Thursday, August 27, 2009

A B.A. Geek Repore

MOVIES:
UFC fighter Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson has been cast as B.A. Baracus in the big screen remake of 'The A-Team' in 2010.

XBOX:
Not to be outdone by Sony, Microsoft has slashed the price of the Xbox 360 Elite, with the 120GB model dropped to $299.99.

MMOs:
Loaded up Crime Craft last night. Graphics look descent, framerate was good, and no lag. Excellent first impression.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

FPS MMO Crime Craft hits store shelves.

PS3:
PS3 Slim sold in stores right now. The official date is 9/1, but some stores are already putting them out. If you want one, call and ask you local vendor.

Movies:
If you enjoy funny at all, download Spinal Tap’s 7 minute triumphant return, in short film format, Stonehenge: 'Tis A Magic Place, available on iTunes.

MMOs:
Not officially an MMO (using instanced battle zones ala counterstrike) CrimeCraft has officially launched. FPS in gangland and level up your skills and weapons.

Monday, August 24, 2009

Won two purples in one AoC raid.

MOVIES:
Finally watched the “Avater” trailer http://movies.ign.com/dor/objects/800318/avatar/videos/avatar_trl_082109.html not commenting at this time.

MMOs:
Star Wars: The Old Republic is more awesome than you can possibly imagine.

Ok so they released a trailer for WoW expansion. I already told you about the new races. But they are adding, how shall we say, a lot… Not just new content. They are revamping the world and are adding completely new advancement systems. Obviously a lot of details are not shown. But it appears to me, they are finally doing what they’ve never done, raising a barrier to entry. They are adding a LOT of new systems and it seems like they are making the game pretty complicated. This flies in the face of what made them the kings in the first place, an MMO 8 year olds can play. One might say “evolve or die”, and at WoW’s ripe old age, that seems pretty logical. You have to give these 11 million people some new and interesting things to do, you’ve got to raise the bar, and you got to make everything a little deeper. Ok sure, I guess, but you know what this tells me, Blizzard is finally looking toward the future of their new MMO. They are readying WoW to be their MMO that just keeps going. They’ll keep adding stuff for the people who are never going to give it up (like the EQ 1 people who have been playing for 11 years). They are finally looking at WoW as a thing of the past, thus, no longer afraid to stop the flow of new people by complicating the game. After all, who is going to want to play in a world that is completely “Cataclysmed” when they never got to experience the game in its original form. Most people are going to feel like they’ve missed the boat and not bother, waiting for “the next big thing”. Blizzards next MMO is closer than we imagine.

Friday, August 21, 2009

STO Ship Combat

MOVIES:
FYI, I heard “Inglorious Basterds” is a PASS. So, I know it’s QT, but don’t get too excited.

MMOs:
Read this blub from IGN about Star Trek online space combat. It seems delightfully tactical. “The ship combat takes place in a third-person perspective with the players looking down on their ships at an angle. Standard WASD controls control pitch and yaw giving players 360 degrees of movement while an energy management slider allows players to divert power to their shields, weapons, or engines depending on the tactical needs of the moment. Each ship has four shield facings --front, back, left and right -- and learning how to maneuver within your firing arcs to strike your opponent's weak side is key to success here. You'll also be able to utilize the abilities of your crew members who provide their own special bonuses. The tactical officer aboard the Federation ship, for instance, is able to fire a volley of three proton torpedoes at once. ”

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Age of Conan Expansion coming!

MMOs:
Age of Conan Expansion coming! And no new levels, thank GOD! Getting to 80 was enough for me. So we get all new goodies without having to level up and leave behind all our old ones. Also, you can capture a young Tiger, raise it as a pet, watch it grow and eventually ride it as a battle mount. Looks like this expansion is still a ways off from release though.

Wheel of Time MMO in the works, did not know about that, now I do, now you do.

PS3:
PS3 Slim, Sept 1st, $299… Freakin FINALLY! It only takes them a few years after the fact but finally Sony leaves their brain damage behind and gets with the program.

XBOX:
Check out Shadow Complex, it just scored a 9.4 at IGN.

MOVIES:
Paul W.S. Anderson, director of Alien VS Predator, is now directing a Castlevania adaptation. And apparently, his grasp of the property is as deep as “There’ll be the whip and there’ll be creatures,”… good job guy.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

A Very Special Geek Repore

XBOX:
Chrome Hounds servers are being turned off Jan. 6. Thought you should know.

MOVIES:
G.I. JOE has earned $190.5 million worldwide in 10 days. Thought you should know.

MMOs:
The mythical console MMO. That concept really pisses me off. What game makers don’t realize is that it’s not a myth, it’s a RACE and the first one to deliver a top quality console MMO wins ALL the money. Second, there were console MMOs as early as last generation (Phantasy Star Online, FFXI). And the real mentally deficient fallacy is the concept that if something comes out, and it doesn’t absolutely kill in the market, it’s not because there was anything lacking in the execution, it’s because the concept as a whole is a bust. The movie industry is also brain dead in this way.

Ok so here’s what happened. The “EVE Online” guys, they applied for this logo patent. And it looked damn similar to the EVE logo. So the online game community started speculating on an EVE sequel of some sort. No problem, same old same old, nothing to report on. Now, the company has just revealed that not only is it not a sequel, not only is it a “Strategy FPS”, not only is it a direct tie-in to the EVE Online game with real game world effects… it’s a console game. Well crap my pants and call me Stinky. This is being called everything from risky, to insane. I say, you know what, it makes perfect sense. It makes perfect sense that the makers of the game that defined how to be successful in the MMO market without copying WoW, or being WoW, are the ones who know that you don’t have to copy success to be a success. They realized that not only can we take a game market in a new direction, we can also simultaneously hit players with a new and never really successfully implemented genre, and it does not equal an automatic failure, so long as we execute the top quality experience we know we can deliver.

This is considered taking a huge, huge risk, potentially losing tens of millions for investors. The fallacy is, this is not the risk for game makers. The risk is, actually, copying and existing game with terrible execution and delivering a lack luster game. That’s the real risk. At least an innovation has the appeal of novelty. Well executed games that are just rehashes of existing games are always praised, as long as they are top quality. But the legendary games are the ones that combine quality with innovation.

Anyway, I’d keep an eye out for “DUST 514”. Or check back with me, you can probably tell that I will.

Friday, August 14, 2009

APB Beta sign-up!

MOVIES:
Warner Bros just lost some rights to Superman, and considering how they’ve handled him, I say thank God. In a court decision, the decedents of Superman’s creator now own the rights to early comic strips showing Superman’s back-story, including his parents, the destruction of Krypton, the infant Kal-El crash landing on earth, and all that stuff. I am ecstatic about this. I was JUST saying what they need to do, for a truly successful new Superman film, is stop setting things up. Stop retelling the origin, stop referring back to things to make sure everyone is on the same page, and stop explaining things. Superman is so apart of the American bloodstream, you don’t need all that, in fact, we’re tired of it. Superman is like Mc Donald’s and Coca-Cola, we know it. So just start the movie like that. And now that they are going to have to PAY to tell those aspects of the story, they probably won’t now because they are cheap bastards, and the mighty dollar always comes first in movie making even if you believe it’s the wrong creative decision, which it isn’t, but they’ll never see that. So Superman may save Metropolis, but our legal system just may have saved Superman.

MMOs:
APB beta sign ups http://www.apb.com/ go go go. In case you don’t know, APB (All Points Bulletin) is the super awesome looking “Grand Theft Auto” type MMO from the GTA creator.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

WoW getting two new races.

MOVIES:
Lego Movie… ooookaaaay.

Singer to direct Battlestar Galactica movie? I don’t think it’s going to happen.

XBOX:
The final nail in the coffin for PS3. While the CEO of Sony has already said, unequivocally, that there will be no PS3 price drop this year or anywhere in the near future… The XBOX 360 Elite will be slashed by $100. Sony is dumb.

MMOs:
The next WoW expansion, Cataclysm, will add two races, Goblins for the Horde, and Worgen (wolf-like humanoids) for the Alliance.

Monday, August 10, 2009

GI Joe nabs 56 Mil, securing sequel

Movies:
G.I. Joe earned $56.2 million, ranking as the fourth highest-grossing August opening ever.

Fantasy Football:
I'm going to highlight some players you might want to look into securing as value picks in certain rounds.

Chris Johnson, RB, TEN. Rated low for his value. He just might slip to the second round depending. If he does, you have no choice but to take him. He is on the rise and will out perform expectations.

Terrell Owens, WR, BUF. You all know the deal and you know the risks. Which is the perfect reason why he may slip to the third round. Grab him there. He is either great or horrible, and with a one year contract on a decent team who might not hate him yet, he has every reason to work his ass off.

Jay Cutler, QB, CHI. Wait until everyone has taken their first quarterback. Then Jay Cutler should still be there. Then take him. The man has talent, he’s still young but he’s gotten the experience needed to be an NFL quarterback. A lot of bad things happened to the Denver offense. This switch is good for him. Bringing a talented QB to a team that had everything going for it except a passing game, this can only be good.

Kellen Winslow, TE, TB. The man is a great tight end, no doubt. Rated low because we don’t know who’s gonna throw the ball and either way it’s not good. But that also means he’ll get a lot of those dump passes. At any rate, be careful because you have to know your league. Do your teams do their homework? Are they going to know what the risks associated with him are? Or are they just going to see the name and say, hey he’s great and I need a tight end. Wait as long as you feel you can, then strike.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Dark Crystal Movie

MOVIES:
Dark Crystal sequel in the works. The script is ready to go, they’re just looking for more money. David Bowie’s crotch owns your soul. That’s just a fact. So why not a Labyrinth sequel? Maybe if Dark Crystal 2 is successful. Also there’s a Fraggle Rock movie brewing, for you rich ass punks that had premium channels in the 80s.

PC:
Starcraft II DELAYED till 2010! The end of 2009 is over 4 months away, and already Blizzard knows that Starcraft II won’t be ready by then, because Battle.net won’t be ready??? Really? You have over 4 months of work left to do on Battle.net? And you know that now? What the hell Blizzard? How can you finish the game and not have your online service ready? And how can that service be so complex that it will take an entire quarter to fix? I guess if you know these answers, then you work for Blizzard.

MMOs:
I am playing the crap out of Age of Conan, and I’m loving it. The sheer amount of endgame content has me enjoying evey minute I’m logged in. The game is working great and getting what you want is easy and fun. I am also envious of those who are leveling their characters to max because they get to enjoy all the new content they added at the earlier levels. I have a level 50 character, but I’m waiting for someone I know to make it to level 30, where the apprentice system allows you to group together. If you you haven’t tried AoC, try it, if you have, try it now. The two week free re-evaluation is still going on so come on and join me.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Wheel of Time Movie

Movies:
Wheel of Time movie in the works. It is currently being written by Chris Morgan, writer of Wanted, Fast and the Furious, and Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift… assrapersayswhat? Why not a Dragonlance or Forgotten Realms movie? Well those properties probably have better guardians. Plus Weis/Hickman or Greenwood/Salvatore would probably want to write it themselves.

Wii:
Oh you crazy Japanese playing with your Wii. http://wii.ign.com/dor/objects/14352979/sexy-poker-wiiware/videos/sexypoker_gmp_takeitoff_8409.html

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Alganon is for you, if you have a life.

MMOs:
Full Disclosure: Due to the NDA agreement that goes along with all beta tests, I am not giving any information that cannot be obtained yourself from the website. And all opinions are solely based on that information.
Today’s focus is on a game called Alganon. Color me impressed. I’ve had a rash of graphically and playably unimpressive beta tests lately, so I’ve been pessimistic. This time, however, I am pleasantly surprised.
This is a slightly better World of Warcraft in terms of graphics and very similar in terms of art style. Saying that is a double edged sword in my opinion. Is WoW not the bar by which all are judged? So then this would be a good thing, right? But then one might say, “well then I’ll just play World of Warcraft.” Ok, I hear you, but… do you have a job?
It looks like Alganon is specifically targeting to WoW players who have lives. Granted this is a small percentage. But even 1% will get you 150k subscriptions which seems to be the magic number for MMO profitability. And I’m betting this is the same math the investors did.
So how are they going to do it. OFFLINE ADVANCEMENT. Yes, you heard me right. Your character will gain in power while you’re logged out. Rested XP? Forget that. You can pick what they call “Studies” and you can study all kinds of things from melee attack, defense, crafting, etc. So essentially, you can have a level 1 character that’s as good with a sword as a max level character, so long as you log in every couple of days to reset your study.
To me this means I can play this in tandem with other games and not have to worry about falling drastically behind the server. I can log into Alganon real quick to check my advancement, then do what ever I want. I can play Alganon when I feel like it and it doesn’t have to become a chore.
This is a great concept. Take something great, and tailor it to a specific audience so that they like it more. In my opinion, there is no reason why you should not have an Alganon account when the game is released, unless you absolutely hate games like World of Warcraft.

Monday, August 3, 2009

GI Joe is... GOOD?!

TV:
Farscape complete series mega box set is coming out with new commentaries. This will drastically improve your life. When you see this, you do not think, you buy. Quiet… you buy.

MOVIES:
GI Joe: Rise of Cobra, the reviews are in and they are… GOOD! I know, I’m as shocked as you are. They must mean good as in buttery popcorn good, but still. Well, this makes me happy. This at least means it won’t be an all out Bay style assault on rationality. I’ll be making plans to see this Friday.

Edward Norton. Apparently there’s something he won’t say about the Hulk in the upcoming Avengers movie. Which means there’s something to say. And if that something was “I’m not involved” I doubt he would not say it. Also rumors abound that he cameos Bruce Banner in Iron Man 2. But I would SERIOUSLY be shocked if Marvel didn’t try to pull shit with his quote and anything planned came tumbling down, so don’t pee your pants just yet.