And let’s be honest: That makes it awesome. What’s amazing to me is not only how many custom weapons are used, or how many custom minifigs are completely destroyed in showers of Play-Doh blood, but how fluidly the characters move. LEGO stop motion animation sure has come a long way.

The King is gone, but he won’t be forgotten. Burger King has decided to abandon their iconic, hilariously creepy “The King” campaign after what I think most people would consider to be a resounding and continuing success. Instead, they’re turning their focus towards moms and highlighting the freshness and quality of their ingredients and products. Their newest commercial for the California Whopper (which has guacamole) will feature the sights and sounds of the fresh, fresh ingredients being prepared. How delightfully boring.

The King ad campaign was the brainchild of Crispin Porter + Bogusky, the same people who brought you Whopper Lust and what-this-is-I-don’t-even experiences like Sneak King and Subservient Chicken. After over seven years together, CP+B and Burger King have officially parted ways and Burger King says it has “no plans to bring the King back anytime soon.”

Check out some of CP+B’s best Burger King related work after the jump. Long live the king!

Duke Nukem Forever finally went gold last week, ending a fourteen year streak of being everyone’s favorite vaporware. Last year, developer Gearbox Software announced they were attempting to find a way to convince retailers to honor Duke Nukem Forever preorders made over a decade ago, an honorable gesture not frequently seen in the modern day gaming industry of Day One DLC and the biggest gaming-only retailer operating under business practices akin to a shady pawn shop that pays out $25 for a diamond-encrusted wedding ring that was bought with three months of salary.

GamePro wondered if any progress was made on the preorder-honoring front and asked GameStop if they’ll be honoring those preorders made so hilariously long ago. GameStop responded:

“With a long-anticipated release like Duke Nukem Forever, we encourage customers who pre-ordered more than a year ago to verify their reservation with their local store prior to launch. Provided the customer has a receipt, we will honor even those pre-orders taken long ago. At this time, we expect that all pre-order customers will receive Duke’s Big Package at time of purchase, regardless of when the reservation was made.”

Duke’s Big Package being, of course, a Dukeified preorder bonus. Hail to the pun, baby.

(via GamePro)

We knew it was happening. When Gearbox Software surprisingly relaunched the development of the fabled Duke Nukem Forever, we knew one day it would finally launch. And yet, here we are, presented with the news that the King’s return has gone gold and will be released to the public next month, and it still seems like a weird alternate reality, or at least regular reality where on launch day Gearbox declares, “Just kidding.”

“It’s just a game releasing,” you might say. “Duke is offensive and childish,” someone else who isn’t fond of the completely satirical take on extreme masculinity might offer. “It’s just a first-person shooter,” someone too young to remember the impact on gaming the original Duke Nukem 3D had. Duke Nukem Forever going gold matters for two reasons. The first reason being that the game has been the joke of the gaming industry for the past fourteen years. That’s 1997. This game has been in development since 1997. It has a development history Wikipedia page that is longer than its regular Wikipedia page. Fourteen years of development, and the game finally made it. It should be some kind of milestone if it weren’t so ridiculous. Secondly, back in the early days of gaming, when pixelated first-person shooters reigned supreme, Duke was one of the first games to offer gamers a coherent, fun, online gaming experience, as well as one of the first user-friendly level builders, which allowed users to pump out well-made custom maps with minimal effort. However one may feel about Duke, from a historical gaming standpoint, Duke matters, and after fourteen years of development hell, Duke Nukem Forever is no longer vaporware.

Now we just have to hope it’s good.

(@GearboxSoftware via Rock, Paper, Shotgun)

Two of my biggest fears (showing just how in check my priorities must be) are losing use of my eyes or hands, thus severing me from my gaming habits. Terry Garrett is blind, but he can still game, and luckily, he is still able to play some fairly good ones. Losing his sight when he was 10, his brother brought home the classic puzzler-platformer Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee. Garrett attempted to play, though he was frustrated due to his lack of sight. Eventually, he honed his hearing and learned what each and every sound effect meant related to gameplay. Now, he can beat Abe’s Oddysee without his sight, using sound alone. Though anyone who has played Abe’s Oddysee will know that beating it with the use of sight is an accomplishment by itself, and beating it without is an extremely impressive feat, Garrett also plays other games that one would assume requires sight in order to succeed: He plays Wii Sports due to the game’s haptic feedback and he is able to play Rock Band by using a trial-and-error button-mashing tactic to learn the song note charts.

Garrett is currently trying to beat the historic The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. He didn’t just turn the game on and cleanse the Deku Tree, though, he carefully listened to the sound effects as his friends played the game and asked them questions, as well as researched the game through text and video walkthroughs. Garrett has trouble with precise aiming, for instance, with the Hookshot, and almost as if a cruel gaming meme joke, he currently can’t make it beyond the infamous Water Temple without outside help, though one can only assume he’ll eventually tackle Nintendo’s unholy creation in due time.

Though he currently can’t play games with too much audio stimuli or precise aiming, both of which are staples of many first-person shooters, Garrett is an inspiring story, and has quite possibly alleviated some of the fears that wake gamers up in the middle of the night in a deep sweat after dreaming about receiving their preordered copy of Portal 2 after losing use of their eyes.

(Wired via Neatorama)

Fair warning: You are about to hate a guy named Craig Rowin. Maybe not hate, but you will absolutely resent him. Okay, you probably won’t resent him. But you will be extremely jealous and annoyed with yourself that you didn’t think of this. Actually, you probably did think of this, but you thought, “Pssshhhhhht, this would never happen.” But today, New York comedian Craig Rowin is a one-millionaire. Because he asked for one millions dollars. And he got it. No, really. This actually happened.

Built on Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 3, Duke Nukem: Next-Gen, a fan-made remake of the 1996 venerable, campy PC first person shooter, Duke Nukem 3D, has been officially approved by current Duke Nukem 3D license holder Gearbox Software, in yet another act of Gearbox being totally awesome.