Meet Incubattle, An Online Game Released By Incubus To Promote Its New Album

Incubus Has Released Incubattle To Promote Its Newest Album, "If Not Now, When?"

You might like Incubus or not, but there’s no denying that the social media campaign that they have put together to promote their latest album (“If Not Now, When?”) has been nothing short of admirable.

First, they had an interactive live stream going. Then, they announced a partnership with video-sharing app Viddy. And then, they began interacting with fans on Formspring.

What was left to do after all that action?

The answer was entirely obvious… a beat’em-up a la Double Dragon or Renegade!

These are two names that will surely ring a bell if you’re over 30. They were two of the most popular arcade games of the ‘80s, and I recall endless summer vacations playing them with my older brother.

Well, Incubus has come with their very own variation on such titles to promote their latest album. It’s named Incubattle, and they have done a terrific job as far as I’m concerned.

The game lets you pick your favorite band member and fight your way over five different stages, fighting pirates that have stolen copies of the album (he!). You can play the game on your own, or with a friend. And in addition to the usual punch/jump/dash controls, each character can perform a special move when he has collected enough leaked copies of the album. Continue reading

Superpunk! – Jorge Nasser Vs. Jorge Bonomi & Fernán Cisnero (Tiempos Salvajes)

This is a classic of Uruguayan radio. The incident took place one Saturday in March, 1993. Jorge Bonomi & Fernán Cisnero hosted a radio show named “Tiempos Salvajes” [Wild Times] in which they routinely abused one of the most popular rock bands of the day, Niquel. The band was fronted by Jorge Nasser and Pablo Faragó, and the hosts of the show looked askance at them because they regarded themselves as tough rock & rollers. They deemed Niquel’s approach as something sissy. They were making fun of the band live on air, and taking special umbrage at their recently-released symphonic album. Jorge Nasser (the singer and leader of the band) had enough. He headed straight to the studio, and by a bizarre twist of fate he got in without anybody noticing. He stood at the other side of the booth’s door, listening to the final segment of the show.

When the two hosts began picking on Niquel again, he exploded. Nasser stormed into the studio and gave the two radio hosts a beating to write home about. And it was all broadcast because the operator (fearing for her safety) ran away so quickly that she forgot to turn the mikes off.

“Stop it, man, stop it! Let’s talk it over!”. That was the only thing the radio hosts could repeat during the beating. When the first bout was over and Nasser stood towering over both of them, one of the hosts (completely scared out of his brains) squelched “Call the cops!”. Nasser’s retort has gone down in the history of Uruguayan radio.

“¡Ja! ¿Pero no sos el superpunk? ¿No sos el súperagresivo? ¿No es que te gusta la música con personalidad? Bueno, poné personalidad, jugate por lo que decís”.

[“¡Ha! Ain’t you a superpunk? Ain’t you a super-aggressive one? Don’t you always say you like music with personality? Come on, put a little personality to use, walk it the way you talk it”.]

Below you can download the audio in its entirety – you can listen to the first part of the show, the beating and then the mention the two hosts made to the incident the following Saturday.

People being people, I know you will want to listen to the beating first. Jump to 02:58. The “superpunk” bit comes at 04:24.

Superpunk – Jorge Nasser Vs. Jorge Bonomi & Fernán Cisnero (Tiempos Salvajes)