This Saturday at the Paramount Theater, video game enthusiasts will geek out to the ultimate multimedia concert event: Video Games Live: Bonus Round. Using a full rock orchestra, Video Games Live takes the audience through a whirlwind soundtrack of popular videogame music and theme songs. Of course, there will be classic tunes from Mario, Final Fantasy and Halo, as well as from Warcraft, Megaman, Assassin's Creed II and Interactive Frogger, to name a few. The music will be accompanied by tons of onstage special effects and a host of interactive opportunities before and after the show. As a pre-gaming event, attendees can check out a Guitar Hero: Van Halen competition where the winner will have the opportunity to perform live onstage during the show. After the show, fans are also invited to meet and interact with famous game composers and designers. more ›

Have you ever dreamed about working on a video game? We got some time this week to talk to a local independent game developer, Hidden Path, about what they've been working on lately, and they also shared some inside knowledge about what it's really like to work in the industry! Read on to get the details from founder and CEO Jeff Pobst. more ›

First of all, let us say that we didn't plan our Super Tuesday get-together as an Obama event. We support Obama; we've even given him $$. more ›

Last night we made up for our dumb-assedness last week and caught episode 2 of Douglas Coupland's , and damn if that weren't a strange beast. Coupland's surreal, self-referential, novelistic discourse on globalism has been transformed into an odd-ball, dry-humored, dramedy miniseries that's strangely addictive. more ›

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Seattlest watches as a S.L.U.T. is born and Seattle Flickr users go nuts over a local art installation. A restaurant critic demands a Diner's Bill of Rights over a gnat next to her drink, and, in lieu of a Portlandist, Seattlest debates with itself over the identity of the Northwest's crown jewel. Seattlest also joins the guys from Fantagraphics for an ill-fated gun party in the woods. more ›

--The Mariners faced Lou Pinella and the Cubbies in AZ yesterday. more ›

"I don't care, I don't care, I don't care, I don't care, I don't care, care if I'm old." more ›

--There's a Nintendo video game based on the paintings of Bob Ross that was getting developed in Seattle, but it looks like it got yanked. Damn, damn, damn that would have been awesome. more ›

8bitjoystick called Seattlest out yesterday (which we love, btw, whether you do it on your random blog you expect us to magically find, or you have at us in the comments or you send us email. Please, tell us what we're missing and we'll consider it internally and then publicly enumerate the reasons why you're wrong.), and, befitting a blog about video games, 8bitjoystick is all over us for our lack of video game coverage. more ›

--Please, Ballmer, tell us again about Microsoft, Linux and intellectual property. more ›

The middle of the year is approaching, so we think it's fair to give you an update on the folks we listed as creating some of the best tracks to come out of the area last year. For those of you who missed out the first time, here's a second chance to hear what the Pac NW is putting out into the world. more ›

The place: Shorty's. The dog: Chicago-style, with everything. The scene: Jenna Curtis, in a leather bikini, playing a video game called Target Terror. She's posing for Ethan Jack Harrington, the painter and chronicler of Seattle's street scene whose alternative, indoor work features alluring, partially-dressed women using firearms. No, not Guns 'n Roses; Guns 'n Whores. You might have seen some of the art on the wall at Whisky Bar, where Jenna works as a bartender. Or in the bar's ads in The Stranger. Or in the window of his V Gallery. "Single men and older women notice," he says. "But what sells are the cityscapes." more ›

All of the attention this weekend is on the Super Bowl, but really, who cares? There's a feigned hometown pride, but really, for most of the players in the professional ranks, they're going to play for whoever pays them the big bucks. George Bush may claim to care about black people, and the Seahawks may claim to care about Seattle, but let's wait and see what happens when it's time for contract negotiations. more ›

-Yep, Seattlest will be all about the fine livin' in '06. Minimum wage in Washington is going up 28 cents on January, 1, to $7.63 an hour. more ›

John Bruce "Jack" Thompson is an attorney often cited in the media for his views on the effects of obscenity and violence in popular media. That's cribbed directly out of the Wikipedia entry for him and that same Wikipedia entry contains a large warning that the neutrality of the entry is disputed, which is cool to see in an encyclopedia. Jack Thompson has been hating on popular culture (the neutraility of this post should definitely be disputed) since lawsuits against 2 Live Crew back in the Eighties. Howard Stern, Grand Theft Auto, the list of defendants contains all the usual suspects. more ›

With its portrayal of a tour gone awry and a band's refusal to admit it, we think Spinal Tap is one of the best rock-n-roll movies ever made. Come see the real-life version of the movie when the Ashlee Simpson World Tour stops by the Paramount on Thursday. From the Saturday Night Live Acid Reflux debacle to the booing at the Orange Bowl, this has been a tour for the ages. This is definitely a show high in comedic value. After the concert, you might want to sign the 'Stop Ashlee Simpson' petition, since in this world there are very few issues that Republicans and Democrats can agree on. As of this morning, there are still plenty of tickets available on Ticketmaster. more ›

Entertainment giant Sony announced yesterday that they are planting roots in Seattle's fertile developer soil by opening a development studio in the city. The move, no doubt, can also be attributed to the prominent members of the SOE team who were booted from Microsoft--namely, Matt Wilson, who had his last large project in Redmond closed down last year. After the Mythica debacle at Microsoft Wilson opened FireAnt, Inc., all of whose members will be joining Sony. more ›