I'm a Cyborg, but that's okay

Film watched:

I'm a Cyborg, But That's Okay

Glorious, but ultimately meandering and slightly disappointing from Park Chan-Wook

6/10

E3 2008 predictions

Ok, it’s only just over a month until E3 2008 and as such, I thought I’d throw in a few early predictions for what will be shown at the show by the 3 big players in the console market. This is based on rumour, speculation and my very own guesswork:

Microsoft
I don’t tend to follow much Microsoft news (not owning one of there consoles), but I’ll still take a stab at a few predictions:

* Microsoft will announce a new motion sensitive controller (which looks suspiciously like the wiimote) together with various games which support this. This will be packed with the Arcade pack of the 360 to undercut the Wii. Everyone points at the 360 and accuses them of copying, which Microsoft utterly ignores.

* Microsoft will announce a blu-ray add on drive to the 360.

* Halo 4 is announced, but no real footage is shown (maybe just a teaser). A big deal is made of Halo Wars.

* A bevy (god I love that word) of casual games are revealed in order to attract the same audience which has been wooed by the Wii.

* Microsoft announces (again) that they have won this generation of the console war. Everyone else points to the Wii and reminds them that they are being soundly thrashed by the little white box.

* Microsoft announce that they are entering the handheld scene and unveil a handheld equivalent of the X-Box to compete against the PSP and DS.

Sony
I don’t actually expect that much in the way of surprise announcements from the PS3, as they have already shown there hand a little early. However, this will likely be the new info from the show floor:

* Bigger showing of Resistance 2 (of which the multiplayer with be a big highlight) and Killzone 2

* Yet another SKU of the PS3 is announced.

* A teaser for God of War 3 is shown (whilst I try to stifle a yawn).

* A final release date is given for Home.

* In game XMB is announced (if it hasn’t been released prior to E3).

* A sequel to Uncharted is shown.

* Heavy Rain is shown in full for the first time and stuns pretty much everyone.

* The next game from Team ICO is shown and I (and other fanatics) go completely crazy in anticipation.

* We finally get to see some in-game footage for Final Fantasy XIII, but get told that it’s been delayed until 2010.

Nintendo
There has been very little news from Nintendo of late in the way of first party releases and as such, I believe that Nintendo may well have a good few surprises in store:

* Nintendo will bang on and on about how well they are doing and how they are bringing a new audience to gaming.

* The new game that gets the must attention during the press conference will be Wii Music.

* Animal Crossing for the Wii will be revealed for the first time.

* A new 1080 game will be announced for the Wii, which uses the Wii Balance Board.

* A multiplayer only Metroid FPS is announced for the Wii. Similar to Metroid Prime Hunters on the DS, but obviously on the Wii and making good use of the Wiimote.

* A Nintendogs game is unveiled for the Wii (come on – this will just print money).

* Different colour Wii’s will be announced.

* A new (new) Mario Bros game will be announced for the DS.

* Either a USB flash drive or a hard drive is announced for the Wii (God know we need it).

* Possibly a new Cel shaded Zelda for the DS is announced – following on from Phantom Hourglass.


Also… Still game related, just had to add that it is just 1 week until MGS4 :)

I Am Legend

Films watched:

I Am Legend


Theatrical version
Not the I am Legend I ordered… poor ending!
5.5/10

Alternative version
Not a true adaptation, but not too bad. Better ending.
7/10

Okay, I have to add a few more words to this.

I Am Legend is one of my favourite books of all time, along with Day of the Triffids and 1984, so I was bound to be critical of this latest movie adaptation (it has also been made twice previously, both poorly). I was however, actually a little surprised to find that I didn’t completely hate it. It differs a lot from the book, but keeps a good few of the themes intact. I couldn’t help but feel that this would have benefited by keeping closer to the novel and also by keeping a lower budget with less big name stars.

What really irks however is that it is quite clear from watching the film that the alternative version (which really is just a different ending) was the original cut, which was likely changed after initial screenings (likely to a group of American kids). The original ending is actually closer in some respect to the book, although a lot less powerful. It also makes a lot more sense than the theatrical version, which really is nothing more than a stupid typical Hollywood ending.

What I have said in the past about this is that I Am Legend is called I Am Legend for a damn good reason… The book is simply fantastic and turns the whole story on it’s head in the last two chapters, whilst also explaining the proper significance of the title. The film (both versions) never properly explains this. The theatrical version tries and makes a botch job of it.

Really, is it that hard to make a proper adaptation of this fantastic novel? Maybe there will be a forth attempt sometime in the future, you never know…

Also, why the hell not just call the mutants vampires… that’s what they are after all!

Indy and Ironman

Films watched:
Ironman

Great, but gets lost once Ironman mark 2 is finalised.

7.5/10

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull


Still Indy, but a weak Indy. Certainly no Raiders.

7/10

I’m going to bend my rule a little by adding a few comments about Indiana Jones.

It has to be said that I’d probably put the film on par with Temple of Doom, which is to say that it is good, but far from great. Indy 4 had plenty going for it, and it certainly had some great Indy moments, but it also had some really, really dumb moments. It reminds me a bit of the really dumb moments in Temple, such as falling out of a plane and surviving by landing in an inflatable dingy…. Without spoiling much, I will list the moments below and my general thoughts.

1) Fridge… Funny, but oh so very, very stupid. Bending believability so much that it snaps in a dozen or more places.

2) Monkey and Vines… Probably the lowest point in the whole film for me… really, who thought this was a good idea?

3) Marion’s shortcut… Come on now, what is this, a cartoon?

PixelJunk Eden - interesting!

This looks really quite interesting...

May have to get in due course.

(video removed - as it was annoying me)

From Crackle: PixelJunk Eden walkthrough

GTA IV - Complete

Yep - finished the main story missions, which is well timed as I'm off on holiday from tomorrow and will be away in the UK. I had hoped to finish the game before the release of MGS4 on 12 June.

Anyway, a few stats:

67.08% of the game complete

40:12:04 - Time played

747 - people killed.

What a game :)

The news I've been waiting for...

Bioshock is official coming out on the PS3 and is due by the end of the year....

:)

That will be on my birthday / Christmas list then...

Link

Three 2, Planet Terror, and where’s Snake.

Films watched:
Three Extremes 2

Inferior collection of short films, original was far better.

Film 1: Memories 6/10
Film 2: The Wheel 3/10
Film 3: Going Home 4.5/10

Planet Terror

Bats**t bonkers b-movie pretender. Go-go girls, zombies and gore.

8/10

I popped into HMV the other day and put a pre-order down for Metal Gear Solid 4, which after all is out in just over 3 weeks. I was surprised that the member of staff didn’t seem to know what the game was and had to look though her computer system for a minute before placing the pre-order. It then occurred to me that unlike the likes of GTA4, Wiifit, Rock Band etc., MGS4 has not been advertised at all in the shop.

Now I don’t tend to watch much in the TV these days, but it also occurs to me that I haven’t seen any other advertising for MGS4. Sure there have been articles in magazines a plenty, but nothing that would seem to reach out to a wider audience.

Now it could just be that the advertising will likely kick in soon, say a week or so before release, but if not this is utter madness. MGS4 is without a doubt the biggest exclusive game due out in 2008 for the PS3 and Sony should be shouting this from the rooftops. There should be offers in shops, the bundle being advertised ahead of release and just about everything to get the name of MGS4 out there in the wider domain. This should be advertised on a similar level as a summer blockbuster action movie.

If the online sign up for the MGO beta is an indication, then there is certainly a high level of interest out there for MGS4, but this is just the audience out there who would be buying it no matter what. Sony needs to attract more people to the PS3 and MGS4 should be the game to do this.

It also occurs to me that this is the first time in a Metal Gear game that you’ll be able to play as Solid Snake, since the prologue of Metal Gear Solid 2!

Everyone seems to go on and on about GTA4 these days… how many perfect 10/10 reviews has it had now? Whilst I will admit that GTA4 is a great game (not perfect, but great), MGS4 on the other hand, WILL BE EPIC! :)

No More Heroes

A few weeks ago during a conversation with a friend, he pointed out that I mainly enjoy franchise games, namely all the game I tend to buy are game which are part of a franchise.

This is such as:

Final Fantasy series
Metal Gear series
Mario series
Zelda series

Etc etc…

As such I took a look at the games that I was likely getting for the remainder of the year and found that the majority of these are sequels of some sort (the only exception being Little Big Planet and possibly Mirrors Edge)

Now I’d like to think that the reason that I like franchise games is that they are all genuinely good franchises, which do not churn out the same game again and again on a yearly basis (FIFA and Tony Hawk, I’m looking at you), but all the same it made me think that I should probably give something out of my comfort zone a little bit of a chance.

As such, I bought No More Heroes the other day (Amazon had it at a reasonable £21.00) and had a quick go of this last night. It is clearly bonkers… but then again I wouldn’t expect anything less from the creators of Killer 7. Unfortunately I haven’t got a great amount of time to play it much at present as I’m trying to make my way through GTA4 before the release of MGS4 on 12 June – but all the same, I plan to put aside some time to enjoy this oddly unique game.

Wiiware

Nintendo have just released the list of the Wiiware games due for the release of the service on 20 May (just one week away).

The list is surprisingly different to the launch list in Japan and America and is as follow:

• Dr. Mario & Germ Buster (Nintendo, Puzzle, 1–4 players, 3+ PEGI)
• Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King (Square Enix, Simulation, 1 player, 7+)
• LostWinds (Frontier, Platform Adventure, 1–2 players, 7+)
• Pirates: The Key of Dreams (Oxygen Interactive, Action, 1-4 players, 3+)
• Pop (Nnooo, Puzzle/Shooter, 1-4 players, 3+)
• Star Soldier R (Hudson Soft, Shooter, 1 player, 7+)
• Toki Tori (Two Tribes, Puzzle / Platform, 1–2 players, 3+)
• TV Show King (Gameloft, Trivia, TV Quiz, 1–4 players, 3+)

I will likely be getting LostWinds from the above and at some stage Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King (although not initially as I do not have enough time to play it at present).

There are also a couple of other games due out on Wiiware that I am interested in, namely Eternity’s Child and World of Goo, neither of which are on the launch list, but are hopefully due in the future. In addition to this there is also the Sam and Max game due later this year which is a must buy.

My only concern, which looking online is also shared, is that that the 512mb flash memory of the Wii will fill up at an alarming rate. I know that you can swap games back and forth between a SD card, but this is cumbersome way to manage your games. I’m betting that come E3 nintendo are going to announce a hard drive for the Wii, or maybe more likely a USB flash memory drive from which you can play Wiiware games.

Anyway, it’s good to see some original downloadable games coming to the Wii…

Black Book and Dark Knight

Film watched:

The Black Book

Old fashioned, but slightly steamy Dutch WWII espionage thriller

7.5/10

If you liked Batman Begins and are looking forward to The Dark Knight... You really do need to watch the second trailer...

Right here

Is it me, or did we just get our first glimpse of Two Face?

GTA IV

I’ve been meaning to blog about GTA IV for a couple of day now, but have been to busy. Even now, I just thought I’d jot down a few things…

First off…This is GTA through and through, there is no revolution here, the structure, gameplay and style is still very similar to GTA3. For anyone who didn’t like the previous games, they sure as hell won’t like this.

What GTA IV does is blind you with details. No other game out there has had so much crammed into it, this has the effect of bringing Liberty City to life, which is simply fantastic. You can waste a huge amount of time just cruising around, or watching TV in your apartment or browsing the internet. The attention to detail in the game is great, but this can only be appreciated more and more as you play the game.

I’ve noticed that GTA IV has been getting a slew of 10/10 review scores, and whilst this is great, I think that the game is being overhyped a little as the second coming. It isn’t, it has a ton a faults, but at the same time these can be easily ignored so long as you are enjoying the game. As started above, it isn’t a revolution, but more of an evolution to the series, but all the same, great fun.

I’ll give you two examples of things that I did last night.

1) Whilst leaving the internet café TW@ I bumped into a woman carrying a paper mug of coffee. She stumbled and dropped the mug to the ground. After mouthing off at me she started to walk away. As such, I picked up the mug of coffee from the pavement and proceeded to throw it at her. Hitting her directly on the back of the head and sending her sprawling on the floor. Unfortunately this annoyed a nearby policeman, and I was forced to make a quick exit from the scene.

2) My cousin phoned me and asked me if I wanted to have a game of bowling. I proceeded to steal a motorbike and picked him up. We rode to the bowling ally and enjoyed a few games, then on the way home we stopped off at a bar.

Before going into the bar he mentioned how the bar always reminded him of a colleague that we’d previously knew, who had died recently.

When we left the bar we were both utterly drunk and were stumbling all over the road. My vision was a mess and I could barely see where I was walking, but I managed to make my way back to my stolen bike, and my cousin also jumped on the back. Unfortunately a police car was passing at this point and saw us in this drunken state starting up the motorbike. Suddenly sirens started as the car began to give chase. I rode through the city, barely able to see where I was going, with my vision jumping around like I was on a cruise ship in a typhoon, whilst trying to evade the police.

I somehow found myself in a park and my cousin in his drunken state was babbling on about his childhood and really starting to annoy me, but somehow I manage to avoid the police. As such, I turned around and headed back to my cousins business premises to drop him off. On the way home (my vision still a mess), we crashed into a truck and went flying off the bike. We both laughed it off and got back onto the bike, ignoring the truckers shouts of protest and I dropped him to his business.

Just before getting home, I stopped off at a hot dog stand and grabbed a snack, before turning in for the night to sleep off my hangover.

It has to be said that both of the above were not missions in the game, just things that happened during the course of normal play. It is for this reason that GTA IV is a fantastic game.

Wii Fit, MK Wii abd MGO

Games Played:
Metal Gear Online

The beta of this game finally came online on Friday (and I had the afternoon off after buying Wii Fit).

It has so far proven my main concern about the game. Whilst the Metal Gear Solid controls are fine in a single player game, in a multiplayer they feel overly complex and not very intuitive. Most of the games that I have played so far I have not felt in sufficient control of my character (Bazlurgan – surprise, surprise – btw).

I have, however been surprised at how well the game has been playing, considering the difficulties on getting it up and running in the first place.

I will persevere with it, but I don’t think that it will have the same multiplayer pull of the likes of COD4, Warhawk and Resistance.

Mario Kart Wii

I have now completed the game on every mode possible, 50cc, 100cc, 150cc and mirror. I have also beaten the Nintendo ghost records on every track and unlocked all but one of the characters and almost all of the vehicles. I just need to get a star rank on every circuit now, and hopefully I should be able to do this in the not too distant future.

My unbroken record online was broken the other day, but I have still be winning that majority of races and my online score is currently at around 8000 (it starts at 5000 and goes up or down depending on wins)

Overall, I’m still loving the game. I would even go on to say that it may even be the best Mario Kart to date. The only thing that lest it down is the online battle mode, which is lacking, with overly large areas and just a team deathmatch mode. Online racing on the other hand, is a blast.

Wii Fit

Nintendo are going to make a fortune with this. I predict that in America this is just going to sell and sell and sell.

The presentation of the game is great and it works in a similar fashion to Brain Age, but obviously keeps a track of your weight, BMI and Wii Fit age.

This, similar to Wii Sports, is the sort of game which you could easily cheat on, but by doing this you miss the whole point of the affair. In effect this is not too dissimilar to the type of fitness DVD’s you can pick up anywhere, the difference being that you get feedback from Wii Fit. In Wii Fit, if you are doing well, your trainer will tell you, similarly if you screw up, your trainer will point this out and give a few helpful tips.

What you get out of this, largely depends on the time and effort you put into it.

Both Roz and Elliot have also had a go, and both seem to also enjoy it, and I can see that Wii Fit will likely become a big family game for many households around Europe.

Overall, I’ve been very impressed.

On a side note, I’ve just discovered that I’m terrible at snowboarding… However, this doesn’t stop the fact that Nintendo should definitely think about bringing out an updated 1080 for the balance board,

MK god-like, Lovefilm & MGO beta

I think I may have attained a God like status on Mario Kart…

On Friday evening I had a go online and ended up playing 12 races in total. I was surprised when I won not just the first game, but the second, third, forth etc. It got to the point that I was telling myself that I would keep on playing until I didn’t get first place. Eventually I gave up after 12 games, not because I didn’t become first, just because I was starting to feel guilty for winning all the time.

On Saturday I had another go. 5 Races, 5 1st places…

On Sunday evening I had a go again. 6 races, 6 1st places…

So, by my count that is 23 races where I have attained nothing short of 1st place! These races have also been largely full games, comprising of 8-12 players, also whilst not everyone I have raced against have been ranked as high as me, there have been some which are of a similar ranking. It also has to be said that I haven’t completely aced every race (i.e. I haven’t been miles ahead all the time), there have also been some very close races, where I have edged ahead at the very end

My conclusion?

Me + Mario Kart Wii + online = very good.

As can be seen from my blog, I have been watching a fair few films recently, all of which I have not see previously and as such have been reviewed here. Instead of buying tons of DVD’s as I’ve done in the past, instead I have joined Lovefilm.

So far I have found them to be very good and very fairly priced. They are slightly different to a normal DVD rental establishment in that you don’t choose the exact DVD that you want to rent. Instead you create a list of films that you would like to see and rank them by priority and they then send you these films as and when they are available. This is perfect for me as I have numerous films, both old and new, which I would like to see, but for some reason or another have not got around to watching. At present I have 34 titles on my list and can have up to 3 DVD’s a month at just £5.99 a month.

Over the weekend I have signed up for the Metal Gear Online beta. So far this has been a far from easy experience. The initial download of the beta wasn’t bad, but the patch took forever to download (had to keep it going overnight on a peer to peer network). Following that I needed to obtain both a Konami ID and also a game ID before I could play. The website was so busy, however, that these were a struggle to obtain.

I have now just found out that the beta has been delayed. It was meant to start today but has now been pushed back a day or two… Darn, I was really looking forward to having a go tonight!

Scanner & Bourne

Films watched:
The Bourne Ultimatum

Jerky camerawork aside, a gripping and entertaining thriller.

7.5/10

A Scanner Darkly

Animated drug fuelled sci-fi drama. Odd but slightly engaging.

6/10