|
journies_end
|
read my profile
sign my guestbook
Name: Kenneth
Birthday: 4/18/1984
Gender: Male
Interests: Art, Comics, Cartoons, any and all Video Games
Expertise: Quoting from obscure cartoon refrences
Occupation: Student
Industry: Art
Message: message me
Member Since:
3/10/2004
|
|
| Ok. Stop. STOP. I just sat down and said to myself, "I'm gonna update my xanga site, yeah!" and now... I gotta stop. Yeah, I haven't even started yet, and now I gotta stop  . Brb, srsly, I'ts 7:33pm right now.
...
K, I'm back, 8:32pm (I also went to the mall to get some chinese food for dinner), why did I leave in the first place?
LEMONAIDE SODA BREAK YEAH!!
LEMONAIDE SODA!! Not that watered now "lemon-lime" BS that's gag-disgusting. Honest to goodness Lemonaide Soda. It rocks. The only place that sells (to my knowledge) is the Kwik Stop near the daycare where I work (one of those 7-11 type convenience store places, you know). Why the heck is it so hard to find Lemonaide Soda!? Can't find it in the mainstream stores or on tap at fast food places anywhere. You know that awesome Lemonaide Soda, C.C. Lemon? C.C. Lemon is made by Coca-Cola BUT only sold in Japan. Sucks. What about Fanta Lemon flavor? They sell every flavor Fanta soda except Fanta Lemon in the US! I hear people in Sweeden who just gush, simply gush, over how awesome Fanta Lemon is!
Why, America, why do you hate my Lemonaide Soda so! Heh, well, if you look at the big picture, it's prolly just because the stuff is noting short of poison... sweet, sweet, poison, not intened for human consumption. With 48 grams of sugar and 190 calories per can (holy crap, FYI a can of Coke is 27g sugar, 97cal) this stuff is prolly illegal to sell anyhow (the distributor doesn't even have a website... hrmmmm). Damn, FDA.
Also, it might be key to make note, just as I started this xanga entry the song Cold Beverage, by G. Love & Special Sauce, came on my iTunes... so I had to stop, I had to, and run to the Kwik Stop for some Lemonaide Soda. You guys don't know, but that song... it makes ya thirstay... I like cold beverage yeah, I like cold beverage yeah, uh huh, cuz I'm feelin kinda thirstee; stick it in the fridge, stick it in the fridge, stick it in the fridge, in the fridge. Oh yeah, one of the many songs that American Dad has introduced me to that are just... awesome  .
American Dad, Season 3 DVD
How did I ever end of loving American Dad as much as I do? I guess it reminds of what The Simpsons used to be like before they got... not as funny... (I don't care how much the show is trying to recover its "lost magic" these days, I heard it actually doesn't suck as much, but seasons 11 - 13 killed the show for most fans... and for me as well). American Dad is an awesome show, and it has the same, "I know how the prime time adult animation television show business works now" polish that Futurama had (since American Dad is of course made by the same creator of Family Guy).
Stan like's cold beverage yeah cuz he's feelin kinda thirstay. The Mr. Pibb episode rocks.
A great great series, that has not only introduced me to the awesome song Cold Beverage (during a sequence when Stan goes on a cross country grass roots campaign to save Mr. Pibb from going out of business), but also Sister Christian by Night Ranger and Don't Stop Me Now by Queen and Take Me Home, Country Roads by John Denver. Great songs, hilarious show. And speaking of thinks that totally rock, I picked up and been playing The World Ends With You this past week, and for lack of a better description, man this game is phunky phresh.
The World Ends with You
What's this? An RPG set in modern day Tokyo, no buster swords, nor armor, no spells (sorta), no guns, lazers, or mechs? Only funky dance moves and psycokenetic/supernatural abilites, and a kickin hip-hop soundtrack and stylin' character design? Cool.
The story follows Neku Sakuraba, a jaded and detached teen who doesn't give a crap about other people. He has his values, so you can keep yours 'aite? Then, without warning, Neku awakens suddenly to find that is trapped against his will in "the Reapers' game", where he has 7 days to defeat the physical manifestations of the negative thoughts of the people in his hometwon - the district of Shibuya, Tokyo - or face "erasure". Suddenly he is now aware of the people around him and is connected to their innermost thoughts and he begins to see the world for what it really, really is.
The game's visuals have a hip-hop style (thank you Tetsuya Nomura of Final Fantasy 7, 8, 10, and Kingdom Hearts character/game design fame) and a toe-tappin soundtrack that makes you get up in dance (or at least the four different remixes of the song Twister do). Heck you eagarly jump into random encounter battles to hear the different tracks that play (the game has about 10 or so tracks of Japanese/"Engrish" hip-hop that are shuffled when you enter battle). My favorite song is the Twister (English) Remix 2 (heard in the background of the link) yeah, listen to that, that's what the battle music is like, yeah!
So the game has an awesome presentation (character desgin, music), but how does it play? Amazing, challenging, and totally unique to the Nintendo DS. You control two characters at once, Neku on the bottom screen, and his parter (who changes throughout the game) on the top screen... in real time. Enemies will attack you on both screen simultaneously, so you must attack back simultaneously. You control Neku with the touch screen (hacking, slashing, gliding, tapping, dragging and even drawing with the DS stylus) and his partner on the top screen using button combos (think Street Fighter, but just the D-Pad). The game does have a "synconiziation" feature where the more you battle and "watch your partner's back" the stronger their attacks get (if one of the characters is about to get attacked their partner will yell "watch out" or "be careful" so you know it's time to switch to the defensive and get them out of harms way)! Is it confusing? Yes. Is unique, fun, and addictive? Double yes.
Not to mention the game also incorporates the whole hip-hop theme when equiping "armor" which takes the form of coordinating your clothes and "attack pins" (you wear pins to give characters attacks, like the flame pin gives you pyrokinesis/fire-wall, the blade pin gives you telekinesis/slash attack, the soda can homokinesis/healing) . When you're equipping clothes/pins you need to take notices of which trends are hot and which are not (the top 4 brands are always on display on the equipment menu). Hot trends (like a +12 heath Cashmere Scarf) will give you a double attack boost(!), lame trends (like +2 attack Faux Crocodile Skin boots) will cost you -8 defense, ouch... but the trends change every day... or you can even set trends by equping an out of fashion item and winning enough battles to make that item trendy (that's right)! Oh yeah, this game has it all. Did I also mention when you shut the game off, and turn it back on you gain 1 exp every 10 minutes (144 exp every 24 hours the game is turned off... off)! Wow. The pure awesome of this game bums me out a little because now I have to be serious, nay, dour, for a brief moment...
The Forbidden Kingdom
Sigh. Why wasn't this movie awesome? Yeah, it was ok, but in the end it was kinda... ehh. It's kinda like the 2nd and 3rd Matrix movies, you expect something so incredible, so amazing, that it will bring you to kneel before the movie screen in tears of estacy and leave you naught but a wimpering shell of a human being in the face of it's pure awesomeness... instead you get something thats... ok. Yeah it has it's moments, yeah Jackie Chan and Jet Lee team up... but... ehh, it could have been sooooooo much better, but it was kinda... standard. Heck, Chan's Shanghai Knights was more awesome than this (that reminds me, I need to add that movie to my Netflix queue)!
I, with a heavy heart, give The Forbidden Kingdom a 6/10.
Ehh. Yeah... it was take on the 500 year old Chinese story, Saiyuki, but the whole time I was just saying to myself "really?", "are you kidding, no really?", "no, really, time travel? No you're kidding me right, really"?... sigh... sorry to end on a sour note... here's some closing media to lighten the mood (courtesy of Eegra.com)
Also, Mario Kart Wii comes out on Sunday... and now I'm happy again  .
| | |
| Not wanting to go more than two weeks without an update (gasp!) I said to myself, who gives a damn that it's 12:22am and I have to be at work at 8am tomorrow I'm updating my xanga site RIGHT NOW dammit! Anyhoos, you know the drill, opening media time (and its not Team Fortress 2 related, gasp!)
Now that that is out of system, I would like to call your attention to this:
So this is what the second half of April looks like for me... yeah the text caption says it all...
April 15th
- American Dad Season 3 (DVD), I dunno how or why it happened, but I love American Dad. It's to Family Guy what Futurama is to The Simpsons, (to add, I still don't own The Simpsons Movie, a personal failure I'm quite aware of), American Dad so fresh, funny, and more... passionate. It burns... in a good way.
- Okami (Wii), a platforming game were you play a wolf goddess and you fight by painting stuff (with the Wii remote). Sounds fun.
April 22nd
- Battle of the Bands (Wii), just look at the boxart. Look at it! Do I really have to explain what makes this game freakin' awesome?
- Buso Renkin Season 1 (DVD) - Take an everyday ordinary concept like
magical weapons based on the art of alchemy and gingerly sprinkle it
with a good helping of high school romantic-comedy and you have a
series that could give Bleach a run for its money. Good stuff, English
(dubbed) and Japanese (subbed) tracks, I'm in heaven.
- The World Ends With You (DS), a new Square-Enix RPG set in modern day Tokyo where you give the option to defeat the physical manifestations of peoples' negative thoughts within 7 days time or be erased from all existence... I'm sold .
April 27th
- Mario Kart Wii (Wii, no kidding!), I'll be swapping friend codes on day one!
April 29th
- Grand Theft Auto IV (Xbox360), its not that I'm a fan of the GTA series really, its just one of those OMG SO BIG type games you gotta own (eg. Final Fantasy titles, Pokemon titles, Zelda titles, etc., etc.)
It also doesn't help that the Iron Man movie will also be coming out the following Friday (May 2), but thats May, so I guess I'll let it slide... for now. LUCKY BONUS, my birthday is on April 18th  so a little bit of birthday "coin" will make surviving the latter half of April a bit more bearable.
Megaman Maveric Hunter X
Tuh! With all these new games coming out why am I wasting my time with this 2 year old remake of a 15 year old game? Because it freakin' ROCKS that why (pun not intended... sorta  ). So I was at the Gamestop looking for something to fill out my newly aquired PSP library (I still haven't beaten Patapon or Crisis Core, lol ) and I saw this on the used shelf (yeah, yeah, I'm a Gamestop shill, but gimme a break, it was only $15 and besides, it's 2 years old, its not like I could waltz into Wal-Mart or Best Buy and find a brand new copy, sheesh).
A near flawless perfect port, baddie per baddie (in the exact same locations)! They did mix things up a bit by switching around the X Capsule locations (protip: the legs are no longer in Chill Penguin's stage, SACRILEGE!) and the Sigma stages have been "remixed" (the bosses appear in different order and some of the stage elements have been redone, blasphemy!), and even after all that the game is still awesome. The game has been remade in full 3D, runs at a silky smooth 60fps, and the game has a shweet anime intro and epilogue (30 min movie you can play any time after you beat the game), also it goes without saying that the boss fights have some talking dialogue (eee)!!
Also when you've beaten the game you can play through the game as Vile. His weapons and armor work differently than X's because (1) it must be equipped before you start a level, you can't swap them on the fly like with X and (2) you get about 3 ~ 4 new weapon upgrades after each boss fight, but they must be equipped with AP you gain as you play through (the stronger/quicker/flashier the weapon the higher the AP cost, some are exact copies of X's weapon upgrades, some are totally new!) however (3) on the plus side you get infinite ammo with these weapons (unlike X who can run out and must collect Ammo Capsules)... Also X and Zero are the final bosses (eeee)!!
A worthy successor to the original Meagan X, a must buy (if you can find it) for any Megaman fan!
I give Megaman Maverick Hunter X a 9/10.
Horton Hears a Who
With all the kickass movies out now (Doomsday and... um... um... I guess The Ruins, maybe?) I choose this one. Long story short, I wasn't really in the mood for something "serious" like Doomsday (lol, wut?), something I just just let my brain sink into a sloppy, gelatinous ooze with the simplest form of entertainment. Horton Hears a Who harkens back to a time when Disney movies didn't suck so much. A nice kid movie on par with, say, Hurcules or Oliver in Complay. So while Horton Hears a Who doesn't tap the Holy Grail of children's movies (eg. Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King), its a solid movie with yuks for the kids and some jokes for mom and dad (not as funny as Bee Movie I'll admit, but more solid and I daresay, and took itself more "seriously" to my surprise). Also Steve Carell is awesome in the movie (Jim Carey is okay, but Steve stole the show).
I give Horton Hears a Who a 7/10.
That's really it for now. Hey! If you haven't checked out this game called Peggle, you really, really need to. It's so freakin' addictive (its basically pachinko where you can use balls with diffrent abilities). Simple and fun and you can download a free trial for PC or Mac(!!) but its only 1 hour of free play thou and then it locks, which sux (the full game is kinda pricey at $20 but TOTALLY worth it IMO). EXTREME FEVER!! Oh yeah, its... its late... so I close with sum interwebz art.
Til next time!
| | |
| For a while now, I kept saying to myself, "I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it!", and so... I finally did it (wait, didn't I start my last update this way, and speaking of which, it's only been, like 4 days since my last up date, what's up with that!?) Eh, whatever...
So yeah... I did it... I got myself a PSP (shocked gasp). I know what yer thinkin', "don you already have a DS, so what do you need a PSP for"? Doesn't the DS have a better library of games, better development support, and by all means and purposes simply make the PSP obsolete? Well, yes... but they said the same thing about the Dreamcast after the PS2 came out too... I think  . So what made me go out and buy another kind of handheld, when I already had one? Well...
Patapon.
Rumblings on the net told that a brand new IP rhythm based game was out... for PSP only. Well, is it any good, enough to warrant the purchase of a$170 handheld system!? After playing it I can say... yeah, pretty much. Also, if you didn't know already, I'm a sucker for rhythm based games . Patapon is a weird mix of rhythm and strategy with a few RPG/leveling-up elements thrown in.
The goal of the game is to lead the Patapons, a race of creatures who communicate with rhythm who have been forced to live in exile, on the warpath to glory using different rhythm commands. For example pressing the buttons: square, square, square, circle will make the Patapons march forward or circle, circle, square, circle will have them attack. There are different beats to learn to preform different abilities (march, attack, defend, pray for wind, pray for earthquake, pray for rain, etc.) and knowing when to use each skill (all enemies have patterned attacks, so knowing when to attack/defend/pray is key to victory) in time with the rhythm is what this game is all about.
Also as you play and defeat enemies you can pick up new armor and create new Patapon units to customize your army as you see fit (e.g. if you are fighting a flying enemy you can replace your sword and axe wielding Patapons with archer and/or throwing-spear wielding Patapons). A fun game that's pretty easy to pick up and play, but a devil to master (you can replay older levels to gain upgraded equipment and unlockable minigames but the enemies are MUCH more tough-er). A simple game, its a shame its not on the DS or even Xbox Live (Patapon was published by Sony, so sorry  ), heck, it could even be a flash based game really... but if you want a game that really, really shows off what the PSP can do, then you need to check out this.
Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core.
Moments after starting this game up I knew that the PSP was quite the powerhouse for a handheld. While the graphics are not quite up to PS2 quality (imagine if they were!) it could beat the PS1 in a beauty contest any day (I daresay it is on par with the Dreamcast). The game is gorgeous, stunning, and a masterpiece of visuals (it is Square-Enix after all). It's also when I noticed how HUGE the PSP screen is... it's the size of both DS screens put together, and the PSP itself is still just slightly bigger than a clampp'd DS! Also the sound the PSP produces is really great too, and with the huge video screen... it almost puts my iPod Nano video to shame,bless its heart (too bad the PSP has a notorious history of short battery life, less than 10 hours per full charge... hmm  )...
First off, the story mode is broken into chapters, and each chapter is really only 20 ~ 30 minutes long (cutscenes included). If that is too long for you, in between chapters you can partake in the over 300 "missions". To enter a mission you simply open the item menus, select missions and pick you mission. Missions are PERFECT for "on the go", they last about 5 minutes and you get some sweet gear/spells/items/skills/leveling-up, along the way. So if you're on a lengthy bus or subway ride, you can do the story mode, or if you need a quick Crisis Core fix, you can do a mission or two.
To add to the great gameplay is rockin' Final Fantasy music and excellent voice acting (and the character animation is jaw dropping), and (so far) the story is just as intriguing as the original Final Fantasy VII (Crisis Core takes place before FFVII) minus all if the freaky confusing elements (e.g. I want to destroy the earth because I am cloned from an alien corpse who taught the people of earth how to extract earth-energy that kills the earth anyway, and also makes magic spell rocks). Yeah. Regardless and a solid package and a kick ass game.
Well, that's about all for now, engorge yourself with some cool Samus/Metroid fanart courtesy of the interwebs.
Cya.
| | |
| Not to step out of stride or anything like that and forget my every-other-month update... I'm going to do it, I'm going to update! And what better way to start off an update than with some intro media, and in this day and age you don't have to swing a bat too hard to find a good Team Fortress 2 comic on the web:
You know what I love about being in the education field? Teachers get all the same breaks students do, and with that being said... SPRING BREAK WHOOOOOOYEAH, eh heh. So I said to myself, with all this free time, I can finally get a Xanga update up, so yeah... updatin' time! Also, I have a HUGE chunk of time to finish a book I've been working on. It's kinda... simple... (a local author, local publisher, etc.) and it's basically the Biblical creation story (you know, "let there be light", "on the sixth day God said..." "and it was good", etc.), but hey, at least its not another business card, ad design, web design, or mural painting work I've been getting lately, so it's all good. Since I'm still sorta under contract, I can only post the cover... and here it is:
So yeah, I'm still working on it, got a few more pages to do (so it won't be out til at least past June), but art, video games, and movies (and DVDs), yep that's my spring break (lol, but basically that's kinda my everyday life anyhoo... plus work at the daycare, so whatever ). You don't hear me complaining... *awkward cough* aaaaanyhoos, at this point in the blog, I'd usually go into a movie review, but after Cloverfield... havea any watchable movies come out? Srsly. So I'll just put the movie reviews on hold for just a bit, and move on to something a little more... awesome...
Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
Some call it the best game to come out for the Wii... and they are so freakin' right ! 35 playable characters, 41 different stages to play on (and as many custom stages as you can make *squeal* they're sooooo much fun to make and play on!), assist trophies to call into battle, summonable Pokémon at your disposal, and tons usable items, weapons, powerups, as well as stage based character cameos, a soundtrack of 287 classic tunes original and remix'd. Not to mention a brand new Adventure mode featuring classic Nintendo enemies, bosses, and gameplay elements (well... DK barrels, at least), Target Test, Home Run Contest, Sticker and Trophy albums to gorge yourself in nostalgia, the Stage Editor *squeal* (my personal favorite addition, at least next to), of course, Online Play!
Like so many other games, Super Smash Bros. Brawl's online multiplayer is nothing short of being overpoweringly addictive. While Brawl's the online mode isn't as flashy as the competition *cough*Xbox Live*cough*, it's still better than playing against cheap-ass CPUs when you get the "Smash Bros. itch" at 1am... you can simply boot up Brawl, connect to wi-fi and start battling anyone, anywhere, anytime! Its just that easy... somewhat... the online service (online play not being Nintendo's selling point after all) is not without its... issues. The lack of online voice chat (what is this, the middle ages?), connection failures abound (they say a LAN adapter works better than wi-fi... iiiiit doesn't really, get some better servers Nintendo!) and playing with friends is just as much as a hassle as ever with Nintendo (lol, didn't Nintendo tell us that a Wii friend code was all we needed, now we need individual games friend codes too? Are you kidding me!?), it's still freakin' online so yeah, I guess we just have to deal with it... whatever  !
But at least with friends you can have a semblence of communication with your username, avatar, quote and taunting. When playing "With Anyone" your skills and style of gameplay do the talking for you (when playing "With Anyone", you can't even "friend request" like with Xbox Live... siiiiigh) but when you play "With Friends" you can at least put a little pizazz in your game by adding custom taunts, a personal quote and your avatar and user name. You are very limited (a 5 character user name, four 20 character taunts and a 20 character profile quote), so it's best to be quirky and spontanious. Here's mine:
Username: CROC
Friend Code: 3909-7168-7974
Quote: "So long dental plan!"
Taunt (up): "CRY SUM MOAR!!"
Taunt (down): "LOL WUT?"
Taunt (left): Goodnight, swt prince
Taunt (right): "(-_-;)"
So yeah, Super Smash Bros. Brawl rocks. It really rocks. It's the first game to tear me from the vice-like grip of Team Fortress 2 (no, seriously, I haven't played TF2 in the three weeks that Brawl has been out)! So if you're ever online and up for a brawl, just leave a reply and let me know. An awesome-awesome game, and needless to say, a must own for ALL Wii owners. Yes. OKAY. Now with that out of my system, so yeah, there was one movie that I did see since my last update, and I suppose it is worth mentioning, I guess...
The Spiderwick Chronicles.
Did you know this was a Nickelodeon Production? Huh? Hunnnnnnnh? Well I didn't, but when I saw that Nickelodeon logo splash on screen during the opening credits I bit my tongue... in hopes of suffocating myself on my own blood. Ehhhgh. Nickelodeon Productions. They ruined the book series A Series of Unfortunate Events, now they're going to ruin The Spiderwick Chronicles series too...?
Hmph. Okay, actually it wasn't that bad... even as far as kids movies go anyways (there was some honest to goodness swearing, and physical child abuse too, high-five)! Plus it had a female character who could weild a foil (hello House of the Dead kick-assery)! A hidden gem of a treat, with decent acting (by the kids at least, why is it when kids take the lead role in movies the people in charge of casting gets crap actors for the parents... why??), and I never read any of The Spiderwick Chronicles, so I dunno if the deus ex machina ending was intended or not, but I didn't mind it at all (not after the - ku ku - semi-twist near the end ). Can I honestly say it's about Ratatoullie level of entertainment...?
Yes, yes I can! I'll give the Spiderwick Chronicles a solid 8/10. Good luck trying to find this movie still in theaters thou (it like came out a month ago... I really need to review these the week they come out ). Now, I waaaas going to insert a clever joke about waiting so long to write a review for this movie that the movie would be out on DVD to segway into my DVD reviews, but screw that, I'll just write a meta-joke about not wanting to write a joke to segway into my DVD reviews... and, ta ~ dah!
Bee Movie.
Now here's a movie that I did see in theaters, but waited too long to review and now it's on DVD . So is it better that Surf's Up? lol yeah. Is it better than Meet the Robinsons? lol yeah. Is it better than Bender's Big Score? lol no, but pretty damn close! Bee Movie is a nice movie, has some good chuckles and I fell in love with the artwork.
Also the humor reminds me of The Simpson's golden age (season 3 ~ 5 in my humble opinion, although seasons 6 ~ 9 aren't without their charm). A lot of "how is that possible, oh who cares" moments and "that makes absolutely no sense, I love it" stuff, and what I loved most about the movie is they don't result to crude slapstick "Tom and Jerry"-esque humor to appease the two year olds in the audience. The jokes are witty and even somewhat sophisticated (and not just dummed down for the kiddies, the adults with chuckle too), also the movie well written, and generally is... good. Not awesome-awesome, but heck, I own it on DVD, I've seen it at least 6 times already (had it for two weeks), it's a nice, good movie... like Cars or Toy Story 2 (yeah, it's that kind of quality... pretty, pretty darn good). But if you wanna get yourself an awesome-awesome movie, you don't have to look any further than my next review:
Justice League New Frontier.
Now this movie was awesome-awesome. Justice League New Frontier is based off of Darwyn Cooke's graphic novel Justice League New Frontier (orly?), and directed by (who else?) Bruce Timm (no complaints here)! Although I was a bit disapointed that this movie didn't take place in the same continuity as the broadcast Justic League and Justice League Unlimited (e.g. no John Stewart as Green Lantern or Wally West as Flash, rather Hal Jordan as GL and Barry Allen as Flash), and also they used the "old skool" golden age designs for the characters (lol Martian Manhunter's and Batman's design ) but still, the movie was still soooooooooooo gooooooood. Also its... not for the kids (in the first 16 seconds someone shoots themselves in the head, blood and brains and all splatter, also throughout the movie many, many, many no-no words are used). If you ever loved the old Batman animated series, Superman animated series, or of course the Justice League/Unlimited animated series (but if you didn't like Superman Doomsday thats okay that movie was... um... not awesome ) you will (unconditionally) looooooooove Justice League New Frontier (man, I gotta see if I can get ahold of the the graphic novel this movie was based on)!! Also on my list of awesome-awesome things to review is (looky here a competent segway!):
No More Heroes.
Wow, where did this game come from? From developer Suda51 (infamous developer of bat-shit crazy games like Killer 7, lol but who played that) comes one hell of a game (fuck yeah). Blood, profanity, senseless violence, and a pinch of sex appeal make this game... outrageous. Words, simply cannot describe, here, take a look for yourself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFxIZsy8zQg&eurl
Wow. Wow. Wow. So yeah, No More Heroes, you play the role of Travis Touchdown, an assassin who agrees to take down the top 10 assassins to become the number one assassin. This game pays lots of homage to the classic beat-em-ups of the 2D era (Battletoads, Double Dragon, Streets of Rage, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Simpsons Arcade Game, etc.). You start off with the assassin ranked 10th, fight through his level swarming with bad-guys to beat up (or lacerate, decapitate, amputate, and of course gut and behead, etc.) until you make it to the boss' chambers and kill him/her, moving yourself up in rank and ready for the next ranked assassin... sorta (between each assassination you have to play a quarky "part-time-job" minigame... they're funny but still tedious... like picking up garbage, scrubbing graffiti, pumping gas, you know, stuff similar like a lot of the old school beat-em-ups had those minigames inbetween levels). Throw in fowl language, gratuitous blood and guts, and some sexual innuendo and you have well... one hell of a game. I loved it. Another good pick to be on the lookout for is:
Professor Layton and the Curious Village.
A cute little game. Stylish, simple, it really is nothing but a puzzle compilation guised as a murder/mystery type game. Still, it's very challenging (break out the calculator, pad and pencil for some of these puzzles) and also very fun, and as you solve the puzzles and unravel the mystery you are rewarded with are cute and entertaining cutscenes that move the plot along:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeZOAqRdDBU&eurl
Its a fun game while it lasts, and being a puzzle solving adventure game a lot of the luster is lost after you beat the game (a lá Phoenix Wright), after you know the answer to the puzzles you're pretty much done with the game... HOWEVER to remedy this Nintendo put in a feature that lets you download weekly puzzles via wi-fi connection to keep yourself entertained weeks after you have completed the game's story (and to keep the game out of the hands of profit hungry trade-in gamestores). A nice solid game, I reccomend it! Both No More Heroes and Professor Layton are really good... and then there was:
Sega Superstars Tennis.
Unless you are a HUGE fan of Sega games, I really can't recommend this game. Out for the Wii, Xbox360, PS3 and the DS (I own the Xbox360 version, it doesn't have 1 to 1 motion controls like the Wii, but it does have online, so I can at least enjoy the game with other people ), I really can't say which version to get, but what does it matter really, this game is nothing but a pale and taudry imitation of Mario Tennis 64.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyYvvmulqsk&eurl
GODDAMN that's one sexy trailer, huh? Hell, sold me the game. The visuals are nice and my ears nearly orgasmed when I played the Samba De Amigo court ("Sempre assim! Em cima, em cima, em cima, em cima! Sempre assim! Em baixo, em baixo, em baixo, em baixo!") but the controls are... ennngh, it's like they took the controls of Mario Tennis 64 and made them... bad. You still have top spin (A), slice (X), lob (A, X) and drop shot (X, A)... but... but... no power top spin (A, A) or power slice (X, X) or power shot at all (A+X) *sob*!! Really limits what you can do in the game... at times it feels like nothing more than a glorified game of pong with Sega characters and themed courts (which do NOTHING btw, no extra bounce, no obstacles or wacky physics, just... different scenery... that's all ) but with a few trick shots you can pull off and Star Power moves (once you complete enough successful shots you can execute a Star Power move that basically makes the ball zig-zag, loop, or move all funky around the court, stun your opponent, and/or summon obstacles on the court for a limited amount of time. To add something positive, at least it has some fun minigames (hitting House of the Dead zombies, getting Puyo Pop combos, collecting Sonic the Hedgehog rings, hitting Super Monkey Ball capsules through goals, etc., etc.). BUT STAY AWAY FROM ONLINE. OMG those guys are teh hardcorz. Fuck, I can't even return any of their serves, so INTENSE. Wow. Just... just watch yourself online, I GET SERVED every time I try to play online geez (lol, get it) .
Yup. Yeah. Okay. Now another Team Fortress 2 comic I found online before I go (and believe you me, they are not hard to find!):
So yeah... that's all I got for now, until whenever I update again! Cya.
| | |
| Hey guys... again, long time no see! Before I begin, enjoy the fruits of the interwebs:
Been keeping busy with work at the daycare (I'm painting a mural, it has giraffes and jellyfish and space ships.... I'll try to get a pic here asap, I promise!) and of course illustration (mostly CD covers, bussiness cards, website design and some web illustration, also I trying to get to do a magazine cover for a local magazine), and whenever I get free time I'm prolly playing Team Fortress 2 or Rock Band (and my poor Wii waits patiently in the corner, collecting dust, until Super Smash Bros. Brawl comes out... in March... also my DS hasn't seen too much activity in the past month either). But you know what? My xanga has been long overdue for an update, and so... here we are.
Cloverfield
Yup, I'm gonna be talking about Cloverfield now, so if you haven't seen it yet and don't want to be spoiled... well... you can skip this section if you like... but lemme just first say, I freakin' LOVED Cloverfield. Suspenseful. As. Hell. It's like if that Matthew Broderic Godzilla movie was beaten to death and sodomized by The Descent movie. Hearth pumping scary-scary shit.
On a relative scale, the movie was (a lot) better than Transformers, but still not as kick ass as Kill Bill. A solid Charlie's Angles quality movie if you were to ask for my opinion... heck I'm in a good mood, about Paycheck level quality even. For those curious, yes the entire movie is shot from the point of view of a guy with a camcorder, but (thank god) the film itself is not crummy cam-corder quality (only for the first 10 mins of the movie its "this is obviously a cam-corder", after that, the cam-corder quality of the film and the shaky-ness of the camera all but disapear, and the focus is more on the pure 1st person view direction of the movie).
As far as the plot goes: a giant monster attacks New York. Period. Where did it come from? Who knows? Who cares? Who - OH SHI---!!! IT'S REPRODUCING and if the mini-crab offspring monsters bite you it releases a toxin into your blood that causes your bloodcells to reproduce and divide at an alarming rate until your begin hemmoraging, vomiting, and crying blood until OH $@&# (splatter)!! And if the monster and it's blood-toxin offspring weren't enough, the millitary has assembled to bomb the crap outta the monster, DON'T GET CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE!! RATTA TATTA RATTA TATTA BOOOOM, etc.!!!
Oh yes.
So was Cloverfield a good movie? Yes, it was a very good movie: 8.5/10
Now I wanna, kinda, sorta start watching Lost, to see what that's all about (Lost director J.J. Abrams also directed Cloverfield... but you knew that already, I'm sure... so why did I just write that... I'm not so sure). And speaking of TV shows, has anyone had a chance to catch the show Dexter? It on Showtime, CBS and you can also download it from iTunes. I've already watched the first two seasons (is there a season 3, is there?!), and the show is great. The show is about Dexter (really?!) a police forensics officer by day, serial killer killer by night (thats not a typo). Dexter is a serial killer, but he only goes after other serial killers who slip through the cracks of the legal system to give them their just desserts. Working for the police is a double edge sword though, Dexter can cover his tracks but it also puts him in the line of getting caught easily if he doesn't cover his tracks. Funny and suspenceful Dexter is really awesome, check it out if you can.
Also I got a new 4GB iPod Nano Video to replace my old 2nd Gen iPod Shuffle. Now I can finally "listen" to movies and tv when I drive or go to the mall or whatever (and choose my tracks instead of constant shuffle... I don't need to tell you that my Rock Band playlist gets the most attention). No, I don't need to "watch" my videos, all of my DVDs I've already seen like, 8+ times each, I just need to listen to them, and that's more than good enough for me (Handbrake DVD to iPod video converter, it's free so download it already if you have an iPod video!!). Like The Simpsons, Family Guy, American Dad, Clone High, Dexter, and Futurama episodes... and some movies like Paycheck, Constantine, Cars, Mulan, Contact (ufufu!) and also the new Futurama (straight to DVD) movie, Bender's Big Score.
Like Futurama, The Simpsons went and made a movie... and it could never be as good as this. Also like Futurama, Family Guy was cancelled, (and likewise) when it came back it could never be as good as this. more or less picks up right where the last episode left off. The actors are as stellar as before, the writing is as clever as ever and the artwork is so goodamn gorgeous (the final space battle for earth with the dozens of Golden Death Stars... epic). Time travel, dementional rifts, alternate realities, and not to mention a TON of callbacks from the show (and I don't wanna spoil anything, but you know those episodes about Fry's dog Seymor and his nephew who was also named Phillip Fry all from the year 2000... throw in some time travel and you will have an epic, epic fanboy moment, oh yes... yes)... To top it of, Bender's Big Score was really nothing more than an introduction, a set-up piece realy, to the next DVD movie (there will be 4 total) The Beast With a Billion Backs (there is a trailer for it on the Benders Big Score DVD), all I can say is it looks like it is made out of pure awesome.
Bender's Big Score gets an 11/10 because it is that badass.
Now it wouldn't be an update without me talking about video games, now would it? Truth be told, since my last update thou, all I have been playing is Rock Band and Team Fortress 2 (on Xbox360, my gamertag is "journies end" btw!) and also an eensy-weensy bit of Half Life 2 on the side, game is so repetitive though, its pretty and sci-fi-sy with an interesting story to boot, but I'm on Highway 17 level right now... drive - shoot bad guys - solve puzzle - drive - shoot bad guys - solve puzzle - repeat ad nauseum. Rock Band is great because Harmonix releases 3 downloadable songs a week (each song is a different genre, something for everyone), and Team Fortress 2 (TF2) is just... fun. The game has so much character and polish, aaaaaand judging from internet forums, its just one of those games everyone loves (kinda like Smash Bros., Mario Kart, or Pokemon, so open and easy to pick up everyone just loves it). You can't even swing a baseball bat on an internet gaming forum without hitting a TF2 topic (with fanart and game clever in game snapshots to boot).
Beyond that, I am looking forward to Advance Wars: Days of Ruin for DS (new storyline in the Advance Wars cannon, new characters, new artwork, and new items!) and also No More Heroes, a Wii hack and slash that uses the Wiimote as a light-saber (and I heard it's really funny too, has a lot of buzz on the game review sites).
Hm, that' all I can really muster for now. Enjoy some more internet goodies.
Till next time!
| | |
|
