It seems like Sega has finally wised up, as Phantasy Star universe will be coming to the 360. This virtually gaurantees me getting one in the near future if not immediately (still a little hard to find in my area). If things work right, this could be the first real cross-console MMO with PS2 & 360 people playing together.
The PS2 has dropped to $129. Giant who cares. Seriously, this might've meant something a year or two ago, but even though the PS2 probably has a couple viable years left,but that's mainly for the already intalled base. Not many are going "well I wasn't going to pick it up at $150 brand new, but now that's it's $20 wholr dollars cheaper, I can't possibly pass this up!".
I finally got to watch the long-awaited english version of Advent Children, which will be out in stores Tuesday. FFVII fans will most likely enjoy it, as the action scenes are great and it looks fantastic. But the dialgoue is very stiff and the it lacks a decent plot, so anybody who is not a Square fanboy probably won't enjoy it.
As for movies opening this weekend, the best bet clearly seems to be American Dreamz. The reviews aren't that solid, but it still seems like a good bet and anything from the same guy who brought us About a Boy can't be that bad.
I'm sure Keifer Sutherland fans will line up to see The Sentinel. The problem? Everybody is expecting this to be 24, and it's obviously not. And this has been done before and better in movies like In the Line of Fire and The Fugitive and every other movie where a good guy is wrongly framed for a crime.
And then there is Silent Hill. Not only is this yet another video-game based movie that the studio did not screen for critics, it's based on a series of bad and unscary video games that mainly rely on creepy fog and slow, dumb freaks of nature that wouldn't frighten a small child. No wonder Roger Ebert watches crap like this and claims games aren't art...
Finally, for a little fun: For a while now, there's been a fun conspiracy theory that Mario is in fact a clever communist campaign. So here's a really clever cartoon based on that concept.
4/20/2006
4/19/2006
The Cyber-revolution will be televised.
Cyber-athlete. Even as an avid gamer, I used to relentlessly make jokes about people who considered themselves "professional" gamers. Who the hell want to watch someone play videogames? And how could you ever make a living off of it? Course, I don't get the draw of watching Poker either. But what used to be a fun hobby has definitely grown into a living for a few selct individuals. Far evolved form the ancient days of Starcade, where some random geeks would match up on simple arcade games, we now have official Madden Tournaments & Halo tournaments and even Arena, a competetive gaming show on G4. But surely, none of these non-athletic geeks can be like real sports athletes and get sweet sponsorship deals, right? Wrongo. Fatal1ty is generally considered the best player in the world, and is sponsored by numerous computer companies. Ubisoft sponsors the Fragdolls-and although the group reeks of corporate construct, it's a start.
And it's about to get a whole lot bigger. This holiday season USA will start airing the Major League Gaming circuit, and it will become a regular fixture on the network. Now, my initial thought was nobody will watch this, but it's at least as exciting as watching people play poker, and obviously has huge implications of making this a very legitimate thing. The best players win sizable amounts of cash (not compared to say, golf or big stakes poker, but 25-$100,000 is nothing to sneeze at regardless), cars, or kickass gaming rigs, and this has the potential to make everything bigger (if anybody is looking for a commentator, I'm happily available!). It'll be really interesting to see if this takes off. I have no doubt every serious gamer will watch this because they want it to succeed. I wonder if that will be enough, though.
Somehow I completely forgot to mention that I beat Kingdom Hearts II last week. It was a trying experience, as most of the bosses in the later half of the game are actually pretty damn orritating. But I really enjoyed my time, with Sora and the Disney gang amd will definitely go through it again and cannot wait for the third intallment. But this luckily leves me completely free to play lots of Oblivion, which is exactly what I'm doing.
The Xbox 360 gets its first MMO this week, but it's already been available to PC & PS2 owners for some time. FFXI hits this week, and it should be an interesting test. Although it does have a monthly fee like nearly every other MMO on the planet (12.99), the good news is that you don't need Xbox platinum service to play it on top of that, just the free silver service. The bad news? No in-game voice chat. You can still theoretically do voice chat while playing the game with your friends, but I don't see why if they could do it on PSO, they couldn't do it on FFXI. Sure, there are a lot more people playing, but different channels to communicate on could easily solve that (ala WOW). And MMORPGS are nearly impossible to play without a keyboard, and the 360 does not have one as of yet. It should be interesting to see how this goes, as there hasn't really been a solid console MMORPG since PSO, which has been around since the dreamcast days. Sure, Everquest & FFXI are available on the PS2, but neither has garnered much of an audience (especially since the new slim PS2s can't even use the hard drive adapter necessary to play FFXI).
And finally, I'm not usre how often I'm gonna do this, but there are a ton of fan videos of games out there. Some are well done, some aren't. So I've decided I'll start positng ones I really enjoy on a semi-regular basis, so here's the first one: A Final Fantasy IX fan vid set to "Yellow" by Coldplay. Enjoy!
And it's about to get a whole lot bigger. This holiday season USA will start airing the Major League Gaming circuit, and it will become a regular fixture on the network. Now, my initial thought was nobody will watch this, but it's at least as exciting as watching people play poker, and obviously has huge implications of making this a very legitimate thing. The best players win sizable amounts of cash (not compared to say, golf or big stakes poker, but 25-$100,000 is nothing to sneeze at regardless), cars, or kickass gaming rigs, and this has the potential to make everything bigger (if anybody is looking for a commentator, I'm happily available!). It'll be really interesting to see if this takes off. I have no doubt every serious gamer will watch this because they want it to succeed. I wonder if that will be enough, though.
Somehow I completely forgot to mention that I beat Kingdom Hearts II last week. It was a trying experience, as most of the bosses in the later half of the game are actually pretty damn orritating. But I really enjoyed my time, with Sora and the Disney gang amd will definitely go through it again and cannot wait for the third intallment. But this luckily leves me completely free to play lots of Oblivion, which is exactly what I'm doing.
The Xbox 360 gets its first MMO this week, but it's already been available to PC & PS2 owners for some time. FFXI hits this week, and it should be an interesting test. Although it does have a monthly fee like nearly every other MMO on the planet (12.99), the good news is that you don't need Xbox platinum service to play it on top of that, just the free silver service. The bad news? No in-game voice chat. You can still theoretically do voice chat while playing the game with your friends, but I don't see why if they could do it on PSO, they couldn't do it on FFXI. Sure, there are a lot more people playing, but different channels to communicate on could easily solve that (ala WOW). And MMORPGS are nearly impossible to play without a keyboard, and the 360 does not have one as of yet. It should be interesting to see how this goes, as there hasn't really been a solid console MMORPG since PSO, which has been around since the dreamcast days. Sure, Everquest & FFXI are available on the PS2, but neither has garnered much of an audience (especially since the new slim PS2s can't even use the hard drive adapter necessary to play FFXI).
And finally, I'm not usre how often I'm gonna do this, but there are a ton of fan videos of games out there. Some are well done, some aren't. So I've decided I'll start positng ones I really enjoy on a semi-regular basis, so here's the first one: A Final Fantasy IX fan vid set to "Yellow" by Coldplay. Enjoy!
4/17/2006
HAPPY EASTER!
Ok, I am extremely tired and don't have anything much to talk about today, so just a couple quick reviews and I'll most likely post again Tuesday or Wed.
Thank You for Smoking: Brilliantly relentless mean-spirited satire. This is easily the best movie I have seen this year so far. Aaron Eckhart, who usually stars in high budget failures (The Core and Paycheck), shows great range as a lobbyist whose only interest is vigorously defending those that he represents.
Hostel: Granted, there are a few admittedly cringe-inducing torture scenes, but it can't save laughably bad & predictable twists, a painfully slow pace and an almost nonexistant plot.
And in the spirit of the holiday, this week's free game: EASTER RUSH!
Thank You for Smoking: Brilliantly relentless mean-spirited satire. This is easily the best movie I have seen this year so far. Aaron Eckhart, who usually stars in high budget failures (The Core and Paycheck), shows great range as a lobbyist whose only interest is vigorously defending those that he represents.
Hostel: Granted, there are a few admittedly cringe-inducing torture scenes, but it can't save laughably bad & predictable twists, a painfully slow pace and an almost nonexistant plot.
And in the spirit of the holiday, this week's free game: EASTER RUSH!
4/14/2006
The Operative speaks
Chiwetel Ejiofor, aka the ice cold assassin from Serenity has brought a little hope of a sequel for us diehard fans: "Serenity's future is indefinite at this point. The box office take was less than stellar, but continuously strong DVD sales have left the door open. "I don't know what that is or that situation... Joss is such an amazing guy, and I'd be intrigued to see where he would sort of take that and take the story and so on, and whether it would be sequels or prequels. I'm sure he could do absolutely anything. He has such an amazing understanding, scope of understanding of the world that he has created. There's that kind of Tolkien universal knowledge of every raindrop that falls. So I'm sure he could sort of take it anywhere that he wanted to." Granted, it's a small sliver of hope, but it was the continually strong sales of the show that got the movie launched in the first place, so hopefully a similar thing will happen here.
A Battlestar Galatica game? Better yet, a Battlestar Galatica RPG? I'm so there if it happens. I'll admit I was very slow to warm to this show, but it's easily the best sci-fi show on TV right now.
In the market for an MMO that isn't all about war or medieval fantasy worlds? Auto Assault may be just what you are looking for, as it focuses all around cars rather than farming gold or going on dungeon raids. No real word on if this is any good yet, but a massive version of Burnout sounds like a can't miss concept to me.
Is the PS3 too big for it's britches? Apparently so. Like everything else, it's just rumour and conjecture at this point, but there seems to be plenty of rumour and conjecture that even if the PS3 does make launch this year, it'll make the troubled 360 launch look like a huge success in comparison.
Now, as for movies this weekend, we have a couple of really pathetic offerings. I'll admit that I enjoyed Scary Movie 3, but part of its charm was up until this one, they were spoofing at least halfway decent horror movies. Now they a spoofing horrid pieces of utter crap like The Village & War of The Worlds.
But Scary Movie 4 seems like a much better alternative than Disney's latest bland animated feature, The Wild. This movie performed so poorly in early viewings that no toy stores are even going to carry any merchandise from it. And considering all the junk in the bargain bin you can find from box office failures at Toys R Us, that's saying something.
Thankfully, Thank You for Smoking is finally opening nationwide this week, so I highly suggest you go check that out.
A Battlestar Galatica game? Better yet, a Battlestar Galatica RPG? I'm so there if it happens. I'll admit I was very slow to warm to this show, but it's easily the best sci-fi show on TV right now.
In the market for an MMO that isn't all about war or medieval fantasy worlds? Auto Assault may be just what you are looking for, as it focuses all around cars rather than farming gold or going on dungeon raids. No real word on if this is any good yet, but a massive version of Burnout sounds like a can't miss concept to me.
Is the PS3 too big for it's britches? Apparently so. Like everything else, it's just rumour and conjecture at this point, but there seems to be plenty of rumour and conjecture that even if the PS3 does make launch this year, it'll make the troubled 360 launch look like a huge success in comparison.
Now, as for movies this weekend, we have a couple of really pathetic offerings. I'll admit that I enjoyed Scary Movie 3, but part of its charm was up until this one, they were spoofing at least halfway decent horror movies. Now they a spoofing horrid pieces of utter crap like The Village & War of The Worlds.
But Scary Movie 4 seems like a much better alternative than Disney's latest bland animated feature, The Wild. This movie performed so poorly in early viewings that no toy stores are even going to carry any merchandise from it. And considering all the junk in the bargain bin you can find from box office failures at Toys R Us, that's saying something.
Thankfully, Thank You for Smoking is finally opening nationwide this week, so I highly suggest you go check that out.
4/12/2006
PSP, your source for kiddie porn?
Well, technically it's just a dating sim, but a dating sim featuring 12-14 year old girls most likely to be bought by creepy old guys. I never really understood dating sims and I don't think I ever will...
Proving that even completely ruined franchises never die, Tomb Raider Legend is out on the 360, Xbox and PS2 this week. Personally, I've never been a fan of the series, who's sales were obviously bolstered by many horny lonely nerds (if you dubt that, just try and search for nude pics of Lara Croft on the internet, not hard to find to this day). And even though this new one has been getting fairly solid reviews so far, I'll probably give it a rent in a few weeks when I have nothing better to do.
I'm actually far more interested in Brain Age for the Nintendo DS. Not really a game or one of those lame "edutainment" titles, this is suppossed to actually make you smarter through various exercises. Sounds like late night infomercial crap, but it's huge in Japan and probably not a bad $20 investment.
Burger King makes video games? Not only that, but they are suing Kotaku for breaking the news before it was announced. Why? My guess is not too many 360 owners are going to be lining up to buy games that are roughly the same price as a combo meal. This is getting dangerously reminscent of right before the great crash of the 80s, where everybody was trying to get into the games market, including food compaines that had no fucking clue how to make a game....
And finally, if you ever wanted to know what it's like to be a supervillain, now seems like the best time. MMORPG.com is offering a free 14 day trial of City of Villains for all registered users (registration is completely free). I'm considering getting in on it, but I'm nonestly far too invested in Oblvion & Kingdom Hearts II to be much interested in anything else at the moment.
Proving that even completely ruined franchises never die, Tomb Raider Legend is out on the 360, Xbox and PS2 this week. Personally, I've never been a fan of the series, who's sales were obviously bolstered by many horny lonely nerds (if you dubt that, just try and search for nude pics of Lara Croft on the internet, not hard to find to this day). And even though this new one has been getting fairly solid reviews so far, I'll probably give it a rent in a few weeks when I have nothing better to do.
I'm actually far more interested in Brain Age for the Nintendo DS. Not really a game or one of those lame "edutainment" titles, this is suppossed to actually make you smarter through various exercises. Sounds like late night infomercial crap, but it's huge in Japan and probably not a bad $20 investment.
Burger King makes video games? Not only that, but they are suing Kotaku for breaking the news before it was announced. Why? My guess is not too many 360 owners are going to be lining up to buy games that are roughly the same price as a combo meal. This is getting dangerously reminscent of right before the great crash of the 80s, where everybody was trying to get into the games market, including food compaines that had no fucking clue how to make a game....
And finally, if you ever wanted to know what it's like to be a supervillain, now seems like the best time. MMORPG.com is offering a free 14 day trial of City of Villains for all registered users (registration is completely free). I'm considering getting in on it, but I'm nonestly far too invested in Oblvion & Kingdom Hearts II to be much interested in anything else at the moment.
4/10/2006
YES
Easily my favorite show that never got its due, The Adventures of Brisco County, only lasted one glorious season, but thankfully I can relive that season as many times as I like now that it's finally coming to DVD. The $100 price tag gives me pause though, I'll probably wait until I can find a good deal on it through ebay or something before I pick it up.
Still nostalgic about all those great (and no so great) 90s TV shows? Retrojunk has most of the most popular intros so you can relive some of the nostalgia and not actually remember how bad most of those shows were (I still can't belive that I used to love Perfect Strangers...)
Ocean's 13 is on it's way, and while their isn't an official trailer yet, they probably could do well to copy what this guy thinks it should be like. The impressions are pretty damn uncanny.
And just as it seems Microsoft is finally getting their act together and getting 360s into stores on a regular basis, wacky legal issues threaten to cut them off at the knees. Granted, nothing will probably come of this, but if it actually succeeded and 360s did get pulled, I'd imagine Microsoft would effectively be done with consoles for at least this generation as they couldn't possibly regain the ground lost from such a blow.
All that's really left is the FREE GAME IF THE WEEK: Rambo BROS.!
4/06/2006
Josh Hartnett's Lucky Number?
I know, it's supposed to be a clever play on words. In fact, Lucky Number Slevin seems to just scream "look how clever I am!". And movies like that tend to be far too clever for their own good. Although it boasts great star such as Morgan Freeman and Bruce Willis, the focus is on Hartnett, who is only slightly above Paul Walker in acting ability.
Though it seems the best option out of another weekend of weak releases. Can we please make it illegal for anybody to make anymore "teacher inspires poor kids" movies for about 20 years or so? Because we have yet another one with Take the Lead, which uses dancing instead of basketball or chess or poetry or 5 billion other tired devices.
The other two films Benchwarmers & Phat Girls, weren't even screened for critics, which is probably for the best as I wouldn't even want to think who would actually give those films a good review and not hang themselves.
So, Oblivion's first official mod came out this past week, it's shiny new horse armor! And it actually costs money. Sure $2.50(1.99 if you have it for PC) seems like a trifle amount of money, but if this succeeds, it will probably lead to many more things like it that will slowly nickel & dime you til your broke if you want to play your game to the fullest. They are already talking about their next download, which will be a nifty new tower for you to explore. Sounds like a real bargain....
Though it seems the best option out of another weekend of weak releases. Can we please make it illegal for anybody to make anymore "teacher inspires poor kids" movies for about 20 years or so? Because we have yet another one with Take the Lead, which uses dancing instead of basketball or chess or poetry or 5 billion other tired devices.
The other two films Benchwarmers & Phat Girls, weren't even screened for critics, which is probably for the best as I wouldn't even want to think who would actually give those films a good review and not hang themselves.
So, Oblivion's first official mod came out this past week, it's shiny new horse armor! And it actually costs money. Sure $2.50(1.99 if you have it for PC) seems like a trifle amount of money, but if this succeeds, it will probably lead to many more things like it that will slowly nickel & dime you til your broke if you want to play your game to the fullest. They are already talking about their next download, which will be a nifty new tower for you to explore. Sounds like a real bargain....
4/03/2006
Nathan Fillion: The Next Bruce Campbell?
After seeing Slither this weekend (which wasn't quite up there with comedy horror greats like Tremors or Bubba Ho-Tep, but a solid film for those who like the genre), I'm pretty convinced that Nathan Fillion should have a long and healthy career in entertaining B-films. He's already got White Noise 2 on his plate, and seems perfect for the Evil Dead remake that Sam Raimi is planning on doing.
Expanding a little more on Kingdom Hearts 2-There are some minor quibbles I have (so you can put in Mulan & Pirates of the Carribean, but no Robin Hood, Black Cauldron, or Emperor's New Groove?), but anybody who liked the original, Final Fatnasy and/or Disney should pick this up immediately. It's also an excellent argument against going next gen anytime soon if AAA titles like this at least periodically come out of the pipeline.
And finally, although it seems like they've been talking about it forever, a Simpsons movie is actually finally coming to us next year. 10 years ago, I would've been estatic about this, but the Simpsons have been getting substantially worse the last seven or so years, and now I think this is just a horrible idea. To be sure, the kids with no taste that watch the show now will eat it up, but us fans who have been there since the beginning no longer recognize this monstrosity the show has become in its later years. I still hold out a little hope that because it;s tken so long to get to the silver screen that it might actually be worth the wait, but I'm not holding my breath.
That's it for todat,. FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Arcane Castle
Expanding a little more on Kingdom Hearts 2-There are some minor quibbles I have (so you can put in Mulan & Pirates of the Carribean, but no Robin Hood, Black Cauldron, or Emperor's New Groove?), but anybody who liked the original, Final Fatnasy and/or Disney should pick this up immediately. It's also an excellent argument against going next gen anytime soon if AAA titles like this at least periodically come out of the pipeline.
And finally, although it seems like they've been talking about it forever, a Simpsons movie is actually finally coming to us next year. 10 years ago, I would've been estatic about this, but the Simpsons have been getting substantially worse the last seven or so years, and now I think this is just a horrible idea. To be sure, the kids with no taste that watch the show now will eat it up, but us fans who have been there since the beginning no longer recognize this monstrosity the show has become in its later years. I still hold out a little hope that because it;s tken so long to get to the silver screen that it might actually be worth the wait, but I'm not holding my breath.
That's it for todat,. FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Arcane Castle
3/30/2006
A disgustingly good time?
Horror movies have never really been to scary for me. For whatever reason, even highly respected ones such as The Exorcist always seem not only unscary, but horribly acted with stupid plot twists that make no sense. Yet I've pretty much always enjoyed horror films that don't take themselves too seriously, especially ones like Tremors, Which is why I'm pretty excited to go see Slither tommorow, as it looks like fun and the reviews are overwhelmingly solid.
But I wish it was the best option out of a good crop, rather than the only postive-looking one this whole weekend. Sharon Stone still looks pretty damn hot for being in her late-40s, but will anyone actually bother to see Basic Instinct 2? I mean, just from the trailers alone, it looks like one of the worst movies ever.
And then there's Ice Age 2, a bland sequel to a bland original. For whatever reason, Only Pixar & Dreamworks seem to have the magic touch to be able to create entertaining animated films these days, and even they are hit and miss.
Moving on I did pick up Kingdom Hearts II, and so far, it's pretty damn awesome. The combat and Gummi Ship sections are the biggest improvements. But admittedly, the camera, while improved, still is pretty bad, and the voice acting is very uneven (not on the Disney characters, but most of the Final Fantasy and original characters aren't very well acted). I haven't even touched Oblivion since I started it, that should tell you how good it is.
But I wish it was the best option out of a good crop, rather than the only postive-looking one this whole weekend. Sharon Stone still looks pretty damn hot for being in her late-40s, but will anyone actually bother to see Basic Instinct 2? I mean, just from the trailers alone, it looks like one of the worst movies ever.
And then there's Ice Age 2, a bland sequel to a bland original. For whatever reason, Only Pixar & Dreamworks seem to have the magic touch to be able to create entertaining animated films these days, and even they are hit and miss.
Moving on I did pick up Kingdom Hearts II, and so far, it's pretty damn awesome. The combat and Gummi Ship sections are the biggest improvements. But admittedly, the camera, while improved, still is pretty bad, and the voice acting is very uneven (not on the Disney characters, but most of the Final Fantasy and original characters aren't very well acted). I haven't even touched Oblivion since I started it, that should tell you how good it is.
3/26/2006
It's great to be wrong sometimes
Well thankfully, my hunch that Larry the Cable Guy's new film would be a suprise hit was way off, as it didn't even make it into the top 5 this weekend. I guess the apocalypse is a little further off than we all thought.
Ok, so with Tetris and Hunters, you could say the Nintendo DS wifi have something for everyone now with puzzle, shooting, racing, sports, and whatever the hell category Animal Crossing fits into. The problem? Nintendo's still half-assing it. There are plenty of other DS titles that should take advantage of wifi-Advance Wars, Worms & Bomberman just to name a few. If they really want this to work, they need every possible title to take advantage of it. It would at least guarauntee a few more sales on lower profile titles.
So in the past month I've probably checked out a couple hundred Kingdom Hearts II fan vids, and in my opinion this is the best one, should get you even more pumped for the release this week.
That's really it for today. FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: DON'T SHOOT THE PUPPY!!!
Ok, so with Tetris and Hunters, you could say the Nintendo DS wifi have something for everyone now with puzzle, shooting, racing, sports, and whatever the hell category Animal Crossing fits into. The problem? Nintendo's still half-assing it. There are plenty of other DS titles that should take advantage of wifi-Advance Wars, Worms & Bomberman just to name a few. If they really want this to work, they need every possible title to take advantage of it. It would at least guarauntee a few more sales on lower profile titles.
So in the past month I've probably checked out a couple hundred Kingdom Hearts II fan vids, and in my opinion this is the best one, should get you even more pumped for the release this week.
That's really it for today. FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: DON'T SHOOT THE PUPPY!!!
3/24/2006
Larry the Cable Guy: The next Jim Carrey?
Think about it. a somehwhat underground but extremely popular comic who people either love or loathe releases a low budget low brow comedy that isn't expected to go anywhere. But it becomes a hit. A big one, and the comedian's career takes off big time. It happened with Ace Ventura, and it could happen with Larry The Cable Guy: Health Inspector. Now, I honestly don't think this guy is anywhere near Carrey in terms of talent, but he does have an army of redneck fans that will most likely make his feature debut a suprise smash hit this weekend, which could easily be the launching pad for a huge career.
But really, none of this weekend's offerings look that enticing. Stay Alive is just The Ring with a video game instead of a tape (and it's PG13, the only good horror film ever made that wasn't rated R was Poltergeist). Inside Man is another mystery twister that'll just throw in one convulted suprise after another til nothing makes sense anymore.
With all the hoopla surrounding Oblivion and Kingdom Hearts II, one deserving rpg may be left out in the cold. Suikoden V was released this week, and while I was very cautious of it after the last mediocre entry in the series, so far all the reviews point to this being a very solid turnaround. If I ever get bored with Oblivion and KHII, that would probably be my next rpg of choice.
And finally I'll go a little more in-depth with what I think of Oblivion. I love that you can simply fast travel to most major cities and any landmarks you have previously traveled, that's a HUGE improvement from the original. The combat, though still fairly simple, has also gotten a great overhaul with the add of a block and power attack option. The graphics are pretty impressive, but since my PC just barely meets the minimum requirements, I probably can't do them much justice.
Now for the bad: I love a good narrative. A good narrative can get you through a fairly mediocre game, and it can make you come back to a great game time & time again. Morrowind was lacking this in spades and Oblivion is as well. It's to be somewhat expected given the open-ended nature of the game, but there's a reason I've spent little to no time on the main quest-I just don't feel driven to finish it anytime soon.
But probably the biggest dissapointment is the complete BS job Bethesda has pulled on us with "Radiant A.I.". They claimed this would make NPCs live their own life and react individually with unpredictable behavior. But everybody has patterns and follows a specific script, even repeating annoying phrases and actions over and over again.
But these are honestly pretty minor things. This is easily what I'd say is the first must buy title of 2006 and an easy early contender for game of the year.
Ok, that's it for now. I will be back on Sunday for sure.
But really, none of this weekend's offerings look that enticing. Stay Alive is just The Ring with a video game instead of a tape (and it's PG13, the only good horror film ever made that wasn't rated R was Poltergeist). Inside Man is another mystery twister that'll just throw in one convulted suprise after another til nothing makes sense anymore.
With all the hoopla surrounding Oblivion and Kingdom Hearts II, one deserving rpg may be left out in the cold. Suikoden V was released this week, and while I was very cautious of it after the last mediocre entry in the series, so far all the reviews point to this being a very solid turnaround. If I ever get bored with Oblivion and KHII, that would probably be my next rpg of choice.
And finally I'll go a little more in-depth with what I think of Oblivion. I love that you can simply fast travel to most major cities and any landmarks you have previously traveled, that's a HUGE improvement from the original. The combat, though still fairly simple, has also gotten a great overhaul with the add of a block and power attack option. The graphics are pretty impressive, but since my PC just barely meets the minimum requirements, I probably can't do them much justice.
Now for the bad: I love a good narrative. A good narrative can get you through a fairly mediocre game, and it can make you come back to a great game time & time again. Morrowind was lacking this in spades and Oblivion is as well. It's to be somewhat expected given the open-ended nature of the game, but there's a reason I've spent little to no time on the main quest-I just don't feel driven to finish it anytime soon.
But probably the biggest dissapointment is the complete BS job Bethesda has pulled on us with "Radiant A.I.". They claimed this would make NPCs live their own life and react individually with unpredictable behavior. But everybody has patterns and follows a specific script, even repeating annoying phrases and actions over and over again.
But these are honestly pretty minor things. This is easily what I'd say is the first must buy title of 2006 and an easy early contender for game of the year.
Ok, that's it for now. I will be back on Sunday for sure.
3/23/2006
A proper send off
So just how did Matt Stone & Trey Parker deal with the Chef situation? The only way they know how. And apparently, Hayes decision to quit may not have been entirely of hs own volition. In a way, this proves how much of a legitmate religion Scientology is, because none of them can take a fucking joke anyways.
The Game Developers Conference happened this week, and while at first it was fairly dull, plenty of interesting tidbits have been leaked. Previews for A new Zelda for the DS and God of War II were shown. Sony announced that they have dropped the much ridiculed boomerang controllers they showed at last year's E3. And Nintendo announced that over 1,000 Genesis games as well as some TurboGrafx-16 titles will be downloadable along with titles from all of Nintendo's past systems. While on the surface that sounds cool, I can honestly barely remember 100 really worthwhile Genesis titles, and the only worthwhile thing on the TG-16 was Bonk's Adventure...
The 360's camera and specs have been announced. I honestly think it's a horrible idea, however...
And finally, I have pretty much spent every waking hour of the last couple of days playing Oblivion. It is an excellent game that improves on the original in every possible way. It almost makes me not pleased that Kingdom Hearts II is out next week since I'll have to divide my free time between the two.
That's really all for today, but I'll definitely be back tommorow with thoughts on this weekend's movies and probably a couple other things.
The Game Developers Conference happened this week, and while at first it was fairly dull, plenty of interesting tidbits have been leaked. Previews for A new Zelda for the DS and God of War II were shown. Sony announced that they have dropped the much ridiculed boomerang controllers they showed at last year's E3. And Nintendo announced that over 1,000 Genesis games as well as some TurboGrafx-16 titles will be downloadable along with titles from all of Nintendo's past systems. While on the surface that sounds cool, I can honestly barely remember 100 really worthwhile Genesis titles, and the only worthwhile thing on the TG-16 was Bonk's Adventure...
The 360's camera and specs have been announced. I honestly think it's a horrible idea, however...
And finally, I have pretty much spent every waking hour of the last couple of days playing Oblivion. It is an excellent game that improves on the original in every possible way. It almost makes me not pleased that Kingdom Hearts II is out next week since I'll have to divide my free time between the two.
That's really all for today, but I'll definitely be back tommorow with thoughts on this weekend's movies and probably a couple other things.
3/20/2006
An offer they can't afford
This coming week is a pretty huge one gamewise. Not only are two major wifi titles for the DS being released in the long-awaited Metroid Prime: Hunters and Tetris; Oblivion is finally out for the PC & 360 as well. But the biggest release is arguably EA's long-delayed The Godfather is out in stores as well. Now, it's development costs were on the high end, but it may very well be the most costly game in recent history as it's not being released in time for the holiday season cost the company Over $800 MILLION. I'd just like to take this opportunity to say HA!!! Seriously, for that much money you could've easily made several hundred decent selling original properties and made a tidy profit (or at worst a marginal loss). Instead, you pooled all your expectactions onto an old license and it kicked you in the ass. EA getting kicked in the ass this hard is good for the industry, let's hope they learn a little something from it.
Better hold onto that copy of Katamari Damacy, it may be the last one for awhile, or ever. Can't say I blame the guy, not sure what more you could do with the title except possibly add online play, which given the craptacular quality of multiplayer in the last game, may not be such a good idea anyways.
Wanna see a really cool concert? Check out this vid of The Mario & Zelda Big Band. It's classic Mario & Zelda tunes played in a variety of musical styles. Why can't we get this stuff over here?
I did see V for Vendetta earlier today, and I'd say it mostly lived up to the hype, with really great performances, spectacular action, and just the fact that it's a lot different from your average lone guy against an oppresive authority movie. V is a terroist, he uses extreme means that your normal do-gooder wouldn't resort to, but hey, maybe that's why he gets results and other heroes usually end up facing the same villains over and over again...
And finally, here it is, the free game of the week: BUMs: Back to School.
Better hold onto that copy of Katamari Damacy, it may be the last one for awhile, or ever. Can't say I blame the guy, not sure what more you could do with the title except possibly add online play, which given the craptacular quality of multiplayer in the last game, may not be such a good idea anyways.
Wanna see a really cool concert? Check out this vid of The Mario & Zelda Big Band. It's classic Mario & Zelda tunes played in a variety of musical styles. Why can't we get this stuff over here?
I did see V for Vendetta earlier today, and I'd say it mostly lived up to the hype, with really great performances, spectacular action, and just the fact that it's a lot different from your average lone guy against an oppresive authority movie. V is a terroist, he uses extreme means that your normal do-gooder wouldn't resort to, but hey, maybe that's why he gets results and other heroes usually end up facing the same villains over and over again...
And finally, here it is, the free game of the week: BUMs: Back to School.
3/17/2006
R for Redemption
Although it was certainly a financial success in the strictest sense, in any other aspect, the Matrix trilogy as a whole is arguably one of the biggest fuckups in cinema history. I mean, really, how can you make something as genre-defining as the original movie yet fuck up the sequels so poorly? I'll admit I really enjoyed the action in the second film, but things I was willing to accept would be explained in the third chapter never were, and it was easily the biggest letdown of a franchise conclusion I can remember. So with that in mind, the Wachowski's newest film, V for Vendetta, opens this weekend. Granted, the long delay after it was suppossed to happen last summmer was troubling (sure, they say it was due to the terrorist attacks in London, but seemed like an awfully convienent excuse...), but the early reviews are overwhelming positive, so I'm very hyped to see it on Sunday.
I would also love to check out Thank You for Smoking, as it's reportedly a great riff on the tobacco industry as well as Hollywood, but it's not playing at my local theatre, so I'll just have to wait for video. Although I doubt anything can top this advertising campaign....
Vin Diesel's attempt at doing something seriously dramatic, Find Me Guilty, also opens this week. But given that the only guy lower on the quality acting totem pole in movies is Paul Walker, and the fact that it has barely had any press makes me think I'll wait two months and check it out on video if I have nothing else to do.
Ok, Some Like it Hot was released nearly 50 years ago. It's the original cross-dressing comedy, and nothing has come close to topping it. Something tells me Amanda Bynes new comedy She's The Man won't give it a run for its money in any way, shape, or form. I know Bynes has a legion of tween fans that will at least rent this movie in huge numbers when it hits video, but can we try something a little bit different than lame cross-dressing or quirky high-school romance for this crowd? These are the same people that grow up and make films like Failure to Launch a hit.
Finally, the FCC is back at handing out masssive fines for ludicrous bullshit again, so in honor of that, here's a clip of Family Guy mocking the hell out of them.
I would also love to check out Thank You for Smoking, as it's reportedly a great riff on the tobacco industry as well as Hollywood, but it's not playing at my local theatre, so I'll just have to wait for video. Although I doubt anything can top this advertising campaign....
Vin Diesel's attempt at doing something seriously dramatic, Find Me Guilty, also opens this week. But given that the only guy lower on the quality acting totem pole in movies is Paul Walker, and the fact that it has barely had any press makes me think I'll wait two months and check it out on video if I have nothing else to do.
Ok, Some Like it Hot was released nearly 50 years ago. It's the original cross-dressing comedy, and nothing has come close to topping it. Something tells me Amanda Bynes new comedy She's The Man won't give it a run for its money in any way, shape, or form. I know Bynes has a legion of tween fans that will at least rent this movie in huge numbers when it hits video, but can we try something a little bit different than lame cross-dressing or quirky high-school romance for this crowd? These are the same people that grow up and make films like Failure to Launch a hit.
Finally, the FCC is back at handing out masssive fines for ludicrous bullshit again, so in honor of that, here's a clip of Family Guy mocking the hell out of them.
3/16/2006
Objects in mirror are more expensive than they appear
I'll probably update again later today for this week's latest movies, but thought I'd just give a few quick thoughts on several things I didn't mention yesterday.
Sony has dropped the PSP to $199, But is it actually a better deal? They take out the basic memory stick and soft case that comes with the standard $250 bundle
. So, add in a basic memory stick and a brand new game and you still got a system that's nearly $300.
Isaac Hayes has quit South ParkWhy? Because they dared to mock Scientology. It's good to know Mr. Hayes is comfortable being such a total hypocrit. South Park does nothing but relentlessly mock everything, and Hayes was obviously ok with it until they picked on his particular creed. I am pretty much just amazed that Hayes can say this with a straight face. If you want to check out the episode (which Tom Cruise also sued over), click here
Final Fantasy XII is finally out in Japan. It's good to know that it's actually seen the light of day somewhere, I was beginning to think it would never see the light of day. At least, not in its current form. Gives me good hope that it won't be too long until we see it stateside (although probably not til the fall at any rate).
Well, obviously, Jack Thompson just won't be stopped until he's a complete laughing stock: Thompson has now bullied Wikipedia into locking his entry and given vague threats to the editor of Game Politics (scroll down a bit to March 13th for the article). Now admittedly, wikipedia isn't the most reliable source on the web, as anyone can say anything they want about somebody, theoretically, but this is just getting way too silly. You'd think with all my mentions I would've gotten some sort of legal threat by now, I could sure as hell use the publicity....
Sony has dropped the PSP to $199, But is it actually a better deal? They take out the basic memory stick and soft case that comes with the standard $250 bundle
. So, add in a basic memory stick and a brand new game and you still got a system that's nearly $300.
Isaac Hayes has quit South ParkWhy? Because they dared to mock Scientology. It's good to know Mr. Hayes is comfortable being such a total hypocrit. South Park does nothing but relentlessly mock everything, and Hayes was obviously ok with it until they picked on his particular creed. I am pretty much just amazed that Hayes can say this with a straight face. If you want to check out the episode (which Tom Cruise also sued over), click here
Final Fantasy XII is finally out in Japan. It's good to know that it's actually seen the light of day somewhere, I was beginning to think it would never see the light of day. At least, not in its current form. Gives me good hope that it won't be too long until we see it stateside (although probably not til the fall at any rate).
Well, obviously, Jack Thompson just won't be stopped until he's a complete laughing stock: Thompson has now bullied Wikipedia into locking his entry and given vague threats to the editor of Game Politics (scroll down a bit to March 13th for the article). Now admittedly, wikipedia isn't the most reliable source on the web, as anyone can say anything they want about somebody, theoretically, but this is just getting way too silly. You'd think with all my mentions I would've gotten some sort of legal threat by now, I could sure as hell use the publicity....
3/15/2006
The Greatest sitcom that never was
It does seem like these days just about any half-baked idea can show up on your TV. But the truth is, there are hundreds if not thousands of TV pilots that never see the light of day. The reasons can be anything from a salary dispute to real bad screen testing. But how network executives could pass up the gauraunteed comedy gold that would come from the combination of Adam West and Andy Richter is beyond anyone's guess. The pilot has been going around in various circles for years, and thanks to youtube, you can now watch Lookwell, generally considered one of the greatest pilots ever, and yet it was never picked up.
MC Hammer has a blog. Am I the only one that finds that strange?
Sony finally admitted that we won't see the PS3 til at least November. Possibly the least suprising news of the century. But the other news was certainly interesting to say the least. Sony confirmed that the PS3 will be backwards compatible with all PS2 & PS1 titles, will come with a 60-gig hardrive, and will have a free online network that from description, rivals xbox-live (though no confirmation or whether their will be a pay level of service or not). But no details on price or any mention of games. I guess we will have to wait until E3 to see what they have really got up their sleeve.
Easily the best news I have heard all year: Beyond Good & Evil 2 is under development. The original is a true underrated classic that deserves continuation.
And finally, Miyamoto has confirmed that although the next Zelda game is for the Gamecube, it will also be able to use the Revolution controller. Course knowing our luck, this'll be only for some secret fishing minigame....
MC Hammer has a blog. Am I the only one that finds that strange?
Sony finally admitted that we won't see the PS3 til at least November. Possibly the least suprising news of the century. But the other news was certainly interesting to say the least. Sony confirmed that the PS3 will be backwards compatible with all PS2 & PS1 titles, will come with a 60-gig hardrive, and will have a free online network that from description, rivals xbox-live (though no confirmation or whether their will be a pay level of service or not). But no details on price or any mention of games. I guess we will have to wait until E3 to see what they have really got up their sleeve.
Easily the best news I have heard all year: Beyond Good & Evil 2 is under development. The original is a true underrated classic that deserves continuation.
And finally, Miyamoto has confirmed that although the next Zelda game is for the Gamecube, it will also be able to use the Revolution controller. Course knowing our luck, this'll be only for some secret fishing minigame....
3/12/2006
Donald Duck has a dirty, dirty mouth
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
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.
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