Geeksquisite Question of the Day #71: 9/19/09

This Question came to me when talking with some fellow authors on XBL about a new question of the day.

Question #71: If you could run a country what country would you want?

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.

Tech News: Get Windows 7...for 30 bucks

Proof that this is no hoax

Windows Vista has been crapped on endlessly, and personally, aside from power usage I don't get the "hyped negativity" over Vista. However, for 30 bucks I get the newest Windows software including the better power management and more of my memory ram free? Count me in, I'm sure my college will offer it at some point.

Of course compatability issues make me hesitate to want it, I'd really like to have all my stuff working again. So maybe i'll pass on this because I simply haven't had problems running Vista besides the power usage.

It's good to give everyone a heads up I would say.

Geeksquisite Question of the Day #70: 9/18/09

This Question came to me when thinking about Lost Planet 2, and what sort of inventions we might have in the future.

Question #70: If you were smart enough to invent anything you wanted, anything at all... what would it be?

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.

Chowder Impressions

Chowder is a cartoon that airs regularly on Cartoon Network. It first aired in November 2007 but since I took a break from watching TV for a while, I had never seen it before today.

The show was created by C.H. Greenblatt, who was formerly a storyboard artist on Spongebob as well as Billy & Mandy. Those are two high-profile cartoons, but this is Greenblatt's first foray into making his own series.

The show is divided into two approximately 15-minute stories per episode. I had watched two episodes back to back, and I must say... Chowder works on so many levels. It's got kiddie charm, but it's not mind-numbing. It's got great voice acting that's crazy, but not annoying, utilising some VERY GOOD comedic timing and delivery. Not only that, but the jokes aren't generic, and some can even make a 21 year old male like myself laugh out loud.

In this day and age most cartoons have been doing a lot of dumbing-down in terms of comedy, and they've all been trying to send a message to kids. I stopped watching a lot of cartoons because of this force-feeding of personal views. I kept thinking to myself "What ever happened to all the fun cartoons?" Well, Spongebob is one example of a fun cartoon nowadays, as well as Billy & Mandy... so it's to be expected that somebody who worked on both of those cartoons would make somethings great. I must say, Chowder works on so many levels that it's astounding. If you haven't seen the show yet, flip it on sometime... it's probobly the best thing since Rocko's Modern Life.

Geeksquisite Question of the Day #69: 9/17/09

This question came to me when talking to some fellow authors online. Randy suggested the following question.

Question #69: The most obscure game you've ever played?

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.

Modern Warfare 2 Xbox 360 bundle

Available for preorder, this special xbox will not be available in stores and have a 250 GB hard drive as well as a copy of Modern Warfare 2. If you don't have an Xbox yet, this is a DAMN GOOD way to start since most will buy the Xbox 360 game for the online play.

Geeksquisite Question of the Day #68: 9/16/09

This question came to me while looking at my future. Hoping that one day I could helm a huge ass film. One can dream.

Question #68: If you could create someing like a blockbuster movie or a Triple A game or write the next Harry Potter what would u like to create?

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.

The Nintendo Seal becomes it's own branch

It is now named...

After many many years the Nintendo Seal of Quality will be leaving us, and wil become its own company. In previous years the Nintendo Seal of Quality was an assurance that the game you bought was approved or made by Nintendo that limited the amount of games one developer could maker. This ensured quality bug free games and let Nintendo loyalists avoid the non licensed games that sometimes didn't work.

A lot has changed with the Nintendo Seal of Quality, including the fact that now it's just labeled the Nintendo Seal. I have many games such as Captain Skyhawk, Hardball III, etc. that prove the Nintendo Seal of QUALITY was BS, and probably the reason they changed it. They kept it though, likely imprinting the idea that the game must be good by the seal. Although I know that means nothing.

Now that it is its own company...it mentions better work conditions, so I imagine testers might show some more enthusiasm to simply deny some of the terrible games in the Wii library. I can't hope for too much though.

Geeksquisite Diary 9/14/09: TJ Unboxes an SNES

Hey all you gamers out there. There is one sad thing about my gaming childhood and thats that I never had a Nintendo home console until the N64. That means I missed out on the NES and SNES era of games. That is a lot of great games I have never had the chance to play, at least for any extended amount of time. That has now changed as I got a SNES of Ebay along with 22 games. So check out the vid and see how it all went down.

Geeksquisite attends The Beatles: Rock Band Launch Party

A local radio station, WBAB, hosted a midnight release for The Beatles: Rockband. There was a live cover band, The Daytrippers, a raffle, the game was up and playable, and there was some Karaoke too. Me and Ed went to this event and filmed some stuff for you guys. Enjoy!

Bobby Kotick don't need no consoles

Even the Simpsons don't like Kotick

GREED GREED GREED

Bobby Kotick is a greedy self absorbed CEO (of Activision), yeah I get that. This isn't simply someone wanting more profit, it's simply him wanting Activision to sever ties with the companies that make him money.

Activision has games that go as far back as Atari, Activision profited from the popularity of the console market. Now Kotick is so proud of himself that maybe one day, he won't need to put Activision's games and other stuff on any console. I guess this means he would like to exclusively put Activision games on computers and plug and play plastic devices. It's definitely a possibility.

Maybe Kotick doesn't realize that since hardware is working with it's developers to make better games, it'd be damn foolish to break the trend and start trying to sell the games on their own. Gamers hear rumor of EA making its own console, but developers really don't have the power to make a good console let alone support it with many exclusives. Companies tried that years ago, and look how few consoles we have to choose from compared with years ago.

Kotick, if you can't just shut your mouth, then I hope you engage in your scheme and fail. Which you will.

Geeksquisite Question of the Day #67: 9/15/09

This question came to me while looking around my room thinking of a good question to come up with. I noticed my shelf full of manga and came up with the following question...

Question #67: What is your favorite manga? If you haven't read any, which manga have you seen that has interested you the most?

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.

Batman Arkham Asylum DLC

Does not include Bale's throat cancer voice

Eidos has previously announced DLC for Batman Arkham Asylum, in fact there will be more DLC coming. However until I heard what it actually would be, it didn't pay to report about it.

Well that has thankfully changed with the assurance that all DLC SO FAR for Batman Arkham Asylum will be free. On September 17th, the Insane Night map pack will be available, which will test you in your abilities of stealth to take out enemies.

Personally, I couldn't see how to really expand on the game with DLC. But the idea of making more challenging stealth missions is pretty cool, I happen to like the stealth oriented moments and the DLC certainly could help boost the already amazing sales. 2 million copies is nothing to sneeze at, although the idea of a sequel doesn't appeal to me. Leave the game alone, let it become a legendary moment of success in the Batman history of video games.

Patrick Swayze Dead at Age 57

Today on September 14th 2009 the great Patrick swayze lost his battle with cancer. I grew up in a house hold with a mom who absolutely loved Dirty Dancing and Ghost. I have some great childhood memories sitting down with my mom when I was little and watching Ghost when it would come on the WB or TBS.

RIP you will be greatly missed.

Geek Spaces: Rob

I show you around my geek area, the place where I geek out in. Come follow me as I give you a guided tour!

Michael Jackson: This Is It Trailer

The film/documentary shows some of the last footage ever captured of the King of pop preparing for his farewell tour in London "This Is It". The tour was set to begin in July just two weeks after Jackson's death. The film is coming to theaters for 2 weeks only on October 28th. Love or hate him there is no doubt MJ left his mark on the music indrusty and world as a whole. Jamon!

Geeksquisite Question of the Day #66: 9/14/09

This question came to me while thinking about really nice cars.

Question #66: What is your dream car? The car you'd own if money wasn't an option...

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: Adventureland

I never had a chance to see Adventureland in the theaters when it first came out, and I really didn't have much of a desire to. The movie looked like your standard dumb comedy featuring Ryan Reynolds and Bill Hader. Well, I've recently gotten a chance to see it on dvd, and it turns out the movie is nothing of the sort and those two actors actually play secondary characters.

Adventureland stars Kristen Stewart, best known for her role in Twilight and Jesse Eisenberg, whom I haven't seen in much of anything, honestly. Seeing as how I've never seen Twilight, both of these actors seemed pretty much unknown to me, and it helped me connect much more to their characters, instead of seeing them as actors. Not only that, but both of them do such a great job in their roles that it was hard not to be captivated.

The movie is mostly a love story, but it's told in such a way that it doesn't seem forced, it doesn't seem like that's all it's focusing on, and it makes the movie feel a whole lot more realistic. The movie takes place in 1987, and while I wasn't alive back then, I definitely get the sense that that's what the time was really like. Nothing seems overly idealistic, and it really makes the movie feel a lot more genuine.

All of the characters in the movie have such diverse personalities that it's hard not to identify with at least one of them. Not to mention all of the actors do a superb job of playing their roles. Although, admittedly, Ryan Reynolds felt a lot just like Ryan Reynolds, and he seemed a bit out of place surrounded by such a great unknown cast.

I'm not sure if it's all of the 80's music and fashion, but the movie itself feels like something that should have come out in the 80's. I can compare it to movies such as The Breakfast Club or Ferris Buller's Day Off in that it deals with teenage problems, but doesn't do it in an overbearing manner, and still ends up having a good sense of humor.

Overall, I really enjoyed Adventureland, I went in with low expectations and came out absolutely stunned by how great the movie was. I'm impressed by how much realism was put into the movie, and it feels like something that could happen in real life, with real people, instead of your standard sappy love story. I recommend this movie to anybody who feels like they've lost somebody, or anybody who has a good sense of humor. Or you know what... I just recommend this movie to anybody at all. If you haven't seen it, go see it.

I give Adventureland a 5 out of 5.

NES RF Switch Flaw

While on a trip in Pennsylvania, I brought along my SNES to play in my hotel room for when the fun was over at the party. First of all, I recently watched an Angry Video Game Nerd "You Know What's Bullshit" episode about hotel room TV's, James Rolfe (AVGN) lamented about how hotel room TV's are not great if you want to use video game consoles, DVD players etc.

Rolfe is right on this, especially considering most hotel TV's don't have RCA inputs to avoid people bringing their own DVD players. This is a common practice to help them make money through Pay Per View, so Rolfe advised people to buy a RCA to CoAxial converter box to take with them.

The thing is, I make due with what I have. Older systems like the SNES use an RF switch, and that just requires you to put the cable into the RF box and putting the box on the TV. I have two RF boxes, one for the NES and one for the SNES. You'd think they were the same right?

Nope, since I had the SNES RF switch on my TV, I took the other one. The hotel's tv was so annoying to remove the cable for, that i had to hold the TV sideways with my cousin who came to play. So when it was all connected except for the RF switch to the TV, I ran into a huge annoying problem I had overlooked.

THE NES VERSION OF THE RF SWITCH DOES NOT HAVE A TURNING NUT ON IT'S CABLE

The SNES one does, bitterly ironic but what did we do then?

Unplugged the whole thing, and connected the RF to the TV FIRST. You have to turn the RF box with the wire since the wire cant slide the other way, and thank god my cousin Rick was there because on my own this will be extremely frustrating to do when I am at it alone in a hotel.

My trip went well, but that was pretty annoying. If you have an RF switch for the Nintendo/Super Nintendo, make sure the wire to the TV has a turnable nut in case you plan to use it.

Movie Review: 9

So, I went to the theater the other day and saw 9. I haven't really seen much of anything about the movie aside from a few commercials on TV, and I wasn't really expecting much going in, especially since I had heard Tim Burton was involved, and he hasn't had much of anything good lately. I was expecting a fun sci-fi animated movie, with some cool action scenes and not much else. I must say, though, when I left the theater, the movie surpassed my expectations.

"9" is about a series of hand-made robots, all made by this scientist, and they're numbered 1-9. Each of the robots has a great personality, and they all play well off of each other throughout the course of the movie. The main character, however, would have to be Number 9, who is an overall very likable character throughout the movie.

The story is what really captivates you about the whole movie, and they tend to get pretty deep. I don't want to give too much away, but the 9 robots are the saviors of humanity, and they have to fight off evil robots. The whole thing feels somewhat like a metaphor for the people vs. the government, and is a lot, especially for a kid's movie. Oh, but that's right, this is rated PG-13, and the rating shows through, with the movie's surprisingly dark tone.

Over the course of the movie, we see many of the nine robots apparently being killed by this giant robot, and without too many spoilers, there's a slight twist at the end that I wasn't really expecting. The action scenes are good too, and everything is very nicely animated, with a very nice art style to everything.

Overall, 9 is a fun movie with a bit of a deep story to it, the whole thing seems like a kids movie, but then it really surprises you with it's dark tone, and overbearing metaphors. However, a lot of this is easy to ignore, so if you're just looking for a fun sci-fi movie, this is for you, or if you're looking for a bit more, this is also for you.

I give 9 a 4 out of 5.

Happy Birthday to the one and only Steph

Today we celebrate the the 21st year of Steph's spectacular life on Earth. Of course celebrating in style was the only way to go. So we spent a great night eating at this terrific Hibachi and playing possibly one of the most epic games of Apples to Apples ever conceived.

Happy Birthday Steph, you are TEH AWESOME.

Geeksquisite Question of the Day #65: 9/13/09

This question came to me while booting up my computer, I noticed my badass Brutal Legend wallpaper on my desktop.

Question #65: What do you have set up as your desktop's wallpaper/background?

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.