The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

On November 26th. Do Not. See This Movie. Continue Reading»

I don't know why this isnt bigger news since Escape from Butcher was nothing but awesome. Atari announced today that The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena would be released in 2009 on PS3, 360 and PC, heres the first screen. Continue Reading»

All I know is the music gives it the feeling of most epic dashboard update ever. Continue Reading»

If you bought the collectors edition of Fable 2 than your missing a whole bunch of stuff. Microsoft has put up the site to get the ball rolling to get that stuff, but apparently forget to tell everyone who bought it. So head to http://www.xbox.com/en-US/support/games/fable2/default.htm sign into your live ID and enter your info. Continue Reading»

Nintendo UK exec David Yarnton doesn't believe that the core audience for Nintendo has been left behind, he stated:

"It’s simply not true, Nintendo has never lost its passion for core gamers. Nintendo would like to bring smiles to as many different faces as possible and produce games which appeal to mainstream and gaming audiences worldwide.

We have never neglected core gamers. We still have developers working on popular core gaming franchises but we need longer to complete these games, approximately two to three years.

These games aren’t ready to launch — but are being worked on by all development teams."

Apparently E3 08 never happened. I don't think Nintendo realizes its flagship title for the hardcore this holiday is Animal Crossing. I don't know about you but I feel neglected. Continue Reading»

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/quantum_of_solace/

So far sporting a 76%, with 13 fresh reviews, and 4 rotten. Most so far are saying its not as good as Casino Royale but still an overall good film. In theaters November 14th. Continue Reading»

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http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/29/new-xbox-360-experience-hands-on-and-impressions/

http://gizmodo.com/5070189/new-xbox-experience-nxe-review-its-pure-improvement

http://kotaku.com/5070578/nxe-impressions-creating-an-avatar-playing-with-my-xbox

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/10/29/video-tour-new-xbox-experience-exposed/

Thew new dash releases November 19th. Continue Reading»

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Its been 2 months since I wrote on my previous blog, and I've been telling myself the twelve people who read this thing were anxiously awaiting my next post. During this downtime I was trying to build a standalone site that wasn't connected to the blogger network, but currently construction has come to halt. But it wasn't all bad, I realized that it was difficult to write for the previous blog frequently, so figure this as a Version 2.0. It will essentially contain the same things that my previous blog included but it will appear in a new format that makes it easier for me to not only post my usual stuff but at a more frequent rate with stories everyday. When I start to post you will see the overall concept of what I plan on doing.

More to come. Continue Reading»

One thing before I start:

1) This review is spoiler free. Therefore this will be relativley short since I dont want to give anything away, and I mean anything.

And......here.....we......go.

Christopher Nolan is one of those directors who cant seem to make a bad film. Memento, The Prestige, and of course Batman Begins are just 3 to name a few in a flawless career. The Dark Knight continues the formula by not only following up Begins perfectly but shattering the bar that it held so high.

Walking into The Dark Knight in the pit of my stomach I had a feeling the film could suffer from Spider-Man 3 syndrome. Excessive amount of villains, overload of plot, trying to cram to much in one film. I'm glad I went in expecting this because whenever I do and it turns out incredible it makes the experience so much better. Not only does The Dark Knight not suffer this problem uses it as a strength.

The Dark Knight picks up right where Begins ended, Batmans theatrics have jumpstarted a wave of good in Gotham. Enter the new DA for Gotham, Harvey Dent. Dent is played by Aaron Eckhart who does a phenononal job of portraying the white knight for Gotham. Dent does not back down and has put away half of Gothams mob. But as Gordon mentioned at the end of begins, the problem of escalation could occur and does. The "good" of gotham seems to be effective at first until "a better class of criminal" emerges known as the Joker.
The Joker is played by Heath Ledger and he better win an oscar for it. He throws his entire being into the role and the result is something that cant be described, you must see it. The Joker represents the word anarchy. The Joker is a criminal with no purpose and pushes Batman and all the people of Gotham to a limit that makes the line between hero and villian hard to distinguish.

That's all I'm going to say. Because that's all I need to say. The bottom line is go see this film immidiatley. When you think it can't get better it always seems to. It's one of those films that even after you leave it stays with you. It's easily the best super hero movie so far, and one of my favorite movies of all time.

Final Verdict: A+ Continue Reading»

Discover the truth behind an alien invasion in this first-person shooter for the Wii. Continue Reading»

Microsoft:
Good showing of games that gamers will actually get this year. Which included a live showing of Fable 2, Gears 2, and Resident Evil 5. The show continued with the new dashboard being shown. It looks awesome. After which a partnership between Netflix and Microsoft was announced giving live members access to over 10000 movies and TV shows along with the already large database. Then we get annoying stuff like at the movies, and lips that lowers the score. But then the huge bomb Final Fantasy 13 coming to Xbox 360. Great showing.

Overall: B+

Sony:
Started off strong with some games, but honestly same old song and dance. Littlebigplanet and infamous continued to look awesome but otherwise colored me unimpressed. Some trailers from Resistance 2, and that's about it for ps3 other than montage shown at the end. A God of War III trailer was also shown but it was literally 10 seconds with no actual gameplay. Some new PSP and PSN games were announced but nothing that got me excited. Bottom line Sony continues to say that its the year of the PS3 but to me its the same old system the one that will eventually have games but never does.

Overall: C-

Nintendo:
No new interesting games, no storage fix, and Animal Crossing is the flagship title for hardcore players. Well fuck. A quick summary below.

Overall Grade: F- (See me after class)

Finally: This penny arcade pretty sums up E3 08'

(image credit to penny-arcade.com) Continue Reading»

Everytime I see a Pixar film I think it cant get better. Well except Cars. But once again Pixar manages to outdo themselves with Wall-E. Pixar combines simply must see CG, and storytelling to create a great film. Wall-E or (Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class) is the last robot on earth left with the duty of cleaning the mess humans have left behind after earth has become uninhabitable. As we are introduced to Wall-E we learn he has one unique trait. He has a personality. It's funny that as I type this review I actually put the words "he" instead of it. It shows that even with almost no dialogue. Pixar still manages to develop such a great character.

Final Verdict: A Continue Reading»

Wanted is a balls to the wall awesome summer popcorn flick. Based on the comic series by Mark Millar and J.G. Jones, director Timur Bekmambetov tells the story of Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy) a man allowing his time to tick away in a miserable existence. How bad is Wesley's life? His girlfriend cheats on him with his supposed best friend, his job sucks as he is tormented in a cubicle daily, and to top it all off Wesley has stress induced panic attacks. On one of Wesley's trips to acquire pills for his said panic attacks he encounters Fox (Angelina Jolie). Fox explains that Wesley's father was one of the greatest assassins of all time and that while working for a group known as the Fraternity he was killed by a rogue assassin. During this encounter the rogue assassin tries to kill Wesley. Fox and Wesley escape to where we are introduced to the r test of the Fraternity. Sloan (Morgan Freeman) plays the leader of the group and offers Wesley a way out of his life and asks him to join the Fraternity. At first Wesley is reluctant to join untilhe next morning he sees he has inherited all his fathers fortune massing millions of dollars. I really love the next scene because anyone who has hated their job just feels so good when they see Wesley call out the office boss. It's pure awesome.
After quiting his job Wesley joins Fox and they return to the Fraternity. Wesley trains in a cliche action movie montage. After Wesley completes his training hes anxious to go after the rogue assassin but Sloan gives him another assignment. Wesley is asked to kill some guy but questions the call. Fox explains why they do what they do with some obvious character development. Wesley now having no quills with his mission goes ahead and takes a bunch of targets in awesome fashion. Sloan satisfied with Wesley's skills sends him after the rogue assassin.
While on his mission for vengeance Wesley learns that the Fraternity's actions may not have been just after all. You can piece whats coming after this but final scenes are still satisfying. Morgan Freeman curses! Twice! Overall Wanted is a fun, unique action film that will keep you in your seat.

Final Verdict: B+ Continue Reading»

I was supposed to review this film the night after I saw it but honestly I really didn't want to. So before I begin this review three things:

1) Spoilers Below.

2) I'm a die hard Indy fan who didn't go into this expecting it to be better than any of the previous three.

3) A lot of people told me to not go in judging this as a Indiana Jones film, fuck that.

So lets start at the beginning and this is where the film presents its first problem. In all the previous Indy films we get a little action before were thrown into the main plot. In Raiders we get Indy dodging a huge boulder in Peru, in Temple of Doom we get the bar fight, and in Last Crusade were introduced to a young Indiana. They are all interesting and let us know that Indy has still got it.

They ask Jones to find an old case inside the huge facility that possesses magnetic qualities. Jones proceeds to take gun powder and throw it into the air and follow it to the cases location. Yes ridiculous but lets continue, they find the case and open it to find a dead alien corpse. I shit you not. I know the idea of the ark of the covenant and the last crusade are far fetched but the whole alien thing took me out of the experience. Anyway, after that the Russians seize the corpse which only reacts with metal that George Lucas says it will. The sidekick turns out actually to be working for the Russians. No one in the audience seems to care or notice. Then a battle begins inside the facility. The one thing I love about Indiana Jones is the way he fights. Hes no superhero, he gets punched he gets bloody and he fights dirty. It's awesome so despite everything thats happened so far in the film I still had high hopes at this point. But alas the third problem Indy doesn't fight. He takes his whip and tries to swing down to a truck only to land in another truck with two baddies. Here comes the punch? No instead you just hear the noise and the two guys fall out. Indy's stunt double does a few more things before landing on a rocket attached to a track about to launch for no particular reason other than to advance the plot. Indy ends up outside where he escapes from the Russians and finds a town below.

Indy proceeds to to the town only to find out its a nuclear testing ground, and a test is about to occur. Well honestly in my head I said Indiana Jones is dead at this point and I guess Shia is taking over. Indiana begins frantically looking for a way to survive when he opens a refrigerator and the camera actually pans to the fridge having a label saying its made out of led. That means Spielberg and Lucas actually realized how ridiculous this is and just had to justify it somehow. He gets inside and is blasted miles and emerges with barley a scratch. Really? Well at this point the audience no longer feels danger for Indy. We know Indy is going to survive because hes the hero but in the previous films at points you felt the danger. As soon as Indy survives a nuke in a fridge that feeling is GONE and Indiana Jones can do anything and everything.

We jump to Marshall College. Dean Stanforth explains to Indiana Jones that Indy's recent adventures are the subject of investigation by the U.S. Government. Indy proceeds to leave the city only on his exit to be confronted by Mutt Williams played by Shia LaBeouf. Mutt says he will help Indy find the crystal skull of Akator if he helps rescue his friend Professor Oxley and his mother. Some Chase happens where Indy rides bitch on a bike. Lets get one things straight INDIANA JONES DOESN'T RIDE BITCH.

Indy and Mutt end up in Peru searching for the crystal skull and eventually find it. The Russians seize it from them and are taken prisoner. We are introduced to Oxley and Mutts mother who happens to be Marion Ravenwood. As soon as this happens you can already guess Mutt is actually Indiana's son. Indiana takes this pretty lightly but enough of that lets get back to the aliens. While captured you find out the Soviets believe the crystal skull has powerful psychic powers, which will lead to global domination by the Soviet Union. Another chase happens where CG pours out the ass as Mutt fights more people than Indiana Jones has the entire film, up until Mutt literally swings through the jungle with monkeys. I wish I could make that up. Ants show up and eat some guy Indy, Mutt, Marion, and Oxley then go driving off a cliff in a jeep land in water, and go off 3 enormous waterfalls. Everyone survives without a scratch on them and they proceed to the temple.


They proceed through the temple where they put the final crystal skull back in place. When this happens a alternate dimension opens up and the alien comes to life. At this point I just want the film to end. Cate Blanchett absorbs all the knowledge from the alien only to be killed seconds later. On the escape Indy runs into his sidekick whom the audience has forgotten about ages ago only to find out he was a triple agent. No one seems to care again. He dies and the whole party escapes to see the alien ship take off. Yup. One good thing in the scene is Mutts hair is all wet and he actually looks like a young Indiana. Indiana and Marion get married and the film ends.

Overall when I saw the trailer to this movie I was really excited. When I saw Raiders as a kid it blew my mind. I wanted to see Indiana come back and that was done, it was cool to see Harrison Ford do Indiana again but it was just missing what made the first three films great.

Final Verdict: D Continue Reading»

You know what's fucking bullshit, Terrible Achievements.


Before the Xbox 360 launched Microsoft announced the idea of achievements. Games would have set goals that gamers could complete to get points. The more points you had the bigger your E-Dick would be. It sounded awesome it increased replay value, and you could show off what you had completed. Yes its just for bragging rights but no one can say getting an achievement doesn't feel awesome. But all is not well in the land of achievements some games the achievements really shit all over you. I'll break it down into 2 Categories to show how much bullshit these are.

(credit to vgcats.com)

Single Player Achievements
First off all games should only contain single player achievements, but will get to that later. Most people would think complete the single player and gain achievements as you go through. Oh how wrong you would be. Example: Guitar Hero III. By far the worst fucking single player list to date.


Guitar Hero is a music game? Get the fuck out. Yup this achievement actually wants you to turn down the music. Was one of the developers on the team deaf and was pissed at all the fun his fellow employees who could hear were having? Because when I think fun in a music game I think playing with absolutely no noise. Then I can really hear the slapping of my fingers against a plastic guitar. AWESOME


Seriously? Complete the whole fucking career lefty and righty? Because thats fun. The real kicker its only worth 10 fucking points. 10


There are no words.

Multiplayer Achievements
Heres where the shit really hits the fan. The problem is players will just head online with the one goal of getting X achievement and it ruins multiplayer. Example: Turok.


Disregard your team, disregard your goal, just torture the same person 5 times. What the fuck were they thinking?

Last but not least the cream of the shit crop. Multiplayer leaderboard achievements. These achievements are just ridiculous. Example: G.R.A.W

It really should just read: You will never get these. Ever.

I know these are just some examples of the terrible achievements that exist but in closing this needs to change. But whats the answer? Call of Duty 4. Perfect Achievements. The single player ones involve for the most part progressing through the story, and theres no multiplayer ones keeping the achievement seekers off. If you really want multiplayer achievement then developers should make them tasks you will just complete in normal play. Continue Reading»

A Return to the Greatest City on Earth

The last time gamers saw Liberty city was its premiere in Grand Theft Auto III the game that propelled the PS2 and some consider the best GTA yet. But as soon as you step off the boat your opinion will change. Yes the majority of your stay in Liberty City will be spent completing missions, making friends, the usual. But Rockstar has changed quite a bit that makes this the best Grand Theft Auto to date.

The Empire State
First and foremost is the setting itself. Rockstar has really outdone itself by creating the most realistic city in video games. Skyscrapers spanning the whole city, a working subway system, a huge diverse population of people, it all makes for a more believable city. The first time you fly up in a helicopter and see the city will blow your mind. The whole scale of the city is incredible and is a true technical marvel.
One Man Army
One you get control of Niko you will notice much has changed in the gameplay department. Health and armor are attached to the map in the lower left. You replenish health by eating or sleeping. Since you are immediately put in a vehicle the first thing you will notice is how vehicles handle. Instead of relying on the handbrake on every turn driving has changed dramatically. Vehicles now drive more realistically, all a handbrake will do is usually send you spinning out of control. Cars handle like cars, bikes, vans, SUVs, and trucks alike. It takes some time to get used to but in the end is superior because it actually feels like your driving a car. Next up is hand to hand fighting. Opponents will defend themselves and bring the fight to you so instead of relying on brute force Niko uses a counter system. You can still punch, kick, and beat people up but the real tactic is to wait for your opponent to attack then preform a counter. Some of these are really awesome including punch combos and round house kicks to name a few. But whats a GTA without guns? The biggest change you will see is the new cover system. Instead of going in guns ablaze you will utilize whatever cover you can. When you hit the Right Bumper Niko will cling to the nearest object.

From here you can blind fire as well as pop in and out to fire off a few rounds. It's not perfect sometimes you will jump to the wrong object, or get stuck in cover. But overall it works and makes gun fights far more enjoyable. Blind firing a grenade and watching your enemies soar through the air never gets old. With all this action your bound to attract some attention. Cops are still present and harder to escape this time around. A circle representing a zone where the cops are surrounds you, in order to get rid of the stars you must escape this circle. The more stars you have the bigger the circle gets, hiding inside the zone will do nothing. Sometimes when your just about to escape the circle a cop will turn the corner and see you and the circle will move, it really makes you feel like your being perused.

The American Dream
You play illegal immigrant Niko Bellic just as he enters America for the first time. Roman, his cousin tells Niko of the fortune he has gained in America. Unfortunately when Niko arrives he realizes that achieving the American dream is going to be tougher than he imagined. IGN stated in their review that the story is "Oscar Worthy" I wouldn't go that far. Without giving anything away the story isn't as simple as getting to the top, but isn't exceptional by any means. Although the story is by far the best out of all the grand theft auto games, and it will compel you to keep playing. The single player mainly strives because of the phenomenal voice acting, dialogue and the sheer amount of characters you encounter. You will meet dozens of characters all with unique personalities that will keep you interested.
Oh the things you'll see...
GTA IV really shines when you see the amount of things they are to accomplish. The game is roughly 30 hours, but you will spend far more time in liberty city. There are 94 main story missions, but those just scratch the surface. Everything is done through your cell phone, this is one of the best additions to the game. It makes dealing with amount the game throws at you far easier. You start off small by helping your cousin, and then start making connections and friends. Through these friends you will obtain more missions, but Rockstar has added a social element. You can takes these friends out drinking, bowling, pool and a whole plethora of activities. By taking these friends out they will begin to like you, when they do they will give you some sort of benefit. Although dealing with friends can become frustrating it portrays an actual social life perfectly. You cant call friends to early, late, or too often. If you ignore your friends they will like you less and you will loose the benefits of being friends. Because of the friends and characters you meet throughout the game you will have to make decisions. These are some of the hardest decisions to make. It makes killing and saving little sisters look like child's play. These decisions have an impact on the story and change outcomes, because of this it really makes you think about what you're about to do.

The missions vary from the standard go to destination X and do Y, to following a target in a helicopter, to some really interesting ones. But even after you beat the main story missions the amount left to do is daunting. You can go out on dates through the in game internet, meet random people on the streets, make friends like you, race, preform 10 deliveries for Brucie, collect 30 cars scattered throughout the city for Stevie, be a courier for Jacob, drive for Roman, go bowling, play pool, go drinking, capture criminals on the streets for cops, hunt down the most wanted in Liberty City, complete 50 stunt jumps, collect every hidden package. Honestly the list goes on and on. Rockstar has created such a robust single player it will make you wonder how they fit it all on one disc.

and what you'll do.
If the single player isn't enough, Rockstar has added a multiplayer element to the game. With up to sixteen player support and a wide range of modes. You enter the multiplayer mode through your cell phone where you can choose a player or ranked match. From here you choose the mode you would like to play. From this point you enter free mode. Where you and other players enter liberty city where you can do anything you want. If you can think it you can do it. Along with free mode theres the standard deathmatch and team deathmatch. GTA Race with any vehicle you can possibly imagine, its like mario kart on crack. Cops 'n Crooks my personal favorite where one team is the crooks must get to a point on the map to escape while the cops peruse trying to eliminate them. Turf War in which teams compete for control of territories much like king of the hill, a carjacking mode, three cooperative missions that support up to four players (with more to come), and more.

Overall if you own an Xbox 360 or PS3 GTA4 is a game you must get. It has an enormous single player that goes well beyond the main story missions. A robust multiplayer that will keep you playing. Rockstar has really outdone themselves by creating the best GTA to date and one of the most immersing games I've ever seen.

Final Verdict: A- Continue Reading»

Ah to be a summer blockbuster. Iron Man, my first anticipated movie of 2008 turns out to be worth the wait...

The film begins with the perfectly cast Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark demonstrating a new type of missile to the military in Afghanistan. On his departure his convoy (funvee lol) is attacked, which leads to Downey being held captive by generic, middle eastern terrorist group. They order Stark to build the missile he was demonstrating under almost no supervision. In hindsight it seems foolish that these terrorists would leave Stark unattended especially since while they are watching they even say "it doesn't look like a missile". Well the terrorists soon pay for their moronic actions when Stark instead builds a prototype of the iron man suit and beats the shit out of everyone.
Stark returns home and announces that Stark Industries will cease all weapon and military projects, and will stop producing weapons. Enter Obediah Stane (Jeff Bridges), who becomes worried about the companies future. A power struggle between Stane and Stark develops. Bridges does a great job of turning into the villain throughout the movie, making it a believable transition. From here the movie develops as you would expect, as were introduced to the other cast. Stark's assistant Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) creates great chemistry with Downey throughout the film. Terence Howard who plays Jim Rhodes perfectly portrays Tonys best friend and right hand man (and has one of my favorite one liners in the movie)

So overall, the action scenes are great even with the plentiful CG, the camera work looks awesome. Sometimes the technology can be over the top. The comic relief is funny but sometimes also pushes it. The cast is great, and the story works (although the ending is just ok).

But its a damn fun ride, and thats all it had to be.

Final Verdict: B+

Continue Reading»

You know what's fucking bullshit, the plastic packaging around video games accessories and other products. Its seriously ree ree status.




























Seriously, fine you don't want me to steal it, but if some asshole actually attempted to get one of these out in the middle of a store, and somehow by the grace of god succeeded, well fuck they deserve it. It would take around 30 minutes with a small knife or god forbid a scissor, a scissor would have a high chance of injuring yourself rather than the package. Most thieves would realize that a) it wasn't worth the effort or b) that you would need the hands of Zeus to get the fucker out without leading to suicide or tears.

Well just in case your not a thief and decide to actually purchase one of these fine products, well you're still fucked.

You will get home excited to open your new product, you will grab the nearest scissor and then stare at the casing for anywhere between 30 seconds and 2 minutes like someone with downs. Where in your mind you will be devising a plan to get to the sweet center, then you will begin, in what will ultimately lead to failure.

Microsoft actually wants you to get pissed I think. For some reason they have devised a line to cut across on their packaging and when its cut, you still cant get to the product, it opens a little just so you can see your purchase but when you try and put your hands in it closes like an Indiana Jones trap on your fingers and the plastic is made out of the carbonite Boba Fett froze Han in. Then in your frustration you start cutting like a mad man either severing a part of your product or cutting the instructions. Ugh Seriously fuck this.

Bottom line, its fucking annoying get rid of it, and if this goes universal and they start casing games like this, there will be blood (literally from my fingers). Continue Reading»