No Apparent Reason Parties, NARPs for short, are a long standing tradition here at Destructoid. NARPs are parties hosted by Dtoiders for Dtoiders and everyone is welcome to attend a party. It’s about playing games and interacting with other people all in the name of having a good time. The NARP groups live! Since the last NARP update, a few new Dtoid city groups have joined the ever growing list. Please welcome Dtoid Belgium, Denver, New England, North Carolina and the super fusion of Seattle-Vancouver....

Just when you think that videogames couldn’t be blamed for anything else, along comethose famous expertsto identity askin conditioncaused by gaming. “PlayStation palmar hidradenitis” is the name of the “new” disorder, which is identifiable as a series of sores on the palm of each hand. Researchers are backing up their claims with the case of a 12-year-old girl who ended up in a Swiss hospital with painful sores on her hands....

I don’t mean to flood you all withVirtua Fighter 5posts, but you must see this fighting footage from the PlayStation 3 version. While it looks amazing, what concerns me is that it looks exactly like every other fighter in this genre that I’ve seen for the past 10 years. Can someone please explain why these games are so appealing, still?

The Behemoth may be all aboutBattleBlock Theaterright now, but they haven’t forgotten aboutCastle Crashersfor the PlayStation Network. The game is still on track to hit the PSN this year and a new volleyball mini-game will be included in the release! There was a volleyball mini-game inCastle Crashersfor the XBLA, but that was only playable at the end of one of the desert stages. This is a full mini-game now on the PSN version, separate from the main quest....

In the middle of ourrousingoffice-wide almost daily Macintosh versus PC debate, we received the following information: Mythic Entertainment’sWarhammer Onlinewas ported to the Macintosh platform. It’s like the gods knew we were buzzing about the new Macbook Pros. Starting now, both grizzled and new players can download a Mac-specific beta client for the low, low price of free fromWAR’sofficial Web site. Anyone willing to leap platforms will receive “an exclusive title and trophy award....

Warren Ellis is amazing. I swear, the man must not sleep a wink at night. Not only is he currently writing at least eight different comic book series, the direct-to-DVDanime adaptation ofCastlevania III: Dracula’s Curseand several other projects, now he’s given us word that he’s responsible in some capacity for the story inDead Space. I must have readTransmetropolitanat least fifty times and I’m a huge fan of his currentDoktor Sleeplessseries. As a result, this news has elevatedDead Spacefrom being a game that had me mildly excited to downright frothing at the mouth for....

Really, why are all of these health products being made for the Japanese public? Look at your bodies, Japan. You don’t need this sh*t! Now look over here. Yeah. See that? Fat rolls everywhere! ThisWii Fit Body Check Channelprogram gives health instruction and sendsWii Fitdata to health professionals. It also accepts data from the DS walking titleAruite Wakaru Seikatsu Rhythm DS.Japanese electronics giantsNEC, Panasonic and Hitachi all have plans to dosomethingwith this tech in their massive lines of consumer products....

Another patch for the PC version ofCall of Duty: World at War, another round of free maps. This time, it’s the three maps fromMap Pack 3: “Battery,” “Breach,” and “Revolution.” Plus, there’s the standard Nazi zombie level, which in this case happens to be “Der Riese.” you may download the file byclicking here, or if you playWorld at Warvia Steam, it should be available from there as well. The patch notes can be found after the break, and beyond that, there isn’t much more to add....

After a not so long wait (it was only officially revealed a little over a year ago),God of War IIIfor PlayStation 3 is now available in stores. In short, I liked it a lot. Enough that I plan to go out and buy a person copy today, even after having played through it numerous times. If you want more details,don’t miss my review, which was posted last week. Still not convinced?...

Big thanks toEternalDarkWingfor some major backup this week. With YTMND being down for most of yesterday and the front page being flooded with 9/11 Man Now Dogs on Monday and Tuesday, it was quite challenging finding good YTMNDs for you all this week. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this weeks selections.

The ongoing saga that isDuke Nukemcontinues withfresh developmentstoday, as it has been revealed that 2K Games is working, or at leastwasworking, on an all-new game known asDuke Begins. Apogee and Take Two are currently embroiled in a legal battle, and it is from deep within the court documents that the revelation has been made. According to Apogee’s court filing; “Apogee, Take-Two, and 2K Games entered into an agreement in which Apogee granted 2K Games the exclusive right to develop and publish a new videogame based upon Apogee’sDuke Nukemfranchise… The new game was given the working title of “Duke Begins” and is not the same game as theDNFgame …”...

Back in 2002, I was in one of the beta test groups for Xbox Live. They sent me a couple of games that they were testing on the service and a headset. One of the games was a limited version ofWhacked!, I think. I remember thinking about what a gamechanger it was going to be, with everybody having voice-chat availability. And then I put that headset on, fired up the game and was assaulted by the sounds of twelve year-olds using the robot voice filter Microsoft somehow thought was a good idea....

The CEO of Activision, Bobby Kotick, recently announced that the company is fully committed to reviving the James Bond brand. Little does Bobby know that as he uttered these words, thousands of gamers were instantly warped back to a rose-colored era in their lives when they were glued toGolden Eye24 hours a day. Kotick is more than aware of its legacy though, as reflected in the quotes below: “Bond is one of the great videogame franchises of all time and that really was a result of Golden Eye,” Kotick said at a recent BMO Capital Markets conference....