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Movie Review: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 21:51:35 -0700

I have to start off by expressing that I am a fan of the first Transformers film. Even though there are some major faults with the film, but I still find myself enjoying it every time I watch it. With that being expressed, I thought Michael Bay would fix some of the problems that the first film had in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, but it turns out that I was expecting too much from Bay. What Bay does is keep the same problems that the first film had and add on top of it. Read what these problems are after the jump.There are a few things wrong with the first film, and in TROTF Bay does not fix any of these problems. One of the problems with the first film is that there are too many human characters, so what does Bay do in TROTF? He introduces the same human characters again and adds a couple of more on top of that. All I want to see is robots kicking each other�s asses. That is it. I do not care about Sam�s (Shia LeBeouf) new college friend, Leo (Ramon Rodriguez). Rodriguez�s character does not add any thing to the story, but instead his character just irritated me. I just wanted Rodriguez�s character to be killed, but to my misfortune, does not happen.

The one thing that I really did enjoy, in the first film, is Sam�s relationship with his family. I believe that their family relationship is real throughout the film, and it is still there in the second film, but Sam�s family is too much involved with the story. Bay totally misses up their relationship by forcing them into the film even more.

This is all I'm good for.

Another huge problem with this film is the sexual references. I would expect to find humping and penis jokes in a Dreamwork animated film but not in Transformers. Bay believes that having a robot hump Mikaela Banes� (Megan Fox) leg is funny and for a Transformer to have balls, but in reality, it is not. Most of the audience, that I was with to see this film, did not think it was funny either. I did not hear a peep from the audience when those scenes were on. There are also two scenes, YES TWO, where two dogs are humping. Are you serious? Wow, that is so funny, dogs humping each other, good call Bay.

Another complaint is that the very last fight scene is too short. I do not want to give any thing away, but it feels like the foreplay, before the major shadow, was better than the shadow itself. The audience is given this massive built up, as if, something huge is going to happen, but what does happen is a 2 minute fight between a few Transformers then then film ends. It seems as if Bay shot his load before hand and I left the theater unsatisfied.

The length of this film is another problem. This film is 150 minutes (2 1/2 hours) long. There are a few scenes and characters that could have been cut out. Bay needs to learn how to cut crap out of his films, and to save them for the extended, unrated, DVD release.

BOOOOOOM!

TROTF is all explosions and no plot. The CGI is awesome and any scene with a Transformer is great, but there are 30 minutes of this film were no action is going down. All there is are humans talking about what they are going to do or how much they love each other. I do not care about the humans, expect for Sam and his family, and Sam�s relationship with Mikaela. I just want robots fighting, and if there is not any fighting going on at least try to give us, the audience, an enjoyable story. If you are huge Transformers fan then you will get a kick out of seeing some of your favorite robots on the big screen, but if you did not enjoy the first film, then you are going to hate this one.

E3 Press Conferences LIVE!

Sat, 30 May 2009 22:11:27 -0700

E3 is back, and this year we're going to celebrate by having live analysis of all E3 press conferences by Sony, MS, and Nintendo. What kinda stuff do the big three have in store? Well we know about the PSP Go from Sony, but what else? Stay tuned for the play by play of the conferences, and then the final word on what was shown.

If you want to follow along, you can hit up one of these links:

Gamespot's Live Coverage
IGN's Live Coverage

EGM Returns!

Sat, 30 May 2009 21:51:49 -0700

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When the Electronic Gaming Magazine was shelved a few months back, it was an end of an era as the magazine had been around for nearly twenty years. Many a people had fond memories of the mag, and were pretty upset to hear that the magazine and it's website were bought out by Ugo, then promptly shut down nearly the same day. So after all that, the magazine has been completely dead for awhile... that is until today. Steve Harris, the creator of EGM back in the 80's, has acquired publishing rights and trademarks to EGM, with plans to restart the print publication in the second half of this year. No other information has been given, like in regards if the old staff is coming back, but it is nice to hear an old friend will be coming back.

05-14-09 News Roundup

Thu, 14 May 2009 21:34:59 -0700

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On today's News Roundup, Take Two sues Duke Nukem Devs, Kojima's Production still silent on what their new game is, and dev house Factor 5 closes its doors.

Take Two's going to kick ass and chew gum... and they're all out of gum

The videogame industry has had a major joke over the past 10 years, with Duke Nukem Forever being in development for those entire 10 years. Always said to be "coming shortly", the project never saw the light of day with 3D Realms closing its doors last week. Apparently, Take Two Interactive didn't like the joke after all this time and decided to sue 3D realms for breach of contract. Considering the after all this time and money, which at this point was somewhere in the sum of over 10 million dollars for development, I would sue the pants off of these guys too. Details of the suit were not disclosed, but you can bet you're going to hear more about this in the coming weeks.

Just tell us already...

I hate hype. Usually it builds, builds, and builds, only to disappoint. Such will most likely be the case with the latest website teaser being shown by Kojima Productions. If you want to look at it, you can find it here: http://www.konami.jp/kojima_pro/next/

I wouldn't expect the announcement to be more than a new Metal Gear game, or Metal Gear on the X360. Either way, I'm not buying into the teaser yet.

RIP Factor 5

It's official, Factor 5 studios has closed it's doors. The San Rafael-based studio has been rumored to be in trouble since last December, and it looks as if today that all the rumors have come true. Trouble started when Brash Entertainment went the way of the do-do, and then Factor 5 lost their Superman project. It's just a sign of the times though, as I expect to see more third party devs not shacked up with a big name (ie, Activision, EA) to die off just like Factor 5. Adios Factor 5, we'll always have Rogue Squardron.

We'll see you next time on the News Roundup.

DLC Review - Fallout 3: The Pitt

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 20:00:26 -0700

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If you recall the last time I reviewed Operation Anchorage DLC for Fallout 3, I was less than happy about it. It was short, boring, and I felt like I was ripped off after completing the new content. That was alittle over a month ago, and we have now been given a new set of DLC for Fallout 3 called "The Pitt". Is this new set a letdown like the previous DLC, or has Bethesda learned from their mistakes and made it worth our wild? Hit the jump to find out.

Just like in Operation Anchorage, you are given a distress signal from an unknown source, and you walk your funky butt to the top of the map to see what all the hub-bub is about. After taking out some Slavers, you end up saving the life of a slave who comes from The Pitt. Your new slave friend explains what he was doing creating the distress signal, and then asks you to come along to help him flush out a plan that he has, which will save the dying citizens of The Pitt. Unfortunately the rest of the story is all spoiler from here on out, so I can't say much more. What I will say, is that The Pitt's story and set up are vastly improved to what was given in the Operation Anchorage DLC. Instead of a VR sequence, it's actually your character that you are controlling the entire time you are in The Pitt. The story is the saving grace of the DLC, as it lets you be the goody-two shoes, or complete jerk off that you are in your regular game. There are also some interesting aspects to the story, such as what the cure actually is, but that is a major spoiler in its own right.

Just like in the previous DLC you're going to get good armor and weapon sets which were not accessible in the original release of Fallout 3. Unlike the previous DLC though, the armor and weapons are actually pretty awesome to use. From a melee chainsaw weapon, to a machine gun that doubles as a sniper rifle, all the extra goodies that you get are greatly appreciated. There are even more armor sets that you can get if you want to complete the fetch quest that has been included in the DLC as well. You once again receive an extra 100 achievement points by completing the story missions, but 20 of those points come from completing the fetch quest I just spoke of.

Where the DLC takes a turn for the worst again, is because of the same points I made in my last review. Once again, the DLC is set at 800 MS points ($10 dollars), and once again it is very very short on completion time. Clocking in at 2 hours and 17 minutes, I beat the game faster than the Operation Anchorage DLC, and there is even more things to do this time around. What's even worse is the fact that if I wouldn't have bothered with the 100 Steel Ingot fetch quest, I would have completed it in an even faster run. I do also want to point out that I'm running around looking for odds and ends when I did my review run too, and I still finished in the 2 hours and 17 minutes I just spoke of.

The worst problem with this DLC by far goes to the glitchy issues that came up from the moment I started the DLC. Frame rate issues were a small issue in the original release of Fallout 3, but the problem gets turned up to the max when you're playing in The Pitt. There was one time the frame rate was so awful, I ended up dying because I fell off a roof that I didn't even know I was on. Then there were the freezes. Dear lord the freezing was a major issue for me. The game would just randomly lock up whenever it wanted to. During loading screens, during conversations, just about any time was a good time for the game to just not want to work. I ended up saving literally every two minutes or so, just so that I could ensure I would be able to get to the end without having to start a section all over again. What's even worse is the fact that this version I downloaded is the "good" version that has been released on the XBL marketplace. Look Bethesda, if something clearly isn't ready, don't release it to the public. You're going to create more of a backlash from the public by putting out something that is garbage, rather than just delaying it a few weeks.

Rounding things out, we come to the point that I made in the last review for the DLC, and honestly it's still the same issue as the last time. In fact, I'm going to just quote what I said before because it still stands. Quote:

"Finally, this DLC is only available if you are actually IN game. For those who may not know what I mean, let me explain. Fallout 3's last section of the game locks you into a room, in which you cannot exit from (hence why I said it locks you in). If you have tripped this event, there is no going back to the Wasteland, and you have to start a new game if you want to finish side quests you may not have found, such as this "Operation Anchorage/The Pitt" download. Lucky for me, I had an extra play through save ready; otherwise I would have had to start a completely new game in order to access this content. The next series of downloadable content comes with the release of Broken Steel, which will increase the game's level cap and get rid of that locked room problem which I just described. My question is, why the hell wasn't the locked room issue not cleared up in this patch? Why am I forced to start a new game if I want to play the content? It is, in a word, unacceptable."

Final Verdict:

This time around the story, extra items, and general fun of the DLC much higher terms of a rating than its brother Operation Anchorage. The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree though, because the price, length, and general bugs/issues from Operation Anchorage carry over to The Pitt. The verdict this time is more of a crap shoot, because you can't "rent" DLC. Despite the issues, I would say that it is an ok piece of DLC, and that you should probably look into it if you're a fan of Fallout 3.

-J

Nintendo DSi Hardware Review

Sat, 11 Apr 2009 16:46:13 -0700

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I won't lie. When I initially saw the original DS (known as DS fat in some circles) at E3 2004, I wasn't super impressed with the little device. Granted, the device on the E3 show floor was not the model they finally ended up releasing, but that's besides the point. With the release of the DS Lite, I was won over with the quality of games and the complete overhaul of the hardware. Our little buddy has over 100 million units sold since it was introduced, and is also the highest selling handheld platform of its generation. Nintendo has decided to go back to the drawing board with the DS, and has thus introduced the Nintendo DSi. The real question to the DSi is... should you part ways with your DS Lite and your $169.99 to get your hands on the newer version?

The original Game Boy saw its share of hardware redesigns, and the Game Boy Advance had many as well. Not all of the upgrades of the original Game Boy and GBA were worth it, but usually one of them was. For instance, the Game Boy SP was an amazing update to the handheld, while the GameBoy micro didn't really make a whole lot of sense. The DSi falls in the middle of the grouping of hardware redesigns. Lets explain why.

Ok, so lets get stats and things out of the way before we start talking about the pros and cons of the system:

CPUs: The main CPU is an ARM9 processor clocked at 133 MHz
RAM: 16 MB of RAM (four times as much as previous models)
Storage: 256 MB of internal flash memory (extra storage listed below)
Wireless: 802.11 internal wireless connectivity
Added: Two integrated cameras (on on the flip up screen, the other on the inside of the DS), SD/SDHC card expansion slot (up to 32 gigs), DS screens enlarged by 0.25�,
Removed: GBA slot

Those are the stats in black and white for you. The DSi is slightly thinner than the DS Lite at around 2.0mm, but it�s such a slight change, you don�t really notice it unless you�re putting both handhelds up for an up close look. Unlike the DS Lite compared to the DS Fat, the overhaul is not nearly as much.

The biggest aspect to the upgrade in this reviewer�s opinion is the DSi Shop. Using the Wi-FI support that is in the DSi, you can connect to a wireless store and buy games right to your internal memory or to an SD card via your SD card slot. Lucky for us SD card holders, you can use a boat load of different SD cards with the DSi, but you can easily expect branded Nintendo SD cards in the near future. While currently only having a handful of downloadable items in the DSi shop, the idea of having this portable downloading store is an amazing idea. Developers can now take a risk on a DS game, without having to invest on spending money on cartridges, and all that other jazz it takes to release a full on DS game. I expect this store to explode similar in nature to the iPhone app store did a few months back.

It�s after you get past the DSi Shop and its greatness, where you begin to see the downsides to this newly redesigned DS. Easily the most noticeable part to the redesign are the DSi's cameras which are located on the inside hinge and on the outside the flip up screen. While the cameras work, they�re not of the highest quality. Coming in at a whopping 0.3 megs, these cameras are pretty much useless. They are not a high quality camera, but you can find better cameras in low end phones out there which make you wonder why Nintendo went with QVGA quality for both of its cameras on the DSi. While the cameras do their job for games like Wario Ware: Snapped, you�re not going to do much with them outside of games that you might play.

You�re not going to see much in terms of speed or enhancements on the internal hardware at all either. While the CPU and RAM have been upgraded, it�s hard to notice much of a difference. I played New Super Mario Bros on both systems, and they both played exactly the same..
The removal of the GBA slot, is in my mind, a complete deal breaker when it comes to the DSi. It makes it so that you can�t play GBA games, use any of the GBA slot add-ons for the DS, and makes it so that you can use homebrew/flash card setups on the DSi. Nintendo is clearly trying to get people to use the DSi Shop, but I really don�t like the removal of the GBA slot even when the GBA is many years old. It�s preference really on the removal, but it doesn�t make a whole lot of sense.

Final Verdict:

In this reviewer�s opinion, it�s not worth it right now. While the DSi Shop is great, there isn�t much there right now to actually buy, which renders it useless. The cameras and the other upgrades don�t really have that �wow� factor that the DS lite had when it was released, which also play against the system. In time, the DSi will most likely receive a price cut, and the modding community will crack the system wide open so you can use homebrew via the SD card slot for your advantage, but who knows how long that will take. If you�re going to buy a DS Lite or DSi, stick with the DS Lite for now. You�ll get more features that you�ll use, and it will be at a cheaper price.

04-08-09 News Roundup

Wed, 8 Apr 2009 23:39:01 -0700

On today's News Roundup, Will Wright leaves Electronic Arts, Nielsen releases usage reports on the PS3/Xbox360/Wii, and Wii Sports Resort gets a release date.

Will Wright Leaves EA

The dude behind The Sims, Sim City, and Spore has left publishing giant Electronic Arts in a somewhat stupid venture. Wright's new venture, called Stupid Fun Club, will allow Wright more creative freedom in new IP's that are bouncing around that crazy brain of his. Despite leaving EA, the publishing giant has retained all rights to publish whatever SFC comes up with... so Wright really hasn't made a giant leap away from the publisher. It just means he doesn't have to make the Sims 4 or Spore 2 now.

Nielsen says you don't play with your Wii long enough

The Nielsen group, those crazy guys that monitor all your TV and game watching, have released a new report which covers the usage of the PS3, Wii, and Xbox 360. The break down was like this:

Wii - Dead last in usage, dead last in average days used, and dead last in average number of daily sessions.
Xbox 360 - Second place in usage, First place in average days used, and second place last in average number of daily sessions.
PS3 - First place in usage, Second place in average days used, and first place in average number of daily sessions.

I'm not really shocked in the Wii stats, considering there really isn't much to play on the system right now. The shocking stats come from the PS3. Considering people won't shut up about how the system is doomed and all that shit, it gets a lot of playtime out of people.

Wii Sports Resort is out in July

It was announced today that the Wii MotionPlus tech that was shown at last years E3, will be out in Japan in June. Everyone else will have to wait an extra month before they can get their hands on the tech. Oh yeah, Wii Sports Resort will be released alongside of the tech, but no one really gives a flying shit about that game.

That's it for today everyone, see you next time on the News Roundup!

-Justin

Speed Run Sunday - Super Mario World

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 12:17:00 -0700

On this weeks Speed Run Sunday, we have Super Mario World. Originally released on August 13, 1991 as a pack in with the Super Nintendo, Super Mario World is noted as one of the best games in the Mario series as well as one of the best games ever created. As with other titles in the Mario franchise, there are many hidden areas for you to find in order to get to the end and beat Bowser. Our runner finds these hidden areas in the game, and blazes through Super Mario World in ten minutes, and fifty nine seconds!

If you want to see a specific speed run for Speed Run Sundays, leave a comment in the forums with the game of your choice, and I'll do my best to dig it up. All that aside, hit the jump to enjoy another classic game, and I'll be back next time for another Speed Run Sunday.

-J

Modern Warfare 2 Teaser Trailer

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 01:20:30 -0700

Now this is how you do a teaser trailer. Activision and Infinity Ward released a teaser trailer for Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 at GDC a few hours ago, and I have to say that it has got me wanting the game even more. There isn't much to see in the video, and that's to be expected since they're probably going to blow it out for E3, but it still makes you wonder what the hell Infinity Ward is doing behind closed doors.

One thing is for sure though, when the game is released this November, don't expect to see too many people continue playing World at War on their console/pc of choice. Infinity Ward is bringing Call of Duty back home, right where it belongs.

-Justin

Playing with Nunchucks

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 11:16:25 -0700

Hey dudes! So in my spare time, I've been messing around with nunchaku, just to get better at it, and also as a form of exercise. I play with my shadow most of the time, but this time I try something a little different--I try to spin a Wiimote and Nunchuck! It's a little weird, but it can be done. =D I hope this will spark some nunchaku freestylers to make better Wiimote videos than mine, haha.