While most artists spend years or decades working towards an American TV debut on the level of SNL, Del Rey seems to have been prematurely catapulted into it based on the overnight success of a few YouTube videos. more ›

What happens when you put a group of hard core gamers together with a hit song anthem, some open-source code and a twisted sense of humor? A fresh take on a great music video! more ›

Don't call it a 9/11 novel. Whatever author Alex Shakar's ambitious, intricate and searching second novel Luminarium may be, it is much more than its backdrop of the fifth anniversary of that attack. The book follows Fred Brounian as he makes sense of himself and his world, where his software company is hijacked by the "Military-Entertainment Complex," the only positive vibes in his shambles of a personal life seem to be side effects of a neuroscientific research study, and texts and emails from his comatose twin brother start popping up. As a writer, Shakar is somehow a satirist of technology, an experimental scientist, a spiritual guide and a game designer rolled into one, but to make a setting such as 9/11 commemoration recede into a supporting role, he also moonlights as a magician. more ›

• Fallen Chicago Police Officer Michael Bailey, the third officer killed in two months, was laid to rest today.
• Plans for the city's third Wal-Mart are moving along quickly.
• President Obama is throwing a fundraiser for his birthday right here in Chicago in early August but tickets are $30,000 a pop, which is just slightly more than you'll spend getting into Lollapalooza.

Got a spare 11 minutes? If you do, we highly recommend this short documentary that takes a look at the art of the pixel. more ›

In case you missed it, over the weekend, legendary movie critic Roger Ebert wrote a blog entry entitled "Video Games Can Never Be Art," in which he claimed, well, video games can't be art. The post garnered a huge reaction across the Interwebz with almost 1,900 comments being posted as a response to Ebert's bold claim. As the drama unfolded, a video began making the rounds: a segment from a 1993 episode wherein Siskel & Ebert...played a video game. Whether or not this segment is art we'll leave up to you. more ›

Wow and we thought we occasionally had more spare time on our hands than we knew what to do with. Seriously, though, one ambitious gamer has recreated some of Michael Jordan's greatest moments using the video game NBA2K9. Our pals at Tremendous Upside Potential tipped us off to YouTube user MessenjahMatt who has a long list of videos of Jordan's moments meticulously recreated using the game and then synced with actual audio from the original moment. Below is "The Move" from Game 2 of the '91 Finals against the Lakers. Other Jordan moments include his final shot as a Bull against the Jazz in '98 and "The Shrug" from Game 1 of the '92 Finals against Portland. more ›

Remember the great frenzy over Swine Flu H1N1 Influenza A? Well, it's going to start up again as we move into the school year and the colder fall and winter months, so we might as well have some fun with it, right? Enter The Great Flu, a game that "Dutch researchers" have created that challenges the users to fight a global pandemic. WBBM has more on the game. more ›

The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) filed a lawsuit against the CTA yesterday alleging the transit agency was infringing upon their first amendment rights by refusing to display ads for "mature audience" video games. Michael D. Gallagher, CEO of the ESA, said in a statement: more ›

Everyone remembers the legendary Jordan vs Bird video game. But do you remember His Royal Airness's other video game? If you didn't, we can't blame you. But our friends over at Tremendous Upside Potential recently dug up and revisited Michael Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City (1994, Super Nintendo, and yes, it's real). The objective: to rescue other basketball players who have been taking captive by Maximus Cranium. The weapon: basketballs. The enemies: zombies. There's nothing left we should have to say. more ›

• The Sun-Times looks at Amber Cremeens, the McHenry native killed last week by her ex-boyfriend Tyler James Martin, who shot himself after a stand-off with police in Logan Square on Friday.
• State Attorney General Lisa Madigan is prepping a lawsuit against Caterpillar, Inc. over the huge oil sludge spill from earlier this month.
• The Arlington Heights-based company responsible for Golden Tee is gambling on a new slot machine.

No, that's not a typo. There really is a CTA video game. It's called "Railfan" and it's a Japan-only release for the Playstation 3. After a bit of digging, we discovered the game is actually two years old and was one of the launch titles for Playstation 3 in the fall of 2006. As train simulators are apparently huge across the Pacific, it's no surprise that the game wasn't released here as...it's a train simulator. Though we suppose there are some CTA history buffs and Metra-steering teens out there who'd dig it. more ›

The publishers of Grand Theft Auto are suing the CTA after the agency pulled the ads for the game a few weeks ago. According to Take-Two Interactive Software, that violates a $300,000 deal and their right to free speech. Also, common sense. more ›

The CTA is yanking ads for the upcoming release of Grand Theft Auto 4 after Fox Chicago made a stink about it. It's almost as if this has all happened before. Wait a second...it totally did in 2004. more ›

Chicagland native Evan Lysacek grew up idolizing Chris Chelios. Now he's the U.S. figure skating champion, and boy is runner-up Jonny Weir not happy about it. [NYT] more ›

OK, after BradyM80 pointed out the similarities, we couldn't resist the side-by-side. The guy on the cover of this Sega SNK game.... more ›

Friday’s late night crowd at Gorilla Tango Theater is raucous and loud, with some patrons sloshed to the point of major distraction. But complaining about a drunken scene at sketch comedy revue Boozelegger’s Ball is like complaining about excessive violence in There Will Be Blood. The title alone should clue you in. more ›

We're feeling punchy here at Chicagoist HQ today--blame the cabin fever, the extra coffee, whatever you like. But writing about Steve Dahl this morning, all we could think about was Dhalsim from Street Fighter. more ›

At first glance, we thought the story of the mom who left her kid in the mall to "teach him a lesson" was a classic case of parents misunderstanding what punishment is — like when a kid is sent to his room full of video games, TV and other toys for a time out. That was before we realized that she actually left the mall, and that the child was just 6 years old. more ›

In a move sure to send ripples throughout the video game community, Electronic Arts, aka EA, is shuttering its Chicago office effective immediately. In case that leaves you scratching your head, EA is responsible for such gaming franchises as Madden NFL, The Sims, The Orange Box, and the upcoming Rock Band. The now former studio was located at 215 W. Ohio. According to EA Games president Frank Gibeau, shutting down the Chicago branch was “the... more ›

We have a fair bit of experience with the people who sit in their basements with the blinds drawn playing RPG games and decide the fate of the world. We can also confirm that four hours of listening to the theme songs on Nintendo's "Smash Brothers" is time better spent in a mental institution. All of those kinds of things aside, however, video games are undeniably influential. more ›

Much of mankind's great literature contains conflict, violence, and death. We remember part of our high school curriculum contained Lord of the Flies, which by no means is about children living peacefully on a deserted island. There were many more, but that was just one of the more disturbing ones. more ›

Interviewers and Foodies aren't the only new staff members we've recently added. You may have noticed that Mr. Louis Frascogna and Ms. Amanda Dickman have joined the staff and are writing on general topics — things that are newsy and on subject matters that don't really fall into the categories of our established beats. Louis is a law student who loves video games, music, art, food, beer and writing. He's originally from the south but... more ›

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We are guessing it is the weather and lack of activity, but we’ve been actively searching for good food-related events for the past month or so. This week is no different. We've also got dancing and book swapping, so get on it. more ›

This is a really simple, informational post. There is a website called SwapSimple.com, where you can trade books, DVDs and video games with people. You open up a free account, you list your stuff, and you trade for other people's stuff. We checked it out, and you have to pay for the shipping and handling (via USPS), but other than that, you can change out your collection nearly for free. more ›

We just heard that a bunch of area schools are closed because of the cold, so woo-hoo if you're in school. A free day to stay home and play video games! Though, we bet it does put a lot of families in a bind to try to find childcare all of a sudden. Here's a list of the schools that are closed. more ›

Remember when G-Rod made it a crime to sell violent or sexually explicit games to minors in the state of Illinois? Bad move, Illinois still owes the video games industry $520,000 in legal fees for writing unconstitutional laws, and the judges say we have to pay, even though we don’t want to. Chicagoist imagines the time Illinois politicians spent dreaming up, researching, writing, and defending the restrictive legislation could easily add another $500,000 to the... more ›

As the days turn longer and colder, and thoughts of spending time with loved ones drinking cocoa draws near, your desk probably isn’t the at the top of the list of places you’d like to be. So what are poor employees to do when vacation time is dried up, and they really “need” a day off? Sick time to the rescue! A recent Sun-Times article suggests that the holidays are a hot period to fake... more ›

Before we begin, we'd like to extend our deepest sympathies to the family of James Kim. We are not, by any means, trying to discount that tragedy by juxtaposing posts about the Kims with more light-hearted posts. It's the nature of doing a compilation such as this one: we're trying to give a full slice of the goings-on in the Ist-a-Verse: the good, the bad, and the ugly. Londonist wants you to know where to... more ›