore” look
-The guitars will be easier to customize
- The guitars will have less problems with buttons going out now that the body/ fretboard can’t disconnect. Often times disconnecting and reconnecting the pieces too much would cause pins to not connect properly and fret buttons would start to mess up or stop working entirely after a while.
-No touch strip means that the game most likely wont have insane unnecessary slider solos in the songs. Thank goodness!
-The fact that the guitar is all one piece means you can’t break it down for travel anymore which means you’ll now have to check your bag instead of tossing it in the overhead compartment on the plane.


Negatives:
-The guitars are too small which will make it awkward to play if you are a person who plays sitting down with the guitar resting in your lap
-The awkward shape will cause a problem similar to the explorers for 360 where the guitar would tilt if you’re a standing up type of player
-The start button looks like it is big and easy to hit which means that the possibility of accidentally pausing the game is greater.
-Where the hell is the XBL button supposed to be? Basically there’s not much room in the neck/fretboard area for a guide button and I have no idea where they’re going to place it. No matter where it goes it most likely will be in an easy to hit area which is VERY VERY bad!

Overall I’m pretty impressed with everything I’ve heard about Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock so far. The set list is looking solid, the new look for the characters is pretty damn awesome and I can only imagine the death metal overhaul that the venues got. So far I’m saying good job Activision. I’m so happy that you have proven me wrong because I was fearful that the game that I once loved so much was doomed to fall into the fiery pits of pop hell. Thank you for taking the route of your fans and going back to the good music that we all know and love and making the songs harder so that we can once again shred on our dusty guitars. On behalf of all of the hardcore Guitar Hero 1 and 2 fans out there… I thank you.

CTA Digital and @GameMarketing Partner on E3 Twitter Event

CTA Digital, a leader in innovative accessories for digital entertainment, and Mary Kurek (game marketing guru) will co-host a first-ever Networking Tweet-up at E3. This unique endeavor will include prize drawings, game demos, pro gamer guest appearances, and an interactive networking opportunity for game industry pros…all headquartered at the CTA Digital vendor booth. Here are the details:

Event: Wednesday, June 16th 1-4 pm PST
CTA Digital E3 Booth: #4500 West, LA Convention Center



–Visits by Pro Gamers: Rob Paz (Prodigy) World Record Holder for Rock Band 2 and recently featured elite gamer on XBox Live Dashboard. Ciji Thornton (Starslay3r) has amassed a total of over 30 top 5 finishes in 9 games in 3 genres. She ranked 7th in the Pan American region of the world for Guitar Hero: World Tour in the 2009 WCG Pan American Championships in Guadalajara, Mexico and also claimed 1st place for Rock Band 2 at the 2009 Pan American Championships.



Gaming “challenge” between Prodigy and StarSlay3r and prize giveaway. Photo/media opps with pro gamers. *If you are media and wish a few minutes one-on-one with pro gamers,contact mary@marykurek.com

–On site promotional support provided by Ryan Thompson (Gaming PR/Marketing pro) and SFX-360.com, [Mission Design | Facebook] producers of the now “infamous” Gamers Gone Wild events.

–During event: Hot new racing accessory demonstrated by 8 yr-old Kids Are Heroes own Ricky Springer, founder of Racing for a Cause.

–Prize giveaways throughout event. Register at the booth by checking in and grabbing your Twitter tag. We’ll be flashing event activity info on a large screen and tweeting random Tweep checkins throughout the event.

–Demo your favorite new gaming accessory at the CTA Digital booth for a bit of “personal gaming fun.”

Make sure to stop by the booth and say hello and enter for your chance to win some cool prizes!