Focus groups are full of fail

Seriously, I wonder why these even exist, because every time we hear about a decision more or less influenced by a focus group, we all do a collective facepalm, well frankly this most recent news deserves more than one so...

Because thanks to a focus group, they are cutting the evil option from Epic Mickey. You know, the whole point of this game was suppossed to be a massive revamp of the mouse, so he would be more like the old days where he had a goddamned personality. It's not like he was going after guys with a chainsaw, but apparently "murder by paintbrush" is too much for a goddamn biker. Who the fuck invited a biker to a focus group about a Mickey Mouse game? You remember the Goldeneye Wii trailer? Those at least were focus groups of GAMERS. Now granted, this shouldn't change much of the actual gameplay, but to talk about how you want to change the perception of what Mickey is and then bow to what someone's perception is based on when they were a kid is absolutely idiotic. Massive fail Warren Spector. Massive. Goddamn. Fail.

Speaking of massive fails, I think Microsoft is setting themselves up for a big one with Kinect, and not just because it's a piece of absolute crap. I mean it'd be one thing to expect it to appeal to the more casual crowd (which admittedly, it might hold some appeal to people who don't actually play video games, but it's hard to imagine someone like that shelling out for this when they can just get a Wii), but they are actually expecting their hardcore fan base to go out and buy it as well. You know, the same fan base that mocked the far more sensible waggle of the Wii. Not to mention on more than one occasion MS has claimed that this is not a product for their current user base, since it is mostly more hardcore gamers.

Now on top of that, while the Wii and Move can support anywhere from 2-8 gamers depending on the game, How many can Kinect support? 2. That's right, TWO. What the hell kind of party game only supports two people? Hell the minimum expectation for most multi-player games these days is 4. Now granted, not all do that, but the fact that the possibility isn't even there is ludicrous. This might honestly be the biggest flop since the Virtual Boy when all is said and done.

Moving on, with the PSN's weekly update today, they launch the Playstation Plus service. Yes, it comes with a myriad of free goodies that you get to keep as long as you have the service, with new ones every month, but nothing strikes me a must have. I mean I already own LittleBigPlanet, and I have no interest in the freebies that are currently offered. That may change, but I don't think anybody like the idea that if you stop paying, all the freebies go away. I still think they will have to add something integral to the service that gamers think they cant live without in order to really get a decent buy rate out of this.

In some hopefully awesome news, Hulu is coming to PS3 & 360. Granted, it's not the free online streaming you can get on your PC, but it's their "plus" subscription service that's $10 bucks a month. Which may sound like a rip-off when you already get tons of content for free from Hulu on your computer, but this is more of an on-demand type service where you get access to things like full current seasons as well as access to old TV shows. I almost exclusively use my netflix to watch TV shows, so this sounds like a great idea to me, and a much better option than cable.

Finally yes, I did pick up Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 today and while I agree with most of the reviews that it might indeed be the best lego game yet, it still may be too familiar to anyone who has or has had several lego titles, but far any huge lego/potter fan it's probably worth picking up.

Ok, that's all for today, I should be back Thursday with a review of The Last Airbender as well as other stuff, until then, your TRAILER OF THE WEEK: Rango

The King has returned

And no, this is not news of another Lion King sequel. It's the far more welcome news that the long, long road of the fan-developed King's Quest title, The Silver Lining has actually gotten Activision's blessing and will be released this July if you're not familiar with the game's story, it's basically been in development and consistently stalled usually due to cease and desist orders. King's Auest is easily one of the best adventure series ever, it would be great if this cause an actual rebirth to the series, which wouldn;t be so far fetched with series like Sam & Max making big comebacks.

I managed to get my hands on copies of both Toy Story 3 the game and Transformers War for Cybertron earlier this week. If you are a fan of either I can reccomend them. The attention to detail and solid shooter aspects make War for Cybertron a worthy purchase indeed, though as someone who was honestly never all that into the series, it was hard for me to get into it when it is essentially Gears of War with giant robots.

Toy Story 3 the game is two very different types of beasts rolled into one. The story mode is a competent but uninteresting standard kiddy platforming game. The real enjoyment and fun lies in the awesome toybox mode. You play as Buzz, Woody or Jesse (though in this mode they all play the same, so it's just personal preference) and it does sandbox almost better than most of the GTA series, with being able to customize townspeople, bulidings, and just being able to create your own hodgepodge of a little universe. It's even got a hint of World of Warcraft with tons of quests to complete. I could see spending hundreds of hours on this mode.

I also managed to finally catch Toy Story 3 the movie and Knight & Day. I will start off by saying I do think Toy Story 3 is arguably the weakest chapter in the trilogy, considering a how amazing the first 2 were, it's almost to be expected. But it is still an extremely good moving with a heartwarming story and a great last big adventure for Woody, Buzz and the gang (though Pixar has said that while this will be the last movie, we will likely see the characters reappear in things like the always great Pixar shorts they have before every movie).

Now onto Knight & Day. I sort of feel bad for Tom Cruise. Sure, he's nutty as a fruitcake, but what famous person isn't? It doesn't stop him from making mostly enjoyable movies (Mission Impossible 3 can stand up to any Bond/Bourne film IMHO), but since the year where he was more or less outed as a hardcore Scientologist and so crazy in love with Katie Holmes that was jumping up and down on Oprah's couch, people don't really seem to want to see him in films much. I won't say Knight and Day is stellar or anything, it's not. But it's an extremely enjoyable action-comedy with two leads that work very well together and it's a shame it might not do well just because people think Tom Cruise is nuts. I also heard this might be sort of a litmus test for the in-development Mission Impossible 4 which if it was either stalled or dumped because of this would suck because JJ Abrams (that'd be the guy that resurrected Star trek) and Cruise work extremely well together.

Want to see Nintendo of America's Reggie Fills-Aime promoting Donkey Kong Country Returns on Jimmy Fallon? Of Course you do:



I have to admit, Jimmy Fallon has completely won me over between catering to the video game audience and his occasionally awesome impressions. Let's just NBC doesn't offer him the Jay Leno show anytime soon, we all see how that goes...

Finally, the Nintendo onslaught of awesomeness begins tomorrow with Sin & Punishment: Star successor. Now, I do love just about anything Treasure does, so normally this'd be a no-brainer, but I just don't have much long-term interest in shootemups like this. Which granted, since they last maybe 8 hours on average, fits, but makes them so not worth full price. I will just be happily anticipationg the not too far off release of Dragonquest IX on July 11th.

All right, that's all for now, but I should most definitely be back on Tuesday with impressions of Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4 and probably a couple other things. Til then, here's your FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Manhattan Project

Start saving your money now...

Because you know, it's not enough that in the next 6 months us Nintendo fans are getting Sin & Punishment 2, Dragon Quest IX, Metroid Other M, Kirby's Epic Yarn, Goldeneye, Epic Mickey, Golden Sun & Donkey Kong Country Returns. No, the avalanche of awesome games sure to break your bank isn't enough. Arguably, by the time your wallet has just recovered from that, you may be right on the verge of Nintendo's newest portable, the 3DS, as Nintendo has promised that it will be out everywhere by March of next year. And that's at the latest, there are already rumors of a December release in the US, as March would be the latest in all major world markets, and the U.S. usually gets them second, so I wouldn't be surprised to see it in stores (and gone just as quickly) before the year is out.

2 License-based games that don't suck? Well it's happened. Toy Story 3 came out last week, and Transformers: The War for Cybertron shipped today and the reviews are surprisingly solid overall. Not quite up there with the top tier titles mind you, but it seems like anyone who is a fan would not be wasting their money picking these up. I'm honestly not much of a Transformers fan to begin with, and the MP demo didn't impress me all that much, but the reviews have me thinking I should at least rent it. Toy Story is on my buy when it's on sale list at this point, as I'm saving up for the not too far off Dragon Quest IX.

Most people would agree that to a certain extent, the Xbox Gold pricing structure is ridiculous in that you have to have a separate paid account for everyone in you household who wants to access Gold features. They have decided to make it a little easier by offering a "Family Plan" where $99 will get you a year's subscription for up to 4 accounts. Certainly a bargain when your kids want their own accounts, so I see the appeal there, though honestly one account would cover the majority of needs so I don't know exactly how well this will do.

I did play the Crackdown 2 demo yesterday, and while it was entertaining for the about 30 minutes they let you play, much like the fun but flawed original it quickly loses its appeal because the gameplay just doesn't evolve much beyond what you see at the beginning. Pretty much the highlight of both games is being able to at some point leap tall buildings in a single bound, but there's just not really much beyond that.

Finally, as if I wasn't excited enough already for Epic Mickey, somebody is making some pretty awesome accessories for it:

I would seriously buy these now just in anticipation, it sucks that we have to wait til fall. Now, I'm not nearly as buzzed about the upcoming Tron: Evolution game, but the same company is releasing some pretty slick-looking controllers as well:

I seriously hope these work because they are making me seriously rethink my stance on never buying 3rd party controllers.

Ok, that is all for today, but I will definitely be back later in the week to talk about Knight & Day as well as the first of a seemingly endless amount of awesome titles for the remainder of the year from Nintendo: Sin & Punishment: Star Successor. Until then, enjoy the TRAILER OF THE WEEK: Green Hornet

Post E3 thoughts Plus

This post is a little bit later than I anticipated, but I kinda kept putting it off in favor of finishing up Mario Galaxy 2 & Fallout 3 (finally, bought that way back in '08 when it came out, never seemed to get into it long enough to finish til now).

Sooo, Playstation Plus. Sony's long-feared premium service. Feared in that it would bring an end to the free service we enjoy now that routinely makes the fact that 360 owners pay for their service, while superior, harder and harder to defend. The good news is that Sony at least claims that the same level of service you get now. It is so far simply like most premium services, where you get extras such as free tidbits (i.e. themes, maybe the occasional downloadable game) and early access to demos. And at the same price as Xbox live for a year ($49.99) it doesn't seem like a bad deal, but I don't know if I see a lot of people signing up just for that stuff. And when they buy-in rate is low, that's when Sony might take bigger measures, say having certain games have online play only for people who have the plus level of service. I seriously doubt I'll buy into this, as aside from Netflix and the occasional demo I really don't use my PSN for much. They would have to offer some very good incentives to make it worth the money even if it actually adds up to less than $5 a month...

And though it hasn't always been the case, news sort of slowed to a giant crawl after Tuesday's press conferences. Where was the Arkham Asylum sequel? What about those demos behind closed doors? No last minute surprises it seems. Essentially the biggest story running around afterwords was that Kinect wouldn't work if you were sitting down. Which Microsoft outright denied, but we'll see when the thing actually launches. The good/bad news is that I suddenly have a lot more games I want to buy, and unsurprisingly they are all from Nintendo. They seem to really have the strong lineup for the remainder of this year, even without a Mario or Zelda. Pretty much the only way they could blow people's minds more is by launching the 3DS this holiday, but Nintendo isn't one to rush things, I'm betting Summer of next year for the highly-anticipated handheld.

Moving (finally) on from E3, this is a rather big movie weekend, with the much anticipated Toy Story 3 opening. I've repeatedly mentioned that while I've enjoyed much of Pixar's work, I've never found them as pitch perfect as many others do (i.e. Wall-E had an extremely bludgeoning enviromental message that went over kids heads and was just insulting to adults). The previous Toy Story movies are 2 of my favorites and while I definitely want to check out the 3rd chapter, it just hasn't hit me as a must see, so I might wait for video.

I was hopeful that Jonah Hex would at least be enjoyable trash, as I really enjoy the comic book character it's based on, but with diverging hugely from the comic (he doesn't have supernatural powers!) and getting really poor reviews, seems like something I'll just catch sometime when I'm really bored.

Ok, that's it for today, but I should be back Monday or Tuesday with thoughts on the new Transformers game, the demo for Crackdown 2 and probably some other stuff. In the meantime enjoy both the TRAILER and FREE GAME OF THE WEEK:



FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Death Row Diner

Nintendo wins.

Seriously. The last time Nintendo had an exciting press conference was way back in 2006 when they first introduced the Wii. Since then it's been several agonizing years of loyal Nintendo fans hanging onto small tidbits here and there while crap like the vitality sensor and Wii Music or Wii Fit took center stage. This year, Nintendo seemed to (mostly) have the message that they in fact had not forgotten about delivering one hell of a gaming experience on a consistent basis, as every game (with the exception of Just Dance 2 damn every one of you who bought that trash) was not only mostly a surprise in that we hadn't heard about it, but welcome updates to old favorites that everyone has been clamoring for. A redone Goldenye, a New Donkey Kong, a New Kirby for Wii, and Zelda & Metroid both looked fantastic, and Epic Mickey looked insanely good, with Kid Icarus apparently leading the charge on the new 3DS. The 3DS is still a big question mark, as while they talked about it quite a bit, it was impossible to see the 3D in action without being there and I imagine it might be the same till you can get your hands on a demo yet. Also no price or release date was announced, so I wouldn't be surprised if it launches next year, and I'm willing to bet it will be around $199, which would be a great deal for 3D gaming and movies on the go (that's right, movies, if you didn't catch the conference, you will be able to watch movies like Avatar in 3D on the 3DS, which is pretty frakking insane).

In fact the only thing I'd say was apparently lackng in Nintendo's conference was that there really wasn't any new IP, virtually every title was tied to a long running franchise, most of which have been around since the NES era. And Nintendo has officially pretty much dug everything out of the vault by now, so next year they better have some new stuff to present.

Sony also had their conference today, and while it wasn't nearly as amazing as Nintendo's, it was pretty entertaining in its own right and miles better than Microsoft's. I'd say the biggest issue much was again, lack of big surprises, though a new Twisted Metal game certainly holds my interest. And while Move still mostly looks like a Wii rip off, it looks like one that can certainly hold its own. Aside from the crossover action game Heroes on the Move, I didn't see much that interested me personally, though. And frankly, while the hardware seem mostly reasonably priced, it goes up rather quickly if you are buying for 3 or 4 people. They are certainly facing an uphill battle trying to convince people that this would be a better option than the $200 Wii. They are also facing an uphill battle with their big focus on 3D gaming, because frankly 3D TVs aren't selling and Reggie mentioned why in the Nintendo press conference, it's literally thousands to have a 3D set up in your home. I just really think it's going to be awhile before it catches on. Hopefully their seemingly new focus on the PSP actually works, cause that system has been pretty much crap from day one.

So to sum up, Microsoft failed big time. Sony entertained but didn't really offer anything groundbreaking, and Nintendo regained a lot of lost credibility with their best show in years. I'll probably give some highlights of my most anticipated games either tomorrow or Thursday, so see you then.

God I miss J. Allard...

Because seriously, Microsoft has rarely been the belle of the ball at E3, what with usually playing it extremely safe and having jack squat that we didn't already know about, but at least Microsoft's former pirate was able to keep the crowd engaged. Not one person could do that this year, some didn't even try, including noted egotist Cliffy B, preferring to let the mostly meh games speak for themselves. Halo: Reach especially failed to look like anything evolved from previous Halo titles, the only game I could muster any excitement for was Fable III, and it's awesome to know that as of right now, it's not all that far off (Oct. 26th). And while the announcement of the ESPN partnership is huge in some aspects, but they spent far too long on it.

But let's get the meat of the conference, Microsoft's Kinect. Was it a complete disaster? Ok, not completely. There were some positive aspects, namely titles like Kinect Adventures and Kinectimals showed some actual potential (though the little girl acting like the virtual tiger was actually licking her was just stupid), but the rest was pretty much a disaster. Their Wii sports rip-off looked unplayable, the dancing game(s) just exist to make you look like a complete tool, and even the much-hyped Star Wars title looked meh at best. The conference as a whole was a giant fucking mess. To be honest, I'm not completely sure the others will be good, the last good set of conferences (or at least entertaining to watch) was right before the latest consoles launched. I watched this one live and it was an absolute exercise in slow torture most of the time, snapping the occasional decent bit from time to time. I don't really plan on watching the other press conferences, I'll just get a recap after and comment on the highlights and lowlights. A rather auspicious way to start E3 IMHO....

The obligatory pre-E3 musings.

Well here we are, hours away from the biggest gaming event of the year, and I can honestly say I can't remember a year when I've been less excited about the industry's big event. Barring any major reveals, we already know what the big three's main focuses are going to be, and not one of them sounds all that appealing. For Nintendo, it's their official DS successor, the 3DS. Portable 3D gaming on the go sounds like a fantastic sales pitch, but much like the DS when it first hit, it will probably take awhile before developers really figure out what to do with it in an actual gaming sense rather than just pure gimmickry. Sony's move has got to be as close as you can possibly get to Nintendo's own Wii remote & Nunchuck without violating copyright, even with their own version of Wii Sports. I'm just not sure of the appeal of HD waggle over non-HD. Core gamers sure as hell won't want it, and the more casual crowd will struggle to see the difference, especially since you have to buy a PS3 and the move controllers, which will probably add quite a bit to the more appealing Wii package. And finally there is Microsoft's Natal, which I've talked about previously about how much of a joke it is. I cannot imagine the appeal of this to anyone. There's just a lot of genres that require something tactile like a controller to work properly. Sure, a fighting game might work, but that's really about it.

Well surely the games that are confirmed are something to be excited about right? Well I see a few interesting possibilities (Mafia II, Dead Rising II, Lost in Shadow), but few titles to really, really get excited about, especially that are coming out this year. As I see it now, assuming releases hold firm, I see very few purchases for myself for the rest of the year-Epic Mickey, Fable III, and Birth By Sleep are the only games that I'm really pumped about. I'm hoping there will be some surprises (seeing footage of a new Zelda title & an Arkham Asylum sequel is almost a lock) but those will be far off titles that we may yet again be seeing in a more complete form next year. The event itself may be back to the glitz and glamour of past years, but what's on display doesn't seem to really be on par with the majesty of the event. Hopefully I'm proven wrong, with lots of great surprises over the next couple of days. I'll most likely be doing a daily posting of events through Wednesday or Thursday, starting with thoughts on Microsoft's press conference (and EA's/Ubisoft's if they have anything worth talking about), so we'll see.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The curse of movie tie-ins

I've brought this up before, but as a rule, video games tied to movies suck. The Watchmen games pretty much suck, The Kick Ass game sucks, the Avatar game sucks. I have hope the Toy Story 3 game won't suck but I won't be too surprised if it does. One game that looks like it's chances of suck are relatively low is the upcoming Scott Pilgrim downloadable title coming to PSN this August. It stays pretty true to the look of the comic (which admittedly I don't know enough about to fill in a Cliff Notes version, but I plan to get up to speed because it sounds to awesome for me to miss out on), which itself is a giant love letter to geek culture. I'm more excited about this than some AAA titles coming out because frankly this looks more fun. I mean really, somewhere along the line between games getting real and artsy and deep, a lot of people have forgotten to make them fun. I'm not saying it's a lost art, a solid number of games still have that, but it's hard to say stuff like God of War III or Modern Warfare or Final Fantasy XIII is just fun. They are being too serious to be fun. Scott Pilgrim will hopefully just be fun.




New Mortal Kombat movie? That seems to be the buzz. Judging by this trailer, it looks like it might actually have some promise, but it sucks that Cage is dead at the beginning, he was the best part of the original...



Well it took about 3 weeks, but I finally got some quality time in with Red Dead Redemption. I hesitated just right out buying it, because while I normally enjoy Rockstar's work, I get tired of the game about 20 hours in. I feel like I get my money's worth mind you, but Rockstar games tend to be ginormous in scope, so I get nowhere near done with them. And while sometimes I get lucky in renting the newest games (i.e. Red Steel 2 or Alpha Protocol), since I do nearly all my renting through Gamefly, I'm at the mercy of their seemingly random availability, which can be a cruel bitch. I even scoured Blockbuster off and on for weeks, finally getting lucky on Monday. Granted, this seems to have the same scope, but it's very cool, and with no annoying cousins constantly bugging you on your cell phone, you actually have the freedom to do what you want when you want rather than be at the beck and call of some random asshole because you don't want to hurt your relationship with them. So I do plan on owning it , but I'd really like to put away Super Mario Galaxy 2 and hopefully Fallout 3 (which I think I'm finally nearing the end of) before I actually pick it up.

Finally, I love Torchwood. Granted, it kind of stumbled through season one, but season two was a pretty massive improvement and Children of Earth was absolutely brilliant, so I had hopes for awhile that it would be coming back. For awhile it seemed destined to land on Fox, which would be a horrible idea given their history with sci-fi shows, then that deal fell through and we hadn't heard anything for awhile. But now it's confirmed that it will be back, just not til next summer (boo!). It does sound like it will have a much grander scope, so that's a plus, and hopefully being broadcast on Starz will expose it to a wider audience.

All right, that's all for today, but I leave you with arguably the most epic FREE GAME OF THE WEEK yet: Zelda II: FPS

Nintendo finally competing graphically with Sony & Microsoft?

On a portable console, no less. I find the rumor itself highly suspect, probably the kind of screwy math that had Atari claiming their horrid Jaguar system was 64 bits. Or at the very least, if it does possess that kind of power, it may all go into providing the glasses-free 3D gaming without much of a visual upgrade. And the big question is what would that do to the battery power? The extremely lengthy battery life is one of the top reasons to own the console, if it's drastically reduced to say, PSP levels, that would be a major flaw in the design IMHO. With only  a week left til E3, we will find out the answer relatively soon.

And it's alost like someone heard me complaining about the lack of interesting stuff at E3, because, not one, but 2 upcoming Kingdom Hearts games should be at the show. One is almost guaranteed to be an near final version of the PSP game Birth By Sleep, the other better not be the just leaked remake of a series of cell phone games. It's been more than long enough between the Kingdom Hearts proper titles and we're several years into the current generation of home consoles. BRING US KINGDOM HEARTS III.

Yes, I did play the Lego Harry Potter demo this morning. It was fun, so if you are a Lego/Harry Potter fan you will probably have fun with it. But it really isn't all that different from any Lego game you've previously played (complete with idiotic A.I. parnters). I seriously feel like the Lego games are starting to become a little long in the tooth, and aren't too far from becoming in the same league as WWII games, where everyone will just be sick of them.

Dreamcast classics coming to XBLA and PSN? Well. sort of. Sure, some people fondly remember Crazy Taxi & Sonic Adventure. But those people are horribly, horribly mistaken. Sonic Adventure  was a completely terrible game that much like Dragon's Lair, we were too amazed by the presentation at the time to realize. Crazy Taxi is fun for about an hour, tops. It is fun in an arcade setting, where you'd play it once in a while, but available to play all the time on a console, the shortcomings and limited appeal crop up quickly.

Dragon Age Anime? I'm not horribly thrilled. So far, game based movies in general have been pretty much garbage, and the attempts at anime (Dante's Inferno, Halo Legends) haven't fared much better. Plus, anyone want to give odds on it skirting so close to Lord of the Rings Peter Jackson might be looking to sue?

All right, that's it for today, but I did finally get my hands on a rental copy of Red Dead Redemption, so I'll hopefully get some time in with that and give impressions, as well as thoughts on a few other things. Til then, here's your TRAILER OF THE WEEK: Beastly

Yeah, I'm NEVER buying Natal

I've mostly stayed quiet on this whole Microsoft and Sony trying to capitalize on the Wii's success stupidity because I hadn't seen much of it. Now granted, any motion-controller has the capacity to make you like like a complete idiot, but Natal takes it to a whole new level, and frankly it's not just looking like an idiot. Any precision gaming of any kind just doesn't seem possible period on this thing. I you can't drive with just imagining the steering wheel, brakes and gearshift there, you cannot swing a sword or bat or shoot anything properly with nothing to hold. Granted, all Sony is really doing is offering an HD version of what you can already get on the Wii(even with its own version of Wii Sports), but a unapologetic rip-off seems better than this controller clearly designed with complete Spaz's in mind. I'm not saying I'll never give it a shot, but I cannot imagine any game that will make me want to buy this, and it's hard for me to imagine it appealing to anyone other than little kids and frankly the parents aren't going to pay more when they can get a wii for less and motion control is all the same to them. I'd argue it's a similar uphill battle for the Move, but since HD is actually starting to take off, they may actually be able to steal a good portion of the Wii's market since they will offer much nicer-looking motion control games. Of course there is this history of virtually any add-on not doing all that well to worry about at all. I mean how many people own a Playstation eye or an Xbox live Camera? Granted, more is being put into these, but history really isn't on Sony & Microsoft's side. The reason Nintendo's has worked is because it's core to the system, it's how it works. Even the motion plus, which probably would not sell all that well on it's own no matter how many games supported it, is working because it's essentially a pack-in as well. Neither Natal or Move is necessary to the core experience of their respective systems and so the chance for them being the novelty they keep claiming the Wii is (and yet are trying to follow) is much higher.

Ok, back to the weekend, I doubt I'll post tomorrow as I'm fairly sure I have at least a 12-hour day, but as I said last time Monday or Tuesday is almost a definite so see you then.

Talkin about a revolution....

I absolutely loved Deus Ex 2, and this trailer has me very pumped for the next installment. It just sucks that we have to wait til next year to experience it.

Unfortunately I still haven't seen Prince of Persia. Twice now plans to see it have failed, I think its a sign that I should wait for video.

E3 is only 9 days away? That's awesome, because right now there are basically 2 games coming out for the rest of the year I'm really truly looking forward to-Epic Mickey & Fable III (assuming it actually comes out this year). That's it. I have a passing interest in Fallout: New Vegas, but considering I'm finally plugging through Fallout 3 at a slow but steady pace, I'll probably need a break. DC Online Universe looks somewhat promising, but there has yet to be a solid console MMO so I'm not holding my breath. I have virtually no interest in Natal or Move (though that may change depending on what they have at the show) and I'm pretty sure the 3DS will be like the DS in that it might take a year or two before it really starts having a solid library of titles that effectively use the 3D technology. So hopefully, E3 will give me a few more reasons to plunk down my hard earned cash on some games.

Lord of the Rings Online is a well received popular MMO, so it would never be free to play right? Apparently not., because this fall it will go free to play. Sounds like just the ticket to pull me back into the MMO well, though I would need a much better computer than the crappy laptop I've got now before I would even consider it.

So these are supposed concept art for the upcoming Captain America and Mighty Thor movies, giving us a rough idea of what the characters will look like. I'm hardly a hardcore fan of either, but I think they both look fine. The infamous wingtips on cap's old school costume would look silly live action. Though I think Thor is missing something without his trademark helmet, so hopefully that will be part of the final costume.

Finally, I got Alpha Protocol in the mail from gamefly today. I figured given all I heard about the game, I still might digg it. I've certainly been able to overlook damning flaws before (I really enjoyed Advent Rising, for instance, even though it was massively flawed). But honestly I couldn't even get past the training. You heard me. I DIDN'T MAKE IT PAST THE TUTORIAL LEVEL. Why? mainly due to the headache-inducing hacking game. I even looked up help videos on youtube and I couldn't figure it out. But there were plenty of other problems. The enemy A.I. problems show up immediately (essentially they are all morons), and essentially the real issue is that there are insanely strict time limits on everything. Even from the very beginning of the game, you only have seconds to make dialogue decisions (often before the person has finished speaking), disable alarms and hack computers. And frankly both the alarm and hacking minigames are a giant exercise in massive annoyance. And while I readily admit to not being a great gamer, my over 20 years of experience in the medium should pretty much mean I'll have little if any trouble getting past the tutorial level of virtually any game. Alpha Protocol is broken and not fun, plain and simple.

Ok, I should be back Monday or tuesday with  impressions of the Harry Potter Lego demo and probably at least a couple other things. Til then, here's your FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Chubby Ninja

Now everyone can run around with an unlicensed nuclear accelerator on their back...

Why couldn't they have backpacks like this when I was a kid? Well, I may get one anyways when 80stees actually start selling them, it would awesome to wear to a convention.

47 stars in on Super Mario Galaxy 2. Am I still loving it? Absolutely. However, I am at the point where even with getting more than a few optional stars, I need even more to advance, which will lead to quite a bit of annoying backtracking and possibly trying to get stars from sources I loathe, such as the prankster comet stars. It would be nice if I wasn't forced to go after stars that I feel are frustrating and not worth the effort.

Being that the God of War Collection was a ginormous success, it would be a no-brainer that Sony is looking into releasing other HD collections. What is surprising is that the most likely up for a conversion to HD are a couple of their less successful titles, Ico & Shadow of the Colussus. Granted, these are gorgeous, amazing games that are worthy of an HD upgrade (especially, Colussus, which really pretty much needs it), so I don't think there's anything bad about it, but I'm surprised they didn't go with something more high profile.

Finally, is Sony finally doing something right with the PSP/PSPgo? Well sort of. They are dropping prices on a lot of games, and throwing in 3 free ones with the PSPgo. Now this is a great initial deal, but then you are a slave to Sony's overall ridiculous pricing structure with no other options. And I'm saying as an owner that the library just sucks. You can get the occasional solid rpg port, which is nice, but the only reason at this point I haven't just dumped it is because of Birth By Sleep. Maybe E3 will provide a couple of additional reasons, but I'm not keeping my hopes up.

Hope everyone had a great memorial day weekend, I'll most likely post again on Friday with thoughts on Prince of Persia and whatever else goes on in the next couple of days.

Spy Hard

Ok, I didn't really get a chance to see Prince of Persia this weekend, but I have every intention of seeing it this Friday, so I'll give my opinions of it then.

Alpha Protocol. An espionage game mixed with rpg elements by Obsidian (KOTOR II, Neverwinter Nights and the upcoming Fallout: New Vegas) sounds like a no-brainer to get excited about. I was extremely excited about it. Until the reviews started popping up. The dialogue system seems to be getting rave reviews, but the consensus is that the actual gameplay itself  leaves a lot to be desired. So considering there are other titles you can get out there with great dialogue systems and awesome gameplay (namely Mass Effect 2, and some would say Heavy Rain, but not me) it seems like something you'd be better off not wasting your money on. I'll leave it on my gamefly queue and give my impressions if I get around to it.

Is the film version of the Hobbit doomed? After being essentially placed in limbo thanks the the troubles of studio MGM, director Guillermo del Toro has left the project. How much this will effect the quality of the movie itself is questionable, as there are a number of solid directors who could take his place, though admittedly historically that hasn't gone all that well. The real question now is if the movie will ever see the light of day in the first place.

A Mass effect movie? Sounds potentially awesome, but the chances of it being a mess are high. A key point of Mass Effect is that there wasn't really a right and wrong, just shades of grey in your approach. That will probably be lost, which I'll be willing to accept with a good cast. If they don't have Seth Green as Joker, that's an automatic fail. What about the ubiquitous Commander Shepherd? Well, if they aren't totally stuck on the default bald space marine look, the options open up quite a bit. Personally, I think Mark Valley (Human Target) would be an excellent choice, though they are probably aiming for someone a little younger. More likely someone like The Rock or (ugh) Channing Tatum. Hopefully, they will not fuck this up.

Ok, that's all for today, I will probably post again tomorrow, but til then enjoy your TRAILER OF THE WEEK: Tron Legacy (new)

"Home isn't shit"

 That's one hell of a marketing tag Granted, everybody has a right to their opinion, but the even Sony is claiming the thing is nowhere near out of beta, and it just seems like some unecessary appendage that should be lopped off at some point. I've never really had the urge to set up shop in there, but I haven't really heard any particular reaon to. I mean really, what is the point of setting up a virtual gamerspace? I can personalize myself fine with a theme and a gamer icon, I don't really need more than that, and it makes playing with people online a more complicated process. Sony is heavily rumored to be introducing a so called "premium" subscription service at E3, I wouldn't be surprised if they try and shoehorn Home into the deal somehow and make it even less appealing.

Homage or lawsuit? That'a a line something 3D Dot Heroes treads extremely carefully(I just got it in the mail from gamefly today), because the music, the look, the items, and even some of the dialog are taken off of the original Zelda way back in the NES era. Whether it's a love letter or a shameless rip-off is an argument best left to bitter cynics, as I'll be busy having fun playing the game rather than looking for some reason to hate it. I'm pretty sure I plan on keeping the title as I can get it for the bargain price of around $25 thanks to my gamefly discount and coupon.

What the hell is up with virtual console? There hasn't been a release in weeks. Some have theorized its because there aren't many good titles left, to which I say bullshit. Is Earthbound there yet? Either of the mutant league games? FFIV or VI? Any of the licensed NES era classics like Ducktales or Rescue Rangers? There is still a huge library of great catalog titles to fall back on and this is pretty inexcusable when it's easy money for both parties involved. Seriously, I want my Ducktales like yesterday. And my Goonies II like last week.

Ok I haven't been talking about movies much since I got back into writing, mainly because I didn't really want to put energy into writing about crappy movies I don't want to see. I still may keep that up, but this weekend there is a movie I'm very interested in seeing-the first really big budget movie based off a video game license, The Prince of Persia, starring formerly pasty white dude Jake Gyllenhal as an Arab prince, yeah that makes sense. Nevertheless, Disney seems to be hoping this is their next "Pirates" with all the marketing muscle behind it, and gamers are hoping it's something that will make video game movies (which have a history of well, sucking) at least a bit respectable. The reviews aren't horribly promising, but I'm looking for a fun dumb movie, not something on the level of the Dark Knight, and the general consensus is that it's the best video game adaptation yet, so I will most likely have a good time with it.

And finally, while I thought the whole Lego games thing was getting tired, every trailer I see for Lego Harry Potter, Years 1-4 seems intent on proving me wrong. Check it out and have a fun Memorial Day weekend (which I'll be working pretty much all of):

Too much for motion control?

So the big rumor of the day is a very solid word of the 360's stab at motion control, Project Natal, coming in at seemingly steep $149 by itself, and in a bundle with the arcade unit for $299. The internet is already outraged, but of course most of the internet crowd wretches at motion control as it is and needs little reason to. Is $149 really that bad? You get one item that supports up to 4 people, add in a pack in game (almost a necessity these days) and it seems fair compared to Sony's rumored pricing for its move peripheral-around $100 for a couple of wands and some sort of undisclosed pack in (most likely their massive rip off of wii sports). I think the real big question at the end of the day isn't price, it's support. Accessories and add-ons have an extremely long history of not being very well supported. How many Playstation eye games are there? How many games support Wii-DS connectivity or Motion Plus? How many games use the Xbox live camera? Granted, both Sony and Microsoft seem to be putting a lot more weight behind these, but the end result may be the same anyways. Its too early to tell anything about any of this, but my guess is the public won't care about motion control in HD and the core gamers will just scoff at the technology anyways.

Duke Nukem lives again? At least in some form. Duke Nukem The Manhattan Project is confirmed to be in development for XBLA. I'm sure someone, somewhere cares, but aren't most of us just bored of the guy by now? I mean Serious Sam does a better job of the same act while completely ridiculing it at the same time. It's long past time for Duke to stop stealing catchphrases from much more awesome characters and just fade off into nothingness.

What's the highest rated game ever? Why it's Super Mario Galaxy 2 according to gamerankings.com, showing that when it comes to their top franchises, Nintendo does indeed know what the hell its doing and continues to give gamers legitimate reasons to own a Wii, even if that only amounts to a few select games a year. If only a majority of the companies developing for Wii took it as seriously instead of trying for a cheap cash in. My verdict? I'm only a few levels in, being distracted by other things, but it seems to retain the pure fun that comes with nearly every Mario title.

That's pretty much all I got for today, but I will try and post at least one more time in the week, in the meantime, here's your FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Necronator

Are Ratchet & Clank coming to a 360 near you?

In all honesty, it's highly unlikely that Sony won't use all of their weight to keep the Lombax and his mechanical buddy a Sony-only franchise, but it's an outside possibility with Insommiac signing a potentially ground-breaking deal with EA to go multi-platform and make a game for both the PS3 and 360. The most likely product to come out of this deal will be a brand new IP altogether, though I'm extremely hopeful it will be in the vein of a 3D platformer rather than some fps or big action title. The 360 has tons of the latter, and the few attempts of the former have been pretty abysmal, so it would be nice to have something of that genre besides the underwhelming Banjo Kazooie or craptacular Sonic & Crash games to play. Whatever it is, the deal is currently only for one game, so clearly Insomniac is just testing the waters. I hope its successful and we see then try things on other platforms (I would love to see them put out a quality Wii title, for instnace).

In other potentially ground-breaking news, the father of the Xbox (and official Microsoft pirate) J Allard, along with Robbie Bach have left the company. How much this will affect the direction of the company remains to be seen, but much like Sony's Ken Kuturagi, he was a very public face of the company for many years, probably much more associated with the gaming side than any other MS bigwig including Bill Gates himself. I doubt the gaming division will suddenly tank or anything, but shakeups like this usually have some bonehead maneuvers come afterward, so I wouldn't be surprised if we see a few of those in the near future.

So, the original Mario Kart came out 18 years ago, and despite all the advancement in technology, it hasn't really changed all that much (and its still a lot of fun after all the years, so its hard to argue). Many challengers have come, but most seem to be decent knock-offs at best (personally the only kart racer I thought ever stood up to it was the original Crash Team Racing) but Sony and United Front games are taking a genuine crack at it with Modnation Racers, out today. The hook is being able to design your own racer and tracks, making it more or less a racing version of Little Big Planet. Most reviews are saying the actual racing doesn't top the current king but obviously the ability to make the tracks you want has a huge appeal all its own, not too mention friend-code free online racing.

That's really it for today, but I will try and post tomorrow. For now, here's your TRAILER OF THE WEEK:

Resident Evil: Afterlife

More Resident Evil: Afterlife News & Previews

Mario is my master now....

With movies nobody  (or at least nobody should) cares about opening this weekend, easily the biggest event going on is this Sunday's (Nintendo and their wacky release days) release of in some people's opinion one of the few reasons to own a Wii, Super Mario Galaxy 2. It's an extremely rare happening for a couple reasons-the last time we saw more than one Mario game (and crap like Mario & Sonic at the Olympics doesn't count) on a platform was way back in the original NES days. This is also the first game (not counting Super Mario Bros. 2 that was originally only released in Japan) that is really a direct sequel that refines the gameplay of the previous title rather than trying something completely different, and from all the rave early reviews so far, it was the correct decision, with many claiming it's the best platformer available right now. And while New Super Mario Bros was fun, it seemed like so much more could have been done with it and they were basically charging $50 for what could've been a top tier $20 downloadable title, because they can. So, it's good to not have to wait til a few years into whatever Nintendo has planned after the Wii for our next fix. Now, while we all anxiously await Sunday, enjoy these fun Mario Vids and a related game of the week:









FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Enough Plumbers

The biggest game out this week is...

Easily Shrek Forever After. Yeah. I mean Alan Wake? What the hell is that crap? You run around with a flash light. Red Dead Redemption? Nobody likes westerns. Super Mario Galaxy 2? Who cares about Mario these days? And the new Prince of Persia? Dude, time control is SOOO 2003....

In all seriousness it weeks like these that make wallets cringe. It might be a little easier if you own just one major home console, but every gamer has suddenly got plenty of options to spend their cash on. Do you go with the long-in-development survival horror masterpiece? The lovable plumber? The returning (and hopefully refreshed gameplay-wise) prince? Or the hotly anticipated open world of the wild west (where thank god they don't have cell phones so your annoying cousin can't constantly beg you to go to a strip club with him, then again maybe they'll just send messenger ponies or something)? It's a seriously tough decision, especially with reviews or at least buzz being extremely high. Admittedly with a wedding on the horizon I'm very much in penny-pinching mode, so I'm only going with the sure bet of Super Mario Galaxy 2 if for no other reason than I tend to get bored of Rockstar games at about the 12 or so hour mark, I haven't really enjoyed a POP game since the 2003 version, and survivial horror usually just annoys the hell out of me rather than giving me a good scare or a geniuinely fun gameplay experience (Resident Evil 4 is pretty much the only survival horror game I have truly enjoyed). But I certainly at least intend to check all these games out and will let you know my thoughts as soon as I get my hands on them.

What if you are way too broke for a $50-$60 game? Well, if you have a 360, I would highly reccomend spending a measly 5 dollars to download a great remake of one of the all time classic adventure games-The Secret of Monkey Island as I plan to. This is one of the greatest comedy adventures ever, period, and well worth a fiver.

Ok, so Nathan Fillion is not Green Lantern or Captain America. But how about another Avenger? Strongly rumored to be a lock to play Hank Pym, aka Ant Man, which admittedly might have a little to do with the fact that Joss Whedon is likely directing Avengers. Granted, Hank Pym is arguably the most messed up Avenger, having career highlights that include hitting his wife, creating Ultron, a psychotic killer robot that nearly kills the Avengers on a regular basis, and more recently making a murderous clone of Thor. Not the greatest track record, but I'd like to see Fillion tap his darker side, which he hasn't really done since his short stint on Buffy. Of course, the movie(s) will probably just gloss over most of Pym's darker moments....

All right, that's it for today, but should be back in the next day or two with... something. Til then here's your TRAILER OF THE WEEK: The Adjustment Bureau

The annual spring massacre...

Just a quick impression of Rocket Knight before I get into things-I downloaded the demo, it seemed like a solid, perfectly competent platformer, but it seemed like my money was better spent going towards Super Mario Galaxy 2 since that is out in just 8 days . I realize that may not be an option for the platform gaming-starved 360 owners and the only slightly better off PS3 owners (let's see, there's Ratchet & Clank and Little Big Planet and..... yeah that's it.), so it may be a solid option if you are looking for something in that genre.

So, we are nearing the end of the tv season, and that always comes with a long, long list of casualties. Shows that were barely hanging on, shows that sucked and were lucky to even last a whole season, shows that want to end their run before they really, really go downhill and are a former shell of what they used to be. This season, several shows are ending that I'd like to share my take on.

Heroes: I spit on your grave. Heroes had arguably one of the most fantastic first seasons of any show ever, then it went all to shit for several straight seasons. Power-switching, inconsistent characters that everyone hated, carrying around goddamn turtles on vision quests, and even hints of possible incest. And it was reviled. People watched in the sheer amazement of how much worse it kept getting, while good quality shows went by the wayside, speaking of which....

Better Off Ted: I feel like ABC could've done more to promote this brilliant show, namely moving it to their incredibly successful Wednesday comedy block, but they did try to get someone to watch this completely brilliant series that much like Arrested Development, everyone says its brilliant and yet no one watched it. I wonder if its mere coincidence that Portia De Rossi was a star of both, she wouldn't be the first talented star seemingly cursed to be on failed tv shows.

Scrubs: Granted, it's only been on ABC for 2 seasons, but this was it's 9th total, and it was going downhill starting in its 6th. This last season just felt some weird abstract spin-off with Turk & Cox who would show rare flashes of their brilliance of past seasons, but really, it had slightly overstayed its welcome, so sending it off while the fans still mostly remember it fondly.

Law and Order: Unlike the equally long-running Simpsons, the original L&O has never really suffered a serious downgrade in quality over the years despite being around for two decades and facing constantly changing cast members. But it's certainly fair to say it probably ran out of really solid ideas years ago and just kept recycling ones with a slight twist. Granted, with 2 currently still running spin-offs and a 3rd on the way, it's hardly gone as a franchise, it was just probably time to put the standard-bearer of crime procedurals out to pasture.

24: Season 6 was one hell of a low point, but I just watched season 7 on netflix recently, and it was a pretty solid return to form, though it had some ridiculousness piled onto it (FBI being wishy-washy about Jack's method, the usual ridiculous sub-plot involving his daughter, more moles than all previous seasons combined, a key character being undone by a moronic friend/relative/significant other, etc.)  which has been increasingly necessary due to the once seminal format. The move to a movie franchise seems extremely promising, since they can do away with filler subplots, and frankly with both Bond and Bourne franchises in flux, we need a venerable super agent to enjoy on the big screen.

Ok, that's really all I got for today, though as I have an extremely busy week I will most likely be back tomorrow with a post about this absolutely ginormous week of game releases, in the mean time, here's your FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Cursed Treasure

EA fires the first volley in the used games war...

Ah used games, such a double-edged sword. On the one hand, they provide at least a little help to the cash-strapped gamer, with being able to get at least a few bucks out of their old games and saving a few more on new ones. But on the other hand, they provide a way for companies like gamestop to make a ton of margin without giving the hard-working developers and publishers who make the games a dime, which some would say is a huge contributor to a lot of layoffs if not outright closing of doors. There have been some minor attempts at curbing the flow such as premium content for newly purchased copies of games, but EA has taken a major step towards trying to curb it, introducing the "online pass", which basically makes you pay a fee to enjoy their future sports titles multi-player modes or online play if you rent or buy them used. Now, long term effects of this are questionable, sports games come out annually and drop in price pretty quickly, so their overall effect on the used games market is fairly irrelevant. Though I guarantee if their isn't a clear warning label about this EA will be looking at a pretty big lawsuit from some not so savvy gamer. That being said, if it works, it could have huge implications down the line towards non-sports titles, i.e. not having certain access to features or downloadable content that everyone who bought the game new gets. I guess the real question is if it' fair to basically cripple a game because someone wanted to save a few bucks? And if so, how much? Do you just cut off any online content? There doesn't seem to be a clear cut line the wat EA is handling it. Arguably the best solution would probably be for Gamestop and other companies that deal in used games to actually give developers a cut of the market, but at the very least gamestop seems unwilling to budge on that end and being that they pretty much are the only major game store around, it's kind of hard to see why they would cut their bottom line when they really don't have reason to.

Of course the argument many are making is that with digital content becoming more of a thing, this will be moot in a few years, but even if that is the case, is strictly digital the best way to go? Sony tried that with the PSP go and it was an utter failure. A lot still has to be worked out on that end as to what's a fair pricing structure and availability of titles and whatnot.

As someone who is admittedly an avid consumer of used games, I'm honestly not sure how I feel. Everyone wants to peg this as yet another asshole move by EA, but it's hard to blame them for wanting to get some money out of a market that gamestop effectively controls and developers and publishers get squat from. I would probably be ok with measures like this on most games as long as it didn't cripple the game so much as I missed out on the core game itself. Although that causes other issues, potentially cutting off other streams of revenue for companies. The real answer is that there is no ultimate solution, no easy fix. Game companies and places that sell games will just sort of have to figure it out as they go along, constantly tweaking their policies until tghey come up with something that nobody will sue over. Granted, by the time that happens, games will probably just be downloaded directly into our brains...

That's it for today, but here's your TRAILER OF THE WEEK: Super 8