"Be Prepared" is the Girl Scouts' motto. I wasn't using "ironic" or "scare" quotes in the headline.

Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles (GSGLA) and Women in Games International (WIGI) are combining forces to create a merit badge in video game design. 

They're placing the Video Game Design badge in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) category of badges. Amy Allison, vice president at WIGI, said in an official statement that she hopes the badge will "get young girls excited in technology and science and let them know that they, too, can have a career in the video game industry." 

Lise Luttgens, chief executive officer at GSGLA, followed WIGI's statement with "Girl Scouts has a long history of developing pioneers in the fields of science and technology, so we are excited about collaborating with Women in Games International to ignite girls' interests in STEM-related subjects."

A brilliantly selected 16-bit heart will be the badge's graphic, a tribute to Nintendo's timeless indicator of health and extra lives. I'd rock that badge and I'm a man!

Note that they're not interested in just getting girls to play games. The emphasis is on the "design" part of Video Game Design. There doesn't appear to be a guide for attaining this badge yet, but it wouldn't be unreasonable for them to mimick the Boy Scouts' requirement for their Game Design badge (though the Boy Scouts' version is not video game-specific.) I checked out that Boy Scout badge: it wouldn't be a bad idea to put video game reviewers and critics through that manual's requirements.

The goal is to get the GSGLA badge recognized and adopted by the overarching Girl Scouts of America, so as to not limit this opportunity to the 40,000 (!) girls in the GSGLA alone.

Perhaps by the time my three-year-old joins the Girl Scouts--should she express such an interest--they could be selling annual copies of Madden and Assassin's Creed next to Samoas and Thin Mints. Though who am I kidding? Unless EA and Ubisoft start coating game boxes with caramel and toasted coconut, I'm going with the cookies. [READ MORE]

Sean brought us the first details regarding the upcoming NHL 14 yesterday, which hits stores on September 19, 2013. EA didn’t waste any time after announcing the game to give the world its first look at the game which you can see below.

The first trailer for the game has been released and shows some of what you can expect from this year’s installment. Even non-fans have to admit, it is a little hard to tell the gameplay from the highlight footage in here... it looks great:
   

This is a week that I have been waiting for since last year’s E3: Injustice is finally here! As a huge fighting game fan, I have been anxiously awaiting NetherRealm’s DC fighter and if the demo is any indication of the final product, I am going to be very happy. That isn’t the only game worth mentioning though as there are plenty others worth getting worked up about.

Our picks of the week include:

Pandora’s Tower: Although it has taken a couple of years, the action RPG Pandora’s Tower is finally making its way to the U.S. The game was originally released back in 2011 in Japan and is the finally piece of the fan-led Operation Rainfall puzzle. The game is now here certainly pushes Nintendo’s Wii to its technical limits, particularly in the visual department.

Sacred Citadel: The classic action RPG series Sacred is heading in a new direction thanks to Deep Silver as Sacred Citadel makes the universe more colorful and approachable than ever. The series is making the transition to a side-scrolling beat’em up akin to titles like Turtles in Time and Streets of Rage. Keeping in tune with the original Sacred series, the game features a variety of character classes who can all be upgraded and enhanced as you progress through the adventure. Up to four players can play together both online and off, making this an adventure meant to be played with friends.

Injustice- God’s Among Us: The marquee title amongst this week’s releases is NetherRealm Studio’s Injustice: Gods Among Us. This is a new breed of fighting game that aims to deliver the comic book experience from the world of DC comics. We’re not just talking about character variety, but large scale battles that come across more as epic set pieces rather than simple, one-on-one skirmishes. The game is full of both familiar and obscure faces from DC’s lengthy archives including Batman, Superman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Raven, and even Killer Frost and Ares. Featuring amazing visuals, interactive environments, and a ton of content for both gamers and comic book fans alike!

The full lineup consists of the following:

• Dragon Fantasy Book 1 for PlayStation 3 and Vita (Cross-Buy enabled)
• God Mode for PC and Xbox Live Arcade
• Injustice: Gods Among Us for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Nintendo Wii U
• Papo & Yo for PC
• Painkiller: Hell and Damnation for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3
• Pandora’s Tower for Nintendo Wii
• Sacred Citadel for Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, and PC (Steam)
• Shin Megami Tensai: Devil Summoner- Soul Hackers for Nintendo 3DS

Disney Infinity places the iconic worlds of Disney at your fingertips. At GDC, I was given the chance to see just how much power Avalanche Studios is giving players to craft their own experiences.

Infinity begins with playsets based on films like Pirates of the Caribbean, Monsters Inc. or The Incredibles. These campaigns clock in at around six or seven hours. The Toy Box Mode will be a bit longer.

Placing the Sully character on the Infinity receiver, my character switches from Mr. Incredible in a matter of seconds. Bringing up a toolbox menu, John Vignocchi, executive producer at Disney Interactive Studios, selects a water gun and Buzz Lightyear's familiar jetpack to outfit the furry blue monster.

Seeing Sully zoom around the map with a jetpack straight from Toy Story is a novel enough experience, but seeing sights like the building from 2012's Wreck-It Ralph, roller coasters from the real-life Disney World, and Scrooge McDuck's Money Bin all in one place is downright astonishing.

"Because Infinity has so many different virtual toys, the combinations are crazy," Vignocchi said. "We have things like Pride Rock from Lion King, so if you wanted to recreate the scene with Simba and Rafiki, you could do that. You can even create your own roller coasters."

Two players can play in the same Box, so the grind-rail roller coasters become competitive playgrounds when playing cooperatively. Alternatively, if split-screen isn't your cup of tea, up to four players can create online together.

These players can build and edit together. "If we were playing online together, it's kind of like our imaginations coming together to create," Vignocchi said.

Not only does Toy Box mode allow you to select and place props, buildings, landscapes and items, but also the overall aesthetics, too.

Using the Fairy Godmother's Wand,  Senior Producer Mike Schneider changes the textures of the world to resemble the Nightmare Before Christmas, complete with theme song and a darkened sky. Orange and black hues cover everything and, in a second, the world is a completely different place.

Wonderland textures and the cyberpunk tile sets of Tron dramatically alter the landscape as well, exponentially increasing the combinations and possibilities within created worlds.

Toy Box mode also gives players dominance over the logic of the world. Schneider conjures two soccer goals and places them at either end of a field within a stadium –– which he also created. After summoning a scoreboard, he uses the Wand to connect the goals and scoreboard, and tells the scoreboard to count one point every time a ball enters the goal.

The possibilities resulting from Disney Infinity's Toy Box mode are expanding the game past its initial dozens of hours of story playthroughs into  fully realized experience that players can return to over and over again. Not only set experiences that players can interact with, but actually create themselves.

Who didn’t see this one coming?

Activision has announced a new partnership with McDonalds that will bring some of your favorite Skylanders Giants characters to happy meals beginning this weekend. Between April 12 and Ma2, while supplies last, Mcdonald’s will offer customers who purchase a happy meal one of nine unique toys from the hit game (and a coupon for $10 off the starter pack).

The figurines being featured in the promotion include plenty of fan favorites: Spyro, Gill Grunt, Drobot, Chop Chop, Ignitor, Jet-Vac, Tree Rex, Crusher, and even Kaos (the bad guy). You can expect to begin seeing this partnership everywhere as television and paper advertising will begin almost immediately to hype the partnership and the offer. I guess I know what we’re having for dinner at my house this weekend...

We are one week away from the release of Netherealm Studio's Injustice: Gods Among Us and today they revealed the commercial you should be on seeing on TV rather soon. The commercial stars Kevin Smith, Jason Mewes and was written and directed by Kevin Smith. Kevin Smith is well known to be a major comic book fan so this game should be right up his alley. The commercial shows Kevin and Jason continuing their lifetime debate about "who would win in a fight" between superheroes. Now it seems they will finally be able to find out

Check out the commercial below and remember that Injustice: Gods Among Us hits stores next week on April 16th for Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii-U.

For more information. Check out the official website. 

There are few things as charming as a universe re-imagined in LEGO form. Tolkien’s Middle Earth, the vast expanses of the Star Wars galaxy, Gotham City; and now, Marvel’s New York City.
 
Phil Ring, producer at TT Games, unveiled the first level of LEGO Marvel Superheroes at GDC. The section only showed a small part of the entire game, but acted as a microcosm of things to come when the game releases this fall.
 
There are memorable locations from both real life and the Marvel realm, Ring said. “You’ll see the Statue of Liberty, but with a LEGO twist.
 
“We want to push things, do it bigger and better.”
 
One such example of “bigger” presents itself as the level opens on Grand Central Station, New York’s long-standing subway hub. Surrounded by indoor sand dunes, the villain Sandman shouts through a microphone, something about “cosmic bricks,” which Ring promises will play an important part in LEGO Marvel’s story.
 
Along with Sandman is Abomination, the towering mass of muscle and grit created from the same gamma ray exposure as the Hulk. Although Sandman’s normal form fits well within the constraints of the LEGO mini-fig size, Abomination and Hulk’s forms do not.
 
Cue BIG-figs: LEGO figures triple the size of mini-figs. Aside from their imposing size, characters such as the Hulk and Abomination come with their own powers. Appropriately, these two can lift huge objects, smash through barriers, and generally cause damage on a larger scale than most of the roster.
 
These abilities are a small taste of the powers relegated to LEGO Marvel’s entire cast. TT Games is stressing that, like LEGO Lord of the Rings and LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Marvel won’t just feel like a game for LEGO fans, but fans of the license as well.
 
“If you’re a Spider Man fan, it has to feel like Spider Man,” Ring said. “If you’re a Captain America fan, it has to feel like Captain America.”
 
LEGO Marvel has a “fantastic story written by Mark Hoffmeier,” who has written for Marvel on several occasions, including Marvel Super Hero Squad. TT Games promises the story remains true to every aspect of Marvel, from character relationships to their abilities.
 
This is illustrated shortly after Abomination is introduced. The Hulk and Iron Man proceed into “Sand Central Station” to end a hostage situation orchestrated by Sandman. Using cooperation between separate characters and their respective abilities ends Sandman’s efforts, and brings the level to its end.
 
Ring promised classic match ups in iconic locations throughout the remainder of the game, and like TT Games other titles, ensure that the experience is loyal to the license.

It’s not surprising to see a company try to cash in on the popularity of one of their games with an iOS/ mobile knock off... what is surprising is to see one as robust and impressive as Injustice: Gods Among Us. Warner Bros. Interactive and DC Comics have released the mobile version of the upcoming fighter Injustice, and it may impress even the most skeptical gamers.

The mobile version of the game, which will launch for the 360, PS3, and Wii U on April 16, does its best to replicate the gorgeous universe crafted in the main game. Instead of a one-on-one fighter, the mobile version uses a collectible card game mechanic to deliver three-on-three tag team battles using the game’s robust roster. Better yet, playing the game will unlock additional content for you in the console version, and vice versa. There are a variety of costumes and bonus features that can be unlocked by linking the two versions and playing them.

The app is free to download and offers some pay options within the actual game (additional characters and such), but nothing that you can’t unlock for free with a little bit of time and effort. You can check out the trailer for the app below and read the full press release on the next page.
    [READ MORE]

If you were at PAX East last week, you might have seen one of these curious signs. Forbes is reporting that Nintendo had a number of these placards up, which explicitly distinguishes between the Wii U and Wii by what each console is capable of. For example, it explains the difference between peripherals, storage space and the games each system plays. I think this is a good start, but in terms of the Wii U name I think that damage is done--it's just too similar, and doesn't have any distinguishing numbers in it. PS2 to PS3 to PS4? Easy. Wii U? "What the heck is that?" a lot of people seem to ask. And so Nintendo has a considerable brand identity crisis on their hands.

I know Nintendo desperately wanted to hang on to that instantly-recognizable Wii brand, but the people who will instantly recognize the name Wii...well let's just say they aren't the type who keep up to date on new consoles, or even know that new ones tend to come out every 5-7 years. Heck, some of them don't even associate "Wii" with "Nintendo." I kid you not. To them, the "Nintendo" was the thing they played Duck Hunt, Super Mario and 10 Yard Fight on back in 1987. The "Wii" was that magical cute-sports funbox that has been moldering in their closet ever since they got their fancy iPad with that there Angrybirds on it. Sadly Wii was a passing fad to most of these people, but then again I never expected the boomers, soccer moms and senior citizens to go from Wii Sports to Zelda or Resident Evil.

If Nintendo really wants to recapture the casual market, I think they should focus on the console itself more than the controller--most people I talk to think the GamePad is just a fancy, expensive new controller for their old Wii console. Going the "OLD BOX" vs " SHINY NEW BOX" route might be the way to go. This is the general American consumer base we're talking about here, and anyone who's worked in retail knows what I'm talking about.

After the internet becomes completely useless for a day on April 1st, Netherrealm will help you recover with a new Injustice: Gods Among Us demo for PS3 and 360 on April 2nd. They also announced that Black Adam, the original Captain Marvel's arch-nemesis, will be joining the roster. That's some serious 1940s stuff right there. And he's dusting Green Arrow in this new trailer. Shazam indeed. [READ MORE]

One staff writer played the first BioShock ad nauseum. Literally. We've also come to a split decision as to whether BioShock 2 is worth your time. And BioShock Infinite has got our collective head in the collective cloud.

What are you playing this weekend?

RUSSELL ARCHEY | Staff Writer | Twitter @neoscyther
I'm out of town this weekend, so no major PC or 360 gaming for me. However, I recently picked up Kirby Mass Attack on the cheap so I'll finally be giving that a shot. I have yet to play a Kirby game I dislike (though I have yet to play Air Ride beyond a quick demo race).

NATHAN CARTER | Staff Writer | Twitter @natedoggcata
I’m still suffering from a post-PAX hangover, so I think I will be taking it easy this weekend and playing some games that I can play while relaxing. I still have Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward to finish. I am about 30 hours into the game now and I have only unlocked about nine or ten of the 24 different endings in the game. I also picked up Dead or Alive 5 Plus for the Vita, a far superior version of the game compared to its console counterpart. Finally, I’ll probably hop into some more Left 4 Dead 2 when I get some spare time. Left 4 Dead 2 is always fun to hop in, play for a bit, then do something else.

NATHANIEL COHEN | Staff Writer | Twitter @seven_hells
Funny BioShock-related story. Way back when the first one came out, I went and picked up my pre-order, then was promptly struck down by some sort of food poisoning. It was the grossest two weeks of my life, but I wasn't going to let something as insignificant as not being able to sit up keep me from BioShock. That had been a really bad summer for games and I needed to play it. So I did. I finished in between bouts of praying to the flush gods. When I was was over it,I tried to play through it again, only to find the experience inexorably tied to how I felt while I was sick. I found I couldn't look at it, let alone play it, without suffering from some kind of really unpleasant PTSD nauseousness. It was so bad I had to trade it in, and it was two years before I could think about BioShock again.

I was not a fan of BioShock 2. I thought that except for the slightly upgraded shooting, everything else was just a pale imitation with worse graphics. I don't expect the same disappointment from BioShock Infinite.  You don't remake the same game for the third time and stick the word "Infinite" in the title unless you know exactly what you're doing.

I'll be playing BioShock Infinite and probably some FIFA Soccer 13. These international breaks are hard on fans of European club soccer. I gotta get my fix somehow. Watching the USMNT just isn't enough even when they have a particularly good couple of games.

SEAN COLLELI | Staff Writer
I'm actually revisiting BioShock 2 to get ready for SkyoShock. I kind of forgot just how good BioShock 2 was compared to the original. Most of the things that annoyed me in the first game--clunky combat, technical issues, a preachy story about a sociopolitical philosophy that hadn't been relevant for decades--was vastly improved in BioShock 2. Dual-wielding guns and plasmids really opened up the combat, and the plasmids and tonics were just overall cooler. Playing as a Big Daddy and escorting the Little Sisters as they harvested ADAM was also a lot of fun. Best of all, the story was just more compelling and didn't fall apart in the third act--it actually got better. Having Sofia Lamb as a foil for Andrew Ryan really helped, because it demonstrated that a philosophy on the other end of the spectrum--in this case super collectivism instead of Ryan's objectivism--could be just as bad if taken to the same extreme. Definitely check out BioShock 2 if you missed it the first time around.

CHARLES HUSEMANN | Editor-in-Chief | Twitter @chusemann
BioShock Infinite is sitting on my dining room table and I think that's going to be my main endeavor this weekend. There is a double XP weekend going for MechWarrior Online, so that will probably find it's way on to my playlist as well.

RANDY KALISTA | Staff Writer | Twitter @randykalista
SimCity is a problem. Losing sleep. Work suffering. Other hobbies collecting dust. Child doesn't even know me anymore. So, I'm grounding myself from SimCity (way to go, me) and heading back into Mass Effect 3 to finish the fight. If for no other reason than to get to bed on time. While I can't not read every single entry that pops up, the Codex should be renamed "naptime."

JOHN YAN | Senior Hardware Editor | Twitter @thejohnyan
So after finishing StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, I'm heading off to the city of Columbia to review BioShock Infinite. I'm really excited about this one as the previews at the past couple E3’s blew me away. I might jump into a quickie session of SimCity, but I'm at a point where I'm out of room. It was pretty quick to run out of room and I don't want to mess with it too much since I'm getting money and everyone's mostly happy. If someone wants to, I'll try out Dead Space 3 co-op, since I got that for free with my SimCity game.