Gamer card???!

I turned on my 360 this morning to play a little Bioshock and instantly saw the Red Ring of Death.

Three lights, blinking.

I sat there, in my gaming chair, staring at it with my hand on my chin, as if I were pondering the meaning of life or wondering where that other sock actually goes.

The three lights kept blinking.

I ejected the Bioshock disc and turned the 360 off. I waited a few minutes and turned it back on, it came on and ran with no problems. I went into the system menu and did the "clear cache" trick, then reinserted the Bioshock disc. Everything seemed fine and I went into my save game. I played the game for maybe 10 minutes before the game made a weird whistling sound and the screen just froze. No red ring, but a locked up system. I turned it off again and left for the day.

I came home about an hour ago, turned on the system, and just finished playing Bioshock for about 40 minutes with no problems.

At this point in time, with Halo 'goddamn' Thr33 coming out in two days, you could say that I could smash small rocks in between my teeth.

I'm not very happy at the moment...I said that if my 360 turned red it would be the last Microsoft console I ever buy...I'm a man of my word. I have no doubt I can get it fixed (it's not even one year old).-

F@CK! The Halo 3 "diorama" commercial is on the television right N O W !

PERFECT TIMING!

Here are a couple of new movie blog entries. Last week I watched both "Stranger Than Fiction" (2006) and "Fahrenheit 451" (1966).

Stranger Than Fiction is the Will Ferrell movie that's not a Will Ferrell movie, or at least not a typical Will Ferrell movie. In this one he plays a very dry, very low key IRS agent who starts to hear the voice of a woman who seems to be narrating his life story. As the picture unfolds he learns that the story of his life is about to end with his impending death, and that his story is still being written at the same time by an author (Emma Thompson) who is suffering from writers block. The story sounds completely wacky, I know, but it works and it never gets to the point of confusion or trying to out think the audience.

What I like the most about Stranger is the focus of its concept and the performances by all the actors. Will Ferrell is really surprising and "charming" in this one. He reminded me a lot of a low key Jim Carey in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", but with more relatable qualities. In fact I found him almost too relatable in his bumbling, antisocial way. I was also impressed with Maggie Gyllenhaal who plays a cookie shop owner whom Ferrell falls in love with. The two look like they were made for each other about as well as oil and water, but again, it works and they have some really nice "warm" scenes together. If you like movies like the mentioned Eternal, or Adaptation, or Being John Malkovich, Stranger Than Fiction should be right up your alley.

Fahrenheit 451 on the other hand is an adaptation of the Ray Bradbury story about a future society where the owning and reading of books is illegal and a group called "The Firemen" are tasked with the job of investigating and raiding anyone's home that they feel might contain them. The story follows one of the Firemen as he learns what it is that draws the people who own books to them, and in the end joins their cause.

What I liked about this one was also the concept, it wasn't carried out with as much affect as Stranger, but it has some pretty clever twists along the way. The opening credits of most movies are text, but in 451 there is no text at all, the credits are given via audio. As if the film had its text removed by the Firemen, just like the rest of the film. Then as the books are introduced, so to is text to the film. There is also an eerie quality about a 40 year old movie predicting the future and coming pretty close in some instances (flat panel televisions, increased security concerns, censorship). It also has one of the singular best final scenes of any movie...ever. I wouldn't want to ruin it, but it has to do with "The Book People" and if you're a fan of actually reading *gulp* books, you should really love the finale.

Also, ~Julie Christie~, in her day, was a stone cold FOX!

In the end I found Stranger Than Fiction to ultimately be the better of the two, both films have affective "outside the box" concepts, but I felt Fahrenheit 451 had just a little too many big ideas with no real glue to stick it all together. There are still a couple of things that it touched on, but never revisited (like Montag's creepy co-worker popping up EVERYWHERE) and I just felt that Stranger than Fiction was a more focused, more accessible, and more relatable picture.

Both above average, and both worth a rental, but Stanger wins the race.

This is one of those "get it down while it's fresh" kind of entries, and I just had one last night, but has anyone here ever had a video game related dream?

I ask because I had a very strange, slightly related, video game dream about Penny Arcade's Tycho last night. I had a dream that I was sent an invitation to come to Tycho's house to "game". In the dream I was pumped because I figured that if anyone in the world had a home set up for pure gaming bliss it would be Tycho. The sad thing is, when I got there in the dream, Tycho's house was an absolute dive and he had absolutely no gaming area set up. He told us all that we were free to game, but we were suppose to bring our own gear?! The guy didn't even have any food or snacks to eat!

And when I say that Tycho's house was a dive, I mean it was a real dive. Old furniture, bad plumbing, dirt, and the doors wouldn't open and close properly. It was like going to some kind of backwoods hilly billy shack to play Counter Strike. I can remember being grateful for the invite, but being really upset deep down inside.

Weird.

Anybody else?

And after experiencing it first hand, now I know why.

I have a membership with Blockbuster Online. You know the deal, the one where they send you movies via snail mail. I'm happy with it, no complaints. I received an email last week that said "Preorder Halo 3 (in-store) and get a free $10 gift card". I was thinking to myself, "Self, you know you're going to buy Halo 3 regardless, this seems like a good deal".

When I say that I didn't even know you could do that at Blockbuster, I meant I didn't even know you could preorder games at a B&M Blockbuster store. After going in last Sunday to do just that, now I know why. It took a good 10 minutes just to find someone who knew what the hell I was even talking about.

I walked up to the counter with a movie rental (Apocalypto...more on that later) and said, "I received an email that said I could place a preorder for Halo 3...it comes out on the 25th...I'd like to do that."

The clerk looked at me and said, "Oh yeah, we received a memo on that just the other day, but I'm not exactly sure how to do that. Let me ask Male Employee #1. Male Employee #1 do you know how to set up a preorder for Halo 3?"

Male E#1: "No" *walks away*

Clerk: "Okay, I can call Female Manager #1, she'll be able to walk me through it. I'm glad you're asking me this by the way, I need to know how this is done."

*clerk calls manager*

Clerk: "Female Manager #1? I have a customer here who would like to place a preorder for Halo 3, do you know how to set up a preorder for Halo 3?"

Female M#1: "mwha-wha-mwha-wha-wha"

Clerk: "No? Call the Female Regional Manager #1? Okay.

*hangs up*

Clerk: "I'm sorry, I need to make one more call. Female Regional Manager #1 will definitely know what to do."

*clerk calls regional manger*

Clerk: "Female Regional Manager #1? I have a customer here who would like to place a preorder for Halo 3, do you know how to set up a preorder for Halo 3?"

Female RM#1: "mwha-wha-mwha-wha-wha" Clerk: "Yes, he received an email saying he could place a preorder in-store. Yes."

*walks to computer*

Clerk: "F2? F5? Okay, yes. Sir, which system is the game on?

Self: (I wanted so badly to say Atari 2600) "Xbox...Three sixty"

Clerk: "Okay, I see it now. It shows three versions, 'Regular, Collectors, and Legendary'.

Self: "I want regular."

*clerk thanks regional manager and hangs up*

The rest went fairly smoothly (except the part where she wanted me to explain to her what kind of game Halo actually was), but the time it took allowed at least ten people to get jammed up in line behind me (which made me uncomfortable) and for some weird reason she said I had to pay tax on the $5 preorder fee, which seemed odd to me.

So, unless you'd like to climb the corporate ladder, and eventually have to talk to the CEO of Blockbuster, in order place a preorder for Halo 3, I really can't recommend the program they have set up at Blockbuster. It was the hardest free $10 gift card I've ever had to earn, and I'm not really that confident that a copy of Halo 3 will be waiting for me when I go back on the 25th.

---

On the gaming front there really hasn't been anything that surprising and I've been slow at finishing games lately. I'm very near the end of my backlogged copy of Republic Commando, but it was side tracked by Bio-freakin'-shock which is easily shaping up to be a GotY contender.

The thing about Bioshock that I absolutely can not wrap my head around is it's ability to draw me into the world of Rapture and not let go. Artistically I think it might just be the most well realized video game in the history of man. The world's environment is absolutely alive and the level design is brilliant. Every little nook and cranny feels like someone gave it a very personal touch, and every nook and cranny feels like I owe it to myself to explore them. Bioshock has a vision and focus that very few games ever (or will ever) hope to attain.

The game also has something that I've found missing in a lot of games so far this generation, a really iconic character, or in this case set of characters. I think that the Big Daddy/Little Sister set of characters are two of the strongest video game creations since the likes of the big pillars like Mario and Zelda (and more recently) Kratos and Master Chief. The moment early in the game where you are presented with your first real exposure to a Big Daddy, and the following conflict, has to instantly be in my top ten greatest video game moments of all time. It feels like my hands and eyes just wrote check that my ass can't cash. The moments that you run into Big Daddys and Little Sisters really are iconic and I can guarantee that from this day forward that these two characters are now, and forever will be, the stuff of gaming legend.

Well, I didn't think I would gush so much about Bioshock, but everyone really does owe it to themselves to seeking out this game. Be it 360, PC, or eventually/hopefully PS3.

As for anything else its been nothing but a little dabbling with Warhawk. I like it, it's a must for fans of online shooters, but not that much more. I've played a couple of GAP games and a few random games here and there. It definitely has a lot of room for expansion (only 5 maps), and it would be nice to watch Sony roll out those potential expansions for FREE, but what is here is fun and quite playable.

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I also said earlier that there would be more about Apocalypto, and it's part of trying to make myself kick start my journal again, so I've decided to put my Blockbuster account to better use and actually do some mini-reviews as those movies pass thru my mail stream. I chose Apocalypto because I felt it was a strong example of an excellent film and I'm REALLY going to try and keep this up (if for no other reason than for my own future reference).

Apocalypto was the last film directed by Mel Gibson and was released just after his drunken, anti-Semitic run-in with some California police officers. After watching and throughly enjoying Apocalypto, and reading some of the reviews online, it's really sad that a lot of reviewers tried to shoe horn their own distaste of Mel Gibson's actions into a criticism that Apocalypto is some sort of religious piece to some sort of Mel Gibson "master plan".

I think they might be giving Mel a little too much credit and too much desire for some kind of an all encompassing scape goat.

At its core Apocalypto is a very well made chase/action movie. I wasn't feeling any religious undertone or secret agenda in this film. The themes that kept popping up for me were things like love and protection your family, your friends, your way of life, your roots, and respect of the Earth while doing it. Nothing more, nothing less. The film seems to have a lot more in common with Braveheart than Passion of the Christ in this regard and I never once felt like Mel was trying to slip some kind of hidden sermon in between the jaguar attacks, impalements, and decapitations.

Which leads to Apocalypto's greatest strength or maybe its greatest weakness, this movie is violent with a capital "V". It's not for the squeamish or young, but for those who can handle it, Apocalypto has some of the most effective uses of violence in any movie I've seen since "Saving Private Ryan". Brutality from a brutal era. Human sacrifice, impalements, organ removal, this film leaves no stone unturned. I thought that of all the statements Gibson could have made with Apocalypto, his use of violence was it. It was so refreshing to see a civilization portrayed for what it was instead of as some kind of unspoiled peaceful utopia getting crushed by the eventual arrival of some "evil" western European explorers. Showing the audience that civilization, no matter how remote, or how "uncivilized", is still susceptible to very basic things like corruption and prejudice (without the outside influence of the evil "white" man) was a very bold statement indeed.

It also helps that the movie is one of the best pure action movies I've seen in a really long time. I was telling my friends that I could count on one hand the movies I have seen that actually made me talk back to the screen as I watched. Apocalypto is one of those five. There are two or three scenes in the movie where you'll be cheering for Jaguar Paw's escape and two or three scenes where you'll pump your fist when you realize that he's finally come to the realization that he has to stand his ground. I was also amazed (after watching the extras) at the real effort that went into making the movie. Very little CGI was used, the Mayan city set was real (and mind blowing), and the costumes and makeup were top shelf.

All in all, one of my best movie rentals of '07 and Apocalypto is a movie that I really wished I would have gone and seen on the big screen. Great stuff.

~Create Your Own Simpson's Character~

Someone on another board pointed this link out to me and it's a good way to kill about 15 minutes.

~Here~ are my results (I hope). Kinda creepy how accurate mine actually looks.

I'm tapping into ~old'd news~, but am I the only one who sees this a HUGE boon for two problems within the industry right now?

If they throw in the film "Hard Boiled" with the BluRay/PS3 version of the game Strangehold, all on the SAME disc, couldn't/shouldn't this be used to much better affect? I mean, Hard Boiled is a 15 year old movie, but couldn't Sony (or anybody doing a movie licensed game) do this sort of thing with new and current stuff?

Take something like Spider-Man 3. Most reviewers all agree that the game was rushed into release to coincide with the movie's release. Why not extend the development time to coincide with the BluRay release instead of the film? Extra time could be given to tweak the gameplay and add polish, the idea of a collector's edition holds much more clout, and in the end (if priced right) it would be cheaper to buy the game/movie combo than it would be to buy the items separately.

Never mind that it also helps justify the PS3 being a BluRay player, but it helps show that the PS3 can do things that the others simply can't. If I had a feeling that it was going to be a good game it would be an absolute no brainer for me to buy the PS3 version of "300". Especially if I knew I was also getting an HD version of the film on the same disc. Sin City? The Warriors? The Godfather? Even something like Cars?

Or am I just nut?

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I made it to the ending, but I'm not actually finished with Dead Rising just yet. I wrote my ~review~, but I'm trying to go back and score a few more achievements. I probably wouldn't even attempt it for only the points, but I'm finding myself obsessed with unlocking the extra content. I have the mega buster (the super gun) and I'm looking to unlock the laser sword (super melee weapon). Good game.

Right now I'm trying decide what I'm going to jump to next. I seem to be playing a lot of Pac-Man CE XBLA and I dipped my toes into something that kind of shames me, something I don't even think I want to mention because it's not a game I would normally check out, I just scored a cheap used copy so I thought I'd give it a spin. I might take a trip back in time and blow the dust off a backlog title instead...Republic Commando is kind of tempting me at the moment....

























































(viva pinata)

~Tomonobu Itagaki is one strange bird~

I mean, what is he exactly, some kind of vampire pervert? If Gamespot had turned the lights up would he have turned into a mutant pumpkin or something?

Dude ain't right. I like me some Ninja Gaiden, but the dude ain't right.

Just curious because I just picked it up and I don't really ~know what to think yet~.

On one hand it's one of the best looking games I have ever played and on the other it seems to be one of the hardest too. It's not really hard in a challenge sense as much as it's hard in a cheap shot sense. It also has some pretty major problems during boss battles as slow down, of the likes I haven't seen since the olden days of the SNES, plague them pretty harshly and really mess with the rhythm of the battles.

As far as overall art direction, and music goes, this game is right up there near the top. It's most likely going to be one of those games where the art direction keeps more players out than it lets in, but if you like titles that really have a unique visual concept (like an Okami, a Wind Waker, or an Ico) this game will definitely ring your bell. The game reminds me of a cross between Disney, anime, and the old animated bits that Terry Gilliam used to do on Monty Python's Flying Circus.

I haven't cleared the first section or spheres (not really spheres, more like circles), I beat the first boss level (the dragon), but decided I would go back and try him again, once I had formulated a better strategy. So far Odin Sphere is an ass-ton of eye candy wrapped around a pretty good hack n slash.

---

I also bought Puzzle Quest for my PSP and have only dipped my toes in. Seems like the enemy AI has more than it's fair share of lucky breaks during battles though. 4-of-a-kind is a pretty rare combo where I'm from. If you get one, you get an extra turn. I watched as an enemy thief got three 4-of-a-kinds IN A ROW and thought, "Come now! Is that how this game is going to keep it exciting? By giving the enemy a miracle every now and then?".

 

Other than that little bit, it seems like a solid game. If the enemy AI starts unfairly kicking my ass (I'm looking at you Catan), I might have to give up on it.

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I also feel like I should post a retraction on my bashing of Dead Rising last week. I learned a small trick that has benefitted me greatly and made the game quite a bit more enjoyable (if a tad bit more monotonous. I didn't realize that the "save and quit" option basically lets you save all of your current stats and begin a new game. I reset at my game at Level 12 and now I'm having a blast.

 

Once you reach somewhere around Level 15 the game becomes a whole lot easier to cope with. Your speed increases and you do more damage. I don't know how much further I'll get before I'll feel the need to reset again (hopefully never), but if there were ever a game that could use a tutorial, or an in depth guide, Dead Rising is the one.

My best tips for playing this game are:

-Stick to the main quest missions and finish them QUICKLY. Ignore everything else.

-If you (and you usually will) have the extra time after a main quest mission is over, stick to the missions that involves the psychopaths. They offer up the most PP (exp) and give you some big time PP when you snap their picture.

-And the very FIRST psychopath you should go after is the dude in the gun shop. Get in there, kill him, and get those shot guns. It's also wise to get a sniper riffle and take out the psychos in the jeep as soon as possible. Escort missions can wait until after you have the shotguns. Escorting people that you can give shotguns to makes those missions a billion times easier.

I wished someone had told me this before I ever started this game. It still has its fair share of problems (escorts are about one IQ point smarter than the zombies and I wish there was a way to KILL Otis, the mission giving taskmaster), but coming to the realization that the "Quit and Save" option is your friend will save you a LOT of unneeded stress.

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Also watch ~this~.

 

At the beginning I laughed out loud and thought "Holy Geebus, this is going to be awful", but then the action kicks in, and I have to say, it kind of kicks ass in a ridiculous "300" kind of way.

Be warned though, it contains some EXTREME violence and isn't for the weak of heart. Paint me surprised, but I might actual check it out.

As in the moment my train of thought changes from "if I buy a PS3" to "when I buy a PS3".

I think that that moment is coming very soon. Not days, but definitely months, probably less than six. I can say with total confidence say that, of the forty one games (!!) that Sony recented showed at their gamers day, I want/need to play, at the very least, fourteen of them.

I'm not sure how much any of you have absorbed from what was shown, but can I get a "This is SPARTA!" for ~Rachet and Clank: Future Tools of Destruction?! This game looking freakin' fantastic. At its core it's basic R&C, but the eye candy is almost blinding. It's the kind of eye candy that justifies the "next-gen" tag. This one really jumped up and surprised me with its presentation and shot right to the top of my "must-play" list.

I was also pleasantly surprised and shocked at how good Uncharted: Drake's Fortune looked. The only real weakness I saw was that the gun mechanics seemed a bit weak and enemy AI looked pretty spotty, but it is an unfinished demo, and probably turned down for demostration purposes. With that though, the game looks awesome in its own Indiana Jones/Tomb Raider/Prince of Persia ways. I like it when a game surprises me, Uncharted did that for me.

I'm also REALLY excited to play Heavenly Sword. The same problems that kind of plagued Uncharted are here too (weak AI), but damn if this game doesn't look delicious. Delicious enough to question whether or not the 360 could even run a game like HS. But yeah, color me impressed.

These games and Lair, and SOCOM, and Stranglehold, and LittleBigPlanet, and Ninja Gaiden Sigma (if there were ever a game I'd be willing to play for a third time, this one is it), and Warhawk, and even the little games like Calling All Cars and Pain (not to mention the mysteriously absent Assassin's Creed). The fall/Christmas is looking like the time that Sony pushes "if" off a cliff and gives me a bright and shiny new "when".

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And in none PS news, I finally got the Halo 3 beta rolling last night (consistantly), and I'm not one to even really care for Halo's multi-player, but I can say that I'm having a complete BLAST!

I basically played random Slayer matches and I started out feeling like the Halo veterans were just going to hand my ass to me over and over again, but after one match I was consistantly placing in the top 3. I even went from 2 points to 15 points in the last 5 minutes of one round and stole turd place...on the snow map! I HATE the snow map!

For a demo this one is incredibly balanced and a total hoot to play. I never even heard any lip or sass talk from the other players either. The weapons are fun and I'm completely in love with dual wielding a set of Brute Spikers. I also picked up a Spartan Laser last night. What a weapon, but what a target on your back too! I picked it up, shot two guys, and then got creamed by four others. It's definitely a weapon that you grab and then go find a good hiding spot with. Out in the open it seems like it's open season for anyone carrying it.

This beta also looks a ton better when it's on the screen and in your face than anything you might find and watch on the internets. It's not going to melt your eye sockets, but it has a much cleaner and crisp look than Halo 2 had.

If you've got the time, and a copy of Crackdown, it's totally worth your time...and the patience it took to wait for the patch.