Sunday, November 16, 2008
-Hey Yo! Apologies for the random updating lately. Seems to be once every week and half to two weeks I've been updating lately. I remember the first year or two when I started this blog back in 2003 when I was updating 2 or 3 times a week. My how times have changed.
-Caught a couple flicks in the theater since my last update...
Zack & Miri - So does this count as the first Kevin Smith film not to be set in Jersey, which was a very nice change of pace. Really liked this one, damn good dialogue and writing, which I wouldn't have expected anything less from Smith. Only thing left me wanting more here was the ending. It just wasn't as conclusive as I wanted. Still thought an awesome picture, more I think about it, I would have to rank it as my second favorite comedy of the year thus far behind Sarah Marshall. 8.5/10
Quantum of Solace - An excellent follow up to Casino Royale. Not use to seeing a straight up Bond story based sequel, but they pulled it off. Loved the fight and chase scenes, but I think Casino Royale managed a little better and had far more substance. That's not to say Quantum of Solace is terrible by any means. In the end it's not your typical Bond film, but mostly a revenge movie, and a damn good one too. 8.5/10
-How about Brock Lesnar winning the UFC Heavyweight Championship from Randy Coutoure yesterday? What a fight! I didn't know how well Brock would transition into UFC and if he would give up quickly on his new passion like he did with the NFL. Sounds like the MMA general audience hates how he carries himself, and I can't blame them, but the wrestling fan in me is a sucker for his confidence and how he's sticking it to the fans and not letting them get to him.
Speaking of wrestling, WWE 24/7 is currently running a great series called the Essential Starrcade, which is the ranked Top 25 matches in their entirety. Saw a bunch of classics I never saw before, and re-experienced bouts I haven't seen in years. If I recall correctly, this was suppose to be a DVD release, but for whatever reason got canceled at the last minute. If you're fan of late 80s and 90s wrestling, then this is a must watch! Some of the early 80s stuff is a little more slow paced than what most are currently use to and can be tougher to digest today, but everything else is wrestling gold!
WWE released several talents last week, no longer seeing that mad WWE cash are now Chuck Palumbo, Paul London, Elijah Burke, Leena Yada, Kenny Dykstra and Super Crazy. Can't say I'm going to miss the lat three on that list. I would have said the same about Palumbo, but I was starting to like the little run he was having on Smackdown earlier this year. A little surprised about Elijah Burke too. Last time I heard he was in developmental getting repackaged and testing out a new character, and I thought he delivered good promos and some fine ring work too. Most especially going to miss Paul London. He had his size going against him, but WWE did a fine job repackaging and making Brian Kendrick into a believable threat, that it's a shame that Paul London ended getting wasted after splitting up from Kendrick. I can easily see him going back to RoH again though and will love doing a lot of his crazy acrobatics that made him a top talent there previously.
-Finally caught my first 49ers game on television of the season with their recent game against the Cardinals on Monday Night Football. Even though both teams are of the same division, these two are my two favorite teams in the league right now so suffice to say this was the most intriguing game to me in quite some time. At first I thought the Niners were going to be their depressing to watch selves they have been for a majority of the season so far, but golly has Mike Singletary put some fire in those guys. Even though Niners lost that game, they fought to the end, and it was too bad they had the time clock issues that cost them the game. At least they demolished the Rams last night, now if they win their last six games of the season, they may just have a chance for qualifying for the Wild Cards!
-On to the gaming madness! Since my last update, I have added not one, not two, but three games to my completed games of the year list, making a total of 19. I will have the list updated hear at the bottom of the blog, but here are the latest three to make it on the illustrious list.
#17 - Gears of War 2 - Actually hit the midnight launch for this. I think that is the first game that comes to mind I ever picked up at midnight. First night I owned it I stayed up all night playing Horde mode with a couple coworkers and got to wave 20 on hardcore difficulty before finally calling it a night. The next night though, just like with the first Gears, Chris and I teamed up to tackle the campaign in system link play with two 360s and two televisions. We played from 7pm until 4am, so close to the end but had no choice to stop and get some zzs. We ended up picking it up again the next night and beating it within a couple hours on normal difficulty. Very impressed at the design and gameplay diversity throughout the story. Had a ton of fun throughout, and didn't think it'd be this much better than the original, but Epic surprised me, and yes the story actually does have a bit of depth and is far more meaningful than what little was explained in the first Gears.
#18 - History Channel: Civil War Secret Mission - Rented this one, and like the past couple of History Channel games I had no idea this one was out until seeing it in retail, which usually isn't a good sign. Also like the past History Channel games, this one uses the same "best of battles" format that took about 3-3 1/2 hours to beat, and still feels like it was programmed by a bunch of novice developers who got their debut working with the the Call of Duty engine. I will give the developers credit for finally making the hard difficulty mode live up to its name and not being anywhere as easy as it was before. Actually had to beat this one on normal. Overall, the game is a very basic and simple FPS like its predecessors, with a few flashes of promise throughout. But if you're a history nut like me, then you'll get past most of its faults with this rare FPS entry into the Civil War era.
#19 - Call of Duty: World at War - Completed this in split screen co-op with my brother. Surprised at how short this was. I thought CoD 4 was short since that took me around 6 hours, but World at War easily knocks that out of the park and it took us just under 4 hours to complete it. Most of those four hours were pretty fun, but there was a huge lack of mission variety other than one annoying tank level so by the end things were starting to get tedious...in just under four hours. For what it was, it was pretty good, but not great. Most of the game's achievements are accomplished through the campaign, however, only about a fifth of the game's achievements can only be obtained through co-op for whatever reason, and after we finished, we went to see what that the Nazi Zombie mode was like, only to discover it can only be unlocked by beating the campaign in single player..........what the F Treyarch???? Maybe the online multiplayer will be a little better, but I can see this one going straight back to GameFly within a day or two.
-Have had a little hands on time with a few other titles too. Finally got around to starting Resistance 2 last night. Got around halfway into chapter 2 so far, and its easy difficulty is still one of the toughest "easy" settings I have ever run across in gaming. With that said, I am still vastly enjoying myself, and am looking forward to beating it. There was a Street Fighter 2 table released as downloadable content for Pinball FX, and what a fun table it was to play. Great table design, with killer fight and bonus round mini games taken directly from the source material! I must have scored an extremely lucky round as I got an insane high score of 23 million which at at that time ranked me as #124 on the global online leaderboards!
-Make sure to check out the latest On Tap, the much anticipated PS2 installment of the RPG retrospective. With over 100, yes over 100, North American PS2 RPGs released, it resulted in our longest episode yet going three hours in length! We reminisce over past hits such as Dark Cloud, Rogue Galaxy, Odin Sphere, Final Fantasy X and countless others, and we also made sure to at least a get a mention in of ones we weren't overly familiar with. What are you waiting for, download this behemoth.
-That wraps it up for this entry, and as promised, here is my updated games completed for 2008 list. I'm catching up Sash and Steve, watch out! :)
1) 1/08 - History Channel: Battle for the Pacific (360)
2) 1/08 - Call of Duty 4 (360)
3) 2/08 - Conan (360)
4) 3/08 - Army of Two (360)
5) 4/08 - Lost: Via Domus (360)
6) 5/08 - Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (DS)
7) 6/08 - Super Dodgeball Brawlers (DS)
8) 6/08 - Resistance: Fall of Man (PS3)
9) 7/08 - Grand Theft Auto IV (360)
10) 7/08 - The Bourne Conspiracy (360)
11) 8/08 - Eternal Sonata (360)
12) 8/08 - Superman Returns (360)
13) 9/08 - Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance (Xbox)
14) 10/08 - Assault Heroes (Xbox Live Arcade)
15) 10/08 - Hotel Dusk: Room 215 (DS)
16) 10/08 - TNA Impact (360)
17) 11/08 - Gears of War 2 (360)
18) 11/08 - History Channel: Civil War: The Secret Missions (360)
19) 11/08 - Call of Duty: World at War (360)
20) 11/08 - Resistance 2 (PS3)
-Caught a couple flicks in the theater since my last update...
Zack & Miri - So does this count as the first Kevin Smith film not to be set in Jersey, which was a very nice change of pace. Really liked this one, damn good dialogue and writing, which I wouldn't have expected anything less from Smith. Only thing left me wanting more here was the ending. It just wasn't as conclusive as I wanted. Still thought an awesome picture, more I think about it, I would have to rank it as my second favorite comedy of the year thus far behind Sarah Marshall. 8.5/10
Quantum of Solace - An excellent follow up to Casino Royale. Not use to seeing a straight up Bond story based sequel, but they pulled it off. Loved the fight and chase scenes, but I think Casino Royale managed a little better and had far more substance. That's not to say Quantum of Solace is terrible by any means. In the end it's not your typical Bond film, but mostly a revenge movie, and a damn good one too. 8.5/10
-How about Brock Lesnar winning the UFC Heavyweight Championship from Randy Coutoure yesterday? What a fight! I didn't know how well Brock would transition into UFC and if he would give up quickly on his new passion like he did with the NFL. Sounds like the MMA general audience hates how he carries himself, and I can't blame them, but the wrestling fan in me is a sucker for his confidence and how he's sticking it to the fans and not letting them get to him.
Speaking of wrestling, WWE 24/7 is currently running a great series called the Essential Starrcade, which is the ranked Top 25 matches in their entirety. Saw a bunch of classics I never saw before, and re-experienced bouts I haven't seen in years. If I recall correctly, this was suppose to be a DVD release, but for whatever reason got canceled at the last minute. If you're fan of late 80s and 90s wrestling, then this is a must watch! Some of the early 80s stuff is a little more slow paced than what most are currently use to and can be tougher to digest today, but everything else is wrestling gold!
WWE released several talents last week, no longer seeing that mad WWE cash are now Chuck Palumbo, Paul London, Elijah Burke, Leena Yada, Kenny Dykstra and Super Crazy. Can't say I'm going to miss the lat three on that list. I would have said the same about Palumbo, but I was starting to like the little run he was having on Smackdown earlier this year. A little surprised about Elijah Burke too. Last time I heard he was in developmental getting repackaged and testing out a new character, and I thought he delivered good promos and some fine ring work too. Most especially going to miss Paul London. He had his size going against him, but WWE did a fine job repackaging and making Brian Kendrick into a believable threat, that it's a shame that Paul London ended getting wasted after splitting up from Kendrick. I can easily see him going back to RoH again though and will love doing a lot of his crazy acrobatics that made him a top talent there previously.
-Finally caught my first 49ers game on television of the season with their recent game against the Cardinals on Monday Night Football. Even though both teams are of the same division, these two are my two favorite teams in the league right now so suffice to say this was the most intriguing game to me in quite some time. At first I thought the Niners were going to be their depressing to watch selves they have been for a majority of the season so far, but golly has Mike Singletary put some fire in those guys. Even though Niners lost that game, they fought to the end, and it was too bad they had the time clock issues that cost them the game. At least they demolished the Rams last night, now if they win their last six games of the season, they may just have a chance for qualifying for the Wild Cards!
-On to the gaming madness! Since my last update, I have added not one, not two, but three games to my completed games of the year list, making a total of 19. I will have the list updated hear at the bottom of the blog, but here are the latest three to make it on the illustrious list.
#17 - Gears of War 2 - Actually hit the midnight launch for this. I think that is the first game that comes to mind I ever picked up at midnight. First night I owned it I stayed up all night playing Horde mode with a couple coworkers and got to wave 20 on hardcore difficulty before finally calling it a night. The next night though, just like with the first Gears, Chris and I teamed up to tackle the campaign in system link play with two 360s and two televisions. We played from 7pm until 4am, so close to the end but had no choice to stop and get some zzs. We ended up picking it up again the next night and beating it within a couple hours on normal difficulty. Very impressed at the design and gameplay diversity throughout the story. Had a ton of fun throughout, and didn't think it'd be this much better than the original, but Epic surprised me, and yes the story actually does have a bit of depth and is far more meaningful than what little was explained in the first Gears.
#18 - History Channel: Civil War Secret Mission - Rented this one, and like the past couple of History Channel games I had no idea this one was out until seeing it in retail, which usually isn't a good sign. Also like the past History Channel games, this one uses the same "best of battles" format that took about 3-3 1/2 hours to beat, and still feels like it was programmed by a bunch of novice developers who got their debut working with the the Call of Duty engine. I will give the developers credit for finally making the hard difficulty mode live up to its name and not being anywhere as easy as it was before. Actually had to beat this one on normal. Overall, the game is a very basic and simple FPS like its predecessors, with a few flashes of promise throughout. But if you're a history nut like me, then you'll get past most of its faults with this rare FPS entry into the Civil War era.
#19 - Call of Duty: World at War - Completed this in split screen co-op with my brother. Surprised at how short this was. I thought CoD 4 was short since that took me around 6 hours, but World at War easily knocks that out of the park and it took us just under 4 hours to complete it. Most of those four hours were pretty fun, but there was a huge lack of mission variety other than one annoying tank level so by the end things were starting to get tedious...in just under four hours. For what it was, it was pretty good, but not great. Most of the game's achievements are accomplished through the campaign, however, only about a fifth of the game's achievements can only be obtained through co-op for whatever reason, and after we finished, we went to see what that the Nazi Zombie mode was like, only to discover it can only be unlocked by beating the campaign in single player..........what the F Treyarch???? Maybe the online multiplayer will be a little better, but I can see this one going straight back to GameFly within a day or two.
-Have had a little hands on time with a few other titles too. Finally got around to starting Resistance 2 last night. Got around halfway into chapter 2 so far, and its easy difficulty is still one of the toughest "easy" settings I have ever run across in gaming. With that said, I am still vastly enjoying myself, and am looking forward to beating it. There was a Street Fighter 2 table released as downloadable content for Pinball FX, and what a fun table it was to play. Great table design, with killer fight and bonus round mini games taken directly from the source material! I must have scored an extremely lucky round as I got an insane high score of 23 million which at at that time ranked me as #124 on the global online leaderboards!
-Make sure to check out the latest On Tap, the much anticipated PS2 installment of the RPG retrospective. With over 100, yes over 100, North American PS2 RPGs released, it resulted in our longest episode yet going three hours in length! We reminisce over past hits such as Dark Cloud, Rogue Galaxy, Odin Sphere, Final Fantasy X and countless others, and we also made sure to at least a get a mention in of ones we weren't overly familiar with. What are you waiting for, download this behemoth.
-That wraps it up for this entry, and as promised, here is my updated games completed for 2008 list. I'm catching up Sash and Steve, watch out! :)
1) 1/08 - History Channel: Battle for the Pacific (360)
2) 1/08 - Call of Duty 4 (360)
3) 2/08 - Conan (360)
4) 3/08 - Army of Two (360)
5) 4/08 - Lost: Via Domus (360)
6) 5/08 - Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (DS)
7) 6/08 - Super Dodgeball Brawlers (DS)
8) 6/08 - Resistance: Fall of Man (PS3)
9) 7/08 - Grand Theft Auto IV (360)
10) 7/08 - The Bourne Conspiracy (360)
11) 8/08 - Eternal Sonata (360)
12) 8/08 - Superman Returns (360)
13) 9/08 - Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance (Xbox)
14) 10/08 - Assault Heroes (Xbox Live Arcade)
15) 10/08 - Hotel Dusk: Room 215 (DS)
16) 10/08 - TNA Impact (360)
17) 11/08 - Gears of War 2 (360)
18) 11/08 - History Channel: Civil War: The Secret Missions (360)
19) 11/08 - Call of Duty: World at War (360)
20) 11/08 - Resistance 2 (PS3)
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