I hope you all come to this blog to catch up with me and my rants about gaming, but gaming is not my only passion . Since probably the first time I saw Star Wars when i was like 11-12ish the world of film has just captured me and enticed me. If you ever listened to our ill-fated podcast, or read my first blog, most of those were about movies and TV. Again this blog is primarily a gaming blog, but every now and then I feel the need to breach off, which is what I'm going to do today!
I'll start by saying this, I HATE TWILIGHT. I bring this to attention first because last night was the midnight showing of that awful piece of trash known as New Moon. I'm really not going to go much more into it, other than the first movie was just horrible, and the books are probably not much better. Before you flame me know this, I tried reading the first book...yea let me explain. So I'm not a vampire fan, I mean I like certain movies with vampires in them, good movies like Lost Boys, Once Bitten (lawlz), and From Dusk til Dawn come to mind from my list. Also I am a HUGE fan of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, both TV show and movie. It started out cause I thought Sarah Michelle Gellar was beautiful, but then the show got awesome so I stuck with it. Now I also like werewolves too, again a few movies that come to mind are American Werewolf in London and TeenWolf. When I heard about a movie (because even though I worked in a bookstore for 3 years I only slightly knew they were books first) that had to deal with vampires fighting werewolves (Underworld?) but was aimed at more of a teen group, with the dude who played Cedric Diggory, I said "alright...I'll bite"...ug no pun intended...I really knew nothing about it. My girlfriend had the book and I asked to borrow it just to see the source material, and she assured me that I would hate it. I foolishly ignored the comment and took the book. I sat down to read it, and no joke within a few pages in, the book was across the room. I'm not a girl, and the book is told from a girl's perspective, so reading it did nothing for me. This has already gone on to long so in the end, the I hated the movie and the story and the actors and actresses and everything about it. But hey to those who do like it, cool I'm not knocking you for it, it's just not my bag.
The big movie I am really looking forward to this holiday/winter season is Sherlock Holmes. Strange, this post is about movies, but oddly movies based off books for the most part...Now there's a definitive line on this movie that I've seen from talking to people. There are the people like me who are uber-excited to see the movie, and then there are the people who just have total hate for it. I have never read a single Sherlock Holmes book in my life, not because I thought they were bad or anything, I just never got around to them or anything. I've seen one or two of the movies, or shows or some incarnation of it though. Most times, and I assume this is why the haters are hating on the new movie, Holmes seems to just be chasing the bad guy, solving crimes with his wit and pipe. Thats cool and shit, its the reason I love shows like CSI (the original Gil Grissom 4 lyfe) and other reality shows on the crime networks. What I like about this movie is it looks like we are looking at a very visceral, careless, unrefined Holmes when he is first starting out. He's not the wise older man that we have all seen before. I like that, I like the fresh start, a new look at a character that we have grown to know so well. There's a few other factors here such as first and for most Robert Downy Jr. Iron Man is one of the best comic book movies to date, and Iron Man 2 is my most anticipated summer movie. I've always enjoyed his movies, and hes making an awesome come back now. Jude Law and Mark Strong kick ass as support cast, and with Guy Richie at the helm? Awesome. I loved Snatch and RocknRolla, they were both great London gangster movies. Holmes just has a crazy vibe to it, the style, the look, everything about it makes me excited. As I said above I think people are starting to dislike the movie already though because we don't have the Holmes of old. Which again I don't know how he was in the books or anything, I can only speak from what I've seen of this new movie. Either way I think it looks good, and damn the critics and what everyone else says because if I like it, I guess thats all that matters.
Theres a few other spattered movies here and there that I want to see. Princess and The Frog from Disney drops on December 11th. It's Disney's first animated effort since 2004. It's good to see them going back to basics and working with the classics again. Not that the movies of late from their animated line have been bad, but they just weren't the Disney movies I grew up with. Aladdin is one of my favorite movies and the recent BluRay releases of Sleeping Beauty and Snow White have just looked phenomenal. They also have Rapunzel and one or two other classic stories lined up for release in the new few years. Avatar is the only other movie that I am psyched for. Its the first movie sci-fi master and genius James Cameron has done since the epic (epically LAME) Titanic. But hey the dude broke every record in the book with Titanic so he makes bank. Put that aside for the simple fact that we have a huge budget, epic sci-fi movie written and directed by the man who brought us: Aliens, True Lies, The Abyss, Terminator and what could be the greatest action movie of all time Terminator 2. I don't think I need to say much else. The internet buzz on this movie is huge, the geek fan base for this is overflowing. In August they held what was referred to as "Avatar Day" in which you had only a limited amount of time (because it sold out so damn fast) to get tickets to watch a 10-15 min scene and some behind the scenes stuff in 3D IMAX. It was huge. I am hoping Cameron will be able to crush his own records here, but I highly doubt it. While Avatar looks great and everything it's not universal like Titanic was. That movie played to everyone young and old, Avatar is Cameron giving back to the geek/sci-fi community that helped movies like Terminator 2 and Aliens become as big as they are. I have a good feeling it will be huge though.
So with that I tip my hat to you readers and always,
Thanks for reading!
-Nerdsbeware out
Friday, November 20, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
MGS
It's something that seems to plague most gamers, on a daily basis it lays claim to so many without warning. It is Multiple Gaming Syndrome. Maybe you have it? Maybe someone you know has it? I am here today, to come to terms, be open, and let all of you know that, I, Nerdsbeware suffer from MGS. Think of MGS like this scenario:
You are placed in an empty room except for a large 55in HD-TV, nice comfy couch, snacks, fridge full of drinks (whatever kind you desire for purposes of this experiment) and unlimited high speed internet. Next to the TV is entertainment stand containing a Wii, Xbox 360, PS3. Next to the couch is a DS or PSP(your choice). Behind the couch is a desk with a top of the line gaming PC. On the desk is a book with all the newest, top rated, games for all the platforms. You are instructed to pick 10 games for whatever you want. You are given all the games at once. You get yourself set for a nice long gaming session and a voice comes over a loud speaker letting you know that you only have 6-8 hours before the console systems go on lockdown, the internet is cut, and the batteries on the portable devices die (this is all hypothetical but).
What do you do! You go into a panic trying to decide what games come first, which has the most priority, which games are casual or hardcore. What can be beat in an hour, what might require more time? Yea sure you can pick the best game out of the 10 and just play it and enjoy it, but what about all those other great games? Its a terrible situation to have to live with.
Thats how I am most of the week. Now I'm exaggerating obviously here. It's not really a tough decision to make when you have a couple of games to play, it's just a matter of balancing time to get to all of them. But there does seem to be some sort of ranking that comes into play when deciding what games to play on a daily basis. I have two games that I am decently "hardcore" into right now, a few casual games that I play when I am bored, and one or two that are always fun to just throw in and play. I break it down like this. First comes World Of Warcraft. It's sad that it is on the top of my list (granted it's value has dropped greatly and as much as I joined back up, I am ready to quit again), but the only reason it is right now, is because of the $15 a month I pay for it. I feel like its wasted money if I don't log on, run a lap around Dalaran, sell some shit, get kicked out of a raid because theres to many DPS and then log off. All these reasons are why I should just cancel my account and wait for Star Wars: The Old Republic, but I wont for some reason...
My time is now pretty much being split (sorta..more like 70/30) between Borderlands and Dragon Age: Origins. Borderlands if you didn't know is a great RPG-Shooter made by Gearbox Studios. For all you people who loved the loot hunting, quest gathering fun of Diablo II, this game offers that up but in a new style. The game can be played single player or multi, but honestly the difficulty scaling in single player is so low that it's to easy. Plus the game was built to be played by you and three other friends, so why not take advantage of that? You play as one of four classes set forth to go find a mysterious Vault filled with treasures and sikk weapons. All we found was that if you happen to crash during the final cutscene, you'll never see the final boss nor the PHAT LOOTZ that dropped. The game is addictive fun making you want to go back to the same zones just to light a midget on fire or drive your car off a cliff for fun. The classes are simple enough, to understand and each is fun in their own way. Right now I am playing a Siren which kicks ass, and I plan to start a Berserker soon since we are in stasis since our Roland was the victim of the crash mentioned above and we don't want to get to far ahead of him in Playthrough 2. For a better, more in depth review, check out Spectre's review here, since my post already run long enough...
As mentioned above, the other game I dove head first into was Dragon Age: Origins. A new fantasy single player RPG developed by Bioware (makers of great games such as Baulder's Gate, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic series, Mass Effect series and countless other great RPG games). You play as one of three races (dwarf, human, elf ) and either a mage, warrior or rogue. Each class/race class combo has their onw "origin" story that serves as the intro to the game and with each class getting four different specialization trees (you get to pick one at level 7, and another at level 14) there is a ton of ways to play this game. I'm really green in the game so the story is still forming but you are set out to join a group of combatants called the Grey Wardens, set with the task of hunting and killing Darkspawn (the enemies in the game). Again I am keeping this really short and simple because the game is huge, and there is a lot going on and I just don't have the time to really go into huge detail about it. Either way, the game plays like the Knights or Mass Effect games, but with a few new tweaks that really make these type of party based group games fun and effective. Since WoW is a sinking ship in the ocean of games I want to play, I was thinking of changing my WoW blog over either a Borderlands blog or Dragon Age blog. Any thoughts?
Aside from those two games that I am totally loving right now, today was a huge day for gaming. Assassins Creed 2, New Super Mario Bros Wii, Left 4 Dead 2 all dropped. So once again, here I sit in that open room with just mere hours to choose what to play...My name is Nerdsbeware, and I suffer from MGS.
You are placed in an empty room except for a large 55in HD-TV, nice comfy couch, snacks, fridge full of drinks (whatever kind you desire for purposes of this experiment) and unlimited high speed internet. Next to the TV is entertainment stand containing a Wii, Xbox 360, PS3. Next to the couch is a DS or PSP(your choice). Behind the couch is a desk with a top of the line gaming PC. On the desk is a book with all the newest, top rated, games for all the platforms. You are instructed to pick 10 games for whatever you want. You are given all the games at once. You get yourself set for a nice long gaming session and a voice comes over a loud speaker letting you know that you only have 6-8 hours before the console systems go on lockdown, the internet is cut, and the batteries on the portable devices die (this is all hypothetical but).
What do you do! You go into a panic trying to decide what games come first, which has the most priority, which games are casual or hardcore. What can be beat in an hour, what might require more time? Yea sure you can pick the best game out of the 10 and just play it and enjoy it, but what about all those other great games? Its a terrible situation to have to live with.
Thats how I am most of the week. Now I'm exaggerating obviously here. It's not really a tough decision to make when you have a couple of games to play, it's just a matter of balancing time to get to all of them. But there does seem to be some sort of ranking that comes into play when deciding what games to play on a daily basis. I have two games that I am decently "hardcore" into right now, a few casual games that I play when I am bored, and one or two that are always fun to just throw in and play. I break it down like this. First comes World Of Warcraft. It's sad that it is on the top of my list (granted it's value has dropped greatly and as much as I joined back up, I am ready to quit again), but the only reason it is right now, is because of the $15 a month I pay for it. I feel like its wasted money if I don't log on, run a lap around Dalaran, sell some shit, get kicked out of a raid because theres to many DPS and then log off. All these reasons are why I should just cancel my account and wait for Star Wars: The Old Republic, but I wont for some reason...
My time is now pretty much being split (sorta..more like 70/30) between Borderlands and Dragon Age: Origins. Borderlands if you didn't know is a great RPG-Shooter made by Gearbox Studios. For all you people who loved the loot hunting, quest gathering fun of Diablo II, this game offers that up but in a new style. The game can be played single player or multi, but honestly the difficulty scaling in single player is so low that it's to easy. Plus the game was built to be played by you and three other friends, so why not take advantage of that? You play as one of four classes set forth to go find a mysterious Vault filled with treasures and sikk weapons. All we found was that if you happen to crash during the final cutscene, you'll never see the final boss nor the PHAT LOOTZ that dropped. The game is addictive fun making you want to go back to the same zones just to light a midget on fire or drive your car off a cliff for fun. The classes are simple enough, to understand and each is fun in their own way. Right now I am playing a Siren which kicks ass, and I plan to start a Berserker soon since we are in stasis since our Roland was the victim of the crash mentioned above and we don't want to get to far ahead of him in Playthrough 2. For a better, more in depth review, check out Spectre's review here, since my post already run long enough...
As mentioned above, the other game I dove head first into was Dragon Age: Origins. A new fantasy single player RPG developed by Bioware (makers of great games such as Baulder's Gate, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic series, Mass Effect series and countless other great RPG games). You play as one of three races (dwarf, human, elf ) and either a mage, warrior or rogue. Each class/race class combo has their onw "origin" story that serves as the intro to the game and with each class getting four different specialization trees (you get to pick one at level 7, and another at level 14) there is a ton of ways to play this game. I'm really green in the game so the story is still forming but you are set out to join a group of combatants called the Grey Wardens, set with the task of hunting and killing Darkspawn (the enemies in the game). Again I am keeping this really short and simple because the game is huge, and there is a lot going on and I just don't have the time to really go into huge detail about it. Either way, the game plays like the Knights or Mass Effect games, but with a few new tweaks that really make these type of party based group games fun and effective. Since WoW is a sinking ship in the ocean of games I want to play, I was thinking of changing my WoW blog over either a Borderlands blog or Dragon Age blog. Any thoughts?
Aside from those two games that I am totally loving right now, today was a huge day for gaming. Assassins Creed 2, New Super Mario Bros Wii, Left 4 Dead 2 all dropped. So once again, here I sit in that open room with just mere hours to choose what to play...My name is Nerdsbeware, and I suffer from MGS.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Guitar Zero
I went to Best Buy for my normal Tuesday pick-up and upon walking in I saw a grand display of white with pretty colored pastel lines and a font that looked all to familiar. As I approached this monolith the words began to come into being. BAND HERO (in the Guitar Hero font mind you...) stared me back in my face. I turned the box over and at it puzzled, like I was trying to read something written in Chinese. What could this be? Another music and rhytem game with a full band set up?
Drums? Check.
Mic? Check
Guitar? Check
Clone of another franchise that has gone way to overboard? CHECK.
Here's what really had me stumped. The game is put out by ActiBlizzard or Blizzivison, whatever you please. The same people who put out the Guitar Hero series. Oh now I get it, thats why the font looks like Guitar Hero....but not on a GH box. What the hell is the meaning of this I exclaimed in my head. Why would this company who just put out Guitar Hero 5 in September, Guitar Hero 5 that includes a full band set up, put out Band Hero, a game that includes a full band set up? Is it exclusive to the Wii? Is that why the box is white? No, no that can't be how would one of the richest companies out there stay afloat if they didn't go multiplatform. Perplexed and head hurting deep in thought as to why I was looking at a game that was pretty much Guitar Hero 6 (but not) was being sold for $199.99 full band or $60 for just the game.
Back at the office I decided to go see what this hubbub was all about. I was quickly brought to the best place for information, Wikipedia. Upon reading this is what the Band Hero wiki page had to say:
"Band Hero is an expansion game to the Guitar Hero series of music video games, released by Activision on November 3, 2009 for the PlayStation 2 and 3, Wii, Xbox 360 and Nintendo DS consoles. The game is structurally similar to Guitar Hero 5, and will support full band play (lead and bass guitar, drums, and vocals) including the drop-in/drop-out and in-song instrument and difficulty change menus, and additional multiplayer modes as Guitar Hero 5."
Ok? What the hell? So again I ask...why isn't this just called Guitar Hero 6? It's essentially the same GOD DAMN GAME. Thats right, people wouldn't buy GH6 because GH5 just came out a month ago and it needed to be rebranded it so people will think it's a new game. Oh wait here is the the shocking truth to show why we needed a new game that is based off and already exisisting game, and will spawn 100 more sequels of shit: "Band Hero for consoles will feature 65 songs from "mainstream acts" ". Oh it also features more "in game models" of famous artists too. That's it? Mainstream bands are really the reason you want me to pay $60 for 65 songs? Ever hear of DLC? It's this awesome new technology where you can put groups of songs in an online marketplace where people can pay real money to download them and play them in their already pre-existing game!
I really am just at a loss about this one. The commerical for it features Pete Wentz, Travis Barker and Rivers Cuomo doing the standard Risky Business slide into frame with "Old Time Rock and Roll" playing. But this time Taylor Swift walks comes in and starts singing something that I don't really care about. Same advertisement that GH has been using since probably GH3. I just don't have words to describe how stupid this game seems. Not to mention DJ Hero just came out a few weeks ago and I can't think of anything more boring that that game. The market is over saturated with these games now. It's just one after another and with each one they get worse and worse. Jokes have been around for years now about what's next. Accordian Hero? Tenor sarrusophone Hero? In all honestly I'd rather just play SkinFlute Hero than buy
another one of these stupid games. You know what we play every time I go to my friends place? Rock Band(2). The original game that introduced drums and mic to the mix. The game got it right on the first try and only made it better by having an amazing DLC structure. With the RB DLC my one friend has spent well into the hundreds on songs, and it never gets boring. I know each person has their own tastes and while the Console Wars still rage on, one of the smaller battles being fought on the side lines is the Rock Band vs Guitar Hero series. Will they keep making more games? Will we get a new trend in gaming soon that will put a stop to these? Who the hell knows, and if a white box with crazy lettering and colors on it confuses me, I'm not the one to ask.
See you on stage folks,
- NerdsBeware out
PS: Everyone should go listen to the band Between the Buried and Me, mainly the albums Colors and The
Great Misdirect. Amazing.
Drums? Check.
Mic? Check
Guitar? Check
Clone of another franchise that has gone way to overboard? CHECK.
Here's what really had me stumped. The game is put out by ActiBlizzard or Blizzivison, whatever you please. The same people who put out the Guitar Hero series. Oh now I get it, thats why the font looks like Guitar Hero....but not on a GH box. What the hell is the meaning of this I exclaimed in my head. Why would this company who just put out Guitar Hero 5 in September, Guitar Hero 5 that includes a full band set up, put out Band Hero, a game that includes a full band set up? Is it exclusive to the Wii? Is that why the box is white? No, no that can't be how would one of the richest companies out there stay afloat if they didn't go multiplatform. Perplexed and head hurting deep in thought as to why I was looking at a game that was pretty much Guitar Hero 6 (but not) was being sold for $199.99 full band or $60 for just the game.
Back at the office I decided to go see what this hubbub was all about. I was quickly brought to the best place for information, Wikipedia. Upon reading this is what the Band Hero wiki page had to say:
"Band Hero is an expansion game to the Guitar Hero series of music video games, released by Activision on November 3, 2009 for the PlayStation 2 and 3, Wii, Xbox 360 and Nintendo DS consoles. The game is structurally similar to Guitar Hero 5, and will support full band play (lead and bass guitar, drums, and vocals) including the drop-in/drop-out and in-song instrument and difficulty change menus, and additional multiplayer modes as Guitar Hero 5."
Ok? What the hell? So again I ask...why isn't this just called Guitar Hero 6? It's essentially the same GOD DAMN GAME. Thats right, people wouldn't buy GH6 because GH5 just came out a month ago and it needed to be rebranded it so people will think it's a new game. Oh wait here is the the shocking truth to show why we needed a new game that is based off and already exisisting game, and will spawn 100 more sequels of shit: "Band Hero for consoles will feature 65 songs from "mainstream acts" ". Oh it also features more "in game models" of famous artists too. That's it? Mainstream bands are really the reason you want me to pay $60 for 65 songs? Ever hear of DLC? It's this awesome new technology where you can put groups of songs in an online marketplace where people can pay real money to download them and play them in their already pre-existing game!
I really am just at a loss about this one. The commerical for it features Pete Wentz, Travis Barker and Rivers Cuomo doing the standard Risky Business slide into frame with "Old Time Rock and Roll" playing. But this time Taylor Swift walks comes in and starts singing something that I don't really care about. Same advertisement that GH has been using since probably GH3. I just don't have words to describe how stupid this game seems. Not to mention DJ Hero just came out a few weeks ago and I can't think of anything more boring that that game. The market is over saturated with these games now. It's just one after another and with each one they get worse and worse. Jokes have been around for years now about what's next. Accordian Hero? Tenor sarrusophone Hero? In all honestly I'd rather just play SkinFlute Hero than buy
another one of these stupid games. You know what we play every time I go to my friends place? Rock Band(2). The original game that introduced drums and mic to the mix. The game got it right on the first try and only made it better by having an amazing DLC structure. With the RB DLC my one friend has spent well into the hundreds on songs, and it never gets boring. I know each person has their own tastes and while the Console Wars still rage on, one of the smaller battles being fought on the side lines is the Rock Band vs Guitar Hero series. Will they keep making more games? Will we get a new trend in gaming soon that will put a stop to these? Who the hell knows, and if a white box with crazy lettering and colors on it confuses me, I'm not the one to ask.
See you on stage folks,
- NerdsBeware out
PS: Everyone should go listen to the band Between the Buried and Me, mainly the albums Colors and The
Great Misdirect. Amazing.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Price Of Persia: The Sands Of Time
The full trailer went up on line for the movie yesterday and hot damn does it look promising. I hate the fact that I have never really played any of these games because I heard they were really good, fun games, most of them at least. I assume the movie is based off the game of the same name, but I don't know where they are taking lore/story from. People are going to rag on the movie reguardless because its a "video game movie" but in the end, it looks better than half the other vg movies that have come out in the past. You really kinda have a powerhouse team working on this movie.
First you have Jerry Bruckheimer producing the movie. I really like what he picks to put his money into, since he just doesn't dump money into any pieces of crap movie that comes along. Yes, Disney is tied to the film with Bruckheimer, but they also paired on the Pirates movies which were generally good, fun movies, as well as the two National Treasure movies. They weren't the greatest but they were fun, goofy "lets go on an around the world adventure!" type of movie that you just don't see anymore. Mike Newell is directing, and directed my personal favorite Harry Potter movie (Goblet of Fire), and can do action well and I generally like his movies. Rounding out the cast is Jake Gyllenhaal who I am kinda indifferent to. He might be good, he might be bad, I don't know yet. Playing our villian is Sir Ben Kingsly who with the exception of a handful of bad movies (BLOODRAYNE WTFFAIL??) is a class actor and I find him to bring something good to the movies he does. Gemma Arterton plays our female lead, and I just absolutely love her. She's a British actress who has only done a few "main stream" movies such as having a small part in Quantam of Solace and RocknRolla. She will be in the upcoming (and AWESOME looking remake of Clash of the Titans too). Finally we have Alfred Molina who we all know from Spider-Man 2. He's another great, timeless actor who brings so much to the screen.
So again all in all the movie looks really good. I'm sure people will still complain about something because they always do, but for what its worth, I'll be seeing it. Check out the trailer below:
Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time
First you have Jerry Bruckheimer producing the movie. I really like what he picks to put his money into, since he just doesn't dump money into any pieces of crap movie that comes along. Yes, Disney is tied to the film with Bruckheimer, but they also paired on the Pirates movies which were generally good, fun movies, as well as the two National Treasure movies. They weren't the greatest but they were fun, goofy "lets go on an around the world adventure!" type of movie that you just don't see anymore. Mike Newell is directing, and directed my personal favorite Harry Potter movie (Goblet of Fire), and can do action well and I generally like his movies. Rounding out the cast is Jake Gyllenhaal who I am kinda indifferent to. He might be good, he might be bad, I don't know yet. Playing our villian is Sir Ben Kingsly who with the exception of a handful of bad movies (BLOODRAYNE WTFFAIL??) is a class actor and I find him to bring something good to the movies he does. Gemma Arterton plays our female lead, and I just absolutely love her. She's a British actress who has only done a few "main stream" movies such as having a small part in Quantam of Solace and RocknRolla. She will be in the upcoming (and AWESOME looking remake of Clash of the Titans too). Finally we have Alfred Molina who we all know from Spider-Man 2. He's another great, timeless actor who brings so much to the screen.
So again all in all the movie looks really good. I'm sure people will still complain about something because they always do, but for what its worth, I'll be seeing it. Check out the trailer below:
Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time
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