Thursday, June 24, 2010

Random stuff including Blur, TVs, and my E3 insights.

Pretty good day I just picked up Blur, and Lips for $19.99. K-Mart and Best Buy are both running Blur for $39.99, and Activision has a $20 off coupon here, I used the coupon at K-mart to net Blur for $19.99 and they had Lips (original release w/2 wireless microphones) on clearance for $19.99 so I grabbed it too. Go to www.blurgame.com and make sure you check out the animated 'Brock Lee Race TV Spot' (should be the first video that plays when you load the page) it's really funny.



I'm in the market for a new TV, my current 42" has some minor issues plus I would like to move up to a 52" or 55" screen. I've been looking around trying to get some ideas for now, but haven't really decided on LCD/Plasma yet. I've been skeptical of LCD panels for a while because of the lack of true blacks in the picture (I've noticed this on the TV my Dad bought earlier in the year), but have been looking at a new Sharp AQUOS set (LC52E77U) that people seem to like.



I've recouped from my return trip fiasco (thanks again, United) that you heard about if you followed my facebook posts. I've been back at work a few days, and have been talking about all the amazing stuff at this year's E3. The summer of arcade XBLA stuff was the first stuff on the floor I hit, Limbo, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light (my most played at E3, I think I went through the demo 3-4 times), and Castlevania Harmony of Despair all look great. Hydro Thunder Hurricane played great but the $15 price tag for some reason on that one bugs me. Check out this page for more info on these titles, and scroll down to watch a video of them in action! Other download (XBLA/PSN) games I'm now looking forward to include Death Spank a funny action RPG, and Dead Nation an awesome top down zombie shooter.

I tried 3 Kinect demos and unfortunately was underwhelmed, even with what I assume were perfect conditions (extra lights/blank walls behind us) it felt either unresponsive or over sensitive depending on the game, while PlayStation's Move on the other hand I tried with Socom 4 and left really impressed.

I got to try Mafia II and if Red Dead Redemption is GTA in the wild west, Mafia is GTA in the 1950's. It was not a title I was looking forward to, but the demo actually may have swayed my view. Killzone 3, and Motorstorm: Apocalypse were both in 3D, and while they were neat I don't know how long I could play a game in 3D at a time.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Grown Ups.

I went to a sneak last night of Grown Ups the new Adam Sandler movie. It was pretty much what I expected, and had some funny parts, although seemed a little heavy handed towards the end trying to get it's message across. The 'boys' win a championship basketball game in 1978, and get reunited 30+ years later when they go back home to their coaches funeral. It's a star studded cast including Kevin James, David Spade, Rob Schneider, Chris Rock, Salma Hayek, and Maria Bello as well as probably 4-6 other bit parts by people you'll recognize.