My first time going and they happened to move it to the Lexington Ave. Armory, which I haven’t been to in over a decade. It was pretty cool, definitely worth the hour I ended up waiting on line because they had to delay the opening. Got to talk to Scott C which was super cool. Apparently no one’s really worried about the Activision situation at Double Fine. I guess that’s a good sign?

Was able to get a copy of Kate Beaton’s book and even snagged a sketch. It was funny how inversely proportionate the line was compared to her tiny table. I also picking up two books by Yoshihiro Tatsumi and called it day. It’s way too easy to deplete your bank account there and my messenger bag felt like the end of a ball and chain.

I was planning on uploading what photos I did take (forgot to charge the battery) sooner, but my secondary hdd took a nose dive and I had to get it replaced.

I’m sure there’s more expansive photos on flickr.

When Ed asked me if I was going to the screening last night, I was on the fence whether to go or not. I wasn’t particularly hyped to go see it, plus Zeno Clash/the latest Left 4 Dead update beckons my attention. But the last screening I opted out was Slumdog Millionare and I always regretted that. So I went, and I’m glad I did.

It’s a good movie, and as a reboot it does its job well, having a story that nicely bridges the old series with the new. But it didn’t exactly leave me wanting more. Maybe it’s a byproduct of feeling like a multi-million dollar tv pilot.

A few spoilery comments:

Outside of the opening sequence, (I am a sucker for self-sacrifice) the only memorable scenes were with the original Spock. It was fantastic to see him reprise the role. Just hearing him say, “I have been and shall always be your friend.” again makes my Trekkie-self squeal with delight. Although I hate how he’s now officially “stuck in Dharmaville” in this alternate dimension. Can’t he just hijack a bird of prey and slingshot around the sun? Although that would take him into the future of this alternate dimension. Wait, if the timeline deviates at this specific point, that means Star Trek IV, VIII, and Enterprise are still canonical. Can’t wait to see people start generating fan fiction to extend the original continuity. Oh, what is the fate of the Tal Shiar? I wonder if there’s an alternate Mirror Universe? Okay, I’m just rambling now.

They did a good job casting the original crew, with Karl Urban clearly standing out, doing an outstanding job as Dr. McCoy. Chris Pine worked surprisingly well as Kirk. Simon Pegg was great as Scotty, although I hope he isn’t saddled with a sidekick going forward. The new look of the Federation is great, with the exception of ship engineering. I can understand trying to make it look different/fresh, but it makes no sense that it would look like a chemical factory. It’s not really an economical use of space for a starship and it felt really out of place.

Will it resurrect the Star Trek franchise? Paramount is very eager to get it back on track. I was asked that very question by someone in Marketing and in a separate post-screening survey. I think this is a step in the right direction. This will definitely put Star Trek back in the spotlight. I’d say if the next movie is equally well received, the franchise will be back on its feet. In J.J. Abrams we trust?

Caricature of one of the regulars from memory. I would’ve drawn some reference sketches but the one time I was actually hoping he walk by the desk, he doesn’t.

I’ve been putting off writing about Resident Evil 5 for the past week, because, well… I’ve been too busy playing Resident Evil 5. With the latest iteration, Capcom has took the stellar gameplay that was introduced in the last game, gave it a new coat of paint, and added some new features, picking up on popular trends from recent years.

It’s built as a cooperative game (and many significant changes were made to support it) but due to some network issues, my initial playthrough was a solitary experience. I rarely encountered issues with the companion AI on normal difficulty, even if all I used Sheva for was as a healing, ammo mule. When you make the switch to veteran however, your partner becomes a frustratingly bigger liability. Even with the infinite ammo option turned on, it is incapable of taking care of itself and squanders any health items you may have.

The gameplay is still solid. Were the boss battles as memorable as the ones in RE4? That’s debatable. I did enjoy the fights with Uroboros, they had a nice The Thing-feel to them. For some reason, I never found the QTEs exasperating, even though I think they are the worst trend to plague games. Maybe it’s because they’re, for the most part, only integrated into cutscenes or a handful of the boss encounters. It’s not like I’m being forced into a QTE sequence while fighting any of the infected or lower-level adversaries. I’ve read some of the fuss made over the controls, which I find puzzling. Having to stop and shoot is a fundamental mechanic of the series. The introduction of the new control-scheme allays any of the archaicness of the old system.

Possibly a consequence of its emphasis on multiplayer, the game is a shorter experience than previous mainline Resident Evil entries. Everything is broken up into subchapters, and with the large amounts of weapons to upgrade and bonus unlockables, it’s easy to get caught up in replaying areas for loot. It gives you a good perspective of how the game holds up. For me, the middle chapters are a drag, and I really dread replaying those levels. Mercenaries mode returns although, I’m disappointed that most of the selectable characters are just costume/inventory swaps. You’d expect Resident Evil mainstay Hunk to make an appearance, but I guess that’s fodder Capcom could use for DLC.

Resident Evil 5 doesn’t eclipse it’s predecessor, but as an HD-era calamine lotion for RE4 players, it does its job pretty well.

With the long history of development hell, I think Watchmen fans fortunate to get a faithful adaptation of the source material. For better or worse, it’s nearly a direct translation.

It’s interesting to see the book brought to life. (Audience applauded after the prison scalding scene.) But I was always cognizant of watching the film, perhaps a consequence of me having the book fresh in my mind. The movie felt very segmented, its origin as a serialized comic becomes evident. It would be fantastic if someone green-lit a Watchmen miniseries. There are several parts of the movie that are very circumstantial (such as how Rorschach becomes trapped by the police) or questionable (So Rorschach never intended to warn Veidt?) due to the need to truncate things.

For the most part, all the characters were well represented. Laurie came out feeling the most under-served. She seemed more angry in the book and in the movie she just goes with the flow. I would’ve preferred they kept the same method Rorschach used to dispatch the child kidnapper. And it’s unfortunate they left out one of Veidt’s more humane moments, the one taking place after assassination attempt.

The selected music that punctuated certain scenes were loud and felt out of place. I did appreciate the Vangelis-tribute, as part of the film’s score, which played as Rorschach walked down porno street.

As far as the new ending goes, I understand the need for change but after sitting through 2+ hours of movie, it felt like the threat needed to be more external. That’s not to say that I endorse putting the squid back in, it just needs something… larger. It’s odd that with all the heightening violence and gore, the one place the book lingered on ensuing carnage and devastation, the movie just moves on by. Ultimately, the biggest disservice to the ending is in not keeping the final scene between Doc Manhattan and Veidt, which speaks volume on Veidt and the future.

Having said all this, I’m still interested in seeing how the director’s cut came out. It’s an okay film, but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it to the uninitiated.

I’ve been trying to come up with an adequate description of Noby Noby Boy. It’s almost like a blank canvas, in that you make of it whatever you want. There is a goal to increase the length of your female counterpart to reach distant celestial bodies in our universe but it’s slightly detached from the main game.

To me it’s like I’m some dimension-hopping world-eater, snaking/hovering across the landscape like a rainbow-colored Jörmungandr or Quetzalcoatl, if they happened to look like the mascots of Taiko: Drum Master.

What an utterly exhausting three days. Next year, I’m definitely just sticking with the first two. There were a lot of game companies on hand demoing new product. Pretty surprising as we usually just get the run-off from E3.

As soon as I got in I made a beeline for the Sega booth to play MadWorld. It’s a wonderfully gory, fun game. The other game I wanted to check out was GTA: Chinatown Wars. I’m not completely sold on it, but I walked away impressed. It definitely has that GTA feel of the later games.

I sat through two consecutive screenings. The first was Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder, which I’d say is the best out of the three Futurama movies I’ve seen. (Still haven’t checked out Bender’s Game.) After that was Wonder Woman, which is the best DCU animated feature so far, although there are quite a few plot holes and it unravels during the climactic battle at the end.

There was a guy who sat next to me during Wonder Woman who was pretty vocal when that Marvel featurette started playing before the movie. When Joe Quesada was on screen he booed and shouted, “You fucking retard!” Brian Bendis? “I want to stab him in his fucking eyes!!”

The only major movie panel I sat through was Warner Bros. Dave Gibbons was on hand to show the first 18 minutes of footage and a small clip of Rorschach scalding an inmate with hot oil. I actually found Rorschach narration bothersome. He’s reciting his journal entries through his entire investigation of Blake’s apartment, with only a break for when he discovers his Comedian wardrobe. I guess this is what happens when you try to cram in as much as possible.

McG was surprisingly amiable. Now I now know McG is short for McGinty. What he showed of Terminator Salvation wasn’t terrible and actually made me feel excited about it.

This time I’ve uploaded my pics to Flickr. I want to phase out of using Coppermine.

In trying to create a first-person parkour simulator, DICE did exceedingly well. You might not glide gracefully through the landscape as those found in youtube videos, but there is an exhilaration in the freedom of movement you have while navigating the landscape. Adding to that experience, they’ve also nailed down the sensation of speed and inertia of movement. It all combines into an incredibly fun game mechanic.

So, it’s a disappointment when the game forces your hand in dealing with confrontations with the police. As elegant as freerunning in the game is, the combat is unrefined. You can use firearms but it’s not in keeping with the game’s spirit. A variety of punches and kicks are available to use, but hardly any of these attacks really flow together. The smart option is to disarm opponents but you’re only given a slim window of opportunity to do so. That small opening is only available during a particular melee animation, so you’ll end up just running up to the police and waiting for their animations to trigger, and even then, it doesn’t always seem to work.

The story is boilerplate and poorly put-together with characters just going through the motions. The bulk of the narrative is told through 2D animations, which is befuddling (time constraints?) because the in-game models and environments look great. The art direction here is top notch. I love the stark, sanitary world-look. There’s a certain isolationist feel that comes with it, which they lean too far towards. I think that would be my only criticism about it. Aside from the police you encounter, areas are otherwise unpopulated and desolate to the point of eerie.

Even after the short singleplayer, I’ve booted up Mirror’s Edge a few times just to run around a bit. From what I hear, sales have been less than stellar, which is disheartening because DICE really hit something special here. The game is saddled with some frustrating instances, but it definitely deserves better.

I just finished playing through an indie game called Gravity Bone and urge everyone to give it a try. I don’t want say too much here because it’s definitely one of those experiences you want to go in fresh. It’s a short experience, yet it has such a strong sense of style to it and is quite polished. And for fans of No One Lives Forever, it definitely helps with that ’60s-era espionage itch.

Oh wait, you finished it? I didn’t know what to think of it immediately after completion but I’m enamored with the way it undermined expectations and FPS-genre staples. The level format, mission debriefing, missing third item… all have you believing in a longer playtime. There’s even a fake-out if you thought otherwise. It’s an interesting study on using player preconceptions against itself.

Years ago I remember reading about a Japanese show that forced someone to live in a small room and rely on nothing but sweepstakes winnings for sustenance. That show, I’ve found out, is called Susunu! Denpa Shōnen, and it exemplified the type of inhumane, borderline-sadistic shows we’ve come to think of as synonymous with Japanese television.

I’ve totally forgotten about the show, until Hulu started upping episodes of it, complete with subtitles. Here’s the first episode. (Make sure to enable English closed captioning from the menu.)

They’ve only posted the first five episodes and I’m beyond hooked. Hopefully they end up posting the entire run. You can read a nice synopsis of Nasubi’s adventure here, but it pretty much spoils all the twists and turns.

Also on tap are some bits from Downtown no Gaki no Tsukai ya Arahende!! which you could’ve seen on youtube if you were industrious enough. Hmm, maybe they can work out a deal to stream GameCenter CX/Retro Game Master? They’ve already subbed some episodes.

I stand defiant of the mass cleansing of the LBP servers of infringing content. It’s probably a good thing I never restarted my efforts to recreate Rapture.

Andy Baio put it best on his linkblog stating, “the gaming world is about to revisit all the lessons Web 2.0 already learned, from Friendster to Facebook.”