The Bourne Ultimatum

Just checked out a free screening of The Bourne Ultimatum tonight and I gotta say, it was pretty solid. I was kinda bracing myself for the fast-cutting edits, super close-up action and shaky cam shots that remember so much from the first movie. But despite sitting in the front section of the theater, the action seemed to me at least, a bit easier for me to follow in this third Bourne movie. The overall premise involved a clever cat-and-mouse game, much like the previous installments. The CIA vs Bourne. Pretty much your standard action hero fare.

Each clever twist was incredibly enjoyable. I don't know if it was because no one in the theater had paid for a ticket, but there were several moments when the audience cheered out loud for Bourne, myself included. There were also a LOT of chase scenes too. It never felt stale though, and I always got the sense that we were being offered something new. For example, as soon as the rooftop chase scene began, I immediately thought of Altair in Assassin's Creed, skillfully jumping from rooftop to rooftop, tracking his target across Jerusalem. By the end of the big car chase, I didn't know what else to expect next, it was that jarring.

About midway through, I got this connection to an old favorite game of mine, Planescape: Torment. If you've seen either previous Bourne movies, you know about his past and how he's almost trying to right his past wrongs. I couldn't help but think about how in Planescape, you were this immortal, blank slate with no memory, who was continually discovering atrocities committed in your past lives. What kinds of responsibility do you take when facing the demons of your past, when you can't even remember them? Anyway.. that's a lesson to us all, I guess, in case you ever get amnesia. Actually, amnesia in movies is very strange in that you always end up being a completely different person post-amnesia than you were previously. Maybe we all deserve amnesia every once in a while, so we can all start fresh from time to time. Tabula-rasa, baby!

Overall, the movie seemed to deliver a decent action movie with enough mystery and underlying intrigue to keep you going. It's not going to be the deepest movie you'll see this year, but it's certainly a lot of fun. There was one part of the movie that have to complain about which was toward the end. It almost felt like they were trying to put you to sleep. In a movie full of action, you should never slow it down to such a crawl for so long. I suppose, since this movie was the third in a series, you had that Lord of the Rings effect where you were wrapping up plot from 2 movies back. Since I had knowledge that there was a fourth book, part of me knew this wouldn't be the end.

Plot-wise, the movies are quite different from the books, but that doesn't really bother me much. I hate when people complain that a particular movie veers too far from the original source material, whether it's a book, comic or whatever. Different mediums call for different things and there's no one right way to tell a story.

Obon This Weekend

This weekend, I'll be at the Gardena Obon, which is basically a traditional Japanese festival to honor the deceased spirits of one's ancestors. Mostly I just go for the food though. There have Okinawa dangos (fried donuts), spam musubi, bbq chicken and beef teriyaki, snow cones, and tamales.. Wait, what? Actually, those tamales are pretty good, especially with chili and onions.. If you've ever been to an Obon, it's pretty much the usual fare as most other ones in Southern California. There's food, bingo, carnival games, dancing, and did I mention food?

I'll probably be there Saturday night with the family. The traditional dancing is sort of the main attraction, and that starts at around 6pm, i think. The live taiko drum performances begin a bit earlier than that. What's cool about the dancing is that the crowd is usually very diverse and everyone is encouraged to join in. Kimonos and hapi coats are welcome, but most people just wear whatever they want. And since the Gardena Obon is one of the bigger ones, it's easy to blend into the large crowd.

So I'll be there, but we'll see if I can avoid being dragged into participating in that dancing stuff. It's funny, my family mentioned that they were planning on placing their chairs on the street outside the Gardena Buddhist temple at 9am to secure a good seating area. I told them if it gets any crazier, they may as well camp out over night.

Halo 3 to Feature 4-Player Online Co-Op

It's funny how the gravity of an announcement can be altered by previous knowledge or expectation. Take for example, the iPhone. There were so many rumors and news stories floating around speculating on its debut that when it finally was announced, the fanfare made less of an impact. True, the hype still grew, but I was less blown away than I would've if it had been a total secret.

On the other hand, hype can have a huge impact on expectations. But, if your expectations are low, the treat of good news can often be blown out of proportions. About two weeks ago, Bungie announced that Halo 3 would not release with online coop. Since games like Gears of War and Crackdown already showcased online cooperative play, gamers have come to expect it this gen. Like most I shrugged this off as an acceptable sacrifice for an early Fall release. Then, when the announcement came that Halo 3 would feature not 2, but 4-player online co-op play, my brain had trouble fathoming the news. I'm sure the dev team was still busy working on this feature and it just happened to pan out, but because of the timing, it just sounded that much better to my ears.

On the flip side of things, expectations can be a nuisance to live up to. It's hard for any developer to justify removing features from a product. When you have something and then it gets taken away, your defensive tendency is to complain, shout and moan. Add something great that people weren't expecting and it's smiles all around.

Comic-Con 2007

Wow, this past Saturday was my first Comic-Con and I gotta say, it was pretty awesome. Last year I went to the Anime Expo (AX) in Anaheim, which is kinda similar, but Comic-Con was a way better experience IMO. For one thing, they had a lot more content and events that I was personally interested in. I'm only really into a few anime series', so this seemed like a better fit for me. There were plenty of manga and anime vendor booths, but there were also some live game demos on the show floor and many sci-fi and fantasy TV shows and movies prominently featured. The panel events were what actually won me over though and I think I had the most fun attending those.

Can you see him?

Like the Anime Expo, there were a fair amount of people participating in cosplay, but it did seem a bit less common at Comic-Con. Early in the morning, Van and I spotted Waldo in the Simpsons line. Then you had your obligatory handful of Star Wars costumes. A good number of various Naruto characters. Video game characters of Final Fantasy type. Superheroes and villains. Basically anything anime, sci-fi or fantasy, and everything else in between. But on the whole, it just felt like less people were geeked out in full garb, and considering the E3-sized crowd at the San Deigo Convention Center, this wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

This happy guy is from a peaceful game called Alien Hominid

The Q&A panels were pretty cool. At the Simpsons one, Matt Groening, and various writers, producers, and animators fielded fan questions like "What was your favorite Homer injury?" and "What's your favorite episode you wrote?" Several questions were aimed directly at the man himself, Matt Groening, but most everyone on the panel got in a witty comment here and there. We got to see an exclusive clip that was deleted from the movie, where Homer rides in a truck filled w/ sausages, but mostly the event consisted of fans have fangasms and then asking random questions.

One of my main gripes I had about Comic-Con was the insane schedule planned for Saturday (actually, someone mentioned that it was basically like this all weekend). Late Friday, I printed out the schedule for Saturday off of the official website. It was 12 pages long, with loads of overlapping events. Factor in hour+ wait times for more popular shows and you get an idea for how chaotic it became. Naturally, the Heroes panel was less than an hour after the Simpsons one. So even when we left early, we had zero to no chance of getting in there, when people had been waiting since 9:30am.

"Don't forget to bring a towel!"

The Futurama panel was by far the most entertaining hour of the day. It was held in the same 4,000+ person auditorium as the Heroes panel, so I just barely got in. The cool part of it was that four of the major voice actors were there, along with Matt Groening and David X. Cohen. They started it out with the announcement of the 4 new DVD movies coming (the first one in Novemeber) and the move from Cartoon Network to Comedy Central. Then they showed us a 5 minute trailer of Bender's Big Score. Initially, everyone was given a nifty little Futurama comic book detailing what occurred between the final episode and the first upcoming movie, which the cast later acted out completely live on stage. Even the Q&A was interesting, with each actor detailing how they created the voice for each of their characters. You could tell that everyone was having a lot of fun with it and the crowd was really getting into it.

Futurama voice talent (left to right): Katey Sagal, Billy West, John DiMaggio, and Maurice LaMarche

If the Futurama event was the most entertaining, then meeting the guys behind the Lost Podcast w/ Jay and Jack was my favorite experience on a more personal level. These were guys I'd listened to for almost 2 years, and now I got to participate in one their podcasts live. They led a Q&A session and we got to discuss some of the theories on Lost as well as what was just talked about at the Lost panel on Thursday. I was kinda bummed about how, at the last minute, Comic-Con switched days on me for the Lost panel, but for me this turned out even better, since the room was so much smaller and the sense of community was much more tangible.

Picture of me w/ Jay and Jack from the 'Lost podcast with Jay and Jack

We didn't stay too late, just until around 5, when the Joss Whedon panel was over. Even though I didn't really buy anything, I thought I got my money's worth out of going though. If anyone wants to go with me next year, lemme know. Overall, I had great experience. Thanks Van, for driving us down to SD. Hope you guys had as much fun as I did. And what story would be complete without a display of all my personally collected free crap. Some notables include some manga books, a giant spiderman magnet and a playing card with Obi-Wan Kenobi on it.. Freaking sweet!

Behold my Comic-Con swag

Comic-Con LOST Q&A Panel 2007

Direct from Day One of the 2007 Comic-Con in San Diego, CA. Below are videos of the entire Lost Q&A panel with executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse.

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3


Dharma Initiative Station 6 "Orchid" (the video quality isn't too great..)


So.. here's what we learned:
1. Both flashbacks and flashforwards will be used from now on. The announcement of the sixth season end-date enabled the writers to finally reveal this new "flashforward" device.
2. The scene with Jack and Kate at the end of season 3 does not represent the end of the show. We will see what life is like for the survivors off the island, possibly in flashforwards.
3. Micahel will be back this season. Where, when and how are still a mystery.
4. Ben's capture in season 2 will be definitively explained this season (and it wasn't his intention to get caught).
5. Jack and Claire's family relationship will be revealed.
6. Libby's story will be returned to soon, and she may also be involved in the Dharma Initiative.
7. Rousseau will get her flashback story in the next season or two, and it will be important.
8. The smoke monster is known as "Cerebrus" (one of its names), and as the lockdown map revealed, the CV markings represent "Cerebrus Vents".


Of these , I think I kind of knew about 6 of these already.. but, in any case, it was nice to get a few more definitive answers from Damon and Carlton. I think with the remaining 3-season, 16-episode story arc established, the show will become more focused and be better for it. Hats off to them for doing something completely unprecedented in television industry, with maybe the Harry Potter series being the only other medium to do something on a similar scale.


I'll be at Comic-Con tomorrow (Sat), so I'll probably check out the Heroes Panel. San Diego, here I come!

Absurdity: New Windows OS Ready in 3 Years

Looks like Microsoft is already readying up it's next killer OS. Maybe by the time Windows Vienna (or whatever it is they're calling the next Windows) comes out, I'll be ready to switch over to Vista. Seriously though, you don't wanna upgrade until at least the first service pack is released.

Generally speaking, there are rules you should follow when early adopting certain products. These rules are set in stone and are never up to interpretation. The first one is this: Never buy a new Apple product until the 2nd gen version comes out (iPod, iPhone, Macbook Pro, take your pick, it doesn't matter). You already know a better one is coming in less than a calendar year. Sure, you might seem like the cool guy among your friends, but when the "real" version comes out in nine months, with a respectable battery life and more features, you're gonna have to pony up the cash yet again. Why? Because Steve Jobs owns you and you love it.

The second rule is: Never upgrade to a new Windows OS until the service pack comes out. You don't want to be part of a statistic on zero-day exploits, because the network code hasn't been fully beta tested yet.. and by "beta test", I mean the first 18-months of a Windows release. You wouldn't wanna be the one to test out the food to see if it's poisoned. And trust me, Windows security is oozing with poison early on. Simple as that.

10 Changes Console Gaming Needs

10. Have more open-beta tests. If you've played the Halo 3 beta, or gotten into a Blizzard game beta, you know it's great to try out a game ahead of time. What's great about this is that it's also mutually beneficial, since extra play testing is always good for a game's development, especially if you're going to have a multiplayer aspect. I've read that some ppl would even pay for the opportunity to beta test big games, but I think that's going a little overboard. Of course, if a game really sucks, this could work against a game in its early development stages.. so I guess it depends on the game.

9. Allow user-generated content. They have no problem covering their ass with the ESRB disclaimer: "Game Experience May Change During Online Play." Why not use this loop-hole disclaimer and then allow us to create maps, mods, player skins, etc? Console gaming has always been a closed system, compared to the PC. Hopefully Sony can do this w/ private areas in Home, user-made levels in Little Big Planet, and mods in Unreal Tournament 3 for the PS3. Letting a game build a community around itself is vital to the longevity of a game and its sales. If you're friend's really into a game, chances are you'll want to join him.

8. Ditch the "Save Point" mechanic. This has been a staple of console gaming, but I think it's about time for it to go the way of the dodo. Forcing players to use save points is a way for developers to create a artificial layer of difficulty. I also hate it when you have a limited number of save slots. Xbox360 profiles represent one way this is done right, since you see only the game saves associated w/ your gamertag. I guess I come from the PC school of saving, where you can save wherever and save often.

7. Get rid of the load times. This isn't just a console gaming problem, actually, but one that should still be addressed. I thought with the advent of the HDD and muti-core processors, load times would be a thing of the past. I could see the PS3 hard drive being used for a lot of caching.. although the core system (sans a HDD) will always hold the 360 back. Dynamic data streaming has certainly done wonders for open world games like GTA, but you still have that super long, unavoidable, initial load. When you think about games like Killzone 2 for PS3, which has 2GB of art resources, I guess the problem will always be there as textures get larger and environments get more detailed.

6. Acknowledge the fact that there are older gamers out there. Obviously I'm one of them and there are many more gamers like me. I can tolerate the kiddy stuff and movie tie-in games. I was a kid once. But the sterilization of more adult-oriented gaming by stores like Wal-mart, the ESRB, and government legislation has got to stop. If an Unrated DVD can stand on store shelves, why can't games have realistic violence and sexual themes? If developers want to make it andppl want to buy it, I don't see what the problem is. As it stands right now, games are heavily regulated, with no outlet for truly "mature" content. Remarkably, according to the ESA, the average gamer is age 33, but you wouldn't have guessed it by all the restrictions put on developers and publishers.

5. Work to make online a better experience. As of right now, there is no online system that has everything. Xbox Live is very well integrated across all games and friends, but it still lacks dedicated servers and it still costs $$. Sony's PSN service supports dedicated servers and more open content, but is still behind in it's overall structure and integration. They both have their flaws, but together they'd be brilliant. And imagine if there was cross-platform play between 360 and PS3 games. All those damn EA games are the same anyway. This way it'd make it easier to find servers with actual players on them. Really though, all I'd like is to be able to hop online and get into a game quickly and easily. Is that so hard?

4. Stop Nickel and Diming Gamers. Seems like we're on a very slippery slope, with the growing number of micro-transactions available to modern gamers. Map packs are very common now for console games, but unlike their PC counter-parts, these content updates are not free. More and more, it seems like games are being released unfinished, with that "extra" content being sold a month or two down the road. And simply choosing to boycott these micro-transactions doesn't do shit when idiots keep buying them up (just look to the Guitar Hero II song packs for an example of this).

3. Provide a more consistent release schedule. Everyone knows most big games are released around the holiday season (Sept - Dec). It doesn't have to be this way though. This summer has been somewhat of a drought. If only some of those games had come out a bit earlier, it would've given those games more breathing room to sell, and would've given us gamers more time to enjoy them. Instead, this holiday, I'm gonna have to balance all those incredible titles, and some of those gems will get lost in the shuffle. Having a more balanced software release schedule would also help push hardware numbers all year round. Why can't we have the "summer blockbuster" game like the movie industry??

2. Innovation, plain and simple. It seems like the most innovative products are coming from the downloadable games and handheld fronts. These games are usually much cheaper to make and take less time to develop, allowing the designers to take more risks and create truly unique experiences. I like to see this creativity trickle down into the $20 million games as well though. But it's hard when you've got developers like EA that pump out the same carbon-copy games every year. As it becomes harder for companies to turn a profit, less and less developers are looking to unproven game ideas. Sometimes, when you take a chance, the results are truly wonderful, spawning games like Guitar Hero, The Sims, Shadow of the Colossus, and Katamari Damacy.

1. Stop the casual game market trend. I might be alone on this one, but I feel like this is the most important item on this list. The game industry seems to be evolving, morphing to meet the needs of an expanding market. Take a look at this past month's NPD numbers and you'll see what type of game dominates the Top 20 list. Mini-game collection and mass market crap. Publishers are seeing the changing tide and they are responding with things like the EA Sports family mode. And as more PC games slide over to the consoles, in attempt to cash in and get some $$, they seem to be designed with less customizability and simpler game mechanics in mind. I mean, it's okay to make games more appealing to the mass market, but this can also be done without losing the hardcore audience. Blizzard is very good at this approach of making their games very accessible while still keeping them deep and rewarding to those that make the effort. Sadly, it feels like many developers are simply looking for ways to water down the game experience so that "Alpha Moms" and their kids will enjoy themselves.

Absurdity: Jesus to Kick Ass, in Action Figure Form

I stumbled upon this story and my thoughts immediately turned to how perfect these toys would be for little Rod and Todd Flanders. You know what would make this even more educational? If you could squeeze his hand to make him spout bible verses or something.

He could say things like "An eye for an eye" or "God hates fags!".. something to that effect. Maybe throw in a suggestive phrase or two, on important topics like abortion, capital punishment, or even the 'War on Terror'. You know, to start them on the 'right' path early. But you may have some trouble tracking these toys down at your local Wal-Mart.

Only about one-sixth of stores will carry the toys.

I have a hunch which states these might be in.. I'll give you a hint. They're probably the red ones.

The company targets parents who would rather their children play with the faith-based toys rather toys rather than other super hero action figures, the report said.

Well, it's about time kids were taught who the real "superheros" are in this world. Sure, the Transformers are great and all, but can do they have the ability to turn water into wine?? Let's see Spider-man pull off miracles like that. Yeah, that's what I thought. Those "super hero toys" are more like dolls compared to the mighty Jesus action figure. Thanks to Wal-Mart, we can praise the lord, and everyday low prices!

Maybe this will help bring back the kick-ass faith-based video game movement. Be on the lookout for religious gems like these that graced the NES and SNES..

Blizzard's Other Project?

http://www.destructoid.com/blizzard-has-something-else-up-their-sleeves-35214.phtml

"Our global headcount is 2,700," said Pearce, "And most of that is customer service for World of Warcraft! In terms of development staff it's probably around 350. World of Warcraft is about 135 people, 40 for Starcraft II, 40 for team 3, our cinematics team is about 85 guys. Then there's sound and Q/A and that sort of thing."

3rd dev team?? What are they working on besides wow and sc2?? I bet we'll hear something at Blizzcon this august, cuz they didn't say jack this past week. Could sc ghost be vaporware no more? But maybe it's just another wow expansion. I doubt they'd make another diablo at the same time as starcraft.. I'd actually like to see them try something new though..

...Cuz whatever they make usually has a good art style and laser-honed gameplay. They're pretty much batting 1000, like the pixar of the video game industry. Time to take some risks.

E3 Press Conference Reviews

I'm only grading their press events on their merits alone and not the consoles themselves, the health of the platforms, or their overall showings at E3 so far. I'll try to come back to each at the end of the week to take a look at the rest of the show. So let's start it off in the order they debuted.

Microsoft:


The goal for them was to keep the buzz going of all the great stuff coming out this fall, and I think they did that pretty well. There was the constant reminder that Halo was coming, with a live processional, live action film teaser, and the single player footage at the end. Yes, we get it.. Master Chief owns all.

There were a few faux pas moments, like Peter Moore pausing the Rock Band game while playing or the hilarious unveiling of the new Halo 3 Special Edition Xbox360 to the sound of crickets. You almost expect something to go wrong at a Microsoft event.

Throughout the entire presentation, their message was clear: we've got tons of big games coming. That was shown literally by the massive amount of live demos being played in front of the crowd. From Rock Band, to PGR 4, to Madden 08, to Call of Duty 4, to Gears of War PC, to Assassin's Creed, they let the games speak for themselves.

Unfortunately, there weren't any real surprises either. The Resident Evil 5 trailer was nice and the Call of Duty demo was interesting, but I never once thought, "OMG WTF?!? That's crazy!!"

Apparently, Microsoft is trying to do a better job breaking into the main stream market, with more Xbox Live video marketplace partnerships with companies like Disney. The upcoming Scene-It and Viva Pinata party games are also examples of this. But whatever, this crap doesn't really affect me, and I could care less.

Overall, they had an okay showing, but they could've shown us some more 2008 stuff like Alan Wake, Fable 2, Halo Wars, and maybe even tease us with a little Banjo Kazooie 3. Instead, they mostly banged the Halo-2007-drum and played it safe with stuff we already knew was coming. Grade: B-


Nintendo:


Nintendo certainly spoke to their phenomenal numbers and with good reason. It was nice to see Reggie "taking names" Fils-Aime smiling so much, as he elaborated on page after page of Powerpoint slides with positive sales figures. Fair enough. With all the profits you're making, you deserve to celebrate a little. The user-generated fanvids were a bit annoying after a while, but still spoke to their core fanbase.

Next they showed off the new "Zapper" and "Steering Wheel" Wii controller attachments, with both Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles and Mario Kart Wii. It sorta reminded me of all those horrid Cooking Mama and Wii Sports plastic shells and I wondered how Mario Kart Wii would handle with Wii controls. Then I was reminded of how I at first dismissed The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, with it's wii-motion sword slashing, but then warmed up to the idea. I guess when you love a series so much, you often see any drastic changes as negative.

Well, online is still kinda up in the air for Nintendo. So far only a few games will be out this fall that allow online play, but with cock-blocking friend codes, I don't think it'll be a big selling point.

They seemed to gloss over some DS stuff (again with the massive success), but besides the demo of Zelda Phantom Hourglass, Brain Age 2, and the trailer of Ninja Gaiden DS, there wasn't much to see. I just don't understand the lack of games on a system that sells a fuck-ton of units every month. Where's New Super Mario Bros 2? Where's the Elite Beat Agents sequel? The currentDS lineup is not looking too hot.

They did make some much needed announcements, like proper release dates for Super Mario Galaxy (Nov 12th) and Super Smash Bros Brawl (Dec 3rd). And the footage of Mario Galaxy was pretty amazing (too bad Metroid looks the same). So I was hoping Shiggy would drop a bomb at the end of the show. A new franchise maybe? Something, anything to get me up and rooting for Mario and co.

So what did he unveil..? Wii Fit (ie: Fitness) was their big reveal. After some dance aerobics videos, yoga exercises, and soccer ball dodging, I was done with this event. Again, I'm not surprised something like this happened.. I'm only disappointed. Disappointed for all the hardcore Nintendo fans who are getting covered in an avalanche of non-games and mass market crap. I'm sure the "Alpha-Moms" will love it, and if so, congratulations on reaching your target audience. Good job leaving your loyal fans behind! Grade: C+


Sony:

After Nintendo's event, I didn't know what to expect from Sony. They started it off with a quirky showing of Home and it was nice to see some of that system-wide integration coming together. Being able to meet up in Home, like an in-game lobby, and play anything you wanted was a pretty cool feature. The price drop mention was brief (as it was already leaked), but necessary.

They also finally revealed a revised design of the PSP (ppl are calling it "PSP Slim") and showed off several games coming out for the system. I think they're starting to understand that portables should not just play dumbed down versions of existing console games, but unique titles that are tailor made for on-the-go play. Echochrome looks interesting, and will even be available for download on PSN as well, which is nice. Chewbacca was probably the weirdest addition to the show, complete w/ his signature growl and special edition Star Wars Battlefront PSP.

Despite their current lack of exclusives, they managed to bring it up a notch with their acquisition of NCSoft (makers of Guild Wars and City of Heroes), as well as the PS3 timed exclusives of Haze and Unreal Tournament 3 for 2007. Unlike Microsoft, Sony didn't many live demos during their press conference (was Killzone 2 being played live?). What they did have were plenty of impressive videos of upcoming titles.

Oddly enough, Lair and Warhawk for absent from the show. Sony did show many others though, including: Heavenly Sword, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Infamous, and many great looking PSN games. The MGS4 trailer kicked ass, as everyone thought it would. Final Fantasy XIII was sadly absent, as was rumble, but we know it's coming (they'll probably show more at TGS).

As the conference winded down, we knew there was one more final announcement. That would be the Killzone 2 trailer. Since I had already seen this the night before, posted on some website, the footage was not quite as powerful, but the game did look great. Maybe not as good as the CGI-trailer from 2 years ago, but finally, the PS3 had something they could stack up next to Gears of War graphically.

Overall, I'd have to say Sony had the best conference, with nothing really to complain about. They had some decent surprises and a good showing of 2008 content as well as 2007 stuff coming soon. Nothing jaw dropping like in previous E3s, but even with the different format this year, Sony was able to do what they needed, and that was "sell this console". Grade: B+


But E3 is far from over, and there is still a lot to see. I hope more is shown of Fable 2, Mass Effect, Mario Galaxy, and GTA IV. For now, I can only wait, and prepare my wallet.. September is right around the corner and the games are coming.

Red Rings of Death Epilogue

I'm finally able to say I've got my Xbox360 back safe and sound, after my "Red Ring" ordeal. All in all, the whole process took nearly a month (including all shipping and support ). Initially, I held off the repair because the hardware had failed exactly midway into the Halo 3 beta at the end of May. I emailed support, tried troubleshooting it myself, surfed message boards and FAQs, and read up on several "towel exploits", until finally I conceded defeat and made the call to 1-800-4MY-XBOX. The polite man with the noticeable accent said he'd ship me my very own Xbox coffin.. I mean prepaid shipping box. It actually took over a week for that damn UPS shipping box to arrive.

I promptly sent it back, with my dead Xbox fit snuggly in place, rigorously following their directions to a T so that nothing would impede my repair. I made especially sure not to write "Xbox360 repair" on the outside of the box so as not to tip off sticky fingered UPS workers (Blockbuster and NetFlix should really find better ways to camouflage those envelopes).

Then, for two and a half weeks.. dead silence. No confirmation emails. No updates. Fortunately, I was lucky enough to borrow a fully functional 360 console from one of Thao's very generous coworkers (btw, thanks Derek!). For the most part, I was still able to satisfy my healthy gaming addiction with some Halo 3 beta, Halo 2 and Oblivion. It was just shocking the lack of feedback from a company so wired into the computer world.

After going through this ordeal, I've decided I'm definitely buying a 3rd-party cooling accessory, probably the Pelican Fan Stand. It's a shame that a $400 piece of electronics needs an accessory to keep it functioning properly. Seeing how widespread this problem has become, I think it's pretty obvious there's an inherent design flaw the the 360 hardware. Microsoft wanted to get to the next gen early with a decent head start, so they ditched the Xbox1 and brought out a system that could compete with the upcoming Playstation. They built their lead based on software and ultimately nabbed the hardcore audience. When compared to the PS3, it was a great bargain, as it had decent software with some great looking graphics. But maybe this was just a case of it being "too good to be true". There's a reason the PS3 costs $200-300 more. You can see that in the Xbox 360 Elite's whopping $479 price tag.

Update: I have some good news though. After using my reburbed 360 this past weekend, it did feel like the system ran a little cooler than before. From what I remember of my last system, it would get quite hot to the touch on the outside. Even with my new 3rd-party fan stand turned off, those new heatsinks seem to be doing their job. Well, let's just hope this is the last time I have to deal with this crap (*knocks on wood*).. In addition, the complimentary 1-month Xbox Live membership was a nice gesture, but an extended Halo 3 beta period would have been even nicer.

Also, I should note that I did have to call up Microsoft Support one last time, to reauthorize the DRM content on my Xbox360 HDD. This is because any content you buy is locked to the original Xbox360 hardware you bought it on, as well as your online Gamertag profile. So as long as you're signed into Xbox Live, you can access your DRM content on any system (yours, your friend's, etc). But if you're not signed into Live, all your content is locked if you're not using that original system. Take it from me, DRM sucks, and I've had the experience to prove it.

The Summer Blockbuster

There's something awe-inspiring about the summer blockbuster movie. The term has become part of our culture. A buzzword for the over budget, action packed, usually sequel driven, Hollywood mega movie. The actual genesis of the term stems from the fact that a particular movie has become so popular that movie goers can be seen standing in long lines that literally wrap around the block. Summer 2007 is no different, with a host of extremely hyped-up movies to enjoy. However, I have yet to be won over by any of these.

I think the problem with the movie industry is that they are relying more and more heavily on "hitting it out of the park" with their big budget blockbusters. But the production and marketing costs are getting up into the stratosphere, which ups the risks even further. The sad part of this whole model is that these seemingly mediocre titles continue to do extremely well financially. Just look at how much "Spider-Man 3", "Shrek 3" and "Pirates 3" raked in this past month or so (I've seen both Spider-Man and Pirates and have yet to come out of the theatre with any sort of overwhelming satisfaction). I think it's safe to say these movies have their incredible hype and developed branding to thank.. that, and a couple hundred grand in marketing dollars.

I like to think of it as the American Idol-effect. People will watch or buy what is being talked about. Commericals are talking to them. Giant billboards speak to them. Friends and family talk about how promising these epics will be. The associated, licensed shovel-ware games scream from their Wal-mart boxes at you. Message boards debate about the particular super hero's suit to endless detail. If you really step back and admire it's beauty, the marketing machine can be virtually unstoppable. But when something has this much hype, you're essentially building it up to unachievable heights. Naturally the reviews are going to be bad (and sometimes these are well deserved). The problem is that the hype-machine has already done its job and done it well. No matter how bad a movie is, by week 2 or 3, it's already earned back the production and marketing costs (worldwide or sometimes even domestically) and then some.

This is when those studio executives stop reading the negative reviews and start eying those bags full of money rolling in, and visions of even more sequels begin floating around in their heads. Unfortunately for us, this seems to be an endless cycle, and a vicious one at that. We are the solution to and cause of it all. So if you're wondering why DreamWorks is already planning to make a "Shrek 4" and "Shrek 5", don't blame them, blame yourselves. Or maybe just go out and see "Knocked Up" instead. With a production cost of only $30 million, it's just the opposite of a summer blockbuster.. which means it might actually be good.

How the Wii Could Change Everything

Recently, my family decided they wanted to a get a Nintendo Wii, and so I spent some time looking for ways to find one. So far I have yet to even see a boxed unit in stores. Six months after launch, eBay auctions are still priced higher than retail. This Wii-thing has become a cultural phenomenon, like the DS Lite before it. But what does that mean exactly for the video game industry and your average gaming enthusiast?

Judging by current sales trends, the Wii looks to supplant the Xbox 360 as market leader for this video game generation by 2008 or maybe as early as this Fall. Nintendo consoles are continually at the top of NPD numbers, pointing to a shift in the video game market. Third party publishers like EA and Ubisoft are investing more of their development teams on the Wii. So far, we've seen development of new games fall into two main camps: Next-Gen (PS3, Xbox360, and PC) and New-Gen (Wii, PS2 and PSP). But the rising cost of developing hi-def games is making the risk even greater for game companies who wish to aggressively tackle the Next-Gen.

I think what Nintendo has done successfully is tapped into a market that never significantly existed before, which I'll unfairly refer to as the "non-gamer". Instead of only targeting teenage boys and adult males (which Sony and Microsoft are clearly catering to), Nintendo is focusing on snagging the female gamer and, remarkably, the middle-aged consumer. Games like Wii Sports or Brain Age have a way of drawing in everyone, no matter the age, gender or background. By adding several new groups of users to the mix, Nintendo has really capitalized on broadening the market and helped the industry grow in ways it has never done before.

My only concern is how will the rest of the industry react to this growth? We all know the industry tends to follow suit when a fresh, lucrative idea breaks through (can you say GTA-clone?) but what cues will the publishers take from Nintendo's recent success? So far, many of the highly successful Wii games have been largely minigame-based. Despite their flaws and in some cases cripplingly awful reviews, these games have been selling incredibly well. Perhaps these new consumers do not typically read game magazines or view online game reviews. But to be honest, this type of consumer behavior scares me (amazingly Wii Play is still selling like hotcakes) and I shudder to think what Third-Party publishers will do with even shorter development cycles and more derivative game play.

Not to say that all Wii games aren't for the hardcore gamer. Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess was definitely a solid gaming experience and Metroid Prime 3 and Super Mario Galaxy are on the way. But other than the classic Nintendo series', where are the other games of this caliber? And will this trend trickle onto the other two platforms? As the epic gaming experience becomes more and more costly to make, will developers end up turning to these smaller, more casual, mass-market games? I guess only time will tell.

What I hope will happen is that these new casual gamers will decide they like a certain genre or two and maybe transition into more savvy gaming experiences. Developers might decide to add more accessible game modes to better ease a larger audience into their games. In turn, they could produce improved game interfaces that are more usable and intuitive. Perhaps developers will come to the conclusion that improving graphics should only enhance game experiences, not be the game experience. If these improvements come to fruition, then maybe grandma-gamers aren't so bad after all.

Red Rings of Death

Seriously, it couldn't have been a better time. I was just about to play some Halo 3 beta tonight, and while it was loading my 360 crashed to a weird brown screen with black vertical lines (the kind you get when you set your PC to a rez that's higher than your monitor can handle). So I turned it off. When I tried turning it back on, I got the infamous "Red Ring 'O Death". It's actually 3 red segiments of death (missing a red segiment in the upper right). So I did this test to figure out the secret error code related to my problem. Turns out it was a general hardware failure due to overheating (error code 0012).. game over!

I guess I should call the Microsoft support line and ask for a repair, but I'm thinking of doing the "towel fix" in the meantime. If it works, I might be able to stave off a repair until after the beta ends and there's nothing to play (I mean, it can't get any worse right?). This sucks. I'm also sending in my DS Lite this very same week too (I think that warranty ends on the 6th of June). What marvelous luck I have!

At least I can still play Starcraft on my PC.. good, old, made-in-1997 Starcraft. Well, it's gonna be a blurry, 640x480 couple of weeks for these spoiled, HD-adjusted eyes.. Maybe I'll just read instead.

More like read about that towel fix..

Lost 3x22 "Through the Looking Glass" Initial Reactions

Well, Season 3 has just come to a close, ending with a definite "wtf" moment. All the Lost junkies out there will have to wait 8 long months before we get our next fix.. Of course, there will still be a few podcasts to listen to, forums to keep the theory pot stirring, and Comic Con in July, but for the most part that's it until 2008. But let's not focus on that deep void that is we've affectionately come to call the "hiatus". Here's my initial reactions to tonight's episode, "Through the Looking Glass".

The big reveal (a.k.a. the "rattlesnake" or top secret scene of season 3) was that future flash-forwards are now fair game. Apparently, Jack and Kate (possibly others survivors) get off the island alive, safe and sound. Will we see more of future-Jack and future-Kate in future seasons? I'm assuming this type of plot device will take the place of flashbacks for a portion of the remaining seasons. We'll probably still see flashbacks as they've become a staple of the Lost formula, but maybe only for new or less prominent characters.

In conjunction with the final scene is the possibility that only Jack and Kate survived until the end. Perhaps they must sacrifice the rest to save themselves or maybe most of the losties got swept away in that tidal wave of xmas 2004 in the Indian Ocean... only Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse know for sure.

Charlie had to die. Most thought it would happen early in Season 4, but I think having it happen now made it more significant. You had a good run there hobbit. Like most central character deaths on Lost, you served your purpose and resolved your story arc.. you had to go.

Damn, that Mikhail "patchy" guy just refuses to die. I think he could out live Jack Bauer in a fatal wounds contest. We haven't seen the last of him. Maybe we'll find out he was also one of the original Dharma employees that, like Ben, converted over to the hostiles' side.

This was the most off-balance I think we've ever seen of the utterly controlling Ben Linus. He's scrambling to remain in power, but that shift is inevitable. Right now, he's the main villain, but I could see Locke taking over being the "man of faith" that he is.

And what was up with Locke seeing a teenage version of Walt? Growth spurts aside, was that a manifestation of the smoke monster, or was Walt projecting himself through "special" means. The creators has said his rapid growth would be explained should he ever return to the show, so I guess we'll have to wait and see.

So, now that Rousseau and her daughter Alex have reunited, will they join the camp or remain mysteriously out in the jungle? I'd like to see them join, but my gut tells me the French lady would never go for it. It would explain the indicated Rousseau flashback for next season, but I don't really know what purpose the two would serve besides helping them fight the Others.

Coming back to the flash-forward.. whose funeral did Jack attend? And why did he mention that his dad, Dr. Christian Shepard was still alive? Is this a hint that Christian Shepard is far from deceased? I sure hope so. How awesome would it be if Jack finds his dad on the island somewhere (can you say Jacob?).

Well.. my biggest question is "What can we expect from Season 4?" Season 1 was the all about survival after the plane crash. Season 2 was about the Hatch. Season 3 was about the Others. What's in store for the next chapter of Lost? Will it revolve around the search for the island by the outside world? Can we expect Penny to play a more important role next year? Will we come to understand the forces that the Others are fighting?

As you can see, I've got more questions than answers, but I guess that's Lost for you. Not that that's a necessarily a bad thing. If this show didn't make me think, I wouldn't be half as addicted to it. Well, that's all I have for now. Stay Lost!

Happiest Place on Earth

I recently had the good fortune to get free tickets to both Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure theme parks, thanks to Thao's best friend Baothy. I hadn't been to the tourist capital of Orange County for at least a few years now, so it was nice to go on a hot summer day and just have a good time.

Oddly enough, I always felt betrayed by my fond childhood memories of the park's size. When I look at it now, Snow White's Castle is tiny and the Matterhorn mountain seems easily scalable. Many of the things I remember have changed to fit the modern era (Chevron Autopia cars, Finding Nemo submarine, Pirates of the Caribbean w/ Jack Sparrow, etc). But some of these changes were a welcome edition, most notably, the remodelled Space Mountain was a much faster blast! It's nice that many of the older rides have remained, albeit, in a new form. As an entertaining attraction, most of the park's glitter has worn off on me, but the nostalgic aspects of the Disneyland of yesteryear still remain with me to this day.

This was also the first time I'd ever been to the "other" Disneyland park, California Adventure. I'd heard the stories and was aware of the identical $63 price tag, but I was surprised to find a handful of enjoyable rides. The California Screamin' rollercoaster was a real treat. One of the most enjoyable rollercoasters I've been on in quite some time, actually. It pretty much has it all; Superman The Ride style start-off, plenty of fast-turning G-forces, a loop, a drop, zero-G bunny hops, and surprisingly, a soundtrack you can hear the whole way through. The Big Foot Rapids-type ride was dizzying fun. The Soaring Over California ride was pure relaxation, and a fine way to end the night.

It might have been the fact that our tickets were free, but all in all, we had a great time. Here to hoping our Disney World trip in August will be just as enjoyable.

Why the Emphasis on Sales Figures?

Can we please stop with the constant barrage of consoles sales figures being tossed around the Internet. It seems like the only thing that makes news headlines these days seem to involve market analysts and NPD numbers. I mean, do people really find this kind of news exciting? Yes, sales numbers are important, but honestly, we shouldn't base our decisions solely on how many Wiis are selling this week or how well Sony is doing in Japan.

Look at it this way... are you ever excited to hear about the latest number one movie in America? Does the fact that millions of people flock to the theatres mean you're going to love this movie? I would have to say no, the collective mob is not a good barometer for what should be considered "good" entertainment. Imagine if the stock market were covered in the media this way? But it's not, because it changes every week, every day, even every hour. Instead, financial analysts focus more on the trends that appear over time. This is what matters. The big picture.

If you're going to announce sales numbers, do it right. I mean seriously, please explain the significance of declaring the top 10 highest selling games in Japan or Europe or any other geographically isolated region of the world. Different regions have different tastes, so the success of a product shouldn't be tied to one country. It's nice to have market penetration in every region, but that's clearly not necessary in order to be successful. If you're going to post sales charts, post global numbers. Otherwise, they're utterly meaningless and only stand to fan the message board flame wars that will inevitably ensue.

You Might Call This a Post-Modern Problem

Is there a 12-step program for internet addiction, because if there is, I need it. Okay, maybe that's a little bit over dramatic... But it wouldn't be a stretch to say that I like to check my RSS feeds like a madman (thank you Google Reader!). The whole Twitter thing doesn't really help the problem either, which is why I will say "goodbye" to Twitter. The whole micro-blogging thing is a bit too ADD for me.

I'll admit, it's nice to use blogs and sites like digg to get news and information as quickly as humanly possible, but the updates get to be like crack, and when that happens it's certainly not a pretty sight. In all seriousness though, I'm getting a bit jaded over this whole "information-fix" mentality that sites like digg and gamerblogs like joystiq and kotaku provide. Mark this day on your calendar folks, because from now on, I will be limiting my time on sites like this, and relying more on podcasts to keep informed on all things tech (hey, it's still better than watching the news!).

~

We'll see how long this actually lasts. I'm curious to see if I can even go one day without opening my Firefox browser... even I have my doubts.

Whatcha Been Playing?

I've been pretty busy playing a variety of things these past few weeks. I'd say the majority of my free time was spent on completing Zelda Twilight Princess for the Wii. Clocking in at just over 45 hours, Twilight Princess is by far the longest Zelda experience I've ever had. Not that I'm complaining -- on the contrary -- the game was top notch. I'll admit though, those last 3 dungeons were a little unncessary. IMHO, I would have liked it better if the other dungeons were better and more developed. I'm guessing that the delay to Wii launch actually afforded the developers more time to add the last few and make it a longer game, but longer is not always better. Nine times out of Ten, quality beats quantity. Overall though, the game definetely lives up the Zelda legacy. Here's to hoping the next iteration breaks the mold, and does for the Zelda series what Resident Evil 4 did for that series. Some more Zelda II-style RPG elements would be nice!

I also just started Super Paper Mario. I'm on Chapter 2-1, and so far, it's pretty fun. I'm curious what other interesting gameplay mechanics this game has to offer, but at the very least, the 2D/3D switching is very clever.

Over on the 360, the new (and free) Gears of War DLC (downloadable content) was released last week. Most notably, this added the much awaited new multiplayer game mode "Annex." More Unreal Tournament 2004 than Counter-Strike now, the new mode allows infinite respwans (every 15 seconds) and a capture point system that makes it more strategic and much faster paced. I played online and was immediately reminded how rusty I've become at the whole "stop and pop" gameplay of Gears. The good news is that a few kind souls bumped my 3 star Xbox Live rep status up a bit. Now if only the free Crackdown DLC would arrive already, I could dust off that game and get back to lunging 50 feet in the air again.

I got to try out the new Boom Boom Rocket Live Arcade game demo, but I'm pretty disappointed with how that game turned out. I think those Geometry Wars guys should go back to the drawing board and give us what we really want... a Geometry Wars sequel w/ onlnie co-op. I did enjoy the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turles Arcade xbox live arcade port though. The infinite lives feature sorta limits the game's replay value, but it's hard to beat 4-player ninja turles nostalgia (...and Donatello still kicks ass!!!)

Next month should be pretty crazy. Forza Motorsport 2 is coming out for the 360, but I'll probably wait on that one (the first game was pretty good actually). But the big thing in May would have to be the Halo 3 multiplayer beta, coming May 16th. It's only gonna be 3 weeks long, but let's be honest here.. any amount of face time with the as of now unreleased Halo game is something to get excited about. And with Mass Effect just around the corner and Ouendan 2 lined up for a DS release, my spring and summer are basically set.

8 Points of Revelation - Exposé

I'm taking a cue from one of my favorite Lost podcasts, Get Lost with Scott and Steve (sadly, it's no longer active), and starting my very own list of the "8 Points of Revelation" for the latest episode of Lost, Exposé.

So, in no particular order...

1. Billy Dee Williams is still awesome. He was awesome as Lando. He's apparently awesome in Command and Conquer 3 as a GDI director...

2. The underground tunnel system has been confirmed. We've seen hints of a tunnel system on the lockdown map, but now we see the Others have obviously used them to get to the Pearl station. There's also hard evidence now that the Others have been monitoring the Swan station via the Pearl.

3. Charlie cleanses his soul and confesses his sins to Sun. It took him an entire season, but at last Charlie is finally free from the guilt of kidnapping Sun. Why do the Other's always gotta be the scapegoat, anyway? So is this it for Charlie, now that he's come full circle? I guess only Desmond knows.

4. No one on this island shares any information. Fans have always complained about the writers for not portraying the sharing of information amongst the "losties," but this episode clearly shows that no one share much of anything with each other. Paulo could have warned them of Ben's plan or revealed the Others'walkie talkie. Either one would have helped when the A-team decided to take on the Others.

5. Winter is coming. It's now day 81 (that's Dec 12th, 2004 for those of you keeping track). Thanksgiving was 2 weeks prior, and so the winter season is finally here. We'll soon see the impact the seasons will have on our survivors, if Locke's revelation to Paulo of the rising tide is any indication. I was gonna say the "2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami" is coming, but it doesn't look like it really affected the eastern-side of Malaysia as much, where it's assumed the island is located. I guess we'll see.

6. You should wait 9 hours before burying dead bodies. I'm sure Nikki and Paulo would agree with me on this one. 8 hours just isn't enough time to be 100% certain a person is really dead. 10 hours is a ridiculously long time. No, you should always wait 9 hours, just to be sure.

7. Nikki and Paulo weren't good people. As far as we've seen from their flashback, these two might have genuinely deserved to die. Negative fan reactions aside, even after we "knew" who these characters were, it didn't cause me to like them any more (unlike Shannon and Ana Lucia). Hopefully we'll see more info on these two that'll shed some light as to why we were even introduced to them at all.

8. The writers of Lost enjoy adding easter egg references to their fans. Hurley's misplaced insistence that the "[smoke] monster" is the only logical answer to what happened to Nikki and Paulo, is a playful jab by the writers that there is no Dues ex machina device that will explain all the island's mysteries.