Recommend: Music Videos

It's time for a Mystical Music Movie Marathon!

The first one by Die Antwoord I swear is on everyone and their respective grandmothers' blogs... so the justification for me is quite selfish as I post it on mine as to attain massive street cred and acknowledge that this shit is going to be 'UGE! If it isn't already... wait, yup it is.








Hot Chip - I Feel Better

Hot Chip | MySpace Music Videos

Impression: Video Game

Title: Splinter Cell: Conviction (Demo)
System: Xbox 360, PS3, PC
Release: Retail - 4/13/2010

So the new Splinter Cell Demo came out this week. Being an off and on SC fan I thought I should at least take advantage of one of the aspects I love Xbox Live for (DEMOS!!). After trying the demo which was about 10 mins worth of playtime, I am kind of on the fence about whether or not I should be excited about it's approaching release.

The first half demonstrates the dynamic interrogation feature of SCC, which essentially means elbowing victims into toilets to get the answers you need from them all the while images of the dispensed information flashes on the wall in a very stylish film grainy way.

The second half was set up to demonstrate the combat portion of the title. I say combat and not stealth as I feel it was too easy to engage in combat and forgo being sneaky. Even the sneaky kills seemed rather gun centric. Not very SC to me as far as I'm concerned.

There are still stealth kills were you end some fools with your mits, and are rewarded with more complex take downs involving the marking of several targets and killing multiple baddies in one fell slow-motion-bad-ass-Matrix-derived swoop. Awesome? Yes. Still too action oriented for what is supposed to be a stealth game.

The art direction was probably the most redeeming factor of the whole experience. Minimalist HUDs, mission objective words projected on the wall, all of the context sensitive actions with their appropriate labels, stellar font, and a great color scheme (gray, red, black, white). The character models were very detailed as were their surrounding environments. It was pretty I must say.

All in all I would like to just see the final product as there really wasn't much to go by in this demo. Some good single player features however, it would be nice too see what the multiplayer features entail as that could really determine a definite purchase for me i.e. BRING BACK MERCS VERSUS SPIES!!!

Anticipate: Video Game

Title: BattleBlock Theater
System: Xbox 360
Release: TBA

I have mad respect for The Behemoth. Their indy awesomeness has inspired me many-fold to be a game designer. From their hand drawn sprites, to their quirky sense humor, and to the originality of their games in general, I wish I was a part of their team. This is their new game which appears to be some sort of variation of Smash Bros. I'm totally into it.

For reals.

Recommend: Video Game

Title: No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle
System: Wii
Release: 1-26-10 (USA)

Essentially the same story as the last installment (Kill assassin's, seek revenge, jack-off your lightsaber) however it makes some improvements right out of the gate that make it very worthwhile. Firstly, the addition of Classic Controller options as love any game that supports that awesome peripheral. Secondly, they completely did away with that pointless driving around town to get to your next job, what once was extremely tedious is reduced to a menu of locations. The style is amped up from the last title as is the humor plus the mini games so far are entertaining. Mind you I have only played for about half an hour but I would recommend this not only to fans of the first NMH but to anyone in general.

The recap gag in the beginning cinematics killed me!

Recommend: Film

Title: A Serious Man
Release: 2009

A Jewish physics professor and his slew of problems with his family and professional life all taking place in a superbly believable 1967 suburb. This is one of those films that left me pondering it's message or meaning. I couldn't really come up with anything other than: Shit happens. It may happen without a reason and no one may be able to help you...ha

I love the Coen brothers.

Anticipate: Video Game

Title: Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
System: PSP
Release: May 25, 2010 (USA)

Being a huge fan of Portable Ops for PSP, naturally I am excited for this one. Even more so because Kojima's sexy brain is behind it. I can't wait for more news on the multiplayer portion. I know theirs Co-Op but...competitive would be swell.

This video is long but totally worth watching.

Recommend: Music Video

Recommend: Music

Artist: Yeasayer
Album: Odd Blood (2010)

Truely a fantastic album. It's like really good 80's tunes with an experimental flair. I dig pretty much every track on the album particularly "Love Me Girl" but honestly "Ambling Alp" "One" "Madder Red" and "Rome" are all fantastic! So far ALBUM OF THE YEAR and it's only January!

Change.

Takin' the rusty ol' blog in a new direction. Essentially I am going to post on all of the media findings I make and the impression they leave on me. Including but not limited too:

Electronic Entertainment
Music
Film
Clothing
Funny shit
Dead cats (coupled with their GPS co-ordinates)

So yeah... New year New blog. Hooray!

Playstation Pirate-able #1

Dynasty Warriors Strikeforce - Love this game finally a DW done right for the PSP! So far there is quite a few downloadable quests which adds some re-play. I swear, Zhang He gets more and more feminine with every new DW...Still my favorite character though. Them claws is tight!

Super Stardust Portable - Never played the console version of this game but this iteration is a great flashy shmup with online leaderboards and such.

Class Of Heroes - Old-school rouglike JRPG. I liked the beginning where you set up your students , pick their majors, and take classes but the rest was pretty boring. Tapping the shit out of X to get through the slow battle sequences was disheartening especially when theres like 18 fucking monsters fighting you at the same time all with their own millions of actions. So one confrontation ends up being a sizable and soul crushing amount of text and blah blah. ZZZZzzzzzz

Pangya Fantasy Golf - It's like Hot Shots nut with an insipid story. It's a fucking golf game! No story please...Unless its of course if it focuses on mutant grizzly bears playing golf to raise awareness on genetically altered forest creatures. Yeah, then I would be on board.

PixelJunk Monsters - It's a tower defense game that's kinda cute. Your a tiki-turtle man protecting his babies. yup.

Disgaea 2 - Now as much as I would like to get into this game as it is super badass looking, kind of funny, and super deep, my brain just refuses to stick with it. Theres just too much shit to pay attention too. Hence I didnt get very far. Played like one battle. oh yeah and the exploding penguins are still funny.

Ys 6 Ark Of The Napishtim - Neat for about 10 minutes. The story was typical; our hero washes up on shore, has amnesia, eventual love interest discovers him brings him in much to the dismay of the village folk etc. After all that I went into the woods and faced off against the unbalanced shitstorm of monsters. yup.

I wanted to try Gran Turismo still can't get it to work on my current CFW. Not really worried about it though as I heard it sucked.

Top FPS

SO this isn't explosively funny and Marcus is technically from a 3PS but... the production on this video is pretty damn good and the allied soldier in a rocket part made me laugh.

Where I be?!

- Got ODST, Loved it! Comes with the H3 multiplayer disc hence I am back into H3.

- Nabbed Castle Crashers some time ago, dig that as well.

- Downloading Undead Knights for PSP plus the new GT.

- Can't think of much else but I foresee October being a good month for games!

Yeah Seriously.

Serious Sam HD commercial made me giggle quite a bit. I'm a sucker for batshit commercials. Such as this:

Tri

Me and my monster hunter. Can't get enough of the shit. I downloaded the MH3 demo a while back and it was nuts! Especially how there is a PSP control scheme...I jumped right in! I can't wait for this to come stateside. I will pay money for it. Seriously.

Man Crush Fer Sher.

Kojima is definitely my man crush. For many reasons. He is a Great writer, he's Intelligent and just plain stylish. And being a PSP owner I am doubly excited that he has his hands in the new Metal Gear. Wooo! Check it [Kotaku]

LBP NO MP

Little Big Planet for PSP lost it's multiplayer. I am no longer interested in this title. Fart.

Q3A

So I found out Quake 3 Arena is close to being released for xbox live. For reals I am excited. Used to ditch school to play it on the Dreamcast. Alot. It'll be good to have two thumbsticks for the game plus 40 arenas. Fantastique!

You Should Know

Best VG Doc Evar!
BooYeah!

I Find A Funny

I was just talking about FPS mechanics and their unrealistic nature. Such as the way the guns are held in relation to the camera's viewpoint. This mildly supplements that notion.

Interface With Life

So I had forgotten that my phone, a Sony Ericson 580i, had a pedometer function. So being intrigued to know how much exertion occurs on any given day I turned it on at the beginning of the week to track my steps. I ride my bike to work everyday, walk around alot at work, and frequently pace about when I am deep in thought. The results were not that surprising, but impressive if I do say so myself. Yesterday I had to work and help my friend move and my final count was almost 9 miles.

The most awesome part however was the little app contained within that graphs your results during the week, tracks burned calories, but best of all it gives you achievements (akin to those of the Xbox 360 persuasion) for reaching certain goals. Such as I received a Gold "Vagabond" award for taking over 5000 steps in one day. This actually made me more excited to try and earn the others.



So I came to a realization about how awesome augmented reality games are. Instead of virtual reality or full immersion, I believe the next step in gaming is to bring the game to our realm. Like in place of us interfacing with the games; controlling what is going on in someone else's world, the games interface with our life In places that are more familiar to us. Fight aliens in our backyard, play football in the street with the pros, stuff like that. Like interacting with hallucinations only a computer is keeping score.

Here are some that I found that further this notion that augmented reality is the next step:





this ones kind of cheesy