I blame Kevin Bacon.... and other stories.

Yesterday I took the rare opportunity to over indulge with a movie triple header.

First up was Jane Eyre, obviously not my first choice.... or 101st choice, but that's what happens. It actually wasn't as dull as I was anticipating; that Bronte chick was a pretty messed up lady. Near as I could tell the whole thing was a concussed mutton chop laden delusion of the main character as she slipped into a terminal coma. From the abusive childhood, to the Scarlett fever/homosexually charged adolescence the oddities abound. The love interest of the piece Mr. Rochester even keeps his first wife, whom I am pretty sure is a vampire, in his attic. Of course, even Dame Judi Dench makes a sizable appearance as the motherly housekeeper... what makers of period pieces will do when she is gone is beyond me. It's all capped off with Jane reconnecting with Mr. Rochester many years later (after his vampire wife has conveniently offed herself)whom I am pretty sure was played by a blind version of crazy bearded jack from season 5 of Lost.

We have to go baaaaaaaaaaaack!

So I amused myself and chalked up some brownie points with the little woman, so I would call Jane Eyre a win/win.


We then moved on to X-men: First Class. Which co-incidentally also starred Mr. Rochester's Michael Fassbender as a young Magneto.

When this movie was first announced I wasn't expecting much; the wolverine prequel so was wretchedly bad by reputation that I still haven't bothered watching it. But then the early reviews started pouring in and word was that this thing was actually good. And it actually was!

After watching everyone's favorite emaciated hill billy from Winter's Bone, Jennifer Lawrence strut on the red carpet at the Oscars I was very much looking forward to her donning the blue paint to play sexy shapeshifting bad girl Mystique. Sadly, the script gives all the juicy emotional bits to young professor X and magneto's bumpy bromance, so she never gets a real chance to shine. While the pace of the movie was lurching at times, it was an enjoyable experience throughout and did a decent job of presenting the origins of the various characters and giving reasons for their motivations in the X-men trilogy.... except the aforementioned Mystique. Let's face it... living through the holocaust and being a Nazi science experiment is a much better reason to be a heartless asshole than "waa... I am blue and sexy, people look at me funny." Kevin Bacon is the main villain of the piece, He does alright as a nazi scientist but kind of falls flat after that. I am pretty sure he was only cast to fill in some holes in someone's Six Degrees of... repertoire.

After a tasty supper break of spicy turkey sausages, we headed back to the theater once again for the late showing of Super 8. I was unsure about this one, I didn't see how it could live up to the hype it had built for itself via the vast amount of viral marketing, but the pre-release buzz was mostly positive.

An interesting thing with movies is the tag of "Executive Producer"; as a movie layman, near as I can tell this can mean anything from "wrote us a big cheque and we want to attach their name to the movie to boost sales" to "director 1B". From the outside, it is impossible to know the truth, but I am pretty sure Spielberg's involvement as producer on this one was a little closer to the latter. I don't think anyone else could have wrangled so many brilliant child performances. Child actors usually make me cringe, but ol' Stevey has somehow managed to find many gems over the years and its the kids that really make this movie.

That being said, this is definitely a J.J. Abrams film. Complete with the epic suspense-fully perfect build up and the utter gut wrenchingly underwhelming and useless ending. It was like going through the emotional arc of watching Lost in two hours. That's not to say I hated the movie, I just don't think mixing the terror of Alien with the heartwarming cheese of E.T. is a good fit. However; I won't say anymore as I risk ruining the movie at this point.


Overall, it was a good day spent in a dark air conditioned building; the movies were varied and the popcorn was buttery. Just remember to keep your eyes on Kevin Bacon.... I don't trust that dude.

On Lamer Tides...

Well, I managed to hold off my resident Pirates and Disney fanatic from rushing out to see the new Pirates of the Caribbean Movie until cheap Tuesday rolled around, and boy am I glad I did not pay full price for that stinker.

While I am all for this latest 3D craze, I really wish they would stop doing so many the lazy way. I knew going into it that this was supposed to be one of the "bad" 3D films and would have simply watched it in 2D if given the choice, but alas, 3D was the only convenient showtime.

Here's the deal movie producers; 3D glasses necessarily block some of the light coming through to your eye. This means that you should not film 80% of your movie in dimly lit rooms if you want it to be in 3D. Pretty simple.

But enough of beating that dead horse, bad 3D is bad, whatever. The real problem is the movie itself is meandering and nonsensical, with giant plot holes galore. It's not complex and interesting... it's just stupid. The humor is pretty weak as well... there are a couple laughs, but most of the jokes miss the mark.

The one saving grace was the mermaids... or seavampires? (I mean come on... fangs and burning up in the sun? They're totally vampires right?) They were pretty and deadly and made for the single interesting action sequence (minus blowing up the lighthouse for some unexplained reason)

I didn't think it could be any worse than the last one, but it comes pretty close. On the plus side there was a pretty sweet trailer for the muppets movie in front of it.

Real Men Wear Fedoras.

Of all the blogs on all the internet.... you just had to walk into this one....



1947 USA; When cars were made of metal, buildings of brick, and "Broads" knew not to talk back. Yes post WWII America was a cigar smoking, whiskey swilling mans world, and with LA Noire, rockstar games brings that world back.

On the surface this game appears to be "Grand Theft Auto 1947", and I assumed this was the case after Rockstar successfully used the GTA model in the Old West with Red Dead Redemption. Although you do drive around in a living, breathing, faithful recreation of 1940s Los Angeles and complete missions the gameplay here is completely different from any previous Rockstar game... or any game period, for that matter.

Noire owes its unique gameplay style to a new and much heralded technology, "MotionScan" that allows for extremely impressive and realistic facial animation. The technology allows the player to interview NPCs and decide for themselves whether or not they are lying. This Combined with combing crime scenes for clues causes each game mission to be basically played out like a 1940s version of an episode of Law and Order or CSI. (Or, more accurately, for the more aged among you; a classic police drama like Dragnet)

There are car chases and gunplay but this action takes a back seat to the interviewing and clue hunting. I admire Rockstar for going out on a limb and trying something different, but I wonder how this sort of slower paced cerebral gameplay will be seen by the general "Pew pew" Call of Duty loving masses.

The game is not perfect; there are some amusing audio bugs, dialogue popping up in the wrong place and the narrative is a bit bumpy and doesn't always flow properly. The writers don't take full advantage of the "Noire" theme, either. The first couple of missions have a gritty Noire style narration, but this is abandoned for the entirety of the rest of the game. Sadly, the other knock against this game is the re-playability. While I am VERY glad they did not try to tack on some sort of multiplayer, once you finish the story, that's it. You can replay mission to improve your case rating, unlock various vehicles or go on the usual sandbox game obscure hidden item scavenger hunt but none of that is very engaging. On the other hand, DLC might actually work pretty well for this, though, given the episodic and compartmentalized feel of the cases.

In any case, I hope that this game does find some retail success, as it is nice to see something new and different for once. Give it a try, you just might like it.

Still here...

As Brandon so subtly pointed out I have a knack for being lazy: doubly so with writing anything. I love writing but usually tend to hate most things I put to paper. Life has also crazy the past few weeks. Friends have been having babies, ruptured water heaters are deluging my home into firstly a swimming pool, and secondly an isolated hurricane. They set up 4722 fans to help dry the place out. We could not live at home. We stayed with the people with the aforementioned baby… yeah. So when you add the crazy with the lazy you get “Clazy.” If Sarah Palin can make up words by comparing herself to William Shakespeare then I bloody well can too.

Cla-zy [kley-zee] – adj.- Being dumb enough to think you can in any way be considered on the same creative level, or grasp the usage of words, as well as William Shakespeare. EXAMPLE: “Did you get a load of Sarah Palin? Man… Bitch be clazy!”

Fast forward to this week and they are finally laying new floors in my home, but incorrectly so they have had to start over, it is costing more money, I have had to board my cats up in a “Pet hotel,” my wife is sick and has been running a fever, I lost my shoes (They are somewhere in all my packed stuff while the house is being renovated) and a Slurpee machine blew up in my face. So the will to write has been minimal but I want to change that. Enough whining about my life woes. I will now whine about other things.

Don't bite the hand that feeds you Blizzard. Brandon and I have been playing World of Warcraft since beta. We have taken breaks here and there but have been steady customers since launch. Blizzard recently announced “Cross server grouping”... for a fee. The community outcry against charging for what should be a subscription included service has been loud, clear and up until this point... unaddressed. Brandon decided to post on the official forums supporting the community's displeasure. He did so in the proper thread, he did not use profanity, and his argument was arguably pin point accurate. The sum of his post was this.

Since Activision bought Blizzard and claimed they would leave them alone the business practices of the parent company have slowly started to creep into Blizzard games and this move is proof.

For this Brandon got a 72 hour ban which he disputed and received a cold email back standing by their choice to lock him out. They called his post “nonconstructive” when it was very much the opposite. They called into question Brandon's “Forum history,” which is funny as I can count the number of times he has posted anything on one hand. Those few posts he has made before were usually in joke threads.

So screw you Blizzard. If you are going to ban people for stating their honest opinion then I think we might be done with WoW. The desire to play is gone and more than anything this whole affair saddens me. You were once a jewel, an unshakable cornerstone of the gaming world. People could count on Blizzard. Now you are just part of Activision, a company which has openly admitted they want to fleece their customers for all they are worth. So you while you are busy charging people for new features, and charging $175 admission fees to Blizzcon here are a few ideas for you.

1- Make the cool down on hearthstones zero but add a five cent fee every time it is used.

2- If a guild is unable to beat a raid boss add an option for the raid leader to issue a “Defeat boss?” vote. All raid members will then vote yes or no. If the vote passes then everyone in the raid has their credit cards billed one dollar and the boss instantly dies. The raid gets to move forward and you make ten or twenty five bucks! Everyone wins!

3- Now that players can fly pretty much anywhere at max level, once they hit that cap and they decide to use a flight point so they can go piss or get a Coke instead of doing it themselves... yeah... you should charge for that. They are obviously lazy players who are using a game convenience when they could be doing it themselves. Skin'em to the bone Activision.

The worst part of this is that I will still buy Diablo 3. I am sure I will still love it and be excited and lose sleep playing it. However, now there will be some small part of that will feel dirty for doing so.

You've been... THUNDER STRUCK!

Okay, I'll admit it; when I first heard of the plans to create a multiple picture intertwined epic setting the stage for The Avengers I was extremely skeptical. (Even with Joss "squeeeeee" Whedon at the helm of the flagship) The first entry in this endeavor, Ironman 2, that movie itself was passably entertaining, but the Avenger tie ins felt forced and lame. (And don't get me started on Sam Jackson as Nick Fury! Puuuuh-lease.....)

So... queue Thor, the first of the two non-establish franchises that are part of The Avengers saga to debut. In 3D, no less.

Maybe my expectations were exceedingly low, maybe I was just in a good mood. But, simply put, I was blown away. This is the best Marvel movie since Spiderman 2. The visuals are spectacular, the 3D was well done, without being overbearing. The comic relief provides some true laugh out loud moments. And the eye candy for both genders is out in full force.

Not since Viggo as Aragorn have I questioned my sexuality so....

Natalie Portman is gorgeous as always, but the real scene stealer is new comer Kat "Epic Lips" Dennings, whom I recently had the pleasure of discovering in a small indie flick, Daydream Nation, at a local film festival. She hits the geeky hot chick note perfectly.

The comic book spin on Norse mythology is fun and interesting, and the nods to comic book and avengers fans are much less cheesy and brow beating than they were in Ironman.

The only issue I had with an otherwise completely enjoyable popcorn flick was the almost "Twilight-esque" romance arc of Thor and Jane (Portman). Yes, Portman is stunning, but not quite to the level that would make the God of Thunder swoon after a single night of small talk around a fire. (Especially when he has a perfectly good Asgardian woman pining after him) I guess it was necessary plot device for him to make his return, but it felt pretty damn awkward.


In any case, I'm now fully on board for the whole Avengers ride. Captain America's origin is due out at the end of July, and I can't wait.

April Blizzards Bring....

Today is April 14th and it snowed nearly a foot here during the night. To the left is a picture of my deck, complete with my poor BBQ that I optimistically dragged out of storage this past weekend.

I am starting to think that Al Gore guy might be on to something....

And if all that wasn't enough the creepy/amusing people that came up with Google Ads struck again. This morning strung across the top of my inbox was an offer for $50,000 plots of land in Costa Rica. Don't tempt me Google... don't f-ing tempt me.

Night Out

Last night I had the joy and privilege of accompanying my dear Krysta out for dinner and a movie. Sadly, it is currently that gaping black hole of movie releases in between the last season Oscar contenders and the real beginning of the Summer blockbusters. The pickings at the local cineplex were slim, but I checked out rottentomatoes.com to see what might be passable, and to my great suprise I found that Source Code with Jake Gyllenhaal (yes I had to google that spelling.... get a decent stage name before you start acting, yeesh.) was sitting at a tomato rating of 90%. I was shocked at this, because while the concept was cool, I assumed the movie itself would be total crap.


So we went, and it was not bad. Imagine taking Groundhog Day and tossing in some 24 and you'd get a pretty good idea of the movie. It was fairly predictable but still enjoyable for what it was. I'd give you a rating for it, but we still haven't come up with a catchy proprietary rating system.

A quick blurb

Yes we're still alive, I've just been busy with school and Cody has just been his usual lazy self.

For fans of indie games steam is having a slobber knocker of a sale right now called the "Potato Sack" including 13 hit indie games for 75% off. Or you can buy them a la carte for 50% off their regular price. Pretty sweet stuff, if you ask me.

Top Ten Best Games You Probably Never Played...

Xbox 360 owners were recently bestowed with a chance to pick up a HD optimized version of the critical darling, but box office bust Beyond Good and Evil. I indulged myself to really see what all the hype was about.

It was a good - but ill paced Zelda clone. So I could see why the combination of its original release on the maligned GameCube and it's inclusion of an Overweight Boar-man as a main character lead to its underwhelming sales figures.

The endeavor; however, got me thinking about all the good games I've played over the years that didn't quite achieve the market success they should have so I complied a little list of the 10 best games you've probably never played.

10. Dungeon Keeper - This interesting spin on the sim/tycoon genre allows players to take on the reigns of a malevolent evil overlord as they build up an underground fortress of evil. The humor and gameplay DID allow enough sales to warrant a sequel, and murmurs of an mmo (lol) but not nearly enough as the clever offbeat game deserved.






9.Alpha Centauri - This 4X game has long held
the distinction of being PC gamer's highest reviewed game of all time back when that meant something. (Its score of 98% was Later matched by Half-Life 2 and Crysis) Despsite that, this unique spin-off sold far less than any other entry in the Civilization Series. So much for trying to be different....






8. Viva Pinata - Ah, Rare. The most enigmatic of AAA game developers. With such exquisite smash hits as Golden Eye and Donkey Kong Country, they also have some pretty epic flops like Jet Force Gemini and this little gem that was part of Microsoft's goal of targeting a more family friendly audience. Don't be fooled by the cutesy graphics or the questionable cartoon tie-in; VP is a pretty decent strategy game. Part SimCity part Pokemon, you balance finite resources to keep your pinata's happy and find ways to help them "evolve" into more advanced species. The underlying morbidity of sending off your pinata pets to "parties" is great as well. They just seem to happy to be going off to get their innards beaten out of them. Sure to be a cheapo copy sitting at your local gamestop, go ahead and give it (or its sequel) a try.

7. Planescape: Torment - Perhaps it was because it was released during the dismal days of the late 1990's when it looked like the RPG genre was on its last legs, or perhaps it was the less recognizable Planescape license or the darker theme's that universe presents, but this game never did as well as it's engine sharing cousin Baldur's Gate. It was also a big part of the reason why its developer, Black Isle Studios, ended up going belly up. (moment of silence) Players took the role of "The Nameless One" on a quest to discover why he was immortal. The gameplay was also a lot more brain-y than most RPGs (especially these days) as you could progress through most of the game with stealth and/or clever use of conversation instead of simply hacking your way through enemies.

6. Donkey Kong Jungle Beat - Okay... this was a weird on, I'll give you that. Released shortly after the introduction of the barrel bongo controllers used for the rhythm drumming game Donkey Konga, this was no musical game. Instead players would use the drum controllers to guide Donkey Kong through a Donkey Kong Country-esque platformer. The real suprise, though, was it totally worked. The levels were designed to flow along, sort of like a well composed piece of music, and banging the drums actually gave you a decent workout. The game was also re-released for the Wii a while ago, but I doubt that waggling the mote would give you the same satisfaction as a good bang. (yeah, I went there.)


5. NHL 11 - This one is a little different than the rest of the games on the list and I am showing a bit of Canadian Bias here but this one is a personal pet peeve. Since the vast improvements made the EA's annual hockey series in the '09 edition the NHL games have been BY FAR the best sports video games around, yet they struggle to break the 500,000 copies sold mark. The tired and brainless Madden series; however, has no trouble being snatched up by chili-cheese-dog addled yankee doodle dandies every year. So much so that there is actually a noticeable effect on worker absenteeism when it launches every year. What is wrong with you people!?!?

4. GUN - Long before Rockstar dreamed of venturing into the Old West with their smash hit re-imagining and grand-theft-autoing of the Red Dead series there was a sandbox western game called GUN. While it lacked the extreme mellow-drama of Redemption it was actually a damn good game, and I have no real clue as to why it never became a hit. A lot of the missions played a lot more like an Old West movie than the floaty scripting style of Rockstar games can allow too. While you can tell by the graphics that it was released during the console 'tweener phase, you should still be able to get some enjoyment out of it at a rock bottom bargain price if you look hard enough.

3. Commander Keen - The name "ID software" for most conjures up fond memories of blasting nazi zombies or martian hell beasts in their famous FPSs games, Doom and Wolfenstien 3D, but before that, they got their start with a little platforming series known as Commander Keen. Humorous and engaging Commander Keen easily matched the early Metroid games for gameplay, but languished in the PC freeware wasteland of the early 1990's.

2. Blast Corps - Oh, look, it is another Rare game. I must like them or something. Blast Corps was an interesting title, and would probably have done a bit better were it not a N64 exclusive. Part puzzler, part racing game, part smash-the-fuck-out-of-buildings, it sort of brought to life every little boy's hot wheels fantasies. The plot made no sense, but the gameplay was epic, challenging and varied. I would say it was the best N64 game not containing Mario or Zelda in the title.


1. Kirby's Epic Yarn - Okay, yes. This is an odd choice for number #1. This is the most recent game on the list and has sold a crapton more copies than any of the others.... but taking into account the Wii's ubiquitousness (ubiquitocity?) this quaint title's sales figures are nothing short of shocking. While any game should be happy to sell almost 2 million units world wide, this is less than 10% of the totals of the Wii's version of the "New Super Mario Bros." which, while an excellent game, was barely more than port with new levels of the DS game of the same name.



Again and again it seems games are punished by the consumer for being a bit different. There are notable expections (Portal anyone?) but on the whole video games are no different than any other entertainment industry. CSI:Nebraska's of the world will always have higher ratings than the Firefly's. Just the way it is.

-Brandon

Stuff...

- Unlike Brandon I try to go off-road from the mainstream “hard-core” gaming-verse and fiddle with casual games. I like Bejeweled. Plants verses Zombies was awesome. I like Angry Birds, or at least I used to. The latest update to the game seems to have added advertisements, a feature usually found with free or “lite” versions of a game. I do not pay my hard earned 99 cents to watch commercials. This coupled with the growing realization that the game’s creator is bat-shit crazy and it is starting to look like Angry Birds has been launched straight downhill.

- I got to play the demo of the new Mortal Kombat. As I am the only one around here who likes fighting games I was forced to play against the computer. I am glad to see MK return to its roots. It felt instantly familiar and was clean and crisp on the controls. It made me smile and for a brief moment made me feel like I did when I first played MK2. This is a good thing. Here is hoping they do not kill the end product but the demo was super even if I was able to play it on expert against the computer A.I without breaking a sweat.

- Bionic Commando: Rearmed- Yes. Bionic Commando: Rearmed 2 -No. I do not care if they gave Spencer an epic porno-stache. Besides, shouldn't’t this game be called Bionic Commando: Re-rearmed? Bleh.

- Asus has taken the glasses free 3D tech from the 3DS and already improved on it. They unveiled a 3D laptop which uses a similar gimmick but ads a camera that finds your eyes and tracks them. As you move your head around the computer will adjust the screen accordingly giving a greater sense of depth and at the same time doing away with the “sweet spot” that is needed for the 3DS to function. Wonder if this would work on me? On a related topic I will be placing one of my kidneys up for auction soon.

The stereoscopically vision-impaired’s lament…

I was blind in one eye until I was 27 years old when I miraculously gained vision in my blind eye… sort of. It is difficult to explain and probably not all that interesting. The first thing I did when I had two eyes was fall off a curb, true story. The sudden addition of a field of depth took some getting used to. The 2nd thing I did was run out to see a 3D movie, a novelty I was never able to experience before and one that to this day, seven years later, still enthralls me. The Spiderman ride at Universal Studios in Florida remains one of the most magical things I have ever witnessed.

Funny thing though, not all kinds of 3D tech work on me it seems. Even though I can see out of both eyes my brain still likes to think it is only looking out of one in certain situations. I had the chance today to play Pilotwings 3D for the Nintendo 3DS and am very disappointed that this newest “glasses free” 3D device does not work on me at all.

The 3DS uses a different kind of pixel. They transmit half a signal to each eye and leave it up to your brain to put the two together thus giving the illusion of things popping out of the screen. There is a sweet spot of about 14-21 inches from the face, with the unit centered, that this effect takes place. When I hit that sweet spot the image on screen tears in two and it all goes blurry. I fiddled with it for a good 10 minutes before giving up.

And just like that all excitement for this is gone. The remake of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and the new Mario game hold little interest. I suppose I could still play these games, you can turn the 3D effect off but I cannot help but feel that I will always be bitter that I am but the slide of a button and a glitch in my vision away from seeing these games as they were meant to be played.
I feel cheated somehow. I know logically this is a silly way to feel but there it is gnawing at the back of my optic nerve.

I was really hoping that this new trend in 3D was not just a passing fad as it was in the mid 80’s but now I am not so sure. I suppose that is selfish. I need something else on the horizon I can get giddy about. Sony burned me with the PSP so I already view the NGP with extreme skepticism. All these tablets are…well… tablets. So it is in the Holodeck that I place my hopes. That might seem like a far off pipe dream but I ask you… is it?

-Cody

News and my expert opinion...

What makes me an expert you ask? Well, I have a PHD in parapsychology and psychology...no wait, that is Venkman, not me. Anyways.

Angry Douchebags! - What is with this Peter Vesterbacka guy? He makes it hard to give a damn about Angry Birds anymore when he runs around acting like a dick. First there was the GDC debacle where he said you "have to forget publishers" if you are making "serious games." Because throwing various species of silly BIRDS at green little PIGS is really fucking serious.

He then went on to make an ass of himself when the creator of BOX2D, the free source physics engine that runs Angry Birds, asked him why he had neglected to give the proper credit to this integral part of the game.

He has now come back and claimed that consoles are dying. Never mind that Kinect just made the Guinness Book of World Records for fastest selling game hardware ever… I am sure that was a fluke, Microsoft is certainly dicked.

Prey 2 - This makes me happy. I liked Prey. Of course the whole portal gimmick has now been done and done much better since Prey did it. They are going to need a new spin on it. Maybe they can focus more on the gravity controlling aspect.

These Goddamn Gardeners - Who the fuck shows up at 8am with leaf blowers? I swear they just camp outside my window and turn those puppies up to full blast. We planned on staying up late last night around here to get some WoW time in. We were stunningly successful only to have these guys show up. I suddenly wish I owned a paintball gun.

Wait, I thought publishers should be forgotten - Capcom has said that all sales of Street Fighter 4 for the iPhone for the next week will be donated to disaster relief funds for Japan. They also lowered the price to 99 cents. Go Capcom.

Is it wrong that I secretly like Cosplay? I mean... I would certainly never partake. Would I? Oh dear...

-Cody

The True Relationship Dealbreaker

Because if you don't cry when Wash dies.... you have no soul.

News Tidbits

Unreal Engine 3 running with dx11? Yes please. If this really is a glimpse into what next-gen could look like then sign me up. Of course there is a big difference between a movie made using this tech and a game playing in real time. Time will tell. Check it out --->Here.

Zelda: Ocarina of Time for the 3DS will have a new "Master Quest" mode. This coupled with newly coated graphics and the 3D effect might make a replay warranted.

A Tomb Raider movie reboot? Really? We need this already? Too bad Jolie will not be in it. She could trade in her twin pistols for adopted children and throw them at the villains.

Congrats to Microsoft on the 400 billionty Kinect sales. Now all we need are some games... Yes I know Dance Central is good and the fact that you can download "Word Up" is worth the cost of admission alone. I want to see someone make a RPG with a truly immersing Kinect control scheme. That's right, I want to be able to gesture at the screen Palpatine style and watch lightning melt the face off a zombie. Make that happen and I will be first in line.

Star Wars: The Old Republic- We still have not received our beta invites so on the off chance anyone at Bioware would ever read this we are not above doing unspeakable acts for some beta keys. Just an FYI

-Cody

Social Networking

No, it wasn't good enough for best picture, but I guess it is not a passing fad after all.


Follow us on Twitter @notthatnerdy and check out our facebook page too!

MARVEL VERSE CAPCOM 3: The Fate of I wish this was Street Fighter.

It should be mentioned first and foremost that watching Wolverine, The Hulk and Iron Man kick the ever-living shit out of Ryu, King Arthur and Akuma is bloody brilliant. I used the word "watching" on purpose, though, as at times this game really seems to play itself.

This can be a good or bad thing depending on your point of view. If you are of the Super Smash Bros. school of fighting then set the controls to simple and mash those buttons, but if your prefer a complex combo system style of fighting you might feel slightly cheated. There are now only three attack buttons instead of six and hyper combos are all bound to one button.

There are still combos to learn and some small amount of strategy in learning when to tag-team in your partners and which characters complement each other, but overall this is a tuned down fighting game. They make up for this with a damn nice art style and plenty of flash. There is so much happening on the screen at once that to anyone watching who did not know the game, it would look like a chaotic, epileptic seizure-inducing mess.

There is a method to it all and the bottom line is that it is fun. I found myself wanting to pick up Street Fighter 4 though after all that flash started to wear off...

The Proof is in the pudding....

.... mmm pudding.


Going to be some growing pains as we figure out how to work this stuff, but this is intended to be a blog where two E-friends discuss all things geekfully cool; movies, TV, video games, Nathan Fillion's choice of underwear; you name it, we'll talk about it.

Hope you enjoy.