Welcome to the Complaint Department

Dollhouse...

2009-02-06T08:32:00.000-08:00

Friday the 13th of February, it begins....

Image courtesy http://www.fox.com/dollhouse/gallery/

Healthcare: A Rant...

2009-01-18T16:40:00.001-08:00

After a few days of a very stuffy nose, I woke up Saturday unable to move. When I finally made it out of bed, I checked, and sure enough, had a fever. I called my dad, and he told me he would take me to the doctor, as I was in no condition to drive.

I called my normal doctor to try and get an emergency appointment. After 20 minutes of no one picking up the phone, I gave up.

We went to an office my mom had a good experience with in the past. I start to sign in when the girl behind the counter tells me they do not take my insurance. Best case scenario, I am only responsible for 20% of the bills, but more than likely, I will have to pay it all.

We leave and go to the quick care office by my place. The parking lot is packed. We walk through the door and there are 20-30 people standing around. As I walk up to the counter, the man behind the counter simply pushes a clipboard forward and says "sign in here." I wanted to ask him how long of a wait it would be, and if they accepted my insurance after the last place didn't, but the most he would say is "we are busy, sir..."

Off we went to an office I visited before where I have had good and bad experiences. The female doctor here is very sweet and helpful, spends as much time as you need. The male doctor, he, well, let us just say he got his degree in the 60s and appears to be stuck in his ways. Guess who was on... We get in the door... no receptionist. A few minutes later, a woman appears. She has me sign in, then argues with me about whether or not I have been there before. Yes, I tell her, but its been maybe 18 to 24 months since I have been sick, so my information will need to be updated. She had to repeat everything 1o times because not only did she never look at me to talk, but she mumbled, and my head was congested. She also argued with me about tissues. She said some were on the counter. My ability to LOOK WITH MY EYES showed there were none. After 5 minutes of me asking repeatedly, she reached under he desk and finally handed me a box. Needless to say, she was of no help.

A bright note was the doctor's assistant, who is the nicest medical professional I have ever met in Nevada. I remember him from when I got sick a few years earlier, and how helpful we was. He actually remembered me and immediately commented on how proud he was that I lost so much weight. After a few minutes, he placed me in a room.

My dad and I spent the time waiting for the doctor reminiscing about previous insurance coverage. For 5 years I worked for 2 of the biggest east coast companies and had incomparable insurance, and my dad was management growing up, so we never had worries back then, either.

Once again, the doctor on was of little help. He poked and prodded, asked 2 questions, then said it "looks like you have an infection. What medicine do you usually take?" This medical professional is asking ME what medicine I should take... At no point did this man ever make eye contact, ask me how I was feeling, ever really want me to describe my symptoms... and after all of this, because of my deductible, I will still end up paying for this appointment in the end. He handed me a prescription and left. A day later and I feel no better, both in health or about the whole situation.

CES 09: A Pictorial With Words

2009-01-11T09:52:00.001-08:00

After 2 years of offers and denials, I finally went to CES this year (had no idea it went through the weekend...) and had quite a lot of fun! It was different than I expected. I was thinking something akin to E3: dark rooms where the only lights are coming from booth lights and the glow of monitors and chicks holding glow sticks. Instead, with the exception of the main hall, all of the floors were brightly lit, much like the other traditional trade shows I attend each year for work. While I didn't get to see EVERYTHING I wanted (no Palm Pre) we had the chance to tour the majority of the show in a single day. Here are a few highlights. Click on any picture to se ea larger version.

3D Technology: No pictures, cuz that's impossible. Very unimpressed with what I saw. Very gimicky. Don't want to take glasses on and off constantly, and it was no better than the old 3D tech we had growing up.

Big TVs were impressive. At the top is me standing next to a 108" LCD from Sharp, and below that is the crazy 150" unit from Panasonic.

Tiny TVs were even more impressive. The above 2 shots are of an OLED TV. The brightness on these things are incomparable, as you can probably tell in the first shot because everything else became black on the camera. The speed and refresh is perfect, and they are so thin and light that you could store then in the sleave of a folder. They even use the new thin wire technolgy.

Microsoft had a large booth, and right in the middle were touch screen Windows 7 demo units like these. Sadly, these did not actually run Windows 7, but merely used Windows 7 technology to show how the system might work, including multi-touch features. It was basically a less impressive Surface...

LG's wristwatch phone has impressed me ever since I first saw pictures it a while back. While I didn't see it in motion, it was still cool enough to make me snap a few shots.

Cool old school cars dotted the show floor, including the above Delorean and Kitt from the REAL Knight Rider. Overall, I was shocked to see how much in car tech was part of the show, as it took up an entire hall.

Robots are cool...

Best of 2008...

2008-12-29T19:14:00.000-08:00

The following list of my favorite things from 2008 is for your eyes only. Also, people who are not you can read it as well. You may feel free to read it to others nearby, or over the phone if you feel so inclined.

Big laughs: Step Brothers is the funniest movie I have seen in ages, and Big Bang Theory makes me chuckle every week and Hamlet 2 is the new Napoleon Dynamite. SNL had a few great moments (most courtesy of Anne Hathaway) and Jizz in my Pants will be around for a while. Eddie Izzard is incredible live, and I am lucky to still be breathing after his performance. I am also hilarious. You are welcome world.

Braid: Play Braid. Complete Braid. Send your gratitude.

Dr Horrible: I met Neil Patrick Harris. I actually met Dr Horrible. The DVD arrived this week, and "Commentary! The Musical!" is fantastic. More music was written for the all signing commentary track than for the actual movie, features most of the cast, and contains a rock ballad about an online flash game, a song about a guy with a lisp, and a tune on how there are no Asian actors/actresses in movies and TV. Also, I want to have Felicia Day groomed by Tycho...

Rock Band: I have spent more time with Rock Band (and now Rock Band 2) than I have with any game since Tetris. I have played with different people ranging from 5 year old children, to classy "I don't play video games" girls, to senior citizens, and everyone found immense pleasure from the experience. I currently own 203 songs, and with more coming every week, including the just released No Doubt pack (sadly lacking "New"(but containing "Running!? WHY?!)) and March's release of Pearl Jam's "Ten". Harmonix has an amazing IP on their hands. Now if only they can get the whole Beatles thing right...

New music: 2007 was an amazing year for music, and while 2008 wasn't as great, there was a lot to love. Kings of Leon now have some fame, and Sex on Fire was a great way to introduce them to the world. Viva La Vida is a great album, with the title track being one of the best songs of the year. Death Cab for Cutie's Narrow Stairs struck a unique chord with its finely tuned mixes and wonderful I Will Possess Your Heart. My favorite lyric of the year is courtesy of Katy Perry with "the taste of her cherry Chapstick" even if she hasn't struck a permanent chord with with me quite yet. With solid releases from Weezer and The Killers and Vampire Weekend, not a lot to complain about.

Prince of Persia: Stop your whining you whiners! Who cares if the game is very simple, easy to pick up and play, simple to master, and if it steals/borrows the main conventions of superior titles like Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. IF IT IS FUN, THEN SHUT UP AND ENJOY YOURSELF. While I am not as enamored as certain people like IGN's Hilary, I had a lot of fun with the Prince. Simple yet great flowing gameplay, wonderful story with a solid ending, and the best visuals and artistic style since Okami. I am looking forward to a sequel.

Comic book movies: Between Iron Man, Dark Knight, Hellboy 2 and now The Spirit, this has been a great year for the comic book movies. Even the previews, like Watchmen and Wolverine, have made the year better. While I might only read the occasional comic nowadays (Buffy) they were a large part of my youth and I keep up with the big news. I still don't care for anything Hulk related, though.

Me: Yes, I am one of my favorite things this year. I have found an incredible group of friends, made dramatic self improvement by losing another 30lbs on top of building up my muscles, and I love my job. I also have a nicer TV than you... unless yours is nicer... in which case, gimme.

Only the Good Get Cancelled Young- Part 3...

2008-12-17T18:13:00.000-08:00

Veronica Mars: If your best friends (the industry's best and brightest) told you that there was this amazing girl (Veronica Mars) and that you would enjoy her company, that she is perfect for you, then you would give her a call, wouldn't you? Well if you were UPN/CW and the American Public in general, you never even picked up the phone. Veronica Mars was one of those shows that did absolutely everything right, but never drew the audience it needed to stick around. The show stars Kristen Bell as teenager Veronica Mars. She lives in a California coast town, Neptune, that is deeply divided between the haves and have-nots. She lives with her father, the former town sheriff who was forced out of office when he was unable to solve the mysterious death of Lily Kane, Veronica's best friend, sister to her true love (at the time) Duncan, and daughter to some very rich and powerful people. Keith, Veronica's father, opens up a detective agency, and young Veronica quickly shows her knack for solving mysteries, both for her father's agency, and for her class mates at school. The show uses Lily's murder as it's main plot point for the first season (another tradegy fills that role for seasons 2 and 3) with each weekly episode showing a little more of the truth, while Veronica and father solve other crimes, while also keeping normal social lives and going to high school.

Despite doing everything right, Veronica Mars never made it out of the bottom of the ratings bucket... of failure...? On average, Veronica Mars reached about 2 million viewers, a solid number, but for it's Tuesday night slot, not nearly enough. The fact that it was on the unpopular UPN/CW did not help Veronica's case. It steadily gained new viewers each year, despite a difficult transition to a college setting for the final season. Veronica never got the ending it deserved either, as it was never really cancelled, but put on hiatus in the winter (replaced with the Pussycat Dolls reality show), after which 5 more episodes were produced to make it a complete season, and then just not renewed. Creator Rob Thomas (Dawson's Creek, not the singer) made a great preview for season 4 where Veronica became a rookie FBI agent, several years after the 3rd season concluded. Sometimes a show can do everything right, from the theme song ("We Use to be Friends" by the Dandy Warhols) to the amazing cast (Bell and Enrico Colantoni as Keith Mars) to critical acclaim (Joss Whedon calls it the "Best. Show. Ever.") and never find the audience it deserves. So the next time that you get told to call the girl, pick up the phone.

Angel: Fox hates (hated?) Joss Whedon, and Angel is the last nail in the coffin of proof. To keep it simple, Angel remade itself from 2 years of serial storytelling into a weekly series and turned the character's world upside down. Now in charge of the evil lawfirm (ya read that right) Wolfram and Hart, Angel and co. now had the power to make a true difference in the world. Angel had a great run, and truly became it's own show, seperating itself from Buffy quite well, but the timing and nature of the cancellation is what hurts. Whedon was given JUST enough time to make a good finale (I want to fight the dragon) and the series found new life in comic book form (don't bother reading past issue 5 unless you are a big fan, in which case, you are already reading). Despite gaining it's highest ratings since it's premier, Angel was cancelled during the celebration of the 100th episode. No reason was provided at all. Costs were down, ratings up, it was the only Whedon show on the air, fans loved the new premise, dogs and cats were working together... everything was lined up for a 6th season to continue the magic, but Jordan Levin (WB's Head of Entertainment) cancelled the show without ever providing a valid reason. Ouch.

Only the Good Get Cancelled Young- Part 2...

2008-12-07T22:09:00.000-08:00

Garth Marenghi's Darkplace: Darkplace is a show within a show, and sadly, only lasted 6 episodes back in 2004. Here is the premise; Garth Merenghi (played by Matthew Holness) is a horror writer with a giant British ego (the rest of him is British too) who describes himself as a "dream weaver" and "shaman" among other things. Garth decided to adapt his books into a TV series based in a hospital, where strange and horrific incidents happen. It is a cheesy, cheaply produced, poorly written (by Marenghi himself) 80s drama. Sadly, the show Garth Marenghi created never made it to air. What we as viewers watch is Garth Marenghi (Holness) airing his lost 80s TV drama, which stars himself as the lead doctor Dr Rick Dagless (Holness plays Marenghi who plays Dagless), producer/costar Dean Leaner (actor is Richard Ayoade) who plays hospital admin Thornton Reed, costar Todd Rivers who plays Dr Lucien Sanchez (also played by Holness...) and Madeline Wool playing Dr Liz Asher (Alice Lowe in real life). We not only watch these characters play these characters, but they also do commentary of the original show, with exception of Lowe/Wool/Asher, who mysteriously disappeared after Darkplace was produced. Go ahead and re-read those last 2 sentences again, I understand.

The show is a spoof of itself, and makes no apologies. Imagine if Mystery Science Theater 3000 had the cast acting as other characters... that is the best way to describe Darkplace. It takes place in modern times, with Marenghi showing his failed 80s TV series, and complimenting himself and his "art" all along the way. Marenghi's ego is what really makes the show work, with his name appearing in nearly every credit, including the music "based on melodies originally whistled by Garth Marenghi." You can find the majority of the show on YouTube (HERE YA GO). This is one of those rare shows that may BENEFIT from a short lifespan, but I would love to see a few more hours of what Dr Rick Dagless, aka Garth Marenghi, aka Matthew Holness had in him.

Dead Like Me: Any TV show that has it's title based on a classic novel written by John Howard Griffin must be a winner, and Dead Like Me is no exception. This Showtime program aired in June 2003 through October 2004, for 2 seasons. We follow 18 year old Georgia Lass. George, as she prefers to be called, is a slacker who cares about nothing, lives with her parents and sister, and is being forced to get a job by her mother now that she is no longer taking classes. While on lunch at her first day of work at the Happy Time Temp agency, a toilet seat falls from the sky from Mir space station, incinerating young George where she stands. Instead of dying, George finds herself wandering around, and learns she must become a grim reaper. Her task is to take the souls of those who are about to die in painful and gory situations, and escort them to the other side. She must also lead a "normal" human life, however she cannot be harmed or killed again.

Georgia works with several other reapers. The incomparable Mandy Patinkin plays Rube, the eldest and leader of the reapers. She is also joined by Mason, a British stoner, Roxy, a hard skinned traffic enforcer, Betty, an upbeat woman who quickly befriends George, and later Daisy, a starlet from the 30s. George returns to her Happy Time job as her new persona Millie, and finds herself living life for the first time despite now being dead. She works with the wonderful Delores Herbig played by the hilarious Christine Willes. The show lost a lot of the zest that made it unique in the first season, especially after creator Bryan Fuller left due to arguements with MGM. While some reports say that the ratings were over three times higher than the average show on Showtime, the full numbers, and reason for cancellation, have never been released. A direct to DVD movie has been commisioned, but is now 18 months behind schedule. Dead Like Me remains one of the most petitioned shows online and continues to have a very strong fan base.

PART 3 COMING SOON....

Only the Good Get Cancelled Young- Part 1...

2008-12-04T09:45:00.000-08:00

For those of you who don’t remember (AND HOW DARE YOU!) I purchase a nice new big screen back in May. Don’t believe me? HERE YA GO. Since then, I have had a lot of fun. I have played some great Xbox 360 games, watched some Blu-Rays on a borrowed PS3 (Speed Racer is the movie equivalent to dropping acid) and watched lots of TV in HD. Sadly, most of the TV I have watched has sucked.

For some reason, this year’s crop of new TV shows has been below my normal TV viewing standards. The only shows I look forward to watching are House, Big Bang Theory, Fringe and The Office. Chuck is fun on occasion, but Heroes and other former favorites (and anything new) have been big let downs. What have I done instead of watching new TV programming? I have dug back into the TV archives with some great DVD collections. So which shows do I think were cut loose before their prime? 6 great series come to mind right off the bat.

Firefly: I will say very little about Firefly, because so much has been said, and so much has been done in regards to this instant Joss Whedon classic. Fox hopefully learned its lesson for the most part after manhandling this show, giving Whedon another chance with this fall’s Dollhouse. Firefly is clever, wonderfully written, atmospheric and deep. Thankfully we got a taste of what was to come with the movie Serenity, but Firefly will long remain the number one “cancelled before its time” show for many of us.

Carnivale: Carnivale premiered on HBO in September 2003 with a critically acclaimed first season, but after a slow start to the second season, the show was cancelled before the 3^rd season went into production. Set in the 1930s dustbowl, Carnivale follows the story of Ben Hawkins as he loses his mother and joins a travelling carnival of freaks and weirdoes. Ben has the power to heal people, but does not understand how his power works, or the consequences it brings. He slowly learns about his past, and how he is connected to those are the carnival, and why he has this power. We also follow the story of Methodist preacher Brother Justin Crowe and his sister Iris in California. Justin is a God fearing man, a Russian immigrant who survived a train crash along with his sister, and was taken in by the church. He slowly comes to realize he has incredible dark powers, and begins amassing an army of loyal followers of the church, close to 20,000 at his side and hundreds of thousands via the radio, by the time the show ends. Ben and Justin are the opposing forces of good and evil, and are on a quest to destroy the other, though they have never met.

The show focuses on magic and mystery, the stories of the fellow carnies, and the ultimate battle that is to come. The story is told in flashbacks that the main characters suddenly have, as if their destiny is magically written for them. Sadly, due to a very slow 2^nd season start, the show was cancelled just as things became truly interesting. Ben has found his boon and inherited new powers, we learn how sick and twisted Justin truly is, and even the secondary and tertiary characters shine bright. I would love to follow the story in any medium, either film or television or book or comics or anything. They planned a total of 6 seasons, and many small clues that appeared since the first episode will continue to remain mysteries now and forever.

PART 2 COMING SOON!

War of the World Tour...

2008-11-23T14:01:00.000-08:00

Imitation is the greatest form of flattery, so is it an even greater compliment when the one that was imitated then imitates the one who imitated them in the first place? Not really, no. I am of course, referring to Rock Band vs Guitar Hero, or more specifically, Rock Band 1&2 vs Guitar Hero World Tour.

For the uninitiated, the original programmers of Guitar Hero 1 and 2 (Harmonix) got bought by MTV Games, while the original publisher (Red Octane) kept the brand name Guitar Hero and then were bought by Activision. Harmonix created Rock Band, expanding on their 2 years of Guitar Hero experience (and many years of great rhythm games like Amplitude and Frequency) which included not only guitar and bass, but also drums and a mic. Activision created Guitar Hero 3 with dev studio Neversoft (get it? lol) which took the guitar playing to the next level. Both Guitar Hero 3 and Rock Band stood on their own, 2 significantly different products for the most part. Rock Band was easy to play with a constantly expanding set list for purchase, while Guitar Hero 3 pushed the limits of the guitar playing, especially in its difficulty and quality.

With Guitar Hero World Tour, Activision and Neversoft are trying to steal back their chunk of the market with a full band game, and for the most part, they do a good job. However, instead of taking the year to make a game that is better than Rock Band, World Tour is simply a Rock Band clone, failing in many of the areas that Rock Band 1 even succeeded in. But first, the good. The wider breadth of time to hit a note is a welcome return from GH3, you can crank or lower any individual instrument's volume, great for single player gaming, the character creating mode has good depth, the bass is given lots of attention with the no-fret strum, hammer ons and pull offs are a breeze to pull off (hehe), you can switch difficulty in the career mode at your leisure (like in RB2) and the bigger better drum set is more fun to play than Rock Bands thanks to a 5th pad and the cymbals, and the kit feels better overall. This is a fun game on its own.

However, when compared to other games, World Tour starts to falter. To start with, I really dislike the set list. I only care about 10 songs or so, and the rest are background noise. Normally, I find myself being won over by a few songs I have never heard before (Seven by Vagiant in RB for example) but World Tour simply lacks a great set list, and with Rock Band's nearly 500 songs, its a much bigger disappointment. The folks at Harmonix are musicians themselves and understand what plays great in the game, and what is good music in general. And the old Guitar Hero issues rear their ugly heads, like large segments of songs with nothing to play or only playing 1 or 2 notes (even on Hard) when there are really several to play.

Comparing Guitar Hero World Tour to the original Rock Band, even without the 500 songs, Rock Band still wins. Rock Band 2 creates an even wider gap in quality. I am still a HUGE Guitar Hero 3 fan, its the game I play when I want a quick solo session, even over my 200 Rock Band 2 songs. The lack of innovation and paltry set list don't even compare to a year old game. Don't get me wrong, I do not DISLIKE World Tour, I have had some fun, but I had higher hopes. On its own, World Tour is fun, and the drums are great, but it is a constant disappointment after playing other games from the same genre.

More like ROCKtober...

2008-11-03T12:04:00.000-08:00

The following events took place in October:

-I met Neil Patrick Harris, of Dr Horrible and Doogie Howser fame. Oh, and that whole "Met your Mom" thing people tend to mention. Super nice, super tall.

-I also saw Laura Prepon (not as tall as you'd think) and Christopher Knight with wife Adrianne Curry.

-I voted, 2 weeks early because Nevada has that, and it rocks.

-Heroes continued to suck. I hate Peter, and Milo is quickly becoming one of the worst actors in history. Jeff Loeb got fired today, not surprised.

-Got upset that Buffy is now 2 months behind on new issues. Karl Moline does not understand the word "deadline".

-Was both super excited and extremely disappointed over the Beatles/Harmonix announcement. I want to play Beatles songs IN Rock Band, not switch to a completely separate game to play a Beatles song.

-Started watching Carnivale again on DVD (thanks Amazon for rediculously low prices). HBO had an amazing show, and just let it slip away. This is as good as Heroes was at it's best.

-Laughed at an episode of SNL for the first time in 8 years. Anne Hathaway once again proves she can do no wrong (except for Havoc... showing your boobs does not make you a "mature" actress)

-And finally, this happened on Halloween:

10 Years is the Tin Anniversary...

2008-10-21T10:49:00.000-07:00

Before Final Fantasy VII on the original PlayStation in 1997, RPGs were not as popular in the US vs over in Japan. Square’s magnum opus brought the joys that many of us had been experiencing since Dragon Warrior/Quest on the NES into the hands of the masses, and made them crave more. It pushed the limits of technology; with it’s never before seen CG work, endless lines of dialogue and side quests, and a deep story that made a connection with the characters that is still felt today. Despite the amount of praise I will pass the game’s way, and as often as I may laud its accomplishments, it is not my favorite RPG, or even my favorite game. That honor goes to Xenogears.

Today, October 21st, marks the 10 year anniversary since Xenogears hit US shores. Xenogears tells the story of Fei Fong Wong, a painter who found himself in a small village with no memory 3 years ago, fallen in love with a girl who is about to get married in town, and befriended the local doctor, Citan Uzuki. One day, a large mech, called a Gear, crashes in town. Fei finds himself in the cockpit of the Gear, hoping to somehow prevent the mayhem taking place, but winds up destroying the town in the process. He is exiled from the city, and bumps into a young redhead named Elly Van Houten, and the two instantly seem to know each other, though they have never met. This is the beginning of Fei’s journey.

The story is what sets Xenogears apart, and is its best feature. The main story is about Fei and Elly’s love for one another, and how their souls find each other again, over and over, generation after generation. The story covers Fei’s battle with himself, having formed split personalities after a tragic accident in his youth, and Elly’s evolution from a young naïve officer following in her father’s footsteps, to a grown woman with a past that spans centuries. God’s existence is brought into question, both literally and figuratively, and the origins of life and humanity on this planet are eventually discovered.

Visually, Xenogears went the opposite way of FFVII. Instead of 3d character models placed on pre-drawn sets, the world was fully 3d, with 2d sprite based characters. This led to some interesting platforming elements, and with full control of the camera’s rotation, it leads to some very well designed dungeons and towns. The audio is top notch as well, with a moving score that remains one of my favorites to this day.

This game nearly didn’t make it to the US due to its very adult themes, including death, sex, and the questioning of God. It nearly didn’t make it out in Japan either, as budgetary and time constraints forced Soraya Saga (aka Kaori Tanaka) and her husband Tetsuya Takahashi to remove many of the gameplay elements (dungeons and side quests) out of the final third of the game, the infamous 2nd disk, and focus exclusively on the story. This was done by having the main characters, specifically Fei, Elly and Citan, to talk directly to the player, in a first person perspective, telling the player what is taking place in the story, instead of having the player experience it themselves. The character would appear on the screen in front of art, with text scrolling along, with music playing behind. This caused a large number of players to never finish the game, detracted by the major change in pacing and gameplay style.

Saga and Takahashi went on to form Monolith, and eventually created the Xenosaga series, which Square-Enix would not allow to directly reference Xenosaga due to copyright laws. The Xenosaga series takes the story telling aspect of Xenogears to the next generation, with state of the art cut scenes, something that many gamers lamented. Sadly, the world of Xenogears seems to have come to an end, but for me, the story will live on as long as Fei and Elly continue to find each other again.

He Should Call Himself Roger LESS...

2008-10-17T10:15:00.000-07:00

People say stupid things all the time. I have, on occasion, been known to say something that could be seen (or heard) as unintelligent. I, however, do not work for a major newspaper, and therefore, do not have to worry about my words being broadcast the world over for everyone to make fun of... except, ya know, if you read this and pass it on...

Roger Moore has been with the Orlando Sentinel since 1999, but I have not heard of the man until today. He has written for the Los Angeles Times, Spin Magazine, and even The Washington Post. He now finds himself as the Sentinels's movie critic after an award winning career.

His latest movie review is for the video game to movie translation of Max Payne, starring Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis. For the first 9 paragraphs, Mr Moore offers a fair and balanced review, sharing his opinions on the movie and its less than stellar story, and sub par performances of the films stars. He even makes an extremely intelligent point, saying that as long as Uwe Boll is around, Max Payne could not possibly be the worst video game film ever made. I should point out that I have no plans to see Max Payne, only mildly enjoyed the first game (bullet time was born here) and almost every other review mirror Mr Moore's opinions.

However, his final thoughts sent a shiver down my spine. "But as good as a couple of its action beats are, Max still suffers from the heartlessness that makes games emotionally inferior to movies. Nobody ever shed a tear over a video-game character's death." This final sentiment will be the reason Roger Moore gains internet fame (ya know, other than because his name is Roger Moore, but not the actor).

This is an extremely bold statement by Mr Moore. Simply because a video game has not caused a deep emotional impact in HIS life, he decides to make the broad generalization for all games, and all gamers. It might make Mr Moore give pause to know that I have never cried because of a book, and yet I do not make the huge leap to say that nobody ever shed a tear over a book character's death.

I suppose I don't really have a point here other that to say I am disturbed by such bravado that Mr Moore has shown. Several video games I have played have brought deep emotional connections, with two bringing a tear to my eye (ironically, wait for my next post on Tuesday). The same number of films can make the same statement of giving me such a profound reaction. I think Mr Moore should take the time to experience a real video game story. When you spend 50 hours with a character, you are much more likely to experience a deep connection, than in a 90 minute film.

Feel free to read the entire review by CLICKING HERE and then check out Rotten Tomatoes for a great list of fantastic responses to his review by CLICKING HERE! I cannot wait until I read his response to the high volley of calls, emails and posts he will receive, and takes the time to enjoy a real game. At the very least, Mr Moore is about to get quite a bit of attention from my fellow interwebbers.

Darwin Had It All Wrong...

2008-10-02T12:25:00.000-07:00

The following image is responsible for several minutes of lost man power at work today because of laughter. Enjoy.

Image courtesy Ebaum's World http://ebaumsworld.com/

Satellite, In My Eyes...

2008-09-27T18:28:00.000-07:00

I tend to be pretty brand loyal. I drink Coke products 99% of the time, Burger King over McDonalds, Microsoft over Apple, Trojan over Durex, soap and water over rolling around in a small bowl of dust, you get the point. One product, or type of product, I have been behind for a long time is cable TV over satellite service. While satellite has a superior base technology (it uses friggin satellites!) I have been a proponent for cable service over the dish. I have even worked for the cable industry, quite proudly I might add. Heh, look at that, I added it. With my recent move, however, satellite has found it's way into my life. Seems like a great time to compare services!

I have had every type of cable service imaginable. When you work for the cable company, they treat you good, or treat you well, if you follow those 3rd grade English lessons. In order to best know the product, and properly trouble shoot it, the cable company will give you every channel and as many boxes as you need for free, or deep deep discounts. While I cannot say it is true for the entire industry, it certainly is for the company I worked for, for when I worked there. I have had an HD-DVR, non Tivo variety, since 2004. I have had 4 different types of cable HD-DVRs, different cities and generations and now I have an HD-DVR from DIRECTV.

In terms of picture quality, there seems to be absolutely no difference that I can see between the service offered by cable and DIRECTV for 99% of programming, but there are some minor differences. Cable has a slighty more blocky "digital" look to their standard def broadcasts on many stations, while DIRECTVhas a softer "broadcast" look to the picture. On the HD side of things, the only difference I have seen is that the DIRECTV does a better job at preventing noise in night shots. Normally, in a night setting, the darkness will look staticy and noisy, and this is improved in the DIRECTV broadcasts. Switching from SD to HD signals on cable was seamless, but the DIRECTV box takes an extra 2 seconds to go from one to another. Audio seems a little off on DIRECTV as well, much louder and bassier, with a low treble. This could have something to do with the much larger and more open room I am in, but I have a feeling it's the service. The only other difference I have seen so far is the lack of "digital tearing" you see when the signal drops for a split second. This is those blocks that will appear and the sound goes away for a split second. So far, none of that with DIRECTV. DIRECTV has a slight edge here

The biggest difference so far is the options offered by the digital converters and DVR services. Both let me record 2 shows at once, and have interactive digital guides. All cable DVRs I use have had a superior and much quicker guide, while the DIRECTV guide is slower to respond and takes a few extra clicks to get to some menus. Cable also offers different guide styles, while DIRECTV has only given me a single guide with no variation. The big positive here is that I can create a custom favorites list with DIRECTV, so when I click on Guide, only the channels I select will appear. No more scanning through 800 channels in the guide, I can look at just the 25 channels I watch the most. Overall, the cable DVRs are superior in my opinion, mainly because of the speed, customization and ease of use, but I love having the ability with DIRECTV to load only the channels I want.

I still believe that cable is a better product overall. It is easier to repair, less prone to being damaged or broken, and because so much of it is based locally where you live, can offer a more refined product experience. DIRECTV definitely uses superior technology, and seems much more "high-tech" overall. It is also more costly (gotta buy the equipment, yuck) and generally tougher to repair, but it does offer more channels. At the end of the day, I still prefer cable, but I think I will enjoy my satellite service once I get used to it.

EDIT: Day 3, realize during the Eagles game that there is no picture in picture. Big negative for DIRECTV....

Tales of Vesperia: A Review

2008-09-20T20:21:00.000-07:00

I recently had one of those "I'm a grown-up now" moments when talking to some people about games. Looking back, I would pour hours upon hours into an RPG on the SNES Genesis, during the Saturn and PS1 days, and even with my PS2. However, for the past several years, I have had too much else going on in life to dedicate to these types of games more than once in a while. So when several RPGs come out, it is quite a tough decision to pick just one. When it comes to the Tales series, it's hard for me to not put in the time. In the case of Tales of Vesperia, I am glad I did.

Tales of Vesperia comes out a month short of the 10 year anniversary of the Tales games US premier. Tales of Destiny for the original PlayStation was a unique experience, especially for the time. You tour through towns and dungeons, make new friends and allies, and bring down a big evil. The difference in this RPG is that instead of turn based battle systems; you have direct control of your character, using standard combo attacks and special attacks. Tales of Vesperia continues this gameplay, and most of the Tales traditions. While there are very few new additions compared to the other games in the series, it refines and perfects almost everything the Tales series is known for.

Yuri lives in the slums of the world capital with his doggy pal Repede. He briefly joined the knights with his best friend, Flynn. The local blastia, a magic source that, in this form, controls the water in the slums, is stolen, and Yuri is arrested while trying to retrieve it. While escaping from prison, he runs into Estelle, a princess on the run, and together they escape. Along the way, they meet little Karol, a young monster hunter with no back bone, Rita, a genius mage who alienates everyone she meets, the voluptuous and mysterious Judy, and her dragon buddy Ba'ul, and Raven, a strange "old man" with a hidden past. They start their quest to retrieve the stolen blastia, and, well, things stick at that point for about half of the game.

The story doesn't get to the "world in peril" level, with the exception of wars and monsters, until about two thirds of the way through Vesperia. While this isn't a complaint, there were some points in the game where the characters had little motivation to move forward. The characters are also not as charming as in other games, but it’s great to see them mature. Yuri really shows his dark side by killing the corrupt, Rita turns a corner and becomes best buds with Estelle, and Karol becomes the group’s leader despite his age and inexperience. Again, the characters do blossom, but they are not as endearing as others from the genre. The ending is very short, with just a triumphant "WE BEAT THE BAD GUY" smile on everyone's face, and nothing else, which is disappointing, but fits with the rest of the story I suppose.

My complaints end there. Everything else, especially the combat, are as good as they have ever been. At hour 49, I was still enjoying every single fight I got into. The graphics are a solid anime style cell-shaded beauty, the voice over work is top notch, the loading times are non-existent, and the fighting engine is the best the series has delivered so far. It ended up taking me 50 hours to complete the main quest about about 90% of the side quests. Another 10 hours could be spent doing much more, like casinos and "find the missing guy" quests, but I am happy where things left off. Now I just need to find something to do with the next 50 hours....

IMAGES COURTESY IGN

Lars Ulrich would agree...

2008-09-16T10:25:00.001-07:00

The following conversation took place on the GameFAQs forum for Rock Band 2. The names have not been changed to protect no one.

CLICK TO EMBIGGEN

It's Been a Long September...

2008-09-14T20:09:00.000-07:00

Well, I am a week away from finally moving to the other side of town. My 17 mile/45 minute afternoon commute will now be 3.9 miles and 11 minutes. I also have more space, more privacy, and less money... but what can ya do, right? Can't have it all. Some of the things I DO have are Tales of Vesperia and Rock Band 2, which I have been spending time with in between packing and paralyzing back pain CAUSED by said packing.

In case I don't write a full review, here is a synopsis of Tales of Vesperia. By far, this is the best Tales game since Symphonia for the GCN, the pinnacle of the series. The battle system has been perfected, and the ability tree is almost perfectly spread out across the game. In the past you could go several dungeons in between new abilities (looking at your Abyss...) but here you get new special moves right when you need them.

While the story here has been toned down about 5 notches, the characters develop very well. No flat folk here. The quest itself does not because "save the world" epic until about hour 30, but you always have a nice motivation to move forward. I am 47 hours in, about the enter the final dungeon with about 50% of the major side quests complete. I plan to complete the main mission within a week and get a chuck of the additional side quests complete within the month.

The rest of my month will likely be dedicated to Rock Band 2 which I picked up today. The biggest improvements are the ability to use any character in any mode for any instrument, hammer ons and pull offs are now more obvious and clearly indicated, and the challenge of each song has increased. The biggest negatives? Only 2 so far, and that is the aforementioned hammers and pull offs are a little more tricky to pull off, as you have to press the fret button AS they cross the line instead of being able to just have them held down before they play like normal notes, and unlocking songs.

You have two ways to unlock new songs, and both are in the career mode. You now play through a solo career, which is now like the previous band career mode, but it can be done as a single player game, which is a GREAT idea. No more list of songs that you complete one by one to open the next, you have to go from city to city, getting fans, money and stars, up to 5 stars per song. As new cities, and new gigs in those cities appear, you get more songs. After over 2 hours in the career mode, I had unlocked no new songs, only the original 20 that come unlocked with the game. Assuming that an average song is 5 minutes, that means I played every song at least twice and yet no new songs... Now 7 hours in, I have maybe 20 new songs, so roughly half of the disk is unlocked. I finally put down the guitar after playing Everlong, the reason I bout the game. My pinky has that little blister back, which I haven't had in months.

Alternately, you can play the new Challenge mode, which is series of different set lists. The issue in unlocking songs THIS way is that you need to play each instrument (guitar, bass, drums and mic) and also play as a band. While not a huge negative, this is an issue for solo players who want to just get new songs. There is an unlock code, the game even tells you so, but so far there is no word on what that code might be, and if it will effect your achievements and such. It shouldn't, considering I have seen what the achievements, but its a possibility.

So far, in career, I have 218 stars (got 4 stars on 2 songs), 394,400 fans and $5866, having already spent about $500 on new clothes. The game is a considerable improvement, with nearly EVERY complaint people had from last year being resolved. The quick play mode even lists the actual difficulty of each song and works like the music store, allowing you to quickly search through songs. With my 60 or so song downloads, the 80 I will have unlocked, that's about 150 songs for Rock Band 2. I plan on doing the Rock Band 1 export once the career mode is complete, so add in another 30-40 there that I actually play, as I will delete the rest. Check back for more details once I get the band back together.

I Was Getting Listless...

2008-08-25T20:02:00.000-07:00

Things have been slow here at the Vegasadelphia camp, but that should change soon. Another move (the other side of town), lots of games and new TV shows should keep me occupied. Let us discuss it in list format!

Favorite summer movies:
1) The Dark Knight
2) Iron Man
3) Hellboy 2
4) Step Brothers
5) Kung-Fu Panda

Summer movies I still need to see:
1) Wall-E
2) Wanted
3) Hancock
4) Speed Racer
5) The Dark Knight again...

Most anticipated upcoming games in 2008:
1) Tales of Vesperia (picking it up tomorrow)
2) Prince of Persia
3) Tomb Raider Underworld
4) Guitar Hero World Tour
5) Rock Band 2
6) Mirrors Edge
7) Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts
8) Fallout 3
9) Star Wars: Force Unleashed
10) Infinite Undiscovery

Most anticipated returning TV shows:
1) House
2) Heroes (keepin' my fingers crossed...)
3) Big Bang Theory
4) The Office
5) Chuck
6) Terminator: Sarah Conner Chronicles (best season finale of last season besides House)

Most anticipated NEW TV shows:
1) Dollhouse (yeah yeah, not til 2009...)
2) Fringe
3) Damn... pathetic list...

The Portal Effect...

2008-08-11T11:22:00.000-07:00

I was teased a bit by certain people (person) for wanting to play Portal, and Portal alone, when it was first announced. Narbacular Drop was a great tech demo, and I had high hopes for the full game, even though Gabe Newell said it was only a short puzzle quest, and I knew nothing of the story or humor we would later fall in love with. What we eventually got was the most fun I had gaming for all of 2007, as brief as the session may have been. While it may be a little too early to put this in stone, Braid on XBox Live Arcade is this year's Portal for me.

While Braid doesn't have the humor found in Valve's Portal, playing Braid was a very similar experience to me. The game is short (all puzzles solved in about 6 hours), pretty (great hand painted appearance), has a great overall mechanic (rewind time to solve puzzles), wonderful music (like a tour through Irish fields), strange hidden secrets (super secret stars do nothing?) but more than anything else, Braid left me wanting more.

It took me roughly 4 hours to get through the 5 main worlds, getting 60 of the game's 72 puzzle pieces. To complete the game, you must find all 72 puzzle pieces, and once all of the level's puzzles are complete, the final World 1 opens up to explore. Those final 12 pieces took me about 2-3 hours alone, because Braid gets very challenging, and makes you think very far outside the box, using each world's unique mechanics in a way that is both brilliant and frustrating. Kill your own cloned shadow just to scavenge the key he was carrying? Reverse time to make the unreversable cloud appear below your feet? You will have to use your imagination to completely solve this game.

The story is unique as well, written like an epic poem, told through short paragraphs at the beginning of each world. The story starts with Tim searching for the Princess that has left him. We are told that "this happened because Tim made a mistake." It is not until you complete the very end of the final world, that you can fully appreciate the simple story. While not a "twist" per say, the ending to the game is very satisfying, and worth the journey to get all 72 puzzle pieces, and uses the game's time mechanic to reveal the truth.

At $15, a lot of people have been turned away from the game simply for the price, which is rediculous. I have paid a full $50 for games that lasted as long, and brought nowhere near the level of satisfaction that Braid brings. If you want something to last forever, then get GTA4 and Madden. If you want to have the most fun in a game all summer, then get Braid. The demo is free on XBLA, a PC version is on its way, and if you come over to my place (or where ever I move to) you can play my version. Just play this game already, smile, and thank me later.

Image courtesy http://braid-game.com/

Ridin Dirty...

2008-08-10T13:24:00.000-07:00

Teachin the nephew what ridin dirty is all about. Word....

Building Myself up for Disappointment...

2008-08-07T11:40:00.000-07:00

The Japanese don't really care about the XBox 360, or, as they call it, the "それは何であるか。(subtitle: nani). 360 exclusives don't really get their blood flowing, and they often make the leap to the PS3 before too long. However, a certain game, that I myself am looking forward to quite a bit, caused this to happen:

That's right, the Japanese LINING UP EARLY for a 360 exclusive. Which game you ask, or "どのビデオゲームか。" if you are actually Japanese and reading this (thanks Babelfish!)? Tales of Vesperia of course!

80% of my 360 games are from Namco/Bandai, an incredible number when you look at the fact that for my PS2 collection, only 2 Tales games and the 2 Katamari games can make that claim. That is out of +/- 25 games. Tales of Symphonia was one of my top 5 Gamecube games, and the original PS1 Tales of Destiny convinced so many twitch gamer friends of mine that RPGs can be fun.

Tales of Vesperia will be coming out at the end of the month. Let's hope that those fine young Japanese folk in line will be as happy as me.

Photo courtesy Famitsu

Game over man, GAME OVER....

2008-07-30T11:36:00.001-07:00

I rarely post little flash cartoons and such, but this one is just so good....

CLICK HERE FOR THE FUNNY BECAUSE BLOGGER DOESN'T WANT MY BLOG TO BE WIDER THAN 15 PIXELS

You say July, I say To-mat-oh...

2008-07-28T11:43:00.001-07:00

Things have been a little hectic in the Vegasadelphia household as of late, hence the lack of updatieness. Here is a recap of what I have been up to.

Dark Knight: What can I say that hasn't been said already by every person ever? Amazing film, amazing story, amazingly realistic take on something that so many of us view in such a brightly colored and animated way. Also, it wasn't too long, it was the right length given the story that was told. One of my favorite parts is the Joker telling Batman they will probably be doing this for the rest of their lives, a nod to The Killing Joke, but with the roles reversed. As for Batman 3, I say we will be seeing a Catwoman centric plot.

Hellboy 2: Simply put, the most amazing visual experience since Moulin Rouge or the Matrix. Yes, I just lumped those movies together.... G. del T. has an amazing visual style to most of his work, and he pulls out all the stops in this one. While the story felt a little too stuffed at points, and too slow at others, Hellboy 2 surpassed the original for me. Now if only they could get rid of that horrible opening scene...

Step Brothers: Go see this movie. It is one of the flat out wackiest movies in ages. They make no attempt to be anything other than a random almgamation of words and sounds, and it works out wonderfully. My two favorite lines are "It's like masturbating in a time machine" and "that was like a combination of Fergie and Jesus." The serious part went on a little too long in my opinion, but that made the funny parts even funnnier. Will Ferrell and John C Reily should do every movie together.

Dr Horrible: In case you missed it (what is wrong with you?!!?) Dr Horrible made it's debut earlier this month, and was as wonderful as I hoped. I wish there was more duet work between NPH and FelDay, but it was the best 45 online only super villain musical I have seen in years. I will keep everyone posted on the DVD release, which is reported to include a musical commentary track.

Eddie Izzard: I saw Eddie Izzard this past Saturday night, and he was astoundingly funny. At one point (jazz chicken) I was unable to breathe for a minute as I was doubled over in hilarity, my body trying to continue laughing, but no oxygen was available. By the end of the show, I was so tired from laughing, I had to check my watch to see how long it had been. He did a solid 2 hours of comedy. If you ever get the chance, go check him out, he is one of the most amazing comedic minds in the world, even if he doesn't do jokes you can repeat without telling 15 minutes of sourse material.

Alohamora...

2008-07-07T17:00:00.000-07:00

Luna says hi!

A pic from the upcoming (yet, until just now, not previewed in any way) Half-Blood Prince movie. I am excited because HBP is my favorite book in the Potter series.

I have also just started (and nearly finished) the Order of the Phoenix video game on the 360. It is a simple, fun adventure game, plain and simple. You basically have free range of the entire Hogwarts ground, and get to cast magic spells with the right analog stick on everything in sight looking for hidden secrets. I am already 40% through with only 4 hours of gameplay. Again, nothing fancy, horrible story elements, but its just fun to explore the grounds and solve all of the puzzles. A great game for Potter fans and adventure gamers alike.

**Image courtesy Mugglenet

Weird Al...

2008-07-01T12:57:00.000-07:00

Think about it for a minute. When have you felt completely uncool? When have you felt like, even if you had the prettiest girl on your arm, the nicest clothes, the best job, at this moment in time, you are completely and utterly uncool? This is how Weird Al Yankovic must feel all of the time. But the difference between Weird Al and the rest of us is that he doesn't care, as a matter of fact, he relishes in his uncoolness, and loves every second of it.

Last Friday night, Weird Al began the second leg of his Straight Outta Lynwood tour at the Henderson Pavillion, and it was a celebration of nerdiness and geekdom. Weird Al emerged with acordian in hand, long curly hair, pants hiked up to his chest. The show started off with the chicken dance (yes, the wedding-time, kids birthday chicken dance) and his latest polka mash-up (sadly the songs in it are now about 3-4 years old). I felt completely uncool. Me, someone who pointed at a dude in a "Browncoats" thsirt outside of the show and shouted "nice goram shirt buddy!". Me, someone, who earlier in the month, was at the same location for a video game music concert. Me, someone who says "epic fail" multiple times each week, has more than 2 video game shirts, over 20 anime DVDs and proudly displays his signed copy of Serenity for all to see.

In between each song, clips from the Weird Al Show and his MTV interviews and even random cartoons played. These were a fantastic break in the action and were some of the funnier moments of the show. Weird Al is an excellent comedian, perfect for the tv/movie world, and this showed off those skills. His music videos provide further evidence. After each video, Al would emerge in a different outfit, whether it was a red zoot suit for "Wanna B Ur Lvr", a silver track suit for "All About the Pentiums" or an actual fat suit for "Fat."

Stormtroopers in a kick line

Two moments stood out for me that had me screaming and singing along as much as anyone else. A long line of storm troopers appeared on stage, with Darth Vader in the middle. Al emerged in his Jedi outfit, and began to sing "The Saga Begins", not that you could hear much at first over the hooting and hollering. I felt OK when the "cool" guys I sat next to also knew the words. He followed that up with Yoda of course.

The show ended with an encore of the cell phone song, and an extended (yes, extended) version of Albuquerque. I felt a little cooler knowing that 500 other people knew all of the words to this 16 minute rant. The show ran for two hours and had about 10 costume changes. While I doubt I will go see Weird Al again any time soon, anyone who is or was ever a fan, will find something to laugh about, and if your friends are as uncool as you, you will have a great time.

Skadoosh...

2008-06-27T16:10:00.000-07:00

If you had asked me back in March what I believed my favorite movie from the first half of the summer would be, I would have said I hope Iron Man. Well, I was right. But I would have never thought that Kung Fu Panda would be taking up that second spot. Here are my brief opinions of the latest movies to hit the theaters.

Kung Fu Panda: I went into this one with looooow expectations. It took a big beautiful pair of brown eyes to convince me to see this movie, and boy am I glad that I did. Instead of going with stupid fart jokes and a bunch of childish name calling, Kung Fu Panda is an intelligently written and excellently performed little movie. This movie was written for Jack Black, and the animators captured him perfectly. Nearly everyone brought a great performance, from David Cross's Crane, to James Hong's Mr Ping. A fun movie that no one should overlook.

Get Smart: I had high hopes for Get Smart, between Steve Carrell and the sitcom-heavy writers, and for the most part, the movie delivered. Changing Maxwell Smart from a clumsy goof who accidentally saves the day into an intelligent and cunning agent, who just happens to be a bit accident prone was a smart move in my opinion. The loads of fan service (Bill Murray in a tree as Agent 13, and Bernie Kopell getting hit by a car) and fun action was just the right combination without being too corny. A good time for fans of the series, and a fun movie for anyone else.

The Incredible Hulk: I dunno... I have never been a fan of the Hulk in general, either in comics or TV or movies. I actually liked the first movie, minus the zombie dogs and cloud/lake battle. The best thing I can say about TIH is that I had no complaints. It was a good action movie, with or without the famous lead. The thing is that I STILL do not see Ed Norton as Bruce Banner... A descent movie for actions fans, a nice comic translation, but little to nothing more.

Inner Child Is Not So Inner...

2008-06-21T09:25:00.000-07:00

My inner child is on the floor screaming and crying and begging for his parents to buy him something. What do I... I mean what does he want? Looky!

3,800 pieces, $400, and 284582 hours of awesomeness!

Check out more at Gizmodo by CLICKING HERE!

Point, Activision...

2008-06-19T17:36:00.000-07:00

Activision just sold me on Guitar Hero: World Tour with a single word. That word? Everlong.

Everlong is quite possibly my favorite song of all time, and GHWT will feature said song. When it was announced that you could make your own tracks, the first song I thought of was Everlong. Oh, IGN revealed a butt load of other new features like character creations and the new touch sensitive guitar as well in their preview which you can, and should, read by CLICKING HERE!

Now the only question is where I will store 2 freakin drum kits....

Video Games Live...

2008-06-15T10:42:00.001-07:00

7pm on a Saturday here in Las Vegas. As I get out of the car, I check the temperature on the dashboard. 110 degrees. The sun is setting on the other end of the amphitheater making me squint, and the 5 lines are at least 50 people deep to get in the doors. I see Pac-Man t shirts, some dudes dressed up like Dr. Mario, lots of dudes in camo with toy guns, and more Mario and Zelda shirts, hats and costumes than at a Hot Topic stock room. Why have all us nerdy folk gathered in such blistering heat? To attend the Video Games Liv e concert of course!

Started in July 2005 by game composers Tommy Tallarico and Jack Wall, the first concert had 11,000 people show up in Hollywood to watch the LA philharmonic perform live versions of popular game music. This year, there will be over 50 performances by local orchestras, headed by Tallarico (as MC and guitar player) and Wall (conductor and hype man). The show has turned into a celebration of the gaming world, and while the main focus of the show is the music, so much more takes place.

Before the show started, the audience judged a cosplay contest, while others competed for high scores in Space Ivaders and Guitar Hero 3 outside of the auditorium. During the show, a Frogger competition took place while the orchestra played live, changing the music depending on the gameplay. One lucky winner (see picture below) got to wear a Space Invaders tshirt, and run across the stage trying to clear the first level using his body. Voice actor extraordinaire Dee Baker not only proved to us he IS Olmec, but did a live recording as one of the berserkers from Gears of War. A meet and greet afterwards allowed us to meet many of the former Westwood Studios employees, most now with Petroglyph, along with almost everyone mentioned above, from Tallarico and Wall, to Dee Baker and the stunning and sweet as sugar Becky Young.

What about the music you ask? The show started with a bang with a medely of classic game music, including games like Tetris, Frogger, Ghosts n Goblins, Dragons Lair, Donkey Kong, Gauntlet and others. A video from Hideo Kojima introduced the music from Metal Gear Solid, Koji Kondo introduced music from the Mario and Zelda series, and David Jaffe brought us God of War. Moving pieces from Medal of Honor and Civilization put a hush over the crowd. Web famous Martin Leung performed a medly of Uematsu piano pieces from the Final Fantasy series, and even performed the original Mario theme blind folded. Frank Klepacki rocked out with his Command and Conquer theme. They even premiered a track from Starcraft 2, a game that is not out yet, so this is the first time this music has been heard. And, of course, to close the show, the big tracks from Halo, World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy VII (ONE-WINGED ANGEL FTW!) and Castlevania brought the audience to their feet.

When you think of a show being performed by an orchestra, you don't really expect the crowd to be shouting, hollering and laughing during the performance. Video Games Live brought together a group of people in a unique environment that was easily one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life. If this show comes to your town, you need to go and witness it for yourself. Words cannot adequately describe the atmosphere and fun that this simple premise has produced. Whether it is Tommy Tallarico's LED Pong shirt, the crowd shouting out "KINGDOM HEARTS" after TT asked who liked Disney and Square (they played the orchestral Hikari theme of course, which, amazingly enough, you can see RIGHT HERE!) or the general social nature of the crowd, everyone who goes to see Video Games Live will leave with a sense of whimsy and delight, and rush home to pop in their favorite game, although maybe just to listen to it for a while.

Thank Goodness There Is No Insurance Mini-Game...

2008-06-05T07:10:00.000-07:00

It has happened. GTA4 (Grand Theft Auto 4, for those of you cave dwelling folk (which, if in a cave, how on earth do you have a computer and internet?)) has finally sunk it's teeth into me. I am about 15 hours into the game, and officially loving every minute of it. Want to get an idea of the fun I am having? Here is what I did just in the last hour of gameplay.

I drove an SUV from Bohan (Queens) into Algonquin (Manhattan) and bought some body armor and uzi ammo. I bumped into an old friend from the boat over to the US selling hand bags, and drove him over to get some money from a guy who owed him. The dude took off, and we hunted him down in a high speed chase, and got the money back. With some new cash, I bought a stylish new shirt, fancy jeans and brown loafers. I walked across the street into a car dealership, went upstairs, got into the seat of a Ferrari, drove it directly out of the 2nd story window and onto the streets. With my new speed machine, it took mere seconds to escape the pursuing cops. I drove into Times Square and jumped off of a conveniently placed dumpster over half of the plaza. With my car pretty much totaled now, I got off and walked down to the lower east side, and took a helicopter tour of the city. Once the tour was complete, I ripped the pilot out of his seat, and took my new toy for some joy riding under several of the cities bridges. After catching the attention of the cops and getting a full 6-star wanted level, I flew back Bohan, with police copters on my tail, and cop cars directly under me. I landed directly in front of my safe house, went inside, and took a well deserved nap. And yes, when I started the game back up again, my helicopter was still there in my parking space.

I am quite surprised at how much I am enjoying GTA4. I was ready to be disappointed and bored and underwhelmed while simultaneously being overwhelmed, but the game does an incredible job of slowly and methodically teaching you how the game works, and what is necessary to succeed. Gun battles are no problem any more, I can easily control almost any vehicle, and I no longer need the GPS or map to get thru all of Broker and Bohan, and half of Algonquin.

Yes, there are problems. Escaping the cops can either be the simplest 5 second escape, or an impossible onslaught that you will never escape. If you fail a mission 75% of the way through, you must completely start over from the very beginning, which is extremely taxing in the longer missions (I am looking at you Snow Storm!). The AI for the cars is the single most annoying aspect of the game. Other drivers tend to follow your lead, so they go the same speed as you, making it very hard to get around cars on highways or on bridges when going fast. Sometimes all of the cars on the road will suddenly, all at once, slam on their brakes, or all slam into the walls of the road for no reason. And do not get me started on waiting at the toll booth; it can take 30 seconds for a car to pay and pull forward.

But in the end, the fun you have far outweighs these complaints. The voice acting is very well done, with the only downright bad acting done for a character that you later find out is under cover, so the acting is probably done bad on purpose because the person is acting. The level of detail still astonishes me, with cab rides actually a bit fun when you can just watch the city go buy. I am only 28% of the way through according to the stats, so I have a ways to go, but I think I will enjoy the rest of the ride quite a bit.

Picture courtesy http://endersgames.wordpress.com/

Special Deliveries...

2008-06-01T12:16:00.001-07:00

This weekend has blessed me with two beautiful bundles of joy. Two gifts that are as special and wonderful as any gift imaginable. One came out of a large cardboard box, and the other from my sister's stomach. I will let you figure out which is which.

Click to embiggen

First is my new HDTV. It is a Samsung LN-T4069F, 1080P 120hz 40" LCD. Yeah, a 40" at 1080p, I know, not usually necessary on a TV this size, but there is a noticeable difference on this set compared to others of its ilk. Also, 120hz, so yay! I got an incredible deal, 42% total off at Best Buy during their Memorial Day sales. A buddy let me borrow his 360 HD-DVD drive (I would buy one if I could find one cheap) and the picture quality is amazing. I will be getting a PS3 soon so I can take advantage of this baby and the Blu-Ray drive soon, but want to find a nice deal first. So far my only complaint is that standard def programming is quite blockier than my old HD set, and some small writing is very hard to see in 480i/p.

Click to embiggen

The other big happening was my sister had her first baby, my first nephew. His name is Adam, he is 5lb 13oz, very small even at full term, and was born Friday, May 30th at 7pm. There are plenty of more pictures up on my MySpace, and I will keep adding, so check them out there.

Spring 08 Recap Part 2...

2008-05-26T18:34:00.000-07:00

SPOILER ALERT! THAR BE SPOILERS HERE!!!

The following opinions will be done in a tongue-in-cheek style, making it VERY hard to understand what is being said, hence the reason I am typing it instead of doing this orally. So let us take a look behind the scenes at how some of the big movies were made for this spring/summer.

Indiana Jones- Crystal Skull: The following conversation took place at some point in the past. The names have been changed to protect the innocent.
Stephan Speelbergo: Hey, Georgia.
Goergia Locust: Yes, Stephan?
SS: Make a list of your 4 favorite movies that I have done.
GL: No problem! I would go with that Jurassic dinosaur movie, that alien one with the Extra Terrestrial, the one that had those Close Encounters, and the one we did together, with the archaeologist, Dr Jones, and his wacky adventures.
SS: Excellent choices! Let us combine all of those movies, and make it into one big sequel!
GL: But do you think that will take things too far, all those genres rolled into one?
SS: Absolutely

So, Indy... fun movie, good time, but I have so many gripes. Like I said above, it was like SS and GL got together and just made a movie using everything from their previous efforts. This movie was heavily inspired and paid a lot of tribute to Raiders of the Lost Ark, but the whole alien theme went too far. The first three Indy movies were about mystical objects with a power imbued by God, good or evil. This one just blew the whole magical powers thing out of the water. I would have enjoyed it more if the aliens had simply left behind some artifact, and once returned, it gave knowledge and disappeared. The fact that the aliens were actually there and the ship takes off at the end... not cool. Oh, and if you didn't see the Mutt "twist" coming, you have never read a book, watched a TV show, or seen a movie in your entire life.

Chronicals of Narnia: Prince Caspian- The following conversation took place at some point in the past. The names have been changed to protect the innocent.
Andy Adamdad: Hey random person I am bumping into on the street, what was your favorite part of the first Narnia movie
Bum: The journey of the children, the quest they were sent on, the suspense of wondering what obstacle they would need to get around next.
AA: Oh, ok. What about the fights?
Bum: You mean the big battle at the end? It was cool, good fun, but nowhere near the best part of the movie, or what made the books such a great memory for all the children the world over.
AA: So the fights were your favorite parts?
Bum: What? No. The fights are the LEAST important part of the books and the story!
AA: Well, GREAT NEWS! The 2nd Narnia movie will be NOTHING but battles! No quest, no journey, no exposition, no character development AT ALL, just lots of battles!
Bum: Can I go now please?

Yeah, so, Prince Caspian, another fun ride, but very disappointing overall when you look at what makes the books so special, and what makes a good movie. Three epic battles are great and all, but where was my freaking character development and motivation? MOTIVATION PEOPLE! When the best two parts of your movie are dudes being dropped by griffins into a castle and Anna Poppelwell's face, you didn't do a very good job. A fun watch, but not what the books are about.

Death Cab For Cutie: DCfC just released their latest album, Narrow Stairs, and have been on tour promoting it, and I was lucky enough to be at one of their concerts recently. The show was really great, they know their audience and played to it well. They played only 2 tracks from Narrow Stairs, and those 2 tracks are two of my 3 favorites from the new album. Overall, despite the fact that poor Ben Gibbard had no monitor in his ear for the first 3 songs, they did an amazing job of just playing great music. A lot of bands their size get into a problem of having the levels blasting all over so you cannot really hear the music itself, so major props go to the band's sound designer for the concert at doing an amazing job. Photos of the show can be seen on my MySpace page.
As for Narrow Stairs, I am disappointed at the way the album came out. There are 3 great tracks, Bixby Canyon Bridge, I Will Possess Your Heart (although the 4.5 minute opening can be a bit annoying when you just want to hear the song) and You Can Do Better Than Me. The previous album, Plans, was amazing, and one of my favorite albums of all time, so this one had a lot to live up to. Unfortunately, the sounds that DCfC has defined for me is not that present, with a lot of dark music, black sounds, and depressing songs all around. A good effort, but not up to par with Plans.

WHATS NEXT: Two big deliveries that I will be talking about very soon. As for movies, Adam Sandler's Zohan looks fun, Hulk (maybe, still not sold on Ed Norton), The Happening (cmon Shyamalan!), Get Smart, Wall-E, Hancock, Hellboy 2, The Dark Knight, Mama Mia, Step Brothers, The Mummy 3, Pineapple Express, Tropic Thunder, Hamlet 2, Star Wars: Clone Wars, and City of Ember.... we have a LOT to look forward to over the next few months... holy shnikies!

I Hate You Activision...

2008-05-22T08:02:00.000-07:00

I hate you Activision, in case you were too lazy to read the headline...

You confirmed today the newest Guitar Hero game will be Guitar Hero World Tour, which will include not only Guitar and Bass, but now the drums and mic too. Long story short, you are officially making a Rock Band "clone" and I have been pissed about it for a while.

Here is why: I already spent $170 for Rock Band and $100 on Guitar Hero 3 to get 2 guitars, a drum kit and a mic. Now, you are coming out with a completely different drum kit, and from the looks of it, this thing and the Rock Band drums will be in no way compatible with each other. My TV area is a small 10x10 room, and the RB drums and 3 guitars I have barely fit in there as it is, and now you are releasing your own drum kit and expect us to pay the premium AND have space to hold the new kit? By alienating the 3 million plus drum kit owners out there, they run the risk of having no one wanting to buy their game, and just making people upset in general.

And today, I am even more pissed. The official announcement reveals that not only will there be an "unprecedented" level of songs to pick from, but also the ability to create your own custom tracks to play in the game, and a battle of the band mode. It also appears that you can have multiple guitar parts, rhythm guitar and lead guitar. Oh, and bands like the Eagles and Sublime will have their songs in the game too. So why am I more pissed today? Because now I really want the damn game.

I hate you Activision....

Spring 08 recap....

2008-05-21T07:09:00.000-07:00

SPOILER ALERT! THAR BE SPOILERS HERE!!!

So what have I been up to lately? I have been keeping quite busy as a matter of fact. Here are some highlights and opinions on what I have been up to:

Iron Man: What a way to start the summer movie season! Iron Man is up there with Batman Begins and Spider-Man and X-Men for the best movie adaptation from a comic book. Top 3 over X-Men actually. RBJr did an amazing job of being himself, which brought, albeit a different take, on the Tony Stark character to life. No alcoholism, and now everyone knows (or thinks) he is Iron Man, so there are some differences.
The fan service stuff was fantastic too! Rhodey commenting "next time" on the silver/grey armor, the Ten Rings terrorist syndicate, the whole SHIELD thing (which I figured out literally as the dude was about to say it) and of course, the after credits "Avenger Initiative" scene was just pure unadulterated fan service.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall: Another good movie from some of the Apatow crew. Jason Segel did an excellent job for his first script, and finding out how it so closely reflected many of his real life failures and experiences made it better. It takes real balls to put yourself out there like that, but anyone who has seen the movie could tell you that Segel has no trouble there. My favorite line? The "and now I have the freshest cereal" line still has me giggling, mainly for it's delivery. Also, Maria Thayer in a major motion picture, you go girl! I would actually go so the Dracula puppet musical by the way.

Walk Hard- The Dewey Cox Story: This movie should have been called LAUGH HARD! HA! Seriously, go watch this movie. When it came out in theaters (pronounced thee-ay-tears) it got passed over quickly, and no one wanted to see it with me. Finally on DVD, I got to see it. I love movies that don't even try to take themselves seriously and consistently break the fourth wall. Most parody movies as of late (meaning anything since Scary Movie) have been utter crap, but this one aced it. Oh, and without a doubt, Jenna Fischer is one of the most funny and beautiful women ever. Go rent it already, it costs a freakin dollar at Red Box!

House: Can House do any wrong? No, I think not! Am I biased? Well, yeah, duh. The final two episodes of the season, especially the first of the two, House's Head, were excellent as usual. House's Head really broke free from the mold, and created a very trippy and fun ride, and the finale was genuinely moving and well played. It was nice to let the show be about the characters more than the medicine, just like in the first 2 seasons. Wilson has been House's single support system since their college days, and having that not only taken away, but having House be the reason, is very interesting storytelling. And props to the writers for the fan service "you can't always get what you want" line. It brought a big smile to my face.

GTA4: What can I say that hasn't already been said? Grand Theft Auto 4 is a lot of fun, and has an amazingly detailed and living world. Am I having fun though? Well, yes and no. I am at the age now where I do not always have 3+ hours to sit and play a game, and GTA4 requires quite a bit of dedication. I am about 8 hours in, and am finally at the point where I can start doing single missions without having to worry that my phone will be ringing every 2 seconds with another mission that I am practically forced to take, or penalized for ignoring.
Oh, and for those of you who don't know, you can turn off the phone and the story mode! There is an option in the phone that lets you turn off messages and calls so you can freely roam around and have wacky car jacky fun. The manual and even in game tutorials (which I am still going through... there is a LOT to learn) never mention this feature, making it extremely difficult to pop in for a quick 30 minute session. Now that I have Little Jacob as a friend, have email access and can take cab fares, I can play for 45 minutes before going to bed instead of worrying about getting stuck in the game an hour passed the time I want to get into bed.
Are there issues other than that? Sure. Like the cops will stop chasing you when a mission ends, taking away from the realism and suspense. Trees are made of solid steel, which lamp posts and poles are made of ply wood. And I suck at free aiming when using weapons, the characters are usually too small on screen to make this useful.
But again, am I having fun? For the most part, definitely. I love that I now know the city and its streets well enough that I actually know where I am (at least on the main island) and the story is really done quite well. I still have a very long way to go, but so far, now that I have learned how the game works, I am looking forward to getting to the end of this one.

R.I.P. - 2005-2008

2008-05-14T21:40:00.000-07:00

Back in later 2005, a quick trip to Walmart lead me to the shampoo aisle. I soon found myself picking up a bottle of Suave Daily Clarifying Shampoo, with 20% Free with purchase. The 20% came in the actual bottle, so no fancy mail ordering or moving liquid from one container to another was necessary.

Since that time, I have washed my hair between 3 and 4 times each week. That is 3.3 times per week on average for 2.5 years. That comes out to approximately 415 times that I have washed my hair, and every time, I used this shampoo, and the bottle has only run out now.

Many say the bottle was blessed. Some say the bottle was cursed. Some say water got into the bottle during each shower because I never clicked the cap closed. No matter the reason, this single bottle of shampoo has lasted me for two and a half years. It has been a good friend, a descent source or hair cleaning product, and constant reminder of inappropriate Adam Sandler song lyrics.

Tonight, we say farwell to my close friend, Suave Daily Clarifying Shampoo with 20% Free with purchase that did not run out for 2.5 years. Or, as I always referred to it as, "SDCSw20%Fwptdnrof2.5y."

Goodnight sweet prince!

It Is Like Watching Moving Pictures On My TV!...

2008-05-08T11:46:00.001-07:00

Nintendo launched the brilliantly named Nintendo Channel earlier this week for the Wii. The Channel does several things, including show game preview movies and interviews with Nintendo muckamucks like Miyamoto himself. The service also does things in the background, like detect your type of TV, how often you play games, and even what types of games you play. The service sends this info back to Nintendo, and will even provide you with game recommendations depending on what you play.

My favorite aspect of this service is the free DS game demos. Simply access the game you wish to try, turn on your DS, and presto, free demo for upcoming and already released games. Last night I tried out Ninja Gaiden DS and Jam Sessions. And ya know what? I had so much fun with Jam Sessions that I went online and bought the damn thing! Got it cheap too :)

What does this teach us? That if you give people a chance to try the product, consumers may actually purchase it! WHAT A FASCINATING CONCEPT!

Let us hope that Wii game demos and Virtual Console demos appear at some point, and that we get no shortage of things to try. While Nintendo is still "winning" the current hardware war in pure number of units sold (namely, all of the ones they build are sold) they have been lacking in software and Wii specific features. This is another step in the right direction, but until we get rid of freaking game-specific Friend Codes and see more AAA titles, I will keep playing my 360 more often than my Wii.

Buffy Top 10: Part 5...

2008-05-07T11:46:00.000-07:00

#5 Who Are You?: Faith is my 2nd favorite character in the Buffyverse, following Giles as my numero uno. Her character is the most fascinating and curious of all the characters Joss has created. From her initial taking over of Buffy's life, to the unstable renegade teenager, to the murderous right hand to Mayor Wilkins, her journey has always kept me glued to the TV. So when Faith came out of her coma, and was back on the scene towards the end of season 4, I was expecting something good. What I got, was something great.

Without a doubt, the best acting by in the series is done here by Eliza Dushku. Long story short (I never get tired of saying that), Mayor Wilkins leaves Faith a device that will allow her to swap bodies with someone else, and of course, she swaps with Buffy. This is actually a 2 parter, with This Year's Girl preceding the episode, containing Faith's awakening, finding the weapon and battle with Buffy. That episode ends with Faith having just body swapped with Buffy, but no one except the audience is aware. Mind you, the only way you KNOW they swapped is because when Joyce asks "Buffy" if she is OK, after knocking out "Faith", Faith-in-Buffy responds with a sinister 5 by 5.

Eliza Dushku captures Sarah Michelle Gellar's mannerisms and speech patterns perfectly. The scene where Buffy-in-Faith goes into Gile's apartment, trying to convince him that she is not actually Faith is the best of all. The dialogue goes as follows:

Giles: "Look, I know what you are going to say, and..."
BiF: "I'm Buffy."
Giles: "All right, I didn't know what you were going to say, but that doesn't make you any less crazy. If you are Buffy, then you will let me tie you up without killing me until we find whether you are telling the truth."
BiF: "Giles, Faith has taken my body, and for all I know she's taken it to Mexico by now. I don't have time for bondage fun. Ask me a question, ask me anything."
Giles: "Who's President?"
BiF: "We're checking for Buffy, not a concussion. Giles, you turned into a demon, and I knew it was you. I mean, can't you just look in my eyes and be all intuitive?
Giles: How did I turn into a demon?
BiF: Oh, 'cause, uh, Ethan Rayne. And-and you have a girlfriend named Olivia... and you haven't had a job since we blew up the school... which is valid lifestyle-wise. I mean, it's not like you're a slacker type, but - Oh, oh! When I had psychic power I heard my mother think that you were like a stevedore during sex. Do you want me to continue?"
Giles: "Actually I beg you to stop."
BiF: "What's a stevedore?"

Only a long time fan would truly understand how wonderful this scene, and Eliza's job in it, truly is. But there is more to this episode than just the acting. We once again get to see the vilification's of the Watcher's Council, it is confirmed for the first time that Willow and Tara have more than just a friendship forming, and we learn that Tara is a more powerful and intuitive witch than those we have seen before. This chain of events also leads to the crossover with Angel in L.A. where Faith finally accepts her bad choices and tries to make amends, with some excellent Angel episodes from his freshman season.

I can't figure out how to close this post out.... so I will leave you with Faith in Buffy talking to spike:
Spike: "You know why I really hate you, Summers?"
Faith-in-Buffy: "'Cause I'm a stuck-up tight-ass with no sense of fun?"
Spike: "Well, yeah, that covers a lot of it."
Faith-in-Buffy: "'Cause I can do anything I want, and instead I choose to pout and whine and feel the burden of Slayerness? I mean, I could be rich. I could be famous. I could have anything. Anyone. Even you, Spike. I could ride you at a gallop until your legs buckled and your eyes rolled up. I've got muscles you've never even dreamed of. I could squeeze you until you popped like warm champagne, and you would beg me to hurt you just a little bit more. And you know why I don't? (pauses) Because it's wrong."

Buffy Top 10: Part 4...

2008-05-05T19:34:00.000-07:00

#4 Becoming (Parts 1&2): Becoming might be the most appropriately named Buffy episode, as it truly defined what the show was about, and specifically, formed Buffy into the woman she is today. The 2^nd season finale, these 2 episodes, aired a week apart, proved to any non-believer that Buffy, as a show, had a lot more to it than just some skinny blonde chick kicking demon ass.

So much is revealed shown and in these episodes, namely how Angel became a vampire, Willow’s first time with witchcraft, Spike showing that he is more than the average vampire, how insane Angelus is compared to the average demon, and Buffy revealing to her mother that she is the Slayer.

Long long LOOOONG story short, Buffy is out for blood now that Angel, soul-less and evil after sleeping with Buffy and having one moment of true happiness, has killed Ms Calendar and harassed Buffy and pals non-stop. Angel wants to awaken the demon Acathla , who will suck the world into Hell. Angel kidnaps and tortures Giles on how to awaken the demon, Spike sides with Buffy, as he doesn’t actually want the world to end and wants Drucilla back to being his alone, and Drucilla injures Willow and Xander, and kills Kendra without a drop of sweat. Buffy marches into battle against Angel, fighting him in an epic sword fight. Buffy has nowhere to go, everyone has either died or abandoned her.

Acathla’s mouth opens, and the world starts being sucked into Hell. Buffy has the advantage, and is about to finish both Angel and Acathla by driving the sword through Angel into the demon statue. Buffy pulls back her sword, ready to plunge, when suddenly, Angel changes, his soul returns thanks to Willow back in the hospital. Realizing what must be done, Buffy says her tearful goodbye to the confounded Angel, then thrusts her sword through her love, and sends Angel to Hell, and closing the portal.

The season ends with Buffy leaving town, no one knowing what actually happened in the battle with Angel and where Buffy has gone. You can read more about my personal experience with this episode and it’s close by CLICKING HERE! Buffy’s sacrifice to save the world cemented the show, and Buffy’s place in history, and proved to the world that, yes, you guessed it, Joss Whedon is evil.

Buffy Top 10: Part 3...

2008-05-01T07:33:00.000-07:00

#3 Hush: Other than being evil (see previous post) Joss Whedon is probably best known for having amazing dialogue in all of his works, from Buffy to Firefly to Toy Story.... yes, Toy Story. So it came as a big surprise to many that the much hyped 10th episode of the 4th season of Buffy, titled Hush, would contain very little speaking at all. Other than the lack of much dialogue, Hush is also best known for being the only episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer that was nominated for an Acadamy Award for writing.

The episode starts out with Buffy daydreaming in class (about new beau Riley (few dates, no kiss yet)) with the daydream turning into a strange nightmare, with a little girl singing a song about demons named The Gentlemen. She tells Giles about the dream, and he says he will research it. Willow is still recovering from Oz's recent departure, and decides to join the college Wicca group, who discuss nothing about magic and spells, and instead discuss bake sales and "menstrual lifeforce." When she points out the lack of magic talk, she is mocked by the group, except for one young lady, named Tara, who seems quite eager to hear more of what Willow has to say. Anya is on Xander's back about what their relationship is about other than "lots of orgasms." Meanwhile, Giles is entertaining a female friend from the UK, and has had the neutered Spike moved to Xander's basement for the visit. This is discussed in one of the best lines of the season:

Giles: I have a friend who's coming to town, and I'd like us to be alone.
Anya: Oh, you mean an orgasm friend?
Giles: Yes, that's exactly the most appalling thing you could have said.

After all this exposition, The Gentleman appear and steal the voices of everyone in Sunnydale. This is where things get interesting. We start with Buffy and Willow realizing they have no voices, and then Xander tries calling Buffy on the phone, realizing that there is no way to communicate, and he starts blaming Spike for their current situation. Everyone arrives at Giles' and they watch a newscast announcing the current predicament. The newscasters voice is the last one we hear until the end of the episode, and all of the acting is pantomime. This is what makes Hush so incredible, is everything that happens while no one is able to talk.

Some brilliant scenes come out of the silence. Buffy and Riley finally kiss while helping the towns people at night, helping to prevent the mayhem caused by a town now gone mad. When Xander returns to Giles' apartment, he finds spike hanging over Anya's sleeping frame with blood around his mouth, and Xander, believing Spike has attacked Anya, jumps to the rescue, making Anya quite happy, and frisky. The best scene of all is the one where Giles explains to the Scoobies what The Gentleman are and why they are in Sunnydale. Camille Saint-Saens' "Danse Macabre" plays while Giles uses an overhead projector to show his crudely drawn pictures of The Gentleman and Buffy. This scene is one of the funniest in the series, despite the masturbatory and boobies related humor. This is also where Willow and Tara finally meet, warding off one of the Gentleman, which winds up being a big turn for the series.

The Gentleman and their helpers are amazingly well done. They are very pale, almost bone white men in black suits. They have enormous toothy grins, and use slow, methodical movements. Imagine polite skeletons with tight skin and you will get the idea. The Gentlemen float slowly through the air with an eerie calm about them. To contrast their subtle ways, their henchmen are loping, arm flailing demons, wrapped in straight jackets and chains.

As if there was any doubt, Buffy, with the aide of Riley, defeat The Gentleman and gets everyone's voices back. During the fight, Buffy and Riley both realize that the other is something more than merely college students, and the episode ends with them seeing that they both need to explain who and what they are. In another brilliant ending, Joss ends the episode with the following, taken directly from the Hush script (which I actually own):

Riley: Well. I guess we have to talk.
Buffy: I guess we do.
(The two sit in awkward, dead silence.)
Credits Roll

XBox Live Equals Love...

2008-04-29T07:48:00.000-07:00

With my new bowel shaking Guitar Hero powers, aka my kickassedness on Hard and Expert, I have had a desire recently to test my metal (no pun intended) against other players. Saturday night, I logged onto the online multiplayer for Guitar Hero 3 to put my skills to the test.

I played about 10 songs against other players. Three separate times, I played against the same competitor, who I will call CrazyMonkey for reference. Each time, we were very evenly matched, with him taking 2 wins, and me taking 1. CrazyMonkey used his headset to communicate during and after matches, with normal comments like "Aww man!" when he messed up and "Nice match" when he won, always gracious.

On our fourth and final match, I chose Paint It Black on Expert. I immediately took the lead and for the whole match dominated CrazyMonkey. At the end of the match, I had a score three times greater than his.

Instead of his normal, gracious losing speech, he presented me with this, in a completely matter-of-fact voice: "Whatever dude, have your little victory, I am going to f**k your mom now."

Thank you, internet, for showing me so much about humanity.

Buffy Top 10: Part 2...

2008-04-24T12:54:00.001-07:00

Starting my series of mini-reviews about my favorite Buffy episodes. You can read my previous post by CLICKING HERE!

#2: The Body- Joss Whedon is evil, and I absolutely love him for it. The season 5 episode The Body is the proof. A big part of season 5 is Buffy's mom Joyce going through a health scare with a brain tumor. Buffy, used to fighting off her demons, at first refuses to accept that nothing can be done to help her mom, but slowly accepts the truth. Over the months, Joyce goes through surgery and appears fully healed. In the episode prior to The Body, called I Was Made To Love You, Joyce is back on the dating scene, full head of hair and back at work, full of life and energy. The episode ends with Buffy coming home to find Joyce dead on the couch. The Body starts right where the last episode left off (last scene in previous episode is first here) with Buffy finding Joyce, and it sinks in how evil Joss Whedon truly is.

We spend all season worrying about Joyce, and during I Was Made To Love You, she is back to her old self, doing better in fact than before the tumor! Buffy and Dawn tease her about her hair and outfit, Joyce makes jokes about forgetting her bra in her date's car, and the new guy even sends her flowers the next day. The fact that, for 15 episodes, we watch as Joyce gets sick, recovers, and is then better than ever is what makes her death even more traumatic. If she had just died suddenly, or during her medical scare, yes, it would have been sad, but not shocking. Writing and planning like this is what makes Joss Whedon so incredible.

The acting in The Body is just as good as the planning and writing. Everything from Buffy's jaw gaping slog around her house, her screaming at Giles not to touch "the body", Willow's freaking out about clothing choices, Anya's desperate pleas for someone to explain why Joyce is dead, and Tara's stoic support to all involved are all heart wrenching performances that truly showcase these actor's abilities. And, for the first time, we actually care about Dawn.

There are 4 moments that stand out for me in The Body. The first is when Buffy is on the phone with 911 and has the following conversation with the tech:

Buffy (putting her hand on Joyce): She's cold.
911 Operator (pause): The body's cold?
Buffy: No, my mom! Sh-should I make her warm?

Buffy not equating "the body" with her mother shows how she will not accept what has happened. The second, as I mentioned, is when Giles arrives and Buffy shouts at him as he dashes to check on Joyce, "We're not supposed to move the body!" and slaps her hands over her mouth, finally for the first time truly realizing what is happening. The third moment for me is when Willow and Xander hug in her dorm room. There is nothing special happening, there are many other much more dramatic moments, but the moment these two best friends hug, I lose it. That is my we're-not-supposed-to-move-the-body moment. And finally, Anya's tirade about life and death: "But I don't understand! I don't understand how this all happens. How we go through this. I mean, I knew her, and then she's, there's just a body, and I don't understand why she just can't get back in it and not be dead anymore! It's stupid! It's mortal and stupid! And, and Xander's crying and not talking, and, and I was having fruit punch, and I thought, well Joyce will never have any more fruit punch, ever, and she'll never have eggs, or yawn or brush her hair, not ever, and no one will explain to me why."

Visually, Joss did a lot with The Body as well. Some shots are framed so perfectly I have a hard time believing he didn't spend hours on each shot. And more subtle queues like Dawn's art project (drawing a picture of what basically looks like a dead woman's body in the same pose as Joyce) are delightfully dark. And the episode ends where so many directors and visionaries would refuse to let it; right before the big moment. Dawn and Buffy lie on the floor of the morgue after dusting a vampire that was in the room with the other bodies. The sheet that covered Joyce's corpse has fallen, and her cold dead body lies on the table. Buffy is frozen in fear. Dawn is wide eyed and curious and reaches slowly to touch her dead mother's skin, and right before she does, fade to black, the end.

Buffy Top 10: Part 1...

2008-04-21T11:40:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, I have been rewatching the entire run of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on DVD for the past few months. There has been a lot of nostalgia, both good and bad, but rewatching many of my favorite episodes have brought new light to old memories. When it is all said and done, I decided to make a list of my 10 favorite Buffy episodes, both for myself and for others to read about.

My favorite episodes of all time are:
1) Once More With Feeling
2) The Body
3) Hush
4) Becoming (1+2)
5) Who Are You?
6) Restless
7) Innocence
8) The Puppet Show
9) Tabula Rasa
10) The Zeppo

While 1-3 represent my favorites in order, 4-10 are in no particular order. This being Buffy we are talking about, things get a little different when we talk about seasons and villains. For example, my favorite seasons, from most favorite to least are:
1) Season 2
2) Season 3
3) Season 1
4) Season 4
5) Season 5
6) Season 6
7) Season 7

Notice that the only season 2 episodes on my first list are Becoming and Innocence, but it is my favorite season overall. And no, 6 is not at the bottom of my list, with OMWF and Tabula Rasa on the list, with Life Serial and Gone close to making it. Point to make as well, and that is 7 is not a bad season either, just the least note worthy.

And what about the villains?! My favorite villains are:
1) Mayor Richard Wilkens
2) Faith
3) Spike
4) The Master

Over the next few weeks, I am going to post my opinions on my top 10 episodes, mini reviews of each one. To start with, I already wrote a bit about Once More With Feeling back in November, which you can read by CLICKING HERE! I will write about The Body later this week, then so on and so forth for a little while. If you guys like what I write, I will start doing more on other shows like Angel and Firefly, etc, etc.

X-Play Nice Children...

2008-04-17T20:22:00.000-07:00

Videos may take a few moments to load

X-Play, G4's flagship show, has received a lot of flack from both gamers and TV viewers, two completely different groups of people who have nothing in common. While many criticisms are valid, 2008 has been a standout year for the show. 4 months into their new format, they are clearly listening to their critics, in obvious ways like shortening a 45 second opening down to 10 seconds, putting a nice Daily Show style spin on the daily gaming news, getting rid of the horrendous in show forum/chat pop up every 2 seconds, but also in subtler ways some people might not take note of, like taking huge segments of time, and dedicating that time to serious topics.

Most recently, Adam Sessler (the reason other than Morgan Webb's boobs that the show lasted during the dark times (that is not a dig on Morgan, just a sad, pathetic truth)) spoke with Dr Lawrence Kutner and Cheryl Olson of Harvard's mental health and media department about their $1,500,000 government funded study about how video games effect children, which they cleverly titled Grand Theft Childhood. It is a very interesting topic and handled so well by Sessler and X-Play. It would be so easy for the show to be childish and "I told you so" about video game violence with children, but instead, they let the experts do all the talking and make themselves look smarter for doing so.

Check out the segment below:

I am also a big fan of Sessler's Soapbox, a rant on various topics every week or so. You can view his latest diatribe about the Resident Evil 5 racist controvery below:

Props to Amazon...

2008-04-05T12:24:00.000-07:00

Way to go Amazon.com! Long story short, I bought the Buffy Chosen Collection back in 2005 when it was released. I have yet to watch the entire series, in order anyway. Today, ready to watch the 3rd season finale and.... no 3rd season finale disk... Searched and searched, both physically and mentally/memoryally, and really and truly, no disk. I decided to try and call Amazon, see if they would be of any help, low expectations abound. Well, long story story short (didn't I already say that?) they couldn't replace anything, and Fox will only cover for a little while so they would have been no help at all. After speaking with the Amazon dude for a few more minutes, he agreed to pay for half of the cost of replacing the 1 season from which the disk is missing. He didn't owe me anything, didn't have to give me a dime, but he split the cost of replacing a DIFFERENT product from 3 years ago!

Nice work Amazon!

The Ancient Ghost of Irony...

2008-03-30T15:53:00.000-07:00

UPDATE: SEE BOTTOM OF POST FOR NEW INFO

UPDATE 2: No, the song is not the song Angel... c'mon people...

I recently started rewatching the entire Buffy TV series on DVD. I own the Chosen collection, which is 1 big box with all 144 episodes. Today, I watched the 2nd season finale, the amazing Becoming two part episode. But I am not here to talk about the show itself, I am here to tell a story.

Many many many many years ago (like 9) my best friend and I decided to enter this big contest in the Games puzzle magazine. The contest involved answering many questions, and each question would somehow give a hint to the final question, which, if you could answer, entered you into the grand prize. The questions varied from "simple" mathematic equations, to knowing about historic events, to finding out about a specific painting and how much a bottle of shampoo in that painting cost. We hunted down answers everywhere from the then limited internet, up to and including heading all the way into center city Philadelphia to the city's big library to hunt down answers. Ok, he did most of it... but I was all helpy and supporty.

One of the questions what right up my alley. The answer we needed was which Sarah McLachlan song played at the end of the 2nd season finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I did not know. I could remember only a bit about the song. Now remember, this was before the internet had every piece of information available at your fingertips. I could recall a tiny segment of the tune, and a few lyrics. After finally finding a short clip on a website, I was able to get the lyrics "and I claw for solid ground." I even learned to play the few notes on the piano, a musical instrument that still mocks me to this day. But that tiny segment of the song is all we had to go on.

My best friend's friend, and one of our classmates, he found out, is/was a big McLachlan fan. He played the little ditty for me, I mentioned the lyrics, and not even she knew the full song... but she did own the piano books for her albums. After a lot of searching, we found the song was on an album called Surfacing, and the song was called Full of Grace. I still have a fond memory of this song, the hunt for the title, and that moment in the episode where Buffy's mom comes up the stairs, and those lyrics play.

Fast forward to an hour ago. I am watching the 2nd half of Becoming, the episode in question. The song starts to play. Buffy has just killed Angel and sent him to hell. Tears are pouring. Memories of the episode and our quest flood back. Then, I see Kristine Sutherland start to walk up the stairs. The lyrics begin... "and I claw for solid gr.........." Heh..... freeze frame... odd, I didn't touch the remote... Then the familiar XBox 360 bloink noise, and a message pops up "Attempting to read media." The disk cannot be read. It cannot be read AT THE EXACT MOMENT THAT PART OF THE SONG IS PLAYING.

I eject the disk, put it back, try another device... but there is something wrong with the disk AT THAT EXACT MOMENT. It winds up playing if I let it sit for a minute or two, but every device and every time, the disk freezes at this exact moment. So, long story short, the ancient ghost of irony has decided to freak me out a bit today.

UPDATE:
From Andrew, the best friend guy: "it's really funny to think of the internet as NOT being the mecca for all answers to all life, isn't it? i mean, we got that video of the commercial for the episode on the internet but couldn't find the episode. then when we nailed the little bit of lyric, we couldn't find it in context. that same question would've taken us ten minutes today, and from the time we actively started working on it, until the time Caitlin gave us the sheet music...had to be several weeks. straaaaaange..." More in the comments section.

Define lazy....

2008-03-22T23:24:00.000-07:00

How lazy am I? The keyboard was a little too far away from me, but the mouse was at hand. I wanted to look up Ghostbusters on IMDB. Again, keyboard, not within reach. So instead of actually getting up, I brainstormed. I went to the Coming Soon section on the site, found Street Kings. Street Kings features Hugh Laurie of House fame, which now features Kal Penn, who stars in Harold and Kumar which had a cameo by Neil Patrick Harris who works with Alyson Hannigan on How I Met Your Mother whose first movie was My Stepmother is an Alien which starred Dan Aykroyd... who played Dr Ray Stantz in.... GHOSTBUSTERS! No keyboard required.

EDIT: Yes, I realize in hindsight that Kal Penn was in the Buffy episode "Beer Bad". The reason I did not recall this fact at first? BECAUSE THE EPISODE WAS BEER BAD!

The Greatest Gift of all...

2008-03-16T20:01:00.000-07:00

This past week was that one week each year that my birthday happens to occur during. Also, screwy sentence structure reared its ugly head. I know, wacky. So what did I get? Other than a kick ass party with a large number of beautiful women (some dudes were there too....) and the prerequisite mommy made bday cake, a few good things happened on or around my big day.

Smash Bros: My Wii has been rather lonely lately. Mario Galaxy has long laid dormant... ok, lie, it has been borrowed by 2 people so far. No Virtual Console titles have merited my hard heard Nintendo points. Super Smash Bros Brawl's arrival, despite delayed, is perfectly timed. I have put in at least 20 hours so far, both solo and in hilarious multiplayer matches. No other game in memory other than Rock Band can bring out such utter joy and glee. The controls are fully customizable, and everything runs much closer to the N64 original over the GameCube speed fest (which I popped back in this afternoon for comparison). I absolutely hate playing as some characters (Donkey Kong, Ganondorf, and yes, Mario) but have found perfect balance with Link, Pit and Meta Knight (fallen out of love with Samus for the moment). Only negative? A week in and I still cannot play online against strangers. Quick message to Nintendo: stop being so freaking stupid about online. Oh, and Mario Kart Wii comes out in like a month.... yay? Yeah, didn't think so.

Paramore: Hey, so, good news and bad news! Paramore has added one of their songs to Rock Band for the bargain price of 80 points ($1 to us normal folk). Bad news? It wasn't Misery Business. Crushcrushcrush would be the song. While still a great song, when I read Paramore as one of the bands for the week, my heart skipped a beat thinking the next words would be Misery Business. Clearly, not the case. Misery Business would be one of the greatest songs to have in Rock Band. Everyone cross their fingers, mkay?

Lewis Black: My favorite comedian's new TV show premiered this week, and it isn't half bad! Root of all Evil pits 2 pop-culture items against each other, with 2 comics arguing for why their topic is the true root of all evil, with Lewis Black being the final judge. Only complaint? Not enough Black! He opens and closes the show, and quips here and there, but this is a show WRITTEN and CREATED by Black, not starring him. While his writing is one of the things that makes him so great, I want to see more of the man doing his thing, and less of the actor.

Serenity: Wuzzat? The Angel: After the Fall and Buffy: Season 8 comics are doing so well that Joss is going back to do more Firefly/Serenity comics too? Ya heard that right. And the first issue came out on Wednesday. And is it as good as the aforementioned amazing comic comebacks? No, actually. A tad disappointing.... not bad by any standards, but the show/movie has lost something in the translation to the comic world, something both Buffy and Angel have done quite well. I will wait until all 3 issues are released before making any final judgments, but so far, a comic about 9 characters (10, including Serenity herself) needs more time to marinate. The previously released Those Left Behind was a great example of how to do it, so let us hope the next 2 issues are worthy of the Whedonverse.

Top Chef: Hey, do you like reality shows? Me neither! But I love Top Chef. And what's that, Top Chef, season 4 is back only 4 months after the last seasons finale? Isn't that great? Well? Isn't it? Yeah, not TOO psyched either. Need some breathing room sometimes between shows... but, proved me wrong season 4 has! A good number of interesting characters are already showing their true colors, and I will make my calls now that Richard, Stephanie, Andrew, Dale, and Mark will be top contenders. Sorry other ladies, none of you have stood out quite yet like the last 3 years. Early call overall, Richard for the win. And no, having 2 of the women being in a relationship is not an advantage, it will be harder for them both, having to decide whether or not to help each other or look out for #1. So far so good, despite my early attitude about the show coming back on WAY too soon again.

Stand In The Place Where You Live...

2008-03-04T12:35:00.000-08:00

Living in Las Vegas is unlike living in any other place I have ever lived, or even visited. For me specifically, I live pretty far away from any major landmarks, in the far southwest of the valley. And yes, Vegas is a valley. The Strip is in the middle of the big square, and I live in the bottom left hand corner, quite literally in the middle of the desert. I see coyotes at least once a week, and I am surrounded by mountains on 3 sides (4 if you count the entrance to my neighborhood) and the sidewalks are covered in tumbleweeds. When you get off the exit from the highway to get to my house, you pass several big brown signs indicating you are driving to Death Valley.

Sometimes, I see something here that truly sets it apart from the rest of the world. Driving to work this morning, I witnessed an amazing sunrise coming over the mountains to the south east. The picture below, taken by my passenger on a cell phone camera, cannot do justice to the majesty I witnessed. Just thought this was something cool and unique, and wanted to share it.

Click to embiggen

No Doubt.... ABOUT MY SKEELS YALL!!

2008-02-28T12:08:00.000-08:00

I woke up today with the idea of writing a lil something for the site here, and one topic that has been on my mind is the utter lack of any Guitar Hero downloadable content. Yes, we got a free Dream On (100% on the first try on Medium so easy..... and boring....) and the Foo Fighters pack near launch was the rockingest. But every other song or pack that comes out is just plain disappointing. Low and behold to my surprise, but out of freakin nowhere, one of my top 5 favorite bands puts out a 3 pack for Guitar Hero 3: No Doubt!

What songs did we get for our 500 points ($6.25)? Don't Speak, Excuse Me Mr. and SUNDAY MORNING! For those who know nothing about music and hate their ears being happy, all 3 songs are from the CLASSIC 1995 Tragic Kingdom album, with Sunday Morning being one of my top 10 favorite songs of all time. Just want to point out the awesome coincidence that Tragic Kingdom knocked Bush's Razorblade Suitcase (anyone else remember Swallowed?) out of the top spot on the charts, and 13 years later we have Gwen and Gavin happily married with family :)

So how do the songs play? Here are my thoughts on the songs on Medium:
Excuse Me Mr: Most challenging and great beat. One of those songs that will challenge new people, but feel very fulfilling to long time players. This is one of those songs that when you play it, you forget you don't actually have a real guitar in your hands.
Don't Speak: Too easy on Medium, with the solo sucking because you only play 1/3 of the notes. Very Guitar Her 2 of them.... I will try again on Hard tonight and update my opinion.
Sunday Morning: ROCKIN! I got 100% on my first play through. It wasn't too hard or too easy. Yes, I am biased as this is one of my absolute favorite songs, so I am not the best judge here. It is like asking me if I liked that last interview with Joss Whedon: no matter what happens, I will love it.

That is all for now. Check back tonight or tomorrow as I will just add my opinions on the songs on Hard at the bottom of this post. Oh, and the Guitar Hero Aerosmith announcement? I am TRYING to reserve judgment until I see the song list, but I am getting familiar Rock the 80s suck waves from that one...

UPDATE: Don't Speak is not that bad on Hard, quite a bit of fun. Excuse Me Mr is very difficult, and Sunday Morning is still the awesomenest.

image courtesy Wikipedia

DANGER DANGER!

2008-02-17T11:49:00.000-08:00

Be weary young friends! A threat is upon us like none other before it! Coming this leap year day of the 29th of the month of February (Feb-ROO-ary) comes a film so packed full of sexy, it may just make your head explode. Natalie Portman. Scarlett Johansson. Eric Bana. All... in Victorian garb.

MAY YOUR LIBIDOS TAKE WARNING AT THIS CLEAR ATTEMPT TO MAKE ALL OF THE WORLDS POPULATION MATE AT ONE TIME THEREBY DOUBLING THE POPULATION IN AN ATTEMPT TO END THE WORLD!!!!!! Ok, so not double, just like.... there will be like 50% more people. More like 37% counting children and the elderly who cannot mate... BUT STILL THE THREAT IS A GREAT ONE!

Shield thine virgin eyes and tie down your young sexy daughters... yeah... tie em down good... need a hand with that rope? Yeah, she likes it... I mean... wait... LOCK UP YOUR LOVERS FOR THE THREAT OF THIS AMOUNT OF SEXY IN ONE FILM WILL BE TOO MUCH FOR YOUR CROTCHES TO HANDLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Other Boleyn Girl draws closer.....

Image courtesy IMDB

You say "tomato", I say "feb-roo-ary"...

2008-02-10T11:32:00.000-08:00

Other than the occasional Rock Band break, I haven't been able to get much gaming in at all for nearly a month now. After nearly 200 hours on the job, and a few thousand miles of traveling, I am finally ready to get back into the swing of things and start having some fun again. First, it is time for me to look back on my most recent trip...

Vegas vs. Atlantic City, NJ: You decide...

Click on either picture to embiggen. That is AC on the top and Vegas on the bottom for the hopelessly ignorant. Also, the Vegas picture was taken by a very talented photographer at my boss's place a few months back.

Creepy: Atlantic City has/was long been the home of Miss America and all things related to this wacky little freak show. My hotel was the quasi Miss America museum, and the presence of the show permeated everywhere. This is what was across the wall from my bed in my hotel room in Atlantic City:

CLICK PICTURE TO EMBIGGEN

Some of you have already seen this picture, and I will now post your thoughts on it:
-"I agree, rather strange. But now I know what Miss America from the year of my birth looks like. But they should provide better material for when you're alone in the hotel room... uhhh - never mind."
-"They'll be WATCHING your every move... but hey, you've finally got a captive audience to practice your jokes on!!"
-"haha *sings* here she is, miss americaaaaaaa!!! sucks to be you LOL ^_^ "
-"Wow. The ghost of Miss America's past watching over you? I'd be scared to go to sleep."

F%&k you all.

Yummy: While back in the Delaware Valley (PA+NJ+DE), I managed to pick up a "few" Tasty Kakes. In Philadelphia, a "few" equals $44.

CLICK PICTURE TO EMBIGGEN

A little history about Tasty Kakes for those who aren't familiar. Tasty Kakes were first made in 1914 in Philadelphia. They were created when the Super Devil, Bender from Futurama, Chuck Norris, and Super Saiyajin Goku high-fived each other in a bakery owned by the Mythbusters. The original product looked less than appetizing, so Lucy Pinder, Kelly Brook, and Scarlett Johansson made out in front of the delicious pastries and they morphed into their current beautifully chocolate form. You can FINALLY buy them in bulk online, bulk being the operative. The majority of people that I had try them for the first time loved them greatly, with only one person just thinking they were just "ok." She and I are no longer friends.

Ghost Watches are cooler: I picked up Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass for my poor neglected DS for my many travels the past month. So far I am pleasantly surprised, despite the mad amounts of adulation it has received. I didn't think I would like the touch aspect, but it works very well, and I now find myself with my foot in my mouth... ya know, again. I only have 2 complaints so far, and that is the constant need to return to that first temple and go through the entire thing again and again with a time limit, and the inability to quickly swap items. Also, the roll mechanic doesn't seem to work that well. Overall, more fun than I had with Wind Waker at first thanks to the new draw-to-sail mechanic, but it doesn't have the same magic and appeal, and I think I am already halfway through at about 8 hours of play, with 3/4 of the map uncovered.

Found Iliad: I have decided that the next game I am buying will be Lost Odyssey for the 360, which comes out this week. Every review and preview I have read has 1 main complaint, and that is that it is too "old school" or too "late 90s" for a JRPG. Well guess what? That is EXACTLY what I want. I am skipping Mass Effect and Blue Dragon (and Xenosaga 3 and Rogue Galaxy... geez I am behind...) in favor of Lost Odyssey for the time being. Hopefully it will be the right choice for my preferences. I will let you know how that turns out.

That be all for now. I will update again in another 3 weeks or something....

I've Got My Orange Crush...

2008-01-25T18:15:00.000-08:00

Wow, crazy few weeks there folks! Lots going on, not much time to game. But when the gaming and fun have taken place, the time was well spent. Progress is theme tonight folks, so let me break it down for you:

First and foremost, I am officially "good" on Hard in Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Emphasis on Rock Band. I have 5 starred all but 5 songs (from the main list) in Rock Band on Hard, and am starting to get into Expert. I honestly never thought I would get the hang of it all, but just like training to get the blue button down, the orange button has succumbed to my whims and... well, why be subtle... the orange button is my bitch now. I own it. As a matter of fact... I pwn it. Guitar Hero 3 is still brutal on Hard, but Rock Band was the perfect way to get into the groove of the orange button.

Speaking of Rock Band, how much does this downloadable song thing rock?! A lot, that is the quantity I was going for. From Oasis to Blink 182 to STP, every week Harmonix puts out at least 1 good song that is more than worth my $2 or so. Every tuesday I am assaulted with questions about what new songs I bought, and I am nothing but excited about what may come next. Harmonix have proven that QUALITY pieces can be released on a regular basis, no excuses.

Speaking of excuses, I have none. I spent $25 (half priced!) and re-bought Guitar Hero 2 for the 360. It is rather shocking how different each of these games (GH3 vs RB vs Gh2, etc) is from the last, even if they are made by the same people for the most part. GH2 shows a lot of notes on screen at once, and the colors are horrendous in HD. It is hard at times to see which note to press because the yellow note is the same color as the fret board, or because the blue note is actually white instead of blue. This should have been tweaked on the 360 to make the colors work better, because they officially suck.

One reason why I re-bought it is because I wanted to see how the DLC there turned out (love the My Chemical Romance) and also because I am officially an achievement whore. Which is one reason I also rented Tony Hawk: Project 8. I miss the old Tony Hawk games with simple goals and progressive learning and skills. Project 8 has some good points, and controls beautifully, but I am tired of all the sandbox crap that every game seems to want to do. Nothing in the game is unique enough to make it stand out. It took me at least 6 hours before I could find my way around the game because of the lack of a good map. Still better that Skate's 1000000 square mile bore fest town, but too much gets opened up at once and can get overwhelming. The most fun I have had is doing the classic goals in each area. Also, what is up with the frame rate when going from one area to another? The game practically freezes at points. Yes, this is a first gen 360 game, and I am sure the newer games are much improved, but you can lose a line from these horrendous loads.

That is all for now. Time to go and sing some Wonderwall (my arms are killing me). Also, if anyone own an air hockey table and wants to get embarrassed, let me know. Later.

Sweet Charity...

2008-01-13T16:07:00.000-08:00

Hey big spender (props if you get the reference) mind if I use this soapbox for a quick second? We often read, see and hear about different charities, but how often do we actually take a moment to contribute? Lazy like me but want to make a difference? Here is a quick way:

http://www.nothingbutnets.net/

For only a single contribution of $10, a bed net will be sent to a family in Africa, where mosquitoes quickly spread malaria. A simple net will let people sleep easy at night, and help prevent the spread of this disease. It takes 2 minutes and $10, that is all, it doesn't get any easier.

Thanks for listening, and thanks for contributing. Now back to your regularly scheduled weird video game and anime related posts.

< /rant >

HOLY FIRGING SHNIT!

2008-01-09T20:14:00.000-08:00

On Witchblade, the anime, in the 11th episode, Masane, the bearer of the Witchblade, just SHOT A SWORD OUT OF HER CROTCH INTO HER ENEMIES CROTCH WHILE HER ENEMY STOOD OVER HER!!!! SHE STABBED THE CHICK IN HER VAGINA WITH A VAGINA BLADE!

Click to embiggen

That is all for now....

It's Been One Week....

2008-01-07T13:02:00.000-08:00

One week into the new year, and honestly, not that much has happened at all that is good and happy. However, I felt like updating, so I figured I would just start typing and seeing where it led me. So what have I been up to this year? In alphabetical order:

Bleach: Bleach is coming back in March! This Saturday, Adult Swim started airing the reruns from about 8 episodes back from where they last aired new episodes. Doing the math, I figured out that new episodes would start airing on March 1st. I then looked at Adult Swim's schedule and confirmed it. I am often curious why certain shows only get dubbed to a certain point in the series, for example, directly in the middle of a huge plot segment, but such is the anime industry I guess.

Brownies: Long story short, my family was given several slabs of professionally made brownies. Now, I thought it impossible to tire of brownies, but I have been proven wrong. Please, keep your brownies away from me... ya know, for a week or two at least.

Death Note: I apologize, Death Note. When first I watched you about 5 months ago, I hated you. Thought you were too weird and cheesy/dramatic to be any good. Out of pure habit, I accidentally watched your 3rd episode because Bleach used to be on in your time slot. I liked it. I like it a lot. I am now humbled before your tension filled convoluted plot. Please don't disappoint me!

Rock Band: My office is obsessed with Rock Band. It doesn't hurt that we have a big media room with an HD Sony projector and 120" screen. Even the young women of high class, who would rarely dabble in the video game world, are addicted. On a personal note, I am about half way through the solo drum tour on Hard (because it is really hard) and about 75% of the way through guitar on Hard. Yes, I play guitar on Hard now, and I don't do too bad to be honest :) Pretty soon I hope to play Hard exclusively, but we will see how I fare in a group atmosphere compared to the solo aspect, because I have found myself the appointed "leader" and must watch other players play to help out a bit, namely sing along with the songs and let people know when to use Overdrive. I see it as a compliment, but I would like to take a backseat and just play sometimes.

Sweeney Todd: Finally got a chance to see Sweeney Todd, and I was both pleased and disappointed. Pleased in how well the movie worked and how well it was done. Depp did a great job with the character, and I often forgot it was him playing Todd, quite a feat for such a famous face. Disappointment showed up from the lack of music. While there was plenty of music and singing in the movie, some of my favorite songs, especially The Ballad of Sweeney Todd, were not included in the film. Yes, I am slightly biased in that Tony Head and Christopher Lee were to play the singing ghosts, but I would have still loved to see the songs and heard them performed by these extremely talented men. Overall, a good movie and very very well done.

Witchblade: I finally found the time to get back into the Witchblade anime. The 2nd volume has been sitting on my shelf since November. It still is nothing special, a lot (and I mean A LOT) of gratuitous butt and boob shots and silly dialogue, but it is fun, and is weaving a good tale. I am very curious to find out about Masane's past, if Rihoko is really her child, if she picks Tozawa or Takayama romantically, etc. I am picking up the 3rd volume tonight, and will probably watch it this week.

You're the Best Around! Nothin's Ever Gonna Keep ya Down...

2007-12-27T14:00:00.000-08:00

Figured I would make a little BEST OF THE REST of 2007 thingie. FUN WORK BOREDOM TIME!

Best things I put in my mouth:
Rosati's and Cane's. WAAAAY too close to pick a winner, just don't eat both at the same time. But who ever thought I would like a Chicago based pizza over NY/Philly style?

Best moments in gaming:
Metroid Prime 3's controls. Knights of Cydonia in Guitar Hero 3. Super Paper Mario's 2d/3d flip ability. Super Mario Galaxy's star bit collecting. FINALLY beating Green Grass and High Tides on Medium drums in Rock Band. The opening level of God of War 2. Everything about Portal, especially "speedy thing go in, speedy thing come out" and of course, Still Alive.

Best movie moments:
Any time that Megan Fox appeared on screen. Superbad's "It's like a division sign" line. Charlie Wilson meets Gust in Charlie Wilson's War. 300. Luna Lovegood in HP:OotP. Beowulf in IMAX 3D.

Best on-stage moments:
Spamalot. Sarah Silverman's "old Jewish women vs young black men" bit. Dave Matthews after much consideration.

That's all I have for now. Might find some more fun to put up later, but who knows, maybe this really was everything that happened to me this year.

If you feel like dancing...

2007-12-20T07:19:00.000-08:00

Considering I rarely talk about music here, I figured I would end 2007 with a list of my favorite music from the past 365 days or so. So, without further ado, here is my list of 2007’s best music. Click on a song’s name to listen to it on YouTube.

EDIT: Just remember that The Shins album, Wincing the Night Away was a 2007 release. I will give "Phantom Limb" the "best song named after my favorite Venture Brothers villain" award.

Best song of the year, period, end of story:
Paramore- Misery Business
Wow, where did Paramore come from? The incredibly energetic and pumping Misery Business still gets me going whenever I hear it. This is my absolute favorite song of the year, hands down. Take into account that the average age of a Paramore band member is just 19, and it makes it even more impressive. I hope Paramore isn’t a one hit wonder, and that teeny tiny Hayley keeps belting out that big voice.

Best song to sing at the top of my lungs:
Jimmy Eat World- Big Casino
Close contender for song of the year. Jimmy Eat World is back after the mediocre 2004 Futures album. The entire album, Chase the Light, is a solid effort, but Big Casino is the best song Jimmy and the boys have put out since A Praise Chorus.

Best album of the year, even if no single song stands out:
Radiohead- In Rainbows
In Rainbows has made a big impact due to it’s “screw the record companies and download the album online only” trip this year, but it is also the best overall album of the year. Just like OK Computer, Radiohead knows how to put together a complete package that acts more like 1 single 45 minute song, instead of a series of different tunes.

Best song that was written while high:
Modest Mouse- Dashboard
“Even needs have needs, tiny giants made of tinier giants. Don't wear eyelids so I don't miss the last laugh of this show.” ‘Nuff said.

Best “we don’t usually do this kind of song” song:
Linkin Park- Shadow Of The Day
Also could have won the “most fun to sing the harmonies” song. Shadow of the Day is a great softer song from Linkin Park.

Best “this sounds NOTHING like our last single” song:
Finger Eleven- Paralyzer
Everyone has felt this way before, being completely ignored by someone you want to get the attention of, and Finger Eleven put a humorous and rocking twist to the idea.

Best song that sounds nothing like our old music, but rocks anyway:
Matchbox Twenty- How Far We’ve Come
A clever music video compliments a solid performance. For those who can’t tell just by listening, the old drummer is now the rhythm guitar player.

Best sweet and heart warming song:
Ingrid Michealson- The Way I Am
Just listen to this woman sing, and you will feel the the love.

Best “who resurrected Freddy Mercury?” song:
Mika- Grace Kelly
If you thought The Darkness was the new Queen, Mika takes the crown (or is it a tiara) for the glam rock sound of the year.

Best original theme song to a TV series:
Barenaked Ladies- Big Bang
BNL doing what they do best: great harmonies, clever lyrics, and lots of energy.

Best song that makes me want to eat a lot of granola
Eddie Vedder- Hard Sun
Vedder's premier track from the Into the Wild soundtrack makes me feel like lighting a camp fire, playing the guitar in a tie-dye shirt, and having some trail mix.

Best harmony that is better than the melody:
Foo Fighters- The Pretender
Foo Fighters disappointed me with 2005’s In Your Honor double disk set (don't get me started on the need to install software to listen to it on a PC), with Best of You being the only good song out of the 20 found on the album. They came back with a vengeance on E,S,P&G. The Pretender also wins the best DLC song of the year for Guitar Hero 3. Oh, and CLICK HERE to see me brag a bit.

Best song I fell in love with in 2005 that became way too popular this year and kind of ruined the fact this was my favorite song for years:
Plain White Ts- Hey there Delilah
I think the title said it all. I have loved this song for years (the original version…) and am actually disappointed that it became so main-stream. It used to be my favorite song, but now I feel funny when I hear it on the radio. I feel like one of those indie music guys, complaining that a song is popular, but I can’t control how I feel.

Best follow up song to a breakaway hit:
Plain White Ts- Our time is Now
If you are going to get big like the PWTs, at least follow up and prevent being a one hit wonder (although, in theory, Hate was a bit of a hit). Great follow up to the explosion of Delilah.

Best “trust us, we know what we are doing” album:
Incubus- Light Grenades
Oil and Water
Dig
Anna Molly
Close contention in my mind to album of the year, but with a few less than “stellar” songs (ha, I made a funny!) Great series of fantastic singles prove that Incubus can write a lot of good music.

It's like a storm... of metal...

2007-12-14T10:34:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite games on the original NES is Metal Storm. Haven't thought about this game in a long while, but the recent Racket Boy article about games that pushed the NES to it's limits had me reliving my younger days. Check out the "Happy Video Game Nerd" review of it below.

Rock Lobster!

2007-12-11T13:33:00.000-08:00

My desk at work rocks. Click to embiggen:

Mid-season Report Card...

2007-12-07T07:39:00.001-08:00

Alright children, before you run off and enjoy the Chrismahanakwanzakah break, it is time to hand out report cards. Some of you did very very well this semester, and some of you are Heroes. A lot of you are not that unique, but do what you do so well that you stand out. Some of you have finally hit your stride and couldn't be doing better. So many of you are doing such a great, wonderful and incredible job. And again... some of you are Heroes. So let me hand out your report cards and see who is doing well, and who is sucking big time *cough* Heroes *cough*.

Subject: Sundays
Overall Grade: C
Mediocrity, thy name is Fox
Family Guy, Simpsons and American Dad (Fox) C- Yes, I lumped these 3 together, because they are all performing the same. A good episode peppered with 3 or 4 turds in between. American Dad is the most consistent of the bunch, but unlike Family Guy and Simpsons doesn't have any big standout episodes. Nothing to write home about, but nothing terrible either. Each gets a C.

Subject: Mondays
Overall Grade: B
Two surprises and one huge disappointment start my weeks off with confusion.
The Big Bang Theory (CBS) A- Holy crap, where did this one come from? TBBT is the Super Mario Galaxy of TV: nothing that new, nothing that unique, and nothing that original, but done so spectacularly well, it shines through the muck that surrounds it. For those out of the know, take 1 big hearted physics nerd, add 1 Aspergers roommate, a spoonful of Gynephobic Indian, a dash of smarmy Jewish gamer, and finish it off with a sweet, naive young blonde, and you get the best written dialogue this side of a Joss Whedon WGA speech. No question, an A.
Chuck (NBC) B- Chuck has surprised me. While nothing amazing yet, it has managed to capture my attention. The acting is what makes this so good, especially Zachary Levi, Joshua Gomez and, of course, the incomparable Adam Baldwin. A good action/comedy movie in TV format, and just a fun ride.
Heroes (NBC) D- What the f*&k happened here? To agree completely with another friend and fan of the show, Peter is a moron. Peter is like my pug Inky. He follows those around him blindly if treated nice, and doesn't realize his potential or what he is capable of, and will sooner piss on the floor than take the time to think about his actions. Hiro's storyline sucked just as badly. While the last 3 episodes before the finale were pretty decent and well done, it doesn't make up for the other 8 or 9. I enjoyed the ultimate Adam/Kensei storyline ending that came around, but there were just too many other issues with this season to make it salvageable. Tim Kring has promised a completely revamped 3rd chapter, as was clear by the rushed finale. Let us hope he can bring back the magic. Oh, and I could care less if Nikki is dead or not.

Subject: Tuesdays
Overall Grade: A
Tuesday nights are, as they have been since Full House aired in 1987, my favorite night of TV each week.
Reaper (CW) B- Reaper has been a mixed bag full of one trick ponies. I want to love this show more... Almost every episode follows the same formula, something that is usually reserved to children's shows. Each episode, although very similar to the last, has enough in it that is unique and special to make me look forward to this every week, but the writers better start showing something more if I am to keep watching.
House (Fox) A+ - House is currently the best program on television. 'Nuff said... but when have I been known to keep quiet? The competition that House put the applicants through was a great idea, and a lot of fun. And, not to brag, but 2 of the 3 people I said he would pick, he picked. Sometimes change is good, and House has gone through some great changes this year.

Subject: Wednesdays
Overall Grade: B-
Further proof that NBC really knows what it is doing this year.
Bionic Woman (NBC) B- -Bionic Woman is another Chuck. Nothing overly great, but just a lot of fun and a good time. It also doesn't hurt that Michelle Ryan is not only absolutely gorgeous, but a genuinely good actress. And to confirm my suspicions, she is British, and doing a nearly flawless American accent. I would like to see more of the secondary characters get fleshed out more, and completely rid of the horrible acting of Katee Sackhoff/Sarah Corvus (sorry Battlestar fans!).

Subject: Thursdays
Overall Grade: B
Swan songs and dead ducks.
CSI (CBS) D- To quote myself, from September, "Why do I still watch this show?" I wish I was kidding when I say that EVERY episode has AT LEAST one "big boobs" joke... I love boobs as much as the next guy (maybe more) but grow up and be a drama with good writing, not childish jokes.
30 Rock (NBC) B- This show has yet to disappoint. A Scrubs meets the Office style show, I am sad to say I missed the first half of the first season. Tina Fey is the best, Alec Baldwin is still legitimately funny, not forced, and no character is useless or not funny. Good job 30 Rock!
The Office (NBC) A- Consistently the best written show on television, despite my early whining. A true character based sitcom that is as close to perfection as you can get. I am disappointed to say that Pam's character has plateaued and is no longer a lot of fun to watch, even though she is now always forced into tight sweaters. Now that she is with Jim, she has blossomed, but has become dull. That is, however, my ONLY complaint.
Scrubs (NBC) B- Thank goodness the writers came to their senses here. Scrubs doesn't have to be one crazy and goofy joke after another. They have yet to find that magical 2nd/3rd season magic they once had, but this is a large improvement over last year's super goofy attitude. The characters are adults this year, and are realizing that themselves. It's nice to see Scrubs mellow out and go back to what made it fun in the first place.

On a serious, closing note, I just wanted to add that, despite that so many shows will not be returning to TV as soon as I would like, I completely agree with the current writers guild strike. These extremely talented men and women should be paid for everything they create, regardless of whether it airs on national TV, a website, additional DVD content, and should be paid proper royalties without question. How Hollywood has not signed a deal yet is beyond me, but I will enjoy these shows much more knowing that the amazing talent behind my favorite shows are being compensated for their amazing body of work.

Lunar: it's pronounced Loo-NAR

2007-12-05T14:12:00.001-08:00

Those who were involved on my recent "modern JPRGs suck because they are too complicated" rants have already seen this. Two of you commented that it was "the gayest thing I have ever seen" and you aren't wrong. Who cares though?! Remember when RPGs had amazing characters, music, and gameplay, and didn't care about the wildest and craziest battle/upgrade/alchemy system possible?

Just shut up and watch, and let the memories flood back in:

Compassion, thy name is ME!

2007-11-28T03:33:00.000-08:00

I am here in Orlando, FL, on business. This morning, while getting ready for the day, I am listening to the news. One report is of an armed robbery, where the staff was forced at gun point into the freezer (no one hurt) here in Orlando, at a drive through restaurant called Checkers. My reaction to this?

OH MY GOD! I LOVE CHECKERS! I HAVEN'T EATEN THERE IN YEARS!

My compassion knows no bounds....

The Uncharted Legend of Orange Box : Guitar Band Galaxy 3...

2007-11-26T10:34:00.000-08:00

Sometimes as Gamers we are neglected. Nintendo is notorious for long droughts with no 1st party titles, no 2nd party titles, and very few AAA 3rd part titles. Square-Enix and Valve and Rare are known for enormous gaps between the releases of their titles. There are also times when as Gamers, we are deluged in a flood of AAA titles all at once, making it impossible to experience all of the big games all at once when they are released. A few years back we had the Hal02 vs Metroid Prime 2 vs GTA: San Andreas vs Resident Evil 4 vs 10 other lesser known great titles that no one played because of the big 4. This year, we have, in no particular order, Super Mario Galaxy, Mass Effect, Rock Band, Assassin's Creed, Halo 3, Call of Duty 4, Crysis, Guitar Hero 3, Phantom Hourglass, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Orange Box, and Metroid Prime 3 and Bioshock opening the flood gates back in the early fall. That is 13 games just off the top of my head in the past 3 months. If you never felt thankful about game delays (Haze, Super Mario Kart for Wii and Super Smash Bros. Brawl) this is the time to be thankful.

So what have I been playing? You know about Metroid Prime 3, Eternal Sonata, and I toyed around with Orange Box a few weeks back. I would have written about Portal, but there was so much being written about the game, all I would have felt comfortable doing is putting up a bunch of links and telling you all to just play the damn game already. Beautiful Katamari was a big disappointment, mainly caused by a oddly high difficulty level and lack of anything original. Skate was... unique... good for the first 2 hours, but then the sudden level of perfect precision required to get ANYTHING done destroyed any chance of fun. Have I mentioned yet I am starting to get sick of sandbox style games? More on that later.

Most recently, I have spent my time waving my arms around like an idiot (more than usual) and having my forearms throb in pain, (yet become more toned than before. Damn sexy). The big three for me this holiday season are Super Mario Galaxy, Rock Band, and Guitar Hero 3. And over the 4 day holiday, that is what I did. I played 3 of this years biggest titles ad nauseum (literally in Galaxy) over the past week, and felt I would pass along my impressions.

Super Mario Galaxy: A lot has been written about SMG, and I am not in the mood to repeat myself. I am in the mood for Cain's though... mmmm.... While a great game, SMG is not my favorite game of all time, and not even my favorite Mario game of all time. It does come in 3rd behind Super Mario 64 and Super Mario World in the "Best Mario Game EVHAR!" list, but it is still just another Mario game, and not truly revolutionary in my mind. I don't mean to sound negative. It is the most fun I have had with a platformer in a long long time. The nearly perfect controls (still not a fan of the waggle), clever level design (even if 1 level is literally mirrored, and many are rather small), and constant fan service (fire flower returns, along with other power-ups, and lots of old SMB3 music) make this a real gem. A warning to the fairer sex, SMG has caused vertigo in every woman that has played or watched. Not being sexist, just a warning to those who do not enjoy vomit. Strangely enough, one of my favorite parts of SMG is the star bit collecting. Simply point your Wii-mote at the screen, and Mario will collect chunks of stars that fall to the ground and lay around the level. Taking the place of coins (they are still there too), the star bit system is a quirky little addition that is a lot of fun. I have 16 stars left to collect before I get 100%, and the later levels can be challenging. Not groundbreaking, not astounding, but perfectly executed: that is Super Mario Galaxy. Where do I see Mario going next? Despite growing tired of the idea of every game heading down this path, I would like to see a sandbox style Mario game, similar to a Metroid or GTA.

Guitar Hero 3: Yes, I already posted about this one already. After spending almost a month with this gem, I have a few more things to add, and a few things to brag about as well. Guitar Hero 3 is easily the best guitar game out on the market. After replaying a lot of Guitar Hero 1 and 2, and spending time with Rock Band, the guitar experience in Guitar Hero 3 is 2nd to none. Between the blazing difficulty, the simple online gameplay, the fantastic use of hammer-ons and pull-offs, there is no comparison. Neversoft not only did a good job, they improved in a lot of ways over what Harmonix put into place. Some of my recent GH3 highlights including beating one of the developers in an online match (coolest Achievement ever!), getting 100% on The Pretender (go DLC!), FINALLY completing Through the Fire and Flames, and actually getting through about 30% of the game on Hard (Hard is harder than hard was before). For the best solo experience around, Guitar Hero 3 is the best choice available.

Rock Band: So how does Rock Band compare to the Guitar Hero games? In this case, it is best not to compare. Rock Band is pretty damn boring in the single player guitar campaign. There are far fewer notes to play, and in first time playing through all the songs, I got 100% on 32 songs, and no less than 97% on any other on the Medium difficulty. In comparison, I have 100% on 14 songs in Guitar Hero 3. In Rock Band, I would accidentally strum where there were NO notes, even though the guitar in the song would strum 2 or 3 more times. Reptilia should be removed from the game for this specifically. While on the negative comparison track:
-There isn't an obvious Overdrive indicator (star power), and getting Overdrive with the drums can make the orange notes disappear.
-The fret board is translucent, and can be distracting, along with wild strobing and color effects.
-The individual parts, on all instruments except the mic, aren't any louder than the other parts, where Guitar Hero blasted the guitar parts so they could easily stand out.
-Hammer-ons and Pull-Offs are very hard to see and also used rarely. When there are 3 tracks up on screen (guitar, drums, bass) and the frets are even smaller, they can be nearly impossible to see, even on my 36" HD set.
-The guitar itself is less than stellar. The strum bar itself is flimsy and makes no clicking sound, the buttons are stiff and clicky, making it very hard to "roll" your fingers on the frets, and the whammy bar is far too high and too long, making it difficult to use. I will continue to use my GH3 wireless guitar, thank you very much.

Things do get better with the drums, aka the reason 75% of people who own this game bought it in the first place. The drums are damn challenging, specifically, the foot peddle. While I can breeze through any guitar part on Medium, I am barely making it through the songs with the drums. I am finally mastering Easy, getting around 95% on most songs, but as soon as I kick it up to Medium, I am only getting about 60-75% on any song. The foot peddle (the orange button for the drums, literally and metaphorically) takes a lot of getting used to, and I still have yet to find a comfortable sitting position to use in conjunction with the peddle. When you mess up, it takes a long time to get back into the rhythm, so even if I only missed 1 note, I then miss 3 or 4 more just getting back into the rhythm. The challenge so far is what makes the drums more fun than the solo guitar parts. Once I get good at the drums (I will, I hope) the single player experience will hopefully still remain fun, as the drums are a more authentic experience in Rock Band than the guitar. The drums in Rock Band are as good as the guitar in Guitar Hero 3. Physically, the drum kit is big and not as sturdy as I would like. My only real issue with them so far is that there are many dings and dents on the rims of the drum pads from when everyone first learned to play them.

However, I know what it is about Rock Band's single player mode that makes it pale in comparison to Guitar Hero, other than the nit-picking above. Guitar Hero uses songs that are guitar songs. Rock Band uses songs that are band songs. Playing these parts alone can be some fun, but is a much better single player experience with Guitar Hero, because Rock Band is about working together, and the songs are designed to work best when multiple parts are involved. No one part is the main track like in Guitar Hero, each is balanced together. Individually, the parts seem weak because they are MADE to work best when combined, which is where this games rocks, pun intended.

Playing in a band is a completely separate experience in Rock Band. Hmmm, maybe that is why they named it that... When playing as a band, everything falls into place. The easier guitar part is purposeful, because now you can pay attention to the other members of your band, bring them back if they fail out of the song, and during the breaks in the guitar parts, look over at your band mates and watch them play, just like you do in a real band. The drummer is the key member here, as someone with a less than steady beat will make it harder for the others in the band to play along because even with the TV loud, the drums themselves make a good amount of noise. The bass is still lacking, with some songs having too long of a break, or just lots of long notes instead of guitar style strumming. And there is nothing special about the singing parts, it is exactly what it sounds like, no pun intended this time. Singing on Expert is harder than I would expect, with me yet to 100% a song with singing, even on Creep or Say it Ain't So, 2 songs I know as well as my ABCs.

When all of these parts are combined, a unique experience is created. There is no other game that can create the feeling brought out by Rock Band. Unlike Guitar Hero 2 and 3's co-op modes, which is fun yet unsatisfying (the bass being the culprit), the full Rock Band experience is wild and fun, with a true sense of harmony and working-togetherness being generated. Sub par on the single player side, but incomparable to anything else available without actually learning to play an instrument. If you can find the game, afford it (nearly $200 after tax) and definitely have people in your life that will want to play with you, Rock Band is a one of a kind game.

Now my only problem will be choosing between the DLC for Rock Band and Guitar Hero if the same songs come for both....

Some dreams never end...

2007-11-07T13:21:00.000-08:00

It's hard to write a "review" for a game that I have such mixed feelings about. Actually, it is hard to write a review for any game, but that is besides the point. Eternal Sonata for the XBox360 was released on September 17th here in the US, and it is the reason I bought a 360 when I did. The game is a traditional Japanese RPG, and I emphasize the traditional there. Eternal Sonata is a combination of a lot of other existing RPGs, namely the Tales series from Namco and smaller parts the Dragon Quest/Warrior series from Square-Enix, Final Fantasy series and Xenosaga and Xenogears.

The gameplay is traditional RPG fare, with towns and dungeons mixed together, a turn based battle system and epic story. But each of these main elements features major flaws that prevent the game from being truly great. Battles are action based, like the Tales series, but with a few twists, namely the amount of time you have to act, and how long each action takes. As you progress through the game, your team as a whole goes up a level at predetermined times, and this changes certain battle elements, such as how long you have to attack, how much time you have to make a strategy for your turn, and if you can link special attacks together. This is a great system that slowly ramps up the difficulty, while also opening up new battle elements. The battles are always fun, and figuring out a strategy for each enemy type is lots of fun.

Visually, the game is jaw-droppingly stunning, the best looking game I have ever played. Graphical touches like butterflies and lizards crawling around, nearly on par with atmosphere set by Metroid Prime 3. Everything from the towns to the characters is imaculately detailed, even the character's pockets and shoes have a higher level of detail than I have ever seen. This looks even better in HD, and the vibrant colors are stunning. While somewhat cartoony or anime inspired, the graphics are phenomenal, fun, and fantastic. However, the good ends there.

The story is my biggest issue with the game. Without getting into details, the game world takes place in Frederic Chopin's mind as he lays on his death bed. He is one of the charcters IN the game, and knows its a dream world. You start the game with the goal of getting to the capital to discuss taxes on certain items in the world with the king. This never happens. The story takes 2 sharp turns every third of the way through, and completely changes the pace of the game. You start on a quest to talk to the king about taxes, then you want to prevent a war, then you need to stop a monster in an alternate parallel dimension. No single main plot point is ever actually resolved, making your quest seem pointless for the most part. The ending resolves nothing, and actually causes even more questions to be asked (who did Polka love, and who loved her for example) and the final quarter of the game has absolutely no story to be found whatsoever. Admittedly, the ending has a great little time-travel twist halfway through the final 45 minute cut scene, a cool "aha!" moment, but other than there, I never felt resolved with the story or characters.

The negatives don't stop there:
-Towns and dungeons are real, almost too real. No map or markers to show the entrances and exits or doors, so you may accidentally miss a room or treasure, or an entire area of the game.
-When first entering battle, you can't always see the enemies, and have to move the camera. This is annoying, especially when forced to start attacking immediately by the end of the game. This is balanced by having the same exact 2 or 3 enemies in every group in the same 1 or 2 positions in every battle. Very little variation on enemies, and by the final third of the game, there is no reason to switch characters once you have found a good strategy for your 3 favorites.
-LOOONG cutscenes, but the voice acting and visuals are so good, that sometimes it doesn't matter. Sometimes....
-The piano piece minigame is largely flawed. You can collect +-30 musical scores, and play them with random NPCs, however, there is no way of knowing WHICH piece to play unless you have a musical degree from Julliard. I have taken musical theory and can easily read music, but not even I could discern which score should be played with which character.
-Chopin takes a back seat in the story after the first few hours and just pops back up at the end. He is supposed to be the main character, but after the 2nd chapter (out of 7) he has nothing to do in the story.
-The two main side quests, or only side quests, can't really be completed until you play the game a 2nd time. You could theoretically finish the hidden dungeon your first play through, but the level of enemies ramp up so fast, it's not even fun. Also, the hidden dungeon is boring and almost feels like a random assortment of screens, where 5 floors in, you already feel lost and are no longer having fun.

Despite all of these complaints, the game is a lot of fun, especially the battles. If you don't mind being bored for the story portion, and just in general don't care about the character you will meet (of which there are too many playable for a 3 party system, another complaint) then play away. The game is fun, has a great battle engine, and is visually astonishing. Forget the story elements, or at least try not to invest too much into the outcome, and you will have a good time. Gun to my head, I would give it 3.5 stars out of 5.

Image courtesy Namco Bandai

Once More, Once Again

2007-11-06T07:12:00.001-08:00

Certain events stand out in people's lives. Weddings. Funerals. Births. We look back on these moments and remember, the details permanently etched into our minds. Graduation. First date. First kiss. Sometimes, these events are so powerful, they effect the way you live your life. The moon landing. Tearing down the Berlin wall. The original airing of the Buffy episode Once More With Feeling.

Ok, so some events are bigger than others. But when it comes to the greatest piece of entertainment ever created, be it theater, TV, movie or music, you will always remember the first time you experienced it. Once More With Feeling was that experience for me.

Once More With Feeling was the seventh episode of the sixth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It aired on November 6th, 2001, on UPN. It ran for an amazing 50 minutes, 8 minutes longer than the average 1 hour TV series is allowed for air time. If there was ever any doubt that UPN wanted to give Joss Whedon anything he wanted, those extra 8 minutes are proof. Compare that to what Fox did.

There is so much good in OMWF, I can't even get into it. From the flawless music and lyrics, to the deep and meaningful metaphor, everything is as close to perfection as I could ever expect to find. Some of the most powerful imagery, from the opening Going Through the Motions scene (perfect ironic lyrics mixed with dusted vamps and demons) to Walk Through The Fire (the firetruck passing by is the best moment in TV history (and I felt an immense fan-boy moment when Joss himself admitted it was his favorite moment from the series) makes this the best 3000 seconds ever produced. Go and watch it already!

The best thing to happen on Halloween, EVHAR!

2007-11-01T07:33:00.000-07:00

I will use as few words as possible here in order to convey my excitement, because there are too many words swirling through my head to put down on paper... or on a digital form through a keyboard... whatever. Here is the news folks: Joss Whedeon will be returning to TV, and he is bringing actress/producer Eliza Dushku and writer/producer Tim Minear along with him!

The show will be on Fox (the bad news in this story) and will be called Dollhouse. The long and short of Dollhouse is that Echo (Eliza) is one of many individuals kept in a secure laboratory. She and the others have no memories. When important or rich people need someone to fulfill a fantasy or goal, Echo and cohorts and injected with talents and memories, and thrown into the field, but remember nothing about the adventures. Echo starts remembering though, and wants to find out more.

Looks like the writers strike will make this one not come out until next fall, unless it's a short strike (extremely doubtful) and it will show up as a mid-season replacement.

E! has the full story (looks like an exclusive so far) and you can check it out by CLICKING HERE!

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go run through the streets screaming elated overtures, and join Numfar in the dance of joy.

This is why I don't play real guitar anymore...

2007-10-28T21:52:00.000-07:00

After battling my inner demons for a long time (my outer demons are trapped in a mystic urn) I plunked down the $100 for Guitar Hero 3 for the 360. I have been debating the GH3 on 360 vs Wii for a while (downloadable content being the deciding factor here) and also debating whether to get Rock Band and then buying GH3 on it's own later. After trying out the guitar at GameStop (yes, I dared to tread) I made the decision to just take the plunge already.

First off, the wireless guitar for the 360 is fantastic, worth the price of admission. It has the same buttons as the GH2 guitar for the PS2, but its wireless, heavier, and much easier to hold. The strum bar is also a lot more sturdy, so no more accidentally strumming up when strumming down extra hard and fast. My only complaint is the guitar strap, which has an extra sharp edge. Whenever I activate star power, I get a nice sharp poke to the neck. I actually have a mark on my neck. It has been switched out for my PS2 guitar's strap. Otherwise, best guitar peripheral I have used so far. On a side note, it has the PlayStation controller symbols (square, triangle, etc) on the neck under the buttons, but not the 360's letters. This could be because the colors correspond to the buttons on the 360 controller, but I still find it odd to find the symbols on my 360 guitar.

As for the game itself, the set list is where this style of game lives or dies, and happily, Guitar Hero 3 lives strong. The lineup still isn't as strong as the original Guitar Hero, but its better than Guitar Hero 2 (and destroys Rocks the 80s btw). I can honestly say I know 90% of the main songs in the list, and most are performed by their original bands, not an annoying cover. One point of note about the songs themselves, is even with the speakers blasting, some songs don't sound as good as their original recordings, with "Story of my Life" losing almost all of it's melodies and "aahhhs" in the background.

Actually playing the songs is a fantastic combination of both of the first Guitar Hero games. There is a lot less of that playing random notes that don't seem to correspond to the song stuff found everywhere in GH2, but it is still around. The biggest positive found in Guitar Hero 3 is the hammer ons and pull offs are even easier to... pull off than ever before. Instead of just a blank white circle instead of a black and white circle, h.o.s and p.u.s (LOL!) are shown as rings of light, making them pop out very easily. I sucked at h.o.s and p.u.s in the original GH and still didn't "rock" in GH2, but here, I have them down, and there are literally some songs that require these to be used to not fail. I'm looking at you "Cult of Personality" and "Knights of Cydonia." By the way, Knights of Cydonia, thank you Neversoft!

Guitar Hero 3 is simultaneously harder and easier than the previous games. It is easier in that the window to strum the note correctly is clearly much larger (my scores should be lower in quite a few songs) and the improved h.o.s and p.u.s make some fast sections a breeze. However, there are some weird balance issues. Songs in the 1st and 2nd sets are harder than sets 3-6, and suddenly at 7, the challenge doubles. The difficulty in the first 2 sets could be related to the complete lack of h.o.s and p.u.s but I honestly believe they are just harder. After playing through GH2 again yesterday, I can say with certainty that the first 10 songs or so are much harder this time around. This could be off putting to newer or less talented players, but I would need to play in Easy to know for certain. And yes, I have replayed the songs just to make sure i wasn't sucking at first. Story of my Life in the 1st group is harder than When You Were Young in the 3rd group. But overall, the songs are more difficult than the first two games.

There are a few other minor annoyances and improvements. On the positive side, the set lists now show the band's name without having to actually play the song to know whose song you are selecting. Also, the bonus songs have some real gems in there. On the negative side, entering your name/initials in the Quick Play mode is the biggest pain in the ass, even worse than the original Guitar Hero. Ya know those cute little sayings in between selecting the songs and playing them? You won't have time to read them, the game loads too quickly. Thats a positive and a negative. As of 12 hours after buying the game, I am still unable to register at guitarhero.com and don't seem to be the only one. I am hoping that the servers are just too busy, but I would that Activision would have planned for that. (UPDATE: next morning, same problem, can't link the accounts.) And graphically, the game is smoother and brighter, but still ugly as sin, especially the drummer, who was borrowed from the country bear jamboree at your local theme park. The drummer and audience actually distract from the experience they are so weird, with the hideous lead singer not helping at all.

I have yet to play online, so I can't judge how everything will play out there. I have completed the main career mode and am looking forward to co-op (which requires 2 guitars, not available online?!?!) and trying out the online games. I am also not sold on the versus mode, such as playing against Tom Morello, as there is little strategy, just a lot of get power up, use when opponent is playing. Overall, the game plays great and is a lot of fun, improved over Guitar Hero 2. The guys at Neversoft had some enormous shoes to fill, and did a wonderful job. I am looking forward to Rock Band more than ever now. I definitely recommend Guitar Hero 3 to anyone who... just buy the damn game already.

Oh, and Orange Button? F&#K YOU! There, I said it.

Pictures courtesy Activision and GuitarHero.com

That classic British man in Australia geek humor...

2007-10-25T11:53:00.000-07:00

I haven't laughed for a while. The run of this summer's movies were decent enough with Knocked Up and SuperBad, but other than watching endless reruns of Whose Line is it Anyway, I have yet to truly laugh at something humorous in quite a while. So what has suddenly been able to tickle my over sized funny bone? Why, a British geek living in Australia of course!

Once again I have been convinced that the British are currently much funnier than Americans. If my summer of watching BBC America didn't convince me, Yahtzee has finally done it. Yahtzee is a "British-born, currently Australian-based writer and gamer with a sweet hat and a chip on his shoulder" according to The Escapist, where Yahtzee produces his Zero Punctuation! videos about video games.

These videos are the funniest things I have seen, heard or read in quite a while. They are roughly 4-5 minutes long, and are purposely (I assume) poorly animated flash cartoons with Yahtzee doing the voice overs. He reviews new, and even some older games. Yahtzee speaks at 100 miles per hour and is as dry and sarcastic you'd expect a Brit geek to be.

Do yourself a favor and watch these videos, new ones every Wednesday. You can find Zero Punction! videos by CLICKING HERE! You can also find Yahtzee's personal blog by CLICKING HERE!

Did I just review a reviewer? Yes, I suppose I did.... Feel free to do the same to me when I post my Eternal Sonata review in the next week or so. Now get out there and laugh!

I'm still here... wherever here is

2007-10-23T10:33:00.000-07:00

Internet at home has been down a lot lately, and Cox refuses to admit the problem is on their end, so I have been slow in updating.

What have I been up to? Finished Eternal Sonata and am writing up a review for that, just started Beautiful Katamari. Enjoying some TV shows a lot less than the previous season (looking at you Heroes) and just being exhausted. That's allowed, right?

Hopefully my internet at home will be working again soon and I can start updating more. I know that everyone (the 3 of you who read this) look forward to my updates with great anticipation, so I apologize Mom, Dad and 3rd reader. Here is hoping my experiments this week can finally prove to Cox that their service is broken, not my equipment.

You got some Healfdene in my Hrothgar

2007-10-08T20:32:00.000-07:00

The Beowulf CGI movie releases on November 16th. Looks sweet! See the official site and trailer by CLICKING HERE!

Image courtesy Paramount Pictures

Seasons change, seasons begin

2007-09-30T15:42:00.000-07:00

Do you know the best part about moving? Yeah? Me neither. But that is what I have been up to for all of September, and it is finally over. The moving is, but the unpacking is far from finished. The networks have also unpacked their new fall shows and season premiers. I am going to keep my opinions brief considering how much information there was. So here we are, my week in review for the season premiers!

Sunday, 09/23:
Family Guy (Fox)- Star Wars parody episode. Very very very well done. A few jokes made absolutely no sense, or fell flat, and normally I love the irreverent dance routines, but the one at the end here was stale. Overall, the best Family Guy episode since 2005.

Monday, 09/24:
The Big Bang Theory (CBS)- Cute new sitcom about a bunch of high IQ geeks meeting the hot new neighbor. It is not laugh out loud funny, and may only appeal to people like me who act like this and are friends with people like this, but the show is clever and doesn't shove it's characters in your face like other shows. A good start, and I hope to see this one do well.
Chuck (NBC)- Hard to gauge Chuck. Between TV commercial previews, online ads and previews, and before the movies previews, I have basically seen the entire first episode already without actually having to watch it. But when put together in a cohesive package, Chuck was fun, clever, funny, and a nice surprise. This show could get old fast, but I will reserve my full judgment for the new episodes.
Heroes (NBC)- Oh Tim Kring, what is your evil plan? I love Heroes, easily my favorite show last year. But when it comes to the big episodes (premiers, finales, etc) you fail to impress. Heroes was best after the first few episodes last year, and failed at the finale. The premier was just as dull as last seasons finale, with the only cool points being that Kensei being British (I think the true Kensei will end up being Hiro, which the videos on http://yamagatofellowship.org have made me believe more than anything, or, the British dude has powers) and the end with Peter having no memory and the Haitian's necklace on. Heroes is best when you are wondering what is going to happen next, what the mystery is, and admittedly, the premier is not the place to confuse new viewers. I hope and pray that Heroes can deliver a 2nd season as good, or better, than the last.

Tuesday, 09/25:
Reaper (CW)- This is my favorite new show for the season, beating out Bionic Woman. Reaper is about 21 year old Sam Oliver. He works with his best friend at a Home Depot style store, and has a huge crush on his female coworker, Andi, played by the wonderful Missy Peregrym from Heroes. Sam's parents sold his soul before he was born, and it is now Sam's task to collect souls that escaped from Hell. Reaper is a blend of Buffy and Dead Like Me especially with DLM's Delores Herbig, Christine Willes, as someone who looks to be a minor ongoing character. With Kevin Smith and Mark Gordon behind this, expect good things. Catch this show.
House (Fox)- Has House really been on for 4 seasons now? Doesn't feel that long. Ok, enough random thoughts for now. As a whole, the premier wasn't that fantastic, but had some wonderful pieces found in it. Wilson's role in this episode was wonderful, and the fact that House relied on a janitor was great. The rest of the episode felt a little flat, like I was waiting for something good to happen. Something good DID happen when House realized he was treating the wrong patient. I rarely get surprised by the final diagnosis, but this one had me stunned. And in the end, isn't House about the mystery of the patient? In this way, this was a great episode. However, just as Cuddy and Wilson are trying to tell House, the show seems like a lot less without Foreman, Cameron and Chase. Yes, I know they will be back, they are still in the credits, but between now and when they return, the writers better have something better than a crazy cops to work with.

Wednesday, 09/26
Bionic Woman (NBC)-I wasn't disappointed with Bionic Woman, but I think this should have been a 2 part premier, or at least 90 minutes. The beginning was good, the ending was good, but they didn't flesh out Jamie's character while at the facility. The other characters said out loud what she was feeling, instead of seeing Jamie go through the emotions and thought processes herself. I think Michelle Ryan is not only absolutely gorgeous (very much my type) but seems very capable of making more out of a character a lot of us think we already know. This show has the most potential of the other shows premiering this year, but I want to see a little more character development, and less reliance on 2nd tier characters telling us what the main characters are doing or feel and less reliance on special effects. And yes, I could compare this one to Buffy, but other than the "strong woman" aspect, I have yet to see much else to make them comparable to each other.

Thursday, 09/27
CSI (CBS)- Hey, remember when CSI was about the crime committed and the technology used to solve it? Yeah, me too. I knew this episode would be a thriller, and I honestly believed Sarah would die considering her trimmed down role last year, but this episode left me bored. I was reading while it was on. Why do I still watch this show?
The Office (NBC)- Next to Heroes, I was most disappointed with the Office premier, but that is probably because I had such high hopes after the fantastic season finale, and watching the season 1-2 DVDs this summer. The episode wasn't bad, just not great. The Dwight/Angela storyline felt forced and poorly acted, but the Pam/Jim storyline was dealt with very well. I think this would have been better as a 30 minute show instead of a whole hour. It is VERY rare to hear me say "I wish the show was shorter" but a sitcom should be short and concise, not filled with lots of fluff. I still love The Office, but NBC needs to rethink the shows format.

I have yet to watch Moonlight from Friday night, which is CBS's version of Angel. It is literally about a vampire running a detective agency. This week we will see 30 Rock premier, and I am looking forward to that as well. Overall, the fall premiers and season premiers were above average, better than most years, but with some low points in there. Here is hoping a great year of TV is waiting ahead.

Oh, yeah, also, I finally bought a 360 yesterday. Go me.

Metroid Prime 3: A Review

2007-09-03T09:34:00.000-07:00

SPOILER ALERT! THAR BE SPOILERS HERE!!!

I felt like I was in high school again. I was nervous. I had done something like this before, fooled around a bit, but this was going to be something new, innovative. Everyone told me how much fun it would be, but my palms were still sweaty as I fumbled around. Samus and I had known each other such a long time, and I have loved every second we have spent together, but this was taking our relationship to the next level. And I was nervous. Thankfully, my nerves eventually died down after I dived in and had my single most rewarding gameplay experience of the year, maybe longer. Lucky for me, Metroid Prime 3 is and was everything I had been hoping it would be, and more.

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, is the 3rd and final Prime game from Retro Studios. It is the direct sequel to the two previous games for the GameCube. MP3 closes the chapter on the "Phazon" storyline for Metroid. Phazon is a strange, radioactive, almost organic material that has appeared in the Metroid universe. The Space Pirates, Samus's enemies, have been trying to harvest Phazon around the universe since the first Prime game, and MP3 explains Phazon's origins and more.

The story in MP3 is not the main selling point, but it is fleshed out further than any other Metroid game so far. While on a mission with the Galactic Federation, a wormhole appears, and from it pours a giant squid like create, similar to the first Prime's final boss, but bigger and with Space Pirates in tow. Samus, and 3 other bounty hunters, are instructed by the ship's "Aurora Unit" to head to the nearby planet Norion to activate it's defense system to prevent the giant creature from crashing into the planet. Right before activating the defense system, Dark Samus appears and overloads all 4 hunters with a huge blast of Phazon. When Samus wakes up a month later, her suit has been fitted with an energy container called a PED, which not only helps Samus not be poisoned by the Phazon in her system, but also allows her to go into an Overdrive mode, where she shoots pure Phazon from her beam cannon.

The Aurora Unit informs Samus that the other hunters have been dispersed to neighboring planets that were also attacked by these giant space creatures, but all contact has been lost with them. It is up to Samus to find the other hunters, and destroy these "seeds" that have landed on the other planets. The Aurora Unit, is a large half-organic, half-machine computer that is shaped like a large brain. The main Aurora Unit, and several others, aid Samus in her quest. The Aurora Units are the first example of how much of MP3 is dedicated to long time fans of the series.

There are 3 big new features found in MP3. The first is related to the story, and that would be the voice acting. Most of the main characters, sans Samus, is fully voiced, a rarity from Nintendo. The voice acting is extremely well done, with only 1 or 2 cheesy moments from some no-name soldiers. The second new feature is that you actually get to climb in and take control of Samus's space ship. Not only do you climb in and choose which planet to fly to, you can also call the ship to different locations on the map to save your game, and call the ship to bomb armored walls, and even attack some enemies. I never used the ship to attack enemies, as it only works outside, and no strong enemies appear outside, but it is a great concept, and if the ability to call your ship to different map locations was not introduced, it would have made backtracking to other planets the biggest pain in the ass.

The third and biggest new feature in MP3 are the controls. This is why I was nervous. MP3 takes FULL advantage of the Wiimote and Nunchuck. In your right hand, the Wiimote acts as Samus's right hand, with "A" controlling attack, and "B" on the underside of the Wiimote for jumping. The down button on the d-pad is for missiles, the "-" lets your switch visors (you point to which visor you want to use, for a total of 3 plus the main visor) and "+" turns on the hyper mode Overdrive. The nunchuck controls Samus's left hand and has the analog stick, which controls direction, the "Z" button for lock-on, and the "C" button to go into Morphball mode. While you control leg movement with the analog stick, you choose which direction to face by pointing the Wiimote at the screen. There are 3 sensitivity settings for this, and Advanced is easily the most intuitive of the 3 settings. In the Standard and Advanced modes, you press and hold "Z" to lock on to an enemy or object, but still need to point the Wiimote correctly to shoot.

When I first started playing, I could not get comfortable with any of the sensitivity settings, and for 30 minutes, I switched between Standard and Advanced. I was constantly facing the wrong direction and felt like I was always rotating or looking somewhere I didn't want to look. I also confused the Jump and Fire button in 2 big battles. However, by the end of the Norion level, I was in control. By the final boss, I felt like I was one with the game. The game becomes so intuitive and second nature, that anyone that is making a game for the Wii should play this game to learn how it should be done. A mouse and keyboard are no longer the most precise and fun control for a first person game.

Samus starts off with most of her abilities in tact, such as double jump, morphball, and charged shot. She finds missiles very soon, and a grapple beam as well. The grapple beam is a great feature, that lets you whip the nunchuck when locked on to grab everything from handles, loose pieces of debris and panels, and even enemies shields, armor, and the enemies themselves. The grapple made your left hand just as important as your right. Other upgrades include Spiderball, Spacejump, X-Ray visor and a wave beam, even if it wasn't called that. The X-ray visor and wave beam are more nods to previous games in the series.

Graphically, MP3 is the best looking Wii game available. Assuming you aren't standing directly on top of a door or wall, every texture looks smooth and well done. The art design is also incredible, with tiny creatures crawling around everywhere, bats flying out of caves, steam shooting from pipes, lights and electronics appearing everywhere. This won't fool anyone into thinking it is a 360 or PS3 game, but if the Wii can pump out games of this caliber, I have no problem with graphics this gorgeous. Musically, MP3 sounds just as good as every other game in the series, with haunting music that sets the perfect atmosphere for every level. One small annoyance with the music was in the Pirate Homeworld level, where a weird alarmy noise would appear in the soundtrack, constantly making me think I was about to be attacked, but otherwise, a flawless and beautiful score.

Prime 3 is not a flawless game. There are a few complaints I have, the first is not a little one. About 50% of the time, doors would not open immediately. And I do not mean a 1 or 2 second delay, I mean a 5 second delay in doors opening almost half of the time. I was at one time convinced that I was trapped in a room because neither door was opening, and suddenly, 30 seconds later, one finally decided to open. I understand the door system in the Prime series is to lower load times and make the game run faster, but when I have to wait 5 seconds on every other door, that is too long. I once got up and got a drink and after sitting back down, opening the soda, and taking a sip, the door finally opened. Not always a huge hindrance, but when there are 5 Metroids frying your ass and you have 2 missiles, and a door on Valhalla refuses to open up, it is a problem.

Despite that last complaint, I only died twice in MP3. This is not a difficult game. I died once by jumping into a reactor core (my bad) and once from the boss at the end of the first full planet, Bryyo. Speaking of the bosses, all of them are a blast and one of the highlights of the game, but only the Bryyo seed boss was any challenge. Even the final 3 bosses, including 2 rather epic showdowns, were walks in the park. This is probably partially due to how intuitive the controls were, so it was easy to defeat these creatures, but I expect a fight with Ridley to be crazy hard (you fight him twice) ala the first Prime, not over in 2 minutes. Maybe I shouldn't blame the game, maybe I am just that good... I beat the game in just under 15 hours with 100% of all items collected to get the secret ending (a secret ending that last 2 seconds and is another disappointment.) A great length for a good size game, but only 2 or 3 times was I ever truly challenged. Also, every other Metroid title, especially the first Prime, created an atmosphere of isolation, of being alone. That is broken here with the military and Aurora Units constantly communicating with you. This isn't a complaint, just a comment.

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is the best game I have played in at least a year. God of War 2 and Shadow of the Colossus are the last 2 games I played that rival the fun to be found in MP3. Twilight Princess was OK, but Retro Studios could show the Zelda team a few pointers. A good storyline, the best level design around, very good graphics, a cool achievement system, lots of references to other Metroid games and the best controls in any game EVER make Metroid Prime 3: Corruption an incredible experience. Ridiculously highly recommended.

4.89 stars (out of 5) yes, I can give 1/100 of stars

Images courtesy Nintendo and IGN

Foreshadowing?

2007-08-28T15:25:00.000-07:00

I was reading some old Penny Arcade comics during lunch, and came across this one:
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/12/18

I will be picking up Metroid Prime 3 tonight, and I have a bad feeling that I may have a similar experience... and yes, I stupidly pre-ordered it.

Wii Virtual Console Wishlist Part 2: Soul Blazer

2007-08-15T09:43:00.001-07:00

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is one of my favorite games of all time. Since it's release on the Virtual Console, I have played through the whole game twice, finishing it the second time in about 7 hours. LttP was released in April of 1992 for the SNES, and after playing through it more times than I can recall, I quickly became hungry for another game that follows a similar formula. The game I ended up finding was Soul Blazer.

Soul Blazer was released in December, 1992 for the SNES. It was developed by Quintet and published by Enix. It is the spiritual sequel to ActRaiser, also on the SNES, and both are considered part of the "Soul Blazer series." While ActRaiser and Soul Blazer share a lot of the same gameplay elements, and one of the main characters even share the same name between both games, Soul Blazer is not considered a true sequel. 1994's Illusion of Gaia is considered the 3rd in the "Soul Blazer series", but once again, none of the games are directly connected outside of their gameplay elements and development staff.

The gameplay in Soul Blazer is a mix between ActRaiser and A Link to the Past. You control "The Hero", an angel sent by "The Master" to release souls imprisoned by King Magridd and Deathtoll. Deathtoll offered King Magridd gold for every soul that the King imprisoned. "The Hero" enters different areas of the world, and as he defeats all of the enemies on screen or all enemies of a certain type, a soul is released back into the nearby town. The released soul can be a person, a house, or even a tree or flower.

Gameplay is very reminscent of Zelda games, in that you view everything in an overhead perspective. The controls are fairly basic and consist of swinging a sword or using magic. You could switch to new more powerful weapons and armor that you find along the way or are given to by released souls. You can later return to old dungeons and defeat previously invincible creatures to completely release all souls from an area. While very basic, the level design and graphics were unique enough to make the game stand out, looking more realistic than the cartoonish and round Zelda. Soul Blazers greatest asset though was not gameplay, but the music. The game's score is one of the best to be found on the SNES, especially in the early days of the console.

The biggest thing standing in the way of Soul Blazer being released is Square/Enix. No games from the publisher have reached the Virtual Console yet other than ActRaiser, and with Squeenix porting and remaking their flagship Final Fantasy games left and right for the DS and PSP (where is my FFVII remake?) it is looking very unlikely that the Virtual Console will see games from the publisher. I could see Square/Enix opening their own shop on the Wii, making their own rules and pricing structure, but it doesn't look promising for the immediate future. Hopefully, when Square/Enix finally does release more older games, Soul Blazer will be among their list of games.

Wii Virtual Console Wishlist Part 1: Super Metroid

2007-08-08T09:16:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting to do this for a while, create a list of my most wanted games that should come out on the Wii's Virtual Console. I finally started to compile a list of the games I want to see, and the game I want to see the most is Super Metroid, originally released on the SNES.

One of the reasons I want to see Super Metroid so bad is a little embarrassing for me to admit. The reason is that I never got to play the game when it was first released. Well, that's a bit of a lie, I have played Super Metroid, but only for a few minutes, and never on my own console. I have watched others play Super Metroid (selfish friends) but have never owned or rented the game for me to play. I have tried to do both before, but the game was either already rented (for 4 years straight) or it cost $70 in the store, even years after it was released. When I finally found it used for $25 back in 1998, my SNES finally died, and I returned the game, unable to find a good SNES to buy. I have never been able to play Super Metroid, and the Metroid games are some of my absolute favorites of all time.

So a little about the game itself. Super Metroid was released in the US in April of 1994. It immediately became a favorite among game journalists, topping many game of the year lists, and still appears on many "best games of all time" lists. The story takes place immediately after Metroid II for the GameBoy, and follows Samus across the planet Zebes as she hunts down the space pirates, after they stole the last surviving metroid from a research facility. The game used the largest cart released up to that point for the SNES, and provided a massive world for Samus t explore.

I was hoping and praying since 2001 that Nintendo would re-release the game on the GBA, like they did with so many other games, but it never happened. We did get the amazing Metroid Zero Mission which used Super Metroid style graphics to remake the original NES Metroid game. The GBA also saw Metroid Fusion, which introduced new mechanics to the game, but dumbed it down a bit for newer players to the franchise, with a large amount of hand holding for the whole game. Sadly, Super Metroid never got it's remake.

As I am writing this, I read the following story on Kotaku: CLICK HERE! It looks like maybe Nintendo will be releasing Super Metroid to coincide with Metroid Prime 3's release at the end of the month. Good news and bad news, as I will be busy with Prime 3, so no time for Super Metroid. I am a one game kind of guy, what can I say. Hopefully this means Nintendo will be making my dreams come true sooner than expected!

Next time on my Wiishlist (HAHA!), something a little more Enixy.

Wii Virtual Console Game of the Month: JULY 2007

2007-08-03T12:27:00.000-07:00

Do you remember how great May was for the Virtual Console? Act Raiser, Ninja Gaiden, Final Fight, Kid Chameleon, Donkey Kong Country 2, all terrific games. June and July weren't so lucky. A few decent games showed up, like F-Zero X and Dynamite Heady on the last day, but overall, both June and July were rather disappointing. There was a bright spot though. The sparkling diamond amid the rest of the faded gems was Paper Mario for the N64.

Paper Mario was originally released on February 5th, 2001 in North America on the Nintendo64. Developed by Intelligent Systems Co, an internal Nintendo development team, the game is the spiritual sequel to Super Mario RPG on the SNES. Intelligent Systems Co had previously made most of the Fire Emblem games {Japan only :( } and most famously, Super Metroid on the SNES. It was released at the very end of the N64's lifespan, as the GameCube would be released at the end of 2001. Two sequels have been released; Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door for the GameCube and just earlier this year, Super Paper Mario for the Wii. You can find my review of Super Paper Mario by CLICKING HERE.

While both Thousand Year Door and Super Paper Mario used Mario's paper body for many great mechanics, the paper idea behind Paper Mario is almost entirely a visual aspect, and nothing more. The fact that Mario and friends are made of paper is only used as a graphical effect, and only once or twice used in gameplay or story telling. The world Mario lives in is mainly constructed of 3D polygons, but the characters and some items, like bushes and mushrooms, are 2D sprites, which when surrounded by the 3D items, give everything that "paper" appearance.

Paper Mario is titled such because of it's graphic style. Overall, the graphics hold up for a game made on a console 2 generations old. There are some clipping issues between the larger polygons, and many of the 2D sprites stand out more than the designers intended them to stand out. The biggest graphics issue is the text. The game is programmed in the N64's native 240i format, so when the Wii spits it out at 480p, the text is blocky, and sometimes hard to read.

Gameplay is very similar to most RPGs, but with an action twist. Yes there are turn-based battles and leveling up and items to collect, but instead of random battles or just picking attack or magic, Paper Mario gives you some additional control. You can see most enemies before a battle, even even jump on them or hit them with your hammer to get the first hit in. And once in battle, if you time your button presses right, you get extra hits on the enemies and can avoid or decrease the damage of their attacks. It's a mechanic that has been recycled in the newer Paper Mario games, and the GBA's Mario & Luigi games. It prevents the battles from getting too boring, but there are some issues where battle mechanics are concerned.

There are some balance issues in the game, specifically with the way you level up, and the strength of the enemies. When you level up (gain 100xp) you can raise your HP (hearts), MP (flowers) or Badge Points, or your accessory points. All of your special abilities are made active by equipping badges, which require badge points. You start with 3 points, and at level up, can raise your BP by 3, or your HP or FP by 5. Here is where the balance issues come into play. All of the cool abilities and powers require you equip more badges, which means you need more BP. However, without also increasing your HP and FP, the enemies will kick your butt. The logical approach, and in most RPGs, is to level up MORE to become more powerful, but in Paper Mario, once you gain a level, enemies give less XP, so after 2 levels, instead of 6XP a piece you get 1XP or NO XP at all from defeated enemies. This makes it impossible to get as strong as you would probably like to be. Instead you find yourself avoiding 99% of enemies instead of fighting, and when you do fight, you lose 25-50% of your HP. And that is nearly every battle. To compensate for your constant HP draining, healing items are CHEAP and coins come easily, but you can only carry 10 items, and you often would need to wade through and avoid lots of enemies on your way back to a store. This all could have been easily avoided if players were allowed to level up freely, and it would make sense even more, because you don't deliver more damage after leveling up, only get more HP/FP/BP. It seems very sloppy.

Despite my big gripe, the game is fun. The battles are fun, the story is simple, the game controls well, everything works very well together overall. If you can get used to the wacky balance issues and garbled text, then there is little else to detract you from enjoying the game. Although only 6 years old, this game feels older than it is, but not any less fun. I won't give a score to this review because I can't pick one. It's a 4, it's a 2, it's a 3, it changes depending on what aspects of the game I look at. Balance issues vs fun vs graphics vs timelessness, it isn't fair to give this game a number. It is the best game released in the past 2 months, so that should be more than enough of a clue as to how good the game is. And for only $10, how can you go wrong? When we look back, what matters most is that this is the game that lead the way for the greats like Super Paper Mario and the Mario & Luigi GBA games, so I will gladly tip my hat to what ends up being a fun and enjoyable game.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: A Review

2007-07-15T17:21:00.000-07:00

SPOILER ALERT! THAR BE SPOILERS HERE!!!

I was once like you my friends, a non-believer, a skeptic, a nay sayer if you will. I knew OF this Harry Potter boy, knew of his exploits, but did not care at all about learning more, reading the books, or seeing the movie that was going to be produced. I was put off by the crazy amount of coverage a children's book was getting, various products in the stores. It was an innocent time, may of the year 2000, a time of change for me. For graduation, my best friend of 12 years bought me the first gift he had ever given me outside of a birthday. Before he gave it to me, he made me promise that I would use it for it's intended purpose, and not just put it on a shelf or give it to someone else. The gift was a book. That book was Harry Potter and the Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone. Less than two months later, he and I were in line for a midnight release of the fourth book. Needless to say, I was hooked.

Last week, the fifth movie based on the fifth book of the 7 part series was released, and it is a welcome addition to the existing movies and books, and the best amalgamation of the books/movies so far. The first two movies are very literal translations of the books they are based on, with the 3rd being the best stand alone film. I didn't much care for the 4th in the series, Goblet of Fire, neither the book or the movie, a low point in the series, but had great expectations for the Order of the Phoenix's turn to be put on the big screen, and I was not disappointed.

I won't even begin to give the back story to this universe, being 5/7th of the way in already. The latest chapter for the silver screen finds Harry being called a liar by the majority of the wizarding world, most everyone not believing him when he says that Lord Voldemort has returned from beyond. If having almost everyone think you are a liar and an attention whore isn't enough, Harry's friends and family have kept their plans a secret, and he is jaded. They have reformed the Order of the Phoenix, a group of wizards out to prevent Voldemort from taking power, but are hesitant to let Harry join them. On top of that, he nearly gets thrown out of school for protecting himself against Dementors, the Ministry of Magic is interfering at life at Hogwarts, he wishes he could both help and be with his God-father, Sirius Black, and Harry's biggest pillar of support, Albus Dumbledore, is ignoring him completely. It will be Harry's hardest year at school, both physically and mentally.

The movie does an excellent job of portraying the main plot points of the book, specifically Harry's alienation from his friends and the rest of the community, the Ministry's attempt to take over Hogwarts with Delores Umbridge, and showcasing how powerful Voldemort is truly becoming. Harry goes through a lot in a little time here, from being completely alienated, having his first girlfriend, being put into a leadership role, and finding out why he survived the night his parents were killed. While Prisoner of Azkaban showed the passage of time and the progression of the movie through small scenes with changing weather and seasons, Order of the Phoenix uses some classic movie cliches such as montages and spinning newspapers. As cliche as these are, they are well done, and make this more of a movie than a movie adaptation.

The toughest part of making this into a movie is turning the 870 page book into a movie children and adults could sit through, and more importantly, enjoy. Some plot points were changed, such as the Cho storyline and Graup, some minimized like the O.W.L. exams and Occlumency, and some removed completely like Quidditch and the Quibbler, but all the changes and exemptions worked EXTREMELY well. The "Weasly is our king" story can easily be started with the next movie for example, and St Mungo's and the additional Ministry and Grimmauld Place scenes would be a lovely addition to the DVD, but did not effect the final plot of the movie. Some other nice additions not found in the book are some of Ginny's reactions, and everything about Luna Lovegood was absolutely perfect. Luna was easily my favorite part of this movie.

The fanboy in me had a very hard time finding fault like in Azkaban (Lupin so easily could have explained the map, and no explanation about James Potter and pals), and Goblet (the final test was JUST a hedge maze, and Voldemort talked for only 10 seconds) but there were a few things to nitpick about. Little things showed up, like Dumbledore not having any glasses, but they were few and far between. My biggest "complaint" is about the scene in the Ministry around the stone archway. Only existing fans of the books/movies would truly understand what happened when Bellatrix yelled what she yelled, especially because what she said was hardly understandable. The only reason I knew what she said was because of the green light that came on screen upon her yelling the spell. I knew what she said, but what I actually heard was "acblagraaaa!!!!" Barely audible. A small thing that could have made a much bigger impact. In fact, I am split on whether I liked or disliked that scene because of the change made to what takes place on/in/around the stone archway.

This was an incredibly well done movie, and more than made up for the literal take on things from Goblet of Fire. Order of the Phoenix takes its place as my second favorite Potter movie after Prisoner of Azkaban. It is very mature (as it needs to be considering the subject matter) and the art direction is on par with Azkaban, and other films like Pan's Labyrinth and 300. I still say that the Harry Potter series would be better served in a TV series or made for TV mini series, but if David Yates directs Half-Blood Prince (my favorite of the books so far) as well as he handled Order of the Phoenix, then I will be first in line to see the next movie in late 2008. Ok, who am I kidding, I was going to be the first one there anyway...

4.5 starts (out of 5)

Images courtesy IMDB.com and Warner Bros. Pictures

The Numbers Game: Part 2

2007-07-05T14:10:00.000-07:00

Microsoft must read my blog! See my previous post by CLICKING HERE!!! Microsoft just announced they extended to warranty on the 360 to a total of 3 years for the "red ring of death" issue. Hmm... I might be buying a 360 very very soon after all! Read the links below for the full story.

Source:
Kotaku
GameSpot
Major Nelson talking with Peter Moore (MP3)

The Numbers Game

2007-07-02T10:17:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I have posted because not a lot has been going on outside of work. All my TV shows are on summer hiatus (except for Top Chef) and no games have come out recently. But enough has happened recently for me to put together a little post. It's time to play the numbers game!

7/7/7- I don't know what its like everywhere else in the world, but the date of July 7th, 2007 is a HUGE deal in Vegas. Every store, every casino, has some promotion for 7/7/7 and it is getting rather annoying. Every sign I see, every newspaper and magazine and half the commercials on TV are about a sale or event. Strangest thing about this? Almost NO July 4th stuff being mentioned, its all about seven seven oh seven.

360- I want an XBox360. I never wanted an original XBox, as I always felt that Microsoft was just trying to take Sega's old position in the market and messing up things for Nintendo. I believe that MS has proven themselves in the market now, and the 360 seems like the right machine for me over a PS3. I currently have a Wii and Ps2 (DS and PSP and gaming PC too) and there are games that are 360 exclusives or coming out for both PS3 and 360 that I want, and a 360 is a clear winner between the two in my opinion. There are 2 reasons I have not went out and bought one yet. The first is price. I am rather certain that MS will drop the price at/after the minE3 this month, or by the holidays. I am afraid that if I buy one today, the price will go down $100 the next day, and I will be out that hundred. The other big fear I have is the number of broken 360s I constantly hear about. From red rings of death to A/V issues, to over heating to the things just crapping out, I cannot believe how many horror stories I have heard, especially recently, about the quality of the system. Check out the following story from DailyTech: the link! I will be buying an extended warranty when I get my 360, but I am very hesitant to pick one up because of the large number of bad stories that I hear on a daily basis.

10/1- Nintendo just announced October 1st as the release date for Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass for the DS. This is a portable follow up to the GameCube Wind Waker. It goes without saying I will be picking the game up, but it makes me want to go back and replay Wind Waker again on my Wii because Phantom Hourglass is a direct sequel to Wind Waker. I put in at least 50 hours when I first played this game, and don't know if I want to invest that much time into a game the 2nd time. I really want to play Wind Waker again, I do, but another 50 hours just to prepare myself for the sequel is quite a bit of work. I would have gladly done this in my younger days, and looking back, cannot believe how much time I was able to invest in games before having a full time job. I may replay it just enough to re familiarize myself with the story and characters and world, but not complete it, or go after every heart piece. I will probably just play the main story line and skip the side quests.

80s- Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s will be coming out mid July, and I am sad to say I am not excited in the least. The 2 Guitar Hero games are some of my all time favorites and my boredom rarely shows up now because as soon as I get fidgety, I pick up the guitar to play. But the set list of Rock the 80s has left me sorely underwhelmed. Maybe it is because I grew up IN the 80s, and didn't listen to that kind of rock as a kid. Of the whole set list (you can check it out on IGN by CLICKING HERE!!!) only 2 or 3 of the tracks are songs I know well enough to sing, and the rest are either "oh yeah, I have heard that before" or "I have never heard this song before in my life." I will probably end up renting it (thanks GameFly) but I can't imagine putting down $50 for songs I don't know or like.

8/27- Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, has been pushed back a week, from August 20th to August 27th. Normally this would not be such a big deal to me, but I am taking some vacation time starting on the 22nd, and planned to dedicate a day or say to playing Metroid. Is it sad or pathetic that I am actually considering extending or moving my vacation time just so I can play Metroid more? I am being mature, don't plan on calling in sick or skipping, I planned this out so I would take vacation on/around the time a big game is released. The ultimate irony would be if I do move/extend my vacation, and the game sucks... I do not foresee that happening (I believe in you Retro) but all my worry and planning would be for naught.

W00t!- No numbers here, I realize that, but I did spell Woot with zeros instead of "O"s! I received the shirt I ordered during the last Woot-Off from Woot.com, the official Woot shirt, with screaming monkey proudly freaking out on the front. The shirt is a high quality t-shirt, and very comfortable (see picture below). The best part about the shirt is the instructional comic that came with it that tells you how to turn the shirt into a cape. You can view the instructions by CLICKING HERE, thanks to JesusFreke from the Woot forums for scanning the comic in. Shirt.Woot is written all over the package and it appears they will be launching a shirt site soon, similar to the wine.woot site released in the past year. Thanks again Woot.com for being the funniest friggin site around.

Click to embiggen

Touched by an Angel; you'll be hearing from my lawyer

2007-06-19T10:48:00.000-07:00

The Buffy comics have been out on shelves since March (see my thoughts on the first two issues by CLICKING HERE) and I had myself a nice little Buffy DVD marathon back in March to celebrate 10 years of Joss Whedon giving us the true Buffy on TV. I have the Chosen collection of the Buffy DVDs, all 144 episodes in a single large box. I have been waiting and waiting for a similar release from Fox for the Angel DVDs, but 3 years and a month (1126 days, but who's counting) after the series finale of Angel, no box has been released, announced, or even rumored as far as I have heard. So after watching the TNT reruns lately, I finally decided to purchase a few seasons. I decided on seasons 4 and 5, as the 3rd season was just wrapping up on TNT.

In case I never mentioned this before, TNT has the WORST HD quality (picture is literally warped) and their editing of the show, both in scene editing (where the commercials air) and the visual editing (why get rid of the widescreen?) is something that could have been done by a high school student with free editing software, and that student would have failed his editing class. Yes, I am assuming his school had an editing class of some sort. Either way, TNT sucks at editing. They quickly kill the pacing set up by the episode's director, and some people's faces are half in the shot, or entirely gone in many scenes. Not wanting to deal with this horrible version of the show, I had Amazon send me the 4th and 5th seasons. New slim sets are out now (smaller boxes, less fancy) and only cost me $25 a piece. Great deal.

Let me start of by saying that my most favorite to least favorite seasons of Angel are 1, 2, 5, 3, 4, with 4 being my least favorite. After watching all 5 seasons again the past month or so, that order has changed. The 5th season is easily my favorite now, with 1 being 2nd favorite, then 2, 3, and finally 4 again. Let me say that I did not DISLIKE the 4th season, and absolutely loved that they were able to take EVERY single event from the previous seasons (mainly everything that happened to Cordy) and make it into a single plot device for bringing out the big bad. I did not dislike any season, but now realize how incredible the 5th season was compared to the others. This probably had a LOT to do with Buffy having ended, Firefly cancelled, and Joss being able to pour more of himself into the season compared to others. His lack of handsonedness is very clear in the 4th season.

The 5th season of Angel starts with Angel becoming the new CEO of Wolfram & Hart, the evil law firm that has been the thorn in his side since the first episode of the show. Angel and company sorta ended world peace at the end of season 4, long story short, and Wolfram & Hart decided to give Angel control of the LA office because of this. Almost everyone comes along for the ride as well, with Fred in charge of the science/R&D department, Wesley in charge of prophecies and mystic information, Lorne becomes head of the PR and entertainment side of W&H, and Gunn becomes a lawyer (they pump his head full of the law during his first week there). The deal Angel made before taking the job was that Connor be given a new life, a normal life, and his existence erased from everyone's memories. Hoping that they can make a difference by "changing things from the inside" the team jumps right into their roles at the law firm. Finally, Spike joins the crowd when the talisman he used to destroy the Hellmouth on Buffy shows up in a package for Angel. He starts off as a "ghost" but is recorporealized by mid season.

For the most part, the show goes back to it's "monster of the week" theme of the 1st/2nd season instead of the serialized storytelling from the 4th season. This is a welcome change, as the show flows much smoother than it did in the late 3rd and all of the 4th season. Yes, storylines carry over from episode to episode, but each episode is unique and can easily be enjoyed without having to know exactly what happened the episode prior. The writing for this season is superb. No character is ever "out of character" like in the 3rd and 4th seasons, and there is an equal focus on everyone on the show. The relationship between Angel and Spike is fun to watch re-evolve (they realize how alike they truly are, and have a good father and son chemistry) and everyone falls into their roles very nicely. There are also some incredible episodes in here, like "Smile Time", "You're Welcome", "Hell Bound" and of course, "Not Fade Away." Yes, there are one or two less than stellar shows (I am looking at you "Why We Fight") but there is nothing bad in sight.

It is hard for me to describe exactly what it is about the 5th season that is so spectacular. It is just like every other season, but everything about it is tight and done exceptionally well. Other than the story itself, there is nothing truly new here, it is the same show as the last 4 years, but everything is written, performed, and shown so well, that it quickly becomes the best of the series. This season has a certain "Firefly" quality about it, in that everything looks, sounds, and is done to perfection, with very little that is not enjoyable. The 5th season of Angel truly perfected the formula that Joss and David Greenwalt were after in the series' concept. The show not only went out on top, but it went out in a blaze of glory, fighting whoever else was trying to get to the top. Joss has said he wants to do a Season 6 comic in the relative future, and that brings me great joy (I do the dance of joy!). This season is just more proof that networks really has absolutely no grasp over what is quality programming and what is utter crap. Cancelling the show during it's best season could be viewed as some as a good thing (go out on top) or a bad thing (we want more). Either way, Season 5 of Angel is easily the best of the series.

Amazon.com: Angel Season 5 Slim set

lolcats

2007-06-14T11:13:00.001-07:00

I will admit it, I am a fan of lolcats pictures. Memes can be fun folks. This one had be giggling:

Picture courtesy:
ICANHASCHEEZBURGER

See also:
Memecats

You get me closer to Richard Cheese

2007-06-13T09:44:00.000-07:00

Into every generation a Lounge Singer is born.
One man, in all the world, a chosen one.
He alone will stand against the Old Spice executives, demons (inner ones), and the forces of bad music.

He is the Lounge Singer.

I FINALLY got to see Richard Cheese live on Sunday night, June 10th, and what a show it was! This was easily the best show I have been to in ages, and next to Billy Joel, the greatest concert I have ever attended. But fans of Richard Cheese already know that his concerts are the best, so why don't we just fill in those who are less familiar with the power of Dick.

Richard Cheese & Lounge Against the Machine is a cover band/lounge singing/comedy act. Formed in 2000, Dick Cheese, as he prefers to be called, has had nominal success, especially with the alternative rock crowds, thanks mainly to the DJs of the alt rock stations playing Dick's material. I first learned of him from Preston and Steve on Philadelphia's now defunct Y100 back in late 2000 when the first album, Lounge Against the Machine, was released. The album contained lounge versions of popular songs including "Wrong Way" by Sublime, "Suck My Kiss" by Red Hot Chili Peppers, my personal favorite "Creep" by Radiohead, and what is arguably one of his most famous covers, "Closer" by Nine Inch Nails. With a 7th on it's way, Dick already has 6 albums under his belt... or tuxedo jacket...

Enough about the past, you came to hear about the RECENT past, meaning Sunday night. As I said before, and you should already know, the show was AMAZING. It took place in AJ's Steakhouse in the Hard Rock Hotel, a place that ordinarily would hold roughly 30-50 people. I would estimate that there were 100-150 people present, but Dick's website says 255 tickets were available, and the only reason I doubt that number is because there isn't enough space in that room to fit that many people. This was a small, personal gathering, not a big concert, and Dick took advantage of this fact.

The band consists of Richard Cheese as the singer, a piano player, bass player (stand up, not electric) and drummer. I was only 3 feet from the stage, but everyone got to see the same show, more or less. The stage was small, maybe 15'x15', but Dick didn't spend a lot of the show up there, he wandered around the entire room (as you can see in the pictures below), singing to people directly (singing to women that is) and using the restaurant's features to perform. Dick climbed up into the booths along the back wall, walked on top of the serving station, and hung out at the bar quite a bit. He also had several costume changes as well. The songs and styles are not only very funny, but Dick himself is hilarious too. The show was many times less about the music, and more about the jokes and humorous situations. He plays a smarmy womanizer, and the women in the audience seem to enjoy the jokes just as much as the men. I have never laughed this hard in all my life.

This is supposedly the final tour before Dick puts down the mic and returns to... whatever it is he does when not performing, so I urge everyone to check out his touring schedule and see when he will be near you. They were recording a "movie" at this show, I don't know if this is a national thing or just a one time recording, but I can't wait to see what the movie will be. Tickets are usually only around $30, which is a steal, especially in Vegas. You can find links to his site and MySpace profile below, and I hope you visit them. Buy a CD or two, check him out on iTunes, just listen to his material and ATTEMPT to go see him before he "retires." Please don't leave us, Dick, you would be missed.

CRAPPY CELL PHONE PIX OF THE EVENT!

Richard Cheese on stage
Richard Cheese in the audience talking to woman
Richard Cheese standing on top of the banquet seating
Richard Cheese back on stage, new tux jacket
Richard Cheese with martini glass
Richard Cheese staring me down
Richard Cheese tshirt- the shirt is condensed into this shape!

Links:
RichardCheese.com
Richard Cheese's My Space

Wii Virtual Console Game of the Month: MAY 2007

2007-06-05T13:12:00.001-07:00

NINJA GAIDEN

The month of May was a pretty good month for the Virtual Console. Act Raiser, Final Fight, Kid Chameleon, DKC2, all good games. My favorite for the month is Ninja Gaiden. The very close runner up is Act Raiser, and will 100% be the next VC title I download, but Ninja Gaiden holds a very unique place in my heart. Act Raiser brought a blend of sword swinging platform style and a "god game" Sim-City theme along with it. A fantastic game that should not be missed by anyone, but Act Raiser doesn't have the emotional reaction that Ninja Gaiden brings to me.

Ninja Gaiden, developed by Tecmo, was released for the NES in March of 1989. Two sequels follow, and the 2nd game, The Dark Sword of Chaos, is my favorite of the series, thanks in part to Shadow Clones and wall climbing. The game stars Ryu Hayabusa of the Dragon Ninja Clan. He comes home to find a letter from his father Ken (yes, Ken and Ryu, not a Capcom game). His father has left to go fight an unknown battle, and requests Ryu go to America with the Dragon Sword if he does not return.

The story telling is the first thing that set Ninja Gaiden apart 18 years ago. Not only did the game have a story, but it wasn't just text and a snippet in the manual. This game brought forth the use of the cut scene. Between each level (and at some other points) Ninja Gaiden presents animations to move the story along. We aren't talking full animation, but still pictures with limited movement and text, but at the time, it was something not done on this level. Getting to the next level to find out what is going to happen to Ryu, his father, and "the girl" (I won't ruin her name for you) is a huge motivation to move forward in the game. Doing that, though, is harder than some gamers may like.

Ninja Gaiden is a very difficult game. Growing up in my neighborhood, just getting to the 3rd stage was a testament to your gaming prowess. This was the game you played to show how good you were at games. I remember being 9 and beating Basaquer (finally) and my friends all sitting in awe. Little did we know the game only got harder from there! Ninja Gaiden has fast moving enemies, enemies with projectiles, lots of bottomless pits, tough bosses, and when some of these elements are combined, such as a projectile tossing enemy on the other side of a bottomless pit, the game can become downright frustrating.

In the early stages of the game, if you die (or game over and continue) you will restart at the beginning of the level. For example, if you die halfway thru level 2-2, you begin at 2-2, not at 2-1. For many of the first levels, this is a godsend. However, by the time you get to the later stages, dieing halfway through the level means replaying the past 10 screens, practically replaying an entire earlier level. This is one of the reasons that Ninja Gaiden is regarded as one of the hardest NES games around. It is not impossible to beat (I did, once, right before I got my SNES for the holidays), but you will die so many times, it will not be possible for some.

The actual gameplay is rather simple. The game is similar to Castlevania in that you wander around a level, hit candles/lights/hornets to grab power ups and power, attack enemies, and finally fight the boss. The mechanics are very similar, but Ryu controls much differently than Simon Belmont. One button attacks with the sword, another button jumps, and holding up while attacking uses your special power, all just like Castlevania, but the action in Ninja Gaiden is 5 times faster than the early Castlevania games. Ryu flips thru the air, runs, hangs onto walls, and slices quick, and could take Simon in a fight any day. Ryu is a ninja, and controls and moves like a ninja.

This game is not for the impatient, for the whiny, or for someone who hates their butt getting kicked. This game will cut off your face and serve it to you on a platter; it gets that hard. You will probably not even get to the 2nd stage (the 3rd screen in the game) your first play thru. Luckily, Ninja Gaiden on the Wii VC lets you continue even after losing your lives, so once you DO finally get to the 3rd stage, you can die and continue without restarting the entire game. I have had the game for weeks, and have only made it halfway thru the final stage. I can pick up any Mega Man game (even the X series) and beat it in 2-3 hours. Ninja Gaiden doesn't give me that bragging right. If you love platforming and action, and have enough control to NOT toss the Wiimote against the wall, then $5 is a steal for this NES classic.

4.5 Stars (out of 5)

Images courtesy of Tecmo, Nintendo, VGMuseum

Week in review: May 27th - June 2nd

2007-06-04T10:18:00.000-07:00

SPOILER ALERT! THAR BE SPOILERS HERE!!!

Another wacky week this week was! Work was crazier than usual (long, sad story there) and the rest of life was no less crazy. Event wise, it was a big week though.

Sunday, May 27th: We saw Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End today. I enjoyed it quite a bit, but it was not nearly as good as the first, and just a little less fun than the second. My biggest complaint for the movie is it's flow. The movie just didn't flow well. Some scenes were long and drawn out, and did not flow smoothly into the next plot point. Also, the whole magical aspect of the movie (Calypso specifically) felt very Deus Ex Machina to me, and just having Tia Dalma be Tia Dalma, and not some supernatural force, would have been a better plot line in my opinion. The movie was very fun though, and a good ending to the first trilogy (don't tell me Disney won't be making 100 more). Don't leave until after the credits roll for a sweet final scene! I would give it 3 stars (out of 5).

Monday, May 28th: Memorial day, so I had the day off. Started playing Tales of the Abyss today. You can read my review of it by CLICKING HERE!!! I miss the days of sitting around all day, doing nothing but playing video games. There is not much I miss about childhood, but this is one thing. There is nothing more fun than just playing a game for 10 straight hours, not a care in the world.

Tuesday, May 29th: The House season finale aired tonight. This episode did not feel like a season finale to me, more like a November/December mid season cliff hanger. Yes, the end of the episode had Cameron, Chase and Forman all quitting or fired, and it was up in the air if and when ANY of them would return. But this didn't feel very dramatic or emotional to me. The episode mainly concerned House's resistance to change, which is something that I see 100% reflected in myself. I hate change and do not tolerate it well. Other than the cynicism and how rude/mean he is to everyone, I am EXTREMELY similar to House. I know that change is very hard and almost feels like a physical force for him to go against, so I am curious to see how things will turn out next season. None of my predictions for the season end came true, and while House is still my 2nd favorite show, it has lost some of it's charm. Let us hope season 4 is less like 3, and more like 1+2.

Saturday, June 2nd: We went to see Knocked Up tonight, the new film by "40 Year Old Virgin" creator/director, Judd Apatow. (CLICK HERE for IMDB info) I liked Knocked Up better than 40YOV, but I should point out I wasn't a huge fan of 40YOV like many. It was a good movie (40YOV) and Steve Carell is an incredibly gifted comedic actor (Daily Show-The Office, everything is great) but I never understood where the huge love from critics and fans came from. Knocked Up, however, is a fantastic movie. The long and short of it is this: an out of work stoner has a one night stand with an up and coming on air hostess for E!, and she winds up pregnant. They live completely different lifestyles and have next to nothing in common, but decide to have the baby, and even let their relationship blossom. Similar to 40YOV, this is not a joke-after-joke-after-joke style movie like Austin Powers or Anchorman. There is quite a bit of drama to be found, and it blends perfectly with the humor. There are 3 scenes that are an instant classic for me, one starring Ryan Seacrest, one in a hotel room here in Vegas, and one in the couples bed halfway thru the pregnancy. The cast is always wonderful. I was nervous about Seth Rogen handling a starring role, but he proved himself right off the bat. Katherine Heigl has always had star power, and I have respected her since her Roswell days (looking for those DVDs on the cheap, btw). Small roles by some great actors like Harold Ramis and Alan Tudyk round out the cast, with Apatow's own wife in the secondary female role. This may also help Paul Rudd get off the "that actor from that movie" list and get some name recognition. I highly recommend this movie to everyone... everyone over a certain age that is, because there should not have been 20+ 12 year olds at this film. 4 stars (out of 5).

RANDOM THOUGHTS: Even the smartest person you know can be the dumbest person you know. Even the changes in life sometimes change. Bad waiters/waitresses can ruin the meal, even if the food was amazing. Dunkin Donuts is FINALLY coming back to Vegas!!! I miss Rita's Water Ice. While walking to my car, I bumped my head on the sun... it is a little warm out there.

Why does every file have to be a PDF?!

2007-05-31T11:26:00.000-07:00

Why does everyone think that every single file on a computer has to be a PDF?! At least once a day I either take a call, respond to an email, or read a question on a forum about someone wanting to take a file, ANY file, and turn it into a PDF. An architectural design to submit to a guy's boss, and the boss wants it in PDF. A picture file, a simple JPEG, needs to be a PDF for you to email it and your client to open it? Kinkos accepts ONLY PDF files and no other format whatsoever? Why do people believe that a PDF is the only file format that everyone can view?

You do not need to take a JPEG and convert to to a PDF in order for you to print it, email it, or show it to someone on your computer! I spoke to someone yesterday who wanted to do this (JPEG to PDF) because he didn't want the person he is sending the file to to "alter" his picture. And I mean picture. He is sending someone a picture! How does making it a PDF prevent someone from altering the file? Anyone who would have the ability to "alter" a JPEG has the knowledge to "alter" a PDF as well.

I am utterly confused where this desire to make every file into a PDF stems from.... any thoughts?

Tales of the Abyss: A mini review

2007-05-30T10:51:00.000-07:00

I finally decided to start playing Tales of the Abyss this week. I am a huge fan of the Tales series of games, having first played Tales of Destiny on the PS1 when it was first released, and having played all Tales games released in the US since then. The Tales series is Namco's Final Fantasy, but has never reached the popularity of FF or Dragon Quest either here or in the east. Tales of Symphonia for the the GameCube is my favorite of the series, and was followed up by Tales of Legendia for the PS2, a game that was an enormous disappointment. Legendia wasn't BAD really, but the characters were very quirky (in a bad way) and over the top, and the fighting engine was not as polished as previous games in the series, and the story was rather lacking as well. My huge love of Symphonia and my disgust with Legendia made me somewhat hesitant about getting into Abyss (Abyss made by the Symphonia team) but I am glad I did.

The Tales games take your normal RPG conventions such as leveling up, buying items and weapons, learning magic and abilities, and combines that with a fantastic fighting engine. Instead of selecting a command from a menu, then waiting for your enemy to do the same, you have complete control of your characters movements and attacks. In Abyss's case, you move around the battle field with left and right, block with Square, press X to use a standard attack (up, down, and left/right give you different variations of the standard attack) and O lets you use your Artes, or special abilities (with up, down, left/right selecting different Artes). All of this is done 100% real time, no loading or waiting, and makes every battle something fun. Think of Final Fight meets Final Fantasy, or Street Fighter meets Dragon Quest.

Many battles are avoidable, as you can see your enemies as you travel around in the game. This is a great addition to the Tales series, and one of my VERY few complaints about Tales of Symphonia (my favorite of the series). When in battle, you are accompanied by up to 3 other party members, who take actions on their own. You can set up strategies for the other characters in the menu, and select specific actions from a menu during battle, but very rarely will you find yourself needing to tweak the other characters battle settings (except for Guys over use of Artes).

My only true complaint about the gameplay is the Artes system, or the shrunken list of abilities to gain. Symphonia had a long list of abilities that you could unlock, and the way to unlock most was to use the same abilities over and over again to unlock the ability. While this is done as well in Abyss, it is greatly lessened. Only about 5 abilities require you to level up existing Artes, and the overall list of Artes is not that great. Even the original PS1 Destiny and SNES/GBA Phantasia seem to have a longer list of abilities to unlock. Yes, you can upgrade each Arte to make them stronger or have special attributes (a tutorial my copy of the game refuses to load), but this felt tacked on more than anything. One of my favorite things to do in Symphonia was unlock these new abilities, and new Artes are not as common here in Abyss. While this does not hinder the gameplay in anyway, it would have been nice to see more abilities.

This is a story driven RPG, so even though there is a lot of action in the battles, this is still an RPG first. Tales of the Abyss tells the story of Luke, the son of noble blood, who is stuck living in his parent's mansion. He was kidnapped 7 years prior, and not allowed to leave the mansion since returning. One day, a pretty young girl named Tear comes along to try and kill her brother Van, who is also Luke's mentor. Luke and Tear clash swords, and somehow get transported halfway around the world. The main theme of the story is Luke learning about the world, as he has been kept sealed up in his house for seven years. There is your normal political intrigue, and good guys who are really bad guys stories too, but the main story follows Luke and his experiences. The characters Luke meets along the way are what set this game above others from the genre. Every character has a lot of personality, and is voiced extremely well (does Johnny Young Bosch live in a recording studio?). The story won't win any awards, but it is told very well, even if it insanely confusing for the first 4 hours or so.

Another award Abyss won't win is in the looks department. Generally, the Tales games are very heavily anime influenced, and the opening for the games (at least the 5 I have played) featured a fully animated anime opening. While the 2D sprite work and character and level design is top notch, the 3D engine is something that could have been seen 5 years ago. While superior to Legendia's ugly character models, everything is still very blocky and old looking. The three year old Symphonia has better visuals than Abyss, and while the engine had to be remade or tweaked to go from the GameCube to the PS2, I am surprised that the game does not look as good. I was not expecting Final Fantasy XII, but I am disappointed that the level of detail, especially with the character models, is so low. The visuals are not that important, but after playing games like Okami and Final Fantasy XII and Shadow of the Colossus, I expect more from late generation PS2 games.

My only other complaint is load times. On average, battles last between 10-20 seconds, and when it takes several seconds after a battle to load the game again, that is a pain. Also, saving takes a long time, up to a minute some times! Also, moving from one room to another, or scene to scene causes loading too, so add another 3 seconds there. Its is not much, but enough to get annoying when trying to explore. This loading tends to be worst on the overworld map, which is the worst overworld map I have seen in a long time. The camera moves SOOOO slow that you often get attacked by a monster running from off screen, and it is impossible to see where you are headed until you are there. I had to fight the urge to explore, because I was so easily lost, despite maps and a compass. Pulling the camera back and up would have made it better, but it is still the ugliest and most annoying part of the game.

At the end of the day, despite some graphical faux pas and a slightly boring soundtrack, Tales of the Abyss is a great addition to the series, and represents what Legendia could have been. Anyone who has yet to play a Tales game should pick up Symphonia on the GameCube first (or Destiny on PS1 if you can find it (you cannot borrow my copy)). While not the best in the series, Tales of the Abyss is a wonderful adventure that never gets dull. The plot moves at a good pace, you are never upset when it is time to enter a battle, and Luke and Tear will stick with you even after the game has ended.

Overall score: 4 Stars (out of 5)

Images courtesy IGN and Namco.

Week in review: May 20th - 26th

2007-05-28T17:40:00.000-07:00

Still not over whatever has been kicking my butt. Couldn't eat lunch all week, and when I do eat, I cannot tell when I am full, so I either eat too little, or too much (Saturday night...). Hopefully I will be back to normal soon.

Monday, May 21st: Heroes season finale was both great and disappointing. The build up was great, but the actual ending was a bit of a let down. One of my theories came true, that Nathan would wind up doing the right thing and the bomb would not go off. That part I liked about the finale, but it was the most anticlimactic ending ever. Nikki just slamming Sylar once, and then Peter punching him a lot. Hiro showing up last minute, and everyone else just hanging around. This could have been a hectic scene, a huge battle with everyone's powers going ballistic. Claire could have been the tank and taken hits for everyone (when bullets and glass fly), Nikki could have been the bruiser and wailed on Sylar before Peter picked up her powers, Parkman on the sides yelling out what Sylar is thinking next to everyone else, and Peter finally pulling all the powers out at once and really getting into it with Sylar.

I still love the show, don't get me wrong. The themes in the show are pretty clear to me now, at least for the first season. Tim Kring clearly had a "what if we could have prevented 9/11" moment and wrote at least this season with that in mind. 5 years later (when series started) disaster in NYC with terrorists in the future, Guilliani being valorous in the face of disaster (now in line for White House), showdown in the plaza between two large buildings in Manhattan are all pretty clear themes to me. Also, paying homage (not ripping off) a lot of themes from famous comic series. Peter Petrelli/Peter Parker, Hiro a member of the MMMS, Stan Lee on the bus halfway thru the season, and many many allusions to things from Superman to Sandman to Watchmen (no, this is not a rip off of Watchmen!) I also like how all of the older characters (Hiro's dad, Petrelli mom, Shaft... I mean Mr Deveaux) know each other and have a connection to the powers. The preview with Hiro for the next season was a good tease, and I can't wait til this show comes back next season.

Wednesday, May 23rd: American Idol finale.... as I mentioned before, I never watched Idol much before this season. I watched the last season finale and a few episodes here and there with friends, but this was my first season watching the show. Last years finale seemed fun and wild to me, but this year, it sucked. And anyone who TiVo'd this show was pissed, as it ran over 5 minutes past the hour before revealing the winner. Not sure I will watch this again next

Short but long week this week with being sick. Let's hope this week turns out better.

We have nothing to Sphere but Odin Sphere itself

2007-05-25T15:18:00.000-07:00

I keep debating on whether or not I want to buy or Gamefly Odin Sphere. For those that don't know, Odin Sphere is an action heavy RPG from Atlus for the PS2. It was just released this week in the US, and I cannot decide whether I want to play this game or not. You can read IGN's review of it by CLICKING HERE and GameSpot's take by CLICKING HERE.

I first read about the game back in February when Atlus announce they would be bringing the Japanese developed game stateside (that is what Atlus does best). The game is a 2D side scrolling brawler with major RPG elements. The visuals are stunning, with amazingly large detailed sprites that make it look like it was designed for PC/PS3/360. Not since Symphony of the Night 2D made me truly impressed. NIS developed games are very nice (Disgaea, La Pucelle, Phantom Brave) but never that impressive because the 2D sprites are still images, not moving and flowing like in Odin Sphere.

But the NIS games are what make me NOT want to play Odin Sphere. There is SOOOOOO much freaking character/item management to do, that my OCD shows up and makes me get my characters and items to their most powerful, and I completely miss the story. I am always afraid to advance the narrative in case I am not powerful enough or prepared enough. Yes, that is me being neurotic, but it never happened to me in the 8bit-32bit days of RPG gaming. I always try to level my characters up stronger than they NEED to be in RPGs, but with games from NIS, there is no limit to their power, so I just keep leveling up! One level makes no difference, so I try for 10 or 20.

Odin Sphere sounds like it has large levels of item management, including alchemy with items. Because of my need to be powerful and find EVERY item in a game and have the best gear(again, OCD) games with alchemy systems often frustrate me because of the amount of work I can do. I prefer less customization over more customization when it comes to games like this. If FFXII had a similar grid system to FFX, then I would have enjoyed it infinately more. Instead, I spent 20 hours in FFXII leveling up and getting 90% of the stupid board cleared with each character, and having every single character be identical in battle.

So the game looks like a lot of fun, but the high level of management is what is turning me off. Having put over 100+ hours into past NIS games (Disgaea anyone? (yes, this is Atlus, not NIS)), I know how sucked into a game I can get, and at some point some my enjoyment of it entirely. My fear is I will love it at first, then get so annoyed or sidetracked by the micromanagement that I will never actually finish the game, and wind up bored and annoyed. I still have Tales of the Abyss I have not started (love the Tales games) so maybe I should play that first and let Odin Sphere be the big summer game.... either way, I hope to get some good gaming in this weekend. I just have to find a way to not let the Virtual Console be the only gaming I get done.

Guitar Hero and Nintendo News!

2007-05-23T09:58:00.000-07:00

This has been a good week for fans of Guitar Hero and Nintendo games, and it's only Wednesday! A few juicy bits out of Activision about Guitar Hero III and Guitar Hero 80's Edition, and a release schedule for the summer/early fall from Nintendo is a good week for me!

First up, Activision has announced that this Autumn (still no date or month, but a season is better than nothing) Guitar Hero III will be released, and will feature wireless guitar controllers. I am a little nervous about this venture, as it may require even MORE batteries (thanks Wiimote!) and the potential lag between controller and game could seriously mess up your game. But if my buddy Travis's abilities with a 3rd party wireless guitar are any indication, I have nothing to worry about (5 stars on Hard on most songs he plays). The Wii, PS3 and 360 all get Gibson Les Paul models, while the PS2 will have a Gibson Kramer model. All the guitars will also have removable faceplates, ala the 360, so you can customize your guitar with more than the puny sticker pack that came with the first two games. They will also feature a "new button color design" that they say will give "an even greater authentic feel and rock experience." I say that means that I will need to relearn the controls a bit, and not be able to use my existing PS2 guitar for the game. That does not please me, but until more info (specifically, pictures and video) become available, I will attempt to remain optimistic.

Speaking of optimism, I like the track list released so far. The list released so far includes The Rolling Stones (Paint it Black), Smashing Pumpkins (Cherub Rub), Beastie Boys (Sabotage), Weezer (My Name is Jonas), Foghat (Slow Ride.... DUH!), and other tracks by Tenacious D, Kiss, Alice Cooper, Living Coulor, and Heart. Oh, and KNIGHTS OF CYDONIA BY MUSE. Hmm? What? Yeah, little excited about that last one.... A great list of songs AND bands so far, more on par with GH1 than GH2. You can read more about the announcement on Joystiq and IGNPS2. Now it is simply a matter of deciding which version to buy! I am thinking the Wii version will win out, assuming it has downloadable content.

One Guitar Hero game that I will have no trouble deciding which system to buy it for is Guitar Hero 80's Edition, or whatever name they are calling it this week. It will be a PS2 exclusive... ya know, until costly 360 downloads are available. The 2nd set of tracks available was recently announced, and it includes.... a bunch of songs I have either NEVER heard or have not heard in such a long time I can't remember them. I wasn't allowed to pick my music in the 80's, it was mainly easy listening, Bon Jovi, and whatever my sister had on. 7 year olds are mature enough to pick their own music, despite what my parents said. Songs from Skid Row, The Police, and Poison are found on the new list. You can read the actual list by CLICKING HERE and seeing what IGNPS2 had to say about it.

In Rock Band news, last week Harmonix said it will not actually cost you an arm and a leg to buy this game... because with only 1 arm, the game will not be playable. There's some logic for ya. They still will not say too much about the game (are developers actually going to give info at the min-E3?) other than it won't eat your pocketbook. Stop carrying around a pocketbook. You are supposed to be a boy. You can read his little blurb on Joystiq. Still kind of unsure about Rock Band, but I have faith in Harmonix (still playing the free Frequency demo on my PS2).

And finally, onto Nintendo and release date goodness. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption will be released on August 20th of this year... wow, that is odd... that is the same week I am scheduled to take some vacation time... look at that... what a coincidence! The rest of their release list can be found at IGN by CLICKING HERE! It doesn't end there kiddies! Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Mario Galaxy AND Phantom Hourglass were all confirmed for a 2007 release as well! Those last two games being confirmed by Reggie at the Nintendo Summit in Seatle recently. You can read a brief description of that day at GameSpot by CLICKING HERE, and the full speech by the Reginator at IGN by CLICKING HERE!

Ok, time to go buy some batteries. I better stock up.

Sweet Irony....

2007-05-22T14:31:00.000-07:00

Quoting Engadget:

"We're sure somewhere Drew Curtis's head is exploding over this one: submitted for your perusal, one California State Senator Carole Migden -- former voter for a state bill that fines people for using their cellphones while driving -- rear-ended her state-issued SUV into a Honda sedan on Highway 12 in Solano County, today. While on her phone. The driver of the Honda was taken to the hospital with minor injuries, although the most painful aspect of this story is surely the jaws-of-life-biting irony. Then again, at least we know Midgen's heart is in the right place; like the cleaned-up drug addict invited to tell schoolkids to stay off the dope, surely this morning more than others Midgen felt all the more confident in having voted the way she did."

Original story found by CLICKING HERE!!!!!!

Week in review: May 13th - May 19th

2007-05-21T08:48:00.001-07:00

Not a fun week folks. Got really sick Wednesday night/Thursday morning and it's still not gone away. Long story short, missed the Third Eye Blind concert Saturday. I have not had a good week here folks... but there were some highlights.

Monday, May 14th: Heroes was good again this week. The episode was a little predictable, as I could always tell what was going to happen next or later on in the show to some extent, but very well told and a good lead up to the season finale. I really like how all of the characters have finally come together and how some things have turned out much differently than I had expected. Lots of foreshadowing here too, especially where Hiro is concerned. And the similarities between the show and 9/11 are no longer subtle, they are outright blatant. More on that after the finale.... Can't wait for the finale.

Tuesday, May 15th: House annoyed me for the first 20 minutes, because it felt like a copy of last week's episode where he kept spouting off the same exact diagnosis over and over without even considering everything else. Yes that is House, firm in his beliefs, but it was annoying that it was the exact same attitude as the previous episode. Then, 20 minutes in, he gets proven wrong, and I understand why the first 20 minutes were done that way. As for the Forman issue, I liked Cuddy's offer to him, that was a nice surprise, but he still appears to be leaving. As for the whole episode, the whole whodunnit storyline was fun with figuring out who cancelled Forman's interview, with Chase once again at the end ending up being Mr Insightful. Season finale in 2 weeks (after the premier of On The Lot and Tuesday finale of Idol) so we will see what happens there as well.

Wednesday, May 16th: Criminal Minds season finale aired tonight, and I have mixed feelings about it. It felt too soon, time wise, to bring back Frank, it's only been a few weeks, not enough time for his getaway to really sink in. The fact he went after those that Gideon has saved was a good twist though, and finally explained some of the time I felt was wasted in past episodes with exchanges between Gideon and Hotchner. I also liked the fact that all the issues the agents have been having this year (Reid's drug problem and Morgan's issue in Chicago) were brought up to Hotchner and used to force him out of his position. This would have been a great season opener or next season finale, but it all felt too soon for this season.

Thursday, May 17th: Good night of TV (thank you DVR)! First, The Office. Great episode overall, and lots of great moments: Michael's reaction to Jan's surgery, everyone else's reaction, Pam playing along with Dwight, everything Dwight did, Jan's reaction to the news of what the interviews are for, and Ryan getting the call at the end. The best part though was the Schrute bucks scene, and the back and forth between Stanley and Dwight that had me rolling in laughter:

Dwight: Don't you want to earn Schrute Bucks?
Stanley: No. In fact, I'll give you a billion Stanley Nickels if you never talk to me again.
Dwight: What's the ratio of Stanley Nickels to Schrute Bucks?
Stanley: The same as the ratio of unicorns to leprechauns.

The Scrubs finale was more of the same, but a good episode overall. It felt more like a 2nd or 3rd season episode, but my complaint remains the same: the JD and Elliott love storyline is over and done with. I will be happy if they end up together, but it annoys me that they have played at this so much. Shows like The Office will play at people eventually hooking up, but they don't put them together and then rip them apart again constantly like these two.

Finally came the CSI season finale. This was another mixed bag for me. The whole angle of someone singling out a specific CSI and kidnapping and trapping them was done 2 years ago, albeit quite differently this time. I am very convinced that Sarah is dead or will die, because they have BARELY shown her all season, and I had a feeling for 6 months now that she was being written out in some way. Grissom losing Sarah would be a very different Grissom, and could take the 8th season to a few different places, something CSI needs desperately. The episode was a decent ride, nothing special at all, with the ventriloquist act being the dumbest thing I have ever seen on TV, and can't compare to the mid season Keppler episodes (especially "Law of Gravity") and I would love to see Liev Schrieber join the cast in Sarah's place, even if she is my favorite of the CSIs.

RANDOM THOUGHTS: No matter how old you are, when you get sick with a fever, you revert to a 5 year old. People who eat at Claim Jumpers for the first time say "WOW" and "OOH" a lot. NEEN JA GUY DEN! It is apparently illegal to park anywhere in my neighborhood. "The I am bigger than you game is fun! You can play it with anyone who's smaller than you!" It takes longer to put an elliptical together than it does to manufacture it in the plant. Old southerners speaking Yiddish is hilarious (thanks Christopher Guest!)

Week in review: May 6th - May 12th

2007-05-14T09:50:00.001-07:00

Monday, May 7th: Heroes finally disappointed me big time. I understand the need to have Sylar and his mom go thru what they went thru, but did she have to be freakin crazy?!? All of her scenes felt like they were written two minutes before they started rolling film, it just felt awkward. The whole episode kind of felt like a waste of time to be honest. I kept waiting for the episode to get good, and it never did. I expected to be disappointed like this with the 5 years in the future episode, but instead the disappointment is here. Two more left, let's hope they clean up for the finale.

Tuesday, May 8th: Pretty descent episode of House this week. My prediction that House would try and find a hot replacement for Forman was confirmed, but I still can't decide how exactly they will end the storyline of Forman leaving and when/if he will return. The scenes with Wilson were fantastic, and the fact that he out-Housed House was great. Insightful Chase was also a nice change, but it made him forget to do his weekly confession to Cameron.

Thursday, May 10th: The Office was great tonight! Andy falling into the river was very funny. Seeing Michael act very human was a nice touch, you can tell he doesn't really want to leave these people. And Pam was great, loved her freak out at the end, and just her reactions to everything the whole episode. She was the one giving looks to the camera and making remarks instead of Jim. I think that showed how much she really loves him because she acted like him this week. As for Scrubs, it was great to see JD show some real emotion, and truly seem lost, instead of making jokes and just being immature. I can't remember seeing him act this hurt before. On the lighter side, his comment of "You have a problem sir! Seek Help!" to Old Young MC was hilarious. And the episode on the whole felt more like a previous season.

PLANS FOR THE WEEK AHEAD: Heroes tonight (Monday), House and AI tomorrow, elliptical machine arrives tues/wed, Third Eye Blind concert Saturday night, mom's birthday Sunday.

RANDOM THOUGHTS: Cooking chicken on the grill is not as easy as some people make it seem. Marco's pizza is still freakin awesome, and Cane's is the best food in existence. Swimming at night with no lights in the pool is creepy. Firm mattresses make my arms numb when I wake up. My car is filthy. TNT has the worst HD quality of any channel in history, like watching thru a fun house mirror. My mother shouldn't eat salads. The 80 year old miniature version of Dolly Pardon shops at Costco, and her hair frightens children (and some 25 year olds too). My car's air conditioner only works well when its below 90 degrees. $2 a pint ice cream tastes much different than $4 a pint ice cream, and not in a good way.

Spider-Man 3: A review

2007-05-07T19:48:00.000-07:00

SPOILER ALERT! THAR BE SPOILERS HERE!!!

In my review for the new Buffy comics, I compared the series and characters' return to an old friend that moved away, or a long lost pet suddenly returning and being just as good, or better, as before. I was hoping to have the same nostalgia meets fanboy meets utter glee feeling from Spider-Man 3, but instead I am left wishing that damn dog stayed dead. Nostalgia is both a welcome friend and a wish that things would return to the way they were. The fanboy in me is not loving this film. The utter glee only stopped by for about 2 minutes, then passed out and had to be dragged out the door. Just like the damn dog should have been....

So what went wrong? What went right (must shorter list)? Should the series have stopped at 2? Does Toby Maguire still encompass the character better than anyone else? Has the worlds biggest deus ex machina been created trying to fill the worlds biggest plot hole? Can a man go to the bathroom 3 times during a movie and not miss anything important? The answer to all these questions is "yes" but with a little asterisk after the "should they have stopped at 2" question. And also the "what went wrong" question, because "yes" is a bad answer to that...

Ok, so, first the good. Bruce Campbell should be in every movie. No, not every Spider-Man or Sam Raimi movie, but EVERY MOVIE. I heard the "monsieur!" and knew it was Bruce. I am glad that he had a larger role, even if it was just 5 minutes and a single scene. Stan Lee's cameo is also a hoot: two lines, but a big memory, 'nuff said! Yes, those are both fanboy moments, I admit. So what about "the good" that people who don't have OCD personalities will like? Not as much, but still some.

I really enjoyed the last 30 minutes, with Venom and Sandman and the big fight scenes. Yes, Mary Jane got abducted AGAIN, and Peter got his ass handed to him at first AGAIN, but the whole scene at the tower was fun. I almost wish the ENTIRE movie was based at that damn tower. It ALMOST made the other 110 minutes worth watching.... almost.... that almost was NOT a capital almost.... but it ALMOST was.... almost. I also liked evil Peter. Toby Maguire can play anything in my opinion.

My other big "good" from the movie was Topher Grace. I saw the movie with roughly 10 other people, and NONE of them liked the way Topher played Brock/Venom. I loved it. I hate the meathead, muscle building, dumb as a brick Brock. Eddie Brock to me, is a person who is a failure at everything he does in life. His competition in life is Peter Parker, from work, to women. Peter Parker is a loser, not a cool guy, and Brock is LESS cool than trip-over-his-own-feet Peter, LESS talented than wanna-snap-a-picture Peter, and LESS suave than never-had-a-date-til-college Peter. To be 2nd best to Peter Parker is a crap slot in life, and the way that Topher's part was played and written was EXACTLY how I want to see it. Whoever decided to write the part this way and have Topher play the part gets an A+ in my book.

The good ends there though. Lets start at the beginning, shall we? We shall. The beginning sucked. I was bored stiff for roughly the first hour of the movie. I like that the movie took place immediately after the last one, that part I liked. Aunt May pouring tea for 20 minutes is NOT how I want to spend my time. Also, May is a liar, because I have never been to an east coast beach that had an island in the ocean... The Sandman getting his powers scenes were pretty descent (except all of the weird 80s action movie music), but the rest of the Sandman story was crap. Cain Marko, oops, sorry, wrong comic, FLINT Marko did NOT kill Uncle Ben. Shut up. Yes, that is all fanboy talking. Well, mostly. The entire Sandman story after his origin scenes was a waste of time, nothing good doing, fanboy NOT talking. Less said about that the better, especially Sandman's ending. Also, Sandman cannot fly. Even if he was created just for this movie, the Sandman could not fly, and if he could, he couldn't control that flight.

Plot holes. Just going to say those two words again. Plot holes. Or things to fill the story that sucked might be a better name. Marko didn't kill Ben, NYC would never hold a "THANK YOU SPIDEY" day because Spider-Man has never been loved that widely, Spider-Man does not take off his mask all the time, even if he has sand in his mask, and sorry butler dude, but you exist only to say the single dumbest thing I have ever heard ANYONE say. Harry Osbourne is a freakin moron for listening to your words, and having it change his mind. I believe you cleaned the wounds... I believe you have seen the glider before... but there is literally no way in the universe, short of you being a top CSI investigator with the world's best lab that you could know that Norman's wounds were caused by the glider blades. And yes, I know what he could have said instead to convince Harry to do what needed to be done. "Harry, think for a moment... would Spider-Man, or PETER, your best friend, stab someone, stab your father? Would he bring the body back? Would he have the courage to be your friend afterwards? No, Harry.... Peter did not kill your father, and you know it!" That would have worked a LITTLE better... JUST A LITTLE!!!!!!

My biggest complaint, though, is that this movie felt NOTHING like the other movies. The original Spider-Man had a feeling to, a real emotion, one like most movies can't even hope to have a fraction of. This movie had no emotion. I never felt bad for Mary Jane, because she never even tried to talk to Peter. Almost all of my other complaints could have been overlooked if they had found that magic feeling from the first film, but it was simply not there.

Yes, many of my complaints are about the difference between the comic and the movie storyline, but usually they don't bother me because they don't change who the character is. These changes made Spider-Man a different character, and his universe a different and strange universe. Needless to say, I was very disappointed. Taking the fanboy completely out of the equation, I still did not enjoy this movie other than the big action sequence at the end. It had no soul, it was just another mediocre big budget movie. I could go on for another 10 paragraphs about my opinions on this movie, but I will leave it there.

Sony has announced there will be 3 more Spider-Man movies produced. The Lizard had better be the villain, because Connor has been in all 3 movies, and I can see it making such an amazing dynamic for the character. Or Mysterio, played by Bruce! Let's hope they can clean this up for the next one... please... please?

(pictures courtesy Columbia Pictures)

Eureka 7: Finale rebroadcast on Adult Swim

2007-05-06T19:36:00.000-07:00

Adult Swim rebroadcast the Eureka 7 finale last night, one week after originally airing it, and it was aired in it's entirety! Eureka's monologue at the beginning and the REAL ending/epilogue included! It was a week too late in my opinion, but I am very happy that the episode was aired. However, I can't imagine how many people will never know it was rebroadcast, and either remain disappointed or never know the actual ending.

I am very happy that Adult Swim listened to my email and the others that were clearly sent, but it's almost too little, too late.....

Original story and overall impressions can be found by CLICKING HERE!!!!!

Week in review: April 29th - May 5th

2007-05-05T12:15:00.000-07:00

I decided I would start doing a short week in review post to talk about the little things like TV show episodes, small things that may have happened that day, and what I have coming up next.

Monday, April 30th: Heroes aired the "5 Years Gone" episode tonight. Loved this one. Hiro and Ando wind up 5 years in the future, where the "bomb" went off, and now "special people" are treated as terrorists. Normally I dislike episodes where the story doesn't progress forward in shows like Heroes, but they do such a great job with the characters that I really enjoy them here. The Sylar twist at the end was great, and I like how they are handling the time travel aspect, something that can open more plot holes than many writers could deal with (see Spider Man 3). Only 3 more episodes left before the big finale, and I can't wait!

Tuesday, May 1st: I never watched American Idol before this year, and I was REALLY into it at the beginning of the season. Now I am not into it as much, and I don't know why. Long story short on this topic, I hope Blake wins, followed by Jordin, even though I think that Melinda will go all the way. Next was House, my second favorite show after Heroes. I like that they are back to the basics here, no more Tritter storyline, although I did like some of the gags and scenarios from that part of the season. The whole Forman storyline is a bit weak IMO, because I liked that he was becoming more and more like House, without being a misanthrope. I don't believe he will actually leave in the end. The last episode of the season may be his last day, and he may leave in that episode, but I fully expect him to come back. The farthest I expect the writers to take it is that he leaves at the end of the season, and House hires a new guy, or they go thru several new guys. The new guy(s) either fits right in or sucks the life out of the group. It may also be a super hot chick, that another theory I have. But somehow, Forman comes back to save the day and rejoins the cast. Or he never leaves.

Wednesday, May 2nd: Picked up the new issue of the Buffy season 8 comic. Loved it of course! Joss showed up in Buffy's dream sequence, a slayer was reading Fray, and Andrew is DEFINITELY gay. Only complaints are about the artwork so far. Sometimes I couldn't tell if it was actually Buffy on page, or another character, and with the Willow vs Amy scenes, I had some difficulty figuring out who did what. Other complaints are that we don't know who actually kissed Buffy, and that there is not more Giles! Overall, another GREAT read!

Thursday, May 3rd: The Office and Scrubs aired tonight. The joke of Dwight hanging up the "pervert" posters everywhere was great, as the picture was him with a mustache. The fact that Pam played that prank just convinces me more that she and Jim will eventually get close again. As for Scrubs.... what a mixed bag there! Yeah, the season has been lacking, save for the musical episode. Scrubs is suffering from the Buffy season 6 syndrome I guess, where everything is depressing, a major character dies, and the best episode is a musical. Keith proposes to Elliott in this episode (started to at the end of the last one). Elliott is still Elliott, and crazy as ever, and along with Dr Cox, the best part of the episode. I miss Carla though, it's like she is a 3rd string character all of a sudden. The episode ends with JD realizing he wishes he was the one marrying Elliott, and this both annoyed me and made me happy. I want JD and Elliott to be together, but this storyline is over! He told her he didn't love her YEARS ago, but now he suddenly does?!?!? No, I don't think so. It's JD wanting what he can't have, something I understand VERY well, but just drop it already! You can't keep going back and forth with these two! Either they WANT to be together or they DON'T! Oh, and with CSI... what is up with this show now? It has lost it's charm, no question. It has gotten weird lately. And the end, Grissom a murderer? Maybe.... we will see.

Friday, April 4th: A part of me died today. My boss surprised us and took us all to Spider-Man 3. I will be posting further impressions next week, but to put it briefly, I was severely disappointed. Between the horrible first hour, huge plot holes (and the attempts to fill them) and a total disregard for what made the first two movies so great, this one is best left unwatched. Full review next week.

RANDOM THOUGHTS: Shigeru Miyamoto made Time's 100 most influential list of 2006, YAY!. The power went out at my house on Thursday night/Friday morning. Marco's Pizza FINALLY opened by my house and its as yummy as ever. My car will NEVER be clean. I am both very sad and very happy that a coworker has left my company. I like Gamefly's new availability system. Tales of the Slayer is a good read, but only for 2 or 3 of the 10 stories. The weather and temperature in Vegas is the weirdest in the world: it rained in half my yard, all of the neighbor's yard, not at all in the other neighbor's yard, and it was completely sunny out. Pugs still don't know how to shut up. I HATE doing laundry. My sister discusses metabolic system theories while her husband discusses Sesame Street at the same time... literally... he also won't stop yelling "AMERICA! F**K YEAH!" I blame Allofmp3 for that....

But still no more Wiis....

2007-05-02T12:22:00.000-07:00

Back in February, Jack Tretton, Sony gaming President, said that the PS3 was SOOOOO popular, that he would give anyone who could find one on the shelves in a store $1200 a pop. The fine young men of Penny Arcade (ok, young not quite true) went to local stores and found $13,200 worth of PS3s, but Jack never paid up (didn't expect him to though). You can check out what they did by CLICKING HERE!! If he meant what he said and followed through, I could afford a new car after what I found at Costco on Saturday:

There was another palette identical to this one directly behind it, so this is only half the count. There were then at least 10 more in the video game aisle.

I still want a PS3, but I don't know why.... Even though no games exist yet for it that I would want to play. I hope that Square-Enix brings over the Final Fantasy series to the 360, because I will probably be picking one up in time for Blue Dragon to be released. If Mr. Tretton paid out from his comment, I would gladly spend part of the money on a PS3.

Are there ANY games (other than Little Big World or whatever its called) that anyone is truly looking forward to soon on the PS3?