Tuesday, June 21, 2011
-Good day everyone! First off is apologies for missing last month's blog, I just could not make the time. With that out of the way it has been a decent summer so far. Kicked it off by going to my sister's graduation party, with her getting her degree to be an RN, so props to my sis!
-Last night I caught my first concert of the year in Fargo at The Venue and went to see Against Me! with Adam. The two openers were Lemuria and Screaming Females. Lemuria was all right, but I just could not get into the Screaming Females, the band whom only consisted of one female so the band name is a lie! Against Me! brought it and was one of the few bands I have seen live to deliver nonstop energy and keep the momentum at a high level throughout their entire set. You know how most bands will usually do a little bass or drum solo or banter with the crowd for a few minutes while the rest of the band gets their bearings back during their improvised break? There was none of that from Against Me! as they played their 20 song set list nonstop, with at most maybe about several seconds in between a couple songs. Awesome performance all around, and I easily got my $15 worth. I love seeing shows at The Venue, it has the small, personal small event feel, and unlike other places I have seen small-band shows, it is not a dump by any means.
-June is not even over and it has already been a great summer movie season. I was expecting Thor to be a disappointment of Fantastic Four-proportions, but was pleasantly surprised at how entertaining it was. 8/10 X-Men: First Class was another damn good comic book movie, especially coming after X3 and X-Men Origins, which both tried to do a little too much. I really liked the actors who portrayed Magneto and Professor X. 9/10 I got psyched to see Fast Five by watching the first and fourth Fast & The Furious movies. Fast Five shocked me by being a legitimately good action movie because I went in expecting the guilty pleasure race scenes and cheesy acting I have come to love and expect from these films. Say what you will about Paul Walker, but he has come a long way since the original Fast movie. 8.5/10
Super 8 brought the goods too! JJ Abrams I am continuing to love through rollercoaster of emotions he brought out in me in Lost, to the boldly produced Cloverfield, and now striking gold a third time with me in Super 8. I like that the trailers for it did not paint a whole picture for what the whole movie was going to be like and I always was anticipating every next scene. The children in that movie were some of the best children actors I have seen since Stand By Me, and I just liked the format the film was shot in and it convinced me that they were really in 1979. 9/10
Hangover 2 was more of the same, but that is not necessarily a bad thing since I loved the first Hangover, and seeing how the "Wolfpack" got from point A to B was still a riot. 8.5/10 I had a little trepidation going into the new Pirates of the Caribbean since it had only two of the franchise's main actors returning, but it still ended up being the same fun popcorn entertainment as the previous films. 8/10 Finally, the latest summer flick I saw was Green Lantern, and well it is definitely no Thor or X-Men. It was decent, with plenty of good CG, but way too many convenient scene transitions that just distracted too much from the film. 6.5/10
-It was shocking and saddening to hear of the tragic passing of "Macho Man" Randy Savage last month. He was one of my childhood heroes growing up with wrestling in the late 80s and early 90s. I think I was pretty down for a couple of days after hearing that news. Randy revolutionized the business in the 80s by bringing a new level of charisma and flair with his flamboyant outfits and outspoken personality that few others could match. RIP Mach!
-Over the past month I was able to redux some of my old sports games retrospectives. The first football games retrospective for On Tap was more or a quick take on the current scene of football games. The old basketball retrospective episode saw my original two guests bounce out at the last minute and I had some last minute replacements who were unfamiliar with hoops games which resulted in a show that was pretty entertaining, but not too much of a tribute hoops games of yore. It was a blast to redo them with my buddy Steve, so click here to download the basketball games retrospective and click here to download the new football show.
-This year's E3 just transpired a little over a year ago. I think the running theme is "wait and see" coming out of this year's E3. Nintendo's Wii follow up, the WiiU does not have me entirely sold. The "New Controller" looks innovative and cool to have a PSP-esque device as your controller. We'll just have to see if Nintendo will be able to deliver enough compelling games for me and a far superior and more connected online experience than what they offered on the Wii in order to get my money.
Same thing with Sony's new portable, the PS Vita. I am feeling too much Deja Vu and do not want get lured into buying a system I rarely play like I did when I had the PSP. I will take nothing away from the Vita, it is one slick piece of tech and apparently capable of near-PS3 caliber graphics as was shown with the new Uncharted game for Vita. However, with what I was shown from the games so far at E3, it looks like more console-style experiences that I would rather play on a console instead of a PSP. I do like the price point though, and now Nintendo will most likely have a price drop on the 3DS in order to compete. Also, Uncharted 3 looks freaking sweet and an easy day one purchase.
On the Microsoft side of things, I am just not digging their continued majority focus on Kinect. I mean it is all well and good they are staying committed to the tech, but it just does not interest me that much at all other than a couple games. Even if I wanted one, I still would not get it because I do not have the optimal living room space to get the most out of the Kinect games. That aside, I am still psyched for the Halo remake, Halo 4, and most importantly Gears of War 3.
-I know it has been about two months since the last blog so I will try and not go on forever on my latest gaming progress. I will kick it off with my progress on a ton of racing games that have been in my rotation. Like two years ago when I saw Fast & Furious, I went on a huge racing game kick, and the same thing has happened since I saw Fast Five. Fuel is a unique and different open world off road racing game which I sunk several hours into. Grid is another Codemasters title I have been playing, which is the successor to the awesome TOCA Race Driver games on PS2 and Xbox. I am several hours into Need For Speed: Most Wanted, and for being a 360 launch game, I am surprised I am sinking as much time into it as I am.
I just scratched the surface off of Need for Speed Hot Pursuit, and am loving the Burnout undertones since it is from the arcade racer masterminds at Criterion. I threw Project Gotham Racing 4 in for the first time in a couple years and cursed myself for not playing more of it since. ModNation Racers is an awesome kart racing experience after I thought was burnt out on them after several Mario Karts. Finally, Test Drive Unlimited 2 is just as good as the original. I dig cruising around the Hawaii coastline and taking in the tropical scenery in some sweet rides, while using my winnings for better vehicles and new clothes and a better home.
For non-racing games, I am absolutely loving me some Mortal Kombat, and am digging its awesome story mode. Dark Star One is a surprisingly good space combat sim. I cannot believe I am liking this game as much as I am.
I am still getting use to the controls in Top Spin 4 and how touchy they are to planning your shots well in advance.
I got a couple hours into Sherlock Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper, and it is about time we get a traditional point-and-click adventure game on the 360, though I do not appreciate the crazy hard trial-and-error puzzles with no hints whatsoever I have ran into so far. Speaking of adventure games, I am digging LA Noire as a modern day adventure game, with some of the open world action tropes occasionally mixed in to keep me on my feet. Finally, I have got around to putting several hours into Last Window on the DS. For those that may not know, it is the sequel to another one of my favorite DS games Hotel Dusk, and I had to import it from Europe because the developer Cing got shut down before they could get a North American release out the door.
-That wraps up yet another insanely long blog, I will try not to miss another again...maybe.
-Last night I caught my first concert of the year in Fargo at The Venue and went to see Against Me! with Adam. The two openers were Lemuria and Screaming Females. Lemuria was all right, but I just could not get into the Screaming Females, the band whom only consisted of one female so the band name is a lie! Against Me! brought it and was one of the few bands I have seen live to deliver nonstop energy and keep the momentum at a high level throughout their entire set. You know how most bands will usually do a little bass or drum solo or banter with the crowd for a few minutes while the rest of the band gets their bearings back during their improvised break? There was none of that from Against Me! as they played their 20 song set list nonstop, with at most maybe about several seconds in between a couple songs. Awesome performance all around, and I easily got my $15 worth. I love seeing shows at The Venue, it has the small, personal small event feel, and unlike other places I have seen small-band shows, it is not a dump by any means.
-June is not even over and it has already been a great summer movie season. I was expecting Thor to be a disappointment of Fantastic Four-proportions, but was pleasantly surprised at how entertaining it was. 8/10 X-Men: First Class was another damn good comic book movie, especially coming after X3 and X-Men Origins, which both tried to do a little too much. I really liked the actors who portrayed Magneto and Professor X. 9/10 I got psyched to see Fast Five by watching the first and fourth Fast & The Furious movies. Fast Five shocked me by being a legitimately good action movie because I went in expecting the guilty pleasure race scenes and cheesy acting I have come to love and expect from these films. Say what you will about Paul Walker, but he has come a long way since the original Fast movie. 8.5/10
Super 8 brought the goods too! JJ Abrams I am continuing to love through rollercoaster of emotions he brought out in me in Lost, to the boldly produced Cloverfield, and now striking gold a third time with me in Super 8. I like that the trailers for it did not paint a whole picture for what the whole movie was going to be like and I always was anticipating every next scene. The children in that movie were some of the best children actors I have seen since Stand By Me, and I just liked the format the film was shot in and it convinced me that they were really in 1979. 9/10
Hangover 2 was more of the same, but that is not necessarily a bad thing since I loved the first Hangover, and seeing how the "Wolfpack" got from point A to B was still a riot. 8.5/10 I had a little trepidation going into the new Pirates of the Caribbean since it had only two of the franchise's main actors returning, but it still ended up being the same fun popcorn entertainment as the previous films. 8/10 Finally, the latest summer flick I saw was Green Lantern, and well it is definitely no Thor or X-Men. It was decent, with plenty of good CG, but way too many convenient scene transitions that just distracted too much from the film. 6.5/10
-It was shocking and saddening to hear of the tragic passing of "Macho Man" Randy Savage last month. He was one of my childhood heroes growing up with wrestling in the late 80s and early 90s. I think I was pretty down for a couple of days after hearing that news. Randy revolutionized the business in the 80s by bringing a new level of charisma and flair with his flamboyant outfits and outspoken personality that few others could match. RIP Mach!
-Over the past month I was able to redux some of my old sports games retrospectives. The first football games retrospective for On Tap was more or a quick take on the current scene of football games. The old basketball retrospective episode saw my original two guests bounce out at the last minute and I had some last minute replacements who were unfamiliar with hoops games which resulted in a show that was pretty entertaining, but not too much of a tribute hoops games of yore. It was a blast to redo them with my buddy Steve, so click here to download the basketball games retrospective and click here to download the new football show.
-This year's E3 just transpired a little over a year ago. I think the running theme is "wait and see" coming out of this year's E3. Nintendo's Wii follow up, the WiiU does not have me entirely sold. The "New Controller" looks innovative and cool to have a PSP-esque device as your controller. We'll just have to see if Nintendo will be able to deliver enough compelling games for me and a far superior and more connected online experience than what they offered on the Wii in order to get my money.
Same thing with Sony's new portable, the PS Vita. I am feeling too much Deja Vu and do not want get lured into buying a system I rarely play like I did when I had the PSP. I will take nothing away from the Vita, it is one slick piece of tech and apparently capable of near-PS3 caliber graphics as was shown with the new Uncharted game for Vita. However, with what I was shown from the games so far at E3, it looks like more console-style experiences that I would rather play on a console instead of a PSP. I do like the price point though, and now Nintendo will most likely have a price drop on the 3DS in order to compete. Also, Uncharted 3 looks freaking sweet and an easy day one purchase.
On the Microsoft side of things, I am just not digging their continued majority focus on Kinect. I mean it is all well and good they are staying committed to the tech, but it just does not interest me that much at all other than a couple games. Even if I wanted one, I still would not get it because I do not have the optimal living room space to get the most out of the Kinect games. That aside, I am still psyched for the Halo remake, Halo 4, and most importantly Gears of War 3.
-I know it has been about two months since the last blog so I will try and not go on forever on my latest gaming progress. I will kick it off with my progress on a ton of racing games that have been in my rotation. Like two years ago when I saw Fast & Furious, I went on a huge racing game kick, and the same thing has happened since I saw Fast Five. Fuel is a unique and different open world off road racing game which I sunk several hours into. Grid is another Codemasters title I have been playing, which is the successor to the awesome TOCA Race Driver games on PS2 and Xbox. I am several hours into Need For Speed: Most Wanted, and for being a 360 launch game, I am surprised I am sinking as much time into it as I am.
I just scratched the surface off of Need for Speed Hot Pursuit, and am loving the Burnout undertones since it is from the arcade racer masterminds at Criterion. I threw Project Gotham Racing 4 in for the first time in a couple years and cursed myself for not playing more of it since. ModNation Racers is an awesome kart racing experience after I thought was burnt out on them after several Mario Karts. Finally, Test Drive Unlimited 2 is just as good as the original. I dig cruising around the Hawaii coastline and taking in the tropical scenery in some sweet rides, while using my winnings for better vehicles and new clothes and a better home.
For non-racing games, I am absolutely loving me some Mortal Kombat, and am digging its awesome story mode. Dark Star One is a surprisingly good space combat sim. I cannot believe I am liking this game as much as I am.
I am still getting use to the controls in Top Spin 4 and how touchy they are to planning your shots well in advance.
I got a couple hours into Sherlock Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper, and it is about time we get a traditional point-and-click adventure game on the 360, though I do not appreciate the crazy hard trial-and-error puzzles with no hints whatsoever I have ran into so far. Speaking of adventure games, I am digging LA Noire as a modern day adventure game, with some of the open world action tropes occasionally mixed in to keep me on my feet. Finally, I have got around to putting several hours into Last Window on the DS. For those that may not know, it is the sequel to another one of my favorite DS games Hotel Dusk, and I had to import it from Europe because the developer Cing got shut down before they could get a North American release out the door.
-That wraps up yet another insanely long blog, I will try not to miss another again...maybe.
Comments:
Post a Comment
