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Kotaku reports that Little Big Planet may be receiving some Downloadable Content with sockpuppets which look like our favorite hedgehog, echidna, fox, and despot:

http://kotaku.com/5409594/sackboy-gets-furried-by-sonic-the-hedgehog

Am I the only one with this thought:



Either way, some more Sonic DLC TLC as we wait for Project Needlemouse.

Today is the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Some of us are old enough to actually remember these events.  Some, like myself, are old enough for the events to be fresh during our school years.  And some of us may have only heard of the Berlin Wall, but might not know the details, or impact.

June 12, 1987, Ronald Reagan stood on the West German side of the Berlin Wall, a physical barrier erected in between the American/British/French occupied Free West Germany, and the USSR controlled Soviet East Germany, and called a challenge over the wall:


It would be two years before the wall would be "torn down."



East Germans were constantly attempting to find ways to defect over the wall to the West Germany side.  125 confirmed deaths were caused by people attempting to defect over the wall.  East Germans would travel to Czechoslovakia or Hungary, where they could go around the sides of the wall and defect without attempting to cross the walls themselves.

September, 1989, protesters in East Germany appeared at the wall, chanting Wir wollen raus! (We want out!), followed by Wir bleiben hier (We're staying here).  East Germans call this their "Peaceful Revolution."  By November 4th, the protests had reached over a million people.

The Politburo decided to go ahead and call Reagan's challenge and allow freer access between East and West.  They created new regulations planned to become available November 17th.  The privilege of announcing the new rules fell upon Günter Schabowski, Politburo spokesperson... but due to ambiguous wording of the note handed him during a November 9 speech, he believed (and therefore announced) that the new rules applied immediately.  This was announced over Berlin's news networks, and within hours the gates of the Berlin Wall were crowded with East Germans demanding access!

The guards were surprised;  they had not been alerted to the new regulations.  Frantic calls were made for information, and nobody wanted to be responsible for authorising lethal force, and therefore the gates were opened shortly.

Here's a picture of Checkpoint Charlie, one of the first gates opened:



Excited East Germans started scaling the walls, leaping over into the ecstatic embraces of their Western counterparts.





Almost immediately, bits of the walls were being chipped off, both by protesters wishing to see the wall come down, and people seeking mementos of this day.  Over the next couple of months, new "Checkpoints" were opened by cranes, removing wall segments built over existing roads.  For hours, East and West Germans would stand around the proposed new openings, cheering when the new gates were opened.



December 25, 1989, Leonard Bernstein gave a concert in Berlin celebrating the end of the Wall, including Beethoven's 9th symphony (Ode to Joy) with the word "Joy" (Freude) changed to "Freedom" (Freiheit) in the text sung. The orchestra and choir were drawn from both East and West Germany, as well as the United Kingdom, France, the Soviet Union, and the United States.

June 13, 1990, the East German government began an official demolition program for the wall, and June 1, 1990 East Germany adopted West Germany's currency.  German reunification officially concluded October 3, 1990.

Roger Waters performed the Pink Floyd album The Wall just north of Potsdamer Platz on 21 July 1990, with guests including Scorpions, Bryan Adams, Sinéad O'Connor, Thomas Dolby, Joni Mitchell, Marianne Faithfull, Levon Helm, Rick Danko and Van Morrison. David Hasselhoff performed his song "Looking for Freedom", which was very popular in Germany at that time, standing on the Berlin wall.

To celebrate the fall, foam dominos have been set along the former path of the Wall, which will be toppled over in honor of the fall of the wall.  A Berlin Twitter Wall has been set up where Twitter users can post messages in commemoration of this event (this has been blocked by the Great Firewall of China, as it was being used by Chinese users to protest their own wall).

Very little of the wall officially still exists: a 263 ft segment of the original wall at the site of former Gestapo headquarters between Checkpoint Charlie and Potsdamer Platz, a longer segment of the easternmost wall along the Spree River near Oberbaumbrücke, and a third section, partially reconstructed, at Bernauer Strasse, which became a memorial in 1999.  Various fragments of wall and watchtower appears in various places, badly damaged by vandalism.  The city government has set cobblestones in the streets to mark where the wall used to sit.

Pieces of the Wall have been shipped and installed around the world, as the Wall is a symbol of increasing freedom;  Why not check if you live near one?

Today is a momentous day in human history, one that should be recognised the world over.  Now you know what the phrase "Tear down this wall!" means.  And now you can grasp the meaning of the line "Germany now in one piece," from the Animaniacs song The Nations of the World (34 seconds in).

For more information, see the Wikipedia entry for Berlin Wall.  Or, see this page from the New York Times where you can see pictures of Pre-Fall and Post-Fall Berlin Wall, with little sliders so you can compare them.  Or maybe post a Twitter on the Virtual Berlin Wall?

Thanks to Wikipedia for the images.

According to 411mania.com, Captain Lou Albano, most likely best known in this community as "Super Mario" from the Super Mario Super Show has passed away.



Born Louis Vincent Albano, July 29, 1933, "Captain Lou" took the wrestling world by storm.  A boisterious player with loud clothing and an even louder mouth, he brought attention to the Wrestling world and brought it to the mainstream.

I never personally was involved in the Wrestling Scene... I mean, as a young boy I had to know who "Hulk Hogan" was but I never went farther than that.  My first notice of Captain Lou was as Mario in the Super Mario Brothers Super Show, as one of the most interesting iterations of Mario to appear in media.

Captain Lou has been sick for a while, and according to his family, he has been home in hospice for a while.  He died at home, today.

Captain Lou, you will be missed.

Click here to Do the Mario with Captain Lou, one more time:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65uNCLBTje0
Wikipedia Article on Captain Lou:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Albano
News Article:  http://pwtorch.com/artman2/publish/Other_News_4/article_36012.shtml

A few weeks ago Sony and Sega held a meeting discussing various game-related topics. Almost immediately after, the whole discussion was leaked to the internet. And there are several things from it that may interest Sonic fans. The following are excerpts from the leak:


First, rumored character exclusive for the PS3 version of Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing. There's a good chance you may see Banjo, Kazooie, or Hero to download for your PS3 version. Interesting to note that Sega doesn't want Ratchet or Clank characters, but Fable characters. No word yet on how much this DLC may cost.

Second, a Sonic Anniversary 'Best of Sonic Collection' releasing on Blu-Ray for 99$. Yes, a buck short of an even hundred. The only hint we have of what's on it is 'all old Sonic games'. It will probably include all the games released up to Sonic Adventure or Sonic Adventure 2. What seperates this from the rest of the dime-a-dozen Sonic collections? This collection is rumored to be released on Sonic's anniversary, 2012. It also mentions Blu-Ray, which means high end graphics. Also, Sony wants to include exclusive power-ups and modes. But will it be worth spending a hundred bucks on? Guess we'll find out sometime.

Third, a (not so) confidential PS2 emulator for the PS3. This would enable PS2 games to be bought over the PSN. Sony wants to release all PS2 titles on the PSN, which is certainly no small feat. The only games mentioned are Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and an unknown Sonic game.

Last, DC digital titles. You may first think of comics like I did, but think again. They're saying Dreamcast Digital Titles. It seems we may see exclusive Dreamcast games on the PS3 sometime in the future. If Sega continues with the exclusive DC titles, Sony will give Sega more marketing support. Which would mean more exclusives, and so on.

With all this, one has to wonder what Sega's thinking. Will we see the Sony PS3 become the Sony Genesis? Or is all this just an unsubstantiated rumor? Should we cry tears of joy or tears of horror at these news? Guess we'll just have to see.

Source: Sega/Sony Internal Document Leaked Reveals Plans For The Future

Probably wants to be in the news section, except I can't post there. Funky rules and stuff.

You guys know about this, right?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUsy3K2zQpM