On one of the last episodes of the sweet action series 24, you may or may not have noticed a little video game reference. About seven minutes in (real-time minutes) super agent Jack Bauer gives orders to two CTU agents by the name of, here it is, Kane and Lynch. You know, the dead men. I had to rewind a couple times to be sure I heard that right, but, yes, there it was, the writers behind one of the best action shows on TV must love video games. I’m waiting to see what little easter egg comes up next if any. Maybe we’ll get some terrorist by the name of Mario Mario, eh?

Here’s the clip.

Asian gadget and design superstore, Gizmine has one of the greatest alarm clocks ever invented. Made by Bandai, the Gun O’Clock is the perfect mixture of procrastination and fire arms. Snooze Kill Shot! Watch this video and love it!

This is the new and improved, if you can have both, CounterAgent.com. Welcome. I’m changing the focus from a narrow, single field, to a broad, shotgun, whatever I like, approach. Hope others like it as well. The new material of the site will include, but is not limited to, anything: cool, I like, scifi, interesting, comics, movies, music, games, tech, art, tv, internet, etc.

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted here on CounterAgent, but I’ve been busy working on this web project called the SuperLame! Comic Balloon Engine. We’ve just launched it in a public Beta. So, let me take a few moments to explain what it is that’s taken up most of my time as of late.

What is SuperLame? Well, I’m glad you asked. You may have heard the saying, “a picture is worth a thousand words”. So, if a picture alone is worth that much, how much more can you say with a picture that actually has words too? I’m betting at least a few more than a thousand.

You may have noticed a number of word balloon pictures on this site, amoung others. Before the SuperLame word balloon image creator web app this was a time consuming process. Enter SuperLame and the Comic Balloon Engine. Basically, it’s a simple web tool that gives users the power to easily and quickly add word balloons, speech bubbles, thought bubbles, whatever you want to call them, to your pictures.

Best of all, the entire tool is free for anyone to use. However, if you would like to donate to the SuperLame cause, we wouldn’t turn you down, of course, and hey, it’s a tax right off, right?

The above picture is an example of what you can do at SuperLame. But, don’t take my word for it, check out the SuperLame Word Balloon Web Tool for yourself. Enjoy.

Boom!

Bungie and Microsoft have announced that as of 2 a.m. this Tuesday, March 25th 2008, the previously released 800 M$ point Heroic Map Pack will now be free to download on Xbox Live Marketplace. If you own Halo 3 and haven’t already paid for these maps then you should definitely grab them. They’re free, ’nuff said. Bungie will also be releasing their new Legendary Map Pack soon for the same initial 800 M$ points. Look for that to be free sometime this fall.

More info on the Heroic map pack:

CounterAgent: Announcement, CounterAgent: Pics, CounterAgent: Videos

Bungie’s official announcement

Story via Joystiq

Got Rainbow Six: Vegas 2? Already tired of all the multiplayer maps and ready for a new one? Yeah! Comcast has got you covered. Think of this as more of actual “game” advertising, not just “in-game” advertising. Comcast, you know, the cable company, has decided to offer a free Vegas 2 map entitled the “Comcast Event Map”, ta da! You don’t have to be a Comcast subscriber to get’ em either, you don’t even have to like Comcast (just don’t tell them).

Here’s what you gotta do. Load up the game, Rainbow Six: Vegas 2. Go to the “Extras” menu from the main screen. Select “Comcast Gift” from the options. Then, enter the code “Comcast Faster” (without the quotes) when prompted and enjoy the new multi-player map.

If you’re a PC gamer, you’ll have to wait. Sorry, no map for you just yet. However, you can keep checking back at this link. They say they’ll have the map for you guys soon.

Boom!

The next installment in the popular Battlefield series, Bad Company, is coming out this June for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. However, some lucky gamer’s will have the opportunity to play it early. PC gamer’s that happen to be members of either IGN Founders’ Club or IGN Insider will be offered a beta key, while supplies last. Beta keys will also be given out from a number of IGN site’s like, IGN.com, FilePlanet, GameSpy, TeamXbox, Planet Battlefield and Voodoo Extreme.

For console gamer’s only the Xbox 360 will be included in the beta, sorry PS3. To get in to the 360 beta you’ve got to pre-order the game form GameStop.

In North America, GameStop will also offer keys on a first come, first serve basis for this Exclusive Beta Xbox LIVE® online entertainment network event. With only 5,000 beta keys available at GameStop, gamers should pre-order their copy now at GameStop.

This is a Multiplayer Only beta, similar to the Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare multiplayer beta last year. The beta will only include 2 maps to play on. It will, however, have a number of play modes and weapon upgrades to explore.

Boom!

The upcoming Halo 3 “Legendary Map Pack”, coming out April 15th (tax day) includes a new/old map. It’s everyones favorite snow covered level, Sidewinder! The new map has quite a few differences, first of which is the name, now called Avalanche (much more hardcore than Sidewinder). Some other notable changes are the trade of ladders (one of the few levels that had ladders) for the now infamous “Man Cannons”. For more details, you can read all about it at Bungie’s official post here. One of the first sentences on their post reminds gamers of the 800 M$ point price and that Bungie itself can’t make it cheaper. :( At least they feel our pain.

Boom!

Could it be? Does the PS3 have more and better exclusives this year? Looks like 2008 may possibly be the year of the Playstation, again. Just like old times.

Is it just me or is almost every big game coming out this year a sequel? No matter what console you’re on. Either way, you got to be excited about something on the list. If the majority of these games actually release this year, wow. But does anyone really expect that? So, let’s jump in and analyze the exclusives. Note, this list in no way represents the entire list of exclusive titles for each console. It does, however, represent what we at Counteragent think are the biggest exclusives most likely to actually be released this calender year.

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I’m generally not a big fan of these small downloadable arcade games, however, many companies have been putting a lot more effort into making them more worth your 10-15 dollars. Capcom has to be one of the foremost of these companies. At their recent conference, Digital Day, they announced quite a number of upcoming downloadable arcade games, most of which are remakes of existing franchises.

Enter Rocketmen: Axis of Evil, not an existing franchise in the video game world, it is an existing game franchise, as in collectible card game. Capcom hasn’t exactly reinvented the wheel, or the arcade game, but they have included a number of great features to stretch your gameplay dollar. Some of these include 4 player drop in drop out co-op gameplay throughout the entire game. Customizable stats, semi-custom characters, and a good amount of powerups.

Keep reading for the giveaway details and the entire review.
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