HD finally?, and gaming flood incoming...

My parents are by no means 'tech savvy', an older generation that is on the outside not really caring to look in. Imagine my surprise when Dad mentions he wants to go looking for a big screen TV to replace the 25" console he's had for years. I finally sat them down, and asked what they were going to hook up to this new TV, my mom was actually saddened when I told her she couldn't hook the VCR up to it, because it was out of date. Last week we went out and they bought a new 52" LCD, and signed up for digital cable. Times they are a changing, welcome to today.


I picked up a PSP Go a couple weeks ago (found a smoking deal on a used one). I'm not really on the digital only bandwagon, quite the opposite I'm very material, I want something tangible for my money. I want to buy a movie, book, video game and have a safety net so if I don't care for it, or finish it (yeah like that happens) I know there is resale value there. The total loss of UMD's was a hindering factor, so I had decided not to get the Go, but then the price dropped $50 and I was sold. Evidently I got all the tech savvy in my family. :) It's been about two weeks and so far I'm liking the Go the comics feature is kinda cool, and the fact that some of my blu-rays are coming with portable copies (District 9, and Zombieland) for the PSP is neat. The only game I've downloaded so far is Pinball Heroes (only available from the PSN network), but I'm intrigued that the PSP minis can now be played on the PS3 with the latest firmware upgrade.

I finally got around to trying Borderlands on the 360 and it's amazing, like Fallout 3 with a lot more shooting. I was hesitant when it was released because I kept hearing that to unlock the best loot drops in the game you had to be playing co-op with 1-3 other people. The last GAMERadio podcast they were revisiting Borderlands and mention specifically that he was under that impression, but remembers getting better drops playing solo. This and the rest of their coverage (they also review the first DLC pack the Zombie Island of Dr. Ned) swayed me to pick it up. So far, so good I'm almost level 8 soldier after a couple nights.

I'm getting pretty psyched for BioShock 2. I caught an episode of GameTrailers a while back that was interviews with 2k about single player, and multi-player. The 3 minute plus trailer below aired during Jimmy Fallon show on February 2nd, and looks freaking amazing. I was a huge fan of the first game, and have had my reservations with second (4 different studios working on it, Ken Levine not involved), but over the last couple weeks I've been swayed. I can't wait to get back to Rapture. :)

Gamestop funny, 360 goes home?

Found this on Joystiq this morning, made me laugh. Most of it is factual. :)



CES 2010 is underway in Las Vegas, the Consumer Electronics Show will surely be the focus of some updates for the next couple of days. Microsoft kicked things off early last night with a press conference, and evidently leaked video interview footage on a web site earlier yesterday. The coolest thing was their "Xbox Game Room" announcement, an avatar area devoted to classic coin op video games (think one of the cool parts of PS3 home, except you had to wait in line hoping to play). You can head over to Joystiq and check out a video and also download the Fact Sheet for more preliminary info and pricing, which wasn't too bad. $5 (400 MS points) will get you a machine on both 360 & PC, $3 (240 MS points) will get you one or the other 360 or PC, or you can pump $.50 (40 MS points) in for a single game (must be inflation old school games cost a .25 when I was going to the arcade). If one of your "friends" has purchased a game you can also visit their "Game Room" and try a game for free, before purchasing it. Sounds like a neat concept.

And we're off... Arena opening, TV, Movies, and more...

Well New Year's Eve went off without a hitch we watched The Valet (La doublure) a French comedy, and District 9 (I even managed to stay awake throughout). A friend recommended The Valet that he noticed Hollywood Video stocked, and I had wanted to see District 9 but never had gotten around to it. I had almost picked it up on blu-ray a couple times as it was only $20 but I read mixed thoughts of people who "blind bought" it wishing they had rented it instead. We head off to the closest Hollywood, and of course no copies of D9 in stock, not to mention their blu-ray's are $5.29 for 5 days? WTF? I knew there was a reason I hadn't rented anything there for quite a while (since they did the free blu-ray promotion back in August 2008). I don't see how Hollywood, and Blockbuster stay in business with redbox machines, Netflix, and cut rate rental stores like Family Video. The Valet was a funny romantic comedy, while District 9 was enjoyable (I would probably rate it higher than my friend would) I'm glad I didn't buy it.

Got out New Year's day and decided to take in a movie (half of Wichita seemed to have the same idea), and thanks to Best Buy's Sherlock Holmes/Microsoft promo a couple weeks ago I had a free ticket. The admission ticket was up to $12 so I talked my friend into balcony seats (since mine wouldn't cost anything) at the east Warren. I've never sit in the balcony section so it was a new experience for my friend and me. The over-sized chairs were comfortable and roomy including plenty of leg room, plus they had seat (ie. butt) warmers. I'm still not great on the service staff coming in/out during the feature (I complained about this back in February last year when we went to the Warren Old Town), but there seemed to be more aisle room in front of your seat as well as more elevation between the stadium rows (compared to Old Town). In other words it didn't bother me as much this time maybe because I was only in the auditorium 2 1/2 hours compared to ~6 hours for the academy shorts. Sherlock Holmes was really good, a grimy, gritty period piece with simply amazing vistas of 1891 London. It definitely had a Guy Ritchie feel if you've seen RockNRolla, Snatch, or Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels.

I went to the Intrust Bank Arena 'open house' Saturday, got to walk around and visit some of areas I'll probably never see again like the Thunder locker room, and the party suites. It reminds me of a scaled down version of the Sprint Center in Kansas City, after being there it just seems so small. It was nice, and the seats were padded and comfortable. They have a bunch of different concession 'themes' scattered throughout I remember seeing BBQ, Pizza, and even a Carlos O'Kellys branded one. I think the parking is going to be a issue though, sure there are a lot of street parking space spread downtown, but are you really going to want to walk 5-6 blocks back and forth?

The holiday drought of TV shows during the last 3-4 weeks is coming to an end with a sprinkle of shows coming back this week (NCIS, and NCIS Los Angeles specifically), and most everything starting back up the week of January 10 (Chuck comes back Monday night 1/11!).

Time is running out...

Well here we are staring at the end of 2009, the clock movements seem to be going slower and slower. My big plans for the night, gonna go rent a couple movies and settle in. Did this last year too, and was asleep halfway through Omega Man around 11pm, hopefully that won't happen this year.


Really enjoyed my day off today, and looking forward to the other one tomorrow. Need to sit down and play Fallout 3 for about 5 hours (that would clock me in at about 50 hours total) and I still don't think I scratched the surface. I'm going to try to see Sherlock Holmes, or Avatar tomorrow to kick off the year right.

Another year in the can, and DSi Geritol edition!

Celebrated another birthday this week, yeah "old" me! I guess I'm getting closer to needing that DSi LL or the DSi Geritol edition, as I call it. The Japanese launch went off successfully with the DSi XL (their moniker) outselling the PSPGo (well duh.).


"Gertrude proudly display's her new DSi XL. She says that she couldn't have bought it on her fixed income, if not for the AARP coupon, and of course her Hoveround!"

Incoming Transmission......

Sorry about the last entry, I found that I could update the blog via my cell, but didn't realize there was a 140 character limit. :( The general gist of the entry was that Zombieland was amazing. October was a full month since I worked my seasonal job at the Halloween attraction again. We weren't open as many nights this year but it did fill up my weekends. I'm a little less tied up now so I figured it was time to update the blog with current stuff.

Let's start with PC games. I picked up Trine when it hit retail back in early September. I'd heard about it back when it was released on Steam in early July when various podcast were praising it. It was slated to be on PSN, and the 360 marketplace as well, but the PSN date kept getting pushed back further, and further while the 360 disappeared all together. Trine is a platform/adventure game with physics where you control one of three characters the Thief, Knight, or Wizard switching at will to overcome enemies and obstacles in the levels. It has since finally come out on PSN, but plays extremely well on the PC with my 360 wired controller, and looks gorgeous.

The other PC title I grabbed was Torchlight a Diablo clone, not at all surprising since it comes from the designers behind Diablo 1, Diablo 2, Fate, and Mythos. If you take the play style of Diablo, follow the graphic style of WoW, add a pet and you have Torchlight. It's amazing how much it feels like Diablo while playing I even think the music sounds similar while wandering around in the mine. The developers are supposedly now working on an MMO version of Torchlight that is supposed to be done in 24 months.

Console wise I finally opened Fallout 3 about 3 weeks ago, and started playing only to throw away the first 4 hours of play to start over the next day. I am probably now about 12 hours in and haven't even made it out of the first town you come to outside the vault. I'm enjoying the 'atmosphere' a lot more than I did in Oblivion so I think that's why its more approachable. I also picked up Midnight Club L.A. complete edition because I really wanted to drive a Dodge Charger/Challenger around, but they are high dollar cars in game, and me and racing games don't mesh well.

I also picked up a couple demos Left 4 Dead 2 on 360 which I've already played through at a show a couple months ago. It's L4D with new people and some new enemies. I'm not all that enamored with it, but that could be because I picked up the first one and still have only 1 chapter completed. I'll take this opportunity to say Co-op sucks, I don't like pick up groups (you never can guarantee a good experience) and everyone else on my friends list isn't playing anymore. This is probably why most of my MMO gaming was always solo too, and why I won't be picking up Borderlands because I've heard single player is pretty dull.

I also grabbed the God of War III demo, and Bayonetta demo for the PS3 system. GoW III is actually pretty cool even though I haven't played any of the others in the series. I have pre-ordered the God of War 1 & 2 collection for the PS3 both games upgraded to 720p on one blu-ray so I'm hoping I like them. Bayonetta is pretty neat it's just that I've never been a fan of the Devil May Cry gameplay style so I don't think I'll be getting this one either.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 comes out next Tuesday so I won't be playing much at all except that if it follows CoD 4 lead.

Black Friday is creeping up on us, and some of the ads have already leaked. K-mart has a few good games for $20 off, and a few $8.99 blu-rays. Wal-mart already has an ad posted for Saturday Nov. 7 only including a 360 arcade for $199.99 and you get a $100 gift card with purchase. That's a pretty good deal if your in the market for a newer version of the console, or a Christmas gift. I'll keep tabs on the Black Friday deals, although last year Amazon price matched all of the blu-ray/game sales so I didn't have to fight the crowds, hopefully they do the same this year.

ver. I highly recommend it!

r/comedy in the vein of Shaun of the Dead, and Return of the Living Dead its very gory but funny as hell. It also has one of the best cameos in a movie e

Okay in the last three days i've seen Zombieland twice. I went to a sneak tuesday and went again last night, this movie is amazing. A firmly rooted horro

System prices falling, and more video games than you can shake a stick at.

Gamescom 2009 kicked off earlier this week in Cologne, Germany. You may remember in years past the Leipzig Conference (think E3 just in Germany, and a smaller) this is the "new" version of it. Some big (smaller?) Sony news hit Tuesday, including the new PS3 'slim' will hit early September, coupled with a price drop on the current models by $100.00. The slim will retail for $299.99 and comes with a 120GB drive, evidently the current 80GB/160GB units will be discontinued with only the slim sku available in the market. According to the press event the slim will still not be backwards compatible, and you can no longer put another operating system on the hard drive like current/older models.



There has also been changes in the 360 camp (maybe Microsoft's fortune teller was predicting Sony's future) the Elite model has been repackaged, dropping the included HDMI cable. The current thought/speculation flowing through the Internet is the Pro (60GB unit) will be discontinued, and the Elite will drop to $299.99. Hmmm... $299.99 for a 360 w/120GB drive or a PS3 w/120GB drive for $299.99, I think even I can tell the future. :)

Well the summer doldrums on the video game front are finally drawing to close (unless your a big fan of sports games), the kids have gone back to school, and the AAA titles are on the horizon again! There has been a demo of Batman Arkham Asylum on the PS3 kiosk around town for at least the last 3-4 months, but is was only a playable "challenge map", pitting Batman against waves of enemies. I will be the first to admit the graphics were impressive, but the beat-em up style would get old really quick. Luckily for me, when I got back from hellish road trip 2009© a new demo had graced the PlayStation Network, and 360 Marketplace. I was concerned that it would be the same kiosk demo, but was informed it was actually a game play level and worth checking out. I've stated it before, a game demo can swing my opinion on game 180° or cement my devotion (Bioshock...) more than anything else. I've played through the demo 3-4 times now, and while I still fell the combat is 'button mashy' the game looks great, and there is enough stealth/puzzle (they call it detective mode) game play to satisfy me. I went out and pre-ordered the game after deliberating over which version to get for a couple hours (360 achievement's FTW), so next Tuesday!



The Batman:AA demo kinda overshadowed the other release I was looking forward to, Wolfenstein came out this week for 360/PS3. It was weird that Batman:AA was 2 weeks out yet reviews were already all over the web, Wolfenstein was a week earlier, but no reviews could be found. They started hitting Tuesday morning, and weren't great... 73 from Game Informer, and 75 from IGN, with the current metacritic score sitting at 78. I enjoy the mythos of the series, so I picked it up anyway, having played the original Wolfenstein 3-D on PC ages ago, and the more recent Return to Castle Wolfenstein on Xbox. I'm only about an hour and half in and the first thing this game reminded me of was Prey on the 360, an eerie feeling of déjà vu, not that I mind because I really enjoyed Prey though. My only worry so far is at that 1 hr 1/2 mark it shows my overall progress at 17% complete meaning it may only be 6-7 hours long, but there are 'collectible' items to replay the levels for so that may keep me going.

More demos are flowing now also, Lost Planet 2 co-op demo level from E3, Mini Ninjas, and Dirt 2 are currently downloading to my 360 so impressions coming later. The new NXE dashboard update has hit also with overpriced classic 360 'Games on Demand', avatar marketplace, and some Netflix enhancements. 'Games on Demand' lets you download full Xbox 360 games to your hard drive ranging in price from $19.99-$29.99, I'm of the opinion that these are a little high considering most of them can be bought brick & mortar for the same price. Not to mention you could pick up a used copy for even less, get a printed manual, case, and disc that you could resell down the road when you beat the game, or what if you don't like it? Remember this clause (There are no refunds for this item.) on every piece of download content from the marketplace?

The avatar marketplace lets you accessorize, and dress your avatar (for a price). They include themed shops (Bioshock 2, Assassins Creed 2, Halo ODST, etc) where you can buy toys, t-shirts, outfits, and more. The lower end stuff (t-shirts, hats) run 80 MS points ($1.00), the accessories and outfits can run up to 400 MS points ($5.00). I had a friend buy the Star Wars lightsaber, and was cracking up listening to the last episode of ListenUp! where they spent 5 minutes wondering who would buy this stuff (the light saber specifically) even though I did purchase a t-shirt for $1.00. I've been giving him a hard time since last week so why stop now?

On the positive side they have also stated that games can have unlockable avatar clothes, and items. I think this could be extremely cool, buy Game XYZ beat a certain level and you get a Game XYZ t-shirt for your avatar. The only game known so far to do this will be the Xbox Live arcade 'Splosion Man and only after an upcoming update. It seems like they are tied to achievements so if you've already finished the game (and got those achievements) you will get them when the update hits.

I dropped my Netflix account a while back so I don't know about the enhancements included. I noticed today though someone on my friends list today was watching a movie, and instead of the red Netflix box, it showed they were watching Grosse Point Blank (excellent choice!).

Lastly, I had been contemplating for a month getting an Ipod Touch 2G (retiring my 30GB Zune). I had been reading about the Ipod generations on various web sites, and forums, and came to the conclusion that I would better off waiting until September when hopefully/maybe Apple announces the third gen Touch (equivalent to the IPhone 3GS - the phone of course). Then Microsoft sends me the announcement about the upcoming ZuneHD with HD video (720p) playback to a TV/Monitor, and probably the biggest draw to me HD Radio. Decisions, Decisions...

Off the road again.

Had about a week to recoup from my last road trip now, and everything is pretty much back to normal, I think I've decompressed sufficiently. I already knew it was a bad idea, but 1100 mile road trips (Kansas to Utah) with family are a bad idea. :( I think my boss stated it pretty good, the first 2-3 hours are okay you have something to talk about, everyone's cordial, and getting along after that who knows?

It wasn't all bad the first night we stopped in Hays, KS. found they didn't have any rooms so we drove on to Wakeeney. The second day we made it to Rawlins, Wyoming (which in my mind was probably the high point). Rawlins is home to the Wyoming Frontier Prison, which we toured the next morning. The prison has a interesting history, and I found they had made a horror/thiller movie there Prison in 1988. I've been looking for a copy ever since we left, and it's never been put on DVD here (the guide informed us that the movie pretty much tanked), so I'm going to have to import a copy from Europe to see it. The third day we finally made it to Ogden, Utah. Notes of interest the first leg, Wyoming is a very desolate place, Kansas may be flat but at least there are fields, plains, trees, a varied color palate. Wyoming is brown, sure every once in a while there will be a mountain hill range, but that's about it. It does however "green" up a little the closer you get to the Utah boarder. We entered Utah through the Wasatch Cache National Forest so it was scenic, but only a 2 lane windy road up, over, and through the mountains. We spent three days there before turning around and heading back home, which by the end of the week I was ready for.

Hello? Hello? Is anyone there?

Wow. I knew it had been a while, but didn't realize how long (or that I left it mid-trip in Houston). I had thought about updating a couple times, but as you can tell that didn't happen. Anyway let's catch back up a little.

Houston trip went well, no bad chalupas this time around. We ended up stopping in Shreveport, Louisiana one night. Not long enough to really do anything, but long enough I can say I've been in Louisiana now. I bought a GPS unit off eBay a while back, and used it for most of the trip (comparing it to Mom & Dad's AAA route info), and found it to work pretty well. I'm technically never "lost" because it knows where I am, and it's only mislead me once (and that was in Kansas City a couple of months ago).

E3 (Electronics Entertainment Expo) was held the first week of June this year, and was back closer to the spectacle of older E3's. I went in 2004, and 2005 and contemplated going back this year, but didn't know what to expect this time. There wasn't all that many ground breaking announcements, as some had already 'leaked' (PSP Go), and others were companies trying to copy Wii's motion control (Xbox Natal, and Sony's 'magic wand'). Out of everything announced the game that has me hyped the most is Scribblenauts for the DS. This game sounds phenomenal, your given a puzzle, and to solve it you write in any word, then that object drops into the world. Check out videos for it as it's kind of hard to explain, but it looks like so much fun.

Road Trip! so far so good...

Well, it's that time of year again the annual road trip to Houston, TX. You may remember last year's romp although it ended early because of a bad run to the border. We did hit 5 states in 3 days, going to try for 6 this year, barring any bad fast food.

I found that we were going by another Fry's so we had to schedule a stop at the Dallas location. This one has a "cattle farm" motif with a herd of steers outside and wooden fence rows, with cows and cowboys inside. They were running a special on the 360 HD DVD add-on $39.99 plus Bourne Identity, and Bourne Supremecy (as well as the King Kong packaged inside. I didn't find anything that my HD DVD collection needed as I've gotten spoiled with the Dillon's finds a couple months ago, and the 7-8 I picked up at Fry's in San Diego. I did find a couple sale Blu-rays that I grabbed, and Eternal Sonata for the 360 for $20.00.

This year the hotel is a stones throw from Relient Stadium, and the Astrodome.
.

Goodbye J.R. we'll miss you.

Sorry for the lack of updates to anyone reading this. I actually had some stuff to talk about, but unfortunately today's post won't be a happy one. You may want to quit reading now, and check back next week.

We picked up the puppy on March 1, 2009 as he would be 6 weeks old on the 4th of March. My daughter decided on the runt of the litter, he was all black except for a solitary white stripe down his chest, I joked that he looked like a backwards skunk. He was part terrier, jack russell terrier, and chihuahua and a little smaller than a cantaloupe when we brought him home. My daughter named him J.R. short for jack rabbit, because when he would play he would 'hop' around rather than walking.

Here it is five and half weeks later, and J.R. is no longer with us. I came home this afternoon and my daughter said that he had a seizure, when I came in my wife was on the phone with the vet. She took him to the vet only to find that he had fluid on the brain that wasn't draining right, I guess a birth defect that happens in chihuahua's from time to time. She called and said the vet gave him some medicine to ease any pain he was in, but there wasn't anything that could be done. She asked if I wanted her to bring him home for the night to say goodbye, but I couldn't bear to think about it.

Rest in piece J.R. born January 21, 2009 passed away April 9,2009. We only knew you for a short while, but hope you know how much fun and happiness you brought into our lives. We will miss you.

Academy shorts, and some 360 thoughts...

I went to the Academy shorts showing yesterday, this year it took place at the Old Towne Warren theater. The last 3 years we've went to the 20th Century Center I don't know why the change of venue, but for the most part it was an upgrade (more on that later).


(Note: I started writing this up before the Oscars aired Sunday 2/22, but finished it Tuesday night so I know the outcome.)


This year there were 5 nominated live action shorts, 5 animated shorts, and 4 short documentaries. Four out of the five live action shorts this year were 'downers' so my pick will be the only one that wasn't bleak "Grisen (The Pig)" A man in for 'butt' surgery finds solace in a simple painting of a pig on his hospital room wall. My second choice would have to be "Manon on the Asphalt" a young woman takes off on her bicycle and gets hit by a car, then thinks about what will happen to her friends, and family. The winner though was "Spielzeugland (Toyland)" a holocaust drama focusing on a mother, her son, and their Jewish neighbors who were going to have to go faraway to 'toyland'. Ick.


The animated shorts were a happier mix, although I had already seen "Presto" the Pixar short was paired with "Wall-E" during it's theatrical (and DVD) release and was just what you expect from Pixar. My favorite though was "Oktapodi" the mis-adventures of a male and female octopus, followed by "This Way Up" the mis-adventures of father and son pallbearers trying to get the deceased to graveyard. While definitely not politically correct (I'm sure there was something offensive to everyone) it was entertaining. The winner however was "Le Maison en Petits Cubes" a old man reminisces about his past, and would have been the very last pick on my list. I don't like the watercolor/painting art style they employed nor the subject. :(


The short documentary field is never one of my favorites, overall I'm not a fan of documentaries, but I can handle the short subject ones most of the time. This year there wasn't really any standouts here. My pick would probably be "Smile Pinki" (if I had to choose) doctors in India performing free operations on children with cleft lip deformity. I guess the second pick would be "The Witness - From the Balcony of Room 306" a look at Martin Luther King's assassination. Whoo! I got one right. The Oscar went to "Smile Pinki".


The shorts this year, while mostly entertaining, didn't seem to have a lot of zing or pizazz. I may be getting jaded setting through them for the last 10 years (my first trip to the library was 1999 I believe), but there's always hope for next year. :) <RANT ON> Nitpick time... This was my first experience with the Warren Old-town theater, I was impressed by the seating and the amount of leg room in each row, although I soon realized that was for the serving staff to get around. OK, now I realize I was there for 5 hours (way longer than the average movie running time), but once they started serving it was a never ending parade of servers coming around with their little glowing pads taking orders, and then a few minutes later delivering the food/drinks. I don't know about most of you, but I go to theater to watch the movie (you know on the screen), not the dorks milling throughout the auditorium. Get your lazy ass out of the chair walk to the concession stand, and buy your popcorn, drinks and candy. You do realize it's a movie, right? Your supposed to go eat your meals before or after the show, if you can't wait that long for a hamburger you have other problems too. I'm assuming it's this way at every show there so I can easily cross that theater off my attendance list. Luckily I've yet to run into this at the 13Th Avenue Warren, but I also don't pay extra to sit in the balcony. <RANT OFF>

It seems as though the speculation was correct, Major Nelson posted this morning that the Resident Evil 5 Limited Edition 360 console was coming out day and date (March 13) with the game. This 'elite' model will be red (like the controller that came out for the holidays last year) in color, include all the normal items (120GB/Headset/Composite/Component/HDMI cables) plus the RE5 game, download code for a RE5 theme, and a download code for Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix. Considering SSFIITHDR sells for 1200 ms points ($15.00), and RE5 is $60.00 that means your actually paying $325.00 for the system (minus another $3.12 if the theme is one of the newer 'premium' 250 ms point ones), not too bad. I'm really pondering the notion of 'upgrading' to one, not that I need too, but I figure its just a mater of time before my refurb eventually fails. This would get me the newest Jasper chip set (supposedly), an HDMI port, the LE color, and I was planning to get RE5 anyway. Hmmm...

I tried the Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. demo a while back, and was actually surprised how much I liked it. The graphics were beautiful as the two training missions in the demo take place in Rio De Janeiro complete with the Christ the Redeemer statue on top of Corcovado Mountain. Jet fighter games aren't one of my preferences, but I was pleased to find how easy it controlled, I didn't crash every 5 seconds, and I was able to pull off some cool looking moves. This seems to be exactly what other people don't like about the game though, on one of the podcast I listen to they seemed to dislike it because it didn't feel like a flight simulation, and it wasn't 'realistic' at all. To each his own.

We've got a winner! 3-D blood, 360 demo goodness, and other tidbits...

It seems as though I won a trip to the Call of Duty: World at War tournament finals through work. I get to visit San Diego for 3 days/2 nights, and watch the tournament finals aboard the U.S.S. Midway aircraft carrier February 27th. I've been to the San Diego airport twice, I actually got outside once on a shuttle (from one terminal to another) but that's my knowledge of the area.

I talked a friend into watching My Bloody Valentine 3D yesterday at the Warren. I was a fan of the 1981 original, and had been reading about the new version for a while. I read a couple good reviews, and have listened to a couple podcast talk positively about the new 3D version of the film, so that peaked my interest. You have to understand the last 3D films I saw were during the 1979-1984 3D fad, the likes of Friday the 13th Part 3, Jaws 3-D, Andy Warhol's Frankenstien, and Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone. The 2 screen Fox-Garvey theater downtown was host to all the 3D shows at the time, not to mention the 'Chop-Chop' weekends as we liked to call them when they would show 2-3 martial arts movies.

I haven't kept up on advances in 3D technology lately as I haven't seen any of the recent releases which was re-ignited by Polar Express 3D's IMAX release back in 2004. There has been a couple other animated features released in 3D, but last summer's Journey to the Center of the Earth and now My Bloody Valentine 3D are the first full length non-animated features shot in RealD Cinema. You get a set of heavy duty plastic 3D glasses to view the feature with, which were large enough to fit over eye glasses, and look like polarized sun glasses there was the faint Red/Blue tint that was noticeable when looking at the 3D glasses. Overall I didn't find them too uncomfortable, although the main feature only ran 101 minutes.
The coming soon trailers ran, then we instructed to 'Put on your 3D glasses now' screen which proceeded the Dolby Digital 3D trailer (which was freaking amazing in it's own right), then the non-3D THX trailer leading into the feature. This movie starts off with what has to be the most bloody 10 minute 'prologue' ever, if you think the first 5 minutes of Ghost Ship were gory, you haven't seen anything. Sure the film makers took every opportunity to shove something in your face, but I was really impressed at how much the rest of the movie was three dimensional, seriously, it was like looking through a window at the action taking place whether they were aerial shots of scenery, interiors of buildings, or the cramped mine tunnels. A very gory slasher flick, neatly wrapped up at the end, and open to a sequel (duh.). ***1/2

It's been quite a while since I saw the original, I don't know if it's aged well, but I will always remember it being an above average slasher flick. Lionsgate just recently put out an uncut remastered DVD of the original, I guess there were numerous cuts to original to get down to an R rating, and until recently was the only way you could see it. I need to go back and revisit the original to see how closely the remake followed the story, if at all.

The Resident Evil 5 demo finally made it to the US if you missed the Japanese release a while back. I tried it again, and still didn't make it past the chainsaw guy :( without dying. I'm still not sold on the co-op aspect as I probably won't be playing with another person, and I'm not sure how good the AI will be. Kane and Lynch supposedly sucked balls if you were not playing with a human co-op player as the AI would do stupid things during the course of the game.

The F.E.A.R. 2 Project Origins demo (single-player) was up last week also so I tried it out. It reminded me of what I liked about the first one, the opponent AI where they'll come in a room, flank you and take up positions behind cover. I haven't finished the first F.E.A.R. so I don't think I'll grab this at launch but I may pick it up down the road.

Circuit City goes bye-bye, and EGM too...

Well it's official Circuit City called it quits today, according to that Yahoo story they will be closing the doors on the remaining 567 stores. Circuit City filed bankruptcy protection back in November when it closed around 155 stores claiming "Those being closed are said to be underperforming, or are no longer a strategic fit for the company." Evidently they were courting two possible buyers, but were unable to complete the sale, and were working on a liquidation plan.


While I'm not a big CC shopper, I'm sad to see that this leaves Best Buy as the only electronics/computer specialty retailer in the area. CC usually had some good 'door buster sales' to get you in the door, although I can't say I bought anything over the advertised specials usually. The silver lining is maybe the local store will have a decent 'going out of business' sale, and I can pick up some cheap games/blu-rays. :)

Last week Ziff Davis sold the 1Up Network to UGO where they promptly canceled the 1Up family of podcast (1Up Yours, Legendary Thread, Lan Party, etc.), and stopped publication of EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly) magazine. I'll be hunting for some new podcast now to fill the void left on my Zune with something new, some of the 1Up people landed at Eat-Sleep-Play.com and have started the RebelFM podcast so I'll start there.

Movies, and Fable II...

I decided to keep track of how many movies I watched this year, so I updated the sidebar starting January 1st, 2009 with Mamma Mia. Most of my influx has been blu-ray disc from Netflix, but I did go see a sneak last night of Paul Blart: Mall Cop. Truthfully from the previews I didn't expect much, if anything, from the movie mostly thinking it would be a slap stick comedy.


I liked Kevin James in King of Queens, although I wouldn't say it was a series I watched regularly I would catch new episodes every once in a while (plus syndicated showings). Thirty minutes in I was thinking that so far the only redeeming quality was the 80's soundtrack, but then it took an upward climb and finished out decent enough. The story revolves around Paul Blart (Kevin James) a mild-mannered security guard who has a crush on the new kiosk operator Amy, and a 'Black Friday' heist that naturally Paul has to come to the rescue and save 'his' mall. Why this movie didn't release in November is one of those great life mysteries, I'm guessing because the 'Black Friday' part isn't really pushed to the forefront. Overall enjoyable and funnier than I expected although the first 30 minutes is kinda slow once the heist kicks in it's pretty good.

I finally started playing Fable II the other day, when I seen the Knothole Island content was I out I figured it was time to give a whirl. I'm not too far in yet trying to go through good, but every once in a while I'll fire off a spell in town by accident. :( I don't how much that effects my good/evil standing, but hopefully it's not too harsh.

Happy New Year!! WoW no more, gaming now, and Zunepocalypse!

First off Happy New Year! everybody. I know it's been a while since my last post, but the Christmas holidays seemed more chaotic than last year. Finally, that rush is over and I've got some time to unwind again (yeah!).

I gave up on WoW last year. I bought the expansion pack in November and played pretty heavy, but towards the end of December I realized I had played 1 day that month. I know part of it was work just not having time to play, but that one time I did login there wasn't anything I wanted to do. I made it a little over 2 years starting just before the launch of Burning Crusade, and shutting off my account December 25th (I guess my Christmas present to myself).


I got really into Animal Crossing City Folk in December. The Wii version is almost identical to the DS game (in fact you can transfer your DS game to the Wii) with additional shops in the city, holidays are back, and you can use the Wii mic (if you bought it) to talk to other people playing (that also bought it).


Listening to a couple podcast peaked my interest in Valkyrie Chronicles for the PS3, so I gave the demo a shot (which I had downloaded a while back but never played), and found it really good. It's a weird strategy/RPG/action hybrid that was originally slated to be a Xbox 360 title, but supposedly SEGA thought that it would be better received by Japanese gamers, and since the 360 isn't all that successful in Japan they switched it to a PS3 exclusive. I finally tracked down a used copy right after Christmas but haven't had a chance to play yet (hopefully later today).


I finally got around to opening my copy of Little Big Planet last night, and played the first couple of levels (seem to be the same ones from the beta). I unlocked my first "trophies" last night on the PS3 thanks to LBP, one in game (placing a sticker), and the other for dressing my sackboy (red boxers, and a pumpkin head).

Did you get hit with the Zunepocalypse yesterday? If you had a 30GB Zune and turned it on after midnight December 31st you probably did. I knew my battery was almost dead so I plugged it into the computer before leaving the house yesterday, when I got home I wondered why it was sitting on the loading screen showing the logo and progress bar. I frantically tried resetting it, but couldn't get it to respond to anything. So I started searching on the net only to find it was happening on a global scale users everywhere were reporting the same problem. It turns out that evidently some bad code for how the Zune handles leap year was to blame, Microsoft finally issued a release saying that if you just let the battery drain, and plug it back in after midnight on January 1st all would be okay. I'm happy to report that indeed seems to be the case as my Zune is charging comfortably right next to me. :)

... Incoming ... Updates ... More to follow ...

Wow, been quite a stretch since my last post. The month of October seemed to fly by, I took the job at The Ravenwood Manor (Haunted Island at Watson Park) that I mentioned back in August. We had meetings and prep through September, and opened in October. My 'real job' work schedule made it so I could only work Saturday nights after my regular shift, so I put in 17 hour days every Saturday in October. Now don't get me wrong popping up out of a coffin isn't all that physical, although the first couple weekends my arms were sore from throwing open the metal lid :). All-in-all it was a fun experience, and with the exception of one really cool Sunday night, the weather cooperated nicely throughout the month.

I'm so far behind on games it's not even funny. I delved into Saint's Row 2 quite a bit when I had some free time in October, but most of the stuff that came out afterwords is still here unopened. I've got Fable 2, Fallout 3, Gears of War 2, and Little Big Planet that all need some attention, plus I'm really wanting to pick up Call of Duty World at War, and Left for Dead. Luckily the glut of games is drying up fairly quickly and December only offers Prince of Persia as a triple A title, so maybe as it gets colder outside I'll be able to dig into the ones I have.

I was really jazzed about the new dashboard update (NXE) coming on the 360, and luckily got to play around with it a day or so early. I've put in some more time and still haven't tried all the options. Avatars are really cool (a rip off? maybe but who cares) although I'm wishing for more clothing (stories floating around now say Microsoft is new clothing every 2 weeks for 6 months, no word on cost.) choices. One of the podcast I listen too (1UpYours I think) thought it would be a good idea that when you played a game it would add a shirt for that game, ie. playing Gears 2 would add a Gears 2 themed shirt. This should be possible, if you remember back to some of the early titles (Perfect Dark, Amped 3) would add gamer pics when you played them.
I restarted my Netflix account because of the 360 streaming capabilities (when I heard that HD would also be available). There aren't a lot of movie choices yet (and even less now because SONY is being a little brat), but I was surprised to see a lot of TV episodes, some of which are the current season, and evidently new episodes get put up 1 day after the network airing. I watched a missed episode of N.C.I.S. last night with no pause/hiccups and it looked great.
You get a couple 'free' premium themes with the NXE update, and I had downloaded the Gears 2 one that was part of the GameStop promotion. I found a thread over at NeoGaf that people have posted screen shots of some of the new premium theme packs (premium indeed, meaning Microshaft now charges 250 ms points ($3.12) for a theme, as apposed to the old 160 ms points ($2.00) price point) so you can at least sample it before you spend your space bucks.
I haven't tried the hard drive installation yet, but you can check out this handy chart for info on how much storage games take, and any time savings gained (or lost...) by installation. Except for DVD drive wear and tear, I'm not seeing this a plus, you still have to insert the disc for verification and the time gains are minimal at best.

Now quick hits on some other odds'n'ends. Quantum of Solace, I was not impressed, it's okay but certainly doesn't live up to Casino Royale. I was setting there throughout thinking is this it? I don't know if it's the loss of gadgets (the visits to Q were awesome), or the dark persona, but here's hoping the next one is better.

Most of the Black Friday ads are available (if you know where to look/search) and this years crop of items is pretty lame. I don't know if it's because I'm not really looking for something specific or what, but with the exceptions of a couple blu-ray disc there isn't anything I'm in a rush to get.

Sierra Mist Cranberry Splash is available again in stores, I so searched for this last year after getting hooked and there was none to be found. This year I think I've already had too much because now it doesn't even taste good.

The new World of Warcraft expansion came out, Death Knights are pretty cool I finished the starting area and got him to level 58. My main still isn't 70.

I've picked up on some new series this fall, others I have 4-7 episodes sitting on my DVR and haven't even started (My Worst Enemy, and Eleventh Hour). The Mentalist picked up and got more likable, Fringe has went progressively down hill, and I got back into Supernatural. My best picks of new stuff in no particular order, best new drama Life on Mars, and best new comedy Gary Unmarried.