Trying to be a little bit more creative with the headers for these... Anyways, I'll be out of town from Saturday until Tuesday and may not have time to post, so I'll do the weekly Wii video post today.
First up is Wii Skins, a completely fabricated, but really awesome view of all the different possible skins you could make on your Wii. Somebody could make a killing doing custom designs like these:
Then, we've seen how easily modern titles can be played on the Wii in various vids, but what if you want to play an old school 2D game? No worries, as SNK proves that it can be done with ease by putting Metal Slug Anthology on the Wii. With no less than 5 different ways to play:
And since I haven't done nearly enough hyping of Zelda (which will be remedied soon), here's a very cool 7 minute trailer for it:
And finally, South Park has once again proven how tapped into the geek community they are, making a key subplot of this week's episode about Cartman not be able to wait any longer for the Wii and taking drastic measures, so here's the full episode (and I'll post the conclusion when it airs, hopefully next week):
11/01/2006
I HAVE PLAYED THE WII AND IT IS GOOD
That's right people, I HAVE PLAYED THE WII. And not just ten little minutes, I'm talking several hours of pure awesomeness, while shitty bands played loud music in the background!
The Controller(s)-It's definitely a little awkward initially, especially since many games handle the controls in different ways, but you quickly really get into it. The remote is really light and sleek, and the response is damn near perfect on everything.
The Games I played:
Excite Truck-Unfortunately, this for me was the one real disappointment. It controlled really loosely, turning was a complete bitch, and it after a few cool jumps, it gets really old. If they can tighten up the controls and add a good variety of trucks with differing abilities, that would help immensely.
Wario Ware: Completely bizarre beyond definition, but totally fun, and probably gets the most variety out of the controller, as you do things like hold it various ways and at various points on your body depending on the minigame.
Wii Sports: Ok, anybody expecting a solid & realistic sports sim on any level should just go and buy and actual full blown sports title. This is simply meant to be a fun, but very rough interpretation of these genres of sports. That being said, everything was fun and really easy to pick up. Baseball is very simple, as one person bats and one pitches, and you do actually swing and throw, the computer handles out-fielding and there is no stealing bases or anything of that sort. Team AI was definitely flaky and some questionable calls, but it doesn't spoil the fun. Tennis is the simplest, as aside from serving and swinging the racket, all other movement is taken care of for you. Very fun, but surprisingly simple, perhaps a little too simple. Bowling is perfect, you can affect spin and speed and it's just very satisfying to hit a strike. Finally, Boxing is the most intense and most complex, as you really, really box-you dodge, left hook, keep your guard up, all with actual movements-This is the only game that really made my arms tired, but it was also the best use of the controller out of what I played. Unfortunately, golf was not playable.
Zelda: YES, IT WAS PLAYABLE. It's essentially a the level you've seen in all the gameplay videos. The swordfighting is tremendous and works flawlessly. The bow unfortunately was hard to aim, which wasn't a huge problem until I faced a fire giant boss who had to be hit in the eye with the bow while he is rushing at you very fast.
Bottom line-the whole experience was just incredible, and I can't wait to play it some more when it's finally out.
I'm about 5 hours into FFXII, and it's pretty damn good so far. I really like how the new battlefields play out, as not every monster is an enemy, and some are even extremely helpful. My one real complaint is how far they they take the license board system. Essentially, you use it to gain new abilities, but this aspect is taken to far as you need it for things as simple as being able to upgrade your equipment.
Already salivating at the mere mention of Halo 3 even though it's nearly a year away? EB Games is counting on it, as they are officially starting in-store pre-orders tomorrow. I think it's jumping the gun a bit, as we've all seen that games over a year away can get easily delayed, but then again, with the legendary edition supposedly coming in at $100, might be smart to start putting aside a little money right now.
The Controller(s)-It's definitely a little awkward initially, especially since many games handle the controls in different ways, but you quickly really get into it. The remote is really light and sleek, and the response is damn near perfect on everything.
The Games I played:
Excite Truck-Unfortunately, this for me was the one real disappointment. It controlled really loosely, turning was a complete bitch, and it after a few cool jumps, it gets really old. If they can tighten up the controls and add a good variety of trucks with differing abilities, that would help immensely.
Wario Ware: Completely bizarre beyond definition, but totally fun, and probably gets the most variety out of the controller, as you do things like hold it various ways and at various points on your body depending on the minigame.
Wii Sports: Ok, anybody expecting a solid & realistic sports sim on any level should just go and buy and actual full blown sports title. This is simply meant to be a fun, but very rough interpretation of these genres of sports. That being said, everything was fun and really easy to pick up. Baseball is very simple, as one person bats and one pitches, and you do actually swing and throw, the computer handles out-fielding and there is no stealing bases or anything of that sort. Team AI was definitely flaky and some questionable calls, but it doesn't spoil the fun. Tennis is the simplest, as aside from serving and swinging the racket, all other movement is taken care of for you. Very fun, but surprisingly simple, perhaps a little too simple. Bowling is perfect, you can affect spin and speed and it's just very satisfying to hit a strike. Finally, Boxing is the most intense and most complex, as you really, really box-you dodge, left hook, keep your guard up, all with actual movements-This is the only game that really made my arms tired, but it was also the best use of the controller out of what I played. Unfortunately, golf was not playable.
Zelda: YES, IT WAS PLAYABLE. It's essentially a the level you've seen in all the gameplay videos. The swordfighting is tremendous and works flawlessly. The bow unfortunately was hard to aim, which wasn't a huge problem until I faced a fire giant boss who had to be hit in the eye with the bow while he is rushing at you very fast.
Bottom line-the whole experience was just incredible, and I can't wait to play it some more when it's finally out.
I'm about 5 hours into FFXII, and it's pretty damn good so far. I really like how the new battlefields play out, as not every monster is an enemy, and some are even extremely helpful. My one real complaint is how far they they take the license board system. Essentially, you use it to gain new abilities, but this aspect is taken to far as you need it for things as simple as being able to upgrade your equipment.
Already salivating at the mere mention of Halo 3 even though it's nearly a year away? EB Games is counting on it, as they are officially starting in-store pre-orders tomorrow. I think it's jumping the gun a bit, as we've all seen that games over a year away can get easily delayed, but then again, with the legendary edition supposedly coming in at $100, might be smart to start putting aside a little money right now.
10/30/2006
Finally Fantasy
Well, it only took 5 years, but finally, Final Fantasy Fans have a truly proper sequel out tomorrow in the highly controversial Final Fantasy XII comes out tomorrow. Not controversial in the traditional sense really, but controversial in that it casts aside a lot of what traditionally defines Final Fantasy. But to be fair the FF series to its credit has never been one to play it safe. Every single game in the series is drastically different from the previous one. The battle system is constantly tweaked, a whole new cast of characters, in a whole new universe. And most of the time, it works out pretty damn well. Early word on this latest chapter is that it's the best one in a long time, so hopefully that holds up, cause I'm going to try and score one at EB Games tonight at midnight.
But much more exciting (for me at any rate), is that the Wii is coming to town tomorrow evening. The Nintendo Fusion tour hits Seattle, and the Wii will be playable. I guess I should probably give these bands I've never really heard of (with the exception of Hawthorne Heights) a chance, but if it's possible, I'll probably spend my whole time testing out the Wii. I'll be sure to post impressions as soon as possible.
That's really all I got for today, so Happy Halloween and here's the SCRUBS CLIP OF THE WEEK:
But much more exciting (for me at any rate), is that the Wii is coming to town tomorrow evening. The Nintendo Fusion tour hits Seattle, and the Wii will be playable. I guess I should probably give these bands I've never really heard of (with the exception of Hawthorne Heights) a chance, but if it's possible, I'll probably spend my whole time testing out the Wii. I'll be sure to post impressions as soon as possible.
That's really all I got for today, so Happy Halloween and here's the SCRUBS CLIP OF THE WEEK:
10/29/2006
Wii Video Day (again)
I'll start today's videos off with a really clever ad some fan made:
Next, the "Wii Experience"-Essentially a wide range of regular people testing out the Wii (with Wii Sports) and really enjoying it:
And finally-Bunnies: Very Useful Scientific Facts, a bunch of very funny vids from Rayman: Raving Rabbids, arguably the biggest launch title aside from Twilight Princess(And I threw an official Rayman trailer in at the end for the hell of it):
Next, the "Wii Experience"-Essentially a wide range of regular people testing out the Wii (with Wii Sports) and really enjoying it:
And finally-Bunnies: Very Useful Scientific Facts, a bunch of very funny vids from Rayman: Raving Rabbids, arguably the biggest launch title aside from Twilight Princess(And I threw an official Rayman trailer in at the end for the hell of it):
10/27/2006
The PS3 creates possessed baby demon dolls!
This freaky ad apparently aired during the world series yesterday, and my god is it fucking stupid. What the hell? That's supposed to entice me to get a PS3? I'd be more worried that the Toyman was out to get me. Not to mention unlike the fairly cool ads I posted earlier, it says & shows nothing, which implies that Sony has nothing to show. I sometimes wonder how marketing execs keep their jobs...
Though there is no "full" version of the David Fincher trailer for Gears of War, a fan made one that's pretty damn cool featuring the same song:
Of course for something slightly more wacky: A GEARS OF WAR XMAS!
And I forget to mention last time that I did end up getting Marvel: Ultimate Alliance for the PS2. I haven't tried online yet (which I hear suffers from serious lag issues), but the combat is a lot of fun (and deeper than your normal button masher) and the characters as well as the universe are well-represented. I just wish it had a stronger story, as a lot of the characters are available at the start and seemed to have teamed up with no rhyme or reason.
Now for some real news, the first concrete details of Halo 3 have finally emerged. EGM has an issue that should be out shortly with a big 17-page blowout, but some Swedish mag has already released details on several multi-player levels and new weapons, you can check out the impressions, interview with the developers, and some eye-popping pics here. I'm excited about Halo 3 as anybody, but I'll wait to really see it in action before I consider buying a 360.
10/26/2006
Sony can do something good
It's time for me to give some credit where credit is due. It turns out that Sony can do some fairly badass marketing when they actually want to, as evidenced by these two ads I have posted below. I do have to say that if I was just some casual gamer who didn't read all the bad shit on the internet about Sony, these would definitely make me interested in getting a PS3:
Of course, in the midst of salivating over the Wii and basically condemning the PS3, I've virtually ignored what the 360 has to counter for this holiday. And part of the reason is they don't really have much. But what they lack for in quantity they may definitely make up in quality, namely Gears of War, the next big shooter. How big is it? Big enough that David Fincher (Fight Club) made a fairly cool (albeit way too short) trailer for it:
Now onto this weekend's "offerings". Easily the biggest movie opening this weekend is Saw 3, which is truly sad. I'll admit the original had some interesting ideas, even though it featured some of the worst acting I have ever been witness to. The second actually made the first look like a best picture nominee. And the third will probably be even worse. I'm all fore new and disgusting ways to brutalize, but this franchise lost its steam as soon as the credits rolled on the original (even though plans for a 4th are already in the works). Now it's strictly a cheap cash cow that stupid teens will probably keep going for years to come.
But not all is gloom this weekend. Catch a Fire is also opening, and it looks like one of those rare political thrillers that doesn't suck. Granted, a movie about the problematic African government is hardly anything new, but Derek Luke & Tim Robbins usually put on a good show. I'll probably check it out this weekend.
And finally there's also Babel, with Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, which does seem like a ridiculously overblown political thriller. The circumstances from the previews already seem so far fetched (so, the wife gets sick or shot or something, and then they tell the maid back in America to watch the kids, and she decides to take them to her relatives' wedding in Mexico, and they end up having to flee for the border. Riighhht. It might be in limited release for now as it doesn't seem to be playing anywhere in Seattle, but maybe I'll check it out on DVD if the reviews hold up.
FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Demonic Touch and Go
Of course, in the midst of salivating over the Wii and basically condemning the PS3, I've virtually ignored what the 360 has to counter for this holiday. And part of the reason is they don't really have much. But what they lack for in quantity they may definitely make up in quality, namely Gears of War, the next big shooter. How big is it? Big enough that David Fincher (Fight Club) made a fairly cool (albeit way too short) trailer for it:
Now onto this weekend's "offerings". Easily the biggest movie opening this weekend is Saw 3, which is truly sad. I'll admit the original had some interesting ideas, even though it featured some of the worst acting I have ever been witness to. The second actually made the first look like a best picture nominee. And the third will probably be even worse. I'm all fore new and disgusting ways to brutalize, but this franchise lost its steam as soon as the credits rolled on the original (even though plans for a 4th are already in the works). Now it's strictly a cheap cash cow that stupid teens will probably keep going for years to come.
But not all is gloom this weekend. Catch a Fire is also opening, and it looks like one of those rare political thrillers that doesn't suck. Granted, a movie about the problematic African government is hardly anything new, but Derek Luke & Tim Robbins usually put on a good show. I'll probably check it out this weekend.
And finally there's also Babel, with Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, which does seem like a ridiculously overblown political thriller. The circumstances from the previews already seem so far fetched (so, the wife gets sick or shot or something, and then they tell the maid back in America to watch the kids, and she decides to take them to her relatives' wedding in Mexico, and they end up having to flee for the border. Riighhht. It might be in limited release for now as it doesn't seem to be playing anywhere in Seattle, but maybe I'll check it out on DVD if the reviews hold up.
FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Demonic Touch and Go
10/24/2006
A Marvelous Universe
Ah what a glorious universe it is when two highly anticipated releases that threaten to destroy what little social life I have and Jack Thompson may be INCARCERATED! That's right! Take-Two is attempting to have old wacky Jack hauled in for contempt. Granted, a jail term is unrealistic, but if it can shut him up for a long time, props to the developers for finally taking a rel stand. If this doesn't work, Might I suggest a slander & libel suit since every time Jackson has made these outrageous accusations both in writing and interviews they are never proven?
Decisions, Decisions. After beating Disgaea 2, I did end up picking up Tales of The Abyss & Shining Force Neo (I admit it, I can't help myself sometimes, I'm lucky I stopped at just those two). Both are pretty fun in their own ways (Neo is a fun Diablo-style dungeon hack, but it is kind of simplistic yet very punishing, and Abyss features pretty much the same engine from Symphonia & Legendia, but the characters are really well developed and the engine was pretty top notch to begin with. But now, two huge titles are out this week that I wan badly.
First is Marvel Universe, from the same team that brought you The X-Men Legends games. This time you've got a whole variety of characters from Spider-Man to The Hulk. My only worry is that Your A.I. partners were criminally stupid in the X-Men series, so I may at least wait till I hear if the A.I. is a little better here.
And then there's Phantasy Star Universe. The long overdue followup to the epic Phantasy Star Online, which hasn't really had a proper sequel since it came out on the Dreamcast. While the battle system looks roughly the same, but it offers a fully revamped race system and a an offline single-player adventure that's completely seperate from the online experience. The one thing that bothers me is that while Sega has spent plenty of time promoting the sweet-looking online mode, they've been pretty quiet about the offline. I'll probably wait until I can get a consensus before I pick it up.
An update on Sony's controllers-The bad news is that yes, they die eventually, and Sony's still not saying when they might start fizzling out. But they have said if and when they do, that the controllers will be replaced free of charge. That's nice, but do you really want to be without your controller(s) for up to several weeks while you get a replacement? I sure as hell would not, and given Sony's rather shady history with batteries, this may be a common thing.
And Sony may be in a whole new heap of new legal trouble thanks to their "facts" sheet they handed out at their big press day in the Bay Area. Essentially, they claimed several clearly false things like that a 12-month gold subscription is "required" along with the HD-DVD drive & the 20-gig hard drive on the 360 (when while none of that is really required). MS is reportedly looking into legal action because it is most definitely misleading the non-hardcore gaming public who doesn't know any better (and that also may include a lot of dimwitted retail employees who treat Sony's "fact" sheet as a guide when recommending systems to customers).
The ugly side of the Live Marketplace has really started to show and gamers are none too happy about it. One of the few good titles on the PSP, Lumines, was released on Xbox live for a very affordable $15. Sounds great, right? Not when gamers who bought it got what you'd mostly consider a demo version, with only one playable level in the vs. cpu mode and missing promised features like music videos by popular artists playing in the background. MS' solution? To release additional levels & features as packs that they will charge you for in the future. Thanks, Microsoft, for confirming everyone's worst fears that Live marketplace is truly just a way to release unfinished games and force people to keep paying for god only knows how long if they want the "full" version. Kindly go fuck yourself.
And finally, I did see The Prestige over the weekend, and it was an excellent mystery with great performances, proving That Nolan & Bale are no fluke, and Jackman can do more than cheesy big budget films. I highly recommend it.
SCRUBS CLIP OF THE WEEK:
Decisions, Decisions. After beating Disgaea 2, I did end up picking up Tales of The Abyss & Shining Force Neo (I admit it, I can't help myself sometimes, I'm lucky I stopped at just those two). Both are pretty fun in their own ways (Neo is a fun Diablo-style dungeon hack, but it is kind of simplistic yet very punishing, and Abyss features pretty much the same engine from Symphonia & Legendia, but the characters are really well developed and the engine was pretty top notch to begin with. But now, two huge titles are out this week that I wan badly.
First is Marvel Universe, from the same team that brought you The X-Men Legends games. This time you've got a whole variety of characters from Spider-Man to The Hulk. My only worry is that Your A.I. partners were criminally stupid in the X-Men series, so I may at least wait till I hear if the A.I. is a little better here.
And then there's Phantasy Star Universe. The long overdue followup to the epic Phantasy Star Online, which hasn't really had a proper sequel since it came out on the Dreamcast. While the battle system looks roughly the same, but it offers a fully revamped race system and a an offline single-player adventure that's completely seperate from the online experience. The one thing that bothers me is that while Sega has spent plenty of time promoting the sweet-looking online mode, they've been pretty quiet about the offline. I'll probably wait until I can get a consensus before I pick it up.
An update on Sony's controllers-The bad news is that yes, they die eventually, and Sony's still not saying when they might start fizzling out. But they have said if and when they do, that the controllers will be replaced free of charge. That's nice, but do you really want to be without your controller(s) for up to several weeks while you get a replacement? I sure as hell would not, and given Sony's rather shady history with batteries, this may be a common thing.
And Sony may be in a whole new heap of new legal trouble thanks to their "facts" sheet they handed out at their big press day in the Bay Area. Essentially, they claimed several clearly false things like that a 12-month gold subscription is "required" along with the HD-DVD drive & the 20-gig hard drive on the 360 (when while none of that is really required). MS is reportedly looking into legal action because it is most definitely misleading the non-hardcore gaming public who doesn't know any better (and that also may include a lot of dimwitted retail employees who treat Sony's "fact" sheet as a guide when recommending systems to customers).
The ugly side of the Live Marketplace has really started to show and gamers are none too happy about it. One of the few good titles on the PSP, Lumines, was released on Xbox live for a very affordable $15. Sounds great, right? Not when gamers who bought it got what you'd mostly consider a demo version, with only one playable level in the vs. cpu mode and missing promised features like music videos by popular artists playing in the background. MS' solution? To release additional levels & features as packs that they will charge you for in the future. Thanks, Microsoft, for confirming everyone's worst fears that Live marketplace is truly just a way to release unfinished games and force people to keep paying for god only knows how long if they want the "full" version. Kindly go fuck yourself.
And finally, I did see The Prestige over the weekend, and it was an excellent mystery with great performances, proving That Nolan & Bale are no fluke, and Jackman can do more than cheesy big budget films. I highly recommend it.
SCRUBS CLIP OF THE WEEK:
10/23/2006
Wii Video Day
With a little under a month to go till the Wii is out, I've decided every week I'm going to have a "Wii Video Day" where I'll post a bunch of video hype building it up. This won't necessarily be strictly about game clips, but all will revolve around the Wii or it's games in some shape or form.
So I'll start off with a rather brilliant 3-part series on the two-year history of The Wii:
Then a very cool video explaining just how Madden will work on the Wii:
And finally, just a fun creative video someone made about what if the Wii remote wound up in the world of Wind Waker:
I'll be back with a regular post tomorrow, mainly cause I'm very tired and have to be up in about 6 hours for work...
So I'll start off with a rather brilliant 3-part series on the two-year history of The Wii:
Then a very cool video explaining just how Madden will work on the Wii:
And finally, just a fun creative video someone made about what if the Wii remote wound up in the world of Wind Waker:
I'll be back with a regular post tomorrow, mainly cause I'm very tired and have to be up in about 6 hours for work...
10/20/2006
The Magic Man
Christian Bale & Hugh Jackman play two magicians who face off in one of this year's most highly anticipated films, The Prestige. Christopher Nolan & Christian Bale were known for good work prior to Batman Begins, but this is not only the first major film for both since that huge blockbuster, but the first pairing that doesn't have a major license behind it. Early word is really solid, so I expect it to be a very entertaining film and fully intend to check it out this weekend.
Also arguably as big is Clint Eastwood's latest-Flags of Our Fathers. I'm sure it'll bring in all the vets & their friends & families, but I really feel historic wars & especially WWII is, like sports, something that has just been mined way too often to be remotely interesting anymore.
Interested in what MTV's view of 18th century France? If so, you must've had a lobotomy. But then you also might want to check out Marie Antoinette, which if I didn't know better, I'd think it was Merchant Ivory's desperate attempt to reach out to the younger than 85 bracket.
Wanna see how bad an actor Tim Mcgraw is? Might want to check out Flicka, another cliched horse racing movie little girls will love, but everyone else is sure to find painful. A much better choice for the whole family would be the re-release (IN 3D) of Tim Burton's classic The Nightmare Before Christmas. I haven't really seen any showings available in the Seattle area, but that's definitely what I'd prefer to watch over any film out there right now.
Finally in limited release is yet another movie about yet another wonderfully dysfunctional family, Running with Scissors. You know, cause we haven't seen this in American Beauty or Royal Tenenbaums or Little Miss Sunshine or....(this is getting as bad as war & sports movies now).
Woot! Finally Beat Disgaea 2! Total time: 93 FRIGGIN HOURS! Fuck that was long. Let's see, now I just have to get through Okami, Shadow Hearts, Advance Wars, New Super Mario Bros., Superstar Saga, Oblivion (never beat it) and then there's all the games I've been meaning to pick up. My list should be cleared around 2020....
Some disturbing info about Sony's controllers has been uncovered (aside from the fact that it seems cheaply made). It is wireless and runs on a rechargeable lithium battery. Sounds fine, right? Except that when the battery dies for good, the controller goes with it. That means no matter how well you handle your controllers for your PS3, you will have to eventually replace them. Now granted, this could be blowing things a bit out of proportion as nobody knows how many charges these batteries have but I'll probably wait til we get firm confirmation on how long they will actually last before I ever consider buying a PS3.
But today was Sony's big day as they had a huge event in the Bay Area to show off the PS3. And some good news did come out of it-Sony claims that 1 million PS3's will be out by the end of the year and 6 million will be out by the end of March. Although I'll believe that figure when I see it, 4.5 million units is a lot to pump out in about 3 months if they even make their goal of 1 million by year's end.
The PS3 launch list was revealed, and while it certainly isn't heavy on originality or exclusives, it does offer something in just about every genre, which is admirable and rare (course whether most of those games are actually worth something remains to be seen, Resistance is the only pS3 title that seems noteworthy right now). And the fist batch (500,000) of PS3's will come with a free Blu-ray copy of Talladega Nights. Because when I think of the perfect title to show off the power of Blu-ray, it's a lowbrow NASCAR comedy, not some big budget extravaganza with awesome special effects...
So just how dead is Gamecube? Dead enough that if you want Twilight Princess, you may have to import it. Nintendo is reportedly only offering it online through their, and only to Japan at this point. I know the Gamecube is for all intents and purposes dead, but as Nintendo is generally known for fan service, this is a huge slap in the face to those who've bothered to hold onto their Gamecubes this long, pretty much specifically for Zelda. It would've been fitting to end the systems run with it and let it go out with a little dignity rather than just essentially take it out the the shed like Old Yeller.
Onto better news for Wii gamers: Now, it's not unusual these days for controllers to come with games, they do it for unique ones like Guitar Hero all the time. But what about the controller that comes with the system? Because the Wii Remote is going to be packed with a collection of minigames known as Wii Play that are actually contained inside the controller itself. While granted they probably aren't anything to get all crazy about, this does mean anyone who just buys a Wii will have 10 games to play around with. Best value ever?
Finally, looks like the Halo movie has hit some trouble as Universal Pictures and 20th Century Fox have backed out of co-financing the film. Hopefully, some other studio will come along and pick it up, but I hope they don't have to cut corners for it to be made or it'll probably be no better than Doom.
FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Super Mario: Halloween Edition
Also arguably as big is Clint Eastwood's latest-Flags of Our Fathers. I'm sure it'll bring in all the vets & their friends & families, but I really feel historic wars & especially WWII is, like sports, something that has just been mined way too often to be remotely interesting anymore.
Interested in what MTV's view of 18th century France? If so, you must've had a lobotomy. But then you also might want to check out Marie Antoinette, which if I didn't know better, I'd think it was Merchant Ivory's desperate attempt to reach out to the younger than 85 bracket.
Wanna see how bad an actor Tim Mcgraw is? Might want to check out Flicka, another cliched horse racing movie little girls will love, but everyone else is sure to find painful. A much better choice for the whole family would be the re-release (IN 3D) of Tim Burton's classic The Nightmare Before Christmas. I haven't really seen any showings available in the Seattle area, but that's definitely what I'd prefer to watch over any film out there right now.
Finally in limited release is yet another movie about yet another wonderfully dysfunctional family, Running with Scissors. You know, cause we haven't seen this in American Beauty or Royal Tenenbaums or Little Miss Sunshine or....(this is getting as bad as war & sports movies now).
Woot! Finally Beat Disgaea 2! Total time: 93 FRIGGIN HOURS! Fuck that was long. Let's see, now I just have to get through Okami, Shadow Hearts, Advance Wars, New Super Mario Bros., Superstar Saga, Oblivion (never beat it) and then there's all the games I've been meaning to pick up. My list should be cleared around 2020....
Some disturbing info about Sony's controllers has been uncovered (aside from the fact that it seems cheaply made). It is wireless and runs on a rechargeable lithium battery. Sounds fine, right? Except that when the battery dies for good, the controller goes with it. That means no matter how well you handle your controllers for your PS3, you will have to eventually replace them. Now granted, this could be blowing things a bit out of proportion as nobody knows how many charges these batteries have but I'll probably wait til we get firm confirmation on how long they will actually last before I ever consider buying a PS3.
But today was Sony's big day as they had a huge event in the Bay Area to show off the PS3. And some good news did come out of it-Sony claims that 1 million PS3's will be out by the end of the year and 6 million will be out by the end of March. Although I'll believe that figure when I see it, 4.5 million units is a lot to pump out in about 3 months if they even make their goal of 1 million by year's end.
The PS3 launch list was revealed, and while it certainly isn't heavy on originality or exclusives, it does offer something in just about every genre, which is admirable and rare (course whether most of those games are actually worth something remains to be seen, Resistance is the only pS3 title that seems noteworthy right now). And the fist batch (500,000) of PS3's will come with a free Blu-ray copy of Talladega Nights. Because when I think of the perfect title to show off the power of Blu-ray, it's a lowbrow NASCAR comedy, not some big budget extravaganza with awesome special effects...
So just how dead is Gamecube? Dead enough that if you want Twilight Princess, you may have to import it. Nintendo is reportedly only offering it online through their, and only to Japan at this point. I know the Gamecube is for all intents and purposes dead, but as Nintendo is generally known for fan service, this is a huge slap in the face to those who've bothered to hold onto their Gamecubes this long, pretty much specifically for Zelda. It would've been fitting to end the systems run with it and let it go out with a little dignity rather than just essentially take it out the the shed like Old Yeller.
Onto better news for Wii gamers: Now, it's not unusual these days for controllers to come with games, they do it for unique ones like Guitar Hero all the time. But what about the controller that comes with the system? Because the Wii Remote is going to be packed with a collection of minigames known as Wii Play that are actually contained inside the controller itself. While granted they probably aren't anything to get all crazy about, this does mean anyone who just buys a Wii will have 10 games to play around with. Best value ever?
Finally, looks like the Halo movie has hit some trouble as Universal Pictures and 20th Century Fox have backed out of co-financing the film. Hopefully, some other studio will come along and pick it up, but I hope they don't have to cut corners for it to be made or it'll probably be no better than Doom.
FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Super Mario: Halloween Edition
10/17/2006
Wolly Bully
So, before I get into the meat of today's post, I will say that I was able to snag a pre-order of a Wii along with going ahead and ordering Rayman: Raving Rabbids & Zelda: Twilight Princess, as they seemed like the best options for launch. It was a fairly grueling morning, but there was plenty of fellow gaming nuts there to make small talk with and play many rounds of DS while we waited several hours outside of the mall. It is sort of an on phenomenon waiting in line just for a preorder, especially since Wii will probably be the most available console in history. But I definitely like that I'll just be able to walk down anytime I like on Nov. 19th and just stroll in and pick one up as opposed to potentially going all over Seattle and possibly a couple of outer-lying cities trying to snag one.
Weren't able to procure a Wii preorder on Friday? May want to try your luck at Toys R Us. They aren't doing any preorders, but they are giving away 25,000 Wiis. After my extremely short stint as an employee at Toys R Us when I first moved up here, I was weary about ever going back, but this might be enough to tempt me...
Now, onto this week's hugely controversial game release: Rockstar's BULLY. Before even being released, Jack Thompson wanted to make it so the game wouldn't even reach retailers, sure that it would cause a massive up-rise in bullying incidents. Luckily, it was reviewed by a judge who has that increasingly rare ability called COMMON FUCKING SENSE and deemed it no worse than anything you could see on TV. I highly doubt this will be Thompson's resounding defeat that finally makes him go away, but it's good after his constant blustering over the last year or so to see him soundly beaten. Now, the real question is if Bully is worth all that controversy? Early indications are that it is, as it's gotten really strong reviews all across the board. I'd love to play it if i had any time...
Also out this week is Sam Fisher's latest spy mission-Splinter Cell: Double Agent. Although this looks to change up the standard Splinter Cell formula a bit with Fisher starting off in an undercover prison, it still doesn't seem like that much of a leap from the last few games (and the rather unforgiving multiplayer has been massively dumbed down, which has tricked off many fans of the last installment.
Looks like there will be no sequel to Okami, or even any more Viewiful Joe titles, as Clover studios has been shut down. People keep crying about industry homogenization, but those same people don't buy amazing games like Okami in even halfway decent numbers, yet buy the latest sports titles or GTA-style game in droves...
Good news for lazy fatasses! One of the complaints that has been launched against the Wii is that it will be exhausting to play for more than a couple of a hours at a time (obviously these people have never played intense button-mashers like Ninja Gaiden or Devil May Cry...). But it's been confirmed by UK mag Entertainmentwise that the "huge" motions you've seen in the videos are not what is actually required in order to play.
. Course, it's probably a lot more fun that way...
And while Nintendo's Wii remote is getting mostly positive reaction, IGN has written a rather scathing review of the Sixaxis, Sony's much touted "revolutionary" controller for the PS3. It's odd how it looks exactly the same as the Dualshock, yet apparently plays and feels so much worse. If it's really as crappy as IGN reports, this may be what truly dooms the console, as no one will want to play pretty but virtually unplayable titles on any system.
All right that's really all for today, but here's the SCRUBS CLIP OF THE WEEK:
Weren't able to procure a Wii preorder on Friday? May want to try your luck at Toys R Us. They aren't doing any preorders, but they are giving away 25,000 Wiis. After my extremely short stint as an employee at Toys R Us when I first moved up here, I was weary about ever going back, but this might be enough to tempt me...
Now, onto this week's hugely controversial game release: Rockstar's BULLY. Before even being released, Jack Thompson wanted to make it so the game wouldn't even reach retailers, sure that it would cause a massive up-rise in bullying incidents. Luckily, it was reviewed by a judge who has that increasingly rare ability called COMMON FUCKING SENSE and deemed it no worse than anything you could see on TV. I highly doubt this will be Thompson's resounding defeat that finally makes him go away, but it's good after his constant blustering over the last year or so to see him soundly beaten. Now, the real question is if Bully is worth all that controversy? Early indications are that it is, as it's gotten really strong reviews all across the board. I'd love to play it if i had any time...
Also out this week is Sam Fisher's latest spy mission-Splinter Cell: Double Agent. Although this looks to change up the standard Splinter Cell formula a bit with Fisher starting off in an undercover prison, it still doesn't seem like that much of a leap from the last few games (and the rather unforgiving multiplayer has been massively dumbed down, which has tricked off many fans of the last installment.
Looks like there will be no sequel to Okami, or even any more Viewiful Joe titles, as Clover studios has been shut down. People keep crying about industry homogenization, but those same people don't buy amazing games like Okami in even halfway decent numbers, yet buy the latest sports titles or GTA-style game in droves...
Good news for lazy fatasses! One of the complaints that has been launched against the Wii is that it will be exhausting to play for more than a couple of a hours at a time (obviously these people have never played intense button-mashers like Ninja Gaiden or Devil May Cry...). But it's been confirmed by UK mag Entertainmentwise that the "huge" motions you've seen in the videos are not what is actually required in order to play.
. Course, it's probably a lot more fun that way...
And while Nintendo's Wii remote is getting mostly positive reaction, IGN has written a rather scathing review of the Sixaxis, Sony's much touted "revolutionary" controller for the PS3. It's odd how it looks exactly the same as the Dualshock, yet apparently plays and feels so much worse. If it's really as crappy as IGN reports, this may be what truly dooms the console, as no one will want to play pretty but virtually unplayable titles on any system.
All right that's really all for today, but here's the SCRUBS CLIP OF THE WEEK:
10/12/2006
It's gonna be a long weekend...
So between a ridiculously crazy schedule at work over the next 5 days and getting up in the early dawn hours on Friday to try and secure my Wii, I probably won't really have time nor energy to post after today until Monday. So today I'll go over the regular news as well as this weekend's rather inane lineup of films.
So, what if you aren't able to get a pre-order on a Wii? Are your odds on launch day still pretty good? Nintendo is reportedly doubling their launch day numbers to 2 million units, which easily makes it one of the largest launches in history. Course, I'm not taking any chances and I'd rather wait in line early this Friday morning than a little over a month from no with what's sure to be 10x as many people (and that's just the people getting Wii, let's not forget the holiday shoppers..)
Ah, irony of ironies-A top Australian Sony exec is claiming the Wii and 360 are far too expensive for consumers! Again, Sony starting to remind anybody of Rome right before the fall?
Ok, onto this weekend's pitiful offering of films. I'm honestly not sure which of these would be more tortuous to sit through-Robin Williams recycling his material for the billionth time in the painfully obviously unfunny Man of the Year. Williams hasn't had a good comedy since The Birdcage way back in 96, and Barry Levinson's track record is nothing to be proud of, especially the last several years.
Then we have another craptacular horror sequel to a pathetic original in The Grudge 2. The original was a complete nonsensical mess, and this is sure to be an even more nonsensical one. Who is actually scared by a stupid girl that croaks like a frog and a little boy that meows like a cat?
And finally we have what seems sadly like your best bet this weekend-THE MARINE, starring WWE champ (at least last I know of, I only kind of keep up with wrestling these days) John Cena in what is WWE's thinly veiled attempt to force the next "Rock" on moviegoers. Kane already had See No Evil and Steve Austin is under contract for at least three films, all of which are virtually guaranteed to be miserable to sit through. I mean, seriously, if these guys were meant to movie beyond the entertaining but cheesy acting level of pro wrestling, Hollywood would've snatched them up already much like they did the Rock.
FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: FUNKY DISCO ZOMBIES!
So, what if you aren't able to get a pre-order on a Wii? Are your odds on launch day still pretty good? Nintendo is reportedly doubling their launch day numbers to 2 million units, which easily makes it one of the largest launches in history. Course, I'm not taking any chances and I'd rather wait in line early this Friday morning than a little over a month from no with what's sure to be 10x as many people (and that's just the people getting Wii, let's not forget the holiday shoppers..)
Ah, irony of ironies-A top Australian Sony exec is claiming the Wii and 360 are far too expensive for consumers! Again, Sony starting to remind anybody of Rome right before the fall?
Ok, onto this weekend's pitiful offering of films. I'm honestly not sure which of these would be more tortuous to sit through-Robin Williams recycling his material for the billionth time in the painfully obviously unfunny Man of the Year. Williams hasn't had a good comedy since The Birdcage way back in 96, and Barry Levinson's track record is nothing to be proud of, especially the last several years.
Then we have another craptacular horror sequel to a pathetic original in The Grudge 2. The original was a complete nonsensical mess, and this is sure to be an even more nonsensical one. Who is actually scared by a stupid girl that croaks like a frog and a little boy that meows like a cat?
And finally we have what seems sadly like your best bet this weekend-THE MARINE, starring WWE champ (at least last I know of, I only kind of keep up with wrestling these days) John Cena in what is WWE's thinly veiled attempt to force the next "Rock" on moviegoers. Kane already had See No Evil and Steve Austin is under contract for at least three films, all of which are virtually guaranteed to be miserable to sit through. I mean, seriously, if these guys were meant to movie beyond the entertaining but cheesy acting level of pro wrestling, Hollywood would've snatched them up already much like they did the Rock.
FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: FUNKY DISCO ZOMBIES!
10/11/2006
Wii games we'll (hopefully) never see
A good follow-up to my post about games we need to see on the Wii is College Humor's hilarious montage of games that will hopefully never be developed for the new control scheme (just click the blank space):
Let the Wii lines BEGIN! You'll be able to try and pre-order one from you local EB Games/Gamestop starting this lucky FRIDAY THE 113TH! MUHAHAHA! I plan on being up ridiculously bright and early to get in line Friday morning (sleep can come later).
In all my excitement over Scrubs Season 4 (which I'm happily enjoying as I'm writing this), I forgot another more than noteworthy release of a really great sitcom: Everybody Hates Chris-Pretty much the only good show on the newly crowned "CW" network aside from Veronica Mars. I honestly don't think it's worth a purchase, as it's not something I would watch over and over again, but I highly recommend a rental.
Gamepro has gone ahead and declared a clear winner in the next-gen war: The PS3! How did they come to this lofty conclusion? By leaving out crucial info that slants the argument in Sony's favor (like not even mentioning the Wii channels, just that it will have downloadable games) and comparing games that no one has played yet. Great journalism at its finest Gamepro! Keep it up!
Let the Wii lines BEGIN! You'll be able to try and pre-order one from you local EB Games/Gamestop starting this lucky FRIDAY THE 113TH! MUHAHAHA! I plan on being up ridiculously bright and early to get in line Friday morning (sleep can come later).
In all my excitement over Scrubs Season 4 (which I'm happily enjoying as I'm writing this), I forgot another more than noteworthy release of a really great sitcom: Everybody Hates Chris-Pretty much the only good show on the newly crowned "CW" network aside from Veronica Mars. I honestly don't think it's worth a purchase, as it's not something I would watch over and over again, but I highly recommend a rental.
Gamepro has gone ahead and declared a clear winner in the next-gen war: The PS3! How did they come to this lofty conclusion? By leaving out crucial info that slants the argument in Sony's favor (like not even mentioning the Wii channels, just that it will have downloadable games) and comparing games that no one has played yet. Great journalism at its finest Gamepro! Keep it up!
10/10/2006
Sony wants a little love (and some tenderness?)
With all the bad press Sony's been getting lately, they certainly could use a kind word of support from whatever loyal fans they have left. And Sony is giving their fans an opportunity to show their love with a contest where the top ten will win an all expense paid trip to the PS3 premiere party as well as a nifty new PS3. Of course, Sony is still Sony. Note that the fine print says to allow up to 20 whopping weeks for delivery.
Speaking of the PS3, the official pre-order madness begins in a little under 10 hours west coast time at EB and Gamestop. I' sure Sony will croon about how gamers lined up the night before to try and get a pre-order. Course they'll forget the fact that probably 99% of those gamers will be SOL thanks to the ridiculously small launch numbers and be pretty pissed about it. Granted, if Sony can rush a constant steady supply out during the first several months after the launch, that should make up some much needed ground, but I'm thinking we might see 360 level shortages here.
So, the deal I previously reported on about the free copy of Gears of War/Viva Pinata at Amazon has apparently died. But it's been replaced with a still pretty good deal of $50 off your choice of Madden, Oblivion or Lego Star Wars II with your 360 purchase(which essentially makes them free). Reportedly, similar bundles are happening all over the net (and disappearing just as quickly as they seem to pop up), so I might just wait for the right one to pop up cause they should only get sweeter as we get closer to Christmas.
Apparently, the Wii and gamers share a very common enemy: NATURAL SUNLIGHT!. But again, being that the Sun is something gamers usually avoid at all costs (and especially while gaming) I don't really see this as being an issue.
Another game added to the "when I have time" list, Tales of the Abyss is out this week, from the same guys who brought you game like Tales of Symphonia & Tales of Legendia. Assuming you aren't massively backed up like me, you need to pick this up. Of course, Phantasy Star Universe & Final Fantasy XII are right around the corner...
I saw The Departed over the weekend and I thought it was a damn entertaining movie with excellent performances all around. Probably Scorsese's best film in years.
And lastly, Scrubs season 4 is FINALLY out on DVD today, so in honor of that, here's a "best of" collection from that season as the SCRUBS CLIP OF THE WEEK:
Speaking of the PS3, the official pre-order madness begins in a little under 10 hours west coast time at EB and Gamestop. I' sure Sony will croon about how gamers lined up the night before to try and get a pre-order. Course they'll forget the fact that probably 99% of those gamers will be SOL thanks to the ridiculously small launch numbers and be pretty pissed about it. Granted, if Sony can rush a constant steady supply out during the first several months after the launch, that should make up some much needed ground, but I'm thinking we might see 360 level shortages here.
So, the deal I previously reported on about the free copy of Gears of War/Viva Pinata at Amazon has apparently died. But it's been replaced with a still pretty good deal of $50 off your choice of Madden, Oblivion or Lego Star Wars II with your 360 purchase(which essentially makes them free). Reportedly, similar bundles are happening all over the net (and disappearing just as quickly as they seem to pop up), so I might just wait for the right one to pop up cause they should only get sweeter as we get closer to Christmas.
Apparently, the Wii and gamers share a very common enemy: NATURAL SUNLIGHT!. But again, being that the Sun is something gamers usually avoid at all costs (and especially while gaming) I don't really see this as being an issue.
Another game added to the "when I have time" list, Tales of the Abyss is out this week, from the same guys who brought you game like Tales of Symphonia & Tales of Legendia. Assuming you aren't massively backed up like me, you need to pick this up. Of course, Phantasy Star Universe & Final Fantasy XII are right around the corner...
I saw The Departed over the weekend and I thought it was a damn entertaining movie with excellent performances all around. Probably Scorsese's best film in years.
And lastly, Scrubs season 4 is FINALLY out on DVD today, so in honor of that, here's a "best of" collection from that season as the SCRUBS CLIP OF THE WEEK:
10/09/2006
The Top Ten Games We need to see on the Wii
Shigeru Miyamoto has already said he's looking into the possibility of remaking certain Gamecube titles in order to take advantage of the Wii's unique controller. What exactly he has in mind, only he knows. But I thought I'd give my two cents on games that would port over perfectly to the Wii and not just from the Gamecube library (this list is in no particular order, so these aren't ranked).
I'll start with the most recent and obvious. Okami is simply a brilliant title, and as I've stated in previous blog entries, the celestial brush is a perfect fit for the Wii remote. (and as good as the controls for the brush are with the duel analog, it just would feel a bit more natural if you were actually making the motions of painting, which is exactly what you could do with the Wii remote). This is so obvious it screams out at everybody who plays it. Capcom has a really good history of supporting the Wii, so odds are good we'll either see Okami or it's eventual sequel on the Wii sometime in the future.
Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam is already a launch title, and Jet Grind Radio (also known as Jet Set Radio on the Xbox) is a much better basic example of this genre, with awesome graffiti spraying added in, which much likes Okami, makes it prime for Wii development.
Probably the one title that truly screams for a Wii remake above any other. I still have this for my Saturn and it exemplifies everything the Wii is supposed to be about-Simple, fun, a huge sense of freedom and being gorgeous yet not relying on some super-powerful graphics to be gorgeous. Sega is clearly strongly behind Nintendo with several planned Wii titles and giving the virtual console their full support, so this seems like a ridiculously obvious idea that needs to happen.
The Wii remote has the potential to revolutionize the way console FPS games are played, and new gameplay mechanics like that can be used to give brilliant but criminally ignored titles a well-deserved second shot. Metal Arms is most definitely one of those titles. It's an extremely funny and well designed shooter that the public simply seemed to ignore, even though it's really almost right up there with the likes of Halo in multi-player thanks to excellent weapon & map designs (and definitely has a better single-player campaign than either Halo game can lay claim to). Putting it on the Wii would give it a good chance to find an audience it truly deserves.
And if the Wii is potentially a revolution for FPS, the same holds true for on-rails shooters. Panzer Dragoon is arguably the pinnacle of this genre, and either a remake or a totally new entry could really capitalize on that potential, and easily put impressive looking PS3 titles where you fly around on dragons to shame since the Wii remote would give a much more fun experience.
Probably the last good Sega Saturn title made, Burning Rangers mix of futuristic firefighters with jet packs would be a really good and natural transition over to the Wii's unique interface.
Ever since Nintendo unveiled the Wii remote and it's motion-sensing capabilities, Star Wars fanboys have been drooling at the thought of the ability to have virtual lightsaber duels. With a little tweaking, Star Wars Trilogy could easily fit that bill. It features great dogfights and intense lightsaber battles that would easily work with the Wii remote. And in online multi-player and you'd automatically have a strong contender for the best Star Wars game ever.
Paperboy is pretty likely to make an appearance on the virtual console, but it's simple but fun gameplay could easily be made to fit the Wii. It'd be pretty fun flicking your wrist trying to correctly deliver those newspapers.
Simply put, Point Blank is just as good if not better than the classic Duck Hunt, which is already getting a Wii remake & a virtual console release. It's got more variety and humor and just plain wackiness, and would be a great complement to that zapper we saw at E3.
Samba De Amigo is the ultimate party game, and it's original Maraca controllers were pretty much a less sophisticated version of what the Wii remote is, so it would be an easy transition. It would also be a really good counter to games like Dance Dance Revolution, which obviously would not transfer well to the Wii without and expensive dance pad.
All right, that's it for now, but I'll be back tonight since it's technically Monday with another post.
FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Bloody Blades
I'll start with the most recent and obvious. Okami is simply a brilliant title, and as I've stated in previous blog entries, the celestial brush is a perfect fit for the Wii remote. (and as good as the controls for the brush are with the duel analog, it just would feel a bit more natural if you were actually making the motions of painting, which is exactly what you could do with the Wii remote). This is so obvious it screams out at everybody who plays it. Capcom has a really good history of supporting the Wii, so odds are good we'll either see Okami or it's eventual sequel on the Wii sometime in the future.
Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam is already a launch title, and Jet Grind Radio (also known as Jet Set Radio on the Xbox) is a much better basic example of this genre, with awesome graffiti spraying added in, which much likes Okami, makes it prime for Wii development.
Probably the one title that truly screams for a Wii remake above any other. I still have this for my Saturn and it exemplifies everything the Wii is supposed to be about-Simple, fun, a huge sense of freedom and being gorgeous yet not relying on some super-powerful graphics to be gorgeous. Sega is clearly strongly behind Nintendo with several planned Wii titles and giving the virtual console their full support, so this seems like a ridiculously obvious idea that needs to happen.
The Wii remote has the potential to revolutionize the way console FPS games are played, and new gameplay mechanics like that can be used to give brilliant but criminally ignored titles a well-deserved second shot. Metal Arms is most definitely one of those titles. It's an extremely funny and well designed shooter that the public simply seemed to ignore, even though it's really almost right up there with the likes of Halo in multi-player thanks to excellent weapon & map designs (and definitely has a better single-player campaign than either Halo game can lay claim to). Putting it on the Wii would give it a good chance to find an audience it truly deserves.
And if the Wii is potentially a revolution for FPS, the same holds true for on-rails shooters. Panzer Dragoon is arguably the pinnacle of this genre, and either a remake or a totally new entry could really capitalize on that potential, and easily put impressive looking PS3 titles where you fly around on dragons to shame since the Wii remote would give a much more fun experience.
Probably the last good Sega Saturn title made, Burning Rangers mix of futuristic firefighters with jet packs would be a really good and natural transition over to the Wii's unique interface.
Ever since Nintendo unveiled the Wii remote and it's motion-sensing capabilities, Star Wars fanboys have been drooling at the thought of the ability to have virtual lightsaber duels. With a little tweaking, Star Wars Trilogy could easily fit that bill. It features great dogfights and intense lightsaber battles that would easily work with the Wii remote. And in online multi-player and you'd automatically have a strong contender for the best Star Wars game ever.
Paperboy is pretty likely to make an appearance on the virtual console, but it's simple but fun gameplay could easily be made to fit the Wii. It'd be pretty fun flicking your wrist trying to correctly deliver those newspapers.
Simply put, Point Blank is just as good if not better than the classic Duck Hunt, which is already getting a Wii remake & a virtual console release. It's got more variety and humor and just plain wackiness, and would be a great complement to that zapper we saw at E3.
Samba De Amigo is the ultimate party game, and it's original Maraca controllers were pretty much a less sophisticated version of what the Wii remote is, so it would be an easy transition. It would also be a really good counter to games like Dance Dance Revolution, which obviously would not transfer well to the Wii without and expensive dance pad.
All right, that's it for now, but I'll be back tonight since it's technically Monday with another post.
FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Bloody Blades
10/06/2006
How do you kill that which has no life?
In case you missed on of the best episodes of any TV show EVER last night, here is the FULL episode of South Park's "Make Love, Not Warcraft", which hilariously lampoons the pure absurdity of the game. Sadly, it actually makes me sort of miss playing WOW, which I haven't touched in about 9 months (though I seriously have to clear my seemingly ever-growing backlog of games before I seriously consider a return).
So, even though Gamestop isn't reportedly offering any preorders on Wii, you still may have no trouble getting one, as Nintendo will supposedly has anywhere between 9 and 11 million units ready to ship by the end of the calender year. To put that number in perspective, MS is hoping the 360 will hit 10 million owners total by the end of this year, so if these reports are true, The Wii may be the easiest item to get ever that's still a ridiculously hot seller.
You know, one thing that would really, really tempt me to get an Xbox 360 in the near future would be a free game for it. But it would have to be a current game that I'm actually excited about, not something lame like Kameo or Perfect Dark Zero. Amazon may have just tempt me enough with their deal going on this October: Buy a 360 and get either GEARS OF WAR or VIVA PINATA FREE. I have checked Amazon, and haven't seen the deal, so maybe it will happen later this month (it's still early), but 1up is pretty reputable, so I expect I'll be heavily tempted as soon as it's official.
On to this weekend's movies-Really the only one even worth checking out is Martin Scorsese's The Departed, which is a remake of an excellent Japanese film called Infernal Affairs. You really can't wrong with the seemingly endless talented cast (Dicaprio, Affleck, Wahlberg, Baldwin, Nicholson,etc.) and Scorsese pretty much always delivers.
Then you have those films that shouldn't even have conceived. Wasn't the remake of Texas Chainsaw massacre horrible enough? Do we need a prequel of the origin of this lame-ass serial killer & his family of fat inbred southern hicks? Apparently someone feels we do, because Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning has been unleashed in theatres, and unfortunately, it has been repeatedly proven that people are dumb enough to think these kind of movies are not only scary, but good. I'm sure this'll make 25 mil easy opening weekend, even though it doesn't deserve to make 10 dollars.
And finally, we have Employee of the Month. You know, somehow in the course of a year Dane Cook went from the biggest comedian on Earth to one of the most annoying guys ever, and his first major film doesn't seem to be doing anything to fix that (it could be because he hasn't changed the same recycled material he originally stole from far funnier guys). But I'm sure Jessica Simpson will lure in the horny teenagers.
That's really all I have to talk about for today, but I'll leave you with another brilliant Weird Al video, courtesy of the show, Robot Chicken: WEASEL STOMPING DAY!
10/04/2006
Play with your Mii
Although the Wii won't actually be out until next month, you can get an idea of what the "Mii channel" feature will be like with this handy little flash version.I have to admit, it's quite a bit of fun, hopefully the full version will have even more options or at least some more downloadable ones in the future.
Are you a complete fucking pussy who is willing to pay to earn gamerscore points? Then check out Level my 360-A site where you pay professionals to raise your gamerscore. This crap should be illegal.
So, thought you'd miss all that launch day waiting-in-line nonsense by pre-ordering your Wii or PS3? Well Gamestop won't be any help there, as they reportedly aren't offering pre-orders for either. I'll probably try to get something online, but if that doesn't happen, I'll probably just try and get a Wii when I can get my hands on one, I've never been one for waiting hours in line for launch day.
SCRUBS CLIP OF THE WEEK:
Are you a complete fucking pussy who is willing to pay to earn gamerscore points? Then check out Level my 360-A site where you pay professionals to raise your gamerscore. This crap should be illegal.
So, thought you'd miss all that launch day waiting-in-line nonsense by pre-ordering your Wii or PS3? Well Gamestop won't be any help there, as they reportedly aren't offering pre-orders for either. I'll probably try to get something online, but if that doesn't happen, I'll probably just try and get a Wii when I can get my hands on one, I've never been one for waiting hours in line for launch day.
SCRUBS CLIP OF THE WEEK:
10/02/2006
Ken Kuturagi says the darndest things
On competition: "We don't care."
On PS3 Progress: "Right now ... we can't manufacture enough blue laser diodes for our PlayStation 3s. But we will resolve that,"
Really? How, exactly? I mean christ man, to say you don't care about your competition, then grudgingly admit you're having trouble getting the basic parts for an already botched launch is just about as ass backwards as it can get.
But ultimately, what is the PS3's biggest obstacle? It might be the PS2 itself, as this editorial outlines. And it's absolutely right. The PS2 is cheap, available, has a huge library of great titles with quite a few more down the line (FFXII, God of War 2, Tales of the Abyss, just to name a few). I can't imagine any solid reason you could give anyone to get a PS3 over a PS2 at this point.
Don't throw out those gamecube controllers/wavebirds! Nintendo has confirmed that not only can they be used with all the GC titles on the Wii, but certain other games may make use of them as well (quite possibly virtual console titles, but upcoming Wii games like Smash Dojo have also been previously mentioned).
Even more good news on the Wii front: While the friend code system is still going to be used, it should only be one code per console, as opposed to per title like it is on the DS. This should make the system much smoother.
And I did finally catch Fearless today, and it was pretty damn good. The action was amazing, and it had actually had a pretty good story, even if the acting was pretty stiff (but hey, you don't go see Jet Li movies for good acting). Again, I highly doubt this is the last martial arts movie he'll do, but if it is, it's a very fine note to end it on.
FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Hustler
On PS3 Progress: "Right now ... we can't manufacture enough blue laser diodes for our PlayStation 3s. But we will resolve that,"
Really? How, exactly? I mean christ man, to say you don't care about your competition, then grudgingly admit you're having trouble getting the basic parts for an already botched launch is just about as ass backwards as it can get.
But ultimately, what is the PS3's biggest obstacle? It might be the PS2 itself, as this editorial outlines. And it's absolutely right. The PS2 is cheap, available, has a huge library of great titles with quite a few more down the line (FFXII, God of War 2, Tales of the Abyss, just to name a few). I can't imagine any solid reason you could give anyone to get a PS3 over a PS2 at this point.
Don't throw out those gamecube controllers/wavebirds! Nintendo has confirmed that not only can they be used with all the GC titles on the Wii, but certain other games may make use of them as well (quite possibly virtual console titles, but upcoming Wii games like Smash Dojo have also been previously mentioned).
Even more good news on the Wii front: While the friend code system is still going to be used, it should only be one code per console, as opposed to per title like it is on the DS. This should make the system much smoother.
And I did finally catch Fearless today, and it was pretty damn good. The action was amazing, and it had actually had a pretty good story, even if the acting was pretty stiff (but hey, you don't go see Jet Li movies for good acting). Again, I highly doubt this is the last martial arts movie he'll do, but if it is, it's a very fine note to end it on.
FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Hustler
9/29/2006
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Billy Bob Thorton and Jon Heder team up in the somewhat promising comedy School for Scoundrels, which looks like the best bet this weekend, with ti being from the same director who gave us Old School, Road Trip, & Starsky & Hutch, all of which I found pretty entertaining. Unfortunately, the early reviews are mostly lukewarm, but I'll probably check it out along with finally catching Fearless either Saturday or Sunday.
Also this weekend, Ashton Kutcher faces off against.. Ashton Kutcher! No, it's not some horribly awful-twin movie, just a fairly mediocre-looking animated film & an even more mediocre-looking drama. Whose bright idea was it to put Kevin Costner & Ashton Kutcher in a movie? The Guardian will just be another example for both actors to show their complete lack of dramatic ability. Furthermore, whose bright idea was it to put Kutcher & Martin Lawrence together? In a family animated film? Lawrence isn't that funny to begin with, and when limited with a PG-rating, he's absolutely atrocious. As for Kutcher's comedic abilities? Sure, he was amusing on That 70s Show, but he has yet to make one entertaining film. I'm sure kids will eat up Open Season regardless.
Animation overload! Every single episode of Simpsons, Family Guy, Futurama, Family Guy & American Dad all in one convenient spot-This probably won't last long, so enjoy it while you can!
Finally, yet another game I'm going to have to put off getting until I beat one of the several I'm working on came out this week: Valkyrie Profile 2. I really enjoyed the original, and the reviews for this new entry are all really solid, unfortunately, I may not really get around to it til the new year with me very slowly progressing through Okami & Disgaea 2, and after those I still have to get back to Shadow Hearts: FTNW, and somewhere in between all that Final Fantasy XII will be out. Why I am even planning on picking up a Wii at this point again?
Also this weekend, Ashton Kutcher faces off against.. Ashton Kutcher! No, it's not some horribly awful-twin movie, just a fairly mediocre-looking animated film & an even more mediocre-looking drama. Whose bright idea was it to put Kevin Costner & Ashton Kutcher in a movie? The Guardian will just be another example for both actors to show their complete lack of dramatic ability. Furthermore, whose bright idea was it to put Kutcher & Martin Lawrence together? In a family animated film? Lawrence isn't that funny to begin with, and when limited with a PG-rating, he's absolutely atrocious. As for Kutcher's comedic abilities? Sure, he was amusing on That 70s Show, but he has yet to make one entertaining film. I'm sure kids will eat up Open Season regardless.
Animation overload! Every single episode of Simpsons, Family Guy, Futurama, Family Guy & American Dad all in one convenient spot-This probably won't last long, so enjoy it while you can!
Finally, yet another game I'm going to have to put off getting until I beat one of the several I'm working on came out this week: Valkyrie Profile 2. I really enjoyed the original, and the reviews for this new entry are all really solid, unfortunately, I may not really get around to it til the new year with me very slowly progressing through Okami & Disgaea 2, and after those I still have to get back to Shadow Hearts: FTNW, and somewhere in between all that Final Fantasy XII will be out. Why I am even planning on picking up a Wii at this point again?
9/28/2006
Halo gets real
Microsoft had their big XNA '06 conference today, and the really huge news was that Halo is going back to its original roots as an RTS. Sure, the first Halo ended up being an FPS as the final product, but the original plan was for it to be a full-blown real time strategy. Here's the trailer:
Other not so noteworthy highlights:
-Doom is now available on Xbox live and has online deathmatch! Whoopdee-fucking-do! Seriously, no disrespect to the game that really kick-started the FPS genre, but it just simply hasn't aged well in the nearly 15 years since it's been out. It'll be fun for a little nostalgia, then you'll quickly go back to Halo 2 & Counter-Strike.
-The Xbox 360 HD-DVD player will launch in North America in mid-November, will cost $199.99, and will include in the box an HD-DVD copy of Peter Jackson's King Kong. I'm sure king Kong will look amazing in in HD on HD, but this officially makes the 360 a lot more pricey than the PS3 if you want to watch a high-def movie on it.
-A Marvel MMORPG is on the way. So it's City of Heroes with a license? Big yawn.
-Banjo Kazooie is returning. Great, another well-remembered franchise that Rare can flush down the drain. They have had 3 releases to date since they joined Team MS, and they've all vastly underwhelmed at best, I don't see this finally fixing their recent track record.
So really mostly a somewhat underwhelming conference, especially considering that all they've really got for the near future is Gears of War to combat the launch of the PS3 & The Wii.
There was one big bit of news for the 4 PS3 fans still left-Elder Scrolls: Oblivion is going to be a launch title. Congrats on having a game us PC & 360 players have been playing for months already! If it actually runs much smoother and looks significantly better, great, but my bet is it won't...
But with potentially good news comes potentially horrid news (for PS3 fans anyways): Square is spreading the wealth this time around, saying they aren't really committed to any one system. Final Fantasy is still going to remain mainly a PS franchise, but others may end up elsewhere, namely Kingdom Hearts. Oddly enough, I've always said when the next Kingdom Hearts game is announced is when I'll probably break down and buy a PS3. Now that may not ever happen...
The Sony style store has "officially" listed Sony PS3 titles at a 59.99, same as most 360 titles. But the Sony store is just some little offshoot, I'll believe it more when I hear an official statement from Sony Corporate.
Unfortunately, I've been a little too tired from work to really make the effort to go see Fearless yet, but I'm pretty open most of Saturday & Sunday, so I'll be sure to check it out this weekend.
SCRUBS CLIP OF THE WEEK:
Other not so noteworthy highlights:
-Doom is now available on Xbox live and has online deathmatch! Whoopdee-fucking-do! Seriously, no disrespect to the game that really kick-started the FPS genre, but it just simply hasn't aged well in the nearly 15 years since it's been out. It'll be fun for a little nostalgia, then you'll quickly go back to Halo 2 & Counter-Strike.
-The Xbox 360 HD-DVD player will launch in North America in mid-November, will cost $199.99, and will include in the box an HD-DVD copy of Peter Jackson's King Kong. I'm sure king Kong will look amazing in in HD on HD, but this officially makes the 360 a lot more pricey than the PS3 if you want to watch a high-def movie on it.
-A Marvel MMORPG is on the way. So it's City of Heroes with a license? Big yawn.
-Banjo Kazooie is returning. Great, another well-remembered franchise that Rare can flush down the drain. They have had 3 releases to date since they joined Team MS, and they've all vastly underwhelmed at best, I don't see this finally fixing their recent track record.
So really mostly a somewhat underwhelming conference, especially considering that all they've really got for the near future is Gears of War to combat the launch of the PS3 & The Wii.
There was one big bit of news for the 4 PS3 fans still left-Elder Scrolls: Oblivion is going to be a launch title. Congrats on having a game us PC & 360 players have been playing for months already! If it actually runs much smoother and looks significantly better, great, but my bet is it won't...
But with potentially good news comes potentially horrid news (for PS3 fans anyways): Square is spreading the wealth this time around, saying they aren't really committed to any one system. Final Fantasy is still going to remain mainly a PS franchise, but others may end up elsewhere, namely Kingdom Hearts. Oddly enough, I've always said when the next Kingdom Hearts game is announced is when I'll probably break down and buy a PS3. Now that may not ever happen...
The Sony style store has "officially" listed Sony PS3 titles at a 59.99, same as most 360 titles. But the Sony store is just some little offshoot, I'll believe it more when I hear an official statement from Sony Corporate.
Unfortunately, I've been a little too tired from work to really make the effort to go see Fearless yet, but I'm pretty open most of Saturday & Sunday, so I'll be sure to check it out this weekend.
SCRUBS CLIP OF THE WEEK:
9/25/2006
Gaming has gone to the dogs
But in a completely awesome way. I did pick up Okami this week, and unfortunately have only had a few scant hours to really play around with it, but it's easily one of the PS2's best titles in it's distinguished history. The creative use of nearly psychedelic colors and the look of old Japanese brush-style art rival anything seen on the flashy next-gen scene. The combat is a somewhat simple affair, with just one basic attack button, but as you learn new defensive techniques & powers for your "celestial brush", your combat options become ever more complex (my personal favorite so far is making trees form out of nowhere, it's a fun way to finish off enemies). It's a near perfect title, really my only complaint is that the characters all speak in a really annoying mumble, and many talk at length, which gets in the way of mostly creative and funny dialogue. And I reiterate my point that this would be an even more spectacular title on the Wii, so hopefully a port is at least being considered.
Part of the reason I got Okami was a desperate need to rid myself of the bane that is Lego Star Wars II for the DS. It's a slight change from my sort of recommendation last week, since I was unaware of the bugs that plague this particular version. I thought some fans & reviewers had simply gotten bad copies, as the first several levels I played were fine, but sure enough, a few levels later, they really made their presence known, as various levels were simply not even finishable. This is one of the shoddiest ports I've played in years, and I hope Amaze Entertainment gets tarred & feathered for it, it's completely inexcusable.
So, the Tokyo Game Show is going on at this moment, and some very interesting stuff is coming out from Sony's side. First, they dropped the price of their $500 PS3 to $430. That only applies to Japan, but that may hint at what may happen here as well. Furthermore, rumors about multiple tiers of pricing have been surfacing, but that may mean REALLY expensive games in order to offset the lower sale price of the system
(like in the $70-85 range). In my opinion, this move is far more suicidal than having a high-priced console. I mean, really, who's going to pay $10-25 more than you would for a game on any of the competition? Again, so far, this is all rumors and innuendo that so far only applies in Japan, but TGS is usually a precursor to here as it's the last really big show before the holiday season.
The DS avalanche of slick titles continues this week, as Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis is out, and it promises some very fun & creative gameplay, assuming you have any money or time left for it, and there are at least 4 other titles coming out for the system in the next few weeks that look extremely promising (namely Children of Mana & FFCC: Ring of Fates
). This is starting to really make the DS look like the most versatile system out right now.
Unfortunately, work wore me out a little too much this weekend to really check out any movies, but I fully plan of seeing Fearless in the next couple of days, and I'll give my impressions in my next post.
FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: wpnFire
Part of the reason I got Okami was a desperate need to rid myself of the bane that is Lego Star Wars II for the DS. It's a slight change from my sort of recommendation last week, since I was unaware of the bugs that plague this particular version. I thought some fans & reviewers had simply gotten bad copies, as the first several levels I played were fine, but sure enough, a few levels later, they really made their presence known, as various levels were simply not even finishable. This is one of the shoddiest ports I've played in years, and I hope Amaze Entertainment gets tarred & feathered for it, it's completely inexcusable.
So, the Tokyo Game Show is going on at this moment, and some very interesting stuff is coming out from Sony's side. First, they dropped the price of their $500 PS3 to $430. That only applies to Japan, but that may hint at what may happen here as well. Furthermore, rumors about multiple tiers of pricing have been surfacing, but that may mean REALLY expensive games in order to offset the lower sale price of the system
(like in the $70-85 range). In my opinion, this move is far more suicidal than having a high-priced console. I mean, really, who's going to pay $10-25 more than you would for a game on any of the competition? Again, so far, this is all rumors and innuendo that so far only applies in Japan, but TGS is usually a precursor to here as it's the last really big show before the holiday season.
The DS avalanche of slick titles continues this week, as Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis is out, and it promises some very fun & creative gameplay, assuming you have any money or time left for it, and there are at least 4 other titles coming out for the system in the next few weeks that look extremely promising (namely Children of Mana & FFCC: Ring of Fates
). This is starting to really make the DS look like the most versatile system out right now.
Unfortunately, work wore me out a little too much this weekend to really check out any movies, but I fully plan of seeing Fearless in the next couple of days, and I'll give my impressions in my next post.
FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: wpnFire
9/22/2006
The Wii Calculator
So just how much are you going to spend on Nov. 19th? The Wii calculator should give you a pretty good idea. Assuming I get 3 sets of all the controllers for me & my friends and family, and I'm only planning on buying two games at launch (Zelda & Rayman), and the cost rings out to: $681.46. Good thing I work at Best Buy, I'll be taking generous advantage of that employee discount.
Episode IV of Super Mario Bros. Z is finally up, this is easily the best flash series ever.
On to this week's movies. Pretty much the only one I'm interested in seeing is Fearless, Jet Li's "final" martial arts film (yeah, and the Rolling Stones only had one farewell tour...). Regardless, it looks incredible, and I am extremely pumped for it. I mean really, what else is there? Johnny Knoxville nearly killing himself again in Jackass 2? Sean Penn in another pretentious and sure to be overrated performance in All the King's Men? Or Flyboys, which features James Franco yet has barely been advertised? Sounds like a martial arts epic is the only realistic option this weekend anyways...
Episode IV of Super Mario Bros. Z is finally up, this is easily the best flash series ever.
On to this week's movies. Pretty much the only one I'm interested in seeing is Fearless, Jet Li's "final" martial arts film (yeah, and the Rolling Stones only had one farewell tour...). Regardless, it looks incredible, and I am extremely pumped for it. I mean really, what else is there? Johnny Knoxville nearly killing himself again in Jackass 2? Sean Penn in another pretentious and sure to be overrated performance in All the King's Men? Or Flyboys, which features James Franco yet has barely been advertised? Sounds like a martial arts epic is the only realistic option this weekend anyways...
9/20/2006
Universal tells Sony to WALK THE PLANK!!!
The title will pretty much be my one and only reference to Talk Like a Pirate Day. But getting serious, Sony has been dealt a huge blow in the next gen format wars, which may ultimately affect the PS3 as well. Universal has decided they aren't making ANY Blu-ray titles for Sony, essentially cutting out a huge potential library, and this is the first big studio to initially side with Sony and then leave them stranded for all intents and purposes, and others may follow suit soon after. Sony's determination to have the major proprietary format for games & movies may ultimately be what really does them in at this point.
We all know Nintendo is making a giant mistake by not having any actual online play when the Wii launches, but what is arguably worse is having an unfinished and broken system because you feel you have to have something to go with when you launch, and that's exactly what Sony may be doing. Now, I fully expect the first year of Sony's universal online system to be a somewhat rocky experience, just like it was with Xbox live, but if Sony's not 100% committed to making it a kick ass system, free or not, people aren't gonna go for it.
Zelda box art. I look at this and any fears I have about the Wii being anything less than a spectacular system pretty much melt away. Nintendo has yet to make a Zelda game that has been anything short of legendary, I'm positive Twilight Princess will be no different.
Finally, I've got a few videos to end today with:
Just cause it's cool-THE MUPPET MATRIX (Kermit>Keanu)
Weird Al's new CD, Straight Outta Lynwood, is out next week. Here's the first of hopefully many brilliant videos off of it: WHITE & NERDY (Donny Osmond dancing like a spaz is the funniest damn thing I've seen in a long time):
And of course the SCRUBS CLIP OF THE WEEK:
We all know Nintendo is making a giant mistake by not having any actual online play when the Wii launches, but what is arguably worse is having an unfinished and broken system because you feel you have to have something to go with when you launch, and that's exactly what Sony may be doing. Now, I fully expect the first year of Sony's universal online system to be a somewhat rocky experience, just like it was with Xbox live, but if Sony's not 100% committed to making it a kick ass system, free or not, people aren't gonna go for it.
Zelda box art. I look at this and any fears I have about the Wii being anything less than a spectacular system pretty much melt away. Nintendo has yet to make a Zelda game that has been anything short of legendary, I'm positive Twilight Princess will be no different.
Finally, I've got a few videos to end today with:
Just cause it's cool-THE MUPPET MATRIX (Kermit>Keanu)
Weird Al's new CD, Straight Outta Lynwood, is out next week. Here's the first of hopefully many brilliant videos off of it: WHITE & NERDY (Donny Osmond dancing like a spaz is the funniest damn thing I've seen in a long time):
And of course the SCRUBS CLIP OF THE WEEK:
9/18/2006
The brush is mightier than the sword.
Easily this coming week's biggest release, the much anticipated Okami finally arrives on PS2. It boasts a lush visual style for more appealing than the ultra-realistic looks most next-gen titles go for, and features very unique play centering around using a powerful paint brush that lets you affect the world around you. As good as the game sounds (and I fully plan to pick it up). This sounds like the kind of game that would be perfect on the Wii, so hopefully a port is being considered down the line.
Speaking of games that would be great to port over to the Wii, a whole ton of Sierra compilations for King's Quest
, Leisure Suit Larry, Police Quest, and Space Quest are out this week as well. I would've preferred A Hero's Quest compilation to Police Quest, but otherwise, this is an excellent chance for somebody to pick up classic adventure games, I'm certainly at least enjoying some quality time with Roger Wilco, humanity's greatest space janitor!
And if last week's barrage of DS titles wasn't enough to satiate you, three more big titles hit this week. Slimes are apparently tired of being the whipping boy in just about every RPG ever made, so they finally have a game of their own in Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime. Although it's an action puzzler, not an rpg. It does appear to be a bit on the kiddy side, but it's gotten surprisingly solid reviews (even game of the month in the new EGM), so it's probably worth your time to check out.
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, marks the series first appearance on the DS. I've honestly never really gotten into this series, though admittedly my limited experiences with it were mostly the weaker entries (namely Bloodlines for Genesis and the truly atrocious N64 3D attempt), but the concept of Metroid with an old school vampire hunting theme definitely are tempting me to give it another go.
And finally, the latest in the seemingly never-ending series of Pokemon titles: Pokemon Rescue Team. In this latest adventure, you actually play as a Pokemon for a twist rather than a trainer, so it seems to be more a traditional role-playing game where you naturally gain party members as you progress rather than just "catch 'em all!".
I picked up Lego Star Wars II for the DS. I think it's good, but it's the version I'd least recommend out of all the other systems. The camera angle is problematic and really limited and if it's possible the A.I. is even stupider than in the console versions.
And lastly, I did manage to see The Last Kiss. I feel a little misled by the advertising quite frankly, as calling this a light-hearted comedy is way off. It's a serious & heavy exploration about growing up. It's a little hard and depressing, as Braff's character makes plenty of bad choices that a protagonist normally doesn't, but the dialogue & acting are top notch. I'd overall recommend it, just be prepared for it not to be some silly romantic comedy.
FREE GAME OF THE WEEK:Mini-Putt Online
Speaking of games that would be great to port over to the Wii, a whole ton of Sierra compilations for King's Quest
, Leisure Suit Larry, Police Quest, and Space Quest are out this week as well. I would've preferred A Hero's Quest compilation to Police Quest, but otherwise, this is an excellent chance for somebody to pick up classic adventure games, I'm certainly at least enjoying some quality time with Roger Wilco, humanity's greatest space janitor!
And if last week's barrage of DS titles wasn't enough to satiate you, three more big titles hit this week. Slimes are apparently tired of being the whipping boy in just about every RPG ever made, so they finally have a game of their own in Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime. Although it's an action puzzler, not an rpg. It does appear to be a bit on the kiddy side, but it's gotten surprisingly solid reviews (even game of the month in the new EGM), so it's probably worth your time to check out.
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, marks the series first appearance on the DS. I've honestly never really gotten into this series, though admittedly my limited experiences with it were mostly the weaker entries (namely Bloodlines for Genesis and the truly atrocious N64 3D attempt), but the concept of Metroid with an old school vampire hunting theme definitely are tempting me to give it another go.
And finally, the latest in the seemingly never-ending series of Pokemon titles: Pokemon Rescue Team. In this latest adventure, you actually play as a Pokemon for a twist rather than a trainer, so it seems to be more a traditional role-playing game where you naturally gain party members as you progress rather than just "catch 'em all!".
I picked up Lego Star Wars II for the DS. I think it's good, but it's the version I'd least recommend out of all the other systems. The camera angle is problematic and really limited and if it's possible the A.I. is even stupider than in the console versions.
And lastly, I did manage to see The Last Kiss. I feel a little misled by the advertising quite frankly, as calling this a light-hearted comedy is way off. It's a serious & heavy exploration about growing up. It's a little hard and depressing, as Braff's character makes plenty of bad choices that a protagonist normally doesn't, but the dialogue & acting are top notch. I'd overall recommend it, just be prepared for it not to be some silly romantic comedy.
FREE GAME OF THE WEEK:Mini-Putt Online
9/15/2006
Nintendo wants to make a profit? HOW DARE THEY!!!!
So, Nintendo's big American press conference was today, and it more or less confirmed what most realists thought, but irked a few idealists who apparently imagined Nintendo as this last bastion for extremely cheap ass jackasses. Surprisingly, the most "controversial" comment came from Reggie Fills-Aime himself, claiming that unlike MS & Sony, the Wii is designed to be profitable right out of the box. Historically, companies have sold their systems at a rather significant loss, making it up in game sales. But honestly, the system is already the cheapest on the market by a long shot with it's confirmed $250 price tag and it's the only system coming with a pack-in of a title (and Wii Sports looks like one hell of a pack-in with no less than 5 games included). Anybody who's complaining about it is just a moron.
Now, onto the stuff that actually matters, the launch specifics, broken down into three categories:
The Good:
-Launch price: Granted, $250 is a little more than most were expecting, but it's a extremely reasonable price for what's at least supposed to be a revolutionary new way to experience games.
-$50 games: This makes the system all the more attractive, of course at this point only Nintendo has confirmed that their games will stay at $50, much like MS has done with their 360 titles, but I can't imagine how you'd justify paying $60 for a Wii title.
-One Price: YAY!, finally somebody understands that it's fucking moronic to have one souped up model and one severely crippled one and claim it's an "option" for the buyer.
-At least 30 virtual console games at launch: By comparison, Xbox live arcade only has 29 after being out for nearly a year, this is an excellent start to really make it a superior offering.
The Bad:
-Nov. 19th Launch-Christ, they should at least launch before the PS3, not a mere 2 days later. This means they'll be fighting with Sony for big press coverage, and that battle they will most likely lose.
-Pricing for extras: $5 for a NES, $8 for an SNES & $10 for a N64 title? To be honest, I really can't think of more than a handful of each for each system that are still worth that much. But much more concern is the pricing for the controllers. Extra Wiimotes & Nunchucks are sold separately? And for $60 when you combine the two? That seems a little ludicrous to me. not too mention charging money for a browser that if you have a computer you can download for free.
-Photo/Video System: Is this what the somewhat unexpectedly high price comes from? Nobody's going to use this for anything. It's a stupid, useless idea that should've never come to fruition, especially if it would've dropped the console price.
-No DVD playback: Not a huge feature in the scheme of things, but it's a selling point that now MS & Sony can offer that Nintendo can't, and they did initially claim that it would feature DVD playback.
The Ugly:
-Controllers run on batteries: You have got to be fucking kidding me. Supposedly the batteries run for about 30 hours of gameplay. I play at least 30 hours worth of gaming a week, so do most serious gamers. To not make the controllers themselves rechargeable (you know, like on the 360) is pretty goddamn ridiculous.
-No online play at launch: What the fuck is wrong with you Nintendo? This is a major selling point of your competitors, you should at east have something to counter it. Once again, Nintendo has really dropped the ball on this aspect, and if they do fail yet again, this will most likely be the key reason.
Nintendo has honestly set themselves for a much rougher uphill battle then it initially appeared a scant few months ago. We'll have to see if it pays off. I still plan on getting one launch day, but after today you could see a little wavering in the previously unanimous enthusiasm for the system.
Several big movies opening this weekend, although not that many really look appealing. I already saw Gridiron Gang at a sneak preview, and although the Rock showed some decent acting chops, it was still your ridiculously run-of-the-mill sports film.
Everybody's Hero
just looks like the most generic "wacky" animated film ever. I don't even think little kids will be able to sit through it without being incredibly bored.
Black Dahlia features an intriguing true mystery about an unsolved murder, but odds are Brian De Palma's increasingly mediocre directing skills will muddle most of the potential.
And finally there's some little film called The Last Kiss, early reviews are about 50/50, but I think it'll be enjoyable and honestly the only film I'm seriously interested in seeing this weekend.
That's really it for today, I'll most certainly be back later this coming weekend, though.
Now, onto the stuff that actually matters, the launch specifics, broken down into three categories:
The Good:
-Launch price: Granted, $250 is a little more than most were expecting, but it's a extremely reasonable price for what's at least supposed to be a revolutionary new way to experience games.
-$50 games: This makes the system all the more attractive, of course at this point only Nintendo has confirmed that their games will stay at $50, much like MS has done with their 360 titles, but I can't imagine how you'd justify paying $60 for a Wii title.
-One Price: YAY!, finally somebody understands that it's fucking moronic to have one souped up model and one severely crippled one and claim it's an "option" for the buyer.
-At least 30 virtual console games at launch: By comparison, Xbox live arcade only has 29 after being out for nearly a year, this is an excellent start to really make it a superior offering.
The Bad:
-Nov. 19th Launch-Christ, they should at least launch before the PS3, not a mere 2 days later. This means they'll be fighting with Sony for big press coverage, and that battle they will most likely lose.
-Pricing for extras: $5 for a NES, $8 for an SNES & $10 for a N64 title? To be honest, I really can't think of more than a handful of each for each system that are still worth that much. But much more concern is the pricing for the controllers. Extra Wiimotes & Nunchucks are sold separately? And for $60 when you combine the two? That seems a little ludicrous to me. not too mention charging money for a browser that if you have a computer you can download for free.
-Photo/Video System: Is this what the somewhat unexpectedly high price comes from? Nobody's going to use this for anything. It's a stupid, useless idea that should've never come to fruition, especially if it would've dropped the console price.
-No DVD playback: Not a huge feature in the scheme of things, but it's a selling point that now MS & Sony can offer that Nintendo can't, and they did initially claim that it would feature DVD playback.
The Ugly:
-Controllers run on batteries: You have got to be fucking kidding me. Supposedly the batteries run for about 30 hours of gameplay. I play at least 30 hours worth of gaming a week, so do most serious gamers. To not make the controllers themselves rechargeable (you know, like on the 360) is pretty goddamn ridiculous.
-No online play at launch: What the fuck is wrong with you Nintendo? This is a major selling point of your competitors, you should at east have something to counter it. Once again, Nintendo has really dropped the ball on this aspect, and if they do fail yet again, this will most likely be the key reason.
Nintendo has honestly set themselves for a much rougher uphill battle then it initially appeared a scant few months ago. We'll have to see if it pays off. I still plan on getting one launch day, but after today you could see a little wavering in the previously unanimous enthusiasm for the system.
Several big movies opening this weekend, although not that many really look appealing. I already saw Gridiron Gang at a sneak preview, and although the Rock showed some decent acting chops, it was still your ridiculously run-of-the-mill sports film.
Everybody's Hero
just looks like the most generic "wacky" animated film ever. I don't even think little kids will be able to sit through it without being incredibly bored.
Black Dahlia features an intriguing true mystery about an unsolved murder, but odds are Brian De Palma's increasingly mediocre directing skills will muddle most of the potential.
And finally there's some little film called The Last Kiss, early reviews are about 50/50, but I think it'll be enjoyable and honestly the only film I'm seriously interested in seeing this weekend.
That's really it for today, I'll most certainly be back later this coming weekend, though.
9/13/2006
Use the LEGOS, Luke!
Sure, the long overdue original versions of the Episodes IV-VI came out today, but what I'm really excited about is Lego Star Wars II. The original was a surprisingly fun game and the new one looks to a vast improvement, especially since it's based on the far superior original trilogy. I'm honestly still too wrapped up in Disgaea 2 to get another game right now, but I'll definitely be picking it up down the line when my queue isn't so backed up.
A ton of big DS games are out this week. Mario Hoops, a basketball game starring Mario & pals that makes extensive use of the stylus and focuses more on how many "coins" you accumulate than actual baskets. But maybe a more traditional basketball title would've been the right way to go, as the general consensus is that it's lacking in good play mechanics.
The first DS appearance for the seemingly never-ending Mega Man series, Mega Man ZX is also out this week. The reviews are solid, but Mega Man is more worn out than World War II games at this point, and I just don't have any interest anymore.
Never thought you'd see a MS franchise on a Nintendo system? Well, that day has arrived. Mech Assault: Phantom War is also out for the DS this week. Early word is that thid matches the excellent series it's based on pretty well, so Mech fans may want to give this one a look.
Harvest Moon makes it's inevitable DS debut. If you've played one farming sim, you've played them all (pretty much because this is the only farming sim out there).
And finally, one of Ds' more unique titles, Cooking Mama, is out this week. It sounds like another quirky title along the lines of Wario Ware or Brain Age. It's also a pretty good impulse buy at only $19.99
The absolutely brilliant 2nd season of The Office is also out today. Scrubs is still my favorite show on TV right now, but The Office is definitely the funniest show on TV in the last year. I really hope they can keep it up for at least a few more seasons.
SCRUBS CLIP OF THE WEEK:
A ton of big DS games are out this week. Mario Hoops, a basketball game starring Mario & pals that makes extensive use of the stylus and focuses more on how many "coins" you accumulate than actual baskets. But maybe a more traditional basketball title would've been the right way to go, as the general consensus is that it's lacking in good play mechanics.
The first DS appearance for the seemingly never-ending Mega Man series, Mega Man ZX is also out this week. The reviews are solid, but Mega Man is more worn out than World War II games at this point, and I just don't have any interest anymore.
Never thought you'd see a MS franchise on a Nintendo system? Well, that day has arrived. Mech Assault: Phantom War is also out for the DS this week. Early word is that thid matches the excellent series it's based on pretty well, so Mech fans may want to give this one a look.
Harvest Moon makes it's inevitable DS debut. If you've played one farming sim, you've played them all (pretty much because this is the only farming sim out there).
And finally, one of Ds' more unique titles, Cooking Mama, is out this week. It sounds like another quirky title along the lines of Wario Ware or Brain Age. It's also a pretty good impulse buy at only $19.99
The absolutely brilliant 2nd season of The Office is also out today. Scrubs is still my favorite show on TV right now, but The Office is definitely the funniest show on TV in the last year. I really hope they can keep it up for at least a few more seasons.
SCRUBS CLIP OF THE WEEK:
9/11/2006
BEST. HALO. VID. EVER.
-Seriously, this is just amazing how they got all the angles and it syncing up perfectly with all the different music, I just honestly wish most of the clips were a little longer.
Moving on, I saw several films this weekend, starting with The Illusionist. I thought Giamatti & Norton gave fine performances as usual, but they were anchored by a fairly dull & predictable plot.
I also did see The Protector. It did feature some impressive fight scenes, but star Tony Jaa just really seems lacking in the intangible quality that would make him a big screen star.
But easily the best film I saw this week (and one of the better ones I've seen this year) was Hollywoodland. Affleck does his best acting in years (possibly ever) as George Reeves, and a genuinely involving mystery that actually leaves you with questions unanswered (in a good way) anchored by a strong performance by Adrien Brody as the PI hired to investigate the "suicide".
We all know the 360 is cheaper than the PS3, right? Well, if you just want to play games, yes. However, if you want the full experience from each system (especially including the HD-DVD player for the 360 due out this fall), the PS3 actually comes out at a much cheaper price. It would be a much better selling point if PS3's weren't going to be so ridiculously scarce. Odds are that if the 360 doesn't have a major price drop by the time the PS3 launches, it will by the time it's actually easy to get.
A Suppossed early list of what should be available on the Wii's virtual console come launch day has been revealed, and it's already more impressive than just about anything Xbox's live arcade has to offer in terms of classic old-school gameplay. Though it will remain to be seen if the original titles developed for download will be as cool as Geometry Wars or the Upcoming Castle Crashers.
Finally, my buddy/arch nemesis Sean O'Connell has posted an interview with Zach Braff while he was promoting The Last Kiss, which in case you didn't notice the giant banner that's been hanging around all month, opens this coming Friday.
FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Starfighter: Quadrant Wars
9/08/2006
Ben Affleck is just super, thanks for asking.
Hollywoodland, which focuses on the mystery surrounding the original Superman, George Reeves' (Affleck) death, marks what I think is Affleck's long overdue return to challenging dramatic roles that will hopefully end his cold streak. I've always thought his best work was his more edgy stuff-Chasing Amy, Dogma, even his short but memorable parts in movies like Mallrats and especially Boiler Room which showcased a much darker side than when he became a box office megastar were where he really shined. Hopefully this movie is a start back on that road, and most of the early word is very positive, and I am definitely seeing it this weekend.
One movie I'm sort of debating about is The Protector. I love kickass martial arts films as much as the next guy, but I wasn't as entranced by Ong-Bak as most others. I found all the fancy editing really jarring and distracting. But Tony Jaa merely starred in this movie as opposed to directing it, so that gives me some hope I'll be able to see it without having to bring motion-sickness pills.
One movie I'm not even debating is The Covenant, yet another in a long line of obviously horrible films not even screened for critics. I mean, I sure as hell am interested in going to a movie about incredibly bratty rich kids with superpowers that they use primarily for their own gain, aren't you?
That's all I really got for today, but I'll be sure to post sometime this weekend.
One movie I'm sort of debating about is The Protector. I love kickass martial arts films as much as the next guy, but I wasn't as entranced by Ong-Bak as most others. I found all the fancy editing really jarring and distracting. But Tony Jaa merely starred in this movie as opposed to directing it, so that gives me some hope I'll be able to see it without having to bring motion-sickness pills.
One movie I'm not even debating is The Covenant, yet another in a long line of obviously horrible films not even screened for critics. I mean, I sure as hell am interested in going to a movie about incredibly bratty rich kids with superpowers that they use primarily for their own gain, aren't you?
That's all I really got for today, but I'll be sure to post sometime this weekend.
9/07/2006
PS3'S??? WE DON'T NEED NO STINKING PS3'S!!!
In a double whammy of extremely bad news (even for Sony), it turns out that the ever more important European market will not even get any PS3 consoles this year. Yikes, what could be worse than missing the crucial 2006 holiday season in Europe? How about slashing their projected launch shipments for those of us getting it this year by a whopping SEVENTY-FIVE PERCENT. So, even if you can afford a PS3, you'll probably have to enter some sort of deadly tournament in order to procure one. You know, despite all the bad press, I always have been of the opinion that Sony would in fact pull it together in time to at least make a solid launch, but even that doesn't seem feasible at this point. What good are exquisite-looking games if even those with tons of disposable income can't get their hands on one? If they have as long a shortage as MS did with the 360 initially, this will definitely be the swan song for Sony.
Some extremely interesting details have leaked about Ubisoft's Far Cry for the Wii, specifically, that it will feature online support. Granted, this could be something as simple as downloadable content, but also could be fully-fledged online multi-player. Far Cry is a 3rd party launch title, which contradicts the report by IGN that no 3rd party launch titles would have online support. This may not be cleared up til we get closer to launch, but at least there's some hope.
SCRUBS CLIP OF THE WEEK:
Some extremely interesting details have leaked about Ubisoft's Far Cry for the Wii, specifically, that it will feature online support. Granted, this could be something as simple as downloadable content, but also could be fully-fledged online multi-player. Far Cry is a 3rd party launch title, which contradicts the report by IGN that no 3rd party launch titles would have online support. This may not be cleared up til we get closer to launch, but at least there's some hope.
SCRUBS CLIP OF THE WEEK:
9/04/2006
NO HDMI CABLES FOR YOU!
Planning on getting a PS3 so you can bask in all the high-def Blu-ray glory? Well unfortunately, Sony has decided that their $600 system doesn't need the necessary cables included with the system so you have to go out and buy them yourself. Way to piss off what few fans they must have left. I can think of few things more frustrating than being informed that in order to get my shiny new overpriced console to work like it should, I have to go out and hunt down some expensive cable that should've been included with it in the first place.
I was pleasantly surprised by Crank. Make no mistake, it's completely mindless, but that's why it's fun. The action sequences are fresh and energetic and don't go too over the top like say the XXX movies; and the film has a good sense of humor and doesn't take itself too seriously.
I did something I haven't done in probably at least a decade and I'm not very proud of myself. I bought the strategy guide for Disgaea 2. Generally, real gamers don't buy strategy guides, especially today with most of the info easily available at various websites. It's not even that Disgaea 2 is that hard, but a lot of what is in the guide should've probably been in the instruction booklet to begin with, like detailed info on all the basic classes (there's well over 200, for chrissakes) and a much expanded explanation of the item world & weapon mastery. I consider it $20 well spent for a little piece of mind, as trying to manage my continually growing army of peons without any guidance was driving me nuts.
FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: CHAOS FACTION
I was pleasantly surprised by Crank. Make no mistake, it's completely mindless, but that's why it's fun. The action sequences are fresh and energetic and don't go too over the top like say the XXX movies; and the film has a good sense of humor and doesn't take itself too seriously.
I did something I haven't done in probably at least a decade and I'm not very proud of myself. I bought the strategy guide for Disgaea 2. Generally, real gamers don't buy strategy guides, especially today with most of the info easily available at various websites. It's not even that Disgaea 2 is that hard, but a lot of what is in the guide should've probably been in the instruction booklet to begin with, like detailed info on all the basic classes (there's well over 200, for chrissakes) and a much expanded explanation of the item world & weapon mastery. I consider it $20 well spent for a little piece of mind, as trying to manage my continually growing army of peons without any guidance was driving me nuts.
FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: CHAOS FACTION
9/02/2006
BRING ME THE (metaphorical) HEAD OF CIRCUIT CITY!
http://www.gametab.com/news/668114/
Quote:
Want to play your original xbox games on your new Xbox 360?
Backward compatibility on the Xbox 360 is done through software*
Let Circuit City install it for you
For just $28.99
What are the benefits to playing original Xbox games on my Xbox 360 console?
• Every game* will be playable in high definition.
• Every original Xbox game* will be upscaled to 720p and 1080i, and will take advantage of Xbox 360's anti-aliasing capabilities, delivering a picture that is clear and crisper than anything available on Xbox.
*Refer to the original Xbox games list to ensure compatibility on the Xbox 360.
In case you didn't know, all you need to make your xbox 360 backwards compatible is AN INTERNET CONNECTION! If you don't have one? You can contact MS and they'll send you a disc that you can simply slip into your 360 to get backwards compatibility FOR FREE. Now give me my fucking $28! I have worked in retail nearly all of my adult life, and while I understand we as a industry constantly sell people stuff they don't really need, this is simply customer fraud. I actually used to like Circuit City, but the fact that they let this go on at ANY store is fucking inexcusable and they better hope a class action suit doesn't come out of it because they will lose BIG time. I am permanently boycotting this slimy fuck of a company and anyone else with any common sense should do the same. This is a true low for any buisness to purposely deceive customers like this. Unfortunately, I don't have enough info available to my to file a complaint with the Better Buisness Bureau personally about the specific store this photo was taken at(and there are no Circuit City locations in Seattle itself so I can verify if it's the same at other stores), but I bet someone else has already gone ahead and done it, I suggest if you see such a display in a local Circuit City, you do the same. I honestly too disgusted and pissed about this to write about anything else right now, so I'll be back tomorrow with my thoughts on Crank and a few other things.
9/01/2006
Crank it up
What do Jason Statham & Nicholas Cage have in common? Two big movies with NO SCREENINGS FOR CRITICS! Which is becoming a startling regularity, but it sort of makes sense. I can just tell Wicker Man is going to be another pointless "spooky" mystery with some many plot twists that it makes absolutely no sense. And Crank seems like another mindless action vehicle, but it doesn't pretend to be anything else, and I really like Statham, so I plan on seeing it this weekend.
I'm really digging Disgaea 2 so far, lots of great humor and deep strategy and I'm not even at the end of the second chapter. Really my only problem is that I already have too many party members and have to decide whether to make a B-team or just delete some characters so I have a small but lean team.
So, just how fucked is Sony? According to this lengthy WIRED article, very. I admit that I always thought Sony was doing very well in pretty much all their departments despite seemingly minor setbacks like UMD. Even if the PS3 makes money, it may not be enough to really save the company, which is a very interesting thought that next round we may just be seeing MS & Nintendo duking it out.
That's really it for today, but I'll leave you with a little visit from Mr. Gates, circa 1995:
I'm really digging Disgaea 2 so far, lots of great humor and deep strategy and I'm not even at the end of the second chapter. Really my only problem is that I already have too many party members and have to decide whether to make a B-team or just delete some characters so I have a small but lean team.
So, just how fucked is Sony? According to this lengthy WIRED article, very. I admit that I always thought Sony was doing very well in pretty much all their departments despite seemingly minor setbacks like UMD. Even if the PS3 makes money, it may not be enough to really save the company, which is a very interesting thought that next round we may just be seeing MS & Nintendo duking it out.
That's really it for today, but I'll leave you with a little visit from Mr. Gates, circa 1995:
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