March 31, 2012

Movie Reviews: Tron²



Back when Tron Legacy released, I had huge interest in it. All I knew was it was the sequel to a cult hit from almost 30 years ago. I was determined, though, to watch the original first. Unfortunately, Netflix didn't have it for rent so I saved it for later. Months went by and it all of a sudden appeared in the mailbox. I'm glad I saw Tron before Tron Legacy. I don't think it's necessary, but it certainly added a lot the sequel.

The List: Zelda Overworld Themes


And when I say that, I mean themes that aren't the Zelda series theme or a variation on that theme. Believe it or not, that's used in a ton of the games: The Legend of Zelda, A Link to the Past (though not the Dark World), Link's Awakening, Majora's Mask, Oracle of Seasons and Ages, Four Swords Adventures, and The Minish Cap. The other seven games are fair play!

Sword & Sworcery LP goes old school

Sword & Sworcery LP: The Ballad of the Space Babies is the soundtrack to the critically acclaimed Sword & Sworcery EP. The album's been available to download from composer Jim Guthrie's Bandcamp page for quite some time now for. If you want to kick it old school, there's a $30 vinyl edition available for sale that comes with a digital download as well as an original art print (pictured right) by Pendleton Ward, the creator of Adventure Time. This batch is limited to 1,000 copies and started shipping earlier this month. But lots of things come in vinyl nowadays. After all, it's retro chic. But there was also something I wasn't expecting.

March 16, 2012

Korra premier is April 14th... at 11am?

There's good news and there's wtf news. The good news is that The Legend of Korra is set to premier on April 14th. That's soon! Real soon. Also, they've dropped both "Avatar" and "The Last Airbender" from the title. A fine compromise, in my opinion. The wtf news is that the show will air Saturdays at 11am. Who's idea was this? Eleven in the morning? For one, the majority of their audience will probably not be awake to see it. And it always seemed like a prime time show to me. I mean, Avatar aired nightly so why not Korra? In any case, thank goodness for DVR.

Speaking of videos, I've got two for your viewing pleasure! I believe all the major characters are present, including what is basically our first look at Amon, the show's protagonist. He's voiced by Steve Blum, carrying on the tradition of villains with awesome voice actors. The first video is below and the second one is after the break!



March 15, 2012

More FEZ!

I know you want more FEZ footage, so here it is! Over six minutes of gameplay from the game's demo. FEZ was in development for over four years before it was finally finished a few months back. It's currently being certified by Microsoft for release on the Xbox Live Arcade and should be out in the next couple of months. All that development time has really paid off in my opinion. The level of polish is immediately apparent. Theres's tons of little details everywhere, like the streams of sunlight in the sky, the shadows of the clouds on the ground, and the way the music becomes muffled when Gomez is behind part of the level. If you'd like to see for yourself how much time they've spent tweaking things, check past the break for another gameplay video from only a year ago showing some of the same locations sporting more simplified looks.



March 12, 2012

Quick Impressions of the PlayStation Vita

*UPDATE* I got some hands on time with the back touch panel while trying out Little Deviants. It was... disorienting. It's a cool idea in theory, but I get the feeling it won't be used to its full potential. In the game I had to slide my fingers across the back in order o raise the ground and roll around this little round monster, collecting items and solving puzzles. It's sounds cool in theory, but I found it really difficult to judge where my touch on the back would register on the front. Just hearing about it, it may not seem like much of a task, but trust me when I say it's really awkward. You have to get used to holding the system so that your fingertips touch the back and I can tell it'll take a lot of getting used to before gamers can adjust to the idea of interacting with a touch screen they can't see. Imagine playing Angry Birds or Fruit Ninja, except having to touch the back of your phone to play. It sounds difficult, right?

I had the chance to play around with a Vita the other day and I was surprisingly impressed by it. I noticed two things immediately: the thing is f'in huge, and it's also f'in light. Even with a huge wired security brick latched on to the bottom, the thing felt like it was mostly hollow. I don't know how they did it, but I sure was impressed. The screen takes up most of the space on the front of the system and for good reason. It's fantastic. So big and sharp and touchy and wonderful. Also wonderful: ergonomics. It's the perfect size and shape to fit comfortably in the hand. Fingers fall in just the right places on this one!

BOOTY Awards: 2011 Edition


Last year was nuts. Tons of quality games came out and there was no way I could play them all. There was also no way I could play the ones I had as much as I wanted. Also, this is going up way later than I wanted. Having said that, it's finally time for the BOOTY Awards!

March 6, 2012

Fresh, new FEZ trailer!

Jam packed with standing, rotation, and awesome music by Disasterpeace.

March 5, 2012

The first real look at Halo 4!

The good news: You can has Halo 4 footage!

The bad news: Frank O'Connor says no beta! Sucks.



Click below for the gameplay only trailer!

Movie Review: Super 8



There's not much to say about Super 8. Personally, I found Super 8 to be super great. As a result, this movie review will end up being on the short side. If there's one word to describe the film it's "nice". By the end of it, you just end up feeling good. The film certainly has it's dark moments, though, and starts with the death of the main character's mother. The story, you see, focuses on a group of kids trying to film a zombie movie to enter a film festival with a Super 8 camera. That's the only mention of the title in the entire movie, and it's irrelevant other than that. They could have called this movie anything, really. Anyway, after sneaking out one night to film by a train station the kids witness the most extreme train crash in the history of film. Seriously, it was ridiculous. I'd say Super 8 is worth seeing for that moment alone. After the crash, the children and their families get wrapped up in some crazy government conspiracy involving the mysterious train cargo. There's not even a whole lot I can talk about without ruining things, but I can say that this movie has been compared to Spielberg's sci-fi classic E.T. (he produced Super 8). That's a fair comparison, I'd say, as this is reminiscent of it. It also reminded me of District 9. If you've seen D9 then you'll probably understand what I mean while watching Super 8.