Wii advert & Medusa

Just saw my first Wii advert on TV before (please bear in mind, I do not watch much TV). Only just over a week to go now. I’m a little concerned by the news of a huge demand for the Wii in Europe, but hopefully since I preordered early, I should get one on launch. Also I’m a little concerned that component cables may be hard to get hold of from day one. In America they are currently selling for $150+, Luckily I have 3 sets of cables preordered from 3 separate places – including Hong Kong (I was expecting high demand).

I really, really must play Zelda in all its 480p glory…

I really am very sad…

I really don’t care…

Film watched:
The Medusa Touch
A DVD that I got for my birthday and a great horror film from the late 70’s. I can’t believe it’s just a PG. I know that there’s next to no blood, sex or violence in the film, but jeez, it’s still a little scary!

What surprised me watching the DVD was the quality of the print… It’s fantastic. Taken from a newly remastered HD print, it’s better quality than most current DVD’s film in the last 2 years. Really rather spectacular.

I remember this film gave me nightmares after watching it when I was younger – hopefully the same won’t happen again tonight.

8/10

Console Wars and Bond

Well this last weekend has seen the release (in the US at least) of the PS3 on Friday and the Wii on Sunday and so to mark this occasion, in the voice of Yoda, I have five words to utter…

Begun the console wars have

Film watched:
Casino Royale

An apt sub-title for this should be “Bond Begins”, because in much the same way that Batman Begins was a reboot of the Batman franchise, Casino Royale is a much needed reboot of the Bond franchise.

As much as I love Bond films, and as much as I enjoyed Pierce Brosnon, it got to the point during Die Another Day, that the Bond films were almost as silly as the bond parodies (I’m thinking Austin Powers and the like). As such, Casino Royale is back to basics, with no over the top effect, no gadgets or plans or world domination. In fact a large portion of the film is based around the poker table.

Stand out moments for me are the chase through a construction site and the torture scene.

Daniel Craig does a fine job as Bond, he may lack the charisma of Brosnan, but instead has a more rugged charm, similar in some respect to Connery. As Bond’s go he’d pretty damn ruthless and also, definitely not invulnerable (I pity his balls, I really do).

My main complain would be the finale in Venice was a bit of a let down, especially if on a pure action level, it is compared to the opening chase.

Overall, a good solid Bond film, but not up there with the best of them yet.

7.5/10

Expert opinion?

Want an experts opinion on which controller is best, namely PS3, XBox360 or Wii?????

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Take a look!

Presents & The Departed

I received a plethora of presents for my birthday – of which I was very grateful, including:

A variety of DVD’s: Vengeance Trilogy, X-Men 3 & Imagine
Disgaea 2 for PS2
Numerous (mainly Beatles related) CD’s
And a selection of John Wyndham books.

On my birthday I watched Oldboy (again). It really is a startling film, which reminds me in many ways in both style and content to French cinema, rather than Asian cinema, most of all the films of Jean-Pierre Jeunet. The sad thing is that although the film is by far the best film that I have seen in recent years, and blow Hollywood films out of the water, I know that it will only be seen by a handful of people and of those that do watch it only a few will “get” it in the same way that I “get” it. I know I’m not making much sense, but what the hell.

Games played:
Disgaea 2
This is exactly the type of game that I absolutely love (that and Advance wars). Something that relies on your brain rather than pure reflexes. If only something like this came out on the DS, portable SRPG’s would just be fantastic.

The graphics in the game are frankly rubbish, but then again, Disgaea has never been about graphics, it’s always been about absorbing and highly complex strategic play (with a dash of humour), and it has this in abundance. It’s a shame the most of the characters from the first game are not present, although it would seem that Etna will be making an appearance at least in the not too distant future.

Roll on Disgaea 3 (pretty please)

Film watched:
The Departed
I had very high hopes for this film, being a big fan of Martin Scorses films, especially Goodfella’s and the thought of another gangster related film was just to good to miss.

I have to say, however, that I was very disappointed. Apart from great performances by Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio and an interesting first half, there is little to recommend. In fact, the ending just fell a little flat and at times, the violence in the film just felt like violence for violence sake, i.e. to try to outdo Goodfella’s.

6.5/10

Ho hum

I realise that I haven’t blogged in days – lots of things have happened, it being my birthday and all.

I had planned on writing a long blog, but just don’t have the motivation at the moment.

Ho hum and all that…

Wii Launch line up & bikeless!

Haven’t posted for a bit…. I’m sure that I should have tons to say, but it slips my mind at present (that’ll be the Jack Daniels at work)

Anyway, I though I’d mention that I got hit by a car whilst on my bike at the end of last week. Some idiot who doesn’t understand the principals of yellow lines…. complex, I know. Anyway, he was going slow and so was I and as such, the collision wasn’t too bad. A slight scrape to my arm and a hip which still aches, but apart from that, fine. My bike on the other hand, didn’t end up so well. It’s currently in for repairs and as such I’ve been driving to work this week.

I must say, that I’ve been finding that I’ve been getting ever so annoyed with the traffic at peak times, something that never really bothered me before. I guess I’m just used to the more casual and peaceful journey on bike to and from work!

Nintendo have revealed the release games and also the virtual console games for the Wii launch. These are (source N-Europe)

Wii Launch lineup (all available December 8th):
Wii Sports Bundle (Including the Wii console and Wii Sports - Tennis, Golf, Boxing, Baseball and Bowling)
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Wii Play (including Wii Remote)
Call of Duty 3 (Activision)
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (Activision)
Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam(Activision)
Madden NFL 07 (EA)
Need For Speed Carbon (EA)
Happy Feet (Midway Games)
Rampage: Total Destruction (Midway Games)
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz (Sega)
Gottlieb Pinball Classics (System 3)
Super Fruit Fall (System 3)
Disney/ Pixar Cars (THQ)
Barnyard (THQ)
Spongebob Squarepants: Creature from the Krusty Krab (THQ)
Blazing Angels Squadrons of WW II (Ubisoft)
Far Cry Vengeance (Ubisoft)
GT Pro Series (Ubisoft)
Monster 4x4 World Circuit (Ubisoft)
Open Season (Ubisoft)
Rayman Raving Rabbids (Ubisoft)
Red Steel (Ubisoft)
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Double Agent (Ubisoft)

Of these I’ll be getting: Wii Sports (obviously), Zelda (duh – of course), Wii Play, Monkey Ball and possibly Red Steel. I have Rayman earmarked for Christmas.

I’m a little disappointed that WarioWare and Excite Truck weren’t available for launch, but then again it’s probably best to space games out a bit…

Virtual console:

NES:Baseball, Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., Ice Hockey, Mario Bros., Pinball, Soccer, Solomon's Key (Tecmo), Tennis, The Legend of Zelda, Urban Champion, Wario's Woods
SNES:Donkey Kong Country, F-Zero, SimCity
N64:Super Mario 64
SEGA MEGA DRIVE:Sonic the Hedgehog, Altered Beast, Golden Axe, Columns, Gunstar Heroes, Ecco the Dolphin, Space Harrier II, Toe Jam & Earl, Ristar, Dr. Robotonik’s Mean Bean Machine

I’m a little disappointed by the selection. There aren’t a great deal of “old” games that I was hoping for available initially. Hopefully these will come in due course. I must admit that I am tempted to get Gunstar Heroes, however, as I have heard great things about this (being a treasure game and all) and have never had the change to play this.