Monday, December 28, 2009

Tech Review: Windows 7 Ultimate


Hey guys, it's rare I do a tech review on this site but for once I have something to contribute in this area. Two weeks ago I had nabbed a copy of Windows 7 Ultimate for sixteen dollars as a student of Stony Brook University. Lucky me.

I'll be honest, my computer is not 100 percent compatible with Windows 7. I may have a wonderfully working NVIDIA 8800M GTS Graphics Card, but it doesn't quite work with some of the media and visual features of Windows 7. I am also not tech savvy, so some features have gone unused and I am basically going for a performance review.

I own a Gateway P series FX with a 250 GB hard drive, 3 GB of Memory RAM, and a miserable 1.66 GHz Intel Core Two Duo Processor. So on the processing side my computer might seem weak, but it turns out that it worked well with Vista Premium and works FANTASTIC with Windows 7.

With Vista Premium, page loading time on Google Chrome took two point seven seconds on average. With Windows 7, it takes one point four seconds. That, is a very big speed increase, and my computer scored big on the windows index test.

Granted be, the thing scores one out of seven because my Gateway laptop lacks video capabilities for some of the features. But if you take the video parts out of this loophole for the scoring, my computer scores a four point five out of seven. On Vista, my computer had scored a five point five out of ten. So scoring four point five out of seven is very very good, the performance of this computer with Windows Seven is remarkable. The CPU meter shows only a fourteen percent use of my CPU and twenty percent of my memory. Vista used a little more than twice as much for both, so my computer is literally on steroids with Windows 7.

In terms of compatibility I will say this, update your drivers because video and audio seemed a bit clunky until I went to the Gateway website and re-downloaded them (With the help of fellow author Mark). Programs that worked for Vista WILL work for Windows 7, but my Adobe Premier Elements Four program is not working correctly. I bought that in December 2007, so it could be too old to use. It might be that my project was done in Vista and I just have to start over too. Every other program converted to Windows 7 just fine.

Power management has many customizable features. Be a bit careful in this area because it allows control of cooling, cut offs for hard disk and battery level, and yet it doesn't have the screen brightness settings available in Power Management. I messed up the first time doing the settings, and had a weird result. Keep tabs on how your power management behaves and adjust it occasionally. There isn't MUCH of a battery life improvement, but it certainly can be lengthened in this version of Windows better than Vista.

Unlike Windows Vista, the bottom icons fit all the different windows into one icon on the task bar instead of mashing together in seven to eight different three inch windows just for Google Chrome. This provided much less hassle for me, and I also have an easier time limiting the amount of icons on the task bar that can provide notifications for its program.

Having heaped all this praise, it was a pain to put on and I don't recommend it for two year old computers, Windows Vista was not so bad. I kind of wish I had stayed with Vista since my Adobe editing program doesn't work that great with Windows 7 for an unexplained reason other than it could be too old. If you are so inclined to do it anyway like I did, you will have a decent upgrade of power on your computer.

Remember, I am no expert on tech. I merely did this because it was such a bargain to go from Vista Premium to Windows 7 Ultimate for sixteen dollars. I applaud Microsoft for their latest Operating System.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Merry Christmas to all


As we approach a treasured holiday, everyone here at Geeksquisite is busy wrapping gifts and preparing for the holiday. So please excuse our lack of posting in general, we will be back to report on the world of gaming the day after Christmas.

This is Geeksquisite's first christmas, and I am thankful to be a part of this contributing team.

We will absolutely do our best to have a podcast for all you listeners next week on Avatar the movie.

We apologize for our lack of posting, but stress the importance of our work in the outside world pressuring us towards the November/December months.

Once again, thank you our readers for taking a minute to read our thoughts in the world of gaming.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

FUCK MOTHER NATURE: AVATAR SO CLOSE YET SO FAR

Sorry I haven't posted in quite a while do to college craziness. I feel like i have something to say though. FUCK MOTHER NATURE!!! I should be sitting in a warm toasty screening of Avatar in IMAX as we speak the trailers are about to roll. And guess what I'm sitting at home typing this up instead. The snow has played some wicked tricks on me before but this is just cruel. It couldn't blizzard when New Moon came out or when Alvin and the Chipmunks hit theaters but on the FUCKING OPENING WEEKEND OF AVATAR. I'm so miserable right now that it hurts. I have in my hands 3 beautiful IMAX tickets for the epic 14 years in the making world changing AVATAR and i'm typing this. That is All.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Iron Man 2 Trailer

The Movie Blog recently put up this Iron Man 2 trailer, speaking of which I am glad that site will still exist even without John Campea. Anyway, here's the trailer:



At first the trailer was great until Whiplash started his monolouge, where I couldn't understand Mickey Rourke and had to replay it.

Otherwise, this trailer is sick. I finally got to see Rhodes in his War Machine costume, and damn did he look good. I also thought Whiplash looked cool and menacing, despite my earlier comment about being unable to understand him at first. Swing those whips!

There wasn't too much on the Scarlet Widow, but Johannson will probably do great. I did find the fact that Tony Stark disrobed his Ironman armor on stage in front of everyone kind of weird. In the beginning a court demands that Tony Stark hands over the Ironman technology, so wouldn't he want to avoid keeping it under a stage.

That's a nitpick, so don't think about it too hard unless the movie overlooks that fact when we all get to see it.

I have to wonder how Whiplash could figure out the Ironman technology for the power source, i'm sure the film will explain that too.

I'm looking forward to this movie VERY VERY MUCH, it could even be better than the first.

Halo Reach Trailer Impressions

It's long overdue, but I felt that better quality videos of this trailer needed to seed youtube before I actually posted one. So before you even consider my opinions on this matter, check out the trailer:



When viewing this trailer, I was pretty excited. The graphics/visuals are good, and Bungie stressed the importance of the cinematic scenes being on the in-game graphics capabilities. Good idea Bungie.

Visuals are all nice and everything, but among the ODST soldiers I did not see a single Spartan. True, Spartans like to act alone but seeing one would have been nice. Having said that, the encounters with the characters were entertaining at the very least. I noticed how different each ODST was dressed, i'm a fan of more customization for your character during online matches.

(rant)The helicopters in the trailer excited me, but for a different reason. Many Halo fans wish to drive the pelican, but i'm willing to forgo this in favor of aerial firing. It would be really satisfying to have a mission, where thousands of covenant litter a valley. Your Spartan/ODST would have to "spray" the field, then get down there and finish all of the rest. That is wishful thinking by me, and merely a rant.

For the most part the trailer was good, but there are clearly dissenting people who think the trailer was nothing special. Sure I would like to see gameplay, but it's quite unnecessary since we are getting a beta in Spring 2010 (at least that is what I have heard).

The Halo franchise brought me into gaming, Halo: Combat Evolved was the very first game I played on Xbox. So this early adoption of the Halo franchise makes me biased in many ways, and I get into arguments regarding Halo 3 and Halo: ODST many many times. Halo Reach is going back to the beginning of the fight, the brutes that dominated Halo 3 don't work with the covenant quite yet. So we're going to get more elite combat action, something I feel the lack of made Halo 3 and Halo: ODST disappointing.

So maybe the franchise has fallen in popularity with some, but would gamers truly consider a Bungie made game bad? No, they are a company who has made good games. We can hope Halo Reach is truly magnificent as a game, but we need to calm down when analyzing the trailer. It is just a trailer.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Ed's Top Five Recommended Christmas Specials


Christmas is upon us, and one of the things we love about the holiday is the barrage of Christmas special movies. Christmas specials are entwined within our hearts and part of memories with our familes, a tradition we pass along to our future families. So many movies around the sentimentality of Christmas are made, and here are five I hold in high regard

1. A Christmas Story
Did you honestly believe I wouldn't put this movie first? Not only is it highly regarded but it has some really genuine moments we can all relate to. The narration is SO good in this movie, and it even has some good laughs. The blatantly unrealistic moments in Ralphie's imagination when he has his BB gun are priceless to watch.

2. How the Grinch Stole Christmas
The live action one with Jim Carrey is crap, it seriously fails in it's cheap gags to even be close to sentimental. The animated 1966 movie however is a classic. It's a perfect movie for those trying to find the Christmas spirit, even when it seems the Grinch is going to steal Christmas; the Whos prove him wrong. There's something magical about the singing of "Fahoo Forays" that really gets to me every time I watch it.

3. Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer
Everyone knows who Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is, he's in songs and he is in movies. his movie is his origin story of Rudolph and a story of his unintended journey to save Christmas. The musical numbers are pretty entertaining, especially the "Misfits" bit. Burl Ives, a man known for his timeless Christmas numbers narrates this timeless adventure.

4. Olive the Other Reindeer
This movie is not as high on the list for most people, but I personally recommend it. It seems to be my favorite one for some reason, maybe its because the drive of Olive the Dog is mishearing that Santa needed all of the other reindeer, which she heard as Olive, the Other Reindeer. That is a good chuckle that will stay with you throughout the whole movie. While the animation is nothing spectacular, the imagination of the animators as Santa delivers gifts around the world is pretty entertaining.

5. A Charlie Brown Christmas
Always been a Peanuts fan, really enjoyed their take on Christmas. Fans of the Peanuts gang debate over Charlie Brown and his redeeming values, many viewers will say "good grief" in this Christmas special. This movie even with all the issues of Christmas still holds true to the meaning of Christmas. Regardless of difficulties at Christmas, the arrival of the holiday brings peace in your heart and a willingness to stand together to enjoy the holiday. Nothing says that more than the touching way this film progresses and ends.

So those are my top five Christmas specials, some are typical and some will not appeal to you as much as others. That is completely fine, in the end its all about the magic, hope, heart and meaning of the upcoming wonderful holiday.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

We Bought Modern Warfare 2

Wow! Big surprise here, we all bought Modern Warfare 2 on release day.
We also caught it all on camera! Watch all of the drama and action of our night, along with some interesting conversations about the game.



Saturday, December 5, 2009

trailers of the Month: November 2009



ED's Pick's

Clash of the Titans Trailer

Looks promising, Leterrier showed us his abilities with The Incredible Hulk. A remake of this movie has MUCH to gain from advances in technology to make a classic like this all the more sweeter.

How To Train your Dragon Trailer

Dragons are awesome. I said the same thing when I was excited to see Eragon, but that ended up being terrible. However, I am a fan of Chris Sanders and what he has done in animation. To me he was one of the biggest losses for Disney, and the only time I’ve ever been mad at John Lasseter.

Grown ups Trailer

Dennis Dugan has made some real crappy movies for Happy Madison, named after its two best movies. However, I laughed quite a bit from this trailer and perhaps this movie will put Happy Madison comedies back on the map.

Beastly Trailer

I read the book and personally know the author. The teaser for this is much darker than the book’s tone, which is a good thing. As one of her first fans, it’s cool to see one of Alex Flinn’s stories being made into a movie.

Extraordinary Measures Trailer

Based on a true story, John Crowley takes a gamble to save the lives of his kids. To do this he sacrifices to fund the theoretical breakthrough of Harrison Ford’s eccentric character. Good premise, True Story, is it done well? We’ll see.

TJ's Picks

kick-ass Trailer

I'll save you the play on words of Kick-Ass is Kick-Ass by just saying this trailer is fucking epic. With the over saturation of superhero flicks over about the last 10 years or so I think we are finally seeing the end. This film pretty marks the "Shaun of the Dead" of the genre. Then again zombie movies still get made but post Shaun movies have had a very different vibe. So maybe superhero films with get that same sort of vibe. We'll see but either way I think we are in for a Kick-Assing good time. Sorry I couldn't help myself.

how to train your dragon Trailer

I saw this in 3D when I saw Jim Carrey's Christmas Carol and it just looked like a ton of fun. Dreamworks has really stepped up. There were a few crappy years but after Kung Fu Panda the films seem to be getting better and better. I can't wait to see this, maybe even more then Toy Story 3? Shhh don't tell anyone, it will be our little secret.

clash of the titans Trailer

It's not a great trailer by any means. The song doesn't fit the tone and the clips are terribly edited together. But there's giant scorpions, greek gods, and an up and coming action start Sam Worthington. I'm very interested and will have a better opinion when a full trailer is released.

salt Trailer

Cross Wanted and Mr. and Mrs. Smith and what do you get? Salt, at least thats what they are trying to make it seem like from the trailer. I didn't love either of those films although I do enjoy watching Wanted. But I really liked Angelina Jolie in both films. This will be one of the more interesting films to watch jsut because as far as I know it's a original new franchise which is rare this day. Although what do I know I could jsut go look on google and find out it's a book or a graphic novel buy then I'd be actually trying and no one needs that.

prince of persia: the sands of time Trailer

Bad trailer, Bad accent, Bad Acting, a white guy playing a persian, Ben Kinsley, Jerry Bruckhiemer, Video game adaptation, convoluted story, alright I think you get the point. There shouldn't be any reason to have this on my list. But I like dumb action movies and everything above leads to the conclusion that this will be a dumb action movie.

Note: I didn't watch Extraordinary Measures until after this post was written but it's dam good and would have made number 3 on my list if I saw it before this post.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Music Review: "For Your Entertainment" by Adam Lambert


Adam Lambert, the runner-up from the last season of our favorite singing talent competition American Idol, has recently released his debut album "For Your Entertainment" I recently had a chance to sit down and listen to it, and it has a very diverse sound to it. I think the only way to really review this album, or come to think of it, any album is track-by-track. I've also included a 30-second preview for each track.

1. "Music Again" - 4 out of 5
PREVIEW
The album begins with a slightly pop-rock track with elements of No Doubt, Queen, Bon Jovi, and upbeat techno. As odd as that sounds, somehow he manages to pull it off, and create a fun, and quite enjoyable song. He even throws in a short little guitar solo in the middle.

2. "For Your Entertainment" - 2 out of 5
PREVIEW
The title track for the album combines elements of modern hip hop, and sounds like the generic kind of music you'd hear on the radio nowadays. The vocals are still good, but that's the only saving grace for this track. The odd thing is how different this track sounds from the first one.

3. "Whattaya Want from Me" - 3 out of 5
PREVIEW
Once again, this sounds like a modern song you'd hear on the radio. Except instead of hiphop, I feel like he's going for more of a modern rock sound. Once the chorus comes in, it gets more of a techno feel to it, reminding me of something from Cascada or something.

4. "Strut" - 1 out of 5
PREVIEW
Definitely my least favorite track on the album. Reminds me of Lady Gaga more than anything else. I'm not a fan of her, and this song also doesn't do much for me, every now and then a guitar blazes in, just to remind you that it's there. There's also a slow part that doesn't really put any emotions to the forefront. The song sounds like your basic pop hit of today, and that's a problem.

5. "Soaked" - 5 out of 5
PREVIEW
Just when I was about to shut the album off, this song comes on, a classic ballad, reminiscent of something you might of heard in the 70's or 80's. Such a beautiful song, and Adam gives us some amazing, haunting vocals, putting in lots of emotion. The song literally sent chills up my spine, it was so good. Definitely my favorite track on the album.

6. "Sure Fire Winners" - 2 out of 5
PREVIEW
I got hopeful about the last track, hoping that a lot of the album would get better. However, this track comes on, and I'm instantly disappointed about how pop it sounds. After listening to it a couple more times, I came around on it and it's not horrible, but not something I'd want to listen to normally.

7. "A Loaded Smile" - 4 out of 5
PREVIEW
Going back to the same style of vocals on "Soaked" I felt somewhat relieved by this track, even though it's not quite as good as that song was, it still feels right. This is the kind of music Adam should be singing, slow, patient songs, with lots of meaning behind them. This track reminds me most of "Walk in the Rain" from the Cowboy Bebop soundtrack, the female version. It's kind of weird, actually, Adam is a guy, but most of his songs are reminding me of songs sung by women. There is one part in this song that reminds me of Peter Frampton, however, and that's always a good thing.

8. "If I Had You" - 1 out of 5
PREVIEW
Another generic Hip-Hop/Techno track that is reminiscent of Lady Gaga or something else you might hear on the radio. Really not my favorite part of Adam's album, and I hope he would dumb some of this stuff down in his future work. It is, interesting, though, how diverse he can be.

9. "Pick U Up" - 3 out of 5
PREVIEW
Reminding me of some sort of modern rock song, similar to something like the All-American rejects, But also some sense of Cascada thrown into the mix. It's very pop-oriented, but Adam's vocals seem to make me like the song better, especially when he hits those insane high-notes that he hits so well.

10. "Fever" - 3 out of 5
PREVIEW
This song sounds a little bit like some pop song out of the 80's but also has elements of Cake in there, and a little bit of upbeat techno. Once again, though, the best part of the song is Adam's vocals, which are amazing, especially when he screams. The worst part is the obvious reference to Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" when Adam goes "my Fa-Fa-Fa Fever, my Fa-Fa-Fa- Fe-Ver" It sounds so similar to Lady Gaga's song, and seems like a cheap way to try and get Lady Gaga fans to listen to him.

11. "Sleepwalker" - 2 out of 5
PREVIEW
Going back, once again to the pop-influenced side of his album, this track is a slow, brooding echo-laced song with too many melodies to be emo or gothic, but too sad to be an upbeat hip-hop song. Then they throw a short guitar solo that sounds like something out of Pharrell's band, N.E.R.D. This song is more confusing than enjoyable, and comes off as odd more than anything else, but at least it's not completely bad.

12. "Aftermath" - 3 out of 5
PREVIEW
A generic rock song that sound like something you've heard on the radio a million times before, Adam's vocals aren't really even tested in this track, and it comes off as just underwhelming. It's not exactly a bad song, but it's not exactly good, it's just kind of middling. I'm also not a fan of the unoriginality of it, which is a problem with a lot of songs on this album. Especially when some of the songs are so experimental and original.

13. "Broken Open" - 4 out of 5
PREVIEW
Just while I'm getting all bent out of shape about the unoriginality of some of the songs, this track brings it back, and brings in a slow melody, and some quiet vocals. The music itself has some trance melodies to it in the background, and some small touches to it, making me think of shooting stars, the twinkling night sky, and peacefulness, I can close my eyes, and instantly start picturing tons of things, it's the perfect song for that sort of thing. However, I shouldn't close my eyes for too long. The song is boring enough that I could put it on before going to bed and fall asleep within seconds, and that's it's only problem.

14. "Time for Miracles" - 4 out of 5
PREVIEW
Technically labeled as a "Bonus Track", This song reminds me the most of one of Aerosmith's slower songs, maybe something like "Cryin", and it also adds in a modern rock sound, similar to The Killers, except slower, creating a nice balance of new and old, and giving us some nicely refined vocals, closing out the album with a nice slow uplifting song.



Adam Lambert, while having a few bad tracks on his debut album, seems like he's heading in a good direction. The weirdest thing, which I've vaugely mentioned in some of the song descriptions above, is the amount of diversity he has in his music. Some of the songs seemed too safe, though, and seemed below his actual ability.

It almost makes me think he has some big plan to convert a bunch of hip-hop listeners into rock fans by getting a huge pop hit, and then slowly easing them in to his other songs, which are more rock-oriented. I predict that in 5 years from now, Adam Lambert will have a totally different sound than he does now, and will have re-generated mainstream interest in rock music. At least, that's what I'm hoping.

The art in the album is very nice to look at, and some of it reminds me of various album covers and fashion styles of other music artists, including David Bowie, Micheal Jackson, Elvis, and M.I.A. I also got to briefly look at at special edition hardcover art book that comes with the album, and it's definitely some nice and interesting stuff to look at. Whoever Adam got to do his photo shoots is amazing.

Overall, I give "For Your Entertainment" a 3 out of 5.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Pets coming to Xbox Live Marketplace


Have you always wanted a Dog, but don't wanna clean up its messes or pay for its grooming. Well now you can get one from a variety of choices on XBOX LIVE.

Starting on December 3rd, you can have the pet you always wanted and avoid the frustration of having to interact with an actual pet. With limited animation gimmicks, you'll be able to know how your pet is feeling after the 23 time he does that same trick. Purchasing a pet has never been more affordable or carefree until now with these $3 animated pet avatars including:

Large Dog, Pug Dog, Dog in Bag, Cat, Siamese Cat, Long Haired Cat, Goldfish, Guinea Pig, Pony, Monkey, Bird, Snake.

*end sarcasm*

Oh, you thought I was really promoting this?

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Drink Reviews: Amp Energy Overdrive, Turbo Boost Cherry

Hey everybody, welcome to a new feature that I will be doing on Geeksquisite, Drink Reviews. In this feature, I will be reviewing many various drinks, ranging from energy drinks, to mixed drinks, to various types of beers.

For this first installment, I'm reviewing an Amp Energy. I haven't really tried many of the flavors of Amp, besides the standard green one, which I enjoy very much. For this review, though I tried the Cherry Amp. Now, I never realized this before, but all of the Amp Energy cans have the Mountain Dew logo on them. For the longest time I thought it was only on the green one. However, this drink tastes nothing like Mountain Dew.

The taste of the drink is incredibly piercing, it's almost like swallowing a big can of electricity. the cherry flavor is over-masked by what I assume to be energy supplements, making it taste more like cherry medicine then anything else. There's not much of an aftertaste, and I for one say that's a good thing. In terms of texture, the drink goes down smooth, provided you can handle the initial taste, which makes it somewhat easier to drink then other bad-tasting energy drinks.

Recommended way to drink: Personally, I wouldn't recommend drinking this at all, but if you had to, for a bet, or if you had nothing else to drink, I'd say chugging is the best way to go. Get it all done in a couple of big swigs, and get it over with.

Overall, I give Amp Energy Overdrive, Turbo Boost Cherry a 2 out of 5.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Microsoft Files Interesting Patent


It's become customary for gaming sites to report on patents filed for specific functions being done exclusively for one console. Most patents hardly interest me, but 1UP posted a patent by Microsoft called "User Created Game Guide".

Siliconera reports that the company's game platform strategy director Andre Vrignaud has filed a patent for user-submitted game guides over Xbox Live. According to the patent, the system detects where a player is stuck, and accesses a database with user-made tips for that section.


So an Xbox Live feature that replaces all those starter guides people buy for games, to help you get out of a situation you're approaching the wrong way or unsure what to do. Sounds pretty cool, but wait THERE'S MOOOORE:

The authoring features allow users to capture screenshots and video clips, and to use a digital pencil to mark them. It also may allow for audio commentary and tags, and developers can submit their own guides that will take precedence over user-created guides. There are obvious problems to be ironed out.

So if you're a gamer and you are a big shot with a certain game, you could help others. Just the thought of some random gamer recording audio commentary saying "Alright stupid ass, here's what you're supposed to do" sounds funny and potentially cool for some people to do. I welcome this interesting feature.

Although there is a concern it will make games too easy for people and discourage the "hunt" many go through for achievements and/or progressing through the game. Is the feature innocent enough to avoid abuse by cheap gamers?

Party Chat returning to MW2?


One constant annoyance to some is that if you are in a party when playing Modern Warfare 2, the game automatically puts you in game chat. While not a fan of this feature I didn't let it bother me, and fellow authors expressed their approval of the measure to avoid silent games. Silent being no one talks to you.

However, apparently Infinity Ward has had many complaints according to Analog Hype, they now are considering the idea of lifting the measure.

It's quite ironic since NG4 had an article declaring the race to disable Party Chat in future game releases, making the invention of the feature dead in less than 2 years. Now it might go the other way around, and even if Infinity Ward doesn't change the auto game chat feature other developers might avoid integrating it.

Public Opinion wants it gone, but shouldn't people be communicating with their teams? That is the argument for the supporters of this feature, and we'll see how it turns out.

1.21 Gigawatts of Modding Power

I seem to be attracted to mods in games today, but geez what a nostalgic twinge this one gave me.



That...is awesome.

1UP article

Game: Crysis, can be used for Crysis Wars too.

Left 4 Dead 2 16 player Co-op

Yes you read that right, someone designed a mod to allow 16 player Co-op on Left 4 Dead 2 for the PC.



As much as N4G highlights the chaos of having a crazy match like this, it looks pretty damn fun to me. There's so much going on that if you aren't pro then you would probably be beaten to every zombie that could fit in that game. I'm already laughing at how many people have a chainsaw in that match, and how "efficient" it would be if everyone stood in a group with chainsaws and cleaned out the rooms. Ha!

Here's the server if any L4D 2 PC owners are interested:
128.61.84.131:27015.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Funny Wii Game Satire



The controllers had me laughing, and the funny part is people took this seriously as an upcoming game.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

The budget of Modern Warfare 2


Modern Warfare 2 has made over 600 million dollars, with the game being so popular people tend to believe it was costly. THAT is what the game market wants you think, that good games take alot of money. Modern Warfare 2 is a defining example of this tactic.

VG Arabia has brought to my attention news from the LA Times that Modern Warfare cost 200 million to launch.

You may be wondering how much of the 600 million plus dollars that takes away, but before you do. Consider that only 40-50 million dollars was actually put into the development of the game.

Activision is definitely money hungry as any other company, and Bobby Kotick certainly does not help that. BUT WHO THE HELL SPENDS THREE TIMES THE COST OF THE GAME'S BUDGET FOR DISTRIBUTION AND MARKETING?

We knew this game was coming, we were excited for this game. But with Activision, Ubisoft, and many other publishers in the industry speaking on behalf of the developers. They say the $60 retail standard for games isn't enough per game to offset costs for most games and make the gamble some developers make worth the risk.

I have heard many statements from Activision and Infinity Ward regarding development of this game, but the standard for game retail has slowly increased over the years. I for one do not want to see ridiculous things like the supposed $100 retail for Final Fantasy XIII, it will only be a matter of time before gaming falls because publishers more than developers do this to gamers.

It's alot to ask the gaming development and publishers to change the way they do things, even if its common sense. But for god's sake, NEVER spend more on marketing than the game. This happens with so many games, and when games disappoint we lose as developers scramble to bleed us more for every game. All because of hyping games that don't need hype in some cases, it's completey fine to market. But when you spend more than the game cost to make, that's pathetic.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Geeksquisite Question of the Week #1: 11/15/09

This question came to me thinking about MW2, I know right who would have thought.

Question: What do you think of the controversy surrounding the games "questionable content" in the campaign?

If you'd like to submit a question just send an e-mail to geeksquisite@gmail.com with the subject line "Question of the Day".

Feel free to leave your answers in the comment section, thank you.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Reggie Fils-Aime comments on Modern Warfare 2


Nintendo Everything plucked this comment by Nintendo of America's president

...We know that it’s a high-quality title. We know that it will do exceptionally well. Their challenge is going to be sustaining that. It was so big so fast, what happens next week and the week after? Versus Mario is going to sell for high numbers every day now through, really, for the next couple of years.”

And I thought Bobby Kotick was the only one who could look stupid when talking. Of course Mario will probably outsell Modern Warfare 2, but not for good reasons. I agree it could, but only because:

1. Nintendo had a loyal fanbase
Think about it, Nintendo was selling the Wii in great numbers. But with the lack of good titles without the name Mario in it, the introduction of this "version" of Mario with 4 player is going to sell. But how many people don't bother with their Nintendo Wii lately? Quite a few, and this is probably the first Wii game in a long time to be a must have. It's Mario, who doesn't know Mario?! Then again, who hasn't seen the tons of terrible games for the Wii that borderline on gimmicks for the Wiimote.

2. Mario has existed since the 80's
There are plenty of dedicated Mario fans that span across all ages, Modern Warfare 2 is a specific game franchise that doesn't have a specific character (unless you count Soap McTavish). Modern Warfare 2 technically has a smaller follow up if people actually followed the M rated warning on the game(which they don't),Modern Warfare is a growing franchise separate from the Call of Duty franchise as a whole in just several years. It doesn't have the "desperately loyal" fanbase of the Mario fans, the inert Wii owners who haven't bought more than 4 good games a year on their Wii, and the easy-to-manipulate young minds as much.

Heck Reggie should worry about this, because it means they will lose more than just hardcore gamers.

New Modern Warfare 2 gametypes


Blend games gave us the heads up on additions to one of the best selling games of the year. They are as follows in case you want an idea of what you're playing:

1. 3rd Person Team Tactical - "Third person perspective with Team Deathmatch,Domination, Capture the Flag, and Demolition" (6-8 players)

2. Team Deathmatch Express - "Team Deathmatch with shorter time between matches." (8-12 players)

3. Mosh Pit - "Mixed bag of many game modes in one playlist" (8-12 players

Hmmm, lets see. The first one has that third person perspective some gamers craved and awaited following rumors of its existence.
The second one makes camping on the map a losing strategy if you're losing, and also makes it ideal since people will be chasing each other around the map. I bet that gametype will be frustrating when teams are neck and neck.
The last one solves the oh-so-prevalent arguments of what gametype to play, and instead leaves the decision to a crapshoot courtesy of Infinity Ward.

Thank you Infinity :D

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Rare Atari game goes for over 5K


I think back to a year ago when I bought an Atari 2600 with 53 games, the Atari was Jet Black instead of wood paneled labeling it the "Darth Vader" edition. Total cost was $60.

Now when someone pays a large amount of money for something they want, I don't flame about it. I would be hippocritical since i just spent $150 on monday to get the Prestige Edition of Modern Warfare 2 (no regrets). When someone wants something, they pay what is asked and thats all there is to it.

Now I take that logic and stand dumbfounded at this purchase of an Atari game for $5,000 reported by Kotaku.

I'm a little annoyed there isn't much to what the game is about, apparently it was sold in a religious store with "albums". So is it a music game? I couldn't figure that out so easily. But geez, five grand? Like I said I won't judge but god what I could do with $5,000.

Xbox 360's flood Craigslist


Take heed for those wishing to get a 360 on the cheap if they don't have one, or had enough with their RROD'd version. Avoid Craigslist.

Icrontic made me aware that due to the oncoming ban for modded 360's, you might notice more cheap 360's on craiglist

Selling for as low as $90 may be tempting, and if you have no intent on playing on Xbox Live be my guest. But if you want to connect to Xbox Live, cheaper does not always mean good value in this case.

More Bragging Rights for Natal?


Project Natal is eagerly awaited for what it could hold in motion control technology, especially with the fact that there is no controller. It's you. That's the mantra it has been selling since its introduction at E3.

Major Nelson posted news regarding a new achievement of Natal in TIME magazine.

It is a great accomplishment to be honored in TIME magazine, even with concerns over how well Natal will work. People are cynical enough to probably down this achievement since testing of Natal has been limited, so take it with a grain of salt. Sure, I will personally see if Natal deserves the recognition or lives up to the hype, but Microsoft clearly wants Natal to be as good as they proclaim it to be. This award is sure to solidify their credibility in technology...

*thinks about Red Ring of Death*

...Or maybe not. haha.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Question of the Day? News

Alright so the Question of the day is going to be undergoing a bit of modification. It will now be further known as "THE QUESTION OF THE WEEK". The reason for this is rather simple.

Thinking of a question everyday is FUCKING HARD! Don't do it. So we will be scaling it back to a 1 question a week, and hopefully that will give you guys more time to leave a comment before the question is passed over.

Also remember if you don't see the post just click on the Question of the Week link on the side of the site to see the most up to date question.

Modern Warfare 2 sells 3 million in the U.K.


Kotaku

To say I'm stunned would be a gross understatement. To put the numbers of sales for Modern Warfare into perspective. GTA IV the biggest 1 day launch sold 3.6 million copies and 6 million in the first 7 days. Modern Warfare sold 3 million copies in the United Kingdom alone. I am sure that shortly after this post we will have the United States first day figures and jaws will drop once more. Prepare for the 6 million first week record to be crushed all Dark Knight Style.

So far I've poured about 5 or so hours into the game and sadly school keeps getting in the way. Hopefully I will be able to play the shit out of the game this thursday and friday. We have a couple of cool Modern Warfare 2 things going up so be ready to celebrate Infinity Ward month here on geeksquisite, let the good times roll.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Geeksquisite Question of the Day #106: 11/8/09

This question came to me thinking about MW2

Question #106: What will you be playing first (campaign,spec ops, or multiplayer)?

If you'd like to submit a question just send an e-mail to geeksquisite@gmail.com with the subject line "Question of the Day".

Feel free to leave your answers in the comment section, thank you.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Halo Waypoint Review



Halo Waypoint, you're probably wondering what the hell it is. Well unlike the suave, cool sounding description you'll get everywhere else. Here's the short and sweet version from yours truly.

Designed in a heartbeat with very little at launch, Halo Waypoint awards Halo fan boys who bought every game and spent every moment playing them with avatar awards. It also excites you by offering a Halo Legends episode weekly even though the series is sub-par and will likely make fan boys cry with the large deviations in the material. In addition it holds Halo news, fanmade content, community screenshots and everything else that makes a Halo fan boy quiver with happiness.

So while there is potential in whatever they add, it offers very little to entertain you for more than 20 minutes.

Halo Legends "The Babysitter" Review



Halo Legends has been a subject of controversy on Geeksquisite, TJ especially cringed at the post production pics where you can see a teddy bear on the ground near a spartan in one picture. Teddy Bears may have been "useful" when killing people in Fallout 3, but what were the animators thinking putting stuff like that in Halo Legends?
*end rant*

On Halo Waypoint the premiere episode of Halo Legends was available, and future episodes will be viewable every saturday. Despite my concern with how Halo would translate into anime, I decided to analyze the episode carefully.

Overall Design in the animation is a mix of good and bad, but the freedoms the animators took are specific. Vehicle Designs are pretty spot on and very cool as far as I am concerned. Especially with the Phantoms, oh my those looked great. Weapon designs and interface on the anime was pretty good too, they had a sniper rifle zoom in moment that looked pretty nice and reminded me of the game.

When it came to the character designs, this is a much much less good side to the anime. Humans, ODSTS, all look okay, but of course the main character and focus of episode 1 had spiky overdone hair. This is why I was worried about Halo Legends as an anime, anime style is a difficult adaption for existing character design in the Halo franchise. Would the army EVER let someone have such crazy looking hair? NO. The spartan for this episode is horribly designed. I can't describe it too well but while the ODST's look okay in their armor, the spartan looks chubby in his armor and is an insult to the Master Chief's design burned in my head (very minimalistic too which means they aren't doing the spartan's justice). As for Brutes and grunts, they seemed okay. Elites, oh man they looked awful, they really messed up on the elites. The prophet they had was okay, but in a nutshell the non human character designs are pretty half assed.

Story and voice acting, that was okay. I am happy to say that they kept this good for the most part. One thing regarding story they did for this episode felt like a breaking of an old Halo tradition regarding spartans.

SPOILERS

They made the spiky haired kid a hero and made the Spartan take the beating from a brute with a hammer for the kid, killing her. That's right, I said HER. the ODST's removed her helmet revealing her bloody long white haired face, okay first of all...

One of the biggest things about Spartans is their mysterious identities, this Spartan kept quiet as she should but they made it so easy for the ODSTS to rip off her helmet. Spartans remain extremely mysterious and rarely allow removal of their helmets in public, or so the novels seem to indicate. It felt wrong that they unmasked a spartan, but that's not the worst part. It also drove me crazy that she got so emotional in the moments she was dying, i've read the novels and spartans shouldn't be "tell all" as they are dying. Or at least, they should have put less human interactions between the spartan girl and the ODSTS. Spartans make emotions take a backseat much of the time, so it felt like they messed up there. BIG TIME.

So for the most part Halo Legends is quite a departure from the designs and story arcs we are familiar with. The main flaw is lack of creative control that is so clearly not there with the death of the Spartan woman. In the beginning of Halo 3, it's clearly established that soldiers don't tend to a spartan that way. In fact, watch that part with the unmasking in Halo Legends, and then watch Johnson and the Chief in the beginning of the first level of Halo 3 and tell me which scene was better. I'm betting the cinematic video game scene looks better, and thats mostly because the chief is not treated like a non human/alien like in the anime.

Set your bar a little lower because it has depreciative qualities, I will hope in future episodes it isn't as bad.

Playstation Home has been updated!

I suppose it may be a bit trivial to talk about Playstation Home, seeing as how most people I've talked to has said that it blows. The fact that it's still in beta makes it a bit trivial to talk about any sort of updates, but also makes people's complaints with the "game" a lot less grounded. So with that, I feel like we should take a look at some of the new stuff they've added to this Version 1.3 update.

The original idea for Home was to be a big open world to meet new people, and eventually get into various games, and with this latest update we get new worlds and features, and that idea is increasingly becoming closer to being realized.

First, let's talk about some of the new features. There are now Leaderboards for all of the little games that appear as holographic images in front of whatever game you're playing, you can zoom into them, much like the advertisements laid out in the shopping mall. This makes those games seem somewhat better, as there's more competition, and I'm not sure if this was there before but they've added multiplayer to a few of them. they've also added in a bunch of new clothes that you can buy in the mall, and while I haven't bought any of them, I have looked through the list and have seen a lot of people running around with various gear on. The movie theater has now been expanded and includes a lobby, complete with ticket purchasing machines, that currently just have free Dethklok t-shirts and in-game PSP gos to give away. The different theater doors vary from streaming music videos, to advertisements, to streaming full episodes of Naruto Shippuden. This seems like a better set-up then last time, but you still find a lot of people just standing around in front of any given theater.

Probably the most significant update is the ability to start up a party, in order to launch a game. Pretty much, you're able to set up a party for a specific game, and then choose anywhere between 2-32 slots for players to join in. You're then able to target somebody and send them an invite to your party. They'll join, and you'll launch the game, straight from Home, provided you have the disc in your system. The launching aspect is slightly wonky, in that you can set up a party of 32 players for any game, even ones that don't support that many, you can even set up a party for single-player-only games, even including demos. I could essentially set up a 32 player party to play the infamous demo, but once we got there, we'd just play the single player. After launching a game, there will be an option on the Xross Media Bar to "Return to Home" which will send you back to the same place you left off in Home. While there's still some kinks to be worked out, I think this makes Home work much better as an extended game lobby than it has before.

There's a bunch of new areas in the game as well, and while I didn't check them all out, the ones I did were pretty cool. There's a new area for Uncharted 2, which has a cool new turn-based strategy game, that I actually had quite a bit of fun with, especially since it let you create and join rooms instead of waiting in line. There was the Gamer's Lounge, which was just a club with nothing to do except lounge around and talk, which was kind of lame. There's a Ratchet & Clank area that's kind of weird, since the art style clashes with the realistic human avatars, besides that, there's a kind of cool turret command mini-game. There's a Siren: Blood Curse area with a survival horror minigame that let's you do 4-player co-op, however, it's about as hard to get into a match as a game of Pool at the bowling alley. I'm not sure if it was there before, but there's also a Socom area that lets you get a team together and set up some strategy. This is really cool, cause I can picture a clan meeting up here and discussing some strategy before launching a game, and now with the built-in game launcher, they make this easier to do than ever!

One of the worst things about this new update is that they've completely removed public voice chat. The only way you can chat with somebody in Home is if you add them as a friend and call them up using the in-game menu. This is restrictive, and cumbersome, and I feel like it's just the result of a lot of whiners complaining about standard online gaming voice chat. It's a part of any online community, and people should just learn to deal with it or realize that there's a mute feature for a reason.

Besides that last part, I feel like Home has come a long way since it's inception, and while there's still a few kinks to work out, and maybe a few things they could streamline, I feel like it's on it's way to becoming a viable option of something to do when you boot up your PS3. Here's hoping they keep improving it, and patch the voice chat back in.

Friday, November 6, 2009

Geeksquisite Question of the Day #105: 11/6/09

This question came to me thinking about vintage consoles.

Question #105: What console don't you own now that you would like too?

If you'd like to submit a question just send an e-mail to geeksquisite@gmail.com with the subject line "Question of the Day".

Feel free to leave your answers in the comment section, thank you.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Epic Games announces Unreal Development Kit


Looking to become a game designer but don't have the tools? Well IGN has brought to my attention that Epic Games will provide the Unreal Engine 3 for free community use

from Epic Games:

Epic Games, Inc. announces the launch of the Unreal Development Kit (UDK), a free edition of Unreal Engine 3 that provides community access to the award-winning toolset like never before. This software release is available to anyone interested in using 3D game engine technology, including game developers, students, hobbyists, researchers, creators of 3D visualizations and simulations, and digital filmmakers. Anyone can start working with the industry-leading Unreal Engine 3 toolset by downloading UDK at www.udk.com, where detailed product features, technical documentation, commercial licensing terms, support resources and more are also available.

Let the creativity begin.

Geeksquisite Question of the Day #104: 11/5/09

This question came to me thinking about the new Christmas Carol Jimmy Carey movie.

Question #104: What is your favorite version of A Christmas Carol?

If you'd like to submit a question just send an e-mail to geeksquisite@gmail.com with the subject line "Question of the Day".

Feel free to leave your answers in the comment section, thank you.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Geeksquisite Question of the Day #103: 11/3/09

This question came to me thinking about what I would name my band if I were to have one.

Question #103: If you were in a band what would you call yourself?

If you'd like to submit a question just send an e-mail to geeksquisite@gmail.com with the subject line "Question of the Day".

Feel free to leave your answers in the comment section, thank you.

Who's trying to buy the Terminator Franchise?!?!


Well, I swear to god I thought IGN was making a joke. But since it is on HIS actual website, say hello to a prespective buyer of the Terminator Franchise.

Joss Whedon, are you serious?

I really don't know what to make of this, since I have not watched the non-James Cameron Terminator films. But I am a fan of Joss Whedon's Firefly series and the Serenity movie follow up. Dr. Horribles Sing Along Bog is raved about more than I can count.

Could Joss Whedon make a good Terminator film? Well his letter says quite a bit regarding his direction he would take, or does it? Here's what his letter says:

Terminator... of the Rings! Yeah, what if he time-travelled TOO far... back to when there was dragons and wizards? (I think it was the Dark Ages.) Hasta La Vista, Boramir! Cool, huh? "Now you gonna be Gandalf the Red!" RRRRIP! But then he totally helps, because he's a cyborg and he doesn't give a s#&% about the ring -- it has no power over him! And he can carry it AND Frodo AND Sam AND f@%& up some orcs while he's doing it. This stuff just comes to me. I mean it. (I will also offer $10,000 for the Lord of the Rings franchise).

Whedon has an interesting sense of humor I must say, but regardless of the outcome putting the Terminator franchise in his hands would be interesting to say the least.

Monday, November 2, 2009

Geeksquisite Question of the Day #102: 11/2/09

This question came to me thinking about this discerning news on Modern Warfare 2. Have you heard that it might not allow for party chat due to cheating. So that the rest of us non cheaters must now suffer through 12 year old whiney bitches.

Question #102: Do you think taking out party chat from MW2 is a good or bad idea and why?

If you'd like to submit a question just send an e-mail to geeksquisite@gmail.com with the subject line "Question of the Day".

Feel free to leave your answers in the comment section, thank you.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Trailers of the Month: October 2009


Ed's Picks:

Toy Story 3 Trailer #2

Do I really have to explain this? Fine, it’s probably Tim Allen’s only good role where he’s used effectively, and the Spanish reset thing concerning Buzz looks hilarious. Plus it’s Toy Story, a great set of movies made by Pixar who can do no wrong with how hard they try.

Avatar Trailer #2

I understand James Cameron has never made a bad movie yet, but I refuse to hype a movie BEFORE I see a real trailer that tells me everything. Then the international trailer came out, and it was really good. Put this movie on your list of must see films.

Edge of Darkness Trailer

Mel Gibson in a leading role again? Interesting, although this movie sounds like it’s been done before. However it is a compelling looking movie, I won’t lie. Mel Gibson definitely helps build a strong movie.

The Maiden Heist Trailer

This looked like a simple comedy you could laugh and forget about, but having Morgan Freeman, Christopher Walken and William H Macy as the guards looks hilarious. This could be one of those movies with only a few good jokes but great performances can make up for that immensely. I did laugh a few times while watching the trailer.

Bad Lieutenant: Port of New Orleans Trailer

Nicholas Cage does everything he gets, and for some reason that makes me a fan of him for trying to be flexible. The way he performs in the trailer has me tempted to see this movie. But jeez, Xzibit’s in this movie? That kind of says how serious they were with the casting, especially with someone who shouldn’t be acting.

TJ's Picks

Avatar Trailer #2

Other then The Hobbit this has been my most anticipated movie for over two years. I have been patiently waiting for some footage for a long time. I saw the first trailer and it was bleh and then I saw the Avatar Day footage which was incredible but didn't give a mountain of information regarding the main plot of story. Well here for the first time we get a 3 minute story trailer for Avatar and it is nothing short of incredible. Watch it enjoy it and if you don't see it I might just have to write you and angry e-mail.

Me and Orson Welles Trailer

I'm a film major of course I'm interested in a movie with and partially about Orson Welles. He might have lost his luster as he aged but while in his prime Orson Welles was one of the biggest personalities and egos on the planet. He's a fascinating person to study and delivered one of the greatest films of all-time Citizen Kane. I think Zac Efron has a lot more talent then his High School Musical career so far has given him. This is his chance to show us what he's got, good luck Zac.

Toy Story 3 Trailer

Not sure what to say other then it's more of the greatness that is the Tory Story franchise. I have to admit after 15 years since the first film came out I have had my fill of this franchise and wish we were getting something new from Pixar instead but I'm sure it will be great regardless. Where's my A Bug's Life sequel thats what I wanna know.

The Crazies Trailer

Zombies are the new vampires and the vampires are the new pussies. While the film indicates the zombies in this film to be a bit more of a supernatural background then a infection one it still seems interesting to me. Almost like a cross between The happening, Body Snatchers, and Stephan King minus the Shyamalan. Plus any trailer that uses Madworld has got my vote.

Invictus Trailer

The casting of Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela is about as obvious a casting choice as there can be. I'm a little concerned with his accent since in some scenes he has it and in some it seems to be missing. I'm still excited though and Matt Damon seems to be putting on a potentially oscar worthy performance. This is a film to watch.

Dead Space 2: is it worth it?


IGN reported a while ago that Electronic Arts COULD be making a sequel to Dead Space in 2010 While it is total speculation (still)at this point, I took a while to contemplate the idea of a Dead Space Sequel. Yes Dead Space Extraction came out, but that didn't sell very well despite the good reception from people who played it. I had previously looked upon the idea of a sequel with some encouragement, now that has seemed to change for me.

Dead Space was creepy, I liked it. But despite my NEED to grab a copy of Dead Space, I haven't. This isn't due to my opinion of the game when I tried it so long ago, it's merely a title I intend on getting as an afterthought. That, and the fact that Extraction didn't sell well on the Wii leads me to believe a sequel to the game won't do any better. There are complaints of very few replayable titles on the Wii, Dead Space Extraction seemed like one you could play consistently. Especially since it took advantage of the Wiimote motion control.

Another reason I don't think a sequel will be successful is the Dead Space movie. Video game movies suck, and I hope Dead Space can break that chain as well as the others coming. Bringing another game won't help that as far as i'm concerned, the producers might look towards the sequel more and mess up the storyline for the movie. The screenplay for video game movies are an integral part, and make it harder when sequels come out.

Above all, Dead Space is a title that should be a stand alone game. It's not a game of discussion very often, but should there be a sequel, I hope for the best.

Geeksquisite Question of the Day #101: 11/1/09

This question came to me thinking about how awesome and yet sucky it is that both Modern Warfare 2 and Left 4 Dead 2 are coming out within 7 days of each other. I wanna play both so bad but I mean how am i supposed to go back in forth so much it's gonna be tough and annoying.

Question #101: How will you be splitting your time between Modern Warfare 2 and Left 4 Dead 2?

If you'd like to submit a question just send an e-mail to geeksquisite@gmail.com with the subject line "Question of the Day".

Feel free to leave your answers in the comment section, thank you.

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Geeksquisite Question of the Day #101: 10/31/09

This question came to me when thinking about Halloween.

Question #101: Lets us know how your Halloween today went?

If you'd like to submit a question just send an e-mail to geeksquisite@gmail.com with the subject line "Question of the Day".

Feel free to leave your answers in the comment section, thank you.

Friday, October 30, 2009

Geeksquisite Diary: Retrogen Unboxing



Ed unboxes and reviews the retrogen for the fir- well he reviewed it.

Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 3: Lair of the Leviathan Review


The third chapter in the Tales of Monkey Island series once again picks up directly where we left Guybrush at the end of the second chapter, about to get swallowed by a giant man-eating manatee. Well, he DOES get swallowed by it, and their ship ends up getting stuck in what appears to be the giant Manatee's ear.

Once again, I'm playing on the PC, and while the controls are not perfect, I'm getting more and more adapted to them. I still wish I could point and click for movement, but I honestly didn't even think too much about using WASD to move this time.

Now, let's talk a bit about the story, I'll try not to give too much away. After all of this searching throughout the past two chapters, you finally get to meet De Cava inside the Manatee and find out that he's crazy, You also get to meet DeCava's crew, who all have some pretty funny personalities, and there's also a very special appearance by somebody you might all remember from one of the other Monkey Island games. Needless to say, there's a nice amount of new characters in this Chapter.

However, the strong point of any monkey island game is the humor, and this is prevalent throughout. I'd actually have to say this is the funniest chapter yet. Without giving too much away, you get to make crazy pirate faces, give people voodoo-wedgies, and get to talk in manatee using a manatee horn. that last one is actually pretty funny, cause you only have a pre-set amount of phrases, and a lot of them are fairly ridiculous.

The length of the game is about the same as the past two chapters, clocking in at about 3-4 hours, 2 hours if you really know what you're doing. The ending cliffhanger in his one isn't quite as big as the past two, but it gets the job done, and leaves me anticipating the fourth Chapter of the game.

Overall, Lair of the Leviathan is the strongest in the "Tales" series thus far, and it delivers on pretty much everything you're looking for in a Monkey Island game, while being thoroughly enjoyable throughout for old fans and new fans alike.

For this, I give Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 3: Lair of the Leviathan a 5 out of 5

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Geeksquisite Question of the Day #100: 10/29/09

This question came to me when thinking about Halloween.

Question #100: Top way to be a dick on Halloween?

If you'd like to submit a question just send an e-mail to geeksquisite@gmail.com with the subject line "Question of the Day".

Feel free to leave your answers in the comment section, thank you.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Geeksquisite Question of the Day #99: 10/28/09

This question came to me when thinking about Halloween.

Question #99: What crazy type of Jack o' Lanterns have you made?

If you'd like to submit a question just send an e-mail to geeksquisite@gmail.com with the subject line "Question of the Day".

Feel free to leave your answers in the comment section, thank you.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Short Circuit Remake Gets Director


Ironic that I was talking over with Rob last night about the Short Circuit remake, there is potential considering they are remaining true to having robots made as opposed to CGI for Johnny Five. But thanks to IGN, I now have gone sour on Short Circuit the remake with the pick of the director

Steve Carr

hmmm lets see what has he made. Dr. Dolittle 2, Are we Done Yet?, Daddy Day Care....

Jeez, i'm concerned

Okay i'm sorry, but we're talking about a movie that had crude moments and the overblown Indian stereotype by Fisher Stevens, those are memorable moments of Short Circuit. Do you think a family friendly director is going to reprise any of those things? Doubt it. But man I am nervous how bad this guy could butcher the film.