No one wants to believe...

I didn't really feel like talking about a desperate resurrection of a franchise that was clearly better off dead (and given the movie's paltry opening weekend, everyone seems to agree). So I just thought I'd wait til today to do an update. Now, speaking of franchises that I would gladly like to see resurrected, check out this apparent bootleg trailer of TRON 2!!!.

I did pick up Final Fantasy IV. But honestly, I probably won't dive into it until I got done with Tactics. I've got no less than 6 ds rpgs, so I figure I should beat at least a couple of the ones I already own before moving onto some new thing.

Despite everyone saying what an absolute waste E3 was this year, the ESA is going to give it at least one more try. I hope they are able to regain some of the brilliance & excitement of the last couple of years, but I'm very doubtful.

That's really all I got for today, but to make up for it, here's 5 awesomely NSFW minigames!

The future of E3/Batman

So, two major events went down last week, but both have a left many questions in their wake. I'll deal with E3 first, because it pretty much boils down to one question, is E3 dying? Probably; at least as we used to know it. As much as everyone was bitching about how much of a headache E3 was in its flashy years, now everyone is whining and moaning about it's seeming lack of importance. Lots of big names pulled out and there wasn't much of anything new or surprising in an event that used to be known for that kind of stuff. Maybe Nintendo summed it up best when they just full on admitted that they weren't using E3 to target core gamers because as much as MS & Sony may want to pretend otherwise, they used a majority of their presentations for things most certainly not geared towards core gamers in the first place either (i.e. Netflix integration). Maybe dying is a stretch, but E3 used to be THE show. It was where most of the big announcements for the next year or so were made. Now it's at best just another show, especially when most companies are putting together their own press events that are cheaper, less of a hassle, and let the spotlight be on them rather than shared with others. E3 may never completely die, but if it wants to retain any real relevance, a major revamp is in order. Just keep non-essential people (i.e. the brother of some gamestop manager) from going and that should keep the excess under control.

Now, onto the greatest movie ever! (I may be exaggerating, but not by much). Lots of questions, probably firstly, who should be the next Batman villain(s)? I think there's lots of good options. Even a resurrected Ra's Al Ghul or Two-Face (because Eckhart did a great job, just overshadowed by Ledge) seems like a decent idea. To be honest, what I'd really like to see is the Joker & Harley Quinn, but Ledger put such a definitive stamp on that character in Nolan's universe that if they were to re-cast the Joker (which I believe they should eventually) that you'd probably wait until at least a 4th film (if indeed that even happens, but I see Batman like Bond, make 10 films if you want as long as the rules of the Nolan-verse are strictly adhered to) to give some distance. Riddler & Penguin seem like poor choices. Catwoman would be good to include, but not as the primary villain. So I think the best possibilities would be either Poison Ivy (especially with Catwoman, make it sort of a love triangle) or Mr. Freeze. If for no other reason, to erase the horrible memory of these great characters being butchered by Joel Schumaker. Also, I would like to eventually see Robin included, as he's such an essential part of the Batman mythos. I even have pretty much the perfect actor for him, Emile Hirsch. But regardless, the future of this franchise overall looks incredibly bright, so I'd hate to see it only have one more film with so many good directions it can go.

Ok, I had planned to do this whole post yesterday, but inspiration struck as it often does at random times, prompting me to make this kickass new video for The Force Unleashed:



And I'll most likely post again on Wednesday with my initial thoughts on the Final Fantasy IV remake for DS as well as anything else that pops up. Until then, keep yourself busy with the FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Space Ranger

New year, same shit

Well, E3's out of the way, and honestly, we got the same song and dance that we did last year. Microsoft is trying to please everybody, stretching themselves too thin, Nintendo isn't trying to please anybody, which since it's working it's kind of hard to hate on them for it, but leaves us longtime gamers in the cold, and Sony once again seems poised to have a great year next year. Pretty much the only surprising things about the show were that Final Fantasy XIII is coming to the 360 (and it's always fun to see irrational PS3 fanboys react to that) and that Too Human might not suck (seriously, if you have Live, download the demo). Lots of cool games to look at, but nothing we really hadn't heard a ton about.

And of course many people are right now watching the movie event of the year, the Dark Knight. Admittedly, I've been in Batman overload, watching movies and tv shows (even the new Gotham Knight, which honestly kind of sucked). I'm think I'm over midnight showings for the most part, but I've already purchased a ticket for the earliest showing at a nearby theatre.

I'm honestly feeling kind of crappy so that's all I'm going to post today, but next time I will expand upon my E3 thoughts and The Dark Knight along with anything else that pops up. In the meantime, here's your TRAILER OF THE WEEK: Watchmen

Better off dead

I did manage to see Hellboy II over the weekend, and I really enjoyed it. It wasn't up there with the likes of Iron Man or probably what Dark Knight will end up being, but it was a lot of fun, and the characters are what make it more than anything else.

Now onto today's main topic. While I would hardly say that Buffy as a franchise would really be considered dead (especially with a rather excellent comic book going on right now as "season 8"), I think we can safely say that it is a franchise in its twilight and not likely to ever get back into the mainstream consciousness again. So it seems odd at best that a game company is picking this of all franchises (which has a very dedicated and somewhat scary fanbase) for a video game release, much less a DS video game release. I want to believe that because there's no impending movie or other quick cash-in, it's something the company will take their time & make an awesome product out of. But the cynic in me wants to say it's a desperate attempt to grab some money from a fanbase so rabid they will buy even bad products in support. I'm hoping I'm wrong, but early screen shots seem to point at something that looks like a pathetic licensed cash grab rather than a real treat for the fans.

That's really all I have for today, but E3, the biggest game conference of the year, starts Tuesday, so I'll definitely be updating plenty for that along with the biggest movie this year should make for a very fun week. In the meantime, enjoy your FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Chronicles of the Slayer

The Big Red Machine

Any other year, a movie like Hellboy II would seem like the easy mark for the big comic book movie of the Summer. The original, while not a mega-hit, was well received and has a healthy following, and the sequel seems to follow suit. But in a summer where you've got the somewhat surprise success of Iron Man, the revitalization of the Hulk and what many are already calling the greatest superhero movie ever in The Dark Knight, Hellboy seems to have almost been forgotten. Luckily it doesn't really have much direct competition this weekend, with another failure of an Eddie Murphy vehicle and a merely decent-looking Brendan Fraser special effects heavy film not having anything to do with mummies. But I can see it having a huge drop-off next weekend for obvious reasons, so they better make this one count.

And while anybody should be happy with the idea of Jack Thompson getting a decade-long ban from practicing law, how about a lifetime ban? Because that's what's apparently being recommended . I gotta tell you, it's stuff like this that makes me actually believe evil soulless jackasses will eventually be punished for all the crap they do.

That's really all I got for today, but I'll leave you with the TRAILER OF THE WEEK: Max Payne

Back to the future

Ok, in case you have no idea why I was so excited about a ticking clock in my last post, the reason is because it was a teaser site for CHRONO TRIGGER ON THE DS. If that still doesn't get you excited, get out of my sight, you disgust me. But seriously, The mere thought of of my favorite game ever on the go makes me tingly all over, and it's awesome that it is coming this holiday season as usually we have to wait quite awhile between the Japanese release of something like this and the US port.

Is the wait for what is already the greatest movie ever made unbearable? Two big releases this week should tide you over pretty well until next Friday: The blu-ray release of Batman Begins, and Gotham Knight, a collection of animated shorts by different acclaimed directors. I was pretty keen on Gotham Knight initially, especially since Bruce Timm, who is basically responsible for all the great DC animated shows over the last decade or so was involved and they had gotten Kevin Conroy, who voiced Batman in the animated series to star, but word is it's an interesting but forgettable collection of stories that aren't really connected to either of the movies and really do nothing to expand the Batman universe, so it sounds like a rental to me at this point.

And finally, to get all pumped up for the start of season 3 of the absolutely brilliant Psych, season 2 is out on DVD, so to get you pumped, here's a cool fanvid I found on youtube:

Sony giveth and Sony taketh away

Sony's long-awaited 2.4 firmware update that was to include long overdue features like in-game achievement trophies and in-game XMB. But the update was unceremoniously pulled a few short hours later due to "limited issues"/ In reality, it looks like another big black eye just after Sony had started to heal from the last one for delaying Killzone 2 til next year. Hopefully 2.4 comes back in full force, but if Sony ever wants a real chance at even giving the 360 a real run for their money, stupid mistakes like this need to stop happening.

So over the last few days, I saw both Wall-E & Wanted, and I can pretty much recommend both. Wall-E is great like most Pixar films, and Wanted, though a little silly, is a very fun over-the-top action flick.

Of course the big movie out this week has Will Smith once again pretty much owning July 4th with Hancock. The reviews seem to range from so-so to so terrible, but you could probably put Will Smith just grinning and saying "Aw hell naw" for 90 minutes and it would still make $100 million dollars. And it's nothing against Smith, he's a very talented guy (even the worst reviews seem to be praising his performance as one of the few highlights). I might see it, as I've mostly heard from friends that it's a decent matinee flick, but nothing I'd pay full price for.

And finally, OH MY GOD!!!!!