This was just too funny, as a Sims 2 player, because it's just too 'uncanny valley' since it duplicates almost every scene in the real music video despite the limitations of the game!
And as a bonus, here's the famous leaked new single from Whitney Houston's new album. Quick, call your grandmother!
What do you get when you get a crappy overused plot, and some pretty good gameplay? Well, not Mario, but Ninja Gaiden. But this time, Ryu Hayabusa goes for a spin on the Nintendo DS. So how does this start again?
You first play as Momiji, who I think is Ryu's sister. After training, she picks flowers for Sakura, but after picking flowers, she sees some freaky monsters trying to get you at every corner. She is not entirely defenseless, however, and that's because she has her shurikens and her sword. So you as the player will at least try to defend Momiji against the evils of the Black Spider Clan by controlling her, but that's just for a short period of time and serves as introduction to the new controls because she gets abducted anyway.
Ryu! Hurry up before the old lady rapes Momiji!
Stylus-slashing!
This will draw comparisons to Zelda, which I haven't played, and that's because Ninja Gaiden is almost fully controlled by the stylus. You hack and slash by slashing your screen and releasing projectiles by tapping at your target lightly. This also makes for some control issues and conflicts that arise from the fact that walking is also initiated by tapping at a part of the screen!
Then again, it's more of the hardware's problem if you think about it.
You can defend yourself from attacks as well by pushing any button. I'd advise pressing the R button since your one of your hands is gonna be resting there, and that's because you play Ninja Gaiden like you're playing Brain Age- you flip the DS sideways.
Graphics
At first glance, you'll see that Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword is a heavy-hitter in the graphics department because they're pretty good to look at. My gripe is that they're pretty much wasted by the monotonous look of most dungeons because most of the rooms look pretty much the same save for a few rooms, thus making it really easy to know which room is important, and which one is not. These graphics still shine regardless, and what Team Ninja has exhibited is nothing short of a benchmark that other third-party developers should follow.
And again, stylus control, and the use of the microphone are some of the game's most advertised features. They're implemented quite well, save for the aforementioned projectile-walking issue.
This leads me to the microphone.
There are times when you have to use the microphone to advance the story, but you don't know exactly when you'll use it.
Like many others, I was stuck at Chapter 3 with the sleeping Muramasa thing which was so self-explanatory that you had to open your PC, connect to the Internet, wait for GameSpot to load, type in the search term, pick the correct title, click Cheats, select one of the many walkthroughs for the game, wait for the thing to load, press Control or Command-F, type Chapter 3, and read it from there.
I mean, yeah, the NPC's note that you should call a person when he's sleeping, but doesn't that mean that if you tap a person that's awake, you don't call them? Instead, they talk randomly? Because common sense usually states that when you want to talk to a person, you call them first. But no, in this game, the NPCs that are actually awake are probably released from the mental institution because they just talk to you without you even calling them. I mean, if you wanted to apply the logic of having to use the microphone to call someone, why don't you just use it to talk to someone awake as well?
Well?
And then...
And then there are those times when the game seriously wants you to waste your Ki and use your special Ninja arts to get rid of an obstacle. Now there's nothing wrong with using powers to clear obstacles, it's just that some of them don't even make sense!
Here's an example that makes me grind my teeth: Gamespot rotated it again! Argh... I just wanted to put my own picture!
Now if Ryu can penetrate steel armor with his sword, why the hell would you have to use fire to get rid of a SPIDER WEB? I don't know about you, but that just doesn't make sense to me. What, is Ryu scared of cleaning his sword because the itty-bitty spidow web will make itty-bitty Wiyu's sword cwy? What about the blood that goes into your damn sword?
Speaking of blood...
There's none of that here, and that makes the game family-friendly, which I don't have much of a problem with.
However, the game's really, really easy, and really, really, really short. As in, each chapter amounts to like 30 minutes of gameplay, but the chapters are far too few to be deemed long.
Mind-numbing strategy...
So there are bosses, of course, and though they're pretty big, they only have like 2 to 3 attacks: 1) the throw and; 2-3) plain, semi-powerful attack. I rarely get caught by the bosses since they're so mind-numbingly easy.
So what strategy is there to be had with boss fights? Well, they're so strategic and epic, that you can just roll and use projectiles, roll, projectile, roll, projectile until they fall (except for the last boss who knows how to evade). In fact, the only times I succumb to a boss' throw attack is when I hit the invisible barrier which is annoying as heck because you're simply given an illusion of free 3D movement in every boss battle but not given just that! But at least the camera can catch up.
And if you want to accelerate these boss battles, you can always do this: Oh yeah, you're gonna die.
In fact, to be perfectly honest, I die more deaths from losing life to the "grunts" or the normal enemies in the game, who are far more irritating to kill, than the bosses. Yeah, I die from them. And when I do die from the bosses, it's because fighting these grunts have made me tired from slashing and Izuna-dropping and such. Yeah, there's not button mashing which affects the fingers, but your right (or left) hand will hurt instead. If there was a term used for describing the many slashes you do on the DS, I'd use it.
Oh yeah, it's called carpal tunnel syndrome.
Still...
There is still variation in the attacks nonetheless. You can slash down and then up twice to perform a pretty cool dive, or rub the screen so hard it could break to execute the Ultimate Technique. Frankly, I'm underwhelmed at the minimum of varied combos and attacks the game offers, but they're actually pretty cool to watch, and exciting to implement.
Overall
Granted, there's still a lot of fun to be had with Ninja Gaiden DS, and maybe you can pick it up unless you're expecting a challenge.
Rating: 8.0/10 Oh look, lesbians! The score just went up a notch!
OK, Nintendo is a company who does casual and hardcore gaming right. But in a time when casual gamers overpower the hardcore, the companies now flock to the land of opportunity just so they can make a quick buck from the mostly gullible soccer mom audience.
There have been failed attempts at this, most notably uhhh..., wait, has there been any epic failures in casual gaming lately, or is it just me?
Anyway, Paramount Pictures have been making some head-scratching decisions, this is one of them.
"Why don't we resurrect our old franchises and make a quick buck out of them? Come on! There's the nostalgia factor! And why don't we just put Mean Girls in since it was such a successful chick flick, eh?"
That or they were probably smoking crack. And that's because they're making Clueless, Pretty in Pink and Mean Girls into "games". Yeah, it's like they're thinking Dirty Dancing made any profit.
If you forgot (I just got all this info from RT, not a big fan of chick flicks), Clueless is that ever famous '95 chick flick featuring Alicia Silverstone as a Beverly Hills socialite taking care of the lives of others but not hers. It's a satirical teen comedy that is also a Jane Austen (Emma) adaptation.
Meanwhile, there is this other film called Pretty in Pink released in 1986. Actually, it's considered a classic and is about a girl named Andie who is a good student. She develops a crush on Blane, a guy who hangs out with rich, haughty kids- the kind of crowd she (and the traditional best friend) can't stand. They fall in love with each other, but Blane listens to the advice of a friend and breaks that special prom date off with Andie. What'll happen next, how the hell should I know?
And lastly, the more recent Mean Girls. Critics claim that the famous Lohan film scores with better than average writing and a vast coverage of topics ranging from race, class and homosexuality. So, Lohan is Cady and she meets the most popular girls in school, the Plastics. They set rules, they do stuff, etc. etc.. However, she also likes another clique called... wait, there's no info about that, so I'll just say, a clique of punks and rebels composed of Janis and Damian. But wait, where's the conflict, you ask? Well, it's the fact that these punks and these titular mean girls hate each other, what's more, Cady's crush is friends with the Plastics! What to do?
So OK, I'm spending waaay to much time with these synopses, but to be back on topic: these games will be $$$hit.
Oh, and here's another piece of $$$hit! Castlevania Judment.
Don't the Japanese ever learn?
But OK, maybe it's not Namco (makers of the atrocious Soul Calibur Legends), but I know Konami is better than this! An effing fighting game, seriously?
Maybe it's because of the fact that, oh, it's for the Wii! Yeah, another way to make a quick buck by making better games on the DS and then tricking the Castlevania fans who own a Wii into this potential piece of crap? Not a chance.
Unless it's actually good, I still don't have faith in Wii fighting games- except Super Smash Bros. Brawl. I mean, look at G4's hands-on remarks:
"Although this is a 3D versus action game, it plays pretty much like a fighter. You shake your Wiimote to perform your basic attack, then you can customize your moves by pressing down combinations of the Wii’s buttons, and hit C to wield your character's ranged attack. There are super-attacks if your bar is totally powered up, and they're filled pyrotechnics.
...
As far as the fighting itself, with our limited play time, we treated it like a button masher…or more accurately a Wiimote swinger--While we’re sure the game wouldn’t respond like this on harder levels, as far as the easier opponents we fought, random swinging was enough. We played as Maria (love that owl!) and basically shoved the Wiimote around randomly and hit buttons quickly and were able to dispatch a couple opponents without much trouble."
Yeah, they hated it.
Finally, something that seems sensible. So there's this guy named Wesley. He sees Angelina Jolie and his life changes as he becomes an assassin.
Yeah, sounds like the type of game that seems formulaic at best.
It is reported however that Universal Studios is investing heavily into the development of this movie tie-in, however, so I'll keep an eye on it, just in case.
While we're on the topic of movie tie-ins... Gary Oldman reportedly lifted a little curtain as to whether the recent record-breaking blockbuster, The Dark Knight, will have a game. It seems that it indeed will have a tie-in that will be released when the DVD comes out. Interesting.
If you didn't know, Oldman plays Commissioner Gordon in the 2 most recent Batman films: Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, as well as other roles such as Professor Snape in the Harry Potter series, etc.
While we're on the topic of Batman... Chrisitan Bale gets arrested!
He was reportedly arrested by the police who were in turn summoned by his family following the actor pushing his mother, Jenny Bale while arguing.
The reason behind the spat is not being divulged, but it seems to involve the whole Bale clan.
More legalese! Nintendo's Wiimote can possibly get banned in Texas due to the fact that they lost to copyright infringement claims by a company called Anascape. All Wavebirds (GameCube wireless controllers), regular GameCube pads (WTF do they have to do with it?) and the Wiimotes get banned in the US if they didn't pay.
Coincidentally, Anascape just charged Nintendo while the Wii is still printing money. If that's not called taking advantage of a situation, then I don't know what is.
Wii gets Dead Rising It's a game that's driven by numbers- it's Dead Rising!
People say it's a great, funny survival horror game where you can use almost anything at your disposal in the mall to fight off hundreds of zombies. It'd be interesting as to how this game will fare, since the Wii is definitely a more inferior system.
Expect it to have the same graphics as Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition, since the engine running that game will run this one as well. Personally, I'm looking forward to it.
Lastly, a tragic death. My father especially loves to import old comedies from Hong Kong. One of them is a grand little series called The Golden Girls. What's tragic is that Estelle Getty, the purportedly 80-year old mother of one of the characters of the film who in reality is younger by a year than that other actor, has died from advanced dementia at about 5:30 am.
It's a shame since her character was my favorite because she was really sarcastic- I love sarcasm!
The Dark Knight Starring: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Maggie Gylenhaal, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine Released by Warner Bros. Pictures
In a nutshell: A movie that transcends the genre, and almost, almost a masterpiece.
After watching this a while ago, I have to admit that I found it to be a tad bit overrated, but nonetheless, a great movie. It's obvious that I've hotly anticipated this movie for quite a while, and I'm glad to say that the wait was worth it.
Story Set one year after Batman Begins, The Dark Knight has Batman doing what he does best: beating up the baddies and tying them up for police capture. One unprecedented thing that happens however, is that although it was Bruce Wayne's original vision for Batman to become an inspiration to the helpless citizens of Gotham, it only spawned some imitators instead as seen in the first scene.
The thing is, however, his example has influenced District Attorney Harvey Dent to take a stand against the crime wave hounding Gotham, but a new threat lurks among Gotham in the form of the Joker- a smart, flawed and psychotic man of his word.
Still, Rachel, Batman's ex-girlfriend, is dating Harvey so yeah, Wayne definitely has some issues.
Psychotic Now, this wouldn't be a review of The Dark Knight were I not to address the issue surrounding the performance of the late, great Heath Ledger. And with all the hype surrounding it since January, it would be no surprise if even professional critics got to discussing this point first. So now you're probably asking, "Was it worth the hype?".
My answer to you is a big, fat "Yes" and that's because his scenes are at times really intense, and you can even hear him and his saliva and making you think that he is indeed, a psychological mess. I mean, the Joker is indeed a nutcase, and even with all those past portrayals from Romero and the more famous Nicholson, Ledger's performance simply makes their names irrelevant, although that is not to say that Jack Nicholson is a lesser actor than Ledger, oh no, it's just that this Joker is definitely a believable, chillingly evil one that not only sends tingles to your spine at times, but balances it off with some dark humor that will guarantee your laughter.
Seriously, I was especially taken by surprise when during the part when people were being evacuated from Gotham General Hospital, a nurse that was taking care of Dent was actually The Joker. Wow, how slim is this guy?
Really, really long People will probably be put off by the fact that the movie lasts 2 hours and 30 minutes long. But then again, Spiderman 3 was also 2 hours and 30 minutes long and it broke box office records.
Personally, I don't find myself really irritated by the length of this movie, but I think it would be a prerequisite for me to give you a heads up about this aspect. I mean, it does feel long, but the content is the thing that matters. Lord of the Rings didn't get that Oscar for nothing, you know?
Comments on the movie I definitely liked the movie and frankly, it met my high expectations (although my expectations are higher for Wall-E). I mean, I never knew how the movie could tie Two-Face and the Joker's backstories together, but damn they sure did.
To be honest, I really find it hard to make comments about the movie because I risk spoiling everything for you.
With that in mind, I'm just gonna say that the action scenes are really good (the one in the trailer kicks ass) and you can see Christopher Nolan's increased confidence in his direction of these scenes, and that the movie simply doesn't care about no standards nor boundaries, it just does stuff freely, therefore it even transcends the comic book genre and the stereotype of the typical superhero movie which is mindless fun.
Intelligence Now this is where the screenplay's intelligence comes into play. It does away with the unrealistic set pieces found in its predecessors (the Joel Schumacher and 60's movies) and goes for that gritty, realistic view of the world's current problem of crime and terrorism. What I mean by that is that this, sans all the technology blahs, can actually happen in real life when you think about it.
The fact that vigilantes, despite good intentions, could also be regarded by many as a villain, is a prevailing topic in this movie, and that in reaching towards a goal, the fact that others will suffer for your endeavor is simply the inevitable truth.
Other than that, witty writing also goes to its lighter, comedic moments such as Commissioner Gordon after "re-appearing". I mean, that pun I got an hour after watching the movie. Damn, I'm so stupid.
Also a case study? You can actually consider this movie to be a case study not only between the relationship of the Joker and the Batman, but also the balance of nature: If there is one of this, there is also a contrasting that.
Another interesting case study made by the movie is the study of the righteous man itself, with Harvey Dent as Exhibit A and Batman as Exhibit B. They could either succumb to the temptation of revenge or go back to their senses and remain incorruptible- It's all about choice, and the resistance of man to sweet, but empty promises and words.
There are a lot of these to be found (I had another example in my brain, but I forgot because Nuevo buzzed me), and it would probably take a lot of analyzing and a second viewing to understand all the underlying themes the movie seems to tackle. Of course, I'll leave that to the nerds.
Simply intense I simply can't express my feelings into words, so here I give you an almost accurate representation of how I feel, through a link. Yeah, it's not me, but it sums up almost accurately how I feel about the film. And that's not exactly bad either.
A minor annoyance It's Christian Bale's Batman voice... it sounds like he should be doing Catman instead. -Growl growl growl-
Overall I can't think very straightly since it's pretty late. But bottom line, this movie is the best superhero film ever made, and it even transcends into the ranks of The Departed and that's because it just feels so seemingly real, it's creepy.
Take note though that this movie is not made for audiences looking to have a good time, that's Mamma Mia's job. But if you are looking for something that's surprisingly thought-provoking and serious, this is the movie for you. Personally, this movie has kept me pretty satisfied, that is, until Wall-E.
The only thing that scares me now is if Nolan will return as director next time! Tim Burton also made the darker movies in the early days, but after making 2 Batman movies, he was booted off. Hope Nolan doesn't meet the same fate (although I've heard he only chose to reprise his directorial role in the resurrected Batman series because the script, or rather, concept appealed to him). This, of course, is a great new addition to his budding resume, and I'm looking forward to the next Nolan film.
A few minutes before the bell a while ago, our uber-kind Chinese advisor suddenly blew up in an outburst of irritation, and that was because someone was cutting stuff while he was discussing our new set of problems. He made points I totally totally agree with, such as being able to learn Chinese for practical use, and to attend these classes for the sake of actually learning. It's also true that many people don't know the true value of the Chinese part of the school's curriculum and the fact that it would be such a waste, what with all this inflation going on, to fail the subject that makes up half our tuition.
I seriously, wholeheartedly agree with all his statements.
However.
Even if I was enthusiastic about learning Chinese (I mean, I don't really think it's "walang kwenta", just... a burden), I'd instantly lose all of that stuff were I to actually do it the Chiang Kai way.
I mean, take a look at the newest Chinese History (Zong He) memorization scam now!
Of course, the back part's included.
But OK, minor exaggeration since my teacher shortened it a bit, but regardless of that, it's still effing long. OK, I'm memorizing, am I learning anything? F**k no. It's like this question and answer portion was made up by Adolf Hitler, and wherever he/she is, s/he's either probably dead laughing from schadenfreude... or I killed him/her.
This just makes my really kind Chinese advisor really hypocritical, but he's just a teacher, he won't influence the administration!
It's been said before, and I'll just say it again: If lessons are just literally being shoehorned onto our damn brains, is it a surprise to see people not wanting to take Chinese seriously?
Memorize nga, but it'll end up going out the other f**king end. If that's not the epitome of stupidity, I don't know what the hell is.
Today saw gamers getting both hyped and disappointed, and that's because Nintendo and E3 finally revealed some stuff, but still hid others as well. Anyway, let's start with Nintendo's first.
Living up to its casual gamer mantra, Nintendo has announced a huge pile of casual games to delight that audience.
#1 Wii Sports: Resort Riding from the success of the pack-in title, Wii Sports, Nintendo is following it up with Wii Sports in a summer theme. I'm not exactly warming up to the game's concept as of now, and that's because it only adds Jet Skiing, Frisbee and Swordfighting. God, I hated swordfighting in Bleach. I don't know what's gonna make me like it now.
It also ships, however, with the new MotionPlus accessory for the Wiimote. I mean, the Wiimote itself is already motion sensitive, but the company states that this accessory will make the experience even more intuitive and life-like. Hmm...
#2 Wii Music Remember that tech demo Shigeru Miyamoto demonstrated a long time ago when the Wii was getting released? Well, it's becoming reality.
Using the Wiimote and an extra pair of drums that come shipped with the title, Wii Music will help anyone do music without having to match the rhythm or beats and fail.
You can play the violin, saxophone and the drum using the Balance Board as well.
I don't see how the team at Nintendo will prolong the novelty of all this shallow gameplay, but it would be astonishing if it got at least a 7.0 on GameSpot.
Still, it looks pretty good at parties.
#3 Third party titles Nerds get their Star Wars wish as Nintendo presented Star Wars: The Clone Wars featuring light saber duels and more. In my opinion, it's gonna suck.
Shaun White Snowboarding. It's old hat, but it looked really fun on the Wii Fit Balance Board.
Another game that's old hat is Rayman: Raving Rabbids TV Party, but it looks extremely funny especially with your butt controlling the Wii Fit balance board!
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is coming to the DS with its own engines and sandboxing as well.
And despite some bad critical reception for Guitar Hero: On Tour, it's getting a new installment called Decades.
And then, there's Call of Duty: World at War. This new CoD transports everyone back to World War II, but now, it's the Japanese you are fighting instead of Hitler's army. It features the flamethrower, and hopefully will also have the online capabilities of its next-gen brethren.
#4 The DS and the airport A representative relates, "If you're like me, a person who spends way too much time on the airport, my time is almost always spent playing my DS. But what if the DS provided me with some great information like the nearest ATM or Mexican restaurant when I land? This is all being tested."
The title is called Cooking Navi or something like that, and I don't know how all of this will work.
#5 Animal Crossing: City Folk It's the cutesy simulation title everyone loves: it's Animal Crossing!
OK, I'm not that much of a fan of these kinds of games except the Sims, but I have to tell you that the probability of this game being a system seller is high, especially since it will also be the first game to feature voice chat.
Yes, you read right: Voice chat.
Voice chat isn't as private as people would like, though, and that's because the voice chat accessory is made to look like a loudspeaker. Hmm..., I'd like to see how this will go.
Anyway, there are also new features in Animal Crossing: City Folk, most notably being able to take the game online, as well as sending messages to a friend's PC or cellphone. That's actually pretty cool.
Of course, this feature has been much requested, and I think the game will unveil even more surprises once it releases in the holiday of 2008. #6 Vague Announcements That We're Keeping An Eye On Nintendo is still not unsheathing its potentially huge collection of secret games that are being lined-up especially for hardcore fans. Satoru Iwata, CEO of Nintendo said that the Mario and Zelda teams are on to something big, and Shigeru Miyamoto confirmed, also vaguely, both.
"We're still looking for unique ideas... and we even toyed with the idea of first-person Zelda.," says the legendary Mario, Donkey Kong, and Zelda creator.
Overall Overall, there's not much in store for the Nintendo gamers out there, but I have a fuzzy feeling that this is just a spoonful of what's to come. Nintendo is definitely taking the mysterious-ness a little bit too far, but that's just gonna make fans crave for more.
And then there's
Sony doesn't disappoint compared to Nintendo, and that's because they unveil some really, really cool blockbusters.
#1 Ratchet and Clank Future: Quest for Booty Ratchet and Clank return for a new adventure- a pirate adventure. But it's only available through the online PlayStation Network so yes, it's a downloadable.
#2 Resistance 2 One of the best launch games in the PS3 has come back! Will it surpass the first?
#3 God. of. War. III! Yes, it's finally been announced! God of War III looks like a great epic mythological tour of one of the most famous modern game characters: Kratos. Sony teased everyone with a trailer, and that's about it.
In the end there will only be chaos.
#4 Little Big Planet Once again, this little bubbly platformer impresses with its custom, user-friendly construction of levels and online sharing features, thus causing more excitement among the PS community. It ships in October.
#5 Resistance goes to PSP For the first time, Resistance Retribution for the PSP gets shown. And it looks really nice!
#6 inFAMOUS It looks really promising and it's about a guy named Cole who survives an explosion and gets some neat electric superpowers. The twist in this game is that you are free to do what you want, and it's either you ruin the fictional city of Empire or enrich its citizen's lives. It's all up to you.
#7 Gran Turismo TV Basically, it's a feature found in existing game Gran Turismo 5 Prologue that enables you to watch licensed videos online. Top Gear has been announced to provide some content, as well as a Ferrari feature.
#8 PS3, even cheaper! There's no word on what's gonna happen to the older 40GB model, but one thing's for certain: the 80GB model will have a huge price drop and will cost $399! Now that's a compelling reason.
#9 Games, even cheaper! Warhawk, Oblivion, Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Need for Speed Carbon, Resistance: Fall of Man get the Greatest Hits pasted on every cover, and that means they're cheaper.
#10 Don't forget: The PS2! Sony says that 130 Titles are coming to the PS2 this year, and will include Lego Batman, and more family-friendly titles. #11 PSP game sequels! Patapon 2, Loco Roco 2 and Midnight Club LA are the newest titles announced. Cause for PSP owners' excitement? Hell yeah.
#12 DC Universe Online This is basically an online game that features heroes from the DC universe, although you can also make your own.
#13 MAG MAG is a title that will allow for whopping TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY SIX player battles! They will be divided into squads and will have different skills.
#14 Video Store Like in iTunes, you can buy movies in the PlayStation Video Store!
As you can see, I was even more hyped up in the Sony conference than in the Nintendo conference, because almost everything they showed was really, really cool. Ironically, I don't even own a PSP or PS3!
Sony is so gonna have a good year. I guess FF13 is not gonna be the end of the world after all!
Day 1: The Microsoft Keynote Before I go to the really, really, really big shocker/s, let me clear these out first: >Gears of War 2 gets a new trailer. >Rock Band 2 gets AC/DC, thus causing rhythm fans to go baloney. >The casual audience gets more games on the 360 Live Arcade platform, one of the most prominent being "I'm In The Movies!" which looks more like an Eye-Toy game for the PS2 by Codebreakers. > Microsoft rips of Sony's SingStar karaoke series with their own "Lips". > There's a new Halo game coming out called Halo Wars- and it may not have Master Chief! > Resident Evil 5 gets co-op on our asses (although IMO, co-op will feel like SSBB's Subspace Emissary: it doesn't look like it's given much thought because the camera only focuses on the first player). > Fallout 3 goes to 360 and not only PC. > Mirror's Edge looks really sweet! > Take a look at Spore: Will Wright's new simulation thingy.
BIG NEWS: When you see Final Fantasy, what comes in your mind?
Cloud Strife, Tidus, Yuna, Squall, and oh, the PlayStation.
Now, it's all gonna change because the newest installment of the Final Fantasy series goes to the XBox 360.
Oooh, that's gotta hurt, Sony!
And then, come more rip-offs, courtesy of MS.
OK, they've revamped their famous dashboard, and it looks pretty nice. But look more into the first picture and what do you see? A F**KING MII.
Thinking about it just sickens me, especially since the 360 was built almost primarily for the hardcore. And now they're going the way of the Wii? This is of course gonna be inducing some competition, but personally, when I mix the two terms XBox and avatars together, I get lost. I mean, yeah, there seems to be a lot more Home-like options than that of the Wii, but still, this is just too derivative.
Tomorrow: NINTENDO!!!! (Picture credit goes to my friend Hallway_Giant from the GameSpot community.)
Reception has been mostly positive in the professional spectrum of the review panel, but users are mostly mixed with their reactions. This is the post that compiles the summary of their reactions, so as to help you choose whether you want to buy it or not from Globe.
But first, some facts: 1) The iPhone has not yet been released in the Philippines, obviously. But it'll be give or take, 2-4 weeks before it does. 2) The deal with the significantly lower price is this: carriers tie people down for 2 years and the true cost of the iPhone will be paid through the monthly rates of which will be equal to either 499 US dollars, or 599 US dollars- depending on the kind of iPhone you bought (4 or 8 GB flavors/black or white flavors). In my opinion, I think you can get an iPhone for free at plan 800 (w/o tax computation; 1000 w/ tax rounded off to the hundreds place).
Now with that out of the way, let's see what critics have to say (and no, I won't put Walt Mossberg, I think he's a bit biased to Apple).
"The iPhone 3G delivers on its promises by adding critical features and sharper performance. The iTunes Apps Store is pretty amazing, and the 3G support is more than welcome. We still have a few gripes, but the iPhone 3G a big improvement over the original model." -CNET
"If you're an avid Symbian, BlackBerry, or Windows Mobile / Exchange user, chances are you might think the iPhone 3G is Apple playing catch-up -- and you're not wrong. 3G, GPS, third party apps, enterprise messaging, these are all old hat. But even the would-be iPhone killers being churned out weekly haven't yet found a way to counter the iPhone's usability and seamless integration of service and software, desktop and mobile, and media and internet." -Engadget
"So the iPhone 3G is a nice upgrade. It more than keeps pace with advancing technology, and new buyers will generally be delighted." -NY Times
"While not everything on my wish list made it onto the new device, Apple has raised the bar with iPhone 3G. To which I offer an enthusiastic thumbs up." -USA Today
"So the hardware is interesting in the iPhone 3G, but the real story here is the new iPhone OS 2.0 firmware, which we've written about in depth here. You manage to install that, old iPhone users, you've got about 80% of this new iPhone's mojo. But if you're not making your calls on an iPhone yet, well, what are you waiting for?" -Gizmodo
All these reviewers have common points, and common gripes, so yes, if you view one review, it's like viewing all the others.
To sum it all up, critics say that the iPhone 3G is a step up from the last one, but you can get all of that by buying an old iPhone, and upgrading it for free- save for the GPS and 3G. Of course, there's still no copy and paste, and Apple embarrassingly enough, left out MMS, Video recording, message forwarding, and hordes of other options you'd typically find in a low-tier cellphone nowadays. Plus, the new back design is a magnet for fingerprints unlike the last one.
Still, you'd get value for your money if you do manage to qualify for the 199 dollar price point.
Now, here's what the users think: "Bringing smartphones mass-market" "got Verizon Voyager now,maybe time to switch to IPHONE 2.0" "No tethering. You Pay $30 for Internet, they should at least allow you to tether."
I don't exactly know what tethering is, but 30 dollars for 3G? Ouch.
Anyway, I hope this short post will help you in your purchase of the iPhone 3G in the future. Who knows?
If there's one Photoshop alternative I'll download (save for GIMP), I'd download Paint.NET. It's really easy to use, and the transparent floating windows are welcome, but mostly visual touch. And because it's a big step up from the real Paint, maybe Microsoft should learn what real drawing tools are from this free model.
Ironically (wait I think I'll be using this incorrectly), it's Microsoft's own .Net framework that supports it, so if you haven't downloaded it yet, you should for this thing to work.
Anyway, it offers the typical set of Photoshop-tier features such as layers, effects (blurs, etc.), the magic wand and more. Of course, it doesn't match Photoshop in every little way, but it is definitely one of the best alternatives I've come across. CAPTION: Magic wand works like a charm!
Remember yesterday (or a few days ago, depending on your section) when CKSC requested all of us to surrender our ID's so they can update it. I thought it would be like last year when they would take a really long time to update our ID's, but for free. No, this time it was darn quick, and that's because they put on a sticker. By now, you'd think that this kind of thing would be free and the money used for them would probably be taken from our tuition fees, more specifically the Miscellaneous fees. But no, they charge us an extra 200 pesos! Now, this post is here to investigate why.
Theory 1: Special Labeler Eons ago, my sister wanted a top-of-the-line Dynamo labeler. The unit was colored green, and the "bala" (labeling plastic whatever thingy) was silver. When she started typing out our names and stuck them to our books, it was pretty much the only thing we needed to put names on our books. No more printing, no more cutting, everything streamlined- not to mention really beautiful!
But days later, it actually broke down and my mom ended up scolding us. I forgot for what reason it broke, but that was it, it was broken.
So my first theory on this is that the people down there may have used a new kind of special labelers that can print Chinese. Why not? I mean, technology has gone so far when comparing to the tech years ago, so no, it's probably not a farfetched theory, nor is it also farfetched to say that the labelers they too were using broke down in a matter of a few minutes.
Theory 2: The Labeling Plastic thingy Maybe it could also be the plastic thing that the labels are printed on. Look at it, it's got a plastic covering, and it's really, really hard to remove (without destroying it) unless you put enough into it.
And hey, with top-of-the-line Chinese writing labelers come top-of-the-line expensive plastic stuff. You can't go wrong with that combination!
Theory 3: The Labeling Plastic thingies are made of gold! In the dark, there is a really distant shine to the ID sticker if you've got good eyesight. And maybe that's probably because these plastic things have a recessive gold gene!
Now, allow me to go all Biology on you.
1 pure plastic and 1 impure gold alloy mate.
See? There's a 50% chance that the things would have gold! And that's what Chiang Kai probably bought.
And how would they, you say?
Remember, gold is a conductor like copper. If they want to update our grade/section that gets displayed in the swiping process, then they'll need a conductor- and probably a microchip as well.
As far as I'm concerned, I'm really outraged at how they would charge 200 for a frickin sticker. But maybe these theories are pretty feasible enough to make me understand the reason behind it- not only inflation, but them!
P.S., If you take this post seriously, consider yourself f**ked.
(Side note: Damn! This is like the 3rd almost-consecutive-were-it-not-for-some-things Sunday we've watched movies in the cinema house!)
Hancock Starring: Will Smith, Charlize Theron, Jason Bateman
When I first saw the trailer for this movie, I was kind of psyched, and that was pretty much because it was actually a pretty unique superhero movie- and by unique I mean the superhero being a perfect asshole and a drinking bastard.
Anyway, the movie first starts out with Will Smith in character as John Hancock shredding road signs of Los Angeles and basically causing more turmoil than he reduces by recklessly cleaning up some bad guys in his own, "special" way. Of course, this doesn't set the tone for the rest of the movie, but I'll get into that later.
The focus then shifts on a man named, uhhh..., wait.
............. ............ ...........
Oh yeah! Ray. He's a P(ublic) R(elations) guy who is trying to change the world by pitching about his charitable logo to some companies- and fails miserably. When he drives home, he gets stuck in traffic that reminds me of Recto during the holidays, and just when the traffic comes to a full jam does the unlucky guy get stuck in a railroad track. The thing is, a train's a-comin', and the only thing he could do is hope. This is where Hancock comes to his rescue, not by flying up holding the car, but by tipping the car nose-up and squash another car, and ram himself to the running train. Of course, this instead causes outrage to all the civilians, and that's because, once again, he causes more turmoil than he reduces.
Ray, however, actually thanks him, and wants to do him a favor- which is to change his image so that people can love and appreciate him.
Recommended by Father So, this morning/hours ago, we went to church, and the presiding priest's homily suddenly turned to the movie Hancock which he watched in SM Baguio during a seminar. He recommended this movie to everyone and he even gave some really true, hard-hitting reasons as to why this is actually great for us. And that's because it teaches about giving love to others, because if one is not loved, he'll resort to alcohol, drugs and crime. He also pointed out that one should not judge a book by its cover, and that's because in this movie, everyone only looks at Hancock like he's a criminal who's not using his superpowers responsibly, but Ray, the PR guy, is able to see through that and look at the good inside him.
These points were compelling enough to convince my father and younger brother to watch it even though Father spoiled the whole movie ("Nawalan ng powers si Hancock"). We originally planned to watch Wanted, but then again, we had no choice when we found out it was, like, R-13- an age my brothers have yet to reach. And another thing is, the earliest time was in a THX theater (in Greenbelt, which is really good but really expensive) so we had no choice.
Not worth the premium for THX The last time I watched a movie in a THX theater, it was X-Men 3. Because of the explosive sound did I actually like the relatively inferior film (when compared to its predecessors, helmed by a man called Bryan Singer who I like). But this one? Hmm... not really.
I mean, it does start out as a very promising film, but when Ray reaches his goal of changing Hancock's image, it starts getting a little... err, I don't really know what's the right word for this, but the word corny doesn't exactly do it much justice as it should've.
Yeah, Hancock's powers are really cool, and actually rather Superman-ish as well, but that doesn't exactly stop the film from getting out of your attention when the guy turns responsible and... conventional.
Near-end is a bit... eh? A part of the film shocks the viewer a bit since it exposes a really unexpected secret (and the reason why there are too many close-ups of, well, you'll know who I mean). This fact then sets the foundation for the movie's near-end sequence as it throws you all this weird information in one shot that's hard to actually digest instantly. And because your attention gets lost by this part, you won't exactly get every bit of information a certain character throws at you. I mean, it's like, "What the hell? Why the hell? Huh? What are you saying?" kind of information overload that's, to reiterate, due to the fact that you lost your focus on the movie because it suddenly goes the conventional path.
Recycled Lines I don't know, but maybe it was supposed to be, like, a catchphrase or something?
I was really irritated when Hancock kept saying, "Say that one more time." every time someone says asshole. I mean, it was funny the first time, but it isn't the second, third and fourth time around.
I got even more irritated when another unexpected person said the same thing when Hancock called the person names. I was like, "What the hell? Were the writers replaced with a really sucky set of writers after they filmed the part when Hancock was still an asshole?"
Tries to teach a lesson Like what Father said, the film teaches about the attribute of being able to responsibly use a God-given gift or talent, and to not judge a book by its cover. Because, who knows? That guy may just need some love, is all. The lesson is not so goodly imparted, though, but those intelligent enough to see them is probably going to commend the film because it exerts efforts into teaching these lessons into a pretty unique, superhero package- a package that appeals to the demographic.
Mediocre, at best. The film can probably be classified as one of Smith's misses. After a slew of hits that are actually above decent because of his acting chops, this one misses that line by a few miles. So yeah, it's a mediocre Smith film at best, but it's not exactly the worst film ever of the summer. It just needed some fine-tuning, and a better, seamless structure for the very promising plot. It could've blown everything else away, but in the end, it just disappoints.
Rating: 6.8/10 (Start is promising and unique, end is weak, poor and predictable.)
I just came back from the gym and I saw twins. Well, I haven't seen them for quite a while now, but here's a little bit of a background on what I know about them:
1) They're "supposedly" of Japanese descent, or maybe that's just a joke among the trainers and;
2) By the looks of it, they're rich and spoiled, but maybe not so much.
Always do I see them in the locker room playing either a PSP they share or listening to an MP3 player. One thing's for certain though: they're pretty weird.
I don't claim to know know them, but their peculiar-ness just went up one notch when one of them said:
"Where did you buy that bulletproof vest?"
I thought they were joking, or rather, I thought they took it as a joke when my trainer said that my scoliosis brace was a bulletproof vest to them.
He repeated, "Where did you buy that bulletproof vest?"
Frankly, I didn't actually reply, but I said things like, "Well, it's pretty uncomfortable", etc. etc. just to avoid the subject and to avoid some complications when their mom comes.
Good thing I did that, though. And that's because when I was about to go downstairs for the ride home, one of them again said, "Mom, where can we buy that vest? I WANT IT!," like a little curious boy. Frankly, when I heard that line, I uttered something that was somewhere in between a laugh and a scoff.
Wow, never thought they'd take it that seriously. Heck, one of them even said, "How can it protect you from bullets when there's no protection in front?" The other replied, "Well, what if a sniper had to shoot his back?"
LOL, I'd never really know when I'd be such a notorious person, but maybe I'll avoid them a bit more.
Break the law! Get free $150 Bluetooth headset! Oh yes, it's true!
In the US, there's a new law stating that one should drive and talk to a cellphone using hands-free headsets. Of course, not all people can afford one, so now Headsets.com will give you a free headset when you send documentation about your offense which you'll probably pay the police officer for.
Plantronics Discovery 925 is the headset, and it retails for a hundred and fifty bucks, saving you lots of money even after paying some 20 or 50 dollars for that ticket.
Wow, maybe I should talk without a hands-free headset in the United States in the dangerous freeways. Now I'm talking about serious swag! *nods head frantically and grins*
Macs get update I've seen people complain about Mac OS X Leopard's unreliability on laptops, but hopefully this new update will keep all the problems away. It features updates on iCal, Safari and a bunch of bug fixes and security improvements (as if it wasn't secure enough... at least for me!).
Unlike iTunes Rhapsody, Real's music store becomes a better place as it offers full song previews before you actually buy a track. Like iTunes, it also has a low price.
Of course, Real will probably get some issues with this, namely because people can just open Sound Recorder, set up some options and record the song. Yay! Free song from legal store! Now I'm seriously not gonna be caught now! (Not to mention that Real's RealPlayer is spyware!!!!)
Can't We All Just Have One? Rumors have emerged saying that the iPhone 3G, when it ships, will be one shiny brick that needs to be activated in the carrier once it actually ships. Hmm..., I'm curious to see how this will go down over here. Globe will probably have all the software about... right now that'll allow access to actually make the iPhone function, but who knows if a torrent will emerge having the same software they use so we can use Smart or Sun.
Hell, if Apple's expecting any money from this thing, and they would, then they should just make it an open line and screw American cellphone business practices. To be frank, being tied to just one carrier is simply annoying if you have to give up years building up an address book with the other. Can't Apple just give us an open line like the rest of them?
A Wacked-Out Music Video (Game)! The classic SNES game Super Mario World gets a music video that's pretty wack- and it's long too!
Gamespot rotated it again! Argh... I just wanted to put my own picture!
The Dark Knight
CAPTION: Magic wand works like a charm!
Hancock
Rumors have emerged saying that the iPhone 3G, when it ships, will be one shiny brick that needs to be activated in the carrier once it actually ships. Hmm..., I'm curious to see how this will go down over here. Globe will probably have all the software about... right now that'll allow access to actually make the iPhone function, but who knows if a torrent will emerge having the same software they use so we can use Smart or Sun.
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