New games

         

Well, I finally put Mario Galaxy and Ridge Racer 7 away a couple days ago. I beat them both and was going to try for 120 stars in Galaxy and 100% completion in RR7 but I stopped. I beat them both and got somewhere around 80-85 stars and 75% or so respectively. I just felt that I had seen the best those games had to offer and felt like I was grinding away for the remainder of the games. I have too little time on my hands these days to do the 100% level grind thing. It’s ok though, I loved both games and put them away with a clear conscience.

Besides, I just started playing Burnout Paradise and the God of War demo on PSP. First things first, MAN I love Burnout Paradise! I don’t know what it was, but I never really got into the previous Burnout games. I played them a little bit and liked them enough to acknowledge that they were good games, but they never hooked me enough to really get into them. Maybe I didn’t give them enough of a chance, I don’t know. Anyway, I had heard so much hype and so many good things about this latest game in the franchise that it piqued my interest a little. After discovering Criterion Games’ Crash FM podcast and hearing everything they were doing with the game I really started to get interested. I was surprised at how cool I was finding it and was looking forward to the reviews. Well, once I watched GameSpot’s review, I was convinced. I bought the game the 2nd day it was out before even playing it. Considering the fact that I didn’t really get into the other games this was a pretty risky move for me. I don’t like buying games blind like that these days, $50-60 is a lot of cash for a game that you’re not entirely sure you will enjoy. I am pleased to report that the game is FRICKIN AWESOME!!! I absolutely love the open world thing. I think this may have been one of the reasons I didn’t like the other games. They all had singular, seperated tracks that were linear and broken up with a menu screen to select what race you wanted to enter. Half of the fun I get from Paradise is just flying all over the massive city crashing into billboards, smash gates, and other vehicles with no time or track constraints. The sense of speed is incredible and the game looks amazing in hi-def! This doesn’t really get mentioned in the reviews, but I give the folks at Criterion a lot of credit for making the open world work so well in 720p and 60 frames per second with no loading. This is a wonderful technical achievement that makes the game play so good that you don’t even notice how convenient it is. I wish more developers had the skill and took the time to make their games as well polished as Burnout Paradise. I will be having fun with it for a long time.

I also love the fact that they do regular podcasts. I wish more developers would do this, its really fascinating to hear an insiders perspective on the whole game design process and the technical differences between the Xbox 360 and PS3. The team has no sympathy for developers who either don’t know how or don’t take the time and care to make a game look and perform well on both consoles. Its awesome too how they have no qualms about calling people out for rude or ignorant emails they get, passionately defending their design choices, and giving shout-outs to developers of other titles that they enjoy playing. I found out that Insomniac Games (Ratchet and Clank, Resistance: Fall of Man) does a podcast, I may have to check out a few back episodes of that when I’m done listening to the ones from Criterion.

In other news, I don’t know why GameStop took so long to get me my demo for God of War: Chains of Olympus. I had to go down there and demand it from them. GameStop, oh how I loath thee. Let me count the ways. The staff is rude and unprofessional and their selection sucks because they’re just a hole in the wall of a strip mall or plaza. I frequently overhear them give either incorrect or just straight up bad advice to customers. Its so nice to have game knowledge for myself so I don’t have to deal with them in more of a capacity than “give me this game, here’s my money.” And when you go to buy a new game there they either a) Don’t have it in stock because you didn’t reserve it or b) If you do manage to find what you want, you get a copy that already been opened because they give you one that’s been on display. Maybe I’m just wierd, but I want a nice freshly sealed and shrink wrapped game straight from the company. Am I alone in this? The only reason I shop there is because the building where I work has shopping mall downstairs and the only other place to get games down there is FYE, and they open all their new games up to put out on display too. The closest thing to my house where I can buy games (that’s not a freaking GameStop) is Best Buy, which I would much rather shop at (Reward Zone, I love it now that its free), but they’re 30 mins away in the total opposite direction from where I work.

But I digress, God of War on PSP. I cannot wait to get the full game. I’ve only been able to play it for about 20 mins on the train ride to work so far, but initial analysis is as follows: Chains is everything you loved about God of War but in a smaller package. The graphics look great, the sound quality is only minimally less than on PS2, and the gameplay seems just as good. It will take some getting used to having to hold the L and R buttons while moving the joystick to do a barrell roll out of the way, but I thought Ready at Dawn did a pretty decent job integrating the controls to the PSP with the loss of the right analog stick. Also, it seems that the context sensitive mini-games have less button presses to them. I’ll have a better idea if this is true after playing the demo a little more but it seems like that may have been paired down slightly. We shall see. Oh, and the relatively small size of the PSP’s screen (compared to an actual TV that is) makes it a tiny bit hard to see stuff, but the overall negative effect is very minor. I can hardly wait til its released in March!

I am in for some great gaming in the next couple of months. I’m glad I’ll be able to use the slow first months of the year to catch up on all the amazing stuff from the holidays. I’ve still only played the first hour or two of Assassin’s Creed and I got a copy of Zack and Wiki from GameFly yesterday, looking forward to seeing if its as good of a sleeper hit as its supposed to be.

Saw 5 and a video game tie-in to boot huh? sigh…………

Ok, I just found out that some fool thought it would be a good idea to make a game based on the Saw movies.

*cricket…..cricket*

Yeah, this has about as much of a shot at being good as the Napoleon Dynamite game. Hell, it was depressing enough just to find out that there is going to be a Saw 5 movie. Don’t get me wrong, the first movie was great. I even liked the 3rd one kinda. But its getting pretty old hat. Both of these ideas need to be killed now. It will take quite a bit of new ideas and creativity to make either of these any good, not just simply more gore.

JCW in Cleveland

So, ICP is in Cleveland again tonight, but not for their music. They are hosting a JCW match and I’m not going.

Why, you ask? Well, I’ve never really been a wrestling fan and I’ve never really been interested in watching it. The one exception is when ICP commentated on the Stranglemania videos. Their commentary was hilarious! I love how J and Shaggy can just improvise such crazy shit at random, their rantings never get old or stop being funny. One of the best parts of having Big Money Hustlas on DVD was the commentary J did with Rude Boy and Alex Abbiss.

Even if they were doing a show however, I don’t think I would go. I feel bad for saying it, but I’ve been to so many of their shows and they never really change. Especially now that they haven’t put out any new songs since The Tempest. And the spraying Faygo thing is awesome, but the whole thing of having to remember to bring a towel and drive home soaking wet in the freezing cold (especially when you’re wearing face paint!) isn’t really exciting anymore. I hope that doesn’t make me sound old. I will totally go see them again, I just don’t go every time they’re in town anymore.

The same thing is happening with the Kottonmouth Kings. The last show I went to of their was pretty disappointing. I love their music, but they didn’t even play any of their new material! They just played the same songs they always play. I know there are certain songs that people are expecting to hear and that’s great, but I like to hear some new stuff too. Like ICP, I’ll no doubt go again, just not every time.

Oh well, at least Twiztid manages to keep their shows fresh. I’ll probably go see them at Peabody’s when they come in February.

College Saga

Has anybody seen this yet?

This is awesome! I can’t believe this guy spent all this time to make this. It is very well made, really accurate, and just damn cool. You can watch other home-made videos from this guy here.

Peter Gabriel: Growing Up Live

 

I was watching this last night and it inspired me to do a review of it.  This is a DVD presentation of Peter Gabriel’s 2003 Growing Up Tour, filmed in Milan, Italy.  Usually, I am not very enthusiastic about concerts on DVD since they pale to actually being there.  At over 2 hours long however, and with a performance that is just as creative and groundbreaking as his music videos, Growing Up Live is very much a quality title.

I have never seen Peter live and I am extremely disappointed that I missed this show.  It was probably the last tour he’ll ever do.  Those that are lucky enough to have seen him perform know that a Peter Gabriel concert is quite a feast for the eyes and ears.  To start, the stage for this tour is set up on a large circular platform right in the middle of the stadium.  The reason for this is threefold; first, it allows the venue to accommodate more people.  Second, every single one of those people has a full, unobstructed, front line view of the performance.  We all hate being at the very side of a concert not being able to see anything.  Lastly, this forced the production team to be extremely creative in their set design and as a result, they were able to pull off some very cool tricks with the presentation.

The stage crew and equipment are all stored underneath the stage, and we see occasional glimpses of the goings on underneath the platform.  It rotates, allows for objects to be risen up from below, and allows the band and their instruments to be repositioned and moved o the fly to accommodate the needs of each song.  All of the wiring comes up from an opening in the center of the platform, and along with creative lighting and camera movement, this gives the illusion of the musicians having limitless mobility as they dance, walk, and make sure that no member of the audience is felt ignored.  Peter and the rest of the group do an outstanding job of keeping the show lively and interesting.  One of the coolest props includes a huge inflatable ball that Peter climbs inside of and walks around the stage during “Growing Up.”  I won’t spoil the best one, but I’ll give you a hint: he gives the song “Downside Up” quite a literal meaning.

Even the sound is excellent.  I don’t know if this is simply due to the fact that its on DVD, but I can honestly say that this is the only concert I’ve seen where the live songs are actually better than the CD tracks!  Quite a few of the songs are performed with a more upbeat and energetic tone than the source material.  Two of the best examples of this are “Secret World” and “Solsbury Hill.”  The latter remains one of my favorite songs of all time, as it can put me in a good mood at almost any time.  My only disappointment is that they didn’t play “Steam” or “Big Time.”

The disc is presented in widescreen and full 5.1 surround sound so this is definately worth playing on a good home theater set up.  It would be worth the price if they ever put it out on BD or HD.  There are even a few bonus features, including a 9 min documentary about the tour and how they came up with some of the stunts and made them work.  If you are a fan of Peter Gabriel’s work, I highly recommend picking this one up.

Side note: Peter Gabriel – Play: The Videos is also a great DVD.  Its a collection of all his music videos with mini documentaries you can watch before each one.  Good stuff!

Video Games Live

Dude!!!   Video Games Live is going back out for another tour, I totally cannot wait.  I really hope they come to Ohio, I’ve never been to the show but it looks amazing.  Game music nowadays can be so great.

I remember the first time the soundtrack from a video game made an impact on me.  It was Final Fantasy VII.  Say what you want about FF 4, 5, and 6 being the high point of Nobuo Uematsu’s career.  Those games did not have the overall presentation package that 7 did.  Now, many years earlier I played Lunar 2: Eternal Blue on the Sega CD.  That was probably the first time I actually noticed the music as a part of the presentation.  The songs were repetitive and simple, but they fit the game and environments perfectly and really set the tone for the short anime cartoons interspersed throughout the story.  They remain instantly recognizable to me to this day.

I didn’t really get that again until I played Final Fantasy 7.  The graphics and the story and the characters and the music all came together to make such an incredible gaming experience that I have never forgotten it.  This is the first game where the music really moved me.  It blended with the story absolutely perfectly and instead of being repetitive, painted a picture of emotion and drama.  Who can forget the action packed first sequence trying to blow up the first mako reactor, or the reflective and slightly melencholy tune that compliments the flashback sequences between Cloud and Tifa.

Songs like the Shinra theme and the Turks’ theme so obviously point to deception, evil planning, and corporate exploitation.  This is the first game soundtrack I purchased and every time I listen to it I can picture the game and emotions that came from that very first play-through.  I can just see Sephiroth discovering his true origins, freaking out, and eventually losing his mind, all while tunes play that add to the foreboding and scary atmosphere.  You can almost feel Sephiroth’s torment and anguish.

There have been several games since then that have had a similar impact on me but as they say, you never forget your first.  I will be watching the Video Games Live website frequently for a stop in Ohio.  Preferably in Cleveland, but I don’t really care.  I’d drive to Cincinnatti to go to this concert.  Here’s me crossing my fingers!

Redding family reunion cruise ‘09

So, my uncle Adam is organizing a Redding Family Reunion cruise for 2009.  I REALLY want to go.  I had such a good time on the cruise Devon and I took for our honeymoon (for more reasons than the obvious) that I can’t wait to take another one.

The problem is that its going to end up costing me almost $2000.  Without airfare!  Now, Devon’s dad works for Continental so I guess we could get cheap tickets that way but its not a guarantee, and thats money that we could really use for other things.  We are going to move into my dad’s old house in June and I think we’re going to have to buy a washer and dryer.  I wanted to use my tax refund for the deposit on the cruise but if we have to buy a washer and dryer that money is going to go real quick for those.

I hate to back out, I was really excited when talking to Adam about it and it’ll be a bummer but I don’t know.  We’ll have to see.

Alien vs. Predator: Requiem

I certainly was not expecting this movie to be as good as the first AVP, mainly because it is directed by people other than the previous director and I wasn’t really impressed with what they had expressed to the media about the vision and direction they were taking.  Pretty much, I was right.  I did, however expect Requiem to be better than it turned out to be.  Its cool scenes are too few and far between and it is marred by a setting and events that either don’t make sense or don’t jive with the established formula for these iconic sci-fi characters.

AVP:R starts out pretty cool.  It picks up immediately where the first AVP left off.  We get to see the alien/predator hybrid burst out of the chest again.  This new creature kills the crew of the spaceship and it crash lands somewhere in Colorado.  As expected, the alien face huggers and eggs that they were experimenting on are knocked loose in the crash, infect a few locals, and are soon running all over the city.  In a cruel tease, we see some sort of elder or king of the predators on their homeworld.  He has been notified of the crash, quickly collects his hunting gear, and departs in his own craft to clean up the mess.

The rest of the movie involves the townsfolk running from and trying to defend against the aliens while the elder predator goes around camouflaged and cleans up evidence with some kind of neon blue glowing juice that is able to dissolve all the questionable bodies.

The best parts of the movie are, like the first time around, watching the alien and predator duke it out.  The elder predator is able to easily dispatch grunt aliens one after another.  He is clearly very experienced.  The hybrid is more than a match for him though, mixing alien speed and physiology with predator strength and hunting skills.  It’s a shame then that so many other things detract from this.  We are introduced to a few human characters to try to get us to feel for them, but things pick up quickly and the character development is poor so you end up not really caring about what happens to any of the humans.  Maybe its just me, but I find it completely uninteresting to watch people from our own time try to fight the aliens when they are so obviously mismatched with our primitive weapons.  Most importantly, don’t tease us with 5 seconds of the predator homeworld only to have the entire movie take place in Colorado!!!   GAAAHHH!

As far as the new stuff, I guess I can accept the blue glowing goo that dissolves stuff, but late into the movie we see that the hybrid creature has somehow gained the ability to start sucking on a pregnant womans face and plant something inside her that turns the baby into aliens.  Whuuuuttttt?????  Where the hell did THIS idea come from?  It seems out of place and untrue to what either the alien or predator is supposed to be.  Lastly, during the humans escape from the town, one of them picks up the predators shoulder gun that has fallen off.  Without any knowledge of technology from another planet or how to use it, he proceeds to shoot the gun at any alien that comes near him.  I don’t think those guns even have triggers!

The reason the first AVP worked so well (especially set in current times) is that the location was so remote and unique it might just as well have been on another world.  It also gave the aliens and predators a good, believable reason for being in the same movie together that made sense.  The human characters were obviously only along for the ride, caught in the middle of something bigger.  This movie feels more like a rehash of Alien Resurrection with a predator cameo than it does an AVP sequel.  I am willing to forgive a lot if a film makes up for it with cool stuff.  I’m afraid to say though that Requiem’s problems are too big and the cool stuff not nearly plentiful enough to overcome them.  One of the biggest sequel screw-ups I’ve ever seen, and thats saying a lot coming from me.  If you’re an unwavering fan, wait for DVD and put it on your Netflix list.  If you spend actual money on it, you will be let down.  I was.

Another loss for GameSpot

Well, some new developments have come about. For those of you who don’t know, Jeff Gerstmann, long time senior editor of GameSpot.com was fired on Nov 30th. There was a huge controversy over it and rumors over the firing due to a bad review given to the game Kane and Lynch. The whole debacle was called Gerstmann-gate. Since then, several other employees of my favorite gaming site have expressed their displeasure with parent company C-Net’s managerial practices and have left the site as well.

Most recently, it appears that Alex Navarro, long time friend and collegue of Jeff, has decided to leave as well. This is a sad day. Just when everything seemed ok at the site, another devastating loss is felt in the GameSpot community. I don’t know what this means for the site or the state of emotions around the editorial staff but I really hope things stay ok. GameSpot has now lost its two best editors and I would hate for them to slip in their place as the best gaming source around. Time will tell.

Super Mario Bros 3 commercial

Who remembers this?  Man, I remember watching this commercial as a kid and FREAKING OUT!  Everybody my age at the time wanted to play this game sooo bad!