At least in Japanese. I admit, I'm getting a little stir crazy waiting for Kingdom Hearts II to get here, were I slightly less stable, I may take a note out of Ethan's book and storm the SquareEnix US offices in order to secure myself a copy a little bit early.
So, the Oscars didn't actually suck last week (although Crash for best picture was a complete crock), and a large part of that was due to John Stewart, you can check out his best moments here.
Ever since going cold turkey on World of Warcraft a couple of months ago, I've been pretty anxious to also jump back into the mmo world, but only for something that offers a really different experience. I actually nearly picked up City of Heroes today. The new Dungeons and Dragons MMO looks really enticing, and instantly adresses one of my major issues with WOW. making travel a quick and painless thing rather than really long and tedious. On the other hand, it's completely dependent on getting a good cooperative group of people together for an instance, which can be incredibly hard in an MMO. Either way, I've decided to wait til my plate is a little less full, as I'm not quite done with Granda III, Oblivion is only 9 days away, and Kingdom Hearts II is only a week after that. But APril on looks pretty slim for games in general, so that may be time to start diving back in.
And finally, this coming week, Sony is apparently going to make a "BIG" announcement concenring the PS3. I'm sure the Sony faithful are waiting for them to announce that they are indeed launching in Spring and will crush all opposers (which given the 360s are stil pretty hard to find, and the Revolution is still months away, would be easy). Of course the big announcement could also be absolutely nothing, which is pretty much what I'm betting on (something along the lines of they are announcing that they will soon annoucne details of the PS3 launch and price, probably at E3). Regardless, they are still pretty much in the driver's seat. Nintendo is a nonfactor til we see something concrete, and the 360 launch has pretty much been a disaster at best. Sure, demand is ridiculously high, but that doesn't matter if no one can find any; and it's only in high demand here. Overseas they can't give it away. Regardless, it'll be interesting to see if Sony actually finally shows their hand in a few days.
And don't think I forgot about the FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Armor Heroes
3/09/2006
Good for what ails ya...
So this weeknd we have three major releases, two which are crappy remakes that nobody asked for, and a comedy that everyone swaers is a remake of just about every other formulaic romantic comedy out there.
Seriously, why would anybody even want to remake The Shaggy Dog? The original was awful. Disney actually has a large number of classic hits they could remake, this isn't one of them. Plus, Tim Allen as the dog is fairly reminiscent of the nightmarish Mike Myers as The Cat in the Hat. And there should be a moratorium on playing "Who let the dogs out" for at least 50 years.
Then there's The Hills Have Eyes, which had some value as a chessy B-movie and a commentary on nuclear testing during it's day, but now only exists as a crappy quick cash-in remake much like the new Texas Chainsaw Massacre a few years ago.
And finally, we have Failure to Launch, about a slacker who still lives with his parents event though he is in his nid-30s, apparently a growing trend these days. That may be so, but it still seems like every other comedy about unlikely couples made in the last 15 years.
Honestly, just thinking about going to see any of those terrible movies is making me ill. How about a potion?
Yup, in order to promote the release of Final Fantasy XII in Japan (which should be out there next week, lucky bastards), Squarenix is releasing an energy drink called "Final Fantasy XII Potion". No word on if the energy drink's "mythical" blend, which includes several herbs such as chamomile, rosemary and elder flower, actually does anything, but reportedly only 3 million are being made, so expect these suckers to be fetching high prices on Ebay real soon. Check out the ad as well, very weird but cool.
Seriously, why would anybody even want to remake The Shaggy Dog? The original was awful. Disney actually has a large number of classic hits they could remake, this isn't one of them. Plus, Tim Allen as the dog is fairly reminiscent of the nightmarish Mike Myers as The Cat in the Hat. And there should be a moratorium on playing "Who let the dogs out" for at least 50 years.
Then there's The Hills Have Eyes, which had some value as a chessy B-movie and a commentary on nuclear testing during it's day, but now only exists as a crappy quick cash-in remake much like the new Texas Chainsaw Massacre a few years ago.
And finally, we have Failure to Launch, about a slacker who still lives with his parents event though he is in his nid-30s, apparently a growing trend these days. That may be so, but it still seems like every other comedy about unlikely couples made in the last 15 years.
Honestly, just thinking about going to see any of those terrible movies is making me ill. How about a potion?
Yup, in order to promote the release of Final Fantasy XII in Japan (which should be out there next week, lucky bastards), Squarenix is releasing an energy drink called "Final Fantasy XII Potion". No word on if the energy drink's "mythical" blend, which includes several herbs such as chamomile, rosemary and elder flower, actually does anything, but reportedly only 3 million are being made, so expect these suckers to be fetching high prices on Ebay real soon. Check out the ad as well, very weird but cool.
3/05/2006
John Stewart can't make eveything funny...
I just got back from seeing 16 Blocks, and I thought it was a very solid and fun action thriller, a much needed rebound for Willis from last year's atrocious Hostage.
And I gave in and bought Grandia III yesterday. I'm about 7 hours in so it's obviously an involving game. The battle system is still excellent, arguably the best in all of rpgdom, though it's not nearly as easy to cancel or counter attacks as it has been in previous games. My only real complaint is that the characters (aside from the main protagonist's mother, who is easily the coolest videogame mom ever) are pretty much stock j-rpg with fairly mediocre voice acting and dialgogue, not making the story too great overall. It's good filler, but still filler.
Got about 35 minutes to kill? Check out this amazing footage of Will Wright's next masterpiece, Spore,this will either be the biggest game of all time, or the biggest flop of all time, should be fascinationg either way.
Finally, tonight is the Emmy awards with host John Stewart. I've paid loose attention to the nominees, but I'll only be watching tonight because nothing else is on, and as Johnny Carson once said, it's 2 hours of entertainment stretched into a four hour show, and he was being very generous about it even being 2 hours of actual entertainment. When the academy starts considering animated films as good as real films and gives comedic performances, which are so much more difficult than dramatic ones, their due, I'll actually consider them worthwhile.
And I didn't forget about the FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Aliens from Planet Dave-An amusing choose-your-own-adventure style game.
And I gave in and bought Grandia III yesterday. I'm about 7 hours in so it's obviously an involving game. The battle system is still excellent, arguably the best in all of rpgdom, though it's not nearly as easy to cancel or counter attacks as it has been in previous games. My only real complaint is that the characters (aside from the main protagonist's mother, who is easily the coolest videogame mom ever) are pretty much stock j-rpg with fairly mediocre voice acting and dialgogue, not making the story too great overall. It's good filler, but still filler.
Got about 35 minutes to kill? Check out this amazing footage of Will Wright's next masterpiece, Spore,this will either be the biggest game of all time, or the biggest flop of all time, should be fascinationg either way.
Finally, tonight is the Emmy awards with host John Stewart. I've paid loose attention to the nominees, but I'll only be watching tonight because nothing else is on, and as Johnny Carson once said, it's 2 hours of entertainment stretched into a four hour show, and he was being very generous about it even being 2 hours of actual entertainment. When the academy starts considering animated films as good as real films and gives comedic performances, which are so much more difficult than dramatic ones, their due, I'll actually consider them worthwhile.
And I didn't forget about the FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Aliens from Planet Dave-An amusing choose-your-own-adventure style game.
3/03/2006
No way I'm walking that far....
Bruce Willis is back with Richard Donner for his latest film, 16 Blocks. Granted, it's been a little while since Willis has pulled off a really solid film, but with Mos Def and David Morris starring along with Donnner's usual knack for solid big action flicks that Michael Bay only wishes he do could half as well is should be at least a fun way to kill and hour and 40 minutes.
On the other hand Ultraviolet, this week's other big action film is possibly the most generic-looking futuristic thriller I have ever seen. It literally looks like they took Aeon Flux, the Matrix, and Kill Bill and just threw them into some sort of blender in order to make the blandest film possible. Milla Jovovich's careerr was actually of to a fairly promising start when she first got into films, but with her lastest releases being such pure garbage(i.e. Resident Evil: Apocalypse), she should probably just go back to modeling.
There's a reason nobody's done a live-action mermaid fild since Splash, and yet over 20 years later, here we are with Aquamarine (out this weekend), which is about a mermaid who comes to shore in order to find love. Really, the only difference is that it's set in high school, they might as well have gotten Tom Hanks and Darryl Hannah's kids to do the film as a joke to admit how much they are directly rippping off here.
But the most well-recieved film opening this weekend is Dave Chapelle's Block Party, a concert film that is essentially a huge party thrown by Dave Chapelle, a few friends and a tom of hip-hop artists. But at it's core, it's still a concert film. Not something I would actually pay to see, but maybe if I can check ot out for free I'll give a shot somewhere dow the line.
So, apparently Microsoft's suppossed new portable console isn't actually a console at all, just another tablet PC currently known as "Origami". Not a huge suprise, but sort of dissapointing tho get all hyped-up about it only to learn the next day that the product is nothing like what you were hoping for. Odds are that MS will give the handheld market a shot sooner or later, but this isn't it.
Well, I've been talking about either picking up Grandia III or Shadow Hearts: Dark Covenant, but since Elder Scrolls: Oblivion has finally gotten a solid release date of March 21st, I'll probably just hold off and wait to pick that up. I can wait a little over two more weeks. I hope.
Finally a really interesting tidbit was released fron THQ about their latest game, which is based on the upcoming Pixar film, Cars. Most could care less about the alsmot certain to be crappy movies based on the game, but the interesting bit is that it is for the Nintendo revolution and expected to be out in Novemeber, so odds are Nintendo's next console should be out by then.
On the other hand Ultraviolet, this week's other big action film is possibly the most generic-looking futuristic thriller I have ever seen. It literally looks like they took Aeon Flux, the Matrix, and Kill Bill and just threw them into some sort of blender in order to make the blandest film possible. Milla Jovovich's careerr was actually of to a fairly promising start when she first got into films, but with her lastest releases being such pure garbage(i.e. Resident Evil: Apocalypse), she should probably just go back to modeling.
There's a reason nobody's done a live-action mermaid fild since Splash, and yet over 20 years later, here we are with Aquamarine (out this weekend), which is about a mermaid who comes to shore in order to find love. Really, the only difference is that it's set in high school, they might as well have gotten Tom Hanks and Darryl Hannah's kids to do the film as a joke to admit how much they are directly rippping off here.
But the most well-recieved film opening this weekend is Dave Chapelle's Block Party, a concert film that is essentially a huge party thrown by Dave Chapelle, a few friends and a tom of hip-hop artists. But at it's core, it's still a concert film. Not something I would actually pay to see, but maybe if I can check ot out for free I'll give a shot somewhere dow the line.
So, apparently Microsoft's suppossed new portable console isn't actually a console at all, just another tablet PC currently known as "Origami". Not a huge suprise, but sort of dissapointing tho get all hyped-up about it only to learn the next day that the product is nothing like what you were hoping for. Odds are that MS will give the handheld market a shot sooner or later, but this isn't it.
Well, I've been talking about either picking up Grandia III or Shadow Hearts: Dark Covenant, but since Elder Scrolls: Oblivion has finally gotten a solid release date of March 21st, I'll probably just hold off and wait to pick that up. I can wait a little over two more weeks. I hope.
Finally a really interesting tidbit was released fron THQ about their latest game, which is based on the upcoming Pixar film, Cars. Most could care less about the alsmot certain to be crappy movies based on the game, but the interesting bit is that it is for the Nintendo revolution and expected to be out in Novemeber, so odds are Nintendo's next console should be out by then.
2/28/2006
Sun Tzu once wrote, "If your enemy is weaker, conquer him. If he is stronger, join him. If he is Jack Bauer, you're fucking dead."
With the release of 24: The Game out this week and 2 full hours of 24 next monday, it's a good time for Jack Bauer fans. All I will say about this season so far is that it has had some high points and low points. Not the pure adrenalin rush season 4 was, but with all hell about to break loose, the season should really pick up. How is the game? Probably a tad underwhelming since all I've seen so far is mildly decent magazine scores and no early website reviews as of yet (meaning 2K games may not have wanted word to get out before the game was actually out).
But also finally out this week is EA's Black, which their PR department has come up with the term "gun porn" to describe it. Several reviews mention the coolness of the levels of destruction, and apparently, somebody figured out that a shotgun is the ultimate key, since you can use that to open locked doors. The reviews have been solid, but it's a universal agreeement that the game is too short and could've been so much more (i.e. no multi-player).
Finally got through Tales of Legendia's character quests today. It was a somewhat exhausting but fun 50+ hours overall. Still have about a month til Kingdom Hearts II hits, so I'll need something to keep me busy, and although I haven't been that impressed by previews, both Grandia III & Shadow Hearts: The New World seem like good filler. I'll probably also try to go through the original Kingdom Hearts for the umpteenth time, but that shoudln't take more than a week.
A little while ago, I mentioned Microsoft may be making a portable console, and apparently it's more of a reality and coming sooner than anyone would've guessed. An official annoucnement is suppsoedly coming out this week, but reportedly the system is essentially a portable Xbox that you can also play music and watch movies on. There is a heavy rumor circulating that MS is launching their own music system to compete with Apple, I'd be willing to bet this new portable launches with the service. Here's a supposed ad for the system. Halo 2 on the go does sound pretty friggin sweet.
Moving on from games, plenty of great stuff out on DVD this week, namely Walk the Line, which was a pretty superb movie in my humble opinion, worthy of every nomination it got. But I'm much more excited about Newsradio: Season 3. The late great Phil Hartman, Dave Foley, and Andy Dick are just an unbeatable comedic trio. You're doing yourself a disservice if you don't pick up all 3 seasons currently out and the 4th when it comes out.
Want to direct a movie commercial? Well Universal Pictures is giving amatuers a shot at the big time by holding a contest for their upcoming release Slither. The movie already looks like plenty of fun, should be interesting to see what comes out of this.
Dead or Alive stills have been posted, I can smell the oscar already:
And finally, thank god the olympics are over, now I can get back to Scrubs, which is actually on right now. Until next time...
But also finally out this week is EA's Black, which their PR department has come up with the term "gun porn" to describe it. Several reviews mention the coolness of the levels of destruction, and apparently, somebody figured out that a shotgun is the ultimate key, since you can use that to open locked doors. The reviews have been solid, but it's a universal agreeement that the game is too short and could've been so much more (i.e. no multi-player).
Finally got through Tales of Legendia's character quests today. It was a somewhat exhausting but fun 50+ hours overall. Still have about a month til Kingdom Hearts II hits, so I'll need something to keep me busy, and although I haven't been that impressed by previews, both Grandia III & Shadow Hearts: The New World seem like good filler. I'll probably also try to go through the original Kingdom Hearts for the umpteenth time, but that shoudln't take more than a week.
A little while ago, I mentioned Microsoft may be making a portable console, and apparently it's more of a reality and coming sooner than anyone would've guessed. An official annoucnement is suppsoedly coming out this week, but reportedly the system is essentially a portable Xbox that you can also play music and watch movies on. There is a heavy rumor circulating that MS is launching their own music system to compete with Apple, I'd be willing to bet this new portable launches with the service. Here's a supposed ad for the system. Halo 2 on the go does sound pretty friggin sweet.
Moving on from games, plenty of great stuff out on DVD this week, namely Walk the Line, which was a pretty superb movie in my humble opinion, worthy of every nomination it got. But I'm much more excited about Newsradio: Season 3. The late great Phil Hartman, Dave Foley, and Andy Dick are just an unbeatable comedic trio. You're doing yourself a disservice if you don't pick up all 3 seasons currently out and the 4th when it comes out.
Want to direct a movie commercial? Well Universal Pictures is giving amatuers a shot at the big time by holding a contest for their upcoming release Slither. The movie already looks like plenty of fun, should be interesting to see what comes out of this.
Dead or Alive stills have been posted, I can smell the oscar already:
And finally, thank god the olympics are over, now I can get back to Scrubs, which is actually on right now. Until next time...
2/25/2006
Procrastination is teh ghey
I was really hoping something interesting would break this week, but it hasn't. A crappy movie with Paul Walker (Running Scared) is all that's even been screened for critics this week, and not suprisingly, it's getting enough bad reviews that hopefully it's the bullet that kills Paul Walker's career (but odds are it won't).
And the only newsworthy item is something that I somehow forgot to mention last week: Seems that UMD movie sales for the PSP are majorly sucking ass. Apparently, people don't want to pay for the same movie more than once (ok, except for diehard fans of Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and Evil Dead, but they're nuts). What is Sony's solution? Sell you a fucking TV adapter. BRILLIANT! Now I can pay for a stripped-down UMD version of a film what I would pay for a normal DVD version, but also buy a pricey adapter so I can play it on my TV!
Ok, that's it for today, but to make up for my lack of posting, how about 101 FREE GAMES! That's right, the 101 best free computer games as chosen by Computer Gaming World. Should be at least a few decent ones in there, right?????
And the only newsworthy item is something that I somehow forgot to mention last week: Seems that UMD movie sales for the PSP are majorly sucking ass. Apparently, people don't want to pay for the same movie more than once (ok, except for diehard fans of Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and Evil Dead, but they're nuts). What is Sony's solution? Sell you a fucking TV adapter. BRILLIANT! Now I can pay for a stripped-down UMD version of a film what I would pay for a normal DVD version, but also buy a pricey adapter so I can play it on my TV!
Ok, that's it for today, but to make up for my lack of posting, how about 101 FREE GAMES! That's right, the 101 best free computer games as chosen by Computer Gaming World. Should be at least a few decent ones in there, right?????
2/17/2006
What's that? YOU STILL HAVEN'T SEEN SERENITY?
Well now you have no excuse, cause youtube has it for free, no strings attached, you just stream it. Certainly a better option than the tripe in theaters this weekend. I suffered through Date Movie earlier today, and it was a total mess. Not one good thing I can say about it. Eight Below is a movie with Paul Walker who is playing second fiddle to a dog sled team (just look at the wonders the did for Cuba Gooding JR.'s career...) regardless of how many positive reviews it gets. And Freedomland is another movie that obviously can't decide what it wants to be (is it a mystery, a horror movie, or statement on bad race relations? Oh wait, it's a horrid combination of all 3).
One game I forgot to talk about last time that came out this week was Mark Ecko's Getting Up : Contents Under Pressure-This has raised a big stir because it basically endorses graffiti, but Sega beat them to the punch on that years ago with Jet Set Radio. I'm not too interested in some flash in the pan clothes designer's idea of a game.
And before I go, here's your FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: No Action Jackson-Classic Sierra-style adventure.
One game I forgot to talk about last time that came out this week was Mark Ecko's Getting Up : Contents Under Pressure-This has raised a big stir because it basically endorses graffiti, but Sega beat them to the punch on that years ago with Jet Set Radio. I'm not too interested in some flash in the pan clothes designer's idea of a game.
And before I go, here's your FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: No Action Jackson-Classic Sierra-style adventure.
2/15/2006
Jack Thompson has a new ally in his fight against Rockstar...
Just who? HOOKERS! That's right, hookers are stepping up and protesting Grand Theft Auto for it's "encouragement" of violence against hookers. It's a proud day in the Thompson household....
Even better news: Uwe Boll has threatened to stop making movies! I love how he basically takes swipes at Doom which wasn't a huge hit but grossed more money in it's opening weekend than all his films combined, and how he thinks the way he makes movies is a good thing and we should be grateful they are getting made at all. Yeah, everyone was just waiting for a fucking Postal movie.....
I'm almost done with the main game of Tales of Legendia, but there are also personal quests for each of the characters after the end, so hopefully that'll keep me busy a little bit longer. Which means I'll most likely be picking up either Grandia III or Shadow Hearts: FTNW soon, need something to keep me busy till Kingdom Hearts 2.
Sony's online strategy has finally been revealed. Sounds like they are basically copying MS' setup, which certainly isn't a bad plan, but you're gonna want to be able to offer something different if you want converts or people to choose you over the competition, plus they don't have nearly the experinece MS has, I'm sure the first year or so of this service will be pretty bumbpy, just like it was for MS.
Ever wonder what Sci-Fi crew you would be the best fit for? Take this fun little quiz. I got the crew of DS9, which is fine by me as it was easily my favorite Trek show.
In all honesty, it's a good thing that Xbox 360s are still ridiculously scarce right now, because with Full Auto finally out, I'd be heavily tempted to go out and buy one. Something about the blending of Twisted Metal and Burnout along with online play just really appeals to me even though I'm not into cars at all.
And that's really about it for today, but I'll definitely be back tomorrow or Friday.
Even better news: Uwe Boll has threatened to stop making movies! I love how he basically takes swipes at Doom which wasn't a huge hit but grossed more money in it's opening weekend than all his films combined, and how he thinks the way he makes movies is a good thing and we should be grateful they are getting made at all. Yeah, everyone was just waiting for a fucking Postal movie.....
I'm almost done with the main game of Tales of Legendia, but there are also personal quests for each of the characters after the end, so hopefully that'll keep me busy a little bit longer. Which means I'll most likely be picking up either Grandia III or Shadow Hearts: FTNW soon, need something to keep me busy till Kingdom Hearts 2.
Sony's online strategy has finally been revealed. Sounds like they are basically copying MS' setup, which certainly isn't a bad plan, but you're gonna want to be able to offer something different if you want converts or people to choose you over the competition, plus they don't have nearly the experinece MS has, I'm sure the first year or so of this service will be pretty bumbpy, just like it was for MS.
Ever wonder what Sci-Fi crew you would be the best fit for? Take this fun little quiz. I got the crew of DS9, which is fine by me as it was easily my favorite Trek show.
In all honesty, it's a good thing that Xbox 360s are still ridiculously scarce right now, because with Full Auto finally out, I'd be heavily tempted to go out and buy one. Something about the blending of Twisted Metal and Burnout along with online play just really appeals to me even though I'm not into cars at all.
And that's really about it for today, but I'll definitely be back tomorrow or Friday.
2/12/2006
Demo Disc Day
Ok as I said I was going to do, I played through the PSM demo disc (although after some thought, this probably won't be a regular thing, there's a good reason I rarely buy these types of mags-the extra content rarely justifies the price). I didn't check out every single demo, but here's some observations on what I did try out:
Shadowhearts: The New World-Oh dear god what have they done to my beloved underground franchise? The classic ring-based battle system is still there, but half the reason the first two games were so good were the great characters that weren't your usual bratty underage youths and great dialogue and voice acting. This demo shows the hero, a 16-year old bratty rich kid who fancies himself a detective, and his Lurch-like bodyguard, both with laughably awful voices and dialogue. I might give a rent, but at this point no way I'm purchasing Shadow Hearts unless I hear of a drastic voice overhaul.
Sonic Riders: If I had any doubt left that Sonic needs to either be drastically revamped or killed off completely, this "extreme" title is it. Not only are the controls horrible, but does anybody give a rat's ass that anybody other than Sonic is even in this game? Time to go back to the drawing board guys.
Teen Titans: I like the show, so I had an outside hope that this would be different from the other licensed crap out there. It shows some potential, but it's choppy and why the hell can't I turn into a T-rex (or several other animals) as Beast Boy? In fact, all the characters abilities seem to be rather limited, which is just lazy on the developers'part.
State of Emergency 2: You know, the first game was a fucking pile of shit, and admittedly, this seems a slight step up from that, but only slightly. It's still the same redundant crap, except no there seems to be no lame escort missions.
Drakengard 2: I wasn't too impressed by the first title, and the 2nd one isn't much of an improvement quite frankly. It's trying to be Panzer Dragoon, but it's just not nearly as good, and realyl, if you can't at least match that level of excellence why bother?
Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams: I love how they said that the last Onimusha game was actually going to be the last one, yet here we are less than 2 years later with another game on the same platform. And it still plays like crap.
And there wasn't a playable demo, but a video of the making of Grandia III that was none too reassuring either. I was seriously excited about this game until I heard the developers trying to explain their concept. Luckily the reviews have been really solid, so it'll probably be the perfect thing to pick up right after I'm done with Tales of Legendia and will hopefully keep me busy until Kingdom Hearts II is out.
Ok, that's all for today. FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Alien Hominid-A classic shooter
Shadowhearts: The New World-Oh dear god what have they done to my beloved underground franchise? The classic ring-based battle system is still there, but half the reason the first two games were so good were the great characters that weren't your usual bratty underage youths and great dialogue and voice acting. This demo shows the hero, a 16-year old bratty rich kid who fancies himself a detective, and his Lurch-like bodyguard, both with laughably awful voices and dialogue. I might give a rent, but at this point no way I'm purchasing Shadow Hearts unless I hear of a drastic voice overhaul.
Sonic Riders: If I had any doubt left that Sonic needs to either be drastically revamped or killed off completely, this "extreme" title is it. Not only are the controls horrible, but does anybody give a rat's ass that anybody other than Sonic is even in this game? Time to go back to the drawing board guys.
Teen Titans: I like the show, so I had an outside hope that this would be different from the other licensed crap out there. It shows some potential, but it's choppy and why the hell can't I turn into a T-rex (or several other animals) as Beast Boy? In fact, all the characters abilities seem to be rather limited, which is just lazy on the developers'part.
State of Emergency 2: You know, the first game was a fucking pile of shit, and admittedly, this seems a slight step up from that, but only slightly. It's still the same redundant crap, except no there seems to be no lame escort missions.
Drakengard 2: I wasn't too impressed by the first title, and the 2nd one isn't much of an improvement quite frankly. It's trying to be Panzer Dragoon, but it's just not nearly as good, and realyl, if you can't at least match that level of excellence why bother?
Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams: I love how they said that the last Onimusha game was actually going to be the last one, yet here we are less than 2 years later with another game on the same platform. And it still plays like crap.
And there wasn't a playable demo, but a video of the making of Grandia III that was none too reassuring either. I was seriously excited about this game until I heard the developers trying to explain their concept. Luckily the reviews have been really solid, so it'll probably be the perfect thing to pick up right after I'm done with Tales of Legendia and will hopefully keep me busy until Kingdom Hearts II is out.
Ok, that's all for today. FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Alien Hominid-A classic shooter
2/11/2006
Arresting Finale
Hoped you watched the last 2 hours of Arrested Development tonight, may be a while before you see any more, assuming they finalize a deal with ABC or Showtime (for the record, Showtime sounds like a better deal, less episodes, but more years and don't have to worry about ratings, though they should keep bleeping swear words, it's funnier that way.)
I saw Final Destination 3 today, seemed like the only semi-noteworthy flick opening this weekend. Pink Panther smells desperate as hell (and I wasn't a big fan of the original). I was initially excited about Firewall, but i realized not only has Harrison Ford done this quite a few times before, this is essentially the same as Hostage, which was also extremely crappy. And Curious George seems fine for the kids, but I'll at least pass til video. Anyways, FD 3 was exactly what you expected it to be-Gruesome, campy, and a lot of fun. First enjoyable horror film I've seen in quite awhile.
Start the countdown, the official Kingdom Hearts 2 website is up. This is easily my most anticipated game of the last few years, my copy is all paid for and I can't wait to start kicking some Heartless ass all over the Magic Kingdom.
Finally, I'm about 11 hours in on Tales of Legendia, and it's pretty fun. It's not much of a change from previous titles in the series (and actually a step back since it loses the psuedo-3D fighting from Tales of Symphonia). The real key is the great humor, lot's of very funny dialogue and interesting characters along with a damn evil and worthy main villain. Highly reccomended for any action rpg fans.
Taht's it for today, but worry not, I'll be back Sunday with some impressions on the latest PSM demo disc (which may become a regular thing) and the game of the week along with probably a couple other observations. In the mean time, get hyped for Disgaea 2 by checking out the trailer.
I saw Final Destination 3 today, seemed like the only semi-noteworthy flick opening this weekend. Pink Panther smells desperate as hell (and I wasn't a big fan of the original). I was initially excited about Firewall, but i realized not only has Harrison Ford done this quite a few times before, this is essentially the same as Hostage, which was also extremely crappy. And Curious George seems fine for the kids, but I'll at least pass til video. Anyways, FD 3 was exactly what you expected it to be-Gruesome, campy, and a lot of fun. First enjoyable horror film I've seen in quite awhile.
Start the countdown, the official Kingdom Hearts 2 website is up. This is easily my most anticipated game of the last few years, my copy is all paid for and I can't wait to start kicking some Heartless ass all over the Magic Kingdom.
Finally, I'm about 11 hours in on Tales of Legendia, and it's pretty fun. It's not much of a change from previous titles in the series (and actually a step back since it loses the psuedo-3D fighting from Tales of Symphonia). The real key is the great humor, lot's of very funny dialogue and interesting characters along with a damn evil and worthy main villain. Highly reccomended for any action rpg fans.
Taht's it for today, but worry not, I'll be back Sunday with some impressions on the latest PSM demo disc (which may become a regular thing) and the game of the week along with probably a couple other observations. In the mean time, get hyped for Disgaea 2 by checking out the trailer.
2/09/2006
Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip. That started from this tropic port, aboard this not so tiny ship.
In lieu of seeing Good Night & Good luck this weekend, I decided to concentrate on Dragon Quest VIII, which paid off since I beat it Monday night. The boss was pretty easy and the end was kind of predicatble and lame, but it was overall a satisfying 75 hours and 24 minutes I spent. And since Tales of Legendia has been getting mostly pretty solid reviews, I picked it up, I'll let you know my early impressions in the next post. The story takes place upon a giant continent that is in reality, a ship, hence today's header.
Probably the best news of the last month: Uwe Boll is definitely not going to be directing the Metal Gear Solid movie. Straight from Kojima's mouth:
"Absolutely not! I don't know why Uwe Boll is even talking about this kind of thing. We've never talked to him. It's impossible that we'd ever do a movie with him."
Now, I've always found the storylines in the MGS games to be really bizarre and nonsensical, but at least with Boll definitely having no hand in the project, it won't be complete gutter trash with shit production values like all of his films are.
Finally, Kingdom Hearts II has a solid release date of March 28th, but more awesome is the mostly stellar cast. Some great heavy hitters like Christopher Lee and James Woods, but seriously, Jesse McCartney as one of the lead characters? That's almost as bad as having Lance Bass as Sepiroth.
Probably the best news of the last month: Uwe Boll is definitely not going to be directing the Metal Gear Solid movie. Straight from Kojima's mouth:
"Absolutely not! I don't know why Uwe Boll is even talking about this kind of thing. We've never talked to him. It's impossible that we'd ever do a movie with him."
Now, I've always found the storylines in the MGS games to be really bizarre and nonsensical, but at least with Boll definitely having no hand in the project, it won't be complete gutter trash with shit production values like all of his films are.
Finally, Kingdom Hearts II has a solid release date of March 28th, but more awesome is the mostly stellar cast. Some great heavy hitters like Christopher Lee and James Woods, but seriously, Jesse McCartney as one of the lead characters? That's almost as bad as having Lance Bass as Sepiroth.
2/03/2006
I'm sorry, you've got the wrong number...
Is probably the first thing I'd say When a Stranger Calls, the only film even opening this weekend that was obviously so bad it was not screened for critics.
Not really much else going on this week (apparently, Superbowl sunday has killed off all other happenings), but I did watch Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-rabbit, and it was excellent, very clever and funny. And thankfully, Good Night and Good Luck is finally opening this weekend at my local theatre, so I'll probably check that out tommorow.
I'm nearly at the end of Dragon Quest VIII, which will be just in time for Tales of Legendia , from the same team that made the spectacular Tales of Symphonia. Then, only a week later, Grandia III hits the shelves. My PS2 is going to be very busy this month (and most likely next month as well, assuming a couple key releases stay on schedule).
And of course-FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Zef's Underwater Adventure
Not really much else going on this week (apparently, Superbowl sunday has killed off all other happenings), but I did watch Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-rabbit, and it was excellent, very clever and funny. And thankfully, Good Night and Good Luck is finally opening this weekend at my local theatre, so I'll probably check that out tommorow.
I'm nearly at the end of Dragon Quest VIII, which will be just in time for Tales of Legendia , from the same team that made the spectacular Tales of Symphonia. Then, only a week later, Grandia III hits the shelves. My PS2 is going to be very busy this month (and most likely next month as well, assuming a couple key releases stay on schedule).
And of course-FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Zef's Underwater Adventure
1/26/2006
Congratulations, it's an Xboy!
Is Microsoft coming out with their own portable? Just maybe, according to IGN. It's probably inevitable, as just about everybody has at least once tried the handheld market. Whether or not it will be a huge flop is anybody's guess, although my bet is if they can put Xbox live on it, it will be awesome.
I realized last week I talked about Love Monkey, but haven't really given my thoughts now that two episodes have aired. I really like it. It's got great music, and is one of the better "dramadies" to come along in awhile, there's certianly nothing else good at 10 pm on Tuesdays.
Season 2 of Firefly?-You can help make it happen, just click on the link and fill out the survey. I think the show continuing in any form is a great idea, and if it takes off, could lead to a whole new choice for shows not wanting to deal with the pain of being on a network.
Bubble, the first movie ever to be released on DVD roughly the same time its in theatres (should be out on DVD Tuesday) is out this weekend, but apparently a large number of theatre chains refuse to carry it cause they feel this kind of idea will hurt their already shrinking bottom line (you know, instead of trying things like quality releases and lowering prices so you don't have to take out a mortgage if you want soda and popcorn...) I don't have high hopes for this, but it'll be interesting to see if it succeeds.
I am sure glad The Matador is playing at my cineplex this weekend, the other choices just seem ridiculously dismal.
First, there's Big Momma's House 2-Which just seems to further justify that Martin Lawrence shouldn't even have a career. Seriously, when the last entertaining thing you pulled off was Bad Boy (and your co-star has managed quite a few hits since then) over a decade ago, you either need to reinvent yourself or just quit. I used to cinsider him the poor man's Eddie Murphy back in his early years, now he's more like the poor man's Tim Meadows.
Then there's Annapolis, which just looks like an awful remake of Officer and a gentleman, and also has an inspitring %6 rating at rottentomatoes.
And Nanny Mcphee, which looks perfectly all right for the kids, but seems to hold no adult appeal whatsoever.
And finally, FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Duckhunt 1945-A fun (but challenging) little mix of Duckhunt and Call of Duty!
I realized last week I talked about Love Monkey, but haven't really given my thoughts now that two episodes have aired. I really like it. It's got great music, and is one of the better "dramadies" to come along in awhile, there's certianly nothing else good at 10 pm on Tuesdays.
Season 2 of Firefly?-You can help make it happen, just click on the link and fill out the survey. I think the show continuing in any form is a great idea, and if it takes off, could lead to a whole new choice for shows not wanting to deal with the pain of being on a network.
Bubble, the first movie ever to be released on DVD roughly the same time its in theatres (should be out on DVD Tuesday) is out this weekend, but apparently a large number of theatre chains refuse to carry it cause they feel this kind of idea will hurt their already shrinking bottom line (you know, instead of trying things like quality releases and lowering prices so you don't have to take out a mortgage if you want soda and popcorn...) I don't have high hopes for this, but it'll be interesting to see if it succeeds.
I am sure glad The Matador is playing at my cineplex this weekend, the other choices just seem ridiculously dismal.
First, there's Big Momma's House 2-Which just seems to further justify that Martin Lawrence shouldn't even have a career. Seriously, when the last entertaining thing you pulled off was Bad Boy (and your co-star has managed quite a few hits since then) over a decade ago, you either need to reinvent yourself or just quit. I used to cinsider him the poor man's Eddie Murphy back in his early years, now he's more like the poor man's Tim Meadows.
Then there's Annapolis, which just looks like an awful remake of Officer and a gentleman, and also has an inspitring %6 rating at rottentomatoes.
And Nanny Mcphee, which looks perfectly all right for the kids, but seems to hold no adult appeal whatsoever.
And finally, FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Duckhunt 1945-A fun (but challenging) little mix of Duckhunt and Call of Duty!
1/24/2006
Mergers, mergers everywhere!
Well, it wasn't too unexpected, but Disney now owns Pixar. Which is awesome, especially with Eisner out of the way, this will hopefully mean that all the upcoming sequels to Pixar's previous efforts won't suck.
But the big suprise is the sudden merger of WB and the UPN, apparently broadcast TV ain't big enough for two godawful networks. The new channel, CW will debut in the fall, the obvious hits will stay-Which means Everybody Hates Chris, Veronica Mars and Smackdown will stick around, so I'm satisfied. but seriously, the general lineup of both channels is horrendous, I don't think a merger will help all that much.
Did you know Rick Moranis has a website? Did you know Rick Moranis was even alive? Better yet, did you know Rick Moranis recently released a Country Album? You can get it either via itunes or his website. It's just very odd that after so many years of obscurity this is how he tries to make a comeback. It is also suppossedly out in actual stores Febuary 7th.
Think Xbox live is successful with a little over 1 million users? Nintendo has 3 million using their wifi service for the DS, even though it's only been active since November and currently only has 3 titles (Mario Kart, Tony Hawk and Animal Crossing). Hopefully Nintendo realizes the way to keep this up is to realize a good variety of compatible titles. They seemed to have missed the boat on obvious ones like bomberman, let's hope upcoming titles like Worms and the rumored DS version of FF Chronicles really take advantage of it.
And finally the 100th Episode of Scrubs is on tonight. The 100th episode is landmark because it essentially means that you were at least for some time a succesful series, and for shows that seem to struggle to stay on the air like Scrubs despite their brilliance, it means that much more that they made it to this landmark, Here's hoping there's plenty more great episodes on the way....
But the big suprise is the sudden merger of WB and the UPN, apparently broadcast TV ain't big enough for two godawful networks. The new channel, CW will debut in the fall, the obvious hits will stay-Which means Everybody Hates Chris, Veronica Mars and Smackdown will stick around, so I'm satisfied. but seriously, the general lineup of both channels is horrendous, I don't think a merger will help all that much.
Did you know Rick Moranis has a website? Did you know Rick Moranis was even alive? Better yet, did you know Rick Moranis recently released a Country Album? You can get it either via itunes or his website. It's just very odd that after so many years of obscurity this is how he tries to make a comeback. It is also suppossedly out in actual stores Febuary 7th.
Think Xbox live is successful with a little over 1 million users? Nintendo has 3 million using their wifi service for the DS, even though it's only been active since November and currently only has 3 titles (Mario Kart, Tony Hawk and Animal Crossing). Hopefully Nintendo realizes the way to keep this up is to realize a good variety of compatible titles. They seemed to have missed the boat on obvious ones like bomberman, let's hope upcoming titles like Worms and the rumored DS version of FF Chronicles really take advantage of it.
And finally the 100th Episode of Scrubs is on tonight. The 100th episode is landmark because it essentially means that you were at least for some time a succesful series, and for shows that seem to struggle to stay on the air like Scrubs despite their brilliance, it means that much more that they made it to this landmark, Here's hoping there's plenty more great episodes on the way....
1/20/2006
Truly Sucktackular
Pretty accurately describing the only new big release out this weekend, Underworld: Evolution. I mean, c'mon, the original was not only a box office flop, but one of the worst pieces of trash I've seen in the last few years. Plus, they essentially stole the plot from Blade: Trinity and threw in werewolves. Real original. Brokeback Mountain is finally opening in town this week, so I'll probably catch that if I'm up for it.
Seems Sony is finally getting at least a little interested in a universal online system as they are taking polls to see what the actual interest is. Thing is, MS has way too big of a head start in this area. They have plenty of experience and time to fix out most bugs, it'll take Sony years to get to this point, so they may as well hold off til the next generation and introduce smething really spectacular.
Finally, I am really getting into Mario Kart Wifi matches, playing several a week, but it seems at least the Japanese gamers have found a really cheap little glitch on the rainbow road track-this is a track you can fall off, which obviouly puts you way behind, but I've seen several Japanese players deliberately fall off, get plucked back off, and end up well ahead of everyone else. Just a word of warning if someone seems to keep inexcplicably getting ahead even though they should be dead last...
Seems Sony is finally getting at least a little interested in a universal online system as they are taking polls to see what the actual interest is. Thing is, MS has way too big of a head start in this area. They have plenty of experience and time to fix out most bugs, it'll take Sony years to get to this point, so they may as well hold off til the next generation and introduce smething really spectacular.
Finally, I am really getting into Mario Kart Wifi matches, playing several a week, but it seems at least the Japanese gamers have found a really cheap little glitch on the rainbow road track-this is a track you can fall off, which obviouly puts you way behind, but I've seen several Japanese players deliberately fall off, get plucked back off, and end up well ahead of everyone else. Just a word of warning if someone seems to keep inexcplicably getting ahead even though they should be dead last...
1/17/2006
ROCKSTAR! ALL YOUR GAMES ARE BELONG TO JACK THOMPSON....NOT!
Recall Demanded
January 16, 2006
by: Matt Saunderson
Action will be taken against Take-Two unless The Warrors, Manhunt, and GTA are removed from stores by 5:00 P.M. on Tuesday.
Miami, Florida-based Attorney Jack Thompson has demanded that Take-Two Interactive announce a recall of all copies of The Warriors, Manhunt, and Grand Theft Auto (all versions, all platforms) from all retailers by 5:00 P.M. on Tuesday. The demand was issued in a letter to Take-Two CEO Paul Eibeler.
In the letter Thompson mentioned the beating of three homeless men in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida last week by two teenagers who may have been inspired by games featuring baseball bat beatings such as Grand Theft Auto, Manhunt, and The Warriors. In the attacks, one victim was killed by the teenagers.
In the letter, Thompson stated the following:
Your company has made and distributed the most popular violent video game series of all time: the Grand Theft Auto games. In these GTA games, beating innocent people to death with baseball bats is a featured entertainment activity. our company has also distributed Manhunt which features the same kind of virtual reality baseball bat beatings. This game is so sociopathic that it has been banned from certain countries. Additionally, your company, during this past holiday buying season, launched the incredibly brutal "brawler" game called The Warriors, which also features death by baseball bat. The Warriors is based upon the 1979 movie of the same name that was yanked, in effect, by Paramount Pictures because of all the copycat violence it was spawning.
You also know, Mr. Eibeler, that huge numbers of academic, scientific, and medical studies prove that violent video games like this, when played by teens, lead to specific acts of teen violence. There are no studies that rebut these findings. You also know that your company has designed and marketed the aforementioned violent games for sale to minors. Your company even went so far as to embed explicit sex scenes in the GTA: San Andreas game which criminal deception resulted in a vote of 355-21 by the US House of Representatives to condemn your company's acts. That also garnered you the "Worst American CEO of 2005 Award" by MediaWatch.
Thompson has threatened to "proceed to secure appropriate remedies against" Take-Two if the games are not recalled by 5:00 PM tomorrow. Given Take-Two's past failures to stop the release of violent games, it is unlikely that they will follow Thompson's advice and recall any of the three games in question. We'll keep you updated.
source: Jack Thompson
Well seeing as it's now roughly 7:40 pm on the West Coast and there's been no breaking story, I'd say your BS bluff has been called Mr. Thompson. Jesus fucking christ, I gotta admire the guy's tenacity, but at some point someone has to sit him down and show him just how much of ass he's making of himself.
And Thompson's new favorite title. 25 to Life hits stores today, but judging by the rather harsh reviews, I daresay it'll be a flash in the pan at best, just like most other crappy "urban" titles
Did you miss the best 4 hours of television this weekend? Then do yourself and favor and find a good place to download the premiere of the 5th season of 24 so you can catch up for next week. I keep thinking they really can't keep the quality up, but it gets better every season, and you never see any of it coming.
In addition to my regularly highly acticiapted new Scrubs episodes tonight, I am also very interested to see Tom Cavanagh's new show, Love Monkey. Anything Tom does is pretty brilliant, I'm sure this show will be no different.
Word is Johnny Depp is being considered for the role of the Joker in the highly anticipated Batman Begins sequel. While Depp is an amazing performer, I just don't think he's right for the Joker. The Mad Hatter or the Riddler maybe, but I think Adrien Brody would make a far better choice, and his name has come up in previous casting rumors. Course, nobody can really touch Jack Nicholson's original portrayal, it'd be awesome if the could just cast him again, but I don't think he's physically capable of that kind of role anymore.
Ok finally, a new feature that I came up with over the weekend, FREE GAME OF THE Week: Fire Man-Incoming Storm: A very awesome clone of the old school Mega Man games.
January 16, 2006
by: Matt Saunderson
Action will be taken against Take-Two unless The Warrors, Manhunt, and GTA are removed from stores by 5:00 P.M. on Tuesday.
Miami, Florida-based Attorney Jack Thompson has demanded that Take-Two Interactive announce a recall of all copies of The Warriors, Manhunt, and Grand Theft Auto (all versions, all platforms) from all retailers by 5:00 P.M. on Tuesday. The demand was issued in a letter to Take-Two CEO Paul Eibeler.
In the letter Thompson mentioned the beating of three homeless men in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida last week by two teenagers who may have been inspired by games featuring baseball bat beatings such as Grand Theft Auto, Manhunt, and The Warriors. In the attacks, one victim was killed by the teenagers.
In the letter, Thompson stated the following:
Your company has made and distributed the most popular violent video game series of all time: the Grand Theft Auto games. In these GTA games, beating innocent people to death with baseball bats is a featured entertainment activity. our company has also distributed Manhunt which features the same kind of virtual reality baseball bat beatings. This game is so sociopathic that it has been banned from certain countries. Additionally, your company, during this past holiday buying season, launched the incredibly brutal "brawler" game called The Warriors, which also features death by baseball bat. The Warriors is based upon the 1979 movie of the same name that was yanked, in effect, by Paramount Pictures because of all the copycat violence it was spawning.
You also know, Mr. Eibeler, that huge numbers of academic, scientific, and medical studies prove that violent video games like this, when played by teens, lead to specific acts of teen violence. There are no studies that rebut these findings. You also know that your company has designed and marketed the aforementioned violent games for sale to minors. Your company even went so far as to embed explicit sex scenes in the GTA: San Andreas game which criminal deception resulted in a vote of 355-21 by the US House of Representatives to condemn your company's acts. That also garnered you the "Worst American CEO of 2005 Award" by MediaWatch.
Thompson has threatened to "proceed to secure appropriate remedies against" Take-Two if the games are not recalled by 5:00 PM tomorrow. Given Take-Two's past failures to stop the release of violent games, it is unlikely that they will follow Thompson's advice and recall any of the three games in question. We'll keep you updated.
source: Jack Thompson
Well seeing as it's now roughly 7:40 pm on the West Coast and there's been no breaking story, I'd say your BS bluff has been called Mr. Thompson. Jesus fucking christ, I gotta admire the guy's tenacity, but at some point someone has to sit him down and show him just how much of ass he's making of himself.
And Thompson's new favorite title. 25 to Life hits stores today, but judging by the rather harsh reviews, I daresay it'll be a flash in the pan at best, just like most other crappy "urban" titles
Did you miss the best 4 hours of television this weekend? Then do yourself and favor and find a good place to download the premiere of the 5th season of 24 so you can catch up for next week. I keep thinking they really can't keep the quality up, but it gets better every season, and you never see any of it coming.
In addition to my regularly highly acticiapted new Scrubs episodes tonight, I am also very interested to see Tom Cavanagh's new show, Love Monkey. Anything Tom does is pretty brilliant, I'm sure this show will be no different.
Word is Johnny Depp is being considered for the role of the Joker in the highly anticipated Batman Begins sequel. While Depp is an amazing performer, I just don't think he's right for the Joker. The Mad Hatter or the Riddler maybe, but I think Adrien Brody would make a far better choice, and his name has come up in previous casting rumors. Course, nobody can really touch Jack Nicholson's original portrayal, it'd be awesome if the could just cast him again, but I don't think he's physically capable of that kind of role anymore.
Ok finally, a new feature that I came up with over the weekend, FREE GAME OF THE Week: Fire Man-Incoming Storm: A very awesome clone of the old school Mega Man games.
1/13/2006
More wacky Thompson antics
You know, you give somebody enough rope and they usually hang themselves, and how Jack Thompson can be taken seriously after his most recent antics is anybody's fucking guess.
In a recent inerview, Thompson compares himself to Eliot Ness, and then calls the industry itself worse than Al Capone, because they "target" children. Of course, because advertising to kids is far worse than mass murdering & racketeering...
Oh but there's more! 25 to Life, the latest GTA clone, hit stores next week, and Thompson is telling California authorities to not only seize all copies of the game, but also to destroy them, like any good book burning.
The penal code he mentions in the letter goes as follows: "Any person may abate a public nuisance which is specially injurious to him by removing, or, if necessary, destroying the thing which constitutes the same, without committing a breach of the peace, or doing unnecessary injury."
Under Thompson's interpretation, he could personally walk into a store and destroy these games since he considers them so dangerous to himself and the public at large, you know why he won't? Cause He's actually a fucking coward and a hypocrite and knows he will be called on his bullshit if he tries it.
Moving on to happier news, I did initially think after a few months I may not have much reason to hold onto my DS, with not a whole lot on the horizon but IGN has a great preview of one of my favorite game series coming to the system : WORMS!. Seriously, if this game isn't Wifi when it comes out, Nintendo needs to pull its head out of its ass. It's bad enough that Bomberman is available for the system and doesn't support it. Then again it goes hand in hand with Nintendo giving half-assed support to all of their potentially cool add-ons.
Despite the fact the Uwe Boll's latest tour de force, Bloodrayne, amassed a whopping 1.5 (and that's being optimistic) million opening weekend, he just keeps chugging along. Word is he is currently reading through the script for the Metal Gear Solid movie in the works and is on the list of potential directors. Now, I'll grant you that the dialogue and acting in a MGS game is actually probably on par with any of Boll's films, but that doesn't mean he should do a film adaptattion of it....
And finally some quick earlu summations of this weekend's releases:
Glory Road: Have you seen ANY sports film ever? Then you've seen this.
Tristan & Isolode: Is it a bad sign that every time I've seen the trailer for this "tearjerking" period love story, I laughed my ass off?
Last Holiday: I'll admit, when I saw the initial previews, I was ready to right this seemingly hokey comedy off as pure trash, but it's getting a fair amount of solid reviews, so I won't go right out and say skip it, but I'll probably wait for video all the same.
That's it for today, I will definitely update these weekend as there are at least a couple other things that have happened this week I want to get into.
In a recent inerview, Thompson compares himself to Eliot Ness, and then calls the industry itself worse than Al Capone, because they "target" children. Of course, because advertising to kids is far worse than mass murdering & racketeering...
Oh but there's more! 25 to Life, the latest GTA clone, hit stores next week, and Thompson is telling California authorities to not only seize all copies of the game, but also to destroy them, like any good book burning.
The penal code he mentions in the letter goes as follows: "Any person may abate a public nuisance which is specially injurious to him by removing, or, if necessary, destroying the thing which constitutes the same, without committing a breach of the peace, or doing unnecessary injury."
Under Thompson's interpretation, he could personally walk into a store and destroy these games since he considers them so dangerous to himself and the public at large, you know why he won't? Cause He's actually a fucking coward and a hypocrite and knows he will be called on his bullshit if he tries it.
Moving on to happier news, I did initially think after a few months I may not have much reason to hold onto my DS, with not a whole lot on the horizon but IGN has a great preview of one of my favorite game series coming to the system : WORMS!. Seriously, if this game isn't Wifi when it comes out, Nintendo needs to pull its head out of its ass. It's bad enough that Bomberman is available for the system and doesn't support it. Then again it goes hand in hand with Nintendo giving half-assed support to all of their potentially cool add-ons.
Despite the fact the Uwe Boll's latest tour de force, Bloodrayne, amassed a whopping 1.5 (and that's being optimistic) million opening weekend, he just keeps chugging along. Word is he is currently reading through the script for the Metal Gear Solid movie in the works and is on the list of potential directors. Now, I'll grant you that the dialogue and acting in a MGS game is actually probably on par with any of Boll's films, but that doesn't mean he should do a film adaptattion of it....
And finally some quick earlu summations of this weekend's releases:
Glory Road: Have you seen ANY sports film ever? Then you've seen this.
Tristan & Isolode: Is it a bad sign that every time I've seen the trailer for this "tearjerking" period love story, I laughed my ass off?
Last Holiday: I'll admit, when I saw the initial previews, I was ready to right this seemingly hokey comedy off as pure trash, but it's getting a fair amount of solid reviews, so I won't go right out and say skip it, but I'll probably wait for video all the same.
That's it for today, I will definitely update these weekend as there are at least a couple other things that have happened this week I want to get into.
1/09/2006
Wifi Madness
So I did pick up the Nintendo Wifi adapter today and while the setup was a tad frustrating, I was able to fully enjoy getting my ass whopped by some Brit across the pond in Mario Kart. Now I just have to figure out what other games to get to really take advantage of this (I swear I'd stay away from Animal Crossing after it sucked away over 6 months of my life on the Cube, but the new one for DS looks very tempting, and there's always Bomberman if it's got a solid amount of users...)
I've spent the last few days getting torrents of Scrubs seasons 3 & 4 on my computer(I will buy the DVDs once they are available) and it's really in my opinion the best show on TV. It manages to have complex characters and deftly handle great zany comedy and drama like no other show currently on TV. Which leads into my next subject-Why the hell isn't NBC putting this brilliant show in its highly promoted new Thursday night lineup? Nothing is wrong with putting both The Office and My Name is Earl in there, both brilliant comedies, and Four Kings shows potential, but if they don't move it when Will & Grace makes its long overdue exit this May, the execs are seriously smoking something.
Since there were no good movies this week, I checked out Hustle & Flow, which was a really amazing movie with great all around performances and I very highly reccomend that you check it out on Tuesday.
Finally, it seems that the real attraction for the 360 is Live Arcade, with all the great classics its offering with online play-Joust, Gauntlet and now Street Fighter II. If I do get one any time soon, I may just get the online arcade stuff rather than the mostly unimpressive overpriced selection they currently have.
I've spent the last few days getting torrents of Scrubs seasons 3 & 4 on my computer(I will buy the DVDs once they are available) and it's really in my opinion the best show on TV. It manages to have complex characters and deftly handle great zany comedy and drama like no other show currently on TV. Which leads into my next subject-Why the hell isn't NBC putting this brilliant show in its highly promoted new Thursday night lineup? Nothing is wrong with putting both The Office and My Name is Earl in there, both brilliant comedies, and Four Kings shows potential, but if they don't move it when Will & Grace makes its long overdue exit this May, the execs are seriously smoking something.
Since there were no good movies this week, I checked out Hustle & Flow, which was a really amazing movie with great all around performances and I very highly reccomend that you check it out on Tuesday.
Finally, it seems that the real attraction for the 360 is Live Arcade, with all the great classics its offering with online play-Joust, Gauntlet and now Street Fighter II. If I do get one any time soon, I may just get the online arcade stuff rather than the mostly unimpressive overpriced selection they currently have.
1/06/2006
You just don't hassle the Hoff!
Yeah, David Hasslehoff has nothing to do with my post, but I thought him actually sporting that shirt was a riot and far more interesting than this fairly dead week in entertainment.
CES-The Consumer Electronics show is going on right now, but probably the biggest news is the fact of no news on the PS3 from Sony. Although it's hardly the big event it used to be, CES is still the last major expo before Sony's suppossed spring launch, and there has not been word one about PS3. This is making a 2007 US launch seem all the more likely (although I'm willing to be they will rush it ot in time for the holidays, bugs and all).
Things have slowed to a crawl on the videogame release front as well-Dead or Alive 4 is pretty much the only noteworthy game out at the moment. All reports are that it's a very solid on-line fighter with stunning graphics, but I personally will probably be waiting for the next Virtua Fighter game before I jump back into the fighting genre (or Super Smash Bros. for the Revolution, whichever comes out first).
And once again, we are in the bleak winter months for movies. Hostel looks promising enough, with a stamp of approval by Tarantino, but that smells like just a bad publicity stunt. Gamers get their first movie in awhile in Grandma's Boy, which looks incredibly horrid with all the bad obvious jokes thrown in (like old people getting high, gee that's new...).
But of course the true cream of the crop is obviously going to be the latest from cinematic auteur Uwe Boll-Bloodrayne, which looks like it was shot in the local park with about $200 budgeted for effects. I know this guy exploits tax loopholes in order to get movies made, but how he keeps attracting anything other than E list talent (namely Ben Kingsley for this one) is beyond human comprehension.
Ok, that's it for today, I'll update again this weekend, hopefully.
1/01/2006
I wanna know Japanese and I wanna know it now!
Why, you ask? Because those lucky bastards in Japan are playing Kingdom Hearts 2 right now. This is easily my most anitciapted game of the last few years, and to know that it's finally at least out in some form in a huge source of joy. But of course, that leaves the question of when the hell is it coming out here? Hopefully summer at the latest. I may be putting a lot more playtime into Kingdom Hearts now in preperation.
The only other thing of note is that it seems NBC has finally gotten a little smart with its schedule and is moving two of their best shows to its formerly unbeatable Thursday night-The Office and My Name Is Earl. Both Excellent shows and a wise decision. But of course NBC snubs the best show they have-Scrubs. This easily deserves a prime Thursday night slot along with the other shows. Hopefully when Will & Grace ends this season (which is long overdue, that show has been awful for years now), NBC will wise up and give that slot to Scrubs next season.
That's all for today, Happy new year!
The only other thing of note is that it seems NBC has finally gotten a little smart with its schedule and is moving two of their best shows to its formerly unbeatable Thursday night-The Office and My Name Is Earl. Both Excellent shows and a wise decision. But of course NBC snubs the best show they have-Scrubs. This easily deserves a prime Thursday night slot along with the other shows. Hopefully when Will & Grace ends this season (which is long overdue, that show has been awful for years now), NBC will wise up and give that slot to Scrubs next season.
That's all for today, Happy new year!
12/30/2005
You can touch it, down there....
Ok first, sorry for not posting for over a week but I decided to take an impromptu vacation from the internet in general while I was visiting my family aside from checking my email, and in general entertainment news slowed to a crawl. Moving on today's header refers to what was easily my favorite present from Santa: The Nintendo DS. And more specifically referring to this very amusing VG Cats comic:
I don't have Wifi, but I was able to try it out at a friends house with Mario Kart and its pretty cool and suprisingly fun when you don't have to worry about some jackass using racial slurs or whining since you can't talk to them. You can order a part from Nintendo that's far cheaper than a wireless adapater that you just hook into a usb port on your computer (assuming you have DSL of course) but I may wait and see if I get more games that take advantage of wifi play before I justify buying it. Mario & Luigi: Partners in time is also an instant classic for anyone looking for a good rpg with a solid challenge. But so far I do not have any games that make extensive use of the stylus, but I'll look for something as soon as I get down to my local gamestore.
I also got Guild Wars for the PC, the main attraction of this MMORPG is that unlike every other one out there it's completely free. My experience so far is limited, but it just seems not all that different from WOW although it's entirely possible that I may just have played to much of that game and need an MMO break in general. Which leads to my next topic-for the time being, I believe I am done with the World of Warcraft. Going on endless high levle runs into dungeons is just about the only thing you can do at my level in the game and not only is it extremely tedious to get a good solid group together, it's just starting to seem like a chore. I still have about two weeks before I get billed again, so I may give it another shot before I finally decide to cancel, but odds are I'll be taking a nice long break if not a permanent one.
I did manage to catch several movies in my brief time off. First up-King Kong: I thought it was a brilliant hollywood epic that even at three hours doesn't feel stretched with brilliant performances by almost everyone. Unfortunatley Jack Black shows no adeptness at playing it straight and comes off as a cartoon villain with shifty eyes for pratically the whole film. But I highly reccomend it.
Then there was The Ringer: Possibly the biggest suprise on my end because I was expecting this movie with Johnny Knoxville to be horribly tasteless, gross and unfunny to boot. After all, it is about a guy who pretends to be retarded in order to win the Special Olympics and get a big payday. It manages to skip all three of those, never treating disabled people with disrespect and still managing to be fairly entertaining. The plot is fairly predictable, but it's probably one of the better comedic bets right now.
That leads into the other comedy I saw-Fun With Dick & Jane: It's a perfectly alright comedy with a moderate amount of laughs, but they just played it a little too safe for my tastes when they could've really used this opportunity to either completely rip on big buisness or make a really biting comedy about desperate people with seemingly few options. Not bad, but probably could've been much better.
And finally Munich: This is a movie everybody should probably see. It's shocking, powerful, and extremely well done. But be warned that it is a very heavy movie and really starts to drag the last 25 minutes or so. But this would seem to be an easy oscar favorite for all the important categories.
That's really it for today, but I promise to update tommorow or Sunday. Until then, do yourself a favor and GO BUY THE SERENITY DVD.
I don't have Wifi, but I was able to try it out at a friends house with Mario Kart and its pretty cool and suprisingly fun when you don't have to worry about some jackass using racial slurs or whining since you can't talk to them. You can order a part from Nintendo that's far cheaper than a wireless adapater that you just hook into a usb port on your computer (assuming you have DSL of course) but I may wait and see if I get more games that take advantage of wifi play before I justify buying it. Mario & Luigi: Partners in time is also an instant classic for anyone looking for a good rpg with a solid challenge. But so far I do not have any games that make extensive use of the stylus, but I'll look for something as soon as I get down to my local gamestore.
I also got Guild Wars for the PC, the main attraction of this MMORPG is that unlike every other one out there it's completely free. My experience so far is limited, but it just seems not all that different from WOW although it's entirely possible that I may just have played to much of that game and need an MMO break in general. Which leads to my next topic-for the time being, I believe I am done with the World of Warcraft. Going on endless high levle runs into dungeons is just about the only thing you can do at my level in the game and not only is it extremely tedious to get a good solid group together, it's just starting to seem like a chore. I still have about two weeks before I get billed again, so I may give it another shot before I finally decide to cancel, but odds are I'll be taking a nice long break if not a permanent one.
I did manage to catch several movies in my brief time off. First up-King Kong: I thought it was a brilliant hollywood epic that even at three hours doesn't feel stretched with brilliant performances by almost everyone. Unfortunatley Jack Black shows no adeptness at playing it straight and comes off as a cartoon villain with shifty eyes for pratically the whole film. But I highly reccomend it.
Then there was The Ringer: Possibly the biggest suprise on my end because I was expecting this movie with Johnny Knoxville to be horribly tasteless, gross and unfunny to boot. After all, it is about a guy who pretends to be retarded in order to win the Special Olympics and get a big payday. It manages to skip all three of those, never treating disabled people with disrespect and still managing to be fairly entertaining. The plot is fairly predictable, but it's probably one of the better comedic bets right now.
That leads into the other comedy I saw-Fun With Dick & Jane: It's a perfectly alright comedy with a moderate amount of laughs, but they just played it a little too safe for my tastes when they could've really used this opportunity to either completely rip on big buisness or make a really biting comedy about desperate people with seemingly few options. Not bad, but probably could've been much better.
And finally Munich: This is a movie everybody should probably see. It's shocking, powerful, and extremely well done. But be warned that it is a very heavy movie and really starts to drag the last 25 minutes or so. But this would seem to be an easy oscar favorite for all the important categories.
That's really it for today, but I promise to update tommorow or Sunday. Until then, do yourself a favor and GO BUY THE SERENITY DVD.
12/13/2005
Return of the King
Although I will cover King Kong in this post, today's header is about the return of another king-King Graham. The legendary King's Quest series is making a comeback, and it's all thanks to the fans. The new game is completely fan made, which makes it thankfully completely free. I will be anxiously awaiting the release of this one.
Played Halo 1 & 2 until your eyes bled out and still need even more? Fans come to the rescue again-Halo: Zero, a free 2D prequel made for Halo fans, by Halo fans. Obviously not nearly as sophisticated as it's big budget counterparts, but an impressive and fun little game nonetheless.
Working Designs is officially dead. While they were merely a publishing company, they were responsible for bringing a lot of great games over here with wonderfully done translations (i.e. the Lunar series). But the persident, Victor Ireland said he did want to pursue options on the 360 after his bad experiences with Sony, so this may turn into a positive if seeing more Japanese-developed titles on the 360.
And finally, King Kong is out tommorow. All signs point to this being one of the few remakes that not only does not suck, but even outdoes the original, pretty much cementing Peter Jackson as a true genius rather than some guy who just got lucky. I will most likely be seeing it Sunday, and fully expect it to rock. But Jackson's big hits have all been based on well-known previous material so far, I'd like to see him tackle some original material.
Played Halo 1 & 2 until your eyes bled out and still need even more? Fans come to the rescue again-Halo: Zero, a free 2D prequel made for Halo fans, by Halo fans. Obviously not nearly as sophisticated as it's big budget counterparts, but an impressive and fun little game nonetheless.
Working Designs is officially dead. While they were merely a publishing company, they were responsible for bringing a lot of great games over here with wonderfully done translations (i.e. the Lunar series). But the persident, Victor Ireland said he did want to pursue options on the 360 after his bad experiences with Sony, so this may turn into a positive if seeing more Japanese-developed titles on the 360.
And finally, King Kong is out tommorow. All signs point to this being one of the few remakes that not only does not suck, but even outdoes the original, pretty much cementing Peter Jackson as a true genius rather than some guy who just got lucky. I will most likely be seeing it Sunday, and fully expect it to rock. But Jackson's big hits have all been based on well-known previous material so far, I'd like to see him tackle some original material.
12/09/2005
Greatest. Game. Ever.
Just what will be the greatest game ever? BRADY BUNCH KUNG FU. I know it's mobile, but the sheer audacity and orignality of this idea totally rocks. Can we do the same thing with the Cosby show?
So I may actually start liking EA again. Although they haven't really supported Nintendo in the past, according to the big N they are very excited about the Revolution and it's wacky new controller. I'll wait and see if this actually translates into something cool, but if you can get the biggest game company in America in your corner, that's a good starting point. I have also heard the Revolution will easily be the least powerful of the next gen consoles, but if that equals a relatively cheap system (I'm guessing $250) and keeping games in the $50, I'll be happy to throw most of my money their way.
Pretty much the only major release this weekend is the long-awaited debut of Chronicles of Narnia. I'm excited but also a little hesitant, as Disney's history with live-action films is not pretty, and the ads do make it seem like it's more of a LOTR wannabe than its own film.
I did see Aeon Flux last Friday and surprisingly it did not suck. I'm not saying run to your nearest theater and grab a ticket, but it's not a bad option if you've seen just about every really good movie and are just looking for a decent way to kill some time.
All right, that's all for today, but I'll try and be back this weekend.
So I may actually start liking EA again. Although they haven't really supported Nintendo in the past, according to the big N they are very excited about the Revolution and it's wacky new controller. I'll wait and see if this actually translates into something cool, but if you can get the biggest game company in America in your corner, that's a good starting point. I have also heard the Revolution will easily be the least powerful of the next gen consoles, but if that equals a relatively cheap system (I'm guessing $250) and keeping games in the $50, I'll be happy to throw most of my money their way.
Pretty much the only major release this weekend is the long-awaited debut of Chronicles of Narnia. I'm excited but also a little hesitant, as Disney's history with live-action films is not pretty, and the ads do make it seem like it's more of a LOTR wannabe than its own film.
I did see Aeon Flux last Friday and surprisingly it did not suck. I'm not saying run to your nearest theater and grab a ticket, but it's not a bad option if you've seen just about every really good movie and are just looking for a decent way to kill some time.
All right, that's all for today, but I'll try and be back this weekend.
12/01/2005
Bring me the head of Roger Ebert!
Seriously, how this lazy fatass became America's premiere critic is beyond me, but he should at least be smart enough to not blast a medium he knows little to nothing about. Yet this does not stop him, as seen by this recent exchange:
Unlike the lost hours on such brilliant films you gave thumbs up to like "The Honeymooners"? I love when some out of touch old guy rants about something he knows nothing about. As far as being a waste of time? You sit on your ever enlarging ass at the theatre for hours on end evaluating exactly what would be a good waste of our time. Award-winning composers like Danny Elfman have done videogame music, genius. As far as making us as a society more cultured, civilized and empathetic, video games actually have a better chance of doing that in terms of potential than a movie or book. As you yourself said, movies & books take authorial control, meaning that they take a specific viewpoint and train of thought. Games are getting to be less and less like this, where you have much more direct control over your character's actions and how that affects the world around your character (just look at all the games where you have the choice of being good or evil). Unlike movies or books, they do not tell you what to think, they increasingly let you decide for yourself. There are fluff videogames and there are serious videogames, just like with books and movies. You have strictly based your opinions on the admittedly numerous bad films that have come out of Hollywood based on the medium, but if someone would actually take a game with a solid story and adapt with a crew that was seriously committed to the project (which is hard for ANY film to accomplish these days), you would see a different result.
Moving on, the only film opening in wide release this weekend is Aeon Flux. What are my early thoughts? I have a free pass to this movie and I'm still not sure I want to waste the time to see it. The TV series was an incoherent mess with rather gross sexual undertones, the fact that it wasn't screened for crtics doesn't bode well either.
My Xbox 360 is officially sold, but I do plan on getting another eventually, and a big determiner of exactly when might be when these awesome skins become available:
Ok, that's all for today, I'll probably post again before the week's end however.
Q. I was saddened to read that you consider video games an inherently inferior medium to film and literature, despite your admitted lack of familiarity with the great works of the medium. This strikes me as especially perplexing, given how receptive you have been in the past to other oft-maligned media such as comic books and animation. Was not film itself once a new field of art? Did it not also take decades for its academic respectability to be recognized?
There are already countless serious studies on game theory and criticism available, including Mark S. Meadows' Pause & Effect: The Art of Interactive Narrative, Nick Montfort's Twisty Little Passages: An Approach to Interactive Fiction, Noah Wardrip-Fruin and Pat Harrigan's First Person: New Media as Story, Performance, and Game, and Mark J.P. Wolf's The Medium of the Video Game, to name a few.
I hold out hope that you will take the time to broaden your experience with games beyond the trashy, artless "adaptations" that pollute our movie theaters, and let you discover the true wonder of this emerging medium, just as you have so passionately helped me to appreciate the greatness of many wonderful films.
Andrew Davis, St. Cloud, Minn.
A. Yours is the most civil of countless messages I have received after writing that I did indeed consider video games inherently inferior to film and literature. There is a structural reason for that: Video games by their nature require player choices, which is the opposite of the strategy of serious film and literature, which requires authorial control.
I am prepared to believe that video games can be elegant, subtle, sophisticated, challenging and visually wonderful. But I believe the nature of the medium prevents it from moving beyond craftsmanship to the stature of art. To my knowledge, no one in or out of the field has ever been able to cite a game worthy of comparison with the great dramatists, poets, filmmakers, novelists and composers. That a game can aspire to artistic importance as a visual experience, I accept. But for most gamers, video games represent a loss of those precious hours we have available to make ourselves more cultured, civilized and empathetic.
There are already countless serious studies on game theory and criticism available, including Mark S. Meadows' Pause & Effect: The Art of Interactive Narrative, Nick Montfort's Twisty Little Passages: An Approach to Interactive Fiction, Noah Wardrip-Fruin and Pat Harrigan's First Person: New Media as Story, Performance, and Game, and Mark J.P. Wolf's The Medium of the Video Game, to name a few.
I hold out hope that you will take the time to broaden your experience with games beyond the trashy, artless "adaptations" that pollute our movie theaters, and let you discover the true wonder of this emerging medium, just as you have so passionately helped me to appreciate the greatness of many wonderful films.
Andrew Davis, St. Cloud, Minn.
A. Yours is the most civil of countless messages I have received after writing that I did indeed consider video games inherently inferior to film and literature. There is a structural reason for that: Video games by their nature require player choices, which is the opposite of the strategy of serious film and literature, which requires authorial control.
I am prepared to believe that video games can be elegant, subtle, sophisticated, challenging and visually wonderful. But I believe the nature of the medium prevents it from moving beyond craftsmanship to the stature of art. To my knowledge, no one in or out of the field has ever been able to cite a game worthy of comparison with the great dramatists, poets, filmmakers, novelists and composers. That a game can aspire to artistic importance as a visual experience, I accept. But for most gamers, video games represent a loss of those precious hours we have available to make ourselves more cultured, civilized and empathetic.
Unlike the lost hours on such brilliant films you gave thumbs up to like "The Honeymooners"? I love when some out of touch old guy rants about something he knows nothing about. As far as being a waste of time? You sit on your ever enlarging ass at the theatre for hours on end evaluating exactly what would be a good waste of our time. Award-winning composers like Danny Elfman have done videogame music, genius. As far as making us as a society more cultured, civilized and empathetic, video games actually have a better chance of doing that in terms of potential than a movie or book. As you yourself said, movies & books take authorial control, meaning that they take a specific viewpoint and train of thought. Games are getting to be less and less like this, where you have much more direct control over your character's actions and how that affects the world around your character (just look at all the games where you have the choice of being good or evil). Unlike movies or books, they do not tell you what to think, they increasingly let you decide for yourself. There are fluff videogames and there are serious videogames, just like with books and movies. You have strictly based your opinions on the admittedly numerous bad films that have come out of Hollywood based on the medium, but if someone would actually take a game with a solid story and adapt with a crew that was seriously committed to the project (which is hard for ANY film to accomplish these days), you would see a different result.
Moving on, the only film opening in wide release this weekend is Aeon Flux. What are my early thoughts? I have a free pass to this movie and I'm still not sure I want to waste the time to see it. The TV series was an incoherent mess with rather gross sexual undertones, the fact that it wasn't screened for crtics doesn't bode well either.
My Xbox 360 is officially sold, but I do plan on getting another eventually, and a big determiner of exactly when might be when these awesome skins become available:
Ok, that's all for today, I'll probably post again before the week's end however.
11/26/2005
That's a whole lotta turkeys
Did I miss something? I always thought Thanksgiving was a prime time to release big studio pictures and the first year-end oscar contenders, so what is with the dreck coming out this holiday weekend? Ok, everybody could smell the pile that Yours Mine & Ours was a mile away, but you need something for the kids who already saw Harry Potter. I just feel sorry for Dennis Quaid & Rene Russo slumming it in a crappy large family comedy that was played out last year with Cheaper by the Dozen (which was a perfectly all right film, but has a ridiculously unecessary sequel coming out next month).
Rent & Ice Harvest seem to have all the right tools (directors who have done good previous work, stellar cast), but even the most positive reviews on both films admit they are largely flawed attempts. And Just Friends seems like yet another waste of the usually funny Ryan Reynolds, who needs to start picking some smarter roles.
And the only other news worth mentioning is another tragic passing in the entertainment industry. Mr. Miyagi, Pat Morita has passed away. The guy had a long history of good work, but was obviously best known for the Karate Kid movies. My condolences go out to his family and friends.
That's really it for today, hopefully I'll have some time to update Saturday or Sunday though.
Rent & Ice Harvest seem to have all the right tools (directors who have done good previous work, stellar cast), but even the most positive reviews on both films admit they are largely flawed attempts. And Just Friends seems like yet another waste of the usually funny Ryan Reynolds, who needs to start picking some smarter roles.
And the only other news worth mentioning is another tragic passing in the entertainment industry. Mr. Miyagi, Pat Morita has passed away. The guy had a long history of good work, but was obviously best known for the Karate Kid movies. My condolences go out to his family and friends.
That's really it for today, hopefully I'll have some time to update Saturday or Sunday though.
11/22/2005
To play or not to play
Yup, I got my 360 at midnight. I pretty much immediately listed it on ebay. But, being the rabid gamer that I am, it is taking plenty of will power to just let it and Perfect Dark Zero just sit in my room unopened. I just have to keep reminding myself that it will be worth it in a couple of months when I can most likely get one and a few games at a good used price.
Thankfully Dragon Quest VIII is keeping me very occupied so far. It really is old school in all the good and bad ways. good ways in that it has great focus on story and characters, bad in that you can only save at churches in towns, no auto-mapping and you have to go to church to determine how close you are to a level up.
I did see both Goblet of Fire and Walk the Line over the weekend, and definitely reccomend both. Goblet of Fire was pretty good, but anyone who read the book will notice a lot missing, which may hurt it for the hardcore Potter crowd. Walk the Line features oscar-worthy performances from both Joaquin Phoenix & Reese Witherspoon (who do all their own singing and sound great), my only problem was this had sort of a deja vu feel as it pretty much follows the same path as Ray (poor & traumatic childhood, quick rise, lots of affairs, nearly ruined by drugs then makes a big comeback).
Ok, that's really all for today, but I'll talk about this week's movies either tommorow or Friday.
Thankfully Dragon Quest VIII is keeping me very occupied so far. It really is old school in all the good and bad ways. good ways in that it has great focus on story and characters, bad in that you can only save at churches in towns, no auto-mapping and you have to go to church to determine how close you are to a level up.
I did see both Goblet of Fire and Walk the Line over the weekend, and definitely reccomend both. Goblet of Fire was pretty good, but anyone who read the book will notice a lot missing, which may hurt it for the hardcore Potter crowd. Walk the Line features oscar-worthy performances from both Joaquin Phoenix & Reese Witherspoon (who do all their own singing and sound great), my only problem was this had sort of a deja vu feel as it pretty much follows the same path as Ray (poor & traumatic childhood, quick rise, lots of affairs, nearly ruined by drugs then makes a big comeback).
Ok, that's really all for today, but I'll talk about this week's movies either tommorow or Friday.
11/18/2005
Well, I guess I won't be sleeping in on Tuesday then....
Okay, apparently there was a funny little mix-up and it turns out that yes I will be getting my 360 launch day. My reaction was somewhat akin to Balki Bartokomous doing the dance of joy. It was definitely an unexpected feeling, since I wasn't that pumped about the 360. It's the irritional gamer in me. The same one that I can normally keep under control cause if I didn't I'd max out my credit cards on just about every game system out there. The irritional gamer in me wants the 360 if for no other reason that it's a new system with new games. Luckily my rational side is a lot stronger and realizes that if I wait till a solid library of games I want are available for it (which at this point looks like next fall), I can probably get a used one and some games at a very good price. The only systems to date i have bought at launch were the Xbox & the Gamceube and although I don't regret the actual purchase, I regret not waiting about 7 months because they both dropped $100 in price and head a decent library rather than the meager launch lineup I was initially stuck with.
I've only devled a little bit into Dragon Quest VIII at this juncture, but my initial fears have been laid to rest. The characters are still a little to reiminiscent of Dragonball, but the world looks gogreous and the system is a classic turned-based one that actually does just enough to stay away from being archaic. But like any good rpg the real treat is the characters (who have some of the best voice acting I've heard in a long time) and the beautifully realized world you explore. This may actually be one of the last good traditional rpgs. so those who are fans of that dying sub-genre may want to pick it up.
Contained within the DQ VIII casing was a playable demo of the long awaited Final Fantasy XII, and boy are things different. I'm not even really sure how to accurately describe the rather bizarre battle system here. Actually I guess it would be somewhat akin to that of an MMORPG, where you sort of have turns, but eveyrthing is still pretty much done in real time and you engage enemies on the field map rather than go into some battle stage. It takes a little adjusting, but I like what I've played so far. FF XII is months awaym though, so we'll see what if any fine tuning will do to it.
I've only devled a little bit into Dragon Quest VIII at this juncture, but my initial fears have been laid to rest. The characters are still a little to reiminiscent of Dragonball, but the world looks gogreous and the system is a classic turned-based one that actually does just enough to stay away from being archaic. But like any good rpg the real treat is the characters (who have some of the best voice acting I've heard in a long time) and the beautifully realized world you explore. This may actually be one of the last good traditional rpgs. so those who are fans of that dying sub-genre may want to pick it up.
Contained within the DQ VIII casing was a playable demo of the long awaited Final Fantasy XII, and boy are things different. I'm not even really sure how to accurately describe the rather bizarre battle system here. Actually I guess it would be somewhat akin to that of an MMORPG, where you sort of have turns, but eveyrthing is still pretty much done in real time and you engage enemies on the field map rather than go into some battle stage. It takes a little adjusting, but I like what I've played so far. FF XII is months awaym though, so we'll see what if any fine tuning will do to it.
11/17/2005
Guess I can sleep in on Tuesday....
So, I just came back from my local Gamestop today after picking up Dragon Quest VIII, and I've been told that even though I reserved my 360 over 5 months ago, I won't be getting one on launch day. My local Gamestop is only getting a measly 12 units. I'll most likely get it within a couple of weeks after launch, but there's always something special about being able to get something on launch day. I'd probably be more pissed if I had allowed myself to get all psyched about the launch, but since I'm pretty much still set on selling the sucker anyways, that just hopefully means I'll sell it in time for a happy new year rather than a merry Christmas.
Moving on two very big movies are out tommorow-Walk the Line and Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire. I'm going to see the first showing of Goblet of Fire tommorrow morning and I can't wait, I've enjoyed every Potter film so far, and they seem to get better with each successive film, this one looking to be no exception. Walk the Line looks excellent as well and has good word of mouth, so I'll probably try and catch it this weekend if I have the time and energy. That's it for now, but I'll probably do another update this weekend.
Moving on two very big movies are out tommorow-Walk the Line and Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire. I'm going to see the first showing of Goblet of Fire tommorrow morning and I can't wait, I've enjoyed every Potter film so far, and they seem to get better with each successive film, this one looking to be no exception. Walk the Line looks excellent as well and has good word of mouth, so I'll probably try and catch it this weekend if I have the time and energy. That's it for now, but I'll probably do another update this weekend.
11/15/2005
Over 220 launch titles?!?
Well, technically speaking, that's what the Xbox 360 will launch with. Note that only 18 of these are actual stand-alone 360 titles though:
Not quite enough you say? There will also be a nice mix of titles in the Xbox live arcade for download come launch day including classics like Joust & Gauntlet (which if I've heard correctly, can be played on live against other people, that's pretty fucking sweet). So there will be something for just about everybody come launch day.
A few reviews are up already as well, and so far the killer app appears to be Project Gotham Racing 3, which I have seen in action and looks amazing, but it's still a car game and I'm not a car guy. Perfect Dark Zero has not been reviewed yet, so we'll have to see how that goes.
Two rather noteworthy rpgs hit this week for the PS2. Magna Carta: Tears of Blood & Dragon Quest VIII.
Magna Carta oddly enough has nothing to do with the famous document that is its namesake, it is more along the lines of games like Shadow Hearts, with a dark twist and an interesting timing system instead of your traditional rpg bouts. I said my piece awhile ago about the really poor demo of Dragon Quest VIII, and while I stand by my views of the demo, reviews across the board have been nothing short of stellar, so I am very tempted to pick it up.
Sonic's other archenemy, Shadow the Hedgehog, also gets his own game out this week. Again, I still have an issue with giving a character from Sonic's stable a gun as that not only doesn't really fit the traditional gameplay, but obviously disposes with the rather light-hearted feel of the series. it does sound interesting that they've added a whole pick your side element, but in reality the last good Sonic game was for the Sega CD, and I feel that won't change here.
One other thing before I go. Eddie Guerrero passed away this weekend. I admit my interest in the WWE has waned greatly the past few years, but I always made sure to watch any time Eddie Guerrero was on. He was a brilliant athlete, and although I can't claim to know him personally, seemed like one hell of a guy. He overcame being a minority, a cruiserwieght, a car crash and a long addiction to painkillers to get to his spot in the WWE the last few years. He will be sorely missed and my deepest condolences go out to his family, friends and the millions of fans like me who would give just about anything to see him lie, cheat and steal just one more time.
- Amped 3 (2K Sports)
- Call of Duty 2 (Activision)
- Condemned: Criminal Origins (SEGA)
- FIFA Soccer 06 Road to 2006 FIFA World Cup (Electronic Arts)
- GUN (Activision)
- Kameo: Elements of Power (Microsoft Game Studios)
- Madden NFL 06 (Electronic Arts)
- NBA 2K6 (2K Sports)
- NBA LIVE 06 (Electronic Arts)
- Need for Speed Most Wanted (Electronic Arts)
- NHL 2K6 (2K Sports)
- Perfect Dark Zero (Microsoft Game Studios)
- Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie (Ubisoft)
- Project Gotham Racing 3 (Microsoft Game Studios)
- Quake 4 (Activision)
- Ridge Racer 6 (Namco)
- Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 06 (Electronic Arts)
- Tony Hawk's American Wasteland (Activision)
Not quite enough you say? There will also be a nice mix of titles in the Xbox live arcade for download come launch day including classics like Joust & Gauntlet (which if I've heard correctly, can be played on live against other people, that's pretty fucking sweet). So there will be something for just about everybody come launch day.
A few reviews are up already as well, and so far the killer app appears to be Project Gotham Racing 3, which I have seen in action and looks amazing, but it's still a car game and I'm not a car guy. Perfect Dark Zero has not been reviewed yet, so we'll have to see how that goes.
Two rather noteworthy rpgs hit this week for the PS2. Magna Carta: Tears of Blood & Dragon Quest VIII.
Magna Carta oddly enough has nothing to do with the famous document that is its namesake, it is more along the lines of games like Shadow Hearts, with a dark twist and an interesting timing system instead of your traditional rpg bouts. I said my piece awhile ago about the really poor demo of Dragon Quest VIII, and while I stand by my views of the demo, reviews across the board have been nothing short of stellar, so I am very tempted to pick it up.
Sonic's other archenemy, Shadow the Hedgehog, also gets his own game out this week. Again, I still have an issue with giving a character from Sonic's stable a gun as that not only doesn't really fit the traditional gameplay, but obviously disposes with the rather light-hearted feel of the series. it does sound interesting that they've added a whole pick your side element, but in reality the last good Sonic game was for the Sega CD, and I feel that won't change here.
One other thing before I go. Eddie Guerrero passed away this weekend. I admit my interest in the WWE has waned greatly the past few years, but I always made sure to watch any time Eddie Guerrero was on. He was a brilliant athlete, and although I can't claim to know him personally, seemed like one hell of a guy. He overcame being a minority, a cruiserwieght, a car crash and a long addiction to painkillers to get to his spot in the WWE the last few years. He will be sorely missed and my deepest condolences go out to his family, friends and the millions of fans like me who would give just about anything to see him lie, cheat and steal just one more time.
11/11/2005
Jumanji in space, what a brilliant idea!
Ok, Jumanji was by no means a brilliant film, but it was kind of a fun stupid big effects movie. But Zathura is exactly what it sounds like-wacky adventures playing a board game that takes place in space instead of a deadly jungle. It's gotten suprsingly solid reviews so far, but it really just looks annoying to me, especially with the two annoying kids in the lead.
But Zathura seems like a better bet than this week's other releases. Derailed-With Clive Owen and Jennifer Aniston is just gonna be another one of those mysteries that just twists and turns til nothing makes any sense. Pride & Prejudice-another crappy Jane Austen inspired pile that is once again about upper class vs. lower class and how love gets over all that. And finally, 50 cent doing his best to follow in Eminem's footsteps with Get Rich or Die Trying. I'd actually be interested in seeing that if I could ever understand a fucking word the guy says, he just mumbles everything.
The only noteworthy game release i haven't already touched on this week is Suikoden Tactics. This reperesents a new direction for the series, but maybe not in a good way. It counts down the massive character list by half and while it does away with all the horrid things in the last entry, it also ditches the cool things from previous episodes in the series with it's focus on turn-based strategy. But then again I could use a solid SRPG so i might at least give this one a serious look.
All right, that's really all for today, but I'll try and update again sometime this weekend.
But Zathura seems like a better bet than this week's other releases. Derailed-With Clive Owen and Jennifer Aniston is just gonna be another one of those mysteries that just twists and turns til nothing makes any sense. Pride & Prejudice-another crappy Jane Austen inspired pile that is once again about upper class vs. lower class and how love gets over all that. And finally, 50 cent doing his best to follow in Eminem's footsteps with Get Rich or Die Trying. I'd actually be interested in seeing that if I could ever understand a fucking word the guy says, he just mumbles everything.
The only noteworthy game release i haven't already touched on this week is Suikoden Tactics. This reperesents a new direction for the series, but maybe not in a good way. It counts down the massive character list by half and while it does away with all the horrid things in the last entry, it also ditches the cool things from previous episodes in the series with it's focus on turn-based strategy. But then again I could use a solid SRPG so i might at least give this one a serious look.
All right, that's really all for today, but I'll try and update again sometime this weekend.
11/09/2005
Annie get your GUN
Ok, so after thinking on it a little while, I've sort of decided that not talking about the games coming out every week doesn't really work either, so I'll compromise and talk about games that I give a rat's ass about, so this particular entry will also somewhat focus on catching up on releases the last couple of weeks.
But first, I'll talk about this past weekend's films. I saw both Jarhead & Chicken Little. Jarhead was a very solid film with really strong performances. Especially Peter Sarsgard in what should be an easy supporting actor nomination. It actually manages to be very different from most other wars films because it speaks of the boredom of war. It's all about the endless waiting and anticipation of action that never seems to come.
Chicken Little was suprisingly weak. Maybe there is some special spell that Pixar knows to crank out magical films one after the other, but nobody else can really seem to create films that are not only visually impressive, but have memorable and endearing characters as well as good stories. Chicken Little lacks all of that in spades. It's poor story seems like several bad ones cast together, his sidekicks are about as generic as they come, and the laughs are few and far between, which is saying a lot when it's only 77 minutes long. The opening box office was expectedly strong, but I hope it dies quickly so Disney at least learns that you shouldn't be able to get away with flashy crap like this and label it "entertainment".
This weekend's films don't look too promising either (I'll get into why on Thursday), but I can highly reccomend two recent video releases for you to check out instead-Millions, a brilliant family movie by Danny Boyle about two boys who discover a bag full of stolen money; and Refer Madness: The Musical-A brilliant sendup of the original cult classic with lots of funny song & dance numbers thrown in. Either of these films would be a good bet for this weekend.
Want to play a 360 game now? Not only do they have display kiosks at Walmart & Best Buy, but some 360 games have already hit the shelves-Kameo is already out. All I'm gonna say is that it would really suck to buy the game and not be able to get a 360 on launch day. The 360 controllers are out too, but they have a function-they are also PC compatible.
Alas, any lingering shred of doubt about selling my 360 dissapeared with the quiet delay of Elder Scrolls: Oblivion into the next year. I think this is a true blow to the 360 launch, as a lot of people I know were sold on that game alone. Now, don't get me wrong, there are plenty of stellar-looking titles for launch (Perfect Dark Zero is looking better by the day), but for me that was the killer app, and now I can most certainly wait.
Now, catching up on past releases: I am extremely tempted to buy City of Villains. It just sounds cool (especially with my credit for Oblivion just sitting at Gamestop) to have your own fort and legions of doom, not to mention battling City of Heroes players (although from what I've read the Heroes far outnumber the villains right now, which could lead to obvious problems in PvP. But I'm certainly not done with Warcraft and the last thing I need is another huge time suck like it. I'll probably hold off til I'm bored with WOW(which may happen relatively soon since i'm nearing the level cap and the expansion isn't out til July), but there are severa MMOs that look extremely interesting now (I've always wanted to get into Final Fantasy XI) and plenty on the way (Dungeons & Dragons is finally getting its own MMO early next year).
The latest James Bond title also came out recently from EA, and like most EA titles, it's big on presentation, and lacking in sunbstance. I'm not shocked but dissapointed that EA has chosen to mine old titles Goldeneye & From Russia With Love. The Bond titles sucked for years. The first good one in a long time was the original Everything or Nothing. It really seems like the last few years EA has been sitting on nothing but their past laurels. It may not be anytime real soon, but eventually that's going to really kick them in the ass. And I will be laughing when it does.
I also recently played Soul Calibur III & Spartan. Soul Calibur is an excellnt game series, and the third one doesn't really change that. The probably is that it barely changes anything. The new modes are repetive or pathetically boring, the new characters don't really add anything, and where the hell is online play? The underlying engine still rocks, but you can buy Soul Calibur II and get the same experience with better modes. In Spartan I was just lost. You are one soldier in a huge crowd and although you get really cool manuevers, just try pulling something fancy off when enemies are gangbanging you left and right. It's much more effective(though admittedly really dull) to just hack through everything). Plus, it has escort missions, which are the ultimate evil in gaming.
But the most recent releases this week and last week mostly focus on guns, lots of them. War freaks can get their war on with several different titles-Star Wars Battlefront 2, Call of Duty 2 and Battlefield 2. SW: Battlefront 2 seems like the best bet if for no other reason than you can not only fight in space but kick major ass a a Jedi. Plus, modern day or historic war games are a dime a dozen. Oddly enough, futuristic ones are few and far between.
GUN, Activision's attempt to do something other than Tony Hawk games also comes out this week. They are selling it as a GTA style game in the old west, but I've seen the gameplay and the reviews seem to concur that's it's not nearly as deep or offers as many hours as other "sandbox" titles.
Finally, a new Matrix game hits this week. And it finally lets you play as Neo. The problem is that will anyone care? The original Matrix game was pure crap. The Matrix online is a massive failure, and most fans felt burned by the rather lackluster sequels. Who knows, maybe this will finally redeem the franchise.
Ok, that's really all for today, but i'll be back tommorow for sure.
But first, I'll talk about this past weekend's films. I saw both Jarhead & Chicken Little. Jarhead was a very solid film with really strong performances. Especially Peter Sarsgard in what should be an easy supporting actor nomination. It actually manages to be very different from most other wars films because it speaks of the boredom of war. It's all about the endless waiting and anticipation of action that never seems to come.
Chicken Little was suprisingly weak. Maybe there is some special spell that Pixar knows to crank out magical films one after the other, but nobody else can really seem to create films that are not only visually impressive, but have memorable and endearing characters as well as good stories. Chicken Little lacks all of that in spades. It's poor story seems like several bad ones cast together, his sidekicks are about as generic as they come, and the laughs are few and far between, which is saying a lot when it's only 77 minutes long. The opening box office was expectedly strong, but I hope it dies quickly so Disney at least learns that you shouldn't be able to get away with flashy crap like this and label it "entertainment".
This weekend's films don't look too promising either (I'll get into why on Thursday), but I can highly reccomend two recent video releases for you to check out instead-Millions, a brilliant family movie by Danny Boyle about two boys who discover a bag full of stolen money; and Refer Madness: The Musical-A brilliant sendup of the original cult classic with lots of funny song & dance numbers thrown in. Either of these films would be a good bet for this weekend.
Want to play a 360 game now? Not only do they have display kiosks at Walmart & Best Buy, but some 360 games have already hit the shelves-Kameo is already out. All I'm gonna say is that it would really suck to buy the game and not be able to get a 360 on launch day. The 360 controllers are out too, but they have a function-they are also PC compatible.
Alas, any lingering shred of doubt about selling my 360 dissapeared with the quiet delay of Elder Scrolls: Oblivion into the next year. I think this is a true blow to the 360 launch, as a lot of people I know were sold on that game alone. Now, don't get me wrong, there are plenty of stellar-looking titles for launch (Perfect Dark Zero is looking better by the day), but for me that was the killer app, and now I can most certainly wait.
Now, catching up on past releases: I am extremely tempted to buy City of Villains. It just sounds cool (especially with my credit for Oblivion just sitting at Gamestop) to have your own fort and legions of doom, not to mention battling City of Heroes players (although from what I've read the Heroes far outnumber the villains right now, which could lead to obvious problems in PvP. But I'm certainly not done with Warcraft and the last thing I need is another huge time suck like it. I'll probably hold off til I'm bored with WOW(which may happen relatively soon since i'm nearing the level cap and the expansion isn't out til July), but there are severa MMOs that look extremely interesting now (I've always wanted to get into Final Fantasy XI) and plenty on the way (Dungeons & Dragons is finally getting its own MMO early next year).
The latest James Bond title also came out recently from EA, and like most EA titles, it's big on presentation, and lacking in sunbstance. I'm not shocked but dissapointed that EA has chosen to mine old titles Goldeneye & From Russia With Love. The Bond titles sucked for years. The first good one in a long time was the original Everything or Nothing. It really seems like the last few years EA has been sitting on nothing but their past laurels. It may not be anytime real soon, but eventually that's going to really kick them in the ass. And I will be laughing when it does.
I also recently played Soul Calibur III & Spartan. Soul Calibur is an excellnt game series, and the third one doesn't really change that. The probably is that it barely changes anything. The new modes are repetive or pathetically boring, the new characters don't really add anything, and where the hell is online play? The underlying engine still rocks, but you can buy Soul Calibur II and get the same experience with better modes. In Spartan I was just lost. You are one soldier in a huge crowd and although you get really cool manuevers, just try pulling something fancy off when enemies are gangbanging you left and right. It's much more effective(though admittedly really dull) to just hack through everything). Plus, it has escort missions, which are the ultimate evil in gaming.
But the most recent releases this week and last week mostly focus on guns, lots of them. War freaks can get their war on with several different titles-Star Wars Battlefront 2, Call of Duty 2 and Battlefield 2. SW: Battlefront 2 seems like the best bet if for no other reason than you can not only fight in space but kick major ass a a Jedi. Plus, modern day or historic war games are a dime a dozen. Oddly enough, futuristic ones are few and far between.
GUN, Activision's attempt to do something other than Tony Hawk games also comes out this week. They are selling it as a GTA style game in the old west, but I've seen the gameplay and the reviews seem to concur that's it's not nearly as deep or offers as many hours as other "sandbox" titles.
Finally, a new Matrix game hits this week. And it finally lets you play as Neo. The problem is that will anyone care? The original Matrix game was pure crap. The Matrix online is a massive failure, and most fans felt burned by the rather lackluster sequels. Who knows, maybe this will finally redeem the franchise.
Ok, that's really all for today, but i'll be back tommorow for sure.
11/04/2005
Did the Mouse lay an Egg?
Today's question won't really be answered til monday, but a whole lot is riding on Disney's Chicken Little, their forst computer animated film without the seemingly infallible Pixar touch behind it. I'm sure the kids will flock to it, but unless it's in near record numbers, Pixar will be laughing all the way to the bank as Disney will desperately try to lure them back. But I think the real question is, just what the hell has happened to Disney animation over the last decade or so? Their last truly venerable animated hit before Pixar came along was The Lion King. There has been an undervalued gem or two since then (Emperor's New Groove), but otherwise the House of Mouse has released many tepid offerings that appealed to neither kids or adults (Treasure Planet, several forgettable Winnie the Pooh films, etc.). The quality of the animation itself hasn't died down, but that's probably part of the problem-too wrapped up in how a movie looks than whether the characters & story is actually interesting. Maybe the recent shakeup at Disney is a long overdue sign of change-only time will tell.
This weekend's other big offering will tell whether people are tired of war stories-Jarhead features an acclaimed director (Sam Mendes) and a stellar cast (Jake Gyllenhal, Jamie Foxx, Peter Sarsgaard), but it may be an all to often visited view on war from a soldier's perspective, especially in a time when people are pretty tired of war.
That's really all for today, I'll definitely update again tommorow or sunday though.
This weekend's other big offering will tell whether people are tired of war stories-Jarhead features an acclaimed director (Sam Mendes) and a stellar cast (Jake Gyllenhal, Jamie Foxx, Peter Sarsgaard), but it may be an all to often visited view on war from a soldier's perspective, especially in a time when people are pretty tired of war.
That's really all for today, I'll definitely update again tommorow or sunday though.
10/30/2005
WOW Rantings & Ravings Vol. 1
The header is sort of joke. As I have stated, I will not make this a column mainly devoted to WOW, but I will occasionally talk about it. And with Blizzcon, where they are showcasing the upcoming expansion pack for WOW going on this weekend, it seemed like a good opportunity to talk about my thoughts on the expansion as it's now known and my experiences with the game.
First thought-the methods of travel need to be vastly improved. Currently there are three realistic options to get to anywhere-foot/ mount, griffin or begging some mage to teleport you there. While there's nothing theoretically wrong with traveling on foot it just takes awhile. The real problem is with the griffins. I admit, the first few times I flew on a griffin, it was pretty cool. You get to see new places as you are flying over, and it has a very majestic feeling. The problem is that it is much like your modern day bargain bin flights, only without the fun strip searches. There is no direct flight path to many cities, and you have to make many stops if you are trying to get to a particularly far place. And it's not like you can get transfers, so it can get costly & time consuming jetting around from city to city. Now, I can ask a player to teleport me, but that can also take a whole lot of time, be costly, and pointless if there's no one available. The simple solution-Have NPC teleporters that can teleport you to any city/refuge you've already traveled to. It should cost a bit more since it's a more convient way of traveling, but I think most would gladly pay extra in order to get there fast. It would also stop greedy mages from ripping people off (or least have them offer bargain bin discounts).
Second thought-New Class: Ambassador. Now I know that Blizzard has repeatedly stated that it is (understandbly) incredibly hard to to balance the current classes, which is why we probably won't be seeing a new one anytime real soon. But I think an Ambassador class would benot only an ideal and original addition, but a fairly easy fit. The idea is this-although some players really keep to heart the whole Aliiance vs. Horde thing, many (including myself) get along fine with suppossed enemies and even occasionally help out if possible. The downside is that we can't really communicate with each other or team up. The Ambassador would be a solution to that. Your basic tool would be the use of language. You can team up with members of an opposite faction and if you are on a party they can invite members of another faction. As far as attack, your powers would focus and crowd control-lowering agression of nearby enemies, charming (which most magic clases dcan do to some extent, but this would be much more focused), and be able to talk to enemies in their language and listen so they reveal key locations of items, bosses, etc. I think it would truly add a unique dimension of gameplay.
Now, onto the expansion itself. Not everything has been revealed as of yet, but honestly the tidbits that have been aren't that exciting. Don't get me wrong, being able to explore the orc homeworld sounds very cool-
But the new level cap doesn't really solve the end game issue, just prolongs it a little. And then there's the new races. While the Alliance race hasn't been revealed yet, the Horde race, the Blood Elves, Seem like a fairly poor choice.
Blizzard has pretty much admitted to the Blood Elves being there to offer a "sexy" race for the Horde side. The Horde isn't supposssed to be sexy. They are suppossed to be a mostly vicious, ugly and cruel group built on an uneasy alliance that seems about to break at any moment (which might be something WOW can touch upon in the next expansion, whenever that is). These Blood Elves just look like Night Elves with a different hue. Hopefully the gameplay difference will make up for the lack of creativity there, but if that's the biggest selling point of this expansion, I may skip it for awhile.
Moving on from WOW, I've sort of decided to scale back on my focus on game releases. Not in the sense that I'll really stop talking about them, more that I'll talk about them when I get to play with them so I can give a better opinion on them. It may mean I'm giving an opinion about a game months after it's out, but it's not like I'm really under any pressure or get paid to do this. That's it for today.
First thought-the methods of travel need to be vastly improved. Currently there are three realistic options to get to anywhere-foot/ mount, griffin or begging some mage to teleport you there. While there's nothing theoretically wrong with traveling on foot it just takes awhile. The real problem is with the griffins. I admit, the first few times I flew on a griffin, it was pretty cool. You get to see new places as you are flying over, and it has a very majestic feeling. The problem is that it is much like your modern day bargain bin flights, only without the fun strip searches. There is no direct flight path to many cities, and you have to make many stops if you are trying to get to a particularly far place. And it's not like you can get transfers, so it can get costly & time consuming jetting around from city to city. Now, I can ask a player to teleport me, but that can also take a whole lot of time, be costly, and pointless if there's no one available. The simple solution-Have NPC teleporters that can teleport you to any city/refuge you've already traveled to. It should cost a bit more since it's a more convient way of traveling, but I think most would gladly pay extra in order to get there fast. It would also stop greedy mages from ripping people off (or least have them offer bargain bin discounts).
Second thought-New Class: Ambassador. Now I know that Blizzard has repeatedly stated that it is (understandbly) incredibly hard to to balance the current classes, which is why we probably won't be seeing a new one anytime real soon. But I think an Ambassador class would benot only an ideal and original addition, but a fairly easy fit. The idea is this-although some players really keep to heart the whole Aliiance vs. Horde thing, many (including myself) get along fine with suppossed enemies and even occasionally help out if possible. The downside is that we can't really communicate with each other or team up. The Ambassador would be a solution to that. Your basic tool would be the use of language. You can team up with members of an opposite faction and if you are on a party they can invite members of another faction. As far as attack, your powers would focus and crowd control-lowering agression of nearby enemies, charming (which most magic clases dcan do to some extent, but this would be much more focused), and be able to talk to enemies in their language and listen so they reveal key locations of items, bosses, etc. I think it would truly add a unique dimension of gameplay.
Now, onto the expansion itself. Not everything has been revealed as of yet, but honestly the tidbits that have been aren't that exciting. Don't get me wrong, being able to explore the orc homeworld sounds very cool-
But the new level cap doesn't really solve the end game issue, just prolongs it a little. And then there's the new races. While the Alliance race hasn't been revealed yet, the Horde race, the Blood Elves, Seem like a fairly poor choice.
Blizzard has pretty much admitted to the Blood Elves being there to offer a "sexy" race for the Horde side. The Horde isn't supposssed to be sexy. They are suppossed to be a mostly vicious, ugly and cruel group built on an uneasy alliance that seems about to break at any moment (which might be something WOW can touch upon in the next expansion, whenever that is). These Blood Elves just look like Night Elves with a different hue. Hopefully the gameplay difference will make up for the lack of creativity there, but if that's the biggest selling point of this expansion, I may skip it for awhile.
Moving on from WOW, I've sort of decided to scale back on my focus on game releases. Not in the sense that I'll really stop talking about them, more that I'll talk about them when I get to play with them so I can give a better opinion on them. It may mean I'm giving an opinion about a game months after it's out, but it's not like I'm really under any pressure or get paid to do this. That's it for today.
10/28/2005
Legend of Zorro? More like Suck of Zorro. Saw 2? More like Suck 2. Weather Man? More like; well, you get the idea....
Today's title was inpsired by a very funny PVP comic I ran across:
Another weekend, another slate of lame releases. I mean, seriously, nothing coming out this weekend looks promising in the least. Sure, Weatherman has Nicholas Cage & Michael Cane, but it also has hackjob driector Gore Verbinski (The Ring, one of the least scary horror movies of the last decade) behind the helm and seems almost like a retread of Family Man, just without the fantasy element. Saw II is a crappy slapped together sequel to an excruciatingly bad original, only with even worse actors this time.
Then there's Prime with Uma Thurman & Meryl Streep . The premise itself sounds interesting enough-A neurotic woman starts dating a much younger man who is also her therapist's (Streep) son. But the trailers seemed to really strain for laughs that just aren't there.
And finally there is the Legend of Zorro. You know how this automatically sucks-they added an annoying kid. It's always the death knell of a franchise to add a child. In other words, this weekend I will be catching up on movies I should've seen ahile ago like History of Violence.
Moving on, I did see Doom last Sunday, and it didn't suck, automatically making it the best video game adaptation in quite a while(arguably ever, but I actually liked the first Resident Evil movie & the first Mortal Kombat movie). It was far from a great film, but it had some good action, cool monsters and was faithful to it's video game origins.
Dear god-Uwe Boll can't be stopped. First, he acquires the rights to make an awful movie based on the awful game Postal, but before he unleashes that atrocity on the public-he's going to release his $60 million dollar "epic" fantasy Dungeon Siege as two seperate films. Hardly a new tactic, but these two films are only going to be a month apart. If he ever does get the right to make a film based on the Warcraft franchise I'm going on a little hunting trip in Germany....
Another weekend, another slate of lame releases. I mean, seriously, nothing coming out this weekend looks promising in the least. Sure, Weatherman has Nicholas Cage & Michael Cane, but it also has hackjob driector Gore Verbinski (The Ring, one of the least scary horror movies of the last decade) behind the helm and seems almost like a retread of Family Man, just without the fantasy element. Saw II is a crappy slapped together sequel to an excruciatingly bad original, only with even worse actors this time.
Then there's Prime with Uma Thurman & Meryl Streep . The premise itself sounds interesting enough-A neurotic woman starts dating a much younger man who is also her therapist's (Streep) son. But the trailers seemed to really strain for laughs that just aren't there.
And finally there is the Legend of Zorro. You know how this automatically sucks-they added an annoying kid. It's always the death knell of a franchise to add a child. In other words, this weekend I will be catching up on movies I should've seen ahile ago like History of Violence.
Moving on, I did see Doom last Sunday, and it didn't suck, automatically making it the best video game adaptation in quite a while(arguably ever, but I actually liked the first Resident Evil movie & the first Mortal Kombat movie). It was far from a great film, but it had some good action, cool monsters and was faithful to it's video game origins.
Dear god-Uwe Boll can't be stopped. First, he acquires the rights to make an awful movie based on the awful game Postal, but before he unleashes that atrocity on the public-he's going to release his $60 million dollar "epic" fantasy Dungeon Siege as two seperate films. Hardly a new tactic, but these two films are only going to be a month apart. If he ever does get the right to make a film based on the Warcraft franchise I'm going on a little hunting trip in Germany....
10/21/2005
Doomed if you do, Doomed if you don't.
Yeah, I could go see a possibly oscar-worthy peromorfmance by Charlize Theron in North Country, or a mind-bending thriller from the director of Monster's Ball in Stay, but being the video game nut that I am, I need to see Doom this weekend. Granted, if it looked really horrible or had a hint of Uwe Boll anywhere near it I would not give it a shot. But it looks like it really captures the game well, provieds high violence with a healthy R rating rather than a demo-friendly PG-13, and I love the Rock as the next big thing in action. But I heard Rock's role in this may be akin to Steven Seagal's role in Executive decision, but as long as there is plenty of carnage I'm there.
One film I will definitely not be checking out this weekend or ever is Dreamer with Dakota Fanning. Fanning is arguably the most brilliant child actress in years (hell maybe decades), but this obviously cheesy Seabiscuit wannabe is so obviously hokey and made up manipulative crap for little kids who have a thing for horsies.
One film I will definitely not be checking out this weekend or ever is Dreamer with Dakota Fanning. Fanning is arguably the most brilliant child actress in years (hell maybe decades), but this obviously cheesy Seabiscuit wannabe is so obviously hokey and made up manipulative crap for little kids who have a thing for horsies.
10/19/2005
The Gift for the ubernerd in every World of Warcraft player.
The World or Warcraft is a staggeringly huge place with many things you may never discover even if you play for years. That being said, many free online guides are available and the in-game map is very well done also-So why in God's name would any idiot go and waste his money on a freaking Atlas for the game?
It's another huge week of relesases for most systems this week.
Never gotten into an MMORPG? Maybe you might want to start with the grandaddy of them all-Ultima Online-the 8th age includes the original game and all the expansion packs so far, for the bargain price of $20. Why only $20? Cause the game is ridiclously dated and most other contenders have far surpassed it, you can tell by the desperation of the packaging-along with all those expansions comes 45 free days, free online items and an advanced character in case you don't wanna start at the bottom cause you know the only people left playing this are Lord British's most diehard subjects.
For some reason, a disturbing new trend this past year is brigning back licenses that were popular a generation or two ago. The latest is the video game take on the cult classic-The Warriors by Rockstar games for the PS2 & Xbox. I haven't played it yet, but judging from all the reviews, other than the plot it doesn't sound much different from Grand Theft Auto. You commit crimes, beat the hell out of rival gang memebers, etc.-The only difference being that you can play with other people. I think a real innvation to this whole genre would be realsitic management of a gang-Recruting menbers, keeping an eye on potential rivals, setting up a relationship with crooked cops, etc. The whole genre just seems to be incredibly stale no matter what era you put it in.
Possibly the last noteworthy Gamecube game of the year also comes out this week-Fire Emblem. It's fairly traditional strategy rpg-It's also the only one on the GC, so if you have one do yourself a favor and pick it up.
3 Huge shooters release this week. Serious Sam II-You like blowing lots of shit up at a insane pace with a good sense of humor thrown in-go with Sam. The graphics and gameplay are about as old-school as you can get, but there's definitely a good charm factor becuase of that. The latest Quake game is out this week as well. You played Doom 3? It's the same crap only they were smart enough to let you use a guna and a flashlight at the same fucking time in this game.
The new big dog is F.E.A.R. for the PC-all accounts say this game essentially captures the feel of being in a Jon Woo style gunfight. I'm not huge into shooters, I haven't played one since Halo 2, but I the reviews are so resoundingly psitive on F.E.A.R. that I may have to at least check it out.
Blitz: the League hits stores as well. It's suppsoedly an alternative to the No Fun League games that EA has a monopoly on now, but I've seen the gameplay and it fails to seem any different from the same rehashed NFL Blitz formula that got old years ago.
But the two games I am really interested in this week are Shadow of the Colossus and Shining Force Neo for PS2. Shadow of the Colossus is the sipritual succesor to a little brilliant cult game called Ico, in which every room was a brilliantly concieved puzzle you had to get through while protecting a mysterious princess. This new title is from the same team, but instead each boss is essentially a huge intricate puzzle. Shing Force Neo is the long overdue follow-up to what is the originator of turn-based strategy console games that started way back on the Genesis. But it's no longer a turn-based strategy title. It's an action adventure where you have a party of AI controlled team mates. It's not the classic return I was hoping for, but as long as the gameplay rocks, I really won't care.
Finally-It has become readily apparent that Ted Turner is out of touch with time & reality even more so than usual. This week-Gametap, a PC online gaming service launched. For a monthly fee you can download classic console titles. Apparently Billioaire ted or nobody that works for him has ever heard of an emulator....
It's another huge week of relesases for most systems this week.
Never gotten into an MMORPG? Maybe you might want to start with the grandaddy of them all-Ultima Online-the 8th age includes the original game and all the expansion packs so far, for the bargain price of $20. Why only $20? Cause the game is ridiclously dated and most other contenders have far surpassed it, you can tell by the desperation of the packaging-along with all those expansions comes 45 free days, free online items and an advanced character in case you don't wanna start at the bottom cause you know the only people left playing this are Lord British's most diehard subjects.
For some reason, a disturbing new trend this past year is brigning back licenses that were popular a generation or two ago. The latest is the video game take on the cult classic-The Warriors by Rockstar games for the PS2 & Xbox. I haven't played it yet, but judging from all the reviews, other than the plot it doesn't sound much different from Grand Theft Auto. You commit crimes, beat the hell out of rival gang memebers, etc.-The only difference being that you can play with other people. I think a real innvation to this whole genre would be realsitic management of a gang-Recruting menbers, keeping an eye on potential rivals, setting up a relationship with crooked cops, etc. The whole genre just seems to be incredibly stale no matter what era you put it in.
Possibly the last noteworthy Gamecube game of the year also comes out this week-Fire Emblem. It's fairly traditional strategy rpg-It's also the only one on the GC, so if you have one do yourself a favor and pick it up.
3 Huge shooters release this week. Serious Sam II-You like blowing lots of shit up at a insane pace with a good sense of humor thrown in-go with Sam. The graphics and gameplay are about as old-school as you can get, but there's definitely a good charm factor becuase of that. The latest Quake game is out this week as well. You played Doom 3? It's the same crap only they were smart enough to let you use a guna and a flashlight at the same fucking time in this game.
The new big dog is F.E.A.R. for the PC-all accounts say this game essentially captures the feel of being in a Jon Woo style gunfight. I'm not huge into shooters, I haven't played one since Halo 2, but I the reviews are so resoundingly psitive on F.E.A.R. that I may have to at least check it out.
Blitz: the League hits stores as well. It's suppsoedly an alternative to the No Fun League games that EA has a monopoly on now, but I've seen the gameplay and it fails to seem any different from the same rehashed NFL Blitz formula that got old years ago.
But the two games I am really interested in this week are Shadow of the Colossus and Shining Force Neo for PS2. Shadow of the Colossus is the sipritual succesor to a little brilliant cult game called Ico, in which every room was a brilliantly concieved puzzle you had to get through while protecting a mysterious princess. This new title is from the same team, but instead each boss is essentially a huge intricate puzzle. Shing Force Neo is the long overdue follow-up to what is the originator of turn-based strategy console games that started way back on the Genesis. But it's no longer a turn-based strategy title. It's an action adventure where you have a party of AI controlled team mates. It's not the classic return I was hoping for, but as long as the gameplay rocks, I really won't care.
Finally-It has become readily apparent that Ted Turner is out of touch with time & reality even more so than usual. This week-Gametap, a PC online gaming service launched. For a monthly fee you can download classic console titles. Apparently Billioaire ted or nobody that works for him has ever heard of an emulator....
Gabe & Tycho are my heroes
Joss Whedon may be my master, but Gabe & Tycho's massive pwnage of Jack Thompson this week earns them my completely unworthy worship for at least a good while. Remember how Thompson pledged 10,000 dollars to charity if anybody made a videogame according to his specifications? Well, somebody actually went ahead and did it; and big suprise, Thompson claimed he was only joking. Gabe & Tycho's response-donating 10,000 to charity in Mr. Thompson's name!
Jack Thompson's response-Trying to have them arrested(just what failure of a University gave this moron his law degree anyways?):
Yes he is a senile old coot that us gamers should laugh at. Here's the problem as Gabe & Tycho have pointed out-People are giving this guy some fucking attention. He was on CNN Monday night telling more blatant lies. Specifically that the NFL wanted nothing to do with Midway's upcoming Blitz: The League game because of it's edgier content than a normal football title when the reality is that the only reason the game is even being made is in response to EA's buying the rights to any & all NFL games. This man needs to be taken seriously, called on all his total bullshit, and recognized for the dregg of society that he truly is.
Moving on, game demos can be a very crucial thing, as they can make or break a game. That's why I was very disheartened trying out the new Dragon Warrior VIII demo I got by reserving said game. With all my highly anticipated rpgs quietly slipping to 2006 (Kingdom Hearts 2, Final Fantasy XII, Shadow Hearts 3, etc.), I was really hoping the latest Dragon Warrior would be able to fill my rpg needs. If the demo is any indication, it will fall way short of that. Not only do the characters look like Dragonball Z rejects:
, but the preview is very oddly put together, seperating a story quest where all you do is talk to people until you find the right one, and showing off a very basic battle system that shows little to no innovation along with very bad translation. There is nothing here to indicate why in a country where they release rpgs as often as we release sports titles, why it is the best-selling PS2 game ever. Granted the Japanese have very quirky taste when it comes to their gaming, but this seems like some relic dressed up with fancy artistry that I personally don't care for.
Finally today, I got some time in with Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge. I wasn't sure what to expect of a title based of such an awesome movie but made nearly a decade later, but Capcom has pulled off a fairly decent effort with it. Presentation-wsie, the game is flawless, the characters & look of Halloweentown are represented very well, and it features great original music & lyrics with some help from the legendary Danny Elfman. Combat-wise, it's really not much different from Capcom titles like Devil May Cry where you work up massive hit combos with a few very cool weapons. And just for the sake of weirdness, which sort of fits, boss battles really depend on how good you are at Parappa the Rapper-style sequences. It's nothing I would highly reccomend, but worth a rental.
That's it for today, but I'll be back tommorow with views on all the big games hitting this week.
Jack Thompson's response-Trying to have them arrested(just what failure of a University gave this moron his law degree anyways?):
Yes he is a senile old coot that us gamers should laugh at. Here's the problem as Gabe & Tycho have pointed out-People are giving this guy some fucking attention. He was on CNN Monday night telling more blatant lies. Specifically that the NFL wanted nothing to do with Midway's upcoming Blitz: The League game because of it's edgier content than a normal football title when the reality is that the only reason the game is even being made is in response to EA's buying the rights to any & all NFL games. This man needs to be taken seriously, called on all his total bullshit, and recognized for the dregg of society that he truly is.
Moving on, game demos can be a very crucial thing, as they can make or break a game. That's why I was very disheartened trying out the new Dragon Warrior VIII demo I got by reserving said game. With all my highly anticipated rpgs quietly slipping to 2006 (Kingdom Hearts 2, Final Fantasy XII, Shadow Hearts 3, etc.), I was really hoping the latest Dragon Warrior would be able to fill my rpg needs. If the demo is any indication, it will fall way short of that. Not only do the characters look like Dragonball Z rejects:
, but the preview is very oddly put together, seperating a story quest where all you do is talk to people until you find the right one, and showing off a very basic battle system that shows little to no innovation along with very bad translation. There is nothing here to indicate why in a country where they release rpgs as often as we release sports titles, why it is the best-selling PS2 game ever. Granted the Japanese have very quirky taste when it comes to their gaming, but this seems like some relic dressed up with fancy artistry that I personally don't care for.
Finally today, I got some time in with Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge. I wasn't sure what to expect of a title based of such an awesome movie but made nearly a decade later, but Capcom has pulled off a fairly decent effort with it. Presentation-wsie, the game is flawless, the characters & look of Halloweentown are represented very well, and it features great original music & lyrics with some help from the legendary Danny Elfman. Combat-wise, it's really not much different from Capcom titles like Devil May Cry where you work up massive hit combos with a few very cool weapons. And just for the sake of weirdness, which sort of fits, boss battles really depend on how good you are at Parappa the Rapper-style sequences. It's nothing I would highly reccomend, but worth a rental.
That's it for today, but I'll be back tommorow with views on all the big games hitting this week.
10/14/2005
Jack Thompson-Video game maker?
That's right, Jack Thompson, senile insane crusader, wants to make a video game! The catch? It's a video game that blatantly supports his view that video games are bad for you. If this guy is actually responsible for anything significant ever (instead of just latching his name on to reasonable legislation he had nothing to do with) I am moving to Canada.
Even more bad news-After confirming Edler Scrolls IV for Xbox 360 launch, developer Betheseda is quickly correcting that, just sticking to vague "holiday release". Not only that, butthe PC version is currently listed as 10 bucks cheaper. Selling my 360 for a hopefully insane profit is looking like a better option all the time.
Moving on into movies, although an official announcement will suppossedly be made sometime today, word is that Craig Daniels is the newest James Bond.
In my opinion he looks the least right for the role out of most of the other supposed front-runners (Hugh Jackman, Clive Owen, Jason Statham, who would've been my choice). But maybe this also means a new direction for Bond, which is probably badly needed at this point.
Three movies open this weekend that I could really care less about. Sure, Elizabeth town is a Cameron Crowe film, but his last few films all seem to be roughly the same movie-Young man rediscovers what he was missing in his life by meeting a vibrant young woman. It was pretty much the theme in Almost Famous, moreso in Jerry Maguire, and it just seems to be the only point of this movie.
Then there's Domino with Keira Knightley playing a real life model turned kickass bounty hunter. This initially looked somewhat promising, but further ispection by early reviews seems to indicate otherwise.
And finally the Fog. A remake of a fairly stupid John carpenter orignal with a cast of known but not big name actors (Tom Welling from Smallvile, Maggie Grace from Lost, Selma Blair) and yet another cheesy bad horror theme. I think I'll go catch History of Violence or Wallace & Gromit instead.....
10/08/2005
MCcarthy, that was one of the Beatles, right?
Although it isn't a direct quote from anybody, I guarauntee you most of today's youth sadly has no fucking clue who Joseph MCcarthy is, and that's just sad. All the more reason they should go see George Clooney's Good Night and Good Luck-All about MCcarthy and his insane vendetta against imaginary enemies, and the one guy who had the integrity and spine to take him on-Edward R. Murrow. From all accounts it is an excellent portrayal of the events and rings shockingly relevant to current events as well (just goes to show that the world never changes all that much).
But, if like me, your ony major theater isn't even carrying that film, a pleasant alternative might be Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Wererabbit. Anybody who has seen Wallace & Gromit's video effrots knows that it's as very clever show even for adults. The movie has also gotten ridiculously positive reviews, so I'll hopefully check it out in the next couple of days.
The weeknd's other offerings seem much less promising.Two for The Money seems like a stupid carbon copy of just about any movie about a young hot protege who screws up big time and doesn't realize he's in way over his head (i.e. The Firm, which was also a horrid film). Waiting seemingly has a great cast, but glaringly bad reviews across the board, which usually means something, and In Her Shoes screams chick flick in every way possible.
The other big movie news this week is that Peter Jackson is taking the job of Executive producer for the upcoming Halo film. Let's pray this guy didn't just get lucky with LOTR. I ghighly doubt it, but we'll really have to wait til Kong is out to be sure. But it does seem like Halo is destined to be the first videogame movie that is more than just decent, and may actually be awesome.
Finally, the Xbox 360 launch limeup is starting to take form, and i'm offiically pumped. Perfect Dark is looking great if you've seen any recent videos and it's confiremed for launch day, along with Dead or Alive 4, Project Gotham Racing 3, Kameo, and several solid sports titles. But in my opinion the true killer app will be Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, which has officially been confirmed for launch day. Between that & WOW, assuming I'm still playing it, I may dissapear from the face of the Earth for several months, if not years....
But, if like me, your ony major theater isn't even carrying that film, a pleasant alternative might be Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Wererabbit. Anybody who has seen Wallace & Gromit's video effrots knows that it's as very clever show even for adults. The movie has also gotten ridiculously positive reviews, so I'll hopefully check it out in the next couple of days.
The weeknd's other offerings seem much less promising.Two for The Money seems like a stupid carbon copy of just about any movie about a young hot protege who screws up big time and doesn't realize he's in way over his head (i.e. The Firm, which was also a horrid film). Waiting seemingly has a great cast, but glaringly bad reviews across the board, which usually means something, and In Her Shoes screams chick flick in every way possible.
The other big movie news this week is that Peter Jackson is taking the job of Executive producer for the upcoming Halo film. Let's pray this guy didn't just get lucky with LOTR. I ghighly doubt it, but we'll really have to wait til Kong is out to be sure. But it does seem like Halo is destined to be the first videogame movie that is more than just decent, and may actually be awesome.
Finally, the Xbox 360 launch limeup is starting to take form, and i'm offiically pumped. Perfect Dark is looking great if you've seen any recent videos and it's confiremed for launch day, along with Dead or Alive 4, Project Gotham Racing 3, Kameo, and several solid sports titles. But in my opinion the true killer app will be Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, which has officially been confirmed for launch day. Between that & WOW, assuming I'm still playing it, I may dissapear from the face of the Earth for several months, if not years....
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