Archive | July, 2008

Gaiman. Batman.

27 Jul

So, those “in the know” are fully aware that this is Comic-Con weekend, which promises an onslaught of news on pretty much every pop-culture entertainment front.

While the news is still being digested by my brain, one piece of news does stand out above the rest. Akin to Final Fantasy no longer being exclusive.

As reported on DC’s “One Weekend Later” panel, it seems that following Batman R.I.P. and two-part story by Denny O’Neil, Neil Gaiman will be writing Batman. For how long no one knows, but Morrison did say he’s staying on the title “forever” so it’ll probably only be for an arc (plus, I don’t see Gaiman really taking up an ongoing). But it’s Gaiman on Batman – how is that not exciting?

Dr. Horrible, a review

19 Jul
The Poster of Awesomeness

The Poster of Awesomeness

So I, too, join every other blog on the planet in telling you to go and watch Dr. Horrible. Dr. Horrible is an idea conceived by Joss Whedon (of Buffy and Firefly fame) along with his extended family (brothers Zack and Jed, and Jed’s fiancee, Maurissa Tancharoen). The project is unique in that it is a 3-act Superhero Musical filmed for the Internet. I urge you to go and watch it as soon as possible, as it is only “showing” until Sunday, at which point it will be taken down to be released as a DVD at some point in the future.

So if you haven’t, go, watch, then come back. I’ll wait.

…

Alright, so on to my review. Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog is brilliant. This project is a testament to what several creative people can do once they get together and get the creative juices flowing. While the story of Dr. Horrible isn’t ground-breaking in it’s concept, and the plot is pretty predictable, it’s all in the execution. What sets Dr. Horrible apart from all the other superhero stories, is in the way it is performed – mainly, as a musical. The songs are great, and I found myself humming the tunes after watching.

The cast is great, as well. With Whedon-favorite Nathan Fillion as Captain Hammer, How I Met Your Mother’‘s Neil Patrick Harris as Dr. Horrible and Felicia Day (who played up-and-coming Slayer Vi on Buffy) as Penny. All three prove to be more than talented singers, and Neil Patrick Harris totally steals the show (even though it is his show, so not much to steal). Dr. Horrible just oozes that Whedon flair, with great lines and hilarious bits, all of which are executed perfectly by the cast.

Which brings us to the writing. As I’ve said before, the story is not what you would call an original story. You can really see how things are going to end at about the half-way mark. That’s not a bad thing however, as the road you take is so great, with so many things to see as you go by, that it’s all worth it.

In conclusion, Dr. Horrible is a unique project, and hopefully, the first of many projects like it. It’s Whedon going on a creative binge, not being limited by format or network executives. It works extremely well, and if you haven’t watched it yet (I even though I told you to already), go and watch it now. You don’t have much time left.

Here’s the link, one more time: Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.

Go. Watch. Enjoy.

Go. Watch. Enjoy.

I’ll stick with my PS3, thanks.

15 Jul

So now that Sony’s had it’s retort, I’m happy.

While Sony didn’t have an earth-shattering annoucement like Microsoft did with Final Fantasy XIII, they did showcase some pretty cool stuff.

First and formost is the launch of Sony’s media service, which, in a nice twist, will hit the Playstation Store tonight. I don’t know how often I’ll actually use this feature, but it’s nice to know it’s there and competing with XBox’s Netflix deal.

Some pretty sweet looking games were showcased. Resistance 2 looks great, as wel as MAG which is a great undertaking. I’m not a personal fan of shooters, but I can appreciate the genre enough to know that 256-player battles are damned epic! A new Ratchet game for the PS3 was announced, in the PSN title “Ratchet and Clank Future: Booty Call”. It’s much sooner than I would have expected a new Ratchet game, but I’m not complaining.

Infamous is a game that looks amazing, even though the storyline does look a bit generic. LittleBigPlanet once again looks totally awesome, and Sony used it to give the business part of their presentation, which was a great way to speed that boring segment up. Then of course there’s the God of War 3 trailer, which looked bloody awesome. Lastly, DC Universe Online is a great addition, especially me being a HUGE comic fan (albeit a Marvel one). It was awesome seeing Jim Lee on stage, and the game looks very stylized.

I’m really suprised Sony didn’t spend more time showcasing Home. It’s really their number 1 selling feature right now, and us Sony fans have been waiting eons for it. But all we got was a 2 minute trailer, showing us stuff we mostly already know (though the game-specific Spaces were a nice new addition). Why not spend 10-15 minutes of the conference talking up your biggest feature? It’s Home that sets Sony apart from the competition, I honestly don’t understand that descision.

All in all, what the Sony conference showed, was that although they lost a major exclusive with Final Fantasy, it still has a decent number of quality exclusive content, with games like Metal Gear Solid, Resistance, LittleBigPlanet, God of War and so on and so forth.

Plus, we still get Final Fantasy Vs. XIII.

Almost makes me want to get an XBox…

14 Jul

Wow, the next 24 hours are going to be very hard on Sony fans.

For those who don’t know the Microsoft Press Conference at E3 just wrapped up and it had some great announcemets. The problem being of course, that I’m a sony advocate. I want the big, black monster to do well and am among the throngs eagerly awaiting LittleBigPlanet and Home.

As the title said, the press conference almost made me want to actually get a 360. Aside from awesome game demos like RE5 and Gears of War 2, Microsoft debuted some pretty cool services. Ranging from a partnership with Netflix (which means didlly-squat to me, not living in the US) to a new avatar system (a stylized little rip-off of Home, but still).

These are but small things compared to the big hits Sony was taking – first it was the whole Rock Band 2 coming out on the Xbox several months before other consoles. Now we learn the 360 will get additional GTA IV for content, where as the PS3 won’t (apparently, it’s old news, but I didn’t know about it). During the press conference it was revealed that the 360 will get an exclusive Portal expansion (cleverly titled: Portal: Still Alive). I orginally though it was Portal 2 that was exclusive and nearly shat myself, but still, I too want an expansion…

But the biggest hit of all came at the very end. When the representitive retook the stage and showed off a new trailer. It took some time to figure out what it was, but once you did, it was sad. Final Fantasy XIII will be made for the 360. It hurts. It really does. I’m happy for Square to be expanding and spreading the beauty of Final Fantasy to other consoles, but it hurts. Final Fantasy was our thing, it was Sony’s prized RPG series. It’s what made me buy a PS1, PS2 and a PSP.

End of an Era...

End of an Era...

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I’m pissed at Microsoft or Square or anything – hell, if Square sells more copies of FF XIII and makes more money so they can make more games – all the better. It’s a sadness really, cause Final Fantasy goes hand in hand with all my favorite Playstation experiences.

Maybe Sony will unleash a monster tomorrow. Maybe they’ll announce Halo 4 as a PS3 exclusive, who knows. For now though, it feels like we lost a child.

Jason Aaron Interview

12 Jul

Whoa, 4 new posts in 2 days, I must be on some kind of roll…

Anyways, as some of you may know I occasionaly work for a comic store here in Israel called “Comics and Vegetables”. I also write reviews and the occasional piece for the store’s website. Recently, I had the pleasure of interviewing superstar writer Jason Aaron for the website.

You can check out the interview over here. Don’t worry, while the website itself is in Hebrew, the interview is in English.

Portal 2!!

12 Jul

It may be a bit old, but I just found out that Portal 2 is coming!

To comment, Green Lantern Batman -

MK Vs. DC

12 Jul
Fanboy Dream?

Fanboy Dream?

Honestly, I’m not in the least bit excited about this. I actually think I may *shudder* pass on this one.

This suprises me more than anyone, as I’ve been clamoring for a Super-Hero fighter ever since Marvel Nemesis proved to be a total and utter failure. There are several reasons why this isn’t really giving me the geekgasm it should:

1. The premise is stupid. Sure watching Sub-Zero freeze Batman is cool and all, but there needs to be one hell of an explanation to how Sonia Blade can even touch Superman, let alone beat him in hand to hand combat. I don’t know why it bothers me so much, I have no problem with the Star Wars characters in Soul Calibur IV, even though it makes even less sense. It just doesn’t sit right, I could accept it more if it was Marvel chatacters, as they tend to be more street level, but it’s the whole Johnny Cage vs. Flash that seems ridiculous to me. Thought that scene of Catwoman dry-humping Sonia is a nice one.

No fucking way...

No fucking way...

2. Mortal Kombat has long since lost its charm. Sure MK 1, 2 and 3 were great. Deadly Alliance, Deception and the many others that have come since weren’t. Fight load times were unbearbly long, and the game wasn’t flowing as well as it should. There seem to be roughly 3 fighters coming out at the same time – Soul Calibur IV, Street Fighter IV and MK vs. DC, I only have money for one, so I’m gonna go for the sleekest one. And yeah, Soul Calibur has already been pre-ordered.

Sonia... always a pleasure.

Sonia... always a pleasure.

3. I want a Super-Hero fighter, dammit! Not a Super-Hero and some other guys fighter. Or better yet, let me rephrase – I want the Marvel Super-Hero fighter from EA Chicago. We only saw about 2 minutes of footage before EA Chicago closed down, but hot damn, that was SWEET. I want THAT game.

Obligatory "Meeeow" joke.

Obligatory "Meeeow" joke.

4. Cheating in the game will be incredibly easy. All you have to do is choose Batman, it’s an automatic win. If this is not a feature in the game, well then…

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