The post Christmas post...

Damn, sorry for the sudden two-week hiatus, but there was a real lack of things going on and admittedly I was a little burned out. I do think in order to balance that out more I'll be talking about nerdy things I've been up to in each post. Admittedly merely trying to post about the newest nerdy news has been sort of limiting and I'd like to mix it up a bit more even if it's something I'm late on the bandwagon on. Like the last episode of a show I watched or something new I've discovered gamewise/nerdwise or progress in my backlog of games. I did finally get a decent android phone (the Kyocera Hydro) after years of having cheap crappy phones so I may occasionally talk about stuff on there now as well (finally played Angry Birds, it's fun but I don't get why it's so huge).

Wasn't a big gaming Christmas for me, but I did get two titles I think I will really get a good amount of time invested in, Sonic All-Stars Racing Transformed for the Wii U, which I've already talked about a couple times before, it's a great title on any system, and this will be the first title I'll be excited about taking online since Mass Effect 3, especially since the Wii U community doesn't seem to be filled with immature racist assholes (or at least it contains them pretty efficiently).

The second title is what some  have called a cheap cash grab: Skylanders Giants. For those who aren't all that familiar with it, it's probably best described as Pokemon but with action figures you buy and rather than have your characters battle it out, it's more like a Diablo-light style game. It's clearly meant for kids with the collectible action figures and a storyline that would barely past muster as a Saturday Morning cartoon, but the gameplay is fun and addictive and a massive loot fest. And while yes it's clearly meant to be a nearly endless supply of money from crazy-collection kids the game is beatable with the iniital set of figures, just there's a lot of side stuff that isn't accessible without at least one character from each of the 8 different classes. Just think of it as something with more dlc than you can shake a stick at. I don't plan on getting anywhere near all the characters, but making sure I have every class seems like a no-brainer minimal investment. Bottom line: I wouldn't pass this up just because it's a "kids" game, and as long as you know exactly what you are getting, I think it's a worthwhile investment.

Spectacular Spider-Man was an excellent show, easily the best Spider-Man show to date and arguably the best Marvel superhero show ever as well (though Avengers: Earth's Mightest Heroes might have equal claim to that title). So when it was cancelled after a mere 2 seasons  with little rhyme or reason in favor of a different Spider-Man show, one that was a little more kid-focused, there was understandable skepticisim and nerd rage. Most probably haven't given it a chance. So this new show, "Ultimate Spider-Man" has it's first season on Netflic, and I decided to give it a shot. I'm most of the way through the first season and no, it's not as good as Spectacular Spider-Man, but it's still fairly entertaining. It's essentially a Marvel version of Teen Titans (or even Young Justice) with Spidey teaming up with a bunch of teen superheroes and a lot of quick jokes a 4th-wall humor. Probably the best part is that it incorporates a lot of the whole marvel universe on a regular basis, so it's not unusual to see The Hulk, Iron Man or Captain America to show up or even much lesser known characters like the Damage Control team. Again, the writing isn't nearly as strong as Spectacular, but it's still plenty fun, so it shouldn't be passed over just because you loved the previous show.

And during my break, I did manage to see the Hobbit. I did basically enjoy it, Martin Freeman makes anything worthwhile and the scenery and action were very entertaining. But though I barely remember the book at this point, it seems like they'll really be padding it to stretch it to 3 films, it's incredibly difficult to keep track of all the dwarves because only a couple have any actually personality. Also it has that tendency of the Lord of the Rings films where it feels like it has an end point only to keep going for 30 more minutes to one ending after another. I did not see it in the controversial 48-fps or 3D, just the good old standard because admittedly I'm not big on paying more than the already ridiculous standard ticket prices. I'm still excited to see the next chapter, but it's admittedly a tad rocky start.

Ok,. that's really it for this post, I should be back sometime this weekend with another one. Until then, here's your TRAILER OF THE WEEK: The Incredible Burt Wonderstone