Nobility is stupid

Ok, before I get into the crux of my post for today, I did see a midnight screening of Transformers, and you'd think as someone who was at best a casual fan of the show, I would've enjoyed it, but I hated it (except for Shia LaBeouf's performance, he was great). It's not a dumb, fun movie. It's an insultingly stupid loud mess of incoherence that has the gall to call itself a movie while pelting you with ridiculously unsubtle ads (I'm never buying anything by Nokia, ever). I mean seriously, this ranks up there with Episode I in terms of something fans have waited years for, and yet turns out to be shit. I don't get the mostly positive reaction.

On the bright side, I did manage to catch Live Free or Die Hard, and it's exactly what a big dumb, FUN action film should be. You can't top the original, but this was definitely the best sequel, so I'd urge moviegoers to spend their money on that (or Ratatouille for that matter) instead.

Now onto my main train of thought, which not surprisingly, comes from yet another moronic quote from yet another batshit insane Sony exec., Jack Tretton:

"Yeah, 'fewer exclusives' is a term, and I don't know what makes an exclusive," says Tretton. "We have a very different approach to exclusives than some of our competitors. We don't buy exclusivity. We don't fund development. We don't, for the lack of a better term, bribe somebody to only do a game on our platform."

Hey Jack, this isn't high-society fencing. It's a fucking cutthroat business where exclusives can definitely mean the difference between your company thriving or what leaves it hanging by a thread. Your console sucks on every conceivable level right now. The PS2 wasn't a dream to develop for either, but your mere presence couldn't be ignored. You are no longer the 800-pound gorilla. Companies now really do have a choice, and if they can go for a much cheaper platform (Wii) or to someone who will pay them oodles of money to develop an exclusive (360), they won't come knocking at your doorstep, period. The cracks are really starting to show in Sony. It won't be too long before half the board members are locked up in an asylum. Christ. At some point the level of stupidity these guys are showing must be obvious to everybody.

To end this column on a slightly more positive note, I picked up the new Official Xbox Magazine, which had an exclusive demo of Eternal Sonata. I admit, initially, this looked like a very cliched' rpg (albeit with an unusual premise), so I had little interest. But the very active battle system helps keep it really fresh. I definitely look forward to its release this fall.

That's pretty much it for today, but here's your TRAILER OF THE WEEK:

KING OF KONG: A FISTFUL OF QUATERS

King Of Kong: A Fistful Of Quarters - Trailer

Posted Jun 14, 2007

A middle-school science teacher and a hot sauce mogul vie for the Guinness World Record on the arcade classic, Donkey Kong.