Here’s a new Kanye West-N.E.R.D. video for a remix of the song “Everyone Nose.” It’s stuffed with old-school video game footage.

I see “Space Invaders,” “Donkey Kong,” “Galaga“… what else?

(For more on the making of the video check out this MTV News report from late July)

Two of TNA’s most physically dynamic stars, Christopher Daniels and AJ Styles were at the event, playing the game and standing within earshot while the game’s designer gave me a demo. The game was pretty fun. I mostly button-mashed and wound up, playing as Daniels, performing some cool high-flying moves and, when in danger, issuing some vicious uppercuts to my virtual opponent’s most sensitive body part.

I ran into trouble when I tried to discuss the story with the game designer. Specifically, I wasn’t sure how to ascertain whether the story treats wrestling as — were the wrestlers listening? — “real.” It’s 2008. We all know pro wrestling is a performance, a physically demanding one that is less combat and more coordination. But still, the word “fake” doesn’t roll of the tongue when wrestlers are standing nearby. It seems so insulting. I asked about the story and the designer told me it’s mostly being kept secret for now. I asked if he could at least say whether it treats wrestling as if it was real or if it acknowledges that it’s f… I paused. Second try: Or does it treat wrestling like it’s a job, I asked?

The designer tried answering my question, explaining that the game will position the player as their own wrestler within the TNA organization. Third try from me: So, it acknowledges that these guys have scripts and don’t necessarily hate each other? (Were Styles and Daniels hearing me stumble through this??). Does it acknowledge that wrestling is … uh … involves a script? I couldn’t say the word. And, really, is “fake” even the right word?

From what I can tell, the TNA game will treat wrestling as if it is a real, unscripted sport. That’s the storyline, which, now that I think of it, is what seems fake. Nevertheless, I don’t think people go to wrestling games for the stories but for the gameplay. I’m no aficionado. It seemed fun for casual players. I told the designer, Daniels and Styles that I enjoyed the game. No, I wasn’t faking.

Next: Time to deal with those taunting me about my “Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2” scores.

As I reported today at MTVNews.com:
The wait to discover who can paddle a canoe faster — Fergie or Nelly Furtado — is almost over.

The eternal debate about whether Boston Celtic Paul Pierce can spike a volleyball better than country music sensation LeAnn Rimes will soon be settled.

Video game publisher Electronic Arts has revealed to MTV News that a new holiday-season Nintendo Wii game, “Celebrity Sports Showdown,” will settle these arguments — or at least present a virtual forum with which to do so.

Read the rest of our world-first report on EA’s newest Wii game: Fergie Takes On Nelly Furtado In Badminton, Dodgeball, Jet Racing In New Wii Sports Game

It wasn’t long ago that MTV Multiplayer checked out GoLive2’s “Stix.”

Essentially, they’re Wiimote clones designed for use on the PC. The basic model is compatible with 2D flash games, the more expensive one works in 3D.

The basic model showed up at my desk not too long ago. The “Stix” doesn’t work on my Mac, but thankfully, my girlfriend has a PC-based laptop.

If you want to buy your own “Stix,” check out the GoLive2 store. For high-resolution shots of the game store, keep reading.

(Video will not be accessible for users logging in from Canada or parts of Europe)

Take, for example, entering a journalist tournament for N-Gage strategy game “Reset Generation.” The game showed up last week, punctuating what I’d done.

Today, I was matched against IGN writer Christopher Carle. I’d barely played more than the tutorial of “Reset Generation.” I was prepared to accept defeat and move on with my life. But instead, MTV Multiplayer delivered two crushing blows to Carle — his pixels swiftly defeated.

Maybe I’m…good at this game? Nokia wanted us to play “Reset Generation” on phones they’d sent, but neither Carle or myself could get the phone to hold a Wi-Fi connection. Thankfully, the web version allowed us to compete just fine. If by compete, of course, you mean I stomped Charle out! Ooh!

You can track the tournament here, and I highly recommend you check out “Reset Generation” (available free here); it’s an immensely addictive combo of “Tetris” and “Advance Wars” and only takes a few minutes to pick up. It’s too bad it’s limited to N-Gage, but at least you can check it out on your PC, too.

Blizzard has confirmed to MTV Multiplayer that “Diablo III” art director Brian Morrisroe has decided to leave the company.

A company rep says his departure won’t change the look of the game.

Here’s what a Blizzard representative told Multiplayer via e-mail:

Regarding Brian, he recently resigned to form a startup technology company (outside the game industry), which is why we’ve posted about the open position. This change won’t impact the game…we’re really pleased with the look and feel that Brian helped create for Diablo III, and the new person we bring onboard will work with the other artists on the team to maintain the art style moving forward.

Morrisroe’s departure, which incidentally comes after much controversy surrounding the game’s colorful new art style, prompted Blizzard to put up the job listing, first reported by Kotaku earlier today.

When I sat down with lead “Diablo III” designer Jay Wilson last week to talk about the team’s design choices and his thoughts on fan-altered screenshots, he told me that Morrisroe was the one who spearheaded the franchise’s design changes. Specifically, I asked who we should blame for the rainbows. Wilson said:

“If you want to blame anyone for the rainbows, you’d blame our art director Brian [Morrisroe]. Because Brian is more the person who drove the art style into where it is. But it didn’t really come directly from him. What he brought to the art team was concepts and ideas — the idea of contrast, the idea of using color more, the idea of going for a more stylized look. Because what we were looking at before was more photo-realistic. Really trying to get something that looks like a painting — that was his goal. But the actual result of that came from the art team. And a lot of the environment guys, and some of the texture artists, they’ve all kind of chipped in to try and get the feel of something that was very unique.”

Stay with MTV Multiplayer for lots more “Diablo III” and Blizzard news.

Related Posts:
‘Diablo III’ Designer Turns Tables, Judges Fans’ Screenshots
‘Diablo III’ Color Controversy Update: Game Used To Be Darker, Dev Says ‘There’s No Going Back Now’
‘Diablo III’ Designer Explains Why Necromancer Was Cut, Hints At Return
‘Diablo III’ Designer Discusses Possible Return Of Cow Level

Fast work on EA’s part, given that the Favre deal only made the news several hours ago.

Here are the details we got from EA, in the words of a company spokesperson:

**Madden NFL 09 will hit stores on Aug 12 with Brett Favre on the cover in his Green Bay Packers uniform.

**We do not plan to re-issue packaging, but WILL offer a free downloadable cover in the coming days on easports.com featuring Brett Favre in a Jets uniform. Fans can print this new cover out and insert it into the case of Madden NFL 09. Fans can print this new cover out and insert it into the case of Madden NFL 09.

**We’ll have a roster update available on August 11 with Brett Favre on the NY Jets. The game ships with Brett on an all-time greats team, but with the roster update that will be downloadable when product is available at retail, Brett Favre will be the starting QB for the New York Jets. The roster update is not mandatory - unless you are planning an online head to head game, or online league.

The American version is set for release “soon,” according to Sony representatives. And where the American demo will begin is San Francisco.

Earlier this week I tried the American version’s first level, set in SF’s Fisherman’s Wharf. The game uses an aerial photograph of the region for the level (not a Google map, despite frequent mis-reporting). I controlled a zombie from the Himalayas who runs through the streets and alleyways of the region, absorbing a train of people from any nearby buildings. The more people you collect, the longer the crowd trails — and the more likely that city-roaming enemies will intercept and kill your crowd. I had to collect 1000 people under a few-minute time limit and then I unlocked a second map.

Players can make their zombie dash, activate a thermal view that shows where un-rescued people are hiding and draw their trail of people into a smaller, safer cluster. There are power-ups available, but I didn’t use any.

The game was fun, if slight. For the right price, I think people will enjoy running the maps, saving people.

One of “Diablo” fans’ favorite things about the franchise is the secret cow level from “Diablo II.”

If players gathered the right combination of items, they could open a portal to a level filled entirely with weapon-wielding, bipedal bovines, with a chance to get special loot.

So I asked lead “Diablo III” designer Jay Wilson the obvious question: Will there be a cow level?

This is what he said…

Wilson: [laughs] We don’t really know at this point. I really like the idea of secret stuff that ‘Diablo II’ put forward, but it’s not the kind of thing we would decide this early. But if we have something, I can assure people will be happy with it.

I will say the thing I liked about the cow level was that it wasn’t just fluff; there was stuff that you could do there that actually had purpose within the game. The thing I didn’t like about it was that it almost replaced part of the game. And so, if we looked to add something like that, we’d be a little smarter about it. We would want it to have a function within the game, but we wouldn’t want it to replace any core content, which is something that I think the cow level really did.

‘Diablo II’ had a lot of little oddities to it that made the experience not as usable. I certainly wouldn’t want things like, ‘Don’t kill the cow king because we’ve got to keep the level open!’ We would avoid scenarios like that. The secret of a cow level is a cool secret. The secret that you’re not supposed to kill the king because you’ll ruin the cow level forever — that’s a bad secret. So we would try to get rid of some of the bad ones.

***

“Diablo” fans, do you want to see a new and improved cow level?

Related Posts:
‘Diablo III’ Designer Explains Why Necromancer Was Cut, Hints At Return
‘Diablo III’ Designer Turns Tables, Judges Fans’ Screenshots
‘Diablo III’ Color Controversy Update: Game Used To Be Darker, Dev Says ‘There’s No Going Back Now’

This friend has been known to fire up “DO2″ in his web browser during moments of boredom, turning such periods into moments of glee. Sadly, I failed to do the same.

On Wednesday night, near the conclusion of a long day, I took my first dip into “Dolphin Olympics 2.” I used the arrow keys to swim and soar a dolphin through sea and air. I just wasn’t hooked, netted or whatever verb you use to describe ensnaring the smartest animal in the ocean.

Hang on while I try the game again (via this link) to be sure it’s not for me..

….

No. Just played another two-minute game. Just swam through hoops, flipped over the horizon and scored lots of point. It’s like a 2D dolphin-based “Tony Hawk.” But, sorry, Justin, this is not going to be another “Desktop Tower Defense” for me.

Diary readers, give it a shot and see for yourself. I do hear that many people love it.

Next: Game time has been scarce this week. Maybe I’ll get some “Eden” in tonight?