!!! "I Will Love Him, And Hug Him, And Squeeze Him, And I Will Call Him George." Lucas Dat Is (New Blu-Ray Releases) !!!

I Got Two Words To Say To The Haters, "Bantha Poodoo!" ?!?

I stand before you this night to issue a dire warning about the future of our planet. Recent events have occurred that fundamentally alters the fabric of the universe. I say these things to prepare you and guide you so you might be stable enough to weather the storm that is to come. The events of the past two days have significantly escalated the time table for these momentous phenomenon to take place. As it stands now we are wholly unprepared to face the coming tide. I pray that you will hear these words and they will motivate you into swift action. It is coming and it cannot be stopped, but it can be defeated...

"Save us all, the world is coming to an end. Hide yo wife, hide yo kids, hide yo strippers, cause we all dying up in here!!!"-Antoine Dodson (of the near future)


Wait... What? You thought I was talking about the end of the world. No, no I was talking about the total reduction in funds that is going to occur between the months of September and December. Literally, I and many other will have to sell our kidneys in order to afford the new Blu-ray sets that they have scheduled this fall. The dire catastrophe that will occur, will only happen in our wallets and bank accounts as yet another poor, retched studio executive, living off his meager sum of 35million a year, needs to pass the plate around to all us generous, caring consumers, so that his children do not have to suffer the pain and anguish of having to go to private school without the latest custom fitted Nike Air Kobe Edition sneakers or the latest Dolce & Gabbana fashions adorned on their malnourished (read: crash diet) and sickly (read: coked up) frames. Yes, I too have thought that an infomercial about the plight of the lowly Hollywood exec. would bring in many donations to help end executive abuse. We need to quit being part of the problem and start being part of the solution. Give today!

That brings me to the reason that we, the consumer, will gladly throw money to these people, because they are throwing product right back at us. So, prepare to be broke.

Today, Lucasfilm and Paramount Home Media Distribution have announced the release date for the Blu-ray box set of the Indiana Jones Moves in High definition. They also added some specific detail about what the set will include and about the care being given to the films themselves, in order to provide the highest quality possible (I just let out a tiny "yipee" there, won't happen again). Behind the Star Wars Blu-rays (which we have), this is one of the holy grails of the home video market. Here's the box art released for the set and the official announcement from Lucasfilm's Marketing Department:

In June of 1981 director Steven Spielberg and executive producer George Lucas introduced the world to Indiana Jones when the unforgettable Raiders of the Lost Ark debuted in theaters. Exploding to instant acclaim, the film has now been carefully restored, alongside remastered versions of the archaeologist’s other thrilling adventures—Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Prepare for excitement, adventure and snakes—why did it have to be snakes?—all with pristine picture and sound when INDIANA JONES: The Complete Adventures debuts on Blu-ray September 18, 2012 from Lucasfilm Ltd. and Paramount Home Media Distribution.

Supervised by director Steven Spielberg and renowned sound designer Ben Burtt, Raiders of the Lost Ark has been meticulously restored with careful attention to preserving the original look, sound and feel of the iconic film. The original negative was first scanned at 4K and then examined frame-by-frame so that any damage could be repaired.

The sound design was similarly preserved using Burtt’s original master mix, which had been archived and unused since 1981. New stereo surrounds were created using the original music tracks and original effects recorded in stereo but used previously only in mono. In addition, the sub bass was redone entirely up to modern specifications and care was taken to improve dialogue and correct small technical flaws to create the most complete and highest quality version of the sound possible while retaining the director’s vision. The result is an impeccable digital restoration that celebrates the film and its place in cinematic history.

The installments in the franchise have won a combined seven Academy Awards®. Relive every heart-pounding thrill like never before as all four films arrive together, for the first time presented in 1080p high definition with English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio accompanied by a collection of documentaries, interviews, featurettes and new bonus features.

Yes, please sir, may I have another (SMACK!!!).

I am going all in on this one. That set will be in my list later on today. I will gladly step up behind the rest of the sheep and drink the Kool-Aid, Mr. Spielberg and Mr. Lucas (I already own copies of these movies on VHS, DVD twice, and now, I'll pony up the dough for a forth go around. Yeah, I know what I am, you don't have to say it). Please, take my money, I'm giving it to you, please!!!

In all seriousness (wow, I didn't know you could do that), this set looks like it's shaping up to be a great thing. With Spielberg's current turn towards the original intent of the filmmaker as opposed to making changes that seem frivolous in hindsight (Guns to Walkie Talkies, that's worse than Lucas. That's for all you prequel haters out there, go run off and see The Hunger Games, you blight on the face of genre fans everywhere you.). So, it sounds as though Spielberg wants to preserve the film as close to the original intent as possible. I'll be looking for the piece of glass visible between Harrison Ford and the Asp when he falls into The Well of Souls just like everyone else. Can't wait.

The second big Blu-ray set announced this week comes from Universal in the form of a classic movie collection. When I say classic, these movies epitomize the word. This set takes you into the tales of one of greatest filmmakers the world has ever seen (oh, yeah, I'm a fan). If there is one artist that I would aspire to be if I were a young director, this would be the man. His films should be a requirement in college courses. He was cool before directors were cool. Every great filmmaker working today will say, if asked, that this man was a huge influence in their careers as artists (Get to it already! Shut up, I am.).

Universal is releasing for a limited time only, Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection 15-film box set on Blu-ray Disc on 9/25. They had released this same set on DVD a few years ago and I didn't "pull the trigger", as some might say. By the time I was ready, Blu-ray was the big thing and I thought, "Why not wait and see if they ever release these movies on Blu?" My instincts proved correct and now the great king Hitchcock will reward me with a gift (that I have to buy with my own money, I don't think I like this kingdom). Nevertheless, this is great news for all the hitch-aphiles out there (glad I didn't say cock-aphiles, oops). Remember to support your local movie watching community and give them the gift of coc... Hitch for their viewing pleasure. Here's the specs and pictures:

Saboteur (1942) - Supplements will include Saboteur: A Closer Look behind-the-scenes featurette; Storyboards for the "Statue of Liberty" setpiece; Alfred Hitchcock's sketches; Production photographs; and Theatrical trailer.

Shadow of a Doubt (1943) - w/Beyond Doubt: The Making of Hitchcock's Favorite Film behind-the-scenes featurette; Production drawings by art director Robert Boyle; Production photographs; and Theatrical trailer.

Rope (1948) - w/Rope Unleashed behind-the-scenes featurette; Production photographs; and Theatrical trailer.

Rear Window (1954) - w/Commentary with Hitchcock's Rear Window: The Well-Made Film author John Fawell; 5 Behind-the-scenes featurettes; Hitchcock-Truffaut interview excerpts; Production photographs; Theatrical trailers; and Re-release trailer narrated by James Stewart.

The Trouble with Harry (1955) - w/The Trouble with Harry Isn't Over behind-the-scenes featurette; Production photographs; and Theatrical trailers.

The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) - w/The Making of The Man Who Knew Too Much behind-the-scenes featurette; Production photographs; and Trailers.

Vertigo (1958) - w/Two audio commentaries (Associate producer Herbert Coleman, restoration team Robert A. Harris and James C. Katz, and other Vertigo participants, and Filmmaker William Friedkin); Obsessed with Vertigo: New Life for Hitchcock's Masterpiece; Partners in Crime: Hitchcock's Collaborators; The Vertigo Archives; Hitchcock-Truffaut interview excerpts; Foreign censorship Ending; 100 Years of Universal featurette: The Lew Wasserman Era; Theatrical trailer; and restoration theatrical trailer.

North by Northwest (1959) - w/Commentary by screenwriter Ernest Lehman; 4 behind-the-scenes featurettes; Music-only audio track; Stills gallery; and Theatrical trailers and TV spot.

Psycho (1960) - w/Commentary with Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho author Stephen Rebello; 3 Behind-the-scenes featurettes; Breakdowns of the "Shower Scene" setpiece; The Psycho Archives; Vintage newsreel: The Release of Psycho; Hitchcock-Truffaut interview excerpts; Posters and Psycho ads; Lobby cards; Behind-the-scenes photographs; Production photographs; Theatrical trailer; and re-release trailers.

The Birds (1963) - w/All About The Birds; Vintage Universal International newsreels; The Birds Is Coming; Suspense Story: National Press Club Hears Hitchcock; Tippi Hedren's screen test; Hitchcock-Truffaut interview excerpts; Deleted scene; Original ending; Storyboards; Production photographs; 100 Years of Universal featurettes; Theatrical trailer; and Blu-ray exclusive The Birds: Hitchcock's Monster Movie.

Marnie (1964) - w/The Trouble with Marnie behind-the-scenes featurette; The Marnie Archives feature; and Theatrical trailer.

Torn Curtain (1966) - w/Torn Curtain Rising behind-the-scenes featurette; Selected scenes scored by Bernard Herrmann; Production photographs; and Theatrical trailer.

Topaz (1969) - w/Alternate endings; Topaz: An Appreciation with film historian and critic Leonard Maltin; Storyboards for "The Mendozas" setpiece; Production photographs; and Theatrical trailer.

Frenzy (1972) - w/The Story of Frenzy behind-the-scenes featurette; Production photographs; Theatrical trailer.

Family Plot (1976) - w/Plotting Family Plot behind-the-scenes featurette; Storyboards for the chase scene; Production photographs; and Theatrical trailer.
The boxed set will also include a 50-page book featuring storyboards, costume sketches, correspondence, and rare photographs.

Peace Out!!

Todd "mother" B.

[Comingsoon.net and High-Def Digest]

!!! Put The Bunny Back In The Box And Other Sayings Of Nicholas Cage,Only Known Living Vampire (Blu-Ray Reviews) !!!

Did Kate Beckinsale Have A Nose Job Or Have My Standards Lowered (Yep, She Had A Nose Job)???

I Love Motion Pictures (no huge secret on this site)! I love to watch them, I love to talk about them, and I love to read about them. Even the history of cinema fascinates me and I can't seem to get enough. I am amazed by the process that goes into the making of a film. From lighting to special effects, from cinematography to craft services, ever step of a film's journey draws me into that world. There is a large section of the population who cares which star is dating who and how long it will be before Lindsey Lohan gets arrested again (apparently not long), but for me that stuff is nothing compared to the hard work and dedication it takes to actually bring a film to movie screens. Actors will always be needed and some I want to see succeed (Downey Jr.), but, unbeknownst to some of them, they are only a small part of the glorious machine that makes fantasy a reality (and sometimes reality an over exaggeration of itself). Movies are an escape, movies are dreams made real, and we can leave our everyday lives behind to spend a little time in those places. Not every movie is good, but there is good in almost every movie (maybe not Ishtar). Someone on every production in Hollywood gives everything they have to a film because they know that they are blessed to be working in the industry. That being said, there are decisions made on films that make me say, "What?" This brings me to this weeks Blu-Ray reviews.


I hope to be able to bring you reviews of movies that have recently been released on Blu-Ray and give you an idea of whether it's worth a purchase or a pass. I will say up front, from a technical standpoint, I am wholly inadequate to give you an informed opinion. Like my father says, "I know just enough to be dangerous." Yes, I have an HD TV and a THX 7.1 surround home theater system, but the best I can do if you ask me how a movie sounds and looks on Blu-Ray is "good" or "bad". There are websites that do a much better job in reviewing the technical aspects of the discs and I will leave that up to them (check out the links at the end). So, for the purpose of these articles, I will try to tell you what I thought of the films themselves and maybe a little about the special features. Remember, that when it comes to movies, "good" and "bad" are relative terms. I always say, "like what you like, take nothing back." Oh, by the way, if you like Ishtar, more power to you (even though you're weird).

I got a chance to check out three movie on Blu-Ray this past week. I enjoyed all three to varying degrees, some more than others. Like I said earlier, some movies are great, some are good, some have good elements but poor choices, some are bad, and some are so bad, they're good (why yes, I am referring to you "Mega Python vs. Gatoroid"). No matter what you like, just make sure that you enjoy ever minute of it. Life's too short not to have fun.

Let's start with the eternal one himself, Nic Cage. The man has been in some bad films, there's no denying that. But Nicky is like that crazy uncle that comes over for Thanksgiving dinner, drinks too much, and proceeds to tell of the time he and two strippers were stranded on a desert island and they decided they needed to repopulate the species (the strippers weren't very bright), so he became the king of the tribe he fathered and they still live on the island today, oh, and they almost sacrificed him to the volcano gods (strangely, that sounds like the plot to a Nic Cage movie). So, I like the man. I can't help it, he makes me smile. I finally got to see "Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengence" and it definitely contains all sorts of Nic Cage crazy. I liked the first Ghost Rider (as opposed to all of you who didn't) and I felt that it was close to the comics and their tone. I had high hopes for the second one and while I will say that the visual aspect of "SoV" is good, several creative choices derail this version of the character. This is one of those reboots that's not a reboot (it makes no sense to me either). Nicky's back as old flame head but no one else from the original makes an appearance here. Mark Steven Johnson is gone as director and replaced by Neveldine and Taylor of the "Crank" franchise. The Crank films are flashy, stylized, and over the top (see where we're going here?) and the studio hoped they would bring the same thing to Ghost Rider. Unfortunately, for the viewer and comic lover, that is exactly what they did. This is what I'm talking about when I say bad decision making. You have to have the right directors for the right movies, because when you don't bad things happen. That craziness they brought to the Crank films is all wrong here. Johnny Blaze might be crazy but he's not a clown. Nic Cage does a fine job being Nic Cage, but I would rather see him be Ghost Rider. You would think that when Ghost Rider is on screen (and the effects are impressive to look at) it would be the highlight of the film. Here again, bad decisions rear their ugly head. There is a moment in the film where Ghost Rider grabs a bad guy by the back of the head and proceeds to perform the "Penance Stare" on him. The Marvel Database explains it like this, "When in close combat, the Ghost Rider locks eyes with his victim and makes him or her feel every pain that that individual has ever inflicted on anyone else innocent in their lifetime." Neveldine and/or Taylor fail to convey that to the audience and Ghost Rider just appears to be staring longingly into the baddie's eyes.

Ghost Rider: "Oh, I love you henchman (deep demonic voice)."

Henchman: "Oh, I love you too, Ghost Rider (high-pitched girly voice)."

That's exactly what it looks like. I want to see Ghost Rider taking villains out like the bad@$$ I know he is, not staring at them for fifteen minutes. This trend continues when Nic interrogates this dude for information latter in the film. He is doing the crazy, I can hardly contain what's inside me, bit and then rushes off to use the info he just got to locate this boy (who may or may not be Danny Ketch, the second Ghost Rider). Thus follows an extended sequence of Nicky riding his motorcycle and changing into Ghost Rider. Why? Why is this scene here? I already know he turns into the Ghost Rider (from the helpful cartoon that you had at the start of the film and the previous film), I don't need to spend twenty minutes seeing it happen again (see, bad decision making). Just get to the Rider kicking tail, that's what I want to see (and had already seen in the trailer). The visual effects are great and I love the look of the Rider here more than I did in the first movie, but come on, these movies are suppose to be fun not tedious. Don't get fancy, boys, it does the movie and us no favors. I would be perfectly happy if Fox would let the rights to Ghost Rider slip back to Marvel and maybe they can pull a Hulk makeover for the match head. The rest of the film is just kind of there, the only real standout is of course, the always fantastic Edris Elba. He is always extremely watchable and this is no exception. If you are a fan of Ghost Rider you may want to give this a rent, if you're not forget this movie exists and go on with your life. All Hail, the vampire king!!

Next up, "Underworld: Awakening" is the continuation of that particular franchise. I like these movies (guilty pleasure) and, of course, i'm in favor of any movie that shuns the "I'm in love with a sparkly vampire and a werewolf that runs around without a shirt on" crap. A war between vampires and werewolves is a fantasy that all horror lovers have had at one time or another (Universal even put the Wolf Man and Dracula in a movie together, in the 1940's). Are these movies high art? Of course not, they aren't directed by Scorsese after all. That doesn't mean you can't enjoy them for the craziness alone. Plus, Kate Beckinsale in skin tight black leather, need I say more? My only real question about the movie is a fairly obvious one. What world changing thing does Scott Speedman need to be doing that he can't show up on set for two days (that's all it would have taken) and collect a small "I don't want to be homeless" check? Does anyone know the answer to that one? Does anybody really care? It cost more to digitally insert his face on some other actor's body than they would have had to spend to film him outright (they also had to pay him for his likeness, so now we're just throwing money away). Why not just kill him off screen and move on? There I just had to get that out. Now I am better. Moving on. If you are a fan of the Underworld series or just like fun movies with hot women (Kate Beckinsale in skin tight leather, remember?), then this is right up your alley. Go have fun.

My last review is most certainly my favorite of the three. I had a good time with Underworld, but I was blown away by "Chronicle". Where did this movie come from? If you haven't seen it then I'm not going to spoil it here. The story is fairly straight forward. Kids find crazy artifact, kids get superpowers, kids do cool things, and kids deal with good and evil. Sounds like any comic book origin story you ever heard, right? Wrong, this is so much more. Box Office Mojo says that it was made for 12 million dollars. I'll repeat that, 12 million. I sit here in awe of the amazing things they accomplished in this film on such a small budget. This is one of those films that defies the conventional wisdom that the more money you spend on a film the better it will be. Sometimes it's about the filmmakers and the creative people behind a project that make a movie work. Great ideas and great execution trumps money any day of the week. It's still amazing the things that happen in this movie. You really need to see it. Josh Trank, the director, is already being talked about to reboot The Fantastic Four for Fox and is it any surprise that the writer is Max Landis, son of John. Turns out Max is pretty awesome as seen "here". From what I hear, there will be a sequel. I hope they don't screw it up by NOT BRINGING EVERYONE BACK (just a subtle hint, Hollywood executive types)!!! Oh, and Chronicle is a found footage movie (I almost forgot that fact because the film is so good, unlike most of those flicks). The gimmick here is so well done after a while you hardly notice it. That is a testament to great direction and great writing. I could not recommend this film more. If you don't own it you should.

The picture quality on all three films is great (even the found footage of Chronicle). The sound mixes are full and expansive. The extras are decent though not comprehensive. Still, two out of three ain't bad. If you want specs and in depth analysis check out the links at the bottom of the page. I'll be back later with more news and rumors so, "hang on back there!"

Todd "I got a panty on my head" B.

[High-Def Digest, Blu-ray.com, and DVDfile]



That's pretty convincing, wouldn't you say?

Nic Cage as Johnny Cage, for Josh!!

[Nic Cage as Everyone]

Why do people want an FFVII remake so badly?!

Love it or hate it, Final Fantasy VII is probably the most popular game in Square’s Final Fantasy franchise. Released way back in 1997, Square used clever marketing tactics to basically dupe people into buying their huge-budgeted game. These tactics basically involved NOT showing any gameplay during ads and commercials, only CG cutscenes, and not really letting anyone know what they were buying. I remember thinking every time a commercial was shown, “People think this is awesome, but they don’t really know that it’s an RPG.” Around this time, RPGs weren’t rare by any means, but RPG fans weren’t exactly turning up in droves, either. For a lot of American gamers, FFVII was not only their first game in the series, but was also their first RPG. Because of this, FFVII carries a lot of nostalgia. I don’t consider myself a “VII hater,” but the game is, to me, nothing special. The three games released before it were much better and so were the three games after it, in my opinion. That’s not to say that I’m some kind of retro guy that says only the 8 and 16-bit games were good (FFX is probably my 2 nd or 3 rd favorite in the series). FFVII’s plot really involves nothing more than chasing the main antagonist, Sephiroth, from one place to another. Literally, that’s all you really do. Several years ago, as a way to show off the PlayStation 3’s graphics horsepower, Square released a tech demo that recreated the opening cutscene of FFVII using real-time, in-game graphics. This tech demo ended up looking better than the original game’s opening. Check it out: Pretty, huh? What Square didn’t realize was that they were opening up a can of worms that fanboys have been gobbling up for the 6 years since that tech demo was released. Anytime a new Final Fantasy game is either reviewed or revealed, fanboys come out of the woodwork, crying and moaning, “Where’s the FFVII remake?!!!!?!!!!” Instead of remaking FFVII, Square has opted to create full remakes on the Nintendo DS of older FF titles like III and IV. In my opinion, remaking the older titles makes more sense than FFVII. By remaking the older titles, Square can add a new perspective on games that originally were only perceived on a 2D playing field. FFVII already had 3D graphics, albeit mostly on pre-rendered backgrounds, but the older titles were all sprites and mode-7. If you’re going to remake a game, there should be a good reason. What would be the reasoning behind remaking FFVII? “Because it’s AWEZOME!!%)!)%!*%^” That’s not good enough for me and it’s apparently not good enough for Square, either. Recently Square CEO, Yoichi Wada said that he believes that if Square remade FFVII, the Final Fantasy franchise “would be done with.” In my opinion, the Final Fantasy franchise is already done with, but that’s a different article for a different time. But in all honesty, I can see what he’s saying. Wada went on to say that until the company makes a Final Fantasy that exceeds the quality of VII, a remake will never happen. While I don’t necessarily agree with Wada’s comments that a Final Fantasy hasn’t lived up to VII’s quality (VIII-X were all better games, in my opinion), I understand what he’s basically getting at: “We don’t want to make that game right now. We know you want it, but we don’t.” So there you have it, folks. An FFVII remake is inevitable at some point, but it’s just not going to happen right now or in the foreseeable future. I honestly wish that Square would spend their time developing some decent new IPs rather than putting all their energy into new Final Fantasy games, or give us sequels to some of their existing properties. A sequel to Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross, anyone? How ‘bout that?! -Josh Source: IGN

My Videogame Life Pt. 3 (The Conclusion!)

-The Present & The Future-

So after reading the first 2 parts of this whole thing, we’re finally up to the present day of gaming, but let’s backtrack just a touch. I haven’t really covered handheld consoles, so let’s do that real quick…

I was never a handheld gamer until around the time of the Gameboy Advance. I had played an original Gameboy along the way, but the Advance was what really sold me on how awesome handhelds could be. Essentially, the GBA was a mini-SNES. Need I say more? How could you not love the fact that Nintendo was allowing ports of old 16-bit titles along with brand new IPs on a relatively cheap console? We were able to get Final Fantasy IV, V and VI (all with their correct Japanese numbering), new Metroid(s), Castlevania and a slew of other games which effectively ushered in “retro” gaming. The GBA allowed new gamers the opportunity to experience something that they may have missed out on (or not been alive for) the first time around. The GBA sported 2 different models: The original and a smaller, flip-top version with a MUCH brighter screen. There was also a ridiculously awesome attachment for the Gamecube called the Gameboy Advance Player that allowed GBA games to be played on a television through the GC itself.

Nintendo continued through to the Nintendo DS which introduced, in retrospect, a kind of useless second screen. It was a touch screen, so that was kind of cool, but other than being able to display stuff like maps and miscellaneous things like that, it was just a, “hey, that’s neat,” kind of thing. The important thing about the DS was the games for it. Phenomenal titles all around. Since the DS was significantly more powerful than the GBA, the system was capable of 3D graphics which lent themselves well to Square’s complete 3D remake of Final Fantasy IV. The only problem I had with the system was the amount of versions that were released over its lifespan. There were a total of 4 versions of the DS released over 6 years. The second version, the DSLite, was a smaller, lighter version of the handheld with brighter screens. The third, the DSi, was similar to the Lite, but dropped the GBA backwards compatibility in favor of features like a camera and several small applications. The fourth and final version, the DSi XL, was exactly the same as its previous version, only twice as large. I can understand maybe 2 versions of a system (upgrades and such), but 4?! Surely Nintendo could have cut out the middle 2 versions. What was the point in releasing the DSi and then a year and a half later releasing the DSi XL? Why not just wait for the larger, better one? But the DS, over its 6 years of existence, made a killing, so what do I know? I owned the original DS and the DSi, while Nic owned 3 of the 4 models.

It was at this time that Sony tried their hand at the handheld market, a market that Nintendo had completely dominated since the days of the original Gameboy. The result was the PlayStation Portable (PSP), a sleek black handheld that’s looks and interface definitely embodied Sony’s current gen system, the PlayStation 3. Was the PSP a good system? Did it topple Nintendo’s king-like reign in the handheld market? Kinda and no. Yes, the PSP was a good system, being nearly as powerful as the PS2, but no, it didn’t really effect Nintendo’s business at all and they still remain on the throne to this day. The whole UMD thing was kinda silly, as well.

So that brings us to the current generation. Right now, there are 3 consoles and 2 handhelds on the market: The Nintendo Wii and 3DS, Microsoft’s Xbox360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Vita. I own them all except for the 3DS, so I’ll give my thoughts on ‘em.

The Wii and 3DS –Quite honestly, this is my least favorite of the consoles I own. And I don’t just mean from this generation. I have a total of 6 games for the system. Thing is, those 6 games are all that have interested me from what the system has to offer. I have my own thoughts on Nintendo’s business decisions as of late, but I won’t go into them in very much detail so as not to sound like a hater. I will state this here so that it will be on the record for all time: I do not hate Nintendo. I think Nintendo, over the most recent years, has made some extremely poor choices that could have been easily remedied, but I’m not their business manager, so I can’t complain too heavily. The Wii is, in my personal opinion, the worst business decision they have made thus far.

Let me explain: Releasing a system to cater to non-gamers is not the way to sell a console. Not when you’re up against more recent heavy hitters such as Microsoft and Sony. Well, let me rephrase that –It’s not the way to sell software for your console. Nintendo currently holds the top spot as far as systems sold in this console generation. This is a good statistic, but if you look at their software sales, they aren’t nearly as high as Sony or Microsoft’s. One needs to look no further than a top-selling game like Call Of Duty. Which console do you think had more software sales for, say, Modern Warfare 3, a game that was available on all 3 major consoles? It wasn’t Nintendo, I can tell you that.
Xbox360 –Microsoft did absolutely no wrong this console generation… Except for that whole “red-ring-o-death” thing. Seriously, why not fix that? It took until about a year or so ago when Microsoft released a remodeled version of the console to finally fix a problem that completely breaks the thing. As far as software goes, this was the place to get your fill when it came to new and exciting titles. While most games were released for the big 2, the Xbox version usually outperformed the technically more powerful PS3.

PS3 and Vita –
For me, the PS3 is smack dab in the middle of the console war. While it’s more powerful than its competition, it is, by in large, not a videogame console. It’s a “do-all.” A “home entertainment system,” if you will. The PS3 plays nearly any kind of disc known to man except for HD-DVD (an unfortunately dead format. I think it was better than Blu-Ray). All the way from Compact Disc to Blu-Ray, the thing would play it all, including being backwards compatible with the previous 2 Sony systems. I heard at one point several years ago that the system was extremely hard to program for, which made developers a little apprehensive about making games exclusively for it. The system did have a few things going for it, though: Like the Wii, it had free online as opposed to Microsoft’s payment plans (although you get what you pay for. If you don’t pay, you run the risk of that big Sony hacking fiasco last year). It had some decent exclusives (God of War, Heavy Rain, Metal Gear Solid 4), and most importantly to me: It kept the exact same controller since the Dual Shock was released back in 1997.

The controller has obviously always been important in videogames. Each new console has released with a new controller that usually ends up adding something to the next generation’s design. Every single console owes its controller’s design to the original NES because they’ve all grown from there. The SNES added 4 face buttons and shoulder buttons on the top, the N64 added an analogue stick, all of which have been incorporated into all console’s controllers over the years. Sony just happened to find a design that works perfectly for all games and stuck with it. Not to sound like I’m trying to beat a dead horse here, but the Wii’s controls are something I just don’t see ever becoming the norm. At least not for a looooooooooong while. I like to relax while I play games, not wave a stick around like an idiot.

The Vita, on the other hand, needs to step it up quite a bit. I own one, but I own it for one simple reason: Mortal Kombat. Currently, it is the only handheld that has MK and for someone that likes to keep his MK chops up, the Vita version is where it’s at. The Vita needs stronger titles and hopefully it will get them once bigger titles like the portable Assassin’s Creed III spin-off are made available.
So what about the future? 2013’s E3 should be the big reveal for both Microsoft’s “Xbox720” and Sony’s PlayStation 4. Nintendo’s Wii successor, the Wii-U, was revealed at last year’s E3, effectively winning the conference. The 3DS is out there doing pretty decently, although it had a fairly rocky start from what I understand. Very little is known about the Wii-U and even less is known about the other two consoles. Nintendo has a lot to make up for with 3 rd party support on their new system, but with games like Ninja Gaiden, Batman: Arkham City and Assassin’s Creed III, it looks as though they’re making a step in the right direction. Microsoft only needs to keep doing what they’ve been doing and Sony needs to actually create a game console rather than a home entertainment system. 2013 should be an interesting year to say the least.

I hope this 3 part article has been at least somewhat interesting to you. I know that it became more of a “history of videogames” than about my personal experiences, but maybe it was interesting nonetheless. Through the new website, I hope to be able to update you guys on the progress that the videogame world continues to make with both reviews and opinions which might shape where you want to go when it comes to your games.

-Josh

THE END *Doubleback by ZZ-Top should probably play right about now*

Make it Bigger!!

Last night at 11 pm Central Daylight Time all the Nintendos of the world (Nintendo of Japan, Nintendo of America, and Nintendo of Europe) had a simultaneous "Nintendo Direct" presentation. For the uninitiated, "Nintendo Direct" presentations are streaming video presenations created by Nintendo themselves and watchable on their websites (and in archived format on the Wii and 3DS). Nintendo uses these as opportunities to showcase software and hardware, and announce new software and hardware.

Usually this would be something I'd make sure and tune in for. But, whoo boy, I was sleepy last night. I fell asleep before 10! Wow!

And then my swisscheesed brain forgot all about the presentation until I was checking GoNintendo.com this afternoon. "Oh yeah, the Nintendo Direct," I thought to myself.

I won't take the time to recap the entire presentation here. There was a lot of good stuff in it, so check it out yourself if you're interested.

But I do want to point out one of the biggest reveals of the evening: the 3DS XL.

Many of you might be familiar with the DSi XL. It was the mammoth final iteration of the original DS. I have one (Liz got one for me for my birthday in 2010), and love it. In fact, I became so accustomed to its hugeness that when I recieved a 3DS this past Christmas it felt like I was playing the revolutionary glasses-free-3D handheld videogame system from Nintendo of Lilliput. Ok, I exaggerate a little, and the 3DS is an excellent system. But it is noticeably smaller than the DSi XL.

Enter the 3DS XL, a system roughly the same size as the DSi XL. (In fact, the entire form factor has a DSi XL feel.) In fact, the two screens are a whopping 90% larger than their original 3DS counterparts. Not only that, but the battery life has been extended a little bit also. To be clear, beyond this the 3DS XL is just a 3DS. No electronics or cpu specs have been altered. So this isn't like the change from DS Lite to DSi. This is a cosmetic upgrade almost exclusively. But that's fine with me.

Now here's the crazy part: It will be available starting August 19 of this year (the same day as New Super Mario Bros. 2 for the 3DS hits stores)! That's less than two months away. Talk about keeping info close to the vest (or, since this is Nintendo, should I say, "close to the overalls?"). It'll set you back 199.99 plus tax, but many retailers are already announcing "trade in your 3DS for a discount on a 3DS XL" deals. I just might take one of them up on that. (Liz is ok with it, since had a 3DS XL existed back in December that's what she would've gotten me.)

Major gaming and/or tech sites like IGN, GoNintendo, Nintendolife, Engadget, Gameinformer, etc. have all the details. So I'll just leave you with this comparison picture:

Now we're playing with power. (Bad, I know. But game systems don't have quotes.)

 - Nic


END OF LINE

Oh.. My... Goodness...

I knew this was being made, but I had no idea it was anywhere close to having a trailer. This is gonna be a great time at the cinema, folks... AGAIN!

-Josh

!!! Me Grimlock, Eat Michael Bay In Next Movie... Yum (Transformers 4News) !!!

This Is Michael Bay Directing; "You, Explosion, Again Only Faster And More Intense!"???

We have Transformer 4 news directly from the man himself. Michael Bay talked up the fourth film in an interview today. Here's what he had to say:

“It’s not a reboot," said "The Michael", making sure we still know that no one from the first movie (human wise) will be back. "That’s maybe the wrong word. I don’t want to say 'reboot' because then people will think we’re doing a 'Spider-Man' and starting from the beginning. We’re not. We’re taking the story that you’ve seen — the story we’ve told in three movies already — and we’re taking it in a new direction. But we’re leaving those three as the history. It all still counts... We’re moving on to something different.”

He also stated that we may see the Transformers doing the explosion thingy in a vacuum (like space).

"That feels like the way to go, doesn’t it?" says Bay. "I want to go a little off [the planet] but I don’t want to go too sci-fi. I still want to keep it grounded."

Yeah, transforming robots in space, that sounds grounded. Any who, I have enjoyed the Transformer movies. That goes against the hard line stance of most fanboys who love to hate on "The Bay". I will readily admit that the human aspect has never impressed me very much, while the Transformers themselves (at least in my eyes) never get enough screen time. I have always wanted a film that showed the War on Cybertron and nothing else. Those few scenes in the three current movies have just made me want more. Come on Bay, make it happen. Although he has also said that the budget for the fourth film will be about 30 million less than the last one, that clocked in at at around 200 million. We'll see if he can take Optimus to space on less cash (much like NASA the past few years). He'll certainly find a way to make things blowing up. Keep your head down, we have more incoming, so stay tuned!!!

Todd "Ba Weep Grana Weep Ninny Bon" B.

[Comingsoon.net]

!!! Dr. McCoy, Cursed Earth Pizza (Judge Dredd Is Now Just Dredd) !!!

Bones, Are You Really The "Law"?!?

So, here we are a day later and to no one's surprise Lionsgate has released the "Full" trailer for their reboot of Judge Dredd, now simply know as Dredd. Was that so hard? Did I really have to go on a rant yesterday about the "teaser for a trailer" thing? I don't think so, Lionsgate. Guess what guys, your not even in the big leagues yet. Disney, Paramount, Warner Bros., Sony, Universal, and 20th Century Fox are your major leaguers, at best you guys are triple A ball. So, you need to dismount the pretentious horse and just release the gosh darn trailers already.


Ok, I am done with the ranting and we are moving on. We are moving, we are moving, we are moving, and we are stopping. Now, I am really excited about this Judge Dredd (Dredd for short). I'm a fan of the Stallone version (yeah, not the popular opinion) and I am also a fan of the Judge. You put Karl Urban in it, as Judge Dredd no less, and I'm pretty much in a seat opening weekend. Urban is fantastic as Dr. McCoy in the new Star Trek movies and I've been a fan since LOTR where he played Eomer. Not all of the movies he's been in have been good, but he is good in everything he's in. Those New Zealanders are born with it.

This also looks like a more gritty take than the first one. I know, I know, I've been slamming the dark and edgy route for a week now. This, however, is a different situation. Stallone's take had both moments of grittiness and moments of humor. Judge Dredd in the comics was always a dark character and putting him deeper into that world does not fundamentally change the character. It possibly could be the exclusion of Rob Schneider that changes the tone (no, really?) or it could just be a more serious adult take on the material, it still doesn't matter. Dredd is a policeman who has the ability to convict and punish (think execute) criminals on the spot, that's heavy as it is. This looks very interesting and it has me ready to see it. Well, I guess I wasn't done ranting after all, how bout that (not surprised)?

There's more news out there (thank God), so I'll be back with more news and rumors. Stay seated with your hands and arms inside the blog at all times, and, please, no flash photography.

Todd "Lawgiver" B.

[Comingsoon.net]

Yep, he is "The Law"!!!

My Videogame Life Pt. 2

-The 32/64 and 128 Bit Era-

By the time the PlayStation was released in North America,the SNES was still going strong. Really,I (and nobody else,for that matter) had absolutely no interest in the thing until around 1996 when it was announced that the newest Final Fantasy title would be released exclusively for the console.

At this time,I owned a Nintendo 64. The N64 was,in my opinion,a great system. It was the first to introduce analogue sticks, which are something that are kind of the standard today. Plus,the graphics were phenomenal for its time. By this point,I was still getting Nintendo Power in my mailboxevery month,so I,like many others,saw an article before the N64’s release that displayed screenshots from a tech demo from Square. The tech demo showed characters from Final Fantasy III (VI in Japan) fighting a humongous knight. Supposedly,this was going to be the tech that Square would use to develop for the N64,but alas,Square dropped the added graphical horsepower in favor of storage space.

Upon Final Fantasy VII’s announcement, sales of the original PlayStation skyrocketed while I was left thinking,“what in the world just happened?” Why was it that a company that wouldn’t have been nearly as successful without Nintendo,suddenly leaving and making games for another company? It was like Square was cheating on their wife or something! And that’s exactly how I felt when I bought a PlayStation in 1998.

Up until this point,I had been a Nintendo fan through and through. Thing is,that’s all there was. At least,that’s where all the great games were. Now it looked like all the larger franchises and interesting games were being moved to the PlayStation.

I remember the first time I ever played one was shortly after Final Fantasy VII had been released. Down at our local video store,you could rent a PlayStation for around $20 plus the price of the game. Naturally,I rented FFVII. I thought it sucked how you had to turn the thing upside down for it to work. I believe it was something to do with the disc drive going bad. Of course,the rented console didn’t come with a memory card,so in order to keep playing you had to 1) Not die. 2) Leave the system on if you had to walk away.

Was the original PlayStation all that great? Looking back on it,not really,no. The graphics were horrible,the load times were ridiculously long,and gameplay on most games was fairly stiff. It should be noted that this was a transitional period in gaming. Most games played on a 2D playing field before this time and we were now suddenly thrust into 3D. I had always been a PC gamer as well,so the transition wasn’t all that shocking to me,but people who had only owned consoles at this point were in a completely new world. That being said,there were good concepts in those horrible looking,horrible playing 3D games that would be the building blocks for some of today’s most popular franchises. Metal Gear Solid,Resident Evil… The list of potential new franchises was as long as your arm. The N64 still did well because of its first party franchises such as Mario and Zelda, but when it came to 3 rd party games,it just couldn’t hold up to the competition. Suddenly,“Nintendo” had been replaced by “PlayStation” as the household name when it came to games.

You can always see what system is the most popular simply by watching television. As a child of the ‘80s,I was raised on sitcoms. I watched everything from Andy Griffith,all the way to more recent shows like How I Met Your Mother. The movie, The Wizard showed us that the original NES was king and references in such shows as Full House made us realize that the SNES was where it was at in the early ‘90s,all the making us believe that those Olsen chicks were one person. In the late ‘90s,however, the PlayStation was the most featured console in television,letting us know that Sony had one that particular console war.

Sony would continue their dominance throughout the late ‘90s and early 2000s with the release of the first 128 bit system, the rather simply titled,PlayStation 2. The first game I ever played for the PS2 was the demo for Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. The demo came packed in with my friend Danny’s copy of Konami’s Zone Of the Enders. I was taken aback with just how much the graphics and gameplay had improved from the first Metal Gear Solid.

While console wars had usually been comprised of just 2 companies duking it out for marketplace dominance (Nintendo/Sega,Nintendo/Sony),this time there would be 4 consoles in the war. Sony had the PS2,Nintendo had the Gamecube,Sega had the Dreamcast and newcomer Microsoft had the Xbox. Sega’s Dreamcast would quickly die off and fade into obscurity,leaving Sega to enter the 3 rd party software market,while the big 3 struggled to fight the battle.

The PS2 reigned supreme throughout its lifespan based on their head start and carryover of 3 rd party support from their previous system. Nintendo would,with the Gamecube,have to suffer the “sins of the father” (N64) and struggle to find its footing while lacking very much 3 rd party support at all. It’s a shame because,other than it’s media choice (mini-dvd),the Gamecube was technically more powerful than the PS2 and had more in common with the Xbox. Developers at this time had kind of blackballed Nintendo as the company they didn’t want to make games for. Was it because of the lack of 3 rd party support on their previous system? Was it because the storage capacity was smaller on the Gamecube? I have no idea. Nintendo put out some triple-A 1 st party titles around this time,just as they did with the N64,and have continued that trend here in the present.

Microsoft,new to the console world,would be the wildcard throughout this section of the console war. The Xboxwas easily the most powerful of the three systems,but it didn’t quite have the 3 rd party support of the PS2. Don’t get me wrong,there were a lot of games ported from the PS2 to Xbox, but there weren’t that many new franchises being debuted on the console… Except Halo.

Ugh… Halo.

I’m just not a huge fan of Halo. It’s ok,but I just don’t see what’s so special about it. Truthfully,I had already played Halo several years before it came out… when it was called Doom. That’s right,I said Doom! Sure,Doom wasn’t as pretty as Halo,but it was basically the same thing,only Doom was darker,you fought demons from Hell that you THOUGHT were aliens,and much cooler music than that choir chant stuff that everybody just loves to pieces. Heck, Master Chief even LOOKS like the Doom Guy!

Anyway,rant over. I just don’t care about Halo. Sorry.

My decision to buy an Xboxcame fairly early on. Dead Or Alive 3 had been a launch title for the system and I already had some experience with the fighting game franchise from Tecmo. I knew that one of the playable characters was none other than Ryu Hayabusa from the Ninja Gaiden series. I remember telling my friend Danny that if Tecmo ever announced a Ninja Gaiden game for Xbox,I’d go buy the system that very day. One day I get a call from Danny saying he got his new Game Informer magazine in the mail. He started out by telling me about some upcoming games within the mag until he finally got to one in which he said, “Dude,you’re gonna have to buy your Xbox today.” There,in a 2-page spread in Game Informer was a preview for Ninja Gaiden on Xbox. I went to Danny’s house,picked him up and we set off to buy an Xboxand Dead Or Alive 3 on the very day he told me about Ninja Gaiden.

As the 128-bit era of the console war ended,it was very clear that Sony had won yet again and Sega had lost so bad they had to get out of the business. Nintendo and Microsoft had sort of hung in the middle of things. Looking back on it,it seems as though Microsoft was using the original Xboxas a testing ground for a much larger weapon…

To Be Concluded…
*BTTF fanfare once again!*
-Josh

!!! Cloud Atlas Shrugged (I Am So Bored And Various Sundry Things) !!!

Ms. (?) Lana And Mr. Andy Wachowski Request Your Presence At The Premiere Of Their New Film, "Cloud Atlas". Cursed Earth Pizza Will Be Served And Entertainment Will Be Provided By Mike Wazowski, Please Leave Your Sparkly Vampire At Home, RSVP !?!

Wow, things are dead in the world of film this week. Either nothing is going on or they are waiting until later in the week (I'll get to that). So, first I hear the Superman news (bad stuff) then, nothin', nada, zilch. The fact that Hans Zimmer is doing the music for "Man of Steel" single handedly destroyed Hollywood (just kidding... kinda). This week has been pretty weak (that's me using homonyms... English, it's like a second language to me). Anyhow, I have been banging my head against a wall trying to find something to tell you guys, so here's what I got.


For some reason, God only knows, movie studios feel the need to bait the public even more than they already do. The hot "new" trend is for a studio to release a "teaser" for a "trailer". That's right folks, they release a 5 second blast of images in order to let you know that they will soon release a 2 minute blast of images. Why do they do this exactly? I have no clue. Isn't a trailer for a movie essentially a teaser for said movie? Why do I then need a teaser for a trailer (this makes my head hurt)? Why not just release the trailer or a short 1 minute teaser (this is the actual thing that they have been doing for years until recently) and skip this unnecessary step altogether? Needless to say, I saw today where Lionsgate has released "5 seconds" of the Judge Dredd trailer on Machinima a day (yes, you heard that correctly) before they release the trailer. Just release the trailer you frakking teases. Ladies and gentlemen, Hollywood thinks that you are so stupid that you will poop out a brick just to see the smallest snippet of footage for a movie. Well, guess what Hollywood, I refuse to bow to your dumb stunts. I'm not even going to link to your stupid teaser for a trailer (if you fine people want to check out this useless bit of footage go to the Comingsoon.net link below and search for it yourself). I'll be back tomorrow with the real trailer and my thoughts, so hold your snicker doodles and be patient. Guess what Hollywood, we "can" be patient.

Now this is more like it. Pixar has released actual teasers (more than 5 seconds) of next summer's Monsters University. These things are infinitely more watchable than the crap that Lionsgate threw out today. The first Monsters movie is one of my favorite Pixar movie (maybe just behind The Incredibles), so I'm looking forward to this one. If "these" teasers are any indication, then we are In for a treat.

Lastly, Warner Bros. Pictures has announced today (after they totally screwed up Monday) that the Wachowski Broth... people will release their new movie "Cloud Atlas" on October 26th of this year. You have heard me talk about The Matrix Trilogy "here" and you also know that I enjoy their work (The Matrix trilogy is extremely fun after you've had a few), so I'm interested to see what this thing looks like. It appears we will know sooner rather than later (maybe Comic-Con, which we will cover extensively). The story is taken from a book of the same name by David Mitchell and stars such actors as Tom Hanks, Hugo Weaving, and Hugh Grant to name a few. That's a combination you never thought you'd see. Crazy sex changes aside, the broth... siblings look to be making a descent film, with great talent and a best-selling novel behind it. I know that this movie will look good, let's hope it plays good too. You can check out the rest of the story "here" and I'll update you as it gets closer to October 26th.

Oh... Sigh... for all you Twifarts out there, they released the trailer for the last movie in the Twilight Series (It's about a bunch of horny high school kids that have contracted a disease that makes them crave blood and "sparkle", come on people). So, if your into that kind of thing then click "here". For all the normal people, ignore everything that you just read.

Well, I'm off to brood until something good shows up so have a splendid evening. I will return.

Todd "Still A Man, According To Nic" B.

[Comingsoon.net]


"Mr. I am da law"

Before

After

See the difference? Yeah, me neither.

How To Play Mortal Kombat (MK9)

Since I need more people to play Mortal Kombat with, I’m gonna create a tutorial on how to get started playing the game. I’ll introduce you to fighting game terminology, strategies, combos, and general fighting basics in what I hope will be the easiest guide you’ll ever read.

Button Layout:
First off, we’ll need to explain the controller and the normal button configuration. I’ll be referring to the buttons in numbered format so things will be a little easier to understand. This button setup applies to both the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game.

360/PS3 – Number which applies to both consoles (and most non-Capcom fighting games)
X/Square – 1
Y/Triangle – 2
A/X – 3
B/Circle – 4
Forward - F
Back - B
Down - D
Up - U
Block – BLK (Right Trigger)
Throw – (Right Bumper)
X-Ray – (Left & Right Trigger Simultaneously)
JiP – Jump in Punch (pressing 1 or 2 while jumping toward an opponent)
JiK – Jump in Kick (pressing 3 or 4 while jumping toward an opponent)
NJP – Neutral Jump Punch (pressing 1 or 2 while jumping straight up)
NJK – Neutral Jump Kick (pressing 3 or 4 while jumping straight up)
Dash – Press ‘Forward’ twice and your character will dash forward. This is effective in juggle combos (keeping the opponent in the air) and Dash Blocking. Dash blocking can be used as a safe way to move toward your opponent faster than either normal dashing, jumping, or walking. To dash block, press FF, BLK, F, BLK, F, BLK, F, etc. After the initial dash, you only need to press forward once in between blocks. You’ll know you’re doing it properly when you see your character scoot across the screen at an extremely fast rate.

Buttons 1 & 2 are both punches, while buttons 3 & 4 are kicks. If I were to explain how to perform Sub-Zero’s freeze move, I would say “DF3.” This would mean that you would kinda roll your thumb from down to forward, then press “A” on the 360, or “X” on the PS3 pad.

Note: Personally, I prefer using a PS2/PS3 pad for playing MK. There are a wide variety of arcade sticks made especially for fighting games (even one specifically for MK), but my opinion is that the game plays better on a normal gamepad. It’s really all a matter of preference. Some are more comfortable using a stick, others a gamepad. The 360 controller’s directional pad is atrocious for fighting games, so I use a converter that allows me to use a PlayStation 2 controller on the 360. You can pick one of those up for about $40 at this website: www.etokki.com

Now that you know the button layout, let’s move into some basics:
All the characters in the game have special moves such as fireballs and other moves that are done by entering specific commands like Sub-Zero’s freeze mentioned above. Throughout most of this tutorial, I’ll probably be referring mostly to Sub-Zero since he’s the character I know the best and is, in my opinion, the easiest character in the game to use.

Let’s look at a few of Sub’s special moves:

DF3 (Freeze) – Sub creates a ball of ice projectile that travels along the screen and freezes the opponent, leaving them open for a combo, or free hit.

BF4 (Slide) – Sub slides across the screen, knocking the opponent down when it hits.

DB1 (Ice Clone) – This is probably Sub’s best move. He creates a clone of himself that, if touched, puts the opponent into the same frozen state as his freeze projectile.

You might be asking yourself, “If Sub-Zero has a projectile that will freeze you, why not do that over and over again?” And here we get into some fighting game principals! If you’ve ever played a fighting game with your buddies, they might sometimes use projectiles constantly just to annoy you. They’ll stay across the screen firing projectile after projectile which will frustrate you, forcing you to learn some specials just to be able to compete with them. While to the uneducated this might seem “cheap,” it is actually a tactic called “zoning.” Zoning is a term that is used when a character uses his projectiles over and over in an attempt to force you into trading projectile for projectile, or jumping over them in which he or she can hit you while you’re in the air (anti-air). But again, “Why not just do that all the time?” Simple answer: Projectiles are usually unsafe at certain distances. If you jump over the projectile and are at close enough range, you can do a JiP and start a combo, effectively punishing your opponent’s zoning game.

The word “unsafe” is a term you’ll hear quite a lot when talking about fighting games. This means that if you block a move that is unsafe (such as a projectile), you are at an advantage and can “punish” your opponent for throwing that move out there. Not only are certain special moves unsafe, but some normal moves are as well.

The five big fighting game terms:
Safe – Moves that, when blocked, put you at advantage
Unsafe – Moves that, when blocked, put you at disadvantage
Punish – What you do when the opponent throws out an unsafe move.
Advantage – You can react before your opponent can, allowing you to block or throw out another move or set of moves.
Disadvantage – You cannot react before your opponent, therefore opening yourself up for punishment.

Most fighting games are based around these terms. It’s been my experience that once you learn these, learning the rest will be a piece of cake.

The Main Screen:
During a match you’ll notice your basic HUD (Heads Up Display) which presents you with both character’s life bars at the top and their respective “Super” meters at the bottom.

1. Life Bar:
   The life bar is located in either the top left, or the top right of the screen, depending on which side you are on. Green on the bar indicates your remaining life, but when you see red, it means that you’re taking damage. As combos connect, the red on the bar will all stay consistent and there’ll be no breaks in between, meaning that all the hits of the combo are connecting and the opponent cannot block between them. This is important as you create combos, to know that your combos will connect during a match.
2. Super Bar:
   This is the absolute most important thing in the game and the basis for MK9’s fighting system. As you look at the super bar, you’ll notice that the entire bar is divided into 3 segments. Over time, the segments fill up, until the entire bar is filled. You can spend these segments for either enhanced special moves, breakers, or an X-Ray.

• 
  1 Bar - Enhanced Move: Enhanced moves are performed the same way as normal special moves, but you press block at the same time as the button command. For example: Sub-Zero’s enhanced slide is done by inputting, BF4+BLK.  Press back, forward, and then 4 and block at the same time. Enhanced moves usually have different properties and should be used for different situations than normal specials. Sub-Zero’s normal slide, while costing absolutely no meter, only knocks the opponent down. The enhanced version of the slide goes under the opponent, and flips them into the opposite direction. Since Sub-Zero’s playstyle involves keeping the opponent in the corner, this is an effective move if Sub needs to reverse positions and get the opponent where he needs him to be.
• 2 Bars – Breaker: If you have 2 bars for meter built up, you can perform a combo breaker. After the second hit of an opponent’s combo connects with you, you can hold Forward and press BLK to break their combo, pushing them off you and allowing both characters to return to neutral ground. Characters DO NOT take damage from breakers.
• 3 Bars – X-Ray: A full super meter means that you can perform an X-Ray move. X-Rays are mainly used as unbreakable damage, usually dealing around 35% damage to the opponent. When I say unbreakable damage, I mean that the opponent cannot break a combo that ends with an X-Ray, or break during the X-Ray.

How To Build The Super Meter:
You can build the super meter by both taking damage and using special moves. You also build meter while hitting an opponent that is blocking. Rush-down (characters that need to be close to be effective) characters (Johnny Cage, Kung Lao, etc) build meter very quickly when they get close – since a lot of their moves will usually be blocked - and zoning characters (Kenshi, Noob-Saibot) build meter when they use moves like their projectiles. You should always pay attention to how your character builds meter the best and how your opponent builds their meter. You can always crouch to avoid most projectiles, but you have to take into account the fact that your opponent is building meter while they throw them at you. Watch and pay attention to both your opponent’s meter and yours.

Yet again, the super meter is the most important tool in MK9. A well thought out breaker can turn the tide in a match, as well as an enhanced move at the end of a combo to cause a little bit of extra damage. Use the meter wisely. Don’t just throw out an X-Ray at random. It could be blocked, leaving you with no meter and the opponent able to get you into a combo that you don’t have the meter to break. X-Rays should only be used if you absolutely need the unbreakable damage, or if your character builds meter quickly. As tournament player Tom Brady/Bill Menoutis says, “The meter at the bottom of the screen is more important than the meter at the top.”

Moves That Have Armor:
Another important feature of MK9 is armor. Some enhanced special moves have armor that allows the player to absorb a hit(s) and go through an opponent’s combo string. This can be used in several different ways. If the opponent is pressuring you (hitting you with several strings while you block, trying to open you up to take damage), a well timed armored move can break their pressure and put you both back on neutral ground. Armored moves are also a good way to get through zoning attempts. If Noob-Saibot is constantly throwing out shadow clones at Sub-Zero, one way he can get through the barrage of projectiles is to use an enhanced slide. Sub will absorb one of the hits (still taking damage), but he will go through the projectile, hitting Noob.

Wakeup Moves:
Most special and enhanced moves in MK9 can be used as ‘wakeup moves.’ These moves allow a player that has just been knocked down to get up quickly with a move. Be careful, though: Opponents will attempt to bait your wakeup moves so that they can block and punish. Be wary of this tactic, as it can dramatically change a match.
Wakeup moves also have ‘invincibility frames.’ This means that the opponent cannot hit you while you are performing a wakeup move. To perform a wakeup move, simply input the special move command like normal, just as your character is about to get up off the ground after a knockdown.
Another wakeup tactic is rolling backwards. Sometimes, rather than doing a wakeup special, a roll back might be in order. To roll backwards, simply hold back as your character is getting off the ground after a knockdown.

Throws:
Throws are very important. Throws always take away 12% of your opponent’s life bar and can be a good tool when it comes to positioning. To throw an opponent, press the throw button (or 1+3) while holding the direction you want them thrown. If you use a zoning character, throwing the opponent into open space is mostly the best option. Most rush-down characters are more effective if their opponents are thrown in the direction of the corner. Crouching always avoids throws, if your character is either blocking, or crouch blocking, you are always at risk to be thrown.
While extremely hard to time properly, throws can be broken the moment the opponent grabs you before the throw. Throw breaking is also a guessing game. You have to guess which way the opponent is going to throw you. To break a throw that will send you behind the opponent, press either 1 or 3. For a forward throw break, press either 2 or 4.

Anti-Air:
If your opponent is jumping toward you, you have a few options. All characters have a built-in anti-air move in the uppercut (D2), but some characters like Johnny Cage have fast enough jabs to, when properly timed, start a juggle combo. Sub-Zero can use his Ice Clone (DB1) as an anti-air. This particularly comes in handy if the opponent has just knocked Sub down and is jumping in for more pressure. Sub can use the Ice Clone as a wakeup move and anti-air the opponent, leading to a full combo.

The Combo System:
MK9 uses what most people refer to as a “dial-a-combo” system. This means that if you input 2,1,4~Slide with Sub-Zero, you do it all at one time, regardless of what is happening on the screen. Doing this, will send Sub into a full combo rather than inputting each individual command for each individual hit. With games like Street Fighter, you input each command in real-time as it’s happening on the screen. The only combos in MK9 that don’t follow the dial-a-combo system are combos that require you to dash and juggle, or juggle combos in general.
MK9 also uses a “create-a-combo” system. This system lets you create your own combos as long as the strings you use will link with others. A list of each character’s strings can be found in the move list on the pause menu. Go into training mode and try ‘em out!

Canceling Into Special Moves:
For the longest time, I had trouble figuring out what this meant. Canceling into a special move is quite simple, actually. One of Sub-Zero’s combo strings is 224. During this combo, Sub will punch once, hit with a sword made of ice, then do a roundhouse kick, sending the opponent away from him. If I were going to cancel this string into a special move, I would simply press 22, and then do a special move. Examples: 22~Freeze (DF3), 22~Slide (BF4), etc. All canceling really means is that you use a special move to end the string instead of the last input. Simple enough?

Hit Levels:
All moves in MK9 have different hit levels that effect where the opponent is hit and what happens afterwards. These are divided between High, Mid, Special Mid, and Low. High attacks will whiff (miss) crouch blocking opponents, Mid attacks will hit characters that are crouch blocking and usually cause them to be popped up off the ground, leading to a possible juggle combo, special mid attacks register to the game as high attacks, but will actually connect vs. crouch blocking characters, and lows connect against characters if they’re blocking while standing. Also, remember that all jumping punches are considered mid attacks. You must block those standing. Knowing these hit levels is a key factor to success in MK9.
By knowing the hit levels, you can do what is referred to as a “mixup.” Mixups are combo chains that have more than one optional hit level to end the string.
For example: Remember Sub-Zero’s 2,2,4 sting? The first hit is high, the second is a special mid, and the fourth is also a high (H,SM,H). If you cancel the string with a slide, the hit levels change to H,SM,L because the slide is a low attack. If you see that your opponent is constantly blocking high, try canceling the string into a low attack such as the slide to knock them off their feet. Also, 224 can be done as 222 (H,SM,M), which ends with a mid attack. This way, when your opponent starts expecting the slide after 22, they’ll crouch block on that hit, allowing you to end the string with 2 rather than the slide. This is why it’s called a mixup. Your opponent must guess what hit level you’re going to choose as your attack.

Hit Boxes:
Certain characters in the game have different hit box properties. Hit boxes are what the game uses to recognize a character as being hit or not. Think of it as if your character had actual boxes around him on different parts of his or her body. You may have one on your head, shoulders, torso, feet, etc. Characters like Kung Lao, Jax and Mileena all have low hit boxes. This means that when they crouch, certain attacks that hit mid and special mid might whiff. Always keep in mind what characters you’re fighting against and keep in mind what their hit boxes properties are. It may be the case that you have to change up different combos depending on the character you’re fighting.

Pressure:
Here’s the part of the game that’s extremely difficult to get down. Not only is it something that takes practice to learn how to implement effectively, but it also takes practice to learn how to get out of properly when your opponent is pressuring you.
I once heard pressure referred to as “hunting for damage.” That is, indeed, the perfect way to describe it. You are hitting your opponent with the starters of combo strings to see if they’re blocking and also trying to get them to counter what you’re doing so they’ll take the hit and you’ll get some damage off of them, or a full combo.

Also, in MK9 when you or the opponent is hit while blocking, you take “chip damage.” This cuts normal hits down to a small percentage of their actual damage, but you still take damage. For characters such as Johnny Cage and Kabal, this is where they actually acquire most of their damage. Sometimes you can get a good amount of damage by pressuring, but mixing that up into a throw. With Cage, you could perhaps do F33~Throw because the opponent might continue blocking, thinking that you’re going to continue with your pressure.

To get out of an opponent’s pressure, you can attempt to poke out during the string. Usually, poking out is done by performing a character’s D1, D3, or even D4. Kitana has one of the fastest D1s in the game, so it’s extremely hard to pressure her.

Examples Of Combos and Strategy in MK9:
Here, I’ll give some examples of combos in the game, using Sub-Zero as an example. Keep in mind: All combos should be used in a situational manner. Meaning, don’t just throw out any old combo. Always have a reason for doing what you’re doing. While giving these combos, I’ll explain the reasoning behind them. Also, no, I did not create these combos. These combos and strategies are things I’ve learned by both playing against human opponents and watching high-level, tournament play. Keep in mind: All combos are notated as if your character is facing right.

Let’s start with an easy one -
214~Slide: This is one of Sub’s bread ‘n butter combos. It’s not very high damage, but it is effective for a little damage. What’s really effective is the next combo…

JiP,214~X-Ray: This will take 50% of your opponents life bar. Only use this combo for the unbreakable X-Ray damage and if the opponent DOES NOT have a breaker. It should be used mainly to end a round. There’s a little trick to getting the X-Ray to land properly. Sub’s X-Ray can be charged by holding down both triggers, or 3+4+BLK on a stick. The X-Ray will not hit until you’ve released the buttons. In order to get the X-Ray to connect in this combo, you must charge the X-Ray for a spit second before you release it.

Here’s a bit more complicated one –
22~Freeze, backup, JiP, 214~Slide: This is Sub’s absolute best open space combo. Your entire goal while playing as Sub-Zero is to push the opponent to the corner and keep them there. This combo pushes them a good chunk of the way there. Also, let’s take a second to talk about hit confirming.

Remember what I said about mixups? Usually when doing that, you’re actually confirming off of the first few hits what you want the final hit level to be. If the opponent blocks the first 2 hits high, then you can try going for the low slide.
You can do something similar with Sub-Zero’s ice clone. The timing is tricky with the 2,2 string, but it can be done. If you see that the opponent has blocked 22, quickly hit 4~ice clone. This will push Sub back and create an ice clone that the opponent now has to jump over, or armor through in order to get to you.

“So I’ve thrown out a clone and the opponent jumped into it. What do I do now? Uppercut?” Actually, you can do a full combo to get a whole lot more damage than a 12% uppercut. This also applies to any time an opponent is frozen in the air.
Simply walk up to the opponent and -
NJP, DASH, B12, 212~Slide

Stagger State:
One thing I haven’t touched on is the stagger state. Several characters have combo enders or moves that leave the opponent briefly staggered. This can lead to more pressure, a throw attempt, etc. The main thing it does is shut down their wakeup game. When put into this state, the opponent is automatically at a disadvantage, leaving you to decide how it is you wish to proceed. Again, since Sub’s playstyle is based on getting the opponent into the corner, using his stagger ender is a great tool. After you’ve frozen a standing opponent (either during a combo, or from a naked freeze), try this –
JiP, B121: This will leave the opponent standing and you can continue pressure or throw. One good tactic is to immediately try –
212~Freeze, DASH, DASH, 2,2~Slide: This pushes the opponent nearly all the way to the corner if started at mid-screen. The 212 part can actually be rather easily hit confirmed into an ice clone if the opponent is blocking.

Corner Traps:
Sub-Zero is the king of corner trapping. By setting up an ice clone in front of a downed opponent while they’re in the corner, Sub has eliminated all of their options except for 2: Jumping out and armoring through the clone. If they attempt to jump out, Sub is at just enough range to use his 22 string as an anti-air, which against some characters (depending on their hitbox size), can make them fall back onto the clone, freezing them, and allowing Sub a full combo. After the combo, Sub can end the combo prematurely by canceling into another ice clone and the trap starts all over again.
Some characters can get out of this trap by armoring through, but there is a way to get around this. One way is to simply block. Another is this –
214~Freeze, 4, 222: This will splat the opponent on the ground and give Sub enough time to put up another clone before they can get out a wakeup move. For example: If Kung Lao decides to wakeup with an enhanced spin which advances forward, has armor, and can go through the clone, Sub has enough time and space between himself and Lao that he can block the advancing spin and punish, sending Lao back into the corner and set up for another corner trap. If a character such as Kabal uses a wakeup ground saw, the move pushes him forward, which will freeze him immediately. If Kabal tries to use an enhanced nomad dash to get through the clone, just like in the situation with Lao, Sub has enough distance to be able to block and punish accordingly.

The Ice Clone:
While Sub-Zero may not be the best character in the game, the ice clone is definitely the best move. Since it’s primary use is anti-air, the best way to get someone to jump into it, is to bait them into it. Make them think you’re going to advance forward, then immediately pop out the clone. This will sometimes trick the opponent into trying to jump across you, but instead they get frozen and leave themselves open for a full combo. Sub can also use the ice clone during a jump, which can lead opponents to believe they can catch you in the air, when in fact, they’ll be eating a mid-air clone.
The ice clone can also be used a shield. If Sub pops out the clone while in mid-screen, he can use the shield to advance, shut down characters with teleports by moving and also sit behind it and trade projectiles. DO NOT trade projectiles with Sub-Zero. If you trade and the freeze hits you, you are asking for a full combo. People who know what they’re doing with Sub can trade with the fastest projectiles due to expert timing. You have to ask yourself, “Is throwing out an 8% damage projectile worth eating a 30% combo?”

That’s about all I have. Hopefully you’ll be able to use this knowledge to get good at the game and perhaps even branch out into other fighting games. I can’t take credit for all that’s here, though. Again, most of this is knowledge I gained by playing against friends, sitting in training mode, and going to a major tournament. Also, for those of you that want a more in depth look into each individual character, check out Tom Brady’s Living Guide. It’s available as an app on the Android Marketplace and on the Amazon Kindle for only $2.99. The info provided in there is definitely worth more than that.
Also, though the online is terrible, my gamertag on Xbox Live is Tang94, so hit me up if you want to play some laggy MK9. If you want to play some nearly offline perfect MK9, hit me up on the PlayStation Vita. My tag there is DarthTanger.

Peace out everybody!

-Josh

What's goin' on here??

So last night Liz was watching Dawson's Creek on Netflix. (Watching "Apartment 23" with James William Van Der Beek, Jr. made her want to go back and rewatch the entire show. Coincidentally, Josh has also been watching Dawson's Creek. But fear not, Todd and I are still men. Anyway...)

One episode centered around a concert by the pop/rock group "No Doubt." Dawson and his actress girlfriend (!!) were trying to get backstage, as were Joey and the current-guy-she-might-be-dating, Eddie. Now, while it was on I was working on the computer, but I did glance up every now and then (don't judge). So one time I glance up, and I notice something. Something odd. I'm not going to say what it is yet. I'm just going to show you four screen-grabs.

Are you seeing what I'm seeing? Surely you are.
.
.
.
No?
.
.
.
.
.
Ok, if not, go do a Google image search for "Marty McFly" and then come back.
.
.
.
.
.
I know, right! What's that all about? Upon noticing this last night I immediately did a search on Google to get more info. I couldn't find where anyone had even noticed this, let alone explained it.

So I guess you heard it here first! The Inner Dorkdom: bringing you trivia about a 10-year-old episode of a nighttime soap opera!


Dork thinks he's gonna drown.

 - Nic


END OF LINE

Cleanse the Palette, Cleanse the Palette

Nic here, trying to get the bad "dark and edgy Superman" taste out of all of our mouths (I wholeheartedly agree with Todd's commentary on the Batmanification of Superman being a bad thing), by pointing to a Superman-related product that actually appears to be good.

I'm talking, of course, about LEGO Batman 2: DC Superheroes!

Y'all may not know this yet, but I'm a big fan of LEGO, and have been for a long time. Some proof:

1. My swisscheesed brain (i.e., I don't have the greatest memory) can't recall anything about my first day of elementary school, but can recall quite well when I got a LEGO cement mixer set for Easter.
2. I had a LEGO monorail set when I was a kid.
3. I made my own Star Trek: The Next Generation LEGO sets in the early 90's (thus foreseeing a time when LEGO would get into the licensed properties business).
4. I played with LEGO regularly through middle and into high school.
5. Even when I officially entered my LEGO Dark Ages (google it), I still jumped at the chance to dabble with them when over at Josh's house. (Josh is six years younger than me. As such my friendship with him was a great excuse to play with toys and play make-believe long after it was age appropriate.)
6. I let my nephews (17 years younger than I) borrow my Super Nintendo and all my games (which, incidentally, know one knows the whereabouts of), but they couldn't borrow my LEGO collection. If they wanted to play with my LEGO bricks, they had to do so at my parents' house.
7. My Dark Ages started to end in 1999 with the release of the first Star Wars sets.
8. I have at least 93 different LEGO sets, with an estimated retail value of more than $2,947.
9. That retail value figure includes seven LEGO videogames (a few Star Wars, one Indiana Jones, LEGO Rock Band).
10. Next year when my family, Todd's family, and hopefully Josh go to Orlando, FL, I've already demanded that we go to LEGOLAND.

Why am I telling you this? I'm not sure...hmmm....

Anyway, here's the point of this post: today the newest LEGO videogame came out for all major videogame platforms. The game is, as I said, LEGO Batman 2: DC Superheroes. As the subtitle suggests, this game isn't just about Batman and the Boy Wonder. No, the scope is much bigger. Other DC superheroes also are playable in the game. There's Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash (Yay Dawson's dad!!!), and the Man of Steel himself, Superman.

I haven't played the game yet, so I can't give you a review. But the folks who have, and have, say it's great. The addition of an original story, open-world gameplay, and voice acting (yes, the minifigures talk) take the already enjoyable LEGO videogame formula and make it even more enjoyable.

So if you have a chance, check it out. You can find reviews for the game at many of the major gaming sites (IGN says it's the best Superman videogame ever). In the meantime, I leave you with three of the game's trailers.

Miss Teschmacher!!!!

 - Nic


END OF LINE

!!! Wait, What? Oh No, They Ditnt! (Man Of Steel News) !!!

You Will Lick John Williams' Boots For This!!!

John Williams is a master! No ifs, ands, or buts about it. He has written more music that you instantly recognize than anyone else on the planet. He is a modern day Mozart, no "foolin'" (Def Leppard, 1983). I have recently been buying all the John Williams soundtracks I can find (for those interested, you can find them "here" and "here"). I have found that iTunes has a great selection of Williams' music. The other day I got the soundtrack to "Superman: The Movie". The Superman theme from that film is easily known worldwide by billions of fans. It is synonymous with the red and blue tights and the huge "S" symbol on the "Man of Tomorrow's" chest. To me, there will never be another theme for Superman. Bryan Singer knew this when he made his movie and Zack Snyder should know it now (oh, he knows, but he can only do so much). You see, the powers on high at Warner Bros. have a case of the "Dark Knights". They have decided that every DC Comics movie has to be "Dark" and "Edgy", or people won't come to see it and, consequently, they won't make a gazillion dollars off of it (because ya know, the Avengers didn't just make over a billion smackers and counting). So, what better way to do that than to chunk everything from the previous films and go with a Batmanification (my own word) to the entire world of Superman. Well, if Siegel and Shuster haven't already turned over in their graves they might as well get to turning and digging so they can get to China before they completely decompose, because that's a "STUPID IDEA"!! Superman is the opposite of Batman, that's why they are both the perfect friends and the perfect enemies. If you screw that up, you got two Batmans and one of them will kill the other (because there can be only one... Sorry).


So, it is with no small amount of dislike, that I hear a certain bit of news about the "Man of Steel". Hans Zimmer (he of "Begins" and "Dark Knight" ear splitting, "one notes all I got", scores) had flatly turned the job down saying, "My heart belongs to Batman." He also stated that, "I wouldn't even know how to go and give voice to it." Good, go away then. But noooooooooooo!! Today, Variety is reporting that he has now excepted the job to turn Superman into Batman! Great, that's just great! Hey, Warner Bros. you screw up Green Lantern (hard to do) and now you're screwing up Superman (extremely hard to do), what have you got to say for yourself (I don't expect an answer, but you can leave me a comment explaining your ridiculous decision below)? This goes to show you that no matter how successful a comic to movie adaptation that sticks closely to the original version is (Avengers), some idiot in a board room somewhere insists that he is right and the original creators were wrong (even though their characters have been beloved by millions for 70+ years as is). I don't usually go on a rant like this, because I believe creators should be able to make their vision however they like. This has just made me mad. Even Christopher Nolan's Batman is true to the spirit of the comics, it's not trying to be something it's not. Superman needs to be Superman, not what's "hip" or "happening" right now. Certainly, Superman shouldn't be dark and brooding. He shouldn't be bleak and edgy. Even Grant Morrison knows that, get with the program people!!

I'll leave you with one more quote from Hans (can I drop him out a window like Bruce Willis in Die Hard?) and you can discuss why he changed his mind below. Comment till your hearts are content.

"[It] happens to be one of his greatest themes," Zimmer said, calling Williams "the greatest living composer." "So no. And I’m not thinking of rewriting Beethoven’s ninth either. It just sounds like a thankless task, you know? So that’s unequivocally a no."

Hans, you are right. You are no John Williams! Go back to your Bat Cave!

Todd "Jimmy Olsen" B.


[Comingsoon.net and The Hollywood Reporter]

!!! Beam Me Up, Scotty... Uh, Geordi... Uh, Chief O'Brien... Somebody,Beam Me The "Frak" Up... Oh, Wrong Show (Star Trek TNG News) !!!

I'll see your Battlestar and raise you a Q!?!

Where does the time go (sometimes they still perform)? Seriously, I turn around and it's "Twenty Five Years" later!! Twenty five years since 1987, twenty five years since "Robocop", twenty five years since Michael Jackson's "Bad" was released and twenty five years since "Star Trek: The Next Generation" premiered on the "Telly" (I'm not British, I just like to use British slang). I remember already being a huge Star Trek fan because of my Mom, who loved the original series, and I was extremely excited to have new Trek for my viewing pleasure. I drank in that first season like a man in the desert who just found an oasis, and you know what I found out? Wait for it...


It wasn't that great.

Don't get me wrong I liked it but I don't know if I was in love with it. Then came the second season and I found myself thinking the same thing, "good episode here and there but not a consistent hit. Apparently, I was not the only person to feel this way. The ratings those first two seasons were nothing to write home about. But something happened during the third season that transcends popular culture and rockets a mediocre series into another dimension. Can I put my finger on exactly when it happened? Well, most people will tell you that it was a two part episode (Best of Both Worlds) that changed all the rules, but I don't know. Season three was just better and we finally had a Star Trek we could call our own. It left the shadow of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy and it became it's own animal. It became the Star Trek that I will show my son when he's ready. It became the Trek of my generation (see what I did there?). I love the old guys (original) and I love that series, but I came in after the fact and I couldn't call it mine. I couldn't own it, not that I would be pretentious enough to dictate what any Star Trek creator can do, but TNG was something I could say that I was apart of. I was there from the beginning and I stuck with it all the way through.

I can honestly say I miss that series and the 24th century as a whole. I want more if that. I want more men with bald heads and British accents (that didn't sound right). I want more TNG . It is with that statement that I can say that, for a brief moment this past April, I got my wish.

For the 25th Anniversary of Star Trek: The Next Generation, all of the principle cast united (in a federation, if you will) onstage at the Calgary Expo for one evening. They told stories, they shared laughs, and they reminded everyone why they should still be doing Star Trek after all these years. Even Wesley Crusher was there (we all love Will Wheaton)!! From everything I've read or heard about that night, it makes me envious of all those who were in attendance. These people like each other and they aren't petty like some ensemble casts can be (I'm looking at you "Saved by the Bell"). There were also special guests in attendance (Q) and other stars of Sci Fi television who took the mike to ask questions (after all they are fans too). I had almost forgotten that this was taking place until I came across this "article" at High-Def Digest. If you are a fan go check this out, though remember that it does carry a PG-13 rating (those TNGers are saucy).

Also remember that you can pick up TNG in all of it's Hi-Def glory on July 24th (ha ha, that Paramount sure is funny) when the first season gets released on Blu-Ray. Go, spend, and tell "the powers that be" that you want more TNG. It's sad that we don't have a Star Trek television show to enjoy week in week out, so go and let your voice be heard anyway you can. WE WANT TREK ON TV!!! Just Do It. Why do I hear Arnold Schwarzenegger voice when I read that last sentence? Yeah, I'm weird. And check out the picture of the entire crew in this article, Picard looks ticked off and there is a goofy guy in a Starfleet uniform, classic!!

Todd "Set Phasers To Kill" B.


[High-Def Digest]

My Videogame Life Pt. 1

-The 8 And 16-Bit Era-

From as far back as I can remember there was always a videogame console of some sort in our house. My dad,unlike most people his age,kept up with the times when it came to technology. Whether it was the latest computer tech,or more recently,technological advances in the realm of E-Cigs (Electronic Cigarettes),my dad was always at the forefront. And it was all because of me.

My dad was the kind of person who was probably one of the first in line when Pong was released.
Since the eighties was an era in which school systems were starting to employ home computers as an educational tool, and since it was also the time in which I was born,my father figured the best thing he could do was buy one and learn how to use it for my sake. Probably so I wouldn’t look like a dummy when I went to school and there were these TVs with letter-button-boxes,of which everyone but that stupid Josh kid could use. At the time,I was only concerned with the games you could play on the old Tandy computer he ended up buying. Sure,I had the Intellevison (a poor man’s Atari 2600) and a Texas Instruments cartridge loader thing,but the games for those systems were akin to Space Invaders. You know,stuff with one screen that you’d just play until you got bored. Kind of like Angry Birds. Yes,I just burned Angry Birds. But in all fairness,I have Angry Birds on my Android. And yes,I play it… until I get bored and decide to play something more substantial.

Around 1988 or ’89,my dad bought a Nintendo Entertainment System. Most people called it - or anything else that played videogames in the good ol’ days –a “Nintendo.” I called it the NES,thanks to my life-long,handicapped,friend who was sixyears my senior,Nic Weymouth. Some of you may know him from such shows as The Clone Cast and The Inner Dorkdom. You may also know him as the guy that posts copious amounts of pictures of his child on Facebook in which the pedophiles of the world are probably having a field-day. That was a crude joke and I apologize. But hey,if any of you know him and are friends with him on the FB,you probably just nodded your head and said,“Uh huh.”

It was a joke,people. Calm down.

The NES was nothing short of amazing. See how I just jumped right back on topic? No warning,no second chance,just right back in there! Moving on… The first real videogame I ever played was Super Mario Bros. Up until that point, myself and most everyone else that played games were used to the aforementioned, “static screen,” style of games. With SMB, you started at point-A and moved to point-B (a flag pole),all the while jumping on the top of Goombas (which I’m quite sure I heard somewhere is some kind of racial slang),flushing yourself down drain pipes, and being constantly told that,“the princess is in another castle.”

You know who made it to the second level first? My dad. I remember asking him to get me to the second level just so I could, “play in the blue world.” He wouldn’t do it. Not because he was a jerk or something, but because he thought I should do it myself. He realized early on that videogames (at this point,at least),were based on challenge. If I was going to get to the second level of the game,I would have to face the trippy obstacle course alone. Finally getting to “the blue world” a few days later was that much sweeter because of it.

Funny side-note: Before my dad remodeled the majority of our house,my room,and my parents’ room were side by side. Many times when I would go to the bathroom in the middle of the night,I’d hear the familiar sound of ducks flying around,falling to the ground and being presented by a hound dog as a trophy of accomplishment. I’d peak into my parents’ room (where the NES was),and see my dad sitting up in bed,calmly aiming the NES lightgun at any unlucky duck in his sights. I’ll never forget that until the day I die.

Throughout the NES’ lifespan,I acquired a slew of games for the console. One in particular that had an impact on me was a game my dad rented from a grocery store: Ninja Gaiden. NG was a game that not only focused on getting from here to there while slashing folks,monsters and demons with your sword,but also on story. In between every stage or two,the player would be presented with a cut-scene explaining why he/she was speedily doing all that slashing and jumping. Back in the day,people were only concerned with getting high scores in games like Donkey Kong or Pac-Man,but here was a game that made you want to play it just to see the next story moment.

A good story would play a huge role in most videogames in the future. Can you imagine playing a game like Metal Gear Solid or Final Fantasy if it were about nothing more than “getting lots of points?” It would be pretty boring,I’ll tell you that. Imagine sneaking around a military base, taking out soldiers for absolutely no reason.

Go ahead. I’ll wait.

Not very interesting,huh?

While I’m sure Ninja Gaiden wasn’t the first game with a story progression throughout it’s entirety,it was the first one I played that did. The thing is,NG set a standard because even as a little kid I always thought that Ninja Gaiden stood out from the rest of the games in my collection. It gave me a reason to play and fueled my imagination in a way that most games couldn’t.

When I was informed by my Nintendo Power (yes kids,this is before the internet, so getting our videogame news came from these tiny-volumed things called, “magazines”) that there was going to be a new Nintendo console,I was ecstatic. It was called the Super Nintendo. Holy crap! SUPER Nintendo! You automatically knew that this thing was gonna be the balls simply because it had the word “super” in front of Nintendo. The Nintendo is already awesome,so the SUPER Nintendo must be SUPER awesome!

By this point,Sega’s Genesis console was fairly new,but it pretty much went under the radar for me for a long time. I knew that a friend of Nic’s had one,but that was about it. Of course,I knew who Sonic was, and yeah,that looked like a pretty fun game,but I wasn’t nearly as impressed with it as what I saw with SUPER Mario World. I mean,how could you go wrong with a Mario game that had the word “super” in front of it?

Needless to say, I had a Super NES shortly after Christmas of the year it was released.

The 16-Bit era of gaming brought forth a lot of gaming goodness for me. Most of this is due to a little game that Nic introduced me to called Final Fantasy II (IV in Japan). I was not exactly new to RPGs (Role Playing Games). I had played The Legend of Zelda and The Adventure of Link (both action oriented RPGs),but I had also played Dragon Warrior (Dragon Quest in Japan): a free game that I received from Nintendo Power back in the day. See kids, it paid in those days to have a subscription to those magazine things. Sometimes they sent you free stuff. What website sends you free games? I’m really starting to sound old here… Anyway… Final Fantasy and other RPGs of the 16-Bit era concentrated more on story than ever before. And for a kid that always had an imagination bigger than his gut,RPGs were right up my alley. I poured over games life FFII,III,Chrono Trigger and a lot of other games produced by Squaresoft. If you saw that logo come up on the screen,you knew you were gonna get a quality title full of epic goodness. Ironically,Squaresoft would also be the company that turned the tide in the videogame industry for better or worse, depending on your point-of-view.

To Be Continued…
*Que the Back To The Future fanfare*
-Josh

!!! Mind Your Elders, Kids (Possible Prometheus Deleted Scene, So,Spoiler Alert) !!!

"And If You Can't Be With The One You Love, Honey, Love An Engineer, Love An Engineer, Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do!?!" - Stephen Stills of the Future

What, you don't know who Stephen Stills is? Wow, shame on you. Go look him up and just listen, then you will understand. Now, where was I... oh yes, this is a warning of the Spoiler Broadcast System. We have detected strong Spoilers in your area. You are advised to take shelter immediately, in your mom's basement, if you do not wish to be struck by the spoiler. This is a spoiler warning for this area.

 Spoiler Alert, Spoilers Below!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
I love practical make-up effects. The men and women who work in this industry are some of the most creative and artistic people in the business. I think that without them movies would not be the force that they are today. I applaud them and their had work. If you think that the oscar they give to best make-up effects in a motion picture is just some place filler award until you can get to the best actor and actress award, then you don't get the fact that without the make-up effects these actors could not do their jobs. Movies don't revolve around one part of the process, it takes a combined effort to pull off a Hollywood film. So, thank you to all the make-up effects artists. To quote Will Smith, "You make our movies look good."

I say all that to say this, today pictures from the production of Ridley Scott's Prometheus were posted online by Creatures Inc.'s Conor O'Sullivan on his Facebook page "Here". Can I just say "WOW"!!!! When I saw the film, I was sure that the Engineers were at least partially done with CGI. Boy, was I wrong. These are fantastic and where did they find a dude as big as an Engineer (Ridley Scott has someone breeding giants in a secret facility in the Nevada Desert)? Look at the detail on those suits (looks awfully like a Xenomorph to me), just absolutely beautiful in their design and execution. I could go on and on... (Wait, please don't, we can only take so much before we become extras on the set of "The Walking Dead", and yeah, that's a good show).

But the reason that I've brought you all here, tonight (I've always wanted to say that), is to show you a very special picture that may hint at things to come on the home video release. The picture in question is of the Engineer at the beginning of the film as he prepares to sacrifice himself to seed this planet with life (we assume it's Earth, but Sir Scott ain't sayin'). If you look behind him (I'm making this sound like its hard to see him, it's not), you will see what is being called an Elder Engineer. That's awesome on so many levels. Engineers can grow old and maybe not sacrifice themselves to create life. Maybe some of them are the facilitators of the ritual? Who knows? But this is just great to think about. If you have not seen this movie, Go now, so it can pimp slap that smart mouth "Madagascar 3: Electric Boogaloo" into a completely different universe (sorry, that was over the top and I must contain my feelings, for I am Vulcan). Nevertheless, go go go go go, NOW!!

Todd "Pointy Ears" B.

[Comingsoon.net]

!!! Boy, Those Superman Underoos Make You Look Fat (Man Of Steel AndTransformers News) !!!

I went to Krypton and all I got was this lousy cape!?!

The Licensing Expo 2012 is taking place in Las Vegas the week and the studios are pushing the merchandising world hard to support their upcoming slate of films in an effort to bring about world peace (actually they just want to make a lot of money, peace is secondary). There are a lot of posters of upcoming movie that basically just show the name of the movie and nothing else. Rarely, you might have a studio bring props or costumes from a highly anticipated big budget bonanza to whet the appetite of the companies with deep pockets. Such is the case with this years expo, because Warner Bros. has pulled out the big guns too woo said merchandise pushers to license it come next summer. What is the said movie, you might ask?


None other than Zack Snyder and Christopher Nolan's Superman reboot "Man of Steel". Check out these suckers. They brought "the suit" (Superman's in case you are slow on the uptake), Jor-El's duds, and the as yet unknown character Faora's costume. Interesting to say the least. The iconic Superman Suit has changed quit a bit since Christopher Reeves put one on in Richard Donner's 1978 version. For you comic fans out there, you will already be familiar with the absences of the red underwear that the character has worn for 73 years, since DC Comics did away with them for their universe wide reboot "The New 52". I'm still on the fence about this movie because on the one hand I love Christopher Nolan's take on Batman and Zack Snyder's ability to take a comic book and put it on screen, but I don't want a darker more edgy Superman (Batman doesn't call him a boy scout for nothing) and I don't like the fact that they are ignoring the past movies. They may surprise me and that certainly has happened before, but call me old fashioned, because I want my Superman to be about Truth, Justice, and the American Way. Batman is the Dark Knight (I'll post my review of "Rises" after I see the movie), Superman is the Man of Tomorrow, that's just how it is. Don't screw this up Warner Bros. (like you screwed up Green Lantern). Check out all the coverage of the expo on Comingsoon.net.

Also, in video games news, Peter Cullen and Gregg Berger are in Transformers : Fall of Cybertron. The two will voice the characters that they made famous in the G1 Transformer animated series in the 80's, Optimus Prime and Grimlock respectively. You can find more info "here".

Well, go on people. Get to getting.

Todd "I Had Robin Underoos" B.

[Comingsoon.net]

!!! How Much Scarlett Johansson Is Too Much? Well, That's A SillyQuestion (Avengers Rumor) !!!

James Cameron and Peter Jackson are recutting The Avengers to make it 18 hours long (just kidding... sort of) !!!

It looks as thought we may see a longer cut of the Avengers coming down the road. There has been a rumor circulating that Joss Whedon is planning on restoring his original 3+ hour long version of the film for the eventual Blu-Ray release. Director's cuts aren't that uncommon in the home video market and it seems as though every release has at least two versions of a film on the disk (I'm looking at you Blade Runner). I for one don't mind this trend. I love extra footage and sometime it can take a muddled mess of a movie (rhyme much) and make it an incredible film (Example: Kingdom of Heaven). Sometimes these different cuts represent the director's original intent or "Artistic Vision", sometimes they are done to satisfy a fan base, and sometimes the studios needs a reason to hit you up for more money (because we know that the studios are flat broke from all the Internet pirates out there).


Rarely does one of these director's/extended cuts actually make it into a theater after the film's initial run is over. But, this is apparently what's happening to the Avengers.

Take this with a heaping scoop of the white stuff (salt... what did you think I meant?).

Nothing is confirmed at this point, but the inside story is that Marvel and Disney, in an effort to push the Avengers past the Cameron bunch, will rerelease the movie in theaters later this summer as a director's cut. I saw the Avengers twice in theaters (no small feat considering that I have a newborn and a 5 year old), but I might have to pony up the cash to see it again if this rumor turns out to be true. I've already got my preorder in for the Blu-Ray so my sheep mentality is intact. Check out the original story at the link below. What say Ye? Doth thou mother knoweth thou intendth to seeth the filmth againth? My autocorrect just went nuts. Ha, Ha, take that Apple!

Todd "Excelsior" B.

[Superhero Authority]

Yep, never to much of that, no siree!

Update on Wii U, almost one week post-E3

So the dust is starting to settle, the emotions of the moment are beginning to subside, and people are starting to take an honest and objective assessment of Nintendo's main E3 presentation and the potential fate of the Wii U. Opinions, as you might imagine, are still mixed. There's a little less "the sky is falling on Nintendo" than there was last week, but those voices are still out there. On the other hand there are people who are convinced the Wii U will be even bigger than the Wii. And then, there are all those voices in the middle. Folks who are weighing the good news and bad news and still just aren't sure what the future will hold.

The philosopher in me is quick to applaud them, as they are acknowledging reality: we just don't have enough info to predict the future. Too many unknowns.

But in the days since E3, some more information has come to light:

1. Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 is coming to Wii U. Now, some might argue that the COD craze is already dying down and ultimately this revelation will not be as important as folks imagine. They might be right. On the other hand, a COD game that uses the Gamepad in creative ways could be a big draw to the portion of the gaming community Nintendo has been unable to successfully court in the past few years.

2. Activision has even more content coming to Wii U. What it is, who knows (although their website suggests Transformers Prime might be one title, and Skylander Giants has been confirmed). But it's coming.

3. Regarding on-line: The friending system will not use friend codes as they exist today on Nintendo systems. That having been said, the level of interaction one can have with someone on-line through Nintendo Network and Miiverse will differ between those tagged as friends and those not tagged.

4. It's already been reported that the USB port on the system will allow for expandable storage via USB harddrives. The question many have asked is, how will that effect eShop titles (specifically, will there still be harsh filesize restrictions as with WiiWare). Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime has said on the matter, "The main message we've communicated is that it's got USB ports so you can keep adding storage to your heart's content." This suggests to me that there won't be such intense restrictions on filesizes. Yay.

5. Rumor: NintendoLand will be packaged with the Wii U.

6. Rumor: Wii U news will pick up big time in September.

7. Saving the biggest for last here--Rumors about pricing. Two sources for this. One is a Best Buy kiosk supposedly including the MSRP, the other a tip sent in to GoNintendo. Both are suggesting that the Wii U will be sold initially for $300. This is a bit lower than some (including Josh) were expecting. I personally think this is a great price. But only time will tell if this rumor is true.

Of course, this still isn't enough to predict the future. But it is interesting.


My body is ready.

 - Nic


END OF LINE