Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
My parents were strangely always more into Star Trek than I was. I think they watched The Next Generation pretty religiously, but it (& kinda science fiction in general? save some of the major awesome works out there) always bored me. Then I saw the original series on TV randomly a few times and wondered a bit how this ridiculous, hokey, sexist pulp turned into the relatively clean-scrubbed, cinematic, ridiculous, hokey pulp TNG seemed to be. The answer seems to be the original movie (a much better route than the proposed "phase II" series) - and is it also the origin of the iconic orchestral TNG theme music (far cry from that deliciously absurd theremin-esque warbling). This movie is also what made Star Trek a big deal (from what I can see in my comfy retrospective crows nest), since TOS had lackluster ratings and only ran for three seasons before cancellation.
It's definitely an enjoyable movie, with its share of awe-inspiration along with the comically absurd ("I must try to mind meld with it!"), and this along with the likes of Serenity and Alien are making me want to keep more of an open ear to the genre (though those terrible SciFi channel movies aren't helping any...). Shatner and Nimoy were truly gods of their era. My geek wings will be more fully earned once I witness the Wrath of Kahn.
The Departed (2006)
A star studded intriguing double-double-agent crime drama, complete with a quite salty tongued Mark Wahlberg and a healthy body count. Gotta love Scorcese's abrupt startling music cues, making me think the copy I originally watched was an early cut or something. Long and dark but never torturous like a lot of Marty's work - very watchable. Only intermittently paid attention on this second viewing however.
The Rock (1996)
This kind of wham-bang action romp deserves only the most unhealthy of popcorns and largest bucket of soda, pile on that butter and make it a Garagantuan! Sean Connery is surprisingly more youthful and energetic than he acted in 1989's Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (of course he had to play Harrison Ford's dad so I suppose that's understandable). Nick Cage manages to be unbelievably geeky yet not too annoying. Cars costing as much as small houses are obliterated, football games are nearly rudely interrupted, and the entire infiltration crew gets offed, leaving only the two leads, moments after said infiltration. Bruckheimer knew how to bring it then, though the Pirates and National Treasure sequels have me wondering nowadays. I did enjoy Michael Bay's Transformers very much, in case that was up in the air, and the sequel's Super Bowl trailer was impressive I thought.
======thejump======
There's a few new podcasts I've been trying to keep track of that I figure I should help spread the word on...
Adam Carolla has a new podcast thats been very very funny so far, with a new guest every weekday its seeming. He's being paid to do the show for a year to see where it goes after getting laid off from terrestrial radio last month, and so far he's setting new podcast download records all the time. Don't miss out!
Giant Bombcast is the creation of some ex-Gamespot guys - namely Jeff Gerstmann, Ryan Davis, & Brad Shoemaker. Always perferred Gamespot over IGN, maybe just because of that dark background? They bring the laughs and drink reviews along with the game chat.
A Life Well Wasted is 1up's Robert Ashley's new project, an insightful and artfully edited show about games that sounds like it should be on NPR or something. Great potential there!
Out of the Game is something I just
happened to catch on Twitter today - quite a gem of a first episode featuring:
Robert Ashley
N'Gai Croal
Shawn Elliott
Jeff Green
Luke Smith
(not typing all those Twitter links)
If you knew and loved the old 1up podcasts those names should excited you, especially notorious mayhemite Shawn Elliott.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
gameage - KILLZONE2, PRINCE OF PERSIA
Whew haven't updated in a while since I just got done moving...
Slogged my way through Killzone 2 - definitely grew on me as time went on. The controls were a bit of a problem at first but eventually I had them tweaked to near-COD4 standards. Now a game with bad controls is that F.E.A.R. 2 demo *shudder*
Didn't get stuck too often (except that last room/sequence - what a beast!) & I was playing on normal. The checkpoints were more spread out than I was thinking they should have been at the time. But that reminded me how much of wussies games today are making us
How hardcore those NES kids must have been in the last 80s - I mean of course I played NES as a kid but by the time I like remember anything of my childhood its already 1990 or maaaybe some of 89? So the NES was already on the way out, + my Nickelodeon & MTV induced ADD made sure I rarely stuck with a game that frustrated me, though I remember fondly playing the early levels of many games over and over. I'd like to think I don't suck at games as much as I did before my parents got me my first fixes, but a quick login to any online game will quickly remind me the suckage is alive and well ^^
Speaking of games being easy nowadays, after sending back Killzone 2 I managed to get Prince of Persia! The environments are quite beautiful, though the strange stylization of the character models, while somewhat cool, sticks out as a bit of a sore thumb IMHO. The controls are smooth and flowing for the most part, and the combat while annoying at times is holding up so far once you figure out the situation and perhaps glance at the surprisingly deep combo list. More on that later.
Slogged my way through Killzone 2 - definitely grew on me as time went on. The controls were a bit of a problem at first but eventually I had them tweaked to near-COD4 standards. Now a game with bad controls is that F.E.A.R. 2 demo *shudder*
Didn't get stuck too often (except that last room/sequence - what a beast!) & I was playing on normal. The checkpoints were more spread out than I was thinking they should have been at the time. But that reminded me how much of wussies games today are making us
How hardcore those NES kids must have been in the last 80s - I mean of course I played NES as a kid but by the time I like remember anything of my childhood its already 1990 or maaaybe some of 89? So the NES was already on the way out, + my Nickelodeon & MTV induced ADD made sure I rarely stuck with a game that frustrated me, though I remember fondly playing the early levels of many games over and over. I'd like to think I don't suck at games as much as I did before my parents got me my first fixes, but a quick login to any online game will quickly remind me the suckage is alive and well ^^
Speaking of games being easy nowadays, after sending back Killzone 2 I managed to get Prince of Persia! The environments are quite beautiful, though the strange stylization of the character models, while somewhat cool, sticks out as a bit of a sore thumb IMHO. The controls are smooth and flowing for the most part, and the combat while annoying at times is holding up so far once you figure out the situation and perhaps glance at the surprisingly deep combo list. More on that later.
Monday, March 2, 2009
street fighter IV & online gaming in general
Anyone who has tried playing SFIV online is sure to know what I'm talking about here - it seems just about any random match you happen upon will be against a Ken or a Ryu or if they're feeling extra resourceful an Akuma. All the easiest to learn characters that everyone knows how to use. And I don't really dare msging people after a match & suggesting "try some other characters" lest I get a "WELL I BEATURASS DIDN'T I??? I JUST PICKED THE BEST ONE GOPLAYFLOWERFAGG" (though I'd be more worried of such intelligent banter on xbox live).
No accounting for skill or finesse or enjoyment, just pick the easiest characters & rack up that win count. Even in unranked matches (though I can more often beat a persistent Ryu-er with multiple fighters, they'll still eek out a win almost half the time through sheer Hadou-/Shoryu-ken willpower).
Of course, daring to venture into ranked territory will get you a bit more variety, but you can only play one match at a time, & you're 80% more certain to lose. So you're stuck at a dilemma if you ever want any effing battle points - be cheap like everybody else & possibly still lose because they only play those characters so they're better with them than you, or be the sore thumb pain in the rear paladin about things & stick in there for the art of gaming'g sake.
I suppose one other option would be for me to train diligently with a single character & count frames & enter tournaments & pwn every time but then I'd quickly acquire a repetitive strain injury unless I get a $$$ pro arcade joystick (& even then).
Then again, I'm sure I'm taking this all too seriously, but this attitude in fighters & also FPS savants who have memorized every pixel of every map & every frame of every animation so they can winWINWIN because they only play one game. Why is every online game dominated by people who seem to only own one game & play it constantly & are obviously unemployed (or barely employed) and leeching income from family who they are neglecting by playing games online all the time... it's enough to sour one on the whole online gaming phenomenon in general. Yahtzee famously dislikes all multiplayer(?) partially because of similar gripes & also possibly xenophobia. Back to the xenophobia...
So in conclusion I'm just a bitter f-tard writing the millionth blog on this topic because I can't seem to find nor have the motivation to find friends who play the games I play at the same skill level. If I was more into online multiplayer I suppose I would have gotten an Xbox 360 (or at least kept that one I owned for 24 hours lol).
In other gaming news, I'm definitely putting Burnout Paradise in more often thanks to the new ability to -wow!- restart a race! Haven't touched Little Big Planet or Bioshock in awhile... Still not sure if I'll ever get into the supposedly wondrous co-op of Resistance 2 or Left4Dead... Wondering if I should setup a Paypal donation link to afford a Rock Band 2 drum set since my RB1 one's snare stopped working... I almost enjoy SF2 HD Remix more than SF4... Flower was fleeting but great, maybe I'll play it again... aaaand I should be plunging into Killzone 2 shortly as soon as the Gamefly comes hopefully tomorrow!
No accounting for skill or finesse or enjoyment, just pick the easiest characters & rack up that win count. Even in unranked matches (though I can more often beat a persistent Ryu-er with multiple fighters, they'll still eek out a win almost half the time through sheer Hadou-/Shoryu-ken willpower).
Of course, daring to venture into ranked territory will get you a bit more variety, but you can only play one match at a time, & you're 80% more certain to lose. So you're stuck at a dilemma if you ever want any effing battle points - be cheap like everybody else & possibly still lose because they only play those characters so they're better with them than you, or be the sore thumb pain in the rear paladin about things & stick in there for the art of gaming'g sake.
I suppose one other option would be for me to train diligently with a single character & count frames & enter tournaments & pwn every time but then I'd quickly acquire a repetitive strain injury unless I get a $$$ pro arcade joystick (& even then).
Then again, I'm sure I'm taking this all too seriously, but this attitude in fighters & also FPS savants who have memorized every pixel of every map & every frame of every animation so they can winWINWIN because they only play one game. Why is every online game dominated by people who seem to only own one game & play it constantly & are obviously unemployed (or barely employed) and leeching income from family who they are neglecting by playing games online all the time... it's enough to sour one on the whole online gaming phenomenon in general. Yahtzee famously dislikes all multiplayer(?) partially because of similar gripes & also possibly xenophobia. Back to the xenophobia...
So in conclusion I'm just a bitter f-tard writing the millionth blog on this topic because I can't seem to find nor have the motivation to find friends who play the games I play at the same skill level. If I was more into online multiplayer I suppose I would have gotten an Xbox 360 (or at least kept that one I owned for 24 hours lol).
In other gaming news, I'm definitely putting Burnout Paradise in more often thanks to the new ability to -wow!- restart a race! Haven't touched Little Big Planet or Bioshock in awhile... Still not sure if I'll ever get into the supposedly wondrous co-op of Resistance 2 or Left4Dead... Wondering if I should setup a Paypal donation link to afford a Rock Band 2 drum set since my RB1 one's snare stopped working... I almost enjoy SF2 HD Remix more than SF4... Flower was fleeting but great, maybe I'll play it again... aaaand I should be plunging into Killzone 2 shortly as soon as the Gamefly comes hopefully tomorrow!
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