Hey guys!

Alright, here's the skinny... I got a buddy who goes to the same school I do in Sao Paulo who made an account here. His name is Dave and he's really awesome. I highly reccomend you get to know him, so please add him and give a good ol' Gamespot welcome!

His username is maneatingsheep.

Alright, thanks for welcoming him and have a great day,

- Wes

OK, I'm kinda depressed right now... I've got this GREAT band called People in Planes that I really love, but here's the problem:

NOBODY HAS HEARD OF THEM!!!

So, for my own sanity, would you please tell if you heard of these guys? If you have, I'll be very happy!

If you must know, People in Planes is an indie rock band from England. I discovered them by watching House. It depresses me that no one I know listens to them, although everyone I've showed them to has liked it a lot.

But if you haven't, here check 'em out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOUsw0ygkOI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfL3Bry6958

The videos are, respectively, "My Black Widow" (not an actual video) and "If You Talk Too Much (My Head Will Explode)".

Oh and here's the song that was in House:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRyFyq5csng

It's not their best song, but it's still great.

PLEASE do me a massive favor and if you like what you've heard, spread the word!

--Darth

So, I was bored and I decided to review cereal. Specifically, a Brazillian brand of cereal called Estrelitas Chocolate.

Here's the link, please comment!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNn8DDe4lUs

This is a short-story that I wrote while inspired by the amazing game Braid. Please read it and offer suggestions and commentary. It's not finished, as its in its third draft. This is the first draft to critiqued by anyone other than myself, so say whatever you want to say about it.

Time and Regret

Third Draft

WA Julian

Nick discovered it as a boy. A boy of about eight years old discovered that he had the ability to manipulate time. It started one afternoon when he was in the kitchen and he accidentally burned his hand on the stove. He shut his eyes real tight and then he felt the burns disappear as he moved backwards into the hall. Everything moved with him and things that normally fell down fell up. When he said, "Stop!" it stopped. Scared, he asked his mother if she knew anything about it and she told him that he was crazy and should stop watching so many cartoons. But he wasn't crazy; he was the sanest of them all.

It didn't happen again until a year later when he was punched by the local bully. As he fell to the ground, he suddenly rose back up to his feet and then the punch was pulled back. When time resumed its normal course, Nick ducked and then struck a blow of his own; knocking the surprised bully to the ground. He became the hero for the day but his deeds were soon forgotten and the outcry soon became the normal and life went on. But not Nick's; he could never forget.

Within the month, he found his power again. On strange impulse, Nick told a pretty girl that he loved her. Before she could respond, he became afraid and then again everything went backwards. He felt his lips mutter those three nervous words in reverse, all the more painful this time. When he mentally told it all to stop and time resumed he instead asked what they had for homework. She smiled and delicately told him. Of course, he didn't need it. He would ask for a lot of things he didn't need. And he could get them.

As he reached the pubescent years, he started to focus and try to learn to control his strange anomalous power. In his dark room, he lit a candle and then blew it out. He knew that it wasn't any form of focus that granted him his power; it must have been something else. It would have to have been something present each time that he did it. Perhaps it was emotion. He did his best to draw up various emotions and finally he found one: regret. It tied together every instance perfectly: he regretted touching the stove, antagonizing the bully, and then saying, "I love you." He made himself feel regret and then the candle lit once more. He laughed one of the few laughs of his lifetime.

Soon, he started to use his gift. In math cIass he answered a question out loud incorrectly and drew scrutiny. But after the teacher gave the correct answer, he went back and gave that one instead. His life started to become easier. He got good grades in school and made few mistakes. But he was pained, afflicted. He had to live with every mistake he technically did not commit. Nick regretted what he did not do. He could forgive, but he could not forget, especially things that never happened. Sorrow and then depression took in for what others could only see as no reason. Not a man, woman, or child understood this boy.

For a while he thought of never using his power again. Nick went a whole week where he failed. Repeatedly. They were sweet, sweet failures. But then the reality hit him that these were public failures, not the private and secret ones he had before. They seemed so real to him. And what pained him was that they were. Insensitively, he had told a girl that her dress looked ugly on her. Brashly, he had pushed his way through the lunch line and then faced social trials for it. He apologized but it wasn't enough. It wasn't enough for him or for anyone else. When it was too much, he went back and did the whole week over again.

Nobody ever told Nick that they were sorry because he covered up the mistakes of others as well. There wasn't a way for him to fix everyone's mistakes, but he could try. For a while he believed that he was a superhero; that destiny had called him to fight for justice. Images danced in his imagination for hours on end. He could fly, he could save the world, and he could save himself. But that was when he stopped: when he realized that he could either save himself or the world. Every time he went back, part of his soul would erode. He'd see a friend do something he never thought possible and he'd go back to stop it. But he knew what his friend was capable of and he could never fully trust that person again. With that, his social life began to vanish along with his humanity.

But Hope would always come knocking. That was her name: Hope. She knocked on his door one day after he had started his own life. He promised himself from then that he would marry her. She was beautiful. Her cerulean eyes were timeless in his and something kept him from going back when he was around her. She was intoxicating in the best of ways. She was his cure. There was nothing for him to regret with her and it was regret that gave him his power. Hope took away his regret and his power. But with her, the boy was powered more than before. She put light where there was darkness, but she obscured other places. Nick would never fully know her. But the best part was that she shared his feelings. Not his problem, but his feelings. They shared things that only go to and fro with soul-mates; because they were indubitably soul-mates.

But his life was turned upside down when he made a terrible mistake. And he would have to face this one because with Hope, he could not regret. He hurt her. His depression and agony took reign again and then he hurt his one salvation. Through the next days, he found no control because he found no regret. Without regret, he could only justify his actions no matter how bad they were. His salvation was his destruction. She left him and then he finally regretted. When he called upon the pain of regretful sorrow, it only turned her away because she fell in love with the boy because he regretted nothing. From her perspective, Nick faced life head on without looking back. But when he tried to at least fake regret with her, she found no attraction. Worst of all, she saw his lies.

Nick used his regret and tried going back but it all stopped at the last time he saw her and he had to feel her leaving him once again. He tried more than once because his former bride was worth all of the pain. But finally, he learned. He learned that he would have to win her back the way he had stopped a long time ago: the hard way. Nick would fight long and hard, journeying however he must to win back his dear Hope. Without her, he had none.

After a month had passed, he had prayed that she would be open to listening; to at least hear him out. When she did, he tried to explain his problem. He explained how he had become addicted to reversing time and that it was fueled by the pain of regret. Nick tried to explain to her that she cut off his feeling of regret and that she loved what she had caused. She completed him; healed him. But the boy couldn't prove it. She had lost faith in him. This was beyond belief to her because she no longer saw a soul-mate: she saw a crazy person in the sanest of them all. Hope had not faith and so he had not either.

They say that hope is the last to die. But for the boy, it was first. Instead, all he had was his fuel: regret. All of his life he regretted and the more he tried to stop it, the more he regretted. What he thought was his cure was his affliction. So that's when he decided that his life was where it had all started. He decided to end it. A noose was tied to the ceiling and the boy kicked the stool away, dropping him to the end. His life flashed before his eyes. There was a certain beauty that he could not waste. Nick knew he would regret his death. He took in the regret and decided to reverse time and save himself. The stool came back under his feet and then he descended. He took down the noose and then realized that life was still miserable but not worth ending. Perhaps he could find a way to start over. His sanest decision was his biggest mistake.

Hope came by his home and looked in the window. She found him sitting on his couch with a weary smile. He didn't notice her. Something on his face told her that it would be alright. This reassured her and then she left, never to see him again. Eventually, the boy attempted suicide again, this time he was dead with no turning back. There were no more regrets but there was also no more Hope. Regret overtook her and she joined him in death.

But had he not reversed time to save himself, Hope would have found him dangling and dying. She would have broken in and then saved his life where she would heal him again. With that healing, their relationship would mend. They'd marry again and have many children. The boy and his beloved Hope would live together until they were old and finally dead. Their life would have been nearly perfect to the outside observer, but to the boy: flawless. The ideal that he had tried so hard to regret himself to he simply couldn't have.

On my screen right now is the Xbox 360 demo for FEAR 2. I've decided to give my impressions thus far... First off, my very first sentence turns me off. I liked this better when it was simply Project Origin and not FEAR 2: Project Origin. Yes, it is technically FEAR 2 but I can't help but like the originality of Project Origin. This doesn't affect the game at all, except its sales.

Anyway, right off the bat I'm somewhat impressed. Alma's back and looking scary as ever. The storytelling feels like it could be better than the first one, which is great. Some have complained that the first FEAR didn't have too much actual fear in it, but I think FEAR 2 has made up for that. We'll see, but I was definitely scared in some parts of the demo.

About the graphics... they're deceiving. My first thought was that it looked like Killzone 2. It really does, but upon further examination it isn't. It's not too far away because it uses the same deceitful film grain effects that KZ2 does, but some things feel rough. It still looks great though, especially the lighting, but it's not Killzone 2. In one part, the lights are flashing on and off and it's so confusing trying to figure out what's going on... truly frightening. It might give someone a seizure, but to those who aren't photosensitive... it's awesome.

Like the first, but improved, the evironments are amazingly destructive. Stuff flies around and blows up. Awesom.

Gameplay feels like FEAR but tighter. I wasn't a huge fan of the original because it felt too loose. It still suffers from this, but not quite as much. It's definitely improved... not perfect, but improved.

I do have complaints... for instance, I really don't like it when you have to read the plot of games like this. I didn't mind it in Braid, but this is different. They clearly have some good voice actors, not great ones, but good ones who could very well get this story across in a narrative. It's better than those utterly stupid answering machine messages from the first one...

Then there was a vehicle segment. *sigh* It wasn't bad and I guess it could break up the gameplay pretty well, but I don't think it fits the first-person survival-esque horror. You go from vulnurable supercommando to Iron Man. I don't like this... There's potential... but I'm dubious.

It's definitely a game to pickup if you liked the first one. It's also a good shooter, I'd give it four stars based on what I've seen. If you're tight for cash... there are other things to buy.

Darth

The day that the Second World War ended, I imagine people were desperately hoping that they wouldn't have to relive it again. I've heard old people saying that they didn't want anything like that for their children and their children's children and so on. So, what has the gaming industry done? They've tried their absolute dear-hardest to make the most realistic World War 2 experience possible. Well, that backfired on them when ever gamers got sick of World War 2. There was a joyous outbreak of pure ecstasy when even the Call of Duty series acknowledged this fact. The fourth in the series, Modern Warfare, was a runaway smash hit. There was an entire year without any truly major World War 2 releases (don't say Brothers in Arms, that's an obvious minor release). But then came Treyarch. They released Call of Duty: World at War, which is by far the greatest World War 2 game ever to be made.

It uses an enhanced version of the Call of Duty 4 engine, so the gameplay is pretty much exactly the same, but only at its core. In the end, the World War 2 weapons change up the tactics enough that it's obviously not the same but you still get this weird feeling of déjà vu. But that's hardly a problem because it's still sheer awesome. There are differences and additions, which are what really make the game.

It's also change of pace. There's no Normandy, North Africa, Battle of the Bulge, or Stalingrad here. Instead there's Berlin from the Russian perspective, which is, believe me, way more intense than the American one I think we saw previous WW2 games. I was wrong earlier, though, there is Stalingrad but only briefly and it's not the same young-privates-on-a-boat-getting-a-speech-from-an-older-Russian-dude-and-when-you-land-you-don't-get-a-gun-just-ammo-so-you-join-forces-with-a-superior-comrade-who-leads-you-away-from-the-mass-attacks-and-you-become-a-hero. It's much darker and much more intense. But the American perspective is even better. You aren't fighting Nazis, you're fighting the Japanese. Now, I've always argued pro the nuking of Hiroshima/Nagasaki, which I know is controversial. World at War totally reaffirmed we believe that that bombing was necessary. Why?

Because the Japanese are brutal. They don't give up and they'll fight for every inch of land they have. When you've think you've killed one, he'll use his last second of life to drop a grenade or he'll pull out his pistol and take as many as he can with him. They'll use your dead against you. In particular scene, you and your mates come across a crashed US plane. When your buddy checks for survivors, he finds explosives and half of your men die in the ensuing ambush. Just crossing a plain is hard enough too. They'll pop out of spider holes and jump out of the grass shouting "Banzai!" You'll be charged with bayonets and cut down if you don't act fast enough. There's even one scene where they fake surrender, only to kill once you've gotten close enough. They don't stop until every last one of them is dead.

It not only puts perspective on the war: it makes excellent gameplay. You're fighting an enemy that you respect, unlike the Nazis in previous games, which were so laughably generic. Believe me when I say that you won't be laughing at the Japanese.

To add perspective about the war, the cutscenes have a very unique and stylish flair to them. Jack Bauer- I mean, Sergeant Roebuck and the bad guy from Air Force One narrate them. You see real images from the war and then statistics are given to you, which really add realistic depth. Treyarch must have realized that they'd need solid actors for these cutscenes, so they got the best: Kiefer Sutherland and Gary Oldman. If you've ever watched 24, you know you want to be next to Jack-fricking-Bauer when the shooting starts.

World at War makes one big mistake: instead of making itself out to be the best World War 2 shooter ever made, it decided to what I would call outright plagiarism of Call of Duty 4. There was not one interview or developed commentary where the words "Call of Duty 4" did not come out of their mouths. Yes, it has to be similar to past games in the franchise for very good reason but there is a limit. In fact, WaW pushes this line so hard that some have even called it a really good mod for CoD4. Even the box art is pretty much the exact same thing as Call of Duty 4's, except blue and in World War 2. And then they tried way too hard to translate that uber-realistic brutality to World War 2, going so far as to put electronic rock music in it. I admit, it sounds really cool but it just doesn't fit. And, admittedly, it does add to the brutality of it all, but I must say the composer is awful if he can't get the emotion known as "brutal" out of an orchestra.

Treyarch seems to forget that Call of Duty 4 wasn't successful because it was like Call of Duty 4. It was successful because it was an original leap from other Call of Duty's. I can't shake the feeling that if World at War had tried to make itself feel really original, which it does have some great, original pieces, it would have sold much better and critics, like me, would give it perfect 10s. I can just picture them saying "Introducing World at War! A new, fresh take on World War 2" and then it would be loved. But I simply can't ignore that Treyarch is pretty obviously using the sleaziest tricks they can find just to turn a buck.

But with that out of the way, I definitely recommend Call of Duty: World at War. I'm giving it five stars because there's really nothing wrong with it. The only thing setting it back is Call of Duty 4. World War 2 is not over yet and I get the feeling that we'll be hearing from it a lot more. Sorry World War 2 vets… I only wish you guys could have played the video games instead of making it happen for the rest of us. But remember, even without all these games, we can never forget your sacrifice.

Hey, it's been a while...

I just wanted to post some videos I did. These are all trailers for the lock-in that I, being a member of the student council, helped plan and hosted. It was a lot of fun! Anyway, I did PACA (my school)'s biggest advertising scheme yet. It was complete with posters and for the first time in lock-in history: trailers. There were three. I'll explain each one. They're only about a minute long.

The first one is Chadman. We decided to make each trailer about the main characters in The Dark Knight. Oh yeah, the lock-is themed around The Dark Knight and called "The Dark Night", note the bad pun. So Chad is my English teacher. He is known for making kids do pushups, drinking coffee, and being a generally funny guy. He's my favorite teacher. Anyway, here he is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3qkyvLtKwI

The next one is Mr. Kuhns, who is the principal. He is set to represent Harvey Dent. At the end of all this, he was very tired of hearing "I believe in Mr. Kuhns":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YHYUCKFBZY

The last one features my friend, Lowps, who plays a fake Chadman. It's a direct spoof of one scene. I play the Joker, just like I did in the lock-in itself. I got to wear make-up and the whole thing. It was awesome. You don't actually see it here because we were trying to make the Joker part a surprise:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UKezx5asCU&feature=channel

And there you have it!

Darth

I recently taught a one-day film seminar at my school. It wasn't just me, there was also a friend of mine co-teaching. Anyway, we only had one day to teach what we knew about film. One day is not a lot of time! So, instead of boring them for a day, we decided to give our students practical, hands-on experience and actually make a video.

Here is the link to the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwHEXw0G88U

It's chock-full of gamer humor as it is a romantic comedy set in Comic-Con 2009. The audio didn't work out very well so I put in subtitles, sorry about that. Please leave a comment and rate the video as well!

Oh and if you're wondering, I play Homer in the video. The other instructor, Josh, plays the guy who says Qapla at the end.

--D. Zew

So as I write this... I'm watching "The Hunt for Red October". And I just finished watching "U-571". What is the common denominator? That's right! You guessed it...

SUBMARINES!!!

I'm having a bit of submarine craze today and I decided to watch the only two submarine movies I own today. Maybe soon I'll watch "K-19: The Widowmaker". All three of the ones I've named are really good but the best part of any of them is Sean Connery. **SEAN CONNERY ACCENT**: Deshpite the fact that he only appearsh in one of the moviesh.

What are your favorite submarine movies? Should I rent any ones that I haven't mentioned? I mean, if I'm going submarine crazy... I ought to go the whole way!

-- Darth