Uwe Boll Quits-I wish

It's called Uwe Boll's revenge, and even though it's fake. It's very satisfying for those who hate him, watch it and see the emphasis on how much he sucks. :D

New Left 4 Dead update next week for PC

Even though I will be paying for Left 4 Dead 2, THIS is a nice little freebie for the first game to interest me.

Essentially you get to create your own campaign maps, I wonder how far you can customize. Well you can add your own as I said before, cool, but kotaku seems to imply other people's creations will appear as selections? i'm not sure.

I didn't really see much on what you can control, adding more swarms of zombies and deciding how the players will go through the level would be cool. Especially if I could design several ways to get through one map.

But this is a great leap forward, especially if they add all these changes to the new game. HERES AN EXAMPLE OF WHAT YOU CAN DO

People hating the creation of Left 4 Dead 2 will be appeased I bet, i'm also not a good map creator but seeing other people's creations and having fun with them will be priceless. Too bad I didn't get the PC version :(

Classic Game Review: Mega Man 2 (NES)

After the giant success Capcom had with Mega Man, they decided to make a sequal. For this game they would ramp up the difficulty, and make it even harder than the first game, coming out 2 years after the original Mega Man, Mega Man 2 looks a lot like the first game, but does it live up to expectations?

The short answer to that is "Yes". Mega Man 2 gives us more of the same side-scrolling hardcore platforming that we now expect from the series, while giving us a bunch of new robot masters to defeat, and in turn giving us a bunch of new weapons to acquire from them.

The game is tough, probobly a little bit harder than the first game, and I got pretty frustrated with it. But that just makes it better when you get past a stage, or beat another boss. I got up and danced more than once while playing through Mega Man 2, because I felt so accomplished at some points.

Overall, Mega Man 2 is a great game, and definitely a classic. Anybody who hasn't played it yet should, especially people looking for a great side-scrolling platformer. The game holds up today just as well as it did back then simply because, like most NES games, it doesn't rely on graphics to be good. For this game, it's all about the gameplay.

I give Mega Man 2 on the NES a 5 out of 5.

How do you become The One?

Tonight I played another great game of 1v100 with friends, goooood times. At 10 PM the game became a live show, and while many just want to be The One, I wanted to because today was the beginning of the big prize sweepstakes.

Although unrelated, I'd like to believe it increases your ability to win the sweepstakes and most of my party was begging to be The One. So we began talking about HOW YOU BECOME THE ONE. Afterwards I thought of it more and more, and I realize there is some confusion to how they choose someone.

Some of the people i've seen get it have little to no gaming score, you have to immediately believe the choosing is random. But consistently I hear playing a lot more extended play increases your chances. If this is true, and it might be, then how is it random? If playing more helps you get a chance at being the one, then its a pool. Not exactly random, but yet once again the low gamer scores tell me they aren't being chosen very wisely.

I'd mostly believe the picking is extremely random if it weren't for the people picked always looking so weird. Take of it what you will, but I think we need some clarification if anything you do gets you closer to being The One.

iphone to get gaming accessories

Controller perhaps?

Okay this is just getting sad, the iphone might have some good iphone games for it. But they will never match the console era, having said that they might threaten the handheld market. But it didn't seem that way with them being touch-only while the DS and the PSP sport buttons and D pad or analog sticks. Now apparently they might remedy this problem with a controller attachment, which would be cheezy.

I can imagine them selling a kit that includes a dock to hold the iphone still if they are stupid enough to make a wired or wireless controller for it. Or a controller that attaches to it, that's great, note the sarcasm. Seriously, the iphone was designed for the ease of carrying it possesses. A latch on controller would be damn hard, probably impossible to stick onto the iphone. I remember trying to carry my DS around with the guitar grip on it, big mistake. I dropped my DS and it was a pain to hold in my pocket, I'd imagine the same could happen to Apple's iphone.

And i'm not forgetting the itouch, but its the same story.

This hype over the iphone being a competitive gaming device has got to end, and I have one big reason how it's going to end. People will not pay the extra money for the extra space in the iphone, and so they will run out of room for games soon.

But man, gaming accessories for a touchscreen cellphone/musicplayer?! that's ridiculous.

Activision pressures Sony

Price cut or we cut

Sony's got a huge hurtle to jump if it wants to go above Microsoft, I thought they managed to do so with all the beautiful exclusive games like Uncharted 2, God of War III, MAG etc. but it seems thats going to be softened with Activision's threat to cut loose on Sony.

The consensus is that the PS3 is harder to develop for, but the system itself is respected for the richer gaming experience. The exclusives for the PS3 unveiled at E3 show us the potential STILL not topped in the PS3.

The problem is, Microsoft ate away at exclusives on the PS3. This year they managed to get in line for the Metal Gear Solid franchise, and losing Activision's support entirely would be a big blow. It would take quite a few games out of the yearly release for PS3 and ESSENTIALLY become exclusives for the Xbox 360. Sure it's made for Nintendo as well, but Nintendo has 1999 graphics, not exactly utilized as the 360 does.

It's a hard future for Sony, but in the position they face. I tip my hat off to them for trying hard, and I sometimes want a PS3 of my own. But as I said, i'm waiting for a price drop, so I can have a game with my PS3.

Hang in there Sony

My Pokemon Red/Blue Evolution Chart

Well, with all of the Pokemon blue I've been re-playing recently, I was looking online for any good Pokemon Red/Blue Evolution charts, and to my surprise all I found were text-based ones!! So, I decided to get a big sheet of the original 151 Pokemon from Red and Blue and make a big chart detailing all of their evolutions and how to trigger them. Weather it's through the use of a Water Stone, a Moon Stone, a Player Trade, or just simply Leveling up, my chart tells you all you need to know... Too bad it's 12 years late!

If you want to see my Pokemon Red/Blue evolution chart follow THIS LINK.

Tech Review: iPhone/iPod Touch 3.0 OS

Personally, if I would have known what the new OS would be like first, I would have not spent the $10. It just has features that should have been there all along. The only new one I really like is the Spotlight search and shake to shuffle, other than those I don’t use anything else that came with the update. The following really made iPhone users mad, it was taken from the iPhone 3.0 software update page: MMS support from AT&T coming in late summer. MMS is not supported on first-generation iPhone. Sending video via MMS is not supported on iPhone 3G. MobileMe seems like something that I would use and find very useful, but I am not paying $100 a year for it. Cut the price in half and sure, I would totally get it.

Overall I do not think this was a good update, it just had everything that apple should have included in the past. I really wished Apple could have done a little bit better. Hopefully soon they will come out with something amazing that wasn’t expected to be in the iPhone/iPod touch in the beginning.

Have a different opinion or have something to add? Please comment.

Geeksquisite #34 Game Edition: My Mind Went On A Trip

Episode 34

TJ is distracted as our other hosts try to keep the show together. We talk Ghostbusters, new consoles and more.

Movie Review: Land of The Lost

The Sci-Fi channel has been re-airing the original Land of the Lost television show in order to promote the new movie. The truth is watching the marathon is probably a better use of your time, plus you can always change the channel. That isn't to say the film doesn't have a few redeemable qualities though.

Danny Mcbride is pretty good and keeps the film somewhat watchable. This is also a problem though because he never really feels like he belongs in the movie. He feels like a tacked on character that never really has a place. Mcbride is always fun to watch and I only wish they could have made his character make more sense. Until now I was iffy on Will Ferrall. I loved him in Step Brothers and Anchorman and hated him in Semi-Pro and Talladega Nights. Well this movie sadly made me finally look at Will Ferrall and say "I'm Done". The movie could have been a fun action adventure movie but ended up being like every other Will Ferrall paint by numbers movie. Doesn't matter if it's basketball, news broadcasting, or dinosaurs, he's the same in everything he does. It's so sad when films like Stranger Than Ficktion show that he has some talent.

Normally I'd get into the plot but if you've seen a Ferrall movie before you understand exactly what your getting into. They try to justify the title by having some familiar characters show up like the Sleestaks an Cha-ka but at the end of the day none of it really matters. They fell through space and time and have to find a way back home and hilarity ensues.

2 out of 5

Disney's Aladdin on Sega Genesis Review

I've done enough Nintendo, and even though my Genesis needs to be fixed I decided to try a game anyway. Disney's Aladdin, i'm a big fan of the movie and a Disney Renaissance fan at that, so of course I hoped the game would be nice. I distinctly remember playing it in my childhood a lot, it's a good game but it's got bugs.

In the prison level, there are these exploding skeletons you almost cannot avoid taking damage from unless you kill them. Ironic it is to kill a skeleton. The bosses are OKAY so far. The enemies in general are fine but sometimes they get a hit on me even if they don't make contact, guess it has to do with me going closer to swat the enemies a lot.

There are common sense physics issues with the game, on the prison level I kept falling through cement blocks. On the first level i couldn't go up the stairs without walking back to the beginning of the stairs. I tried jumping to save time of course, and yet on the prison level i COULD jump through the landings.

I wish the music was better, it's not BAD music. But in my boredom, the music made me kinda depressed and seemed a bit too fast paced. It repeats over and over, but changes every level. The transitional music is creepy and cheezy at the same time. It kind of prevents me from enjoying the game sometimes, because it seems distracting.

I've only gotten as far as escaping after i got the lamp, i can't get past that moment for some reason. There's this jump I can't seem to make while having to do it fast because a boulder is about to crush me.

So overall the games good, recommended for fans of the movie.

I give it a 3 out of 5

Ubisoft CEO comments on next gen console gaming

Ubisoft CEO shows true colors

Ubisoft's CEO shared his thoughts and here's my reaction:

Give me a break

I happened to dislike Ubisoft's campaign to generate hype and excitement over a new console, because with what the CEO says now about projected game development costs for next gen games shows me it's a money grab more than ever.

This talk about "maxing" out the Xbox but not the PS3 got me annoyed because in the 90's we had the bit wars with Sega and Nintendo about maxing the console's capabilities, and that really fizzed out quickly because we want a good game and graphics aren't always a concern. At least for me.

When Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 came out people complained about retail for games being 60 dollars as opposed to 50 dollars last generation, but as the games got better it slowly became worth 60 bucks to have the game. It's still not there yet but my newest buy Ghostbusters is a beautiful, good game that I didn't hesitate to pay 60 bucks for.

But now Ubisoft, and probably more developers will complain of the hardships to compete in the gaming world; even though they sit comfortably in this console generation. If it's really a problem to build for future gaming consoles in terms of cost, don't press for a new console era! I'm in no hurry for a new console era to be honest. I approve of a 10 year console deal.

It's almost like the movie industry, some think you NEED to spend TENS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS to make a good movie. You don't, you just need good material. I loved Castle Crashers and it was the top grade of the low end Xbox Live Arcade, i've got shadow complex coming which also looks great for an Arcade title.

Ubisoft took me in and lost me with Assassin's Creed, it was a beautiful looking game but clearly went for style in the first one more than gameplay. These big developers have a lot more shelved titles than replayed titles for a reason, the smaller developers use their imagination and vision as opposed to pushing the envelope every time.

Sean Penn Drops out of Three Stooges

Sean Penn is taking time off from acting

It's a done deal he won't be in the Stooges movie if it wants to stay on schedule, so now MGM has hard choices. Recast or Wait?

Recasting for a third stooge would seriously delay the film, because obviously the three actors have to agree with each other if they are going to play this legendary trio. So simply recasting and getting ready to shoot would not be the best idea. So no matter who MGM casts, whether it'd Paul Giamatti, Simon Pegg etc. it should be delayed because time management in a film is extremely important. Among the other choices the variables for who works with the other two, who's schedule can work around it, and other factors makes the odds not in the Farrelly Brother's favor.

Waiting for Penn's two years of me time to do the movie would be the smart thing, why? well personally i'm hoping some things change in the waiting, I am not a Jim Carrey fan because he's the same guy in every movie. So I don't trust him to be different for Curly, but I really am not a fan of the Farrelly Brothers helming a iconic trio and shaping it in their point of view. So I hope MGM at this point put's the movie on hold, and let the people signed on walk away.

Yes I don't like where the movie is going, and think Penn's withdrawal will help me get this movie a new crew.

Xbox Live issues

Xbox live's downtime until late last night made several of my friends get a little annoyed, I was a little annoyed since I decided yesterday to purchase Ghostbusters.

Ironic since I still haven't touched the multiplayer because the single gameplay is addicting, but it's been a frustrating time for some people to lose Xbox Live.

What I want to make clear to people, who are going to say PSN is better or Xbox live sucks because of these technical issues, think before you speak.

The thing with technology, and especially gaming. Is that we, the gamers, offer very very little room for mistakes when it comes to gaming. If a game wants to win us over or in this case an online service, they have to be consistent. Microsoft has serious issues in the technical department, think about the fact that Xbox's sell like crazy
even though there is a 40 percent plus RROD failure rate for the consoles.

Now for Xbox Live, it's the most popular service so far. and with people hating Xbox for HAVING technical issues after it came back up. I don't get why people complain about that, it's going to get fixed. It drives me crazy how everything is supposed to be 100 percent perfect, just chill people and play your multiplayer games =)

Geeksquisite Episode 33 Movie Edition: Shutter The Thought

Episode 33 Movie Edition: Shutter The Thought

Woot!!! the first movie podcast is here! We talk about all the summer releases and have a long talk about some upcoming trailers. Shutter Island, Shrink, Old Dogs, Whiteout, etc... Enjoy Note: Aaron and Rob return later in the show while talking trailers.

Geeksquisite Gaming Diary 6/16/09: Atari Paraphenalia

Ed shows off his collection of Atari gaming paraphenalia.

Trailer Impression: Necessary Force

So, today, I was watching some game trailers, and I came across a debut trailer for a new game by Midway Newcastle called Necessary Force.

you can watch the trailer Here.

Now, Midway hasn't been doing so good since they filed for bankruptcy, not to mention their less than stellar sales of MK vs. DC, but I'm really hoping they can turn things around with this game, because it looks pretty good so far.

The first thing I have to say is, I'm really liking the art style. The backgrounds look gorgeous, and I like that it's going for a graphic novel kind of feel to it. I'm not so sure about the character designs yet, but we didn't actually see much of them in the trailer. From what I did see, though, they don't seem to be as detailed as the backgrounds, so it might clash a bit, graphically. Also, the fact that half of the trailer was only concept art has me a bit worried, of course, the rendered stuff looked good, for the most part.

As far as the story, it seems pretty standard, but still compelling. A detective on the edge of moral and immoral, we've seen it a bunch in movies, but I can't think of many games that have went there. True Crime: Streets of LA did, and it failed miserably... let's hope this isn't a repeat of that, and Midway actually does a half-decent job with their "hard-boiled-cop-on-the-edge" story.

Geeksquisite Gaming Diary 06/15/2009: Megaman 2

So, I've finally made it, the final stages of Mega Man 2 on the NES. Watch me as I battle Dr. Wily's evil robots and then go on to face Dr. Wily himself.

Geeksquisite Gaming Diary 6/15/09: Double Dribble

Ed reviews Double Dribble on NES

TV Series: Monk

In 2002, this series about an Obsessive Compulsive Detective aired in the middle of him coping over his wife's death and the retirement from the police force. Andy Breckman, creator of the show, was going for a Sherlock Holmes and Watson team duo with Adrian Monk and his assistant.

There are some good solid episodes in this show, the overall morals involve Adrian Monk getting reinstated on the police force and finding those involved with the killing of his wife. The show also focuses on Adrian Monks day to day tendencies with his OCD, giving social commentary on the mainstreaming of those who have trouble adapting.

There are some sour lemons in the list of episodes that I do not want to see again, most notably Mr. Monk and the Rapper where Snoop Dogg made an appearance. Worst episode of the series, some of the episodes fall short on the humor, and sometimes the show gets too serious. The show is supposed to be grounded in a lighthearted, dramatic flow.

Some episodes I recommend include Mr. Monk and the Firehouse, and Mr. Monk and the Leper. But you can watch varying episodes here.

This is a good series which is on it's last season, so while people like me see the end of a great show. Some of you are going to enjoy the vast amount of material you have yet to see. Check out this show.

The final season starts August 7th.

Movie Review: The Hangover

The Hangover is about 4 guys who goto Las Vegas for thier friend's Bachelor party, and upon drinking some Jeigermeister (with roofies mixed in, no less) they end up doing a bunch of crazy stuff and not being able to remember any of it, and not only that, one of them has gone missing. The entire course of the movie is spent with them trying to figure out what happened. Not only is this movie concept hilarious, but it also works really well to keep you waiting to see what will come next.

As far as the jokes in the movie go, a lot of it was dumb humor, and a lot of it was genuinely funny. I do admit that I laughed out loud a few times through the movie, so overall the humor was good. I think the craziness factor added to a lot of the comedy, honestly. I mean, just when you thought it couldn't get any crazier, it does, and then it gets even crazier again!

As far as cinematography goes, it's definitely good for a comedy. There's a lot of interesting camera angles, as well as some more standard ones. Also, right after they wake up from their drunken night out, with the entire room being completely trashed, the placement of everything, and the way they shot the room really made it look like a total disaster went on.

Overall, the whole movie was a wild ride, definitely something you'd want to go see with your friends. I personally went to see it with my Mom and my Grandma, and I still got a lot out of it, so if you see it with your friends, you'll think it's twice as funny as I did. The only downside to the movie is that some of the jokes were a bit lame, but overall, as a movie, the whole thing is hilarious.

I give The Hangover a 4 out of 5

Movie Review: Terminator Salvation

I went into this film with pretty high expectations but also somewhat realistic. The idea of anyone thinking this film could top what James Cameron did with the first two films is just ridiculous to me. I expected to see an entertaining summer blockbuster and thats what I got. Nothing great and noting atrocious, plot holes and bad acting don't help but the explosions don't hurt.

The story is set in the year 2018 as John Conner is gaining momentum among the resistance by broadcasting messages of hope and victory. On another journey is Marcus Wright who is wandering the desert without any memory of what happened to him after signing away his body to science while on death row. Conner's preaching spread far enough for Marcus to learn about him and so he heads off with a young Kyle Reese to find John Conner.

The best parts of the film ends up being the interactions between Kyle Reese and Marcus Wright as they traverse the desert. Sam worthington who plays Marcus Wright is a newcomer to North America but if this film is any indication, he might just be the next big thing. Until now no one knew who he was but with a upcoming schedule packed with Avatar and Clash of the Titans i'm sure he will be here to stay. As shown in trailers we find out that Marcus is actually a new unknown model of terminator. This creates a huge pacing problem because this reveal doesn't play out until an hour into the film. So the whole time I keep thinking wow I really like this guy and then remembering "I know he's going to be a terminator" it took all tension and surprise out of the film for me. That doesn't mean Sam Worthington doesn't do a great job with the poor material though. The same can't be said for Christian Bale who plays the iconic John Conner with less emotion then a T-800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger). He's either angry or brooding through the entire film and helps to create one of the least likable heroes in recent history.

Of course I didn't go into the film for the thespian performances. I wanted to see terminators blow up! MCG might not be quite at a Michael Bay level of blowing shit up but he did a pretty descent job. The chase seen with Kyle Reese and Marcus Wright is full of motorcycles, trucks, transformers, and airships. all the things that make for a fun terminator action set piece. The film could have used less desert and more urban areas like seen in the original Terminator.

I don't usually shake my head at drama in action films but they try to pull something off with the ending that just doesn't work due to the bad acting and clunky dialogue. I won't give anything away but I never felt like John Conner deserved what he got simply because I never cared about him because Bale never made me care. I wasn't inspired or lifted up by his character. I'm still interested in the franchise but the this film is proof that the days of James Cameron's Terminator are over.

3 out of 5

EA fakes Dante's Inferno Protest

Link

Apparently EA had set up a fake protesting group against the game Dante's Inferno in order to promote their game.It was a fake CHRISTIAN GROUP, which didn't go over well with Christian activists.

It's pretty stupid to do a thing like that, especially with such silly protesting like TRADE IN YOUR PLAYSTATION FOR A PRAYSTATION. Sure it was meant to create interest over an apparently "controversial" game because of the protesting, but EA may have also been spiting Christian activists as well.

From what I've seen, they are no more guilty than the Christian activists. Between the killing of the abortion doctor and the protest at a gay persons military funeral, they are definitely not innocent either.

EA did it to promote their game Dante's Inferno, and sadly for those who are angry about this, it will probably work. Why do I say that? Well watch this video and understand bringing attention to individual games helps them sell. Gamer's buy recommended and highly praised games, but will also respond to controversy and overhyped news about a game to buy it.

So make of it what you will, EA did this and it's likely to garner a lot of criticism and sadly sell more games. I really don't care about the game selling because I haven't demo played it yet. If I like it, should I feel bad with the negative advertising criticism? No, and you shouldn't either unless you feel this was a low move or you hate the game when it arrives in 2010.

Sony Home impressions

So, Home has been out for a little while now, and since I've just recently got a PS3, I've never got a chance to try it beforehand. However, while waiting for Killzone 2 to come in the mail, I decided to download Home and check it out.

Really, I'm not super-thrilled. Home is a good concept, but it's just executed badly. There aren't nearly enough worlds to explore yet, and the ones that are there are all fairly generic.

The worlds based on games aren't much better. They all have a distinct style, which is good, but there's never really much to do. Each world usually has one game, and the rest is just in-game advertisements, and just chatting to random people.

I suppose Home works best as a chat room, to meet fellow gamers, but wouldn't you rather just play a game to meet other gamers?!?! The most enjoyment I found out of Home was using it to mess with other people. Going up to random people and giving them the "thumbs down" expression and running away is much more fun than waiting on line to play an in-game arcade machine.

Overall, Home is a good idea, but it's executed very poorly. It'd probobly work better if they waited, made it more refined, and released it alongside the release of the PS4 as it's main dashboard. This is still pretty possible, and Sony might just be testing the waters, remember, Home is technically still in "Beta."

Nintendo World Championship on Ebay

I heard it here that someone is putting an original GOLD cartridge (gold colored mind you) of Nintendo World Championship on Ebay.

In my excitement as a relatively new NES collector, I went out to find it.

I did, and i'm so tempted to buy it myself. It's so stupid though because its just Mario, Tetris, and Rad Racer on one cartridge. But the fact that only less than a hundred exist, especially with like 20 of them being Gold is amazing. If you own one, your basically a NINTENDO GOD.

I want it, but i'm going to have to pass. If I really want one i'll buy the reproduction cartridge available.

It's simply amazing the guy wants 25,000 bucks for it, i'm sure he'll take a little less.

Btw, this is the 100th post for Geeksquisite, and we're only 33 days into our blog.