Geeksquisite Question of the Day #16: 7/25/09

This question came courtesy of fellow author Stephanie (Matos). Today we had an AWESOME Pirate party thanks to Steph so it feels only right...

Question #16: Pirates Vs. Ninjas?

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.

(Photo of Geeksquisite Author Tom N.)

LET THE DEBATE BEGIN!!!

Upcoming Movie: Shorts

Expect to see a co review of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince from me and TJ later on, but before the movie began I got my first look at the Robert Rodriguez movie...Shorts.

No, I was not anticipating this movie or wishing to see it. But seeing the trailer forced me to give my thoughts that it looks terrible, it really really looks terrible. Look, I actually happened to enjoy Spy Kids when it came out, but then he went overboard with Sharkboy and Lavagirl. I was extremely bored while home, and watching it made me die a little inside till I could feel my remote clicker finger again to change it. I watch movies regardless of what kind they are, but I avoid his family friendly movies with the cheezy way he makes them.

But Shorts looks TEN TIMES WORSE THAN ANYTHING! And the worst part is I saw almost the same exact movie years ago called Kids World (TERRIBLE), it's the same exact movie idea. But jeez the kid actors in Shorts look terrible, there are good and bad child actors but these child actors seemed especially bad. So for the first time in my life i'm going to issue a warning...

DO NOT GO SEE SHORTS, IF YOU WISH TO CLING TO YOUR CINEMA VALUES AND SENSE OF LOGIC.

there I said it, and i'm going to forget about this movie. Ever since Rodriguez created Troublemaker Studios started for movies, his imagination has gotten a little out of hand with family friendly films. When he makes kid's movies, he has like the fantasy range of Michael Jackson. God knows i've watched bad films on TV when i'm bored, but this one looks bad.

Halo Chronicles Dead

LINK

"The Halo project is no longer happening, it sort of collapsed when the movie didn't end up happening." -Peter Jackson

Well, I'm not too surprised. I was hoping the game would happen, but nothing did happen and most people gave up. The problem was I needed a bit of confirmation from a credible source to say it's dead, and Peter Jackson is about as close as you can get.

And considering that Bungie promises Reach will be its last Halo title, It might be the end of projects from Halo. You know what...I doubt this will be the last Halo title but I imagine any Halo project outside of Bungie would fail. Halo ODST probably won't sell a copy if Bungie wasn't making it, and Halo Wars is a small indicator of that. It did have stuff to make it a worthwhile buy for some, but maybe Halo's glory days will be over after Reach.

Now that I really think about it, the way Jackson chained the game with the movie, it sounds like the game would have been a movie tie in. Which is really bad considering movie tie in games fail many many times.

See AVATAR on August 21st

Announced at Comic-Con (a GREAT SITE for updates on James Cameron's Avatar)

Official Avatar Site (Went live yesterday)

I know I haven't posted anything about this movie on the site ore even talked about it that much. I promise you though that is going to change because what some might not know is that AVATAR is my most anticipated movie, maybe even more so then The Hobbit. This is going to cause a bit of a dilemma for me though with this latest news out of Comic-Con. There is the occasional movie where people say that no one has said anything bad about the film. This is the ultra rare case where that statement has actually rang true.

July 23rd at 4pm EST James Cameron took the stage at Comic-Con in Hall H to show 24 minutes of the movie AVATAR coming December 18th 2009. This is Cameron's first feature film since Titanic became the biggest movie of all-time in 1997. During the panel James Cameron announced "AVATAR DAY". Which will take place on August 21st. On that day The Trailer for the movie and game will be released as well as something that has never been done before. In select IMAX theaters across the country 15 minutes of the film will premiere in IMAX 3D...FOR FREE. An announcement on tickets and reservations will be announced in the near future.

This is incredible news and if you don't know what AVATAR is today I swear you will be singing it's praise by the completion of this year. This film has been placed to be the biggest influential blockbuster since Star Wars changed SCI FI over 30 years ago.

I mentioned a personal Dilemma before and that is "I REALLY WANNA GO ON AUGUST 21ST" the problem is I already know I will do whatever I can to see it in IMAX 3D on Opening night. So should I go in August and see a full 15 minutes of the movie and slightly diminish my first viewing of the movie in December. I honestly don't even wanna watch the trailer I think. I think I might even prefer not to see a single piece of moving footage until that magical night when the clock strikes 12. I will be struggling with this decision for the next 28 days as I way the pros and cons of this decision.

Help me decide below in the comments :)

Halo Legends Trailer

Honestly I wanted to make a post a few hours ago about this new Halo anime. I wanted to say how much I didn't think it would work because the Halo franchise doesn't fit that style. Well I waited a while and luckily just as I was about to make that post I check on gametrailers and found the following trailer. So now that I've seen this trailer I can now say...I was right. This just will not work. I'll watch it because it has Halo on it but that doesn't mean it will be good. The animation here from the makers of Appleseed and Ex Machina is just atrocious. Not because of the style but because of Halo. The two styles are completely different and don't mesh. In one scene we see a little girl giving this teddy bear key chain to someone. That might not sound bad but in the trailer it feels like something out of a typical anime and not from something with the name Halo in it. If they wanted to do this right they should have done it in the same CGI of the Halo 3 Super Bowl Trailer. This is just going to be AWEFUL!

Video Games | Halo Legends | Exclusive Debut Trailer HD

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

SUPERBOWL COMMERCIAL: STARRY NIGHT

Geeksquisite Qustion of the Day #15: 7/24/09

This question came to me when talking in a skype chat with a few fellow authors. You ever get that weird sense your being followed? Or think you saw something but then you looked and nothing was there?

Question #15: Haver you ever experienced something that some people would describe as supernatural?

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.

Sam Raimi to Direct Warcraft Movie

Blizzard announced yesterday that a Warcraft movie will be coming in the future, and Sam Raimi is on board to direct. This seems both crazy and exciting at the same time, Raimi is obviously well established and I think he could do a really good job on a Warcraft movie. Warcraft can be dark, but can also be fun, and we've seen both of those sides from Raimi already. Here's what Raimi had to say on the project:

"At its core, Warcraft is a fantastic, action-packed story," said Raimi. "I am thrilled to work with such a dynamite production team to bring this project to the big screen."

Raimi is not the only big name on the project either, Charles Roven will be brining in his Atlus Entertainment producing company, who produced The Dark Knight. They will be working alongside Raimi's Stars Road Entertainment in order to make sure the movie is well promoted. With the huge success of The Dark Knight, I'm guessing Atlus Entertainment can definitely help a lot in promoting this movie. I have high hopes that the movie will be as good as it can be, and here's hoping it is.

You can read the full announcement at blizzard's website here.

Alpha Protocol Impressions

You guys might not know this, but I'm pretty excited for Alpha Protocol. I've heard a lot of people giving it some flak for it's graphics, but it seems like the team is definitely focused on making a good game first and foremost. The graphics don't look horrible either, and are definitely comparable to something like Mass Effect. In this new developer walkthrough Matthew Rorie takes us through many different parts of the game... and personally, I'm more excited than ever!

One of the things he takes a look at is Customization, you'll be able to customize everything about your character, there's tons of different clothes, hairstyles, hats, glasses, beards. Sure, that's nothing new, but you'll also be able to customize your play style. If you want to be a stealthy character, sure. If you want to be a character who uses a lot of gadgets, sure! Wanna go in guns blazing? awesome. You can tailor your weapons and armor like never before, and also choose a good load-out based on how you want to tackle a mission.

The biggest RPG element of the game comes in the form of various stats you can level up throughout the game. The game works on a point-system and you'll disperse them into many different categories such as stealth, martial arts, hacking, etc. The game works much like KotoR in that after leveling up a skill enough, you'll get a new ability from it.

In the game, you can go between many different safehouses as well, which I find to be pretty damn cool. You travel to many different locations around the world, such as Moscow, Saudi Arabia, or Rome, and it looks so much like you're living the life of a secret agent.

Alpha Protocol is looking to be another quality RPG from Obsidian, and I'm definitely excited for it. Look for it in stores October 6th later this year.

Geeksquisite #42 Game Edition: 2010 is the new 2009

Episode 42 Game Edition: 2010 is the new 2009

TJ, Rob, Ed, Aaron, and Tom talk about Battlefield 1943, and the 2009 G-Phoria awards. We also talk about the massive amounts of delays including Bayonetta, MAG, Bioshock 2, and Heavy Rain.

Podcast available via Itunes

Geeksquisite Question of the Day #14: 7/23/09

This question came to Travis and I when thinking about the question of the day. There are a ton of shows I love but there might be as many ore even more that I hate.

Question #14: Are there any television shows you hate, 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.

Aaron’s Reviews: Monster Hunter Freedom Unite

Let’s get this out of the way first; I am a huge monster hunter fan. I’ve been playing since the first PSP incarnation, but I’m not exactly a veteran as there was a ps2 version before I got into it. But I’ve been into it for a while and it accordance with my reviewing games that our other hosts have yet to review policy I will review “Monster Hunter Freedom Unite”.

Monster Hunter has a long history, and I will touch on it briefly. When monster hunter was released for the Playstation 2, it became a huge hit in Japan. America also got its own version, but it didn’t catch on in the same way. Capcom, the company that put the game out although concerned with the American market put a majority of the backing into the Japanese market considering the success. So while America still would get the occasional upgraded version, the Japanese would get double the content. This was the case with monster hunter freedom 1 for the PSP. In America this was all we had until MHF2, but in Japan they released Monster Hunter Freedom G, which featured new monsters and missions. There were also some PC versions that came out. After MHF2, Capcom decided that the time had come to try to boost interest in the American market. So they decided to start bringing the harder “G” expansions to the U.S. and begin a marketing campaign in the U.S. Thus the expansion to 2, Monster Hunter Freedom Unite made it to American shores, and the commercials began. This review will sort of encompass all the incarnations of MH or at least at the start since I’ve never reviewed the series before. So let’s get to the game itself shall we?

In the game you start out as a new to the scene hunter in some small town. You begin your training with the first level missions which are mostly gathering quests to teach you the ins and outs of the game. Here you learn how to cook meat to increase you stamina, and how to combine items to make healing drinks and different battle aides. When you’ve built yourself a basic weapon/armor set and have learned how to manage health and trap items you are finally introduced to the hunting aspect, after all the game is named “monster hunter” for a reason. This is where my favorite feature of the game comes into play, which made me a fan since the start. The major monster battles are in real time, this isn’t turn based at all and you need to keep on your toes to not die. It not only adds to the realism of the game and the hunting aspect, but it adds a level of perfection to strive for. If you get really good you may never get hit, or you could get horribly maimed. Each monster you come to face is unique, and range from dragons to giant crabs, to things as bizarre as monkey’s that throw their own feces at you…yes I’m serious. As you work your way up the mission ranks the parts you’ve collected from other beasts allows you to craft better armor and weapons. You’ll also learn as you defeat monsters and look up the armor sets made available what elements certain beasts are more weakened too than others, and begin working on elemental attributed weapons.

As you rank up you’ll also unlock missions at the “training school”, which will teach you better tactics to use on each monster as well as how to use each of the six weapon types on each monster. Then again there are really two weapon classes to worry about, each requiring a different armor set. The Blade masters can use Great Swords ( a giant sword), sword and shields, Hammers ( a giant hammer), and hunting horn ( similar to hammer but can grant status effects), and can wear heavier, more defensive armor. Gunners use Guns and Bows, and must wear lighter weaker armor sets which allow for easier movement. But I digress, after clearing out the required quests for a level; an Urgent Quest appears that upon completion allows the player to move up to the next level bracket. When you become a strong enough hunter, you get access to elder dragon quests which feature super strong dragons of the games lore. One of my personal favorites is the Lao Shin Lung, a dragon the size of a mountain whose name literally translates to the same thing. But if you still don’t find these monsters challenging enough, there are the guild hall quests boasting even stronger beasts and mission combinations. The guild hall quests are the quests available to play with friends and this is where the game really shines.

However if you are a social outcast…or just don’t have any friends who have monster hunter, (considering its sales in America) even these missions can be accomplished by yourself, but the fun is really working with friends and coming up with effective strategies to down the stronger beasts more quickly. So what else is there? Well this is where the G expansion changes things up a bit. If you had MHF2, MHFU will load in your previous character and his accomplishments into the new game so you can continue where you left off. For the friendless, this expansion allows you to have “cat” assistants that help you in offline fights; it also adds harder mission levels to the guild hall and offline missions as well as new items and a few new monsters. MHF2’s flagship monster was the Tigerex, a primitive crawling dragon that lived in the mountains and in my opinion was a bastard. Unite’s flagship Monster is the Nargacuga (monster in my image up top) which is a subspecies of Tigerex that looks like a giant bat…he is also a bastard. Other new monsters include the Hypnocatrice (a turkey-like dragon), and my favorite of the additions the Yamatsukami (basically cthulu). But the most important addition is the “G” difficulty missions in the guild hall. Some of these missions are so hard you can’t do them without the help of a friend. It’s not that you’re not strong enough, but mostly each mission is timed and you usually find yourself out for time just before the monster is even on the ropes.


There are also “epic hunting quests” which are my personal favorite additions to the game in which you fight multiple different monsters in one play through receiving only health items when you kill one to continue fighting. All and all I’d say they took an already great game and made it even better. However just because I’m a fan doesn’t mean I should pad this game for you out there who haven’t played it before. I’ll say this, it’s a remarkably hard game to get started in, and you really have to work hard to get up to the point where you have decent enough weapons and armor to handle most beasts. Also, some of the game is almost unplayable if you don’ have friends to play it with, and because of the need to play in the same room with you PSP’s instead of playing via the internet those without friends can’t even arrange to play with random players online. If you want to play multiplayer you have to know other people with the game and be able to hang out often to play it. However, even with these downsides I will still highly recommend it, and rally those who play to convert as many non players as possible. This game is fun, time consuming, and feeds that underlying wish that most nerds have to go slay dragons. So get out the AND BUY MONSTER HUNTER FREEDOM UNITE, ITS AMAZING! DO IT! DO IT NOW!...Ahem….erm…thank you, we now return to you regularly scheduled blogs…

Geeksquisite Question of the Day: 7/22/09

This question came to me when thinking about going to pre-school. I always remembered story time in the library with the librarian reading to us.

Question #13: When you first started listening/reading books what was the first book you can remember?


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.

George Romero's Survival of the Dead

George Romero titles his next "Dead" film

I'm excited, although I can understand why some others are not. The first Romero movie I ever watched wasn't really even his movie, the remake of Dawn of the Dead by Zach Snyder was my intro into zombie movies. I happened to enjoy it and really need to watch Romero's original version, because its probably ten times better. That alone is amazing to imagine, but I really got to understand Romero when I watched a bit of Land of the Dead. I did not watch a lot of it, so I can't comment but I did finally get to analyze Romero somewhat with Diary of the Dead.

I know many people don't like this movie too much, I do though. Romero's writing really speaks to me, seeing as he addresses popular culture and makes me think. The ending line of Diary of the Dead really spoke to me, "are we worth saving, you tell me". Sure, some people are tired of the praise given to Romero. There is not many good horror movies out there, there really isn't. Before then I didn't care to watch zombie movies, now I have an unquenchable thirst for zombie movies. I really only care for Romero's because it's pretty sad when I watch something like 28 weeks later and I don't see the same vision. 28 weeks later made the zombies faster which looks stupid and impossible, and the logic leaps in most non Romero zombie movies annoys me. Look at Dead Snow and how stupid its cast seems, the cast of Diary of the Dead showed development, breaking points.

I'm gonna really hunt down Romero's works and watch them, I am going to see this new one. Romero isn't flawless, but I like that he took risks with Diary of the Dead's filmmaking style and showed inventive zombie encounters. Seeing Diary of the Dead made me want to give him another chance.

So for all you zombie fans who wait for Romero's next work, praying he lives beyond his 72 years, don't miss out on Survival of the Dead which returns to the classic film making techniques instead of what Diary gave us.

Geeksquisite Diary 7/21/09: Best Buy Trip and Netflix

I just came back from a trip to Best buy and bought a few items I thought I'd share with you. I also thought it would be cool to let you see what I got in the mail from netflix.

Comment below please :-)

Xbox Live Update on August 11th

LINK

The Games on Demand service and the Netflix updates will come to Xbox on August 11th, the other updates will come later in the fall. The Avatar Marketplace will also launch, so expect to see a very diverse Xbox Live Community. If i'm reading the article right you can buy a warthog, thats kind of funny and tempting to buy.

Can't wait for the Netflix update to be honest, now instead of telling me what movies to watch my friends can actually make me watch them by inviting me to their party. I have to worry like others do if you have to watch the avatars during the movie and have no option to go fullscreen.

Brutal Legend Commentary Part 2

WARNING EARLY STORY STUFF IS MENTIONED. *SPOILERS*


So if your alright with seeing about 40 total minutes of the early gameplay then watch the following. I just watched the whole thing and it is SO EPIC. I can't wait until this game comes out in Rocktober. The following video shows the open world of Brutal Legend for the very first time. At E3 2009 we saw the early linear section but that was so 1 month ago. Here we get to see how the world around Eddie Riggs will look and function. We learn how to control our Heavy Metal army. There is also a celebrity introduction for the ages that is shown. Rock On!

Video Games | Brutal Legend | Developer Commentary II HD

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Brutal Legend Commentary Part 1

Halo 10 year anniversary

Today is Tuesday July 21th 2009 and you know what that means? It means it's the 10 year anniversary since Halo was announced at Macworld 1999. This was before Microsoft even owned Bungie. Steve Jobs announced that Halo would be the game to put Mac gaming back on the map using the OpenGL platform. Microsoft announced that it bought Bungie on June 19th 2000. Then a little over a year later on November 15th 2001 Halo: Combat Evolved hit consoles changing the view on console shooters forever.

It's hard to think that Halo has been with us for so long. I remember going with my mom to buy a bundle on day one from Toys R' Us. The bundle didn't come with Halo so I returned two of the games and got Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee and Halo: Combat Evolved. I always liked games but I don't think I officially became a "hardcore" gamer until Halo came out. So even if the Halo franchise isn't the pinnacle of gaming the way it once was it will always be a part of my life as a gamer. Thank you Bungie :)

Bale's Dilemma

I never usually post somewhat random youtube vids, but this one has to do with batman and was pretty hilarious so I felt the need to post it. We've all heard about the psychological paces Heath Ledger had to go through while playing the joker, but what about Christian Bale's psychological issues? This movie covers Bale's psychological stigma of implied homosexual subtext and overwhelming fear of being ass raped by Heath Ledger. If you liked this one, check out the users channel. He has 3 other dark knight parody videos that are all funny in it's own right. Just click the video, then click the user's name and bam you there.

New The Beatles: Rock Band Trailer

Hey guys wanted to share with you this new The Beatles; Rock Band trailer that just hit the web. The game shows off 8 new songs added to the 10 announced at E3 2009.

the new 8 songs:

Paperback Writer
Twist & Shout
Can't Buy Me Love
Eight Days A Week
Yellow Submarine
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Within You Without You
Revolution

The biggest song here for me HAS to be Revolution. It's just simply one of the greatest written songs of all time. I'm honestly not a huge music efficienato but I know when I hear something important. I can't wait to be able to belt out this song and play the guitar and drum. Hell I should try it all at once...maybe?

The Beatles: Rock Band hits shelves 9/9/09 Enjoy.




*UPDATE*

Another 7 new songs also announced this morning.

Do You Want To Know A Secret
I Wanna Be Your man
And Your Bird Can Sing
With a little Help From My Friends
Birthday
I Got a Feeling
Dig a Pony?

Gotta love seeing With a Little Help From My Friends. Another epic song bringing the total to 25 announced songs out of 45.

Geeksquisite Question of the Day #12: 7/21/09

This question came to me when thinking about the G phoria awards that I posted about earlier. A lot of entertainment has it's awards shows. The video games have been experimenting but I'm not sure if they've really been working.

Question #12: What do you think it will take for a video games awards show to get the mainstream success and respect like other awards shows in the entertainment business?



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.

Retro/Grade Demo Impressions

Retro/Grade is a game with a pretty cool concept. You play a side-scrolling space shooter, but instead of things moving forward and you shooting them, something got messed up with the space/time continuum and everything is moving in reverse. This changes the entire game from a Shooter into a Rhythm game, and the developers are aware of this, too. They even have what they call a "Rhythm Mode" that will let you play the game using a guitar controller. You can still play this mode with a keyboard or controller, however.

I personally like playing what they call the "Shooter Mode" better, and it's at it's best when using a controller. The keyboard controls work fine, but this game seems like it was made for use with a controller, I actually hooked up my 360 controller to my PC to play it.

The way you play the game is by collecting your shots that you had previously fired, while you travel backwards through time. You do this with the Spacebar, or A button on the controller. Each level has a simple beat track playing on top of it. The songs in the levels so far are kind of floaty and slow. While they only gave us two levels in the demo, I imagine it's not much different for the rest of them, although I would like to get some faster songs in there, just for the challenge.

Speaking of challenge, the game has 5 difficulty modes... newb, casual, mediumcore, pro, and l33t. Needless to say, those are some pretty awesome names, and the rest of the presentation in the game doesn't suffer either. Like I said before, we get Two levels in the demo, Level 10 and Level 9... since you unlock Level 9 after beating 10, this makes me think that the full game will have you traveling backwards through levels, which is a pretty cool concept. Not only that, but the names of the two levels are hilarious. We've got "Rick Rollin'" and "All your bass are belong to us".

Overall, Retro/Grade seems like a fun little indie game which is definitely worth checking out. If you haven't yet, you can download the demo from Steam. Be sure to look forward to the full game, coming out later this year.

Geeksquisite #41 Movie Edition: The Meteor is the Asshole

#41 Movie Edition: The Meteor is the Asshole

TJ, Rob, Ed, Aaron talk about Bruno and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Also talk about Bilbo Baggins casting. We had a great talk about Meteor a tv movie on ABC, and more.

Podcast available via Itunes

Left 4 Dead gets lobby browser

This list includes official and add-on campaigns, including add-on campaigns you have not yet installed, making it a great way to discover them. You can filter by difficulty, official and/or add-on campaigns and by lobbies and/or games in progress.

Note: I believe this is for PC only, I wish it wasn't because I get tired of playing the same maps, and no one wants to play on the highest difficulty.

Not much else to say here but at least angry fans of Left 4 Dead dreading the second game will get more use and less repetition out of the first game should they choose not to indulge on the sequel.

Gphoria 2009 Awards: August 5th 8pm EST

So anyone who watches G4 knows that every summer they have their Gphoria awards. This year Gphoria 2009 will be airing August 5th at 8pm EST. Click here to cast your vote. Below I have all the nominations listed along with my personal picks highlighted. Please leave some of your thoughts in the comments. I know these awards mean nothing but it doesn't mean we can't have a good video game discussion anyway.

I still find it really odd that G4 does awards every August instead of at the end of the year. While the VGA's also don't mean much at least they get the time of the year right. Also Note I haven't played every single game on this list but I've tried most of them so I feel pretty good about my choices. Even though I think some nominations are really odd like Resistance 2 being up for best graphics or no Geometry Wars 2? Also sad to see no Battlefield 1943 up for best Downloadable Game. I know it's obviously too new so I assume it will be on the list next year. Anyway go vote or comment below and have fun.

Best Action Game

1. Dead Space
2. Infamous
3. Madworld
4. Prototype
5. Red Faction: Guerrilla

Best Downloadable Content

1. Burnout Paradise: Big Surf Island
2. Fable II: See The Future
3. Fallout 3: Broken Steel
4. GTA: The Lost and the Damned
5. Little Big Planet

Best Downloadable Game

1. Bionic Commando: Rearmed
2. Braid
3. Castle Crashers
4. Flower
5. Peggle

Best Graphics

1. Fight Night Round 4
2. Killzone 2
3. Resident Evil 5
4. Resistance 2
5. Street Fighter IV

Best Handheld Game

1. Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
2. GTA: Cinatown Wars
3. Patapon 2
4. Rock Band Unplugged
5. Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood

Best New Character

1. Cole Mcgrath - Infamous
2. Crimson Viper - Street Fighter IV
3. Galen Marek (Starkiller) - The Force Unleashed
4. Sackboy - Little Big Planet
5. Your Dog - Fable II

Best Online Multiplayer

1. Killzone 2
2. Left 4 Dead
3. Resident Evil 5
4. Street Fighter IV
5. World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Litch King

Best Party Game

1. Boom Blox Bash Party
2. Guitar Hero: World Tour
3. Raving Rabbids TV Party
4. Rock Band 2
5. Street Fighter IV

Best Racing Game

1. Burnout Paradise: Big Surf Island
2. Excitebots: Trick Racing
3. Fuel
4. Motorstorm: Pacific Rift
5. Pure

Best Role-Playing Game

1. Fable II
2. Fallout 3
3. Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood
4. Star Ocean: The Last Hope
5. Tales of Vesperia

Best Shooter

1. Call of Duty: Word At War
2. Gears of War 2
3. Killzone 2
4. Left 4 Dead
5. resistance 2

Best Soundtrack

1. 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand
2. Fallout 3
3. Halo Wars
4. Infamous
5. Little Big Planet

Best Sports Game

1. Fight Night Round 4
2. Madden NFL 09
3. MLB: The Show 09
4. NBA Live 09
5. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10

Best Strategy Game

1. Demigod
2. Halo Wars
3. Patapon 2
4. Valkyria Chronicles
5. Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War II

Best Voice Acting

1. Fallout 3
2. Gears of War 2
3. Ghostbusters: The Video Game
4. Left 4 Dead
5. Madworld

Deserves an Uwe Boll Movie

1. Castlevania: Judgment
2. Golden Axe: Beast Rider
3. Legendary
4. Onechanbara: Bikini Zombie Slayers
5. X-Blades

Favorite System

1. Nintendo DS
2. Nintendo WII
3. PC
4. Playstation 3
5. Playstation Portable (PSP)
6. Xbox 360

Game of the Year

1. Fable II
2. Fallout 3
3. Gears of War 2
4. Infamous
5. Killzone 2
6. Street Fighter IV

Most Original Game

1. Braid
2. Little Big Planet
3. Madworld
4. Plants Vs. Zombies
5. Valkyria Chronicles

Longest Lasting Game

1. Fallout 3
2. Left 4 Dead
3. Little Big Planet
4. Street Fighter IV
5. World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Litch King

Budget Movie Review: Driller Killer

Driller Killer is a budget slasher-flick that came out in 1979. It's about an artist who is pressured by everything in his life, he goes insane, and kills people with a drill. Sounds Cheesy to you? Well, it is... But it's not without it's merits.

Let's talk about some of the good parts first. The Main-character, Reno, is a pretty awesome guy, and is pretty likable in a "hey, that guy is a douchebag, he's the most awesome douchebag ever" kinda way. Throughout the course of the movie, we find out how Reno hates bums, loud music, and annoying women. In the movie, he eventually kills them all, using a drill. It's an interesting concept at first, but it does get pretty old. The music in the movie is pretty decent and better than most low-budget films, we get some cool music from the band

Now, I'm not sure if it was the movie itself, or the quality of the DVD, but the entire movie seems very dark. Not in tone, but in terms of actual light. Most of the scenes in the movie take place at night, so this is a problem. Not only that, but the story is way too intricate for this type of movie, and it's handled really sloppily, and it's hard to follow what's going on. There's something going on with a band called the Roosters (Which I'm not sure if they're a real band or not) who just moved into Reno's apartment, an art salesman who likes Reno's past works but not his new stuff, and a bunch of bums doing bum stuff out on the street. The characters aren't even introduced by name, I only realized the main character's name was Reno at the end when he's about to kill one of his final victims, and he's begging for his life.

Another thing the movie has a problem with is originality. If you're going to see a slasher-flick, you want to see some original kills. the gore was okay, there's a lot of fake blood spewed about, and for a movie from 1979, it all looks pretty good. However, a lot of the kills involve him just drilling somebody in some part of their body, nothing special. I will give it a bit of credit, however, some of the kills were pretty interesting, especially when he drilled some guy's hand into a wall, and released the drill bit, essentially nailing him there. There's a few more parts where he did that, but that's about as far as originality goes.

The biggest problem the movie has, though, is it's pacing. Most of the movie is spent focusing on how this guy is slowly going insane. The first kill doesn't happen until 30 minutes into the movie! That's pretty surprising for a slasher-flick. The worst part is, the second kill doesn't happen until almost an HOUR into the movie. The last half-hour of the movie is where most of the killing takes place, but it's such a long journey to get there. The parts where he's not killing people range from how annoyed he is at the band downstairs, to how his wife is driving him insane, to how he has to keep working on his latest painting. There's a few parts that are funny, but it's mostly a bunch of dramatic bullshit by actors who aren't suited to play dramatic roles.

Overall, the movie has many glaring flaws and only a few redeeming values, but somehow I kind of liked it. Sure it's slow-paced, the story is a mess, and it only has a few original kills. But there's moments where it's super-cheesy and unintentionally funny, and I get a real kick out of those parts. However, that still doesn't excuse it from being a poorly made movie. If you like slasher flicks and have a high-tolerance for cheesy acting and stories, then check it out. Otherwise, stay away from this one.

I give Driller Killer a 3 out of 5.

Apple hurts Palm and itself in the process

This news came to fruition yesterday, but the crime happen only a week ago. When the Palm Pre was created, Palm engineered the syncing ability for people to download their itunes collection to their phone like the Iphone could. John Naughton had this update on how Apple responded:

So last week Apple released an update to iTunes that closed the loophole and effectively screwed Palm, whose share price immediately declined. How did Apple describe its tactic? Merely by saying that the upgrade "addresses an issue with verification of Apple devices", which upon translation reads "Yay dudes! You're stuffed."

Damn, that was a jerky move by Apple for several reasons. It also signaled my refusal to ever buy a Mac product ever again, thats right, my dream to have a Mac Whitebook is now appearing silly and the ipod in my pocket seems generic.

It is very easy to see I am no fanboy of PC since I wanted to own a certain apple product and own yet another one. But as a man who understands business, there is no reason for Apple to waste money on doing such a thing. It also causes backlash on them, also hurting their business on itunes.

There is essentially no wrong in Palm's Pre being able to sync itunes music within it, in fact Apple should be humbled that Palm respects their music software instead of people buying it elsewhere so they can sync their music. But by engineering a block so that a crucial feature of the Palm Pre doesn't work, Apple faces some SERIOUS consequences.

First of all, Palm might sue since that engineering cost them money. Palm isn't depriving Apple of any profit, in fact it encourages profit because now another crowd can get their music easy on itunes. But depriving Palm of a promised feature to its buyers and not being the cause of the loss entitles them to sue.

Second of all, Palm owners will likely not buy from itunes again. None of those buyers have an iphone or clearly want one, and considering that todays cellphones have taken the place of the MP3 player as their music storage device. People do like to combine uses within one device, the iphone clearly established this at its introduction at Macworld.

Thirdly, as a result of the second consequence, Apple loses buyers in the itunes market due to angry Palm Pre owners, and could also suffer backlash for this move. We know Apple is aggressive, but this move shows backhanded tactics are not beyond Apple, especially considering they allow people to convert their music to the Apple format. What will Palm Pre do without the itunes market guaranteeing them ability to take their music with them? Music Piracy will ensue among other things.

Finally, Apple's move demonstrates not only a software close out like all their creations imply but also implies a hardware closure. I simply didn't buy a Mac because my software I have wouldn't support on an Apple Product, and there is very few that do. But closing the itunes service to outside developers indicates a deprived and pressured market to pay premium to enjoy the services Apple insists are better. I smell an antitrust suit or Apple losing some of their audience.

I do enjoy my 3 year old 60GB ipod, but i'm not inclined to replace the battery once it kicks the bucket. Maybe i'll ebay it and get myself a Zune, because I don't like combining devices like others do.

Geeksquisite Question of the Day #11: 7/20/09

This question came to me when thinking about movies I love like Star Wars or Indiana Jones. While I love both I would never want to live in the worlds those characters inhabit. Death and destruction everywhere.

Question #11: If you could live in the world/universe of a particular character what world would you want to live in?



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.

Movie Review: Bruno

In 2006 Sacha Baron Cohen gave us Borat, it's been 3 years but his hotly anticipated follow up Bruno is now here. These movies tend to be love them or hate them movies. So let me get it out of the way by saying a loved Borat. I hated the way people wouldn't shut up about it but I loved the film. It was outrageous and crude but also had something to say. Bruno attempts to do the same but isn't quite as successful.

Borat made me look at people and wonder "what is wrong with people". Bruno made me wonder "What is wrong with Sacha Baron Cohen". In Borat I was amazed at how some people reacted to Borat as a person thinking he was so naive and primitive. In Bruno none of the antics he pulls really were suprising. The reactions were fairly reasonable and not a surprise. The scene in the end was the only exception where the crowds reactions really were messed up. I don't wanna give anything away but while what Bruno did was over the top it shouldn't have made grown men fall to tears in rage. The other reactions seemed to obvious like thinking it's funny because a man walks away after Bruno drops his pants for example. How is that a shocking revolution about people? Borat showed the obvious but also gave a little more but Bruno never gets that deep. Instead it is just focused on the gay jokes and not the political commentary. Don't get me wrong though it was still awfully funny at times it just didn't have as much to say and because of that the movie is a lot more forgettable.

The film was ultimately enjoyable but I don't think Bruno will catch on the way Borat did. Borat came out at a time where America needed a rude awakening. Bruno feels like it came way to late and something that would have had a much bigger impact had it come out 10 years ago. Nothing special is revealed other then this style of filmmaking has become stale.

3 out of 5

Geeksquisite Question of the Day #10: 7/19/09

This question came to me when thinking about the other night hanging with a few fellow authors talking about going to concerts. I remember the first real concert I went to I was like 11, it was a great show.

Question #10: What are some great concert experiences you have had?



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.