the buzz log
Batman Goes to the Looney Bin
Over the years, Batman has starred in dozens of video games. Sadly, the vast majority left gamers as moody and depressed as Bruce Wayne. Now, at long last, Batman has an interactive adventure worthy of his name. "Batman: Arkham Asylum" hits shelves today and is blowing up in Search.
For the most part, the reviews are overwhelmingly positive. Yahoo! Games calls it "the greatest comic book game of all time" and 1Up.com says it's "the best digital Batman simulator we've seen to date." Lofty praise, but searchers are also interested in some of the game's specifics.
Lookups on "batman arkham asylum villians" are up 40%, proof that gamers want to know which baddies they'll be going up against (the Joker and the Riddler are two of the most infamous adversaries in Arkham).
Also buzzing — achievements and trophies. Folks who play the Xbox 360 version earn "achievements" for progressing through the game (PlayStation 3 gamers earn "trophies"). They aren't worth anything (aside from bragging rights), but Bat-fans still care enough to search.
Another trend we've spotted: spoilers and walkthroughs. Even though the game has just hit, would-be Dark Knights are seeking every advantage they can get, whether its cheating or not. Probably a good idea — after all in this game, the inmates are running the asylum.
Filed under: Video Games, Batman
Jimmy vs. Tiger on the Wii
Jimmy Fallon has thrown down the golfing gauntlet to a guy no sane man would ever challenge ... Tiger Woods.
The late night funnyman will tee-off against Tiger Woods in a round of golf on the Nintendo Wii. Hey, Jimmy may be dumb, but he's not stupid. An avid gamer, Fallon is betting that his skills with the Wii-mote will be greater than Tiger's talents with a virtual putter ... or driver ... or iron ... or sand wedge ... you get the picture.
We first learned of the face-off on Kotaku. According to the pop culture blog, Fallon announced that Woods would be a guest on his show this week (you can also see the announcement on Fallon's Twitter feed). Fallon also said that he really wanted to play the golfing legend at some "Tiger Woods 10" golf on the Wii because it's the only way he'd ever stand a chance.
Be careful what you wish for, Jimbo. Woods, clearly not scared, has accepted the challenge. Viewers can tune in on Thursday night to see if a gamer can beat a tiger at his own game (literally). No matter who wins the contest, expect searches on "tiger woods nintendo wii" to soar.
Filed under: Video Games, Tiger Woods
GTA: Still Going, Still Controversial
Back in 2008, Grand Theft Auto IV for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 managed to be both controversial and critically acclaimed (no easy task). You might think that after a year, the video game would no longer generate buzz. Wrong!
Rockster, the publisher of the franchise, recently announced its newest downloadable addition to the GTA saga. And from the name alone, we can tell this one's gonna be a doozy: "Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony."
Allow us to explain. In the original game, one of the side characters was a bar owner named Tony Prince. This new download, out this Fall, will allow gamers to play as Tony's right-hand-man, Luis Lopez. We presume that carnage, comedy, and fabulousness will ensue.
Though the expansion won't be out for months, searchers are already looking for more information. Lookups on "ballad of gay tony" and "new grand theft auto expansion" both surged on Tuesday.
Blogs are also chiming in. Joystiq and 1Up.com note that in addition to being downloadable, the Ballad of Gay Tony will also be available to purchase in retail outlets along with a previous expansion.
Search indicates it could be a hit, and that's good news for Rockstar. According to Yahoo! Finance, Take-Two Interactive, which owns the rights to Grand Theft Auto, recently posted a loss in the second quarter as "revenue fell 57%."
Filed under: Video Games
D&D Creator Is Dead: The Web Mourns
Attention dwarfs, elves, gnomes, halflings, and humans: David Lance Arneson, the co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons, is dead. The inventor of the original role-playing game leaves a legacy that involved character creation, fantasy, and, perhaps most importantly, an outlet for geeky teenage boys everywhere.
Word of the game inventor's death caused searches to surge on "dungeons and dragons" and "gary gygax," the other ledgendary creator of the fantasy game who died last year.
The game involves a team of fictional characters, an adventure that can last hours or days, and a Dungeon Master who oversees the complicated rules. Whether the party succeeds in its task depends on rolls of the multi-sided dice, another first in the game world.
While it's hard to imagine, there was a time before nerds ruled the actual world (take a bow, Bill Gates). But now the whole world's gone gaga for geeks. Stars like Vin Diesel and Stephen Colbert are D&D fans. And the '70s version of the game has since spawned video games, a cartoon, novels and a movie. In honor of the loss to the fantasy-game community, embrace your inner geek, and embrace your nearest geek.
Filed under: Video Games
Buzz Multiplex: JoBros Blow Through
No one's objecting to this jet expense.
As if seeing "Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience" in pulsing, in-your-face detail wasn't enough, the Disney-backed threesome is jetting coast-to-coast as part of their "Surprise Theater Invasion Tour." Since an invasion is by nature secretive, the surprise lies in which theater the JoBros will drop by in the flesh.
The JoBros' first stop was, unsurprisingly, Hollywood, but besotted fans—and there are shrieking gaggles of them—with V CAST-enabled phones can track the invasion. If Blackberrys go missing this weekend, you know why.
The question isn't whether JoBros beats down its sole competitor and gameboy fantasy, "Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li." (Don't worry, fans of the first female "Streetfighter" trailblazer: The title's pulling in decent searches, which means decent attendance, high torrent activity, and a DVD release party down the line.) THe question is whether they can beat Miley Cyrus' movie's $31.1 million opening weekend take. Yah, not fair: Cyrus booked 683 theaters, while the boys get almost double at 1,271 locales.
The flight plan has already been set, but the JoBros might want to hit joints in Connecticut, which leads California, Pennyslvania, New York, and Illinois in "3D" search madness. And Street Fighter's Chun-Li travel tour's first stop? Arizona is the number one state checking out her movie. The Copper State loves those female trailblazers.
Filed under: Video Games, Movies, Music, Games, Hannah Montana, Jonas Brothers
top movers
| Rank | Subject | 1-Day Move |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nidal Malik Hasan | Breakout! |
| 2 | Fort Hood Shooting | Breakout! |
| 3 | Tyrannosaurus Rex | Breakout! |
| 4 | Fort Hood | 43518% |
| 5 | Tropical Storm Ida | 4377% |
| 6 | Willie Aames | 3325% |
| 7 | Shannon Dedrick | 3299% |
| 8 | Gretchen Rossi | 2702% |
| 9 | Epic Mickey | 2583% |
| 10 | Lee Harvey Oswald | 1907% |
top leaders
| Rank | Subject | Move | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Danica Patrick | +194 | 207 |
| 2 | Fort Hood | +185 | 185 |
| 3 | Angelina Jolie | +114 | 164 |
| 4 | Rihanna | +39 | 157 |
| 5 | New York Yankees | +54 | 154 |
| 6 | Alicia Keys | +139 | 153 |
| 7 | +1 | 153 | |
| 8 | NFL | +6 | 138 |
what's the buzz?
A subject's buzz score is the percentage of Yahoo! users searching for that subject on a given day, multiplied by a constant to make the number easier to read. Weekly leaders are the subjects with the greatest average buzz score for a given week.
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