VGA Teaser Trailers

I actually missed the VGA's on Saturday night, unfortunately I had to attend my graduation ceremony instead. So I missed all the juicy teaser trailers for the upcoming titles, specifically Mass Effect 3, Elder Scrolls V and Batman Arkham City. Happily they were all uploaded to Gametrailers, allowing me to conveniently embed them below:

Mass Effect 3

Video Games | Mass Effect 3 | VGA 10: Exclusive Debut Trailer HD

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Mass Effect looks suitably epic in scale. The big reveal here is the fact that the ME universe will finally allow us to fight on the surface of Earth, the closest we have come so far is the side mission on the Moon in ME1. Regardless of what the trailer showed, this was a pre-order for me, with ME1 and 2 under my belt I have to know how it ends.

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Video Games | Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim | VGA 10: Exclusive Debut Trailer HD

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

I wouldn't describe myself as a huge Elder Scrolls fan, I  enjoyed Morrowind and had fun with Oblivion despite it's many technical issues. That being said, these titles have never been day 1 purchases for me, perhaps Skyrim will be a first in that regard.... it's too early to say yet though.

Batman: Arkham City

Video Games | Batman: Arkham City | VGA 10: Exclusive Hugo Strange Reveal Trailer HD

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Arkham Asylum wasn't a day 1 purchase for me either, it's generally considered a surprise hit by the gaming community. I picked it up a couple of months after release and was extremely impressed. This is what a Batman game should feel like, and if Arkham City can maintain the momentum generated by the first, this should be a sure thing.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution
The trailer that has me most excited though, actually wasn't a VGA exclusive:  Deus Ex Human Revolution.

Video Games | Deus Ex: Human Revolution | CG Director's Cut Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

This one looks incredible. I, like many others, was somewhat disappointed in Deus Ex Invisible War, because it abandoned many of the gameplay elements that made the original such a classic. This one however, this looks like a true sequel to Deus Ex, the atmosphere looks to be spot on. Once they firm up a release date, this one will most definitely be a pre-order for me.

The Walking Dead - Cover Story

I've already posted about how much I love this show. Well season one is coming to a close this Sunday and I just want to take a moment to reiterate how fucking awesome this show is. Is it dark? Sure! Is it kinda depressing? Absolutely! Is it one of the best dramas on TV? Hell yeah!

What is more surprising is that the general public and the critics are also heaping praise on the show. Going so far as to slap The Walking Dead on the cover of Entertainment Weekly. Check out Kirkman's reaction to that over on Screenrant.

And don't forget to tune in for the finale Sunday at 10:00 pm Eastern on AMC.

Cataclysm

I was a WarCraft junkie on and off for about 3 years before I was able to shake the habit. I quit about 3 months into BC and aside from a brief 10 trial of WoLK I've been clean ever since. That was until a few weeks ago when Wrath went on sale for $10, that was just too good a deal to pass up. Then the old world got the big shake up in preperation for Cata and I just had to check it out and see the changes.

Well, I was very impressed by what Blizz has pulled off here. The old world has seen massive improvements, it's actually almost like a new game at this point. Quest lines have been tightened up so that you flow from hub to hub much more naturally. The textures and music have also recieved a pleasant upgrade which just adds an extra touch of class the whole experience. They've tweeked the XP required for leveling to make the grind to 60 go by much faster, and the newly revamped talent trees are far superior to the 51 point monstrosities they had become.

On the whole this update represents a significant upgrade to WoW, and Cata hasn't even launched yet. If the new 80-85 content is half as good as the old world revisions, we are truly in for a treat. Of course that does mean that I am gonna sink at least another couple of months into this.

Epic Police Chase

This was just too fun to ignore, had to link to it...

There's a great list right now over on Cracked.com of the 7 car chases way more exciting than anything you've seen in the movies. This one, featuring a chase in South Africa, stands out as one of the best:

Now that is a cop that knows how to get the job done. It takes a special kind of crazy to leap into the back of a speeding pickup truck... especially when the driver of said truck had the balls to ignore incoming fire.

Walking Dead News

For anyone who may not have heard about this stellar new AMC series, let me give you a quick synopsis. The show follows a band of survivors, including former small town sheriff Rick Grimes, as they attempt to survive in a world overrun by the zombie hordes. I know, I know.. it all sounds very familiar, but the show is based on the comic book of the same name written by Robert Kirkman and has a very unique take on the story.

Instead of going into the usual horror mode of people trying to escape the horde, the emphasis in Kirkman's story is survival. They are not trying to go anywhere, this story does not end with the survivors triumphantly boarding a helicopter that will carry them to safety. In fact Kirkman states that his original idea for the comic book was "a Zombie movie that doesn't end." As a result, the story is much more focused on the survivors, their relationship with each other, and the effect the zombie apocalypse has on their humanity. It's really a unique creation, and one you should check out for yourself.

Right, now that I have the back-story out of the way, I can actually get to the news segment of this post. The good news for fans of the show, like me, is that AMC has officially renewed it for a second season. As if that wasn't enough, they have increased the episode order from 6 to 13. Season one can be considered more of a mini-series with just 6 episodes, but the next season will build on that with an expanded episode order. Lets not forget that it's pretty impressive for a network, even if its a cable network, to order more than double the episodes for a second season, especially after just 2 episodes have aired.

Here's a sneak peak at episode 3 "Tell it to the Frogs"

Behind the Scenes of SGU

When the show started I really, seriously hated the character of Telford (played by Lou Diamond Phillips). No offense to Lou of course, I think he's a pretty damn good actor. I just felt that the character has exactly zero redeeming qualities. Of course that was all solved by SPOILER the big reveal at the end of the season when we found out he'd been brainwashed to be an asshole and was really a decent fellow. END SPOILER.

Anyway, in a recent episode Telford and the crew encountered a race of strange little alien dudes. These aliens were, as you might imagine for a show set in another galaxy, entirely computer generated. That being the case, it's a rare thing for a show to waste it's FX budget on gags, but the folks over at SGU have done exactly that. Watch the following video where Telford cracks a joke with his alien buddy.

I don't know how much that stunt cost them, but I say it was worth it, don't you?

On a completely unrelated note, I apologize for the weekly postings of late, I find myself with a distinct lack of free time, I shall endeavor to post more frequently in the future, but no promises.

EDIT: I shall also attempt to avoid future instances of comma splicing. ><

Diablo 3 News

Apparently at Blizzcon they announced the fifth and final class for Diablo 3: The Demon Hunter. I haven't heard much about this game in a while... so any news is good news at this point, but none the less I think this is the most interesting class I've seen yet. Dual crossbows = WIN.
Read more about the new class here.

And here is the trailer...

Poor MGM

I expect the financial woes of MGM are fairly well known by now, but just in case I'll provide a quick recap. Basically MGM ran out of money, was taking too long to get new movies in theatres and the creditors came calling. MGM officially put all current production on hold, including the new Bond movie, as the company desperatly looked for a way out.

After denying a bid from an Indian film studio, MGM were approached by Spyglass Entertainment. Spyglass presented their deal to MGM which comprised of a detailed restructuring plan; a plan that would immediately get all MGM properties back on schedule. MGM's board of lenders merely needed to vote to determine if the Spyglass deal would be accepted. 

Sadly Lionsgate decided it wasn't done with MGM yet and has hit them with a counter-proposal, a deal that would merge MGM and Lionsgate and give MGM the controlling share in the new company. Now the board are faced with scrapping the Spyglass deal to puruse the Lionsgate deal, or just going with the Spyglass deal and dismissing the Lionsgate offer.

Regardless of what they decide it looks like this will just delay things even further. I just want them to get the Bond movie back on track, and they more they dick around with legal drama the less chance there is of that actually happening.

Screenrant has the full article on this.

Red Band trailer for Faster

I was already pretty interested in this movie, but this trailer has sold it. The only fear I have is that perhaps some of the best scenes may be somewhat undermined by their appearance here. None the less I think this one will be worth seeing, the behind the scenes crew may be a tad questionable, but with The Rock in the lead role and Billy Bob playing against him, I think there is a pretty good movie here. Check out the red band trailer below.

Apparently Johnny Depp is a Tourist

I know I'm a little late to the game here, but it's a busy time of the semester. Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie star in this quirky thriller about a man in the wrong place at the wrong time. Seems cliche I know, but having seen the trailer several times it looks like a pretty entertaining movie. Then again studios are getting pretty creative with their trailers these days, even going so far as to shot scenes specifically for them. So this could just be a terrifically crafted trailer and the movie might suck, but somehow I highly doubt that. Trailer is embedded below, check it out!

The 4th Bourne movie will happen!!!

As a fan of both the movies and the novels, I'm very excited to see that there is actually some movement on the fourth movie. It seems that it is tentatively titled The Bourne Legacy and Tony Gilroy will direct. This is great news, Gilroy carries some weight with the franchise having penned the current Bourne trilogy. As a director, he made his debut with the fantastic Michael Clayton, so I have a pretty high degree of confidence in his abilities in that regard as well.

Screenrant gets the credit for this, I read it there first!

Rember Cheetara from Thundercats?

I do, I remember her being a pretty useless character at least. I loved the Thundercats when I was a kid, I believe I still have a copy of the pilot episode on VHS. Anyway, the reason I bring it up is actually not because of the new Thundercats show on Cartoon Network, no instead it's in reference to an interesting top ten list compiled by Rob over at Topless Robot.

You see he complied a list of the top ten sexiest geek costumes for women, not including Slave Leia (which is pretty much where most guys would expect such a list to go). Well number 4 on his list was a rather fetching cosplay of Cheetara (image embedded below). Now had I been compliling said list, this would have been Number 1 (capital N is intentional there FYI). Instead he ranked Catwoman as the hottest costume. I respectfully disagree, but perhaps that says more about me than anything else... but I digress. He does mention that Cheetara wasn't even on the list until this image was brought to his attention, so I have to give him props for propelling the character from 'not on the list' to 'fourth place'.

And now for your viewing pleasure - Cheetara x2:

It should really be number 1 shouldn't it?

Dolph Lundgren and Norton Anti-Virus

I love Dolph Lundgren, he may not be much of an actor, but the guy knows how to have fun. In fact, I retract that last statement about his acting ability. I still love Masters of the Universe, regardless of how dated it may look these days.

Anyway, one of my first posts on this blog was Dolph performing a rather famous Elvis number, something that I was obliged to watch over, and over, and over again when I first discovered it. I honestly don't know if this is a real Norton Anti-Virus commercial or if its a fake of some sort, in any case I don't really care. Take a gander and enjoy.

Oh and once again I have to give a shout out to Rob at Topless Robot, I saw this video there first :)

The Magic 8 Ball

Every woman has one deeply rooted in their brain, or so says the bloke over on Badmovies.org.
His argument is copied in its entirety below:
----------

What is up with women? I swear that all of them act like this, even in this day and age. One minute she is angry at you, but the next minute she wants to move in together. She tries to disembowel you with a scimitar Monday night, and then shows up on your doorstep Saturday morning crying that you have not called her in a week. Seriously, I think that women have a Magic 8-Ball in their head that tells them what to do. Possible results include:

Scream at him
Buy him something he has wanted for a long time
Kiss him
Call his mom
Toss his clothes into the trash
Rearrange the furniture
Hazy, try again
Throw pots and pans
Go back to college
Sleep with his best friend

That insane unpredictability is why men want to conquer the world. We are trying to get away from the craziness that women subject us to on a daily basis. The fellows whose homes we are pillaging know exactly why we are out burning and looting everything in sight. They want to fight us. They're like, "Woman driving you crazy? Yeah, mine too! I'll get my sword! Thank goodness you came along when you did!" 

----------
Honestly, I think this is the most plausible explanation of female behavior I've ever heard. It certainly describes pretty much every situation a guy could conceivably find himself in. Anyway, I just thought this was little gem was worth sharing. I'll let you get back to your regularly scheduled broadcast now.

Some new Trailers to look at

Hey there folks, sorry I've been afk for a while, applying for graduation and trying to pull together various sundries for said graduation has been taking up a fair amount of time. None the less I am still alive and thought I'd go ahead and share some trailers for movies that look pretty good.

First up is Faster starring none other than Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson:

Sure it looks like a pretty vanilla revenge piece, but I liked Death Wish damn it! Also it should be good practice for Johnson who will also be appearing in Fast Five (a.k.a. Fast and the Furious 5).

Next is Ben Afflecks latest Boston flick The Town, which features a starring role for an underdog favorite of mine Jeremy Renner:

I love a good crime drama, this one has me thinking of both Heat and The Departed, which I choose to believe is a good thing (your mileage may vary).

One other note before I sign off here, within the next couple of months there are 3 new gaming titles you should look out for, we have:
Civilizations V on September 21st
Fallout: New Vegas on October 19th
and Fable III on October 26th
Which amounts to a $170 value over two months - I really want all three of these, but I may have to sacrifice one in the  interest of not blowing all my money in such a short period of time.


Well that's all I have for you right now, I'm off back to Dragon Age: Origins, I never finished it the first time round so I'm actually trying to see it through to the end this time. Talk to you later folks.

The Expendables wins at the box office.

I know it's a bit early to report numbers, but IGN has run an artilce that does just that. It seems that Scott Pilgrim Vs The World earned a paltry $10 million to land in 5th place this weekend. The Expendables on the other hand raked in a cool $35 million to take the first place slot.

I did not call that!! 

In fact I had Pilgrim pegged to take the top spot this weekend. Pilgrim has a PG-13 rating and seemed to me at least to have a wider appeal than the 80's-esque action fest Expendables. Well I'm not to proud to admit when I'm wrong, but in this instance I am really quite surprised by the outcome. Hopefully the disappointing opening wont hinder the showings of Pilgrim next week (when I was hoping to see it!!)

StarCraft 2 and the Entitlement Saga

This is going to be a fairly lengthy post, you have been warned.

Personally I'm having a lot of fun with StarCraft 2. The single player campaign was great, offering a compelling story and some truly legendary cut-scenes (which Blizzard is renowned for btw). A lot of people are complaining - quite loudly I might add - on the official forums about how shitty the ending is. To these people I say, what the fuck? There are two chief complaints, one: that the ending left too many unanswered questions, and two: the ending was too 'sappy'. In regard to the first complaint, this is the first game in a trilogy, of course there are going to be some loose plot threads to be picked up in the second and third games. In regard to the second point, the ending was suitably epic and resolved one of the key issues that has been plaguing Raynor since the first game. As for 'sappy', I say try and revitalize the blackened charred lump that used to be your heart. I wont go into too much more detail than that because I don't want to spoil the ending for anyone.

The multiplayer has also been a lot of fun so far. I've completed 3 of the 5 placement matches so far with a 2/1 record. On the one hand I'm pretty happy with that, on the other hand the two players I've beaten so far were really terrible, and I really, really don't want to find myself in Gold or Platinum league after the placements. I may have to take steps to remedy that in the final two matches. Want to give a shout out to Day[9], who's daily instructional videos are both entertaining and educational. 

Now onto the real issue I wanted to address, that of entitlement. The single biggest complaint I've seen on the official forums thus far is thus:

"I bought this game to share with my family, but I can only create one account. This sucks and Blizzard should be ashamed of themselves. Blizzard expects me to buy 3-4 copies of their game for my entire family to play, that's pure greed!"

What we have here is a case of ignorance and entitlement. The people who bought the game for their family to play didn't read or understand what they were buying. What Blizzard is selling is a license to play their software, these people are not buying the game and they certainly do not own it. They made an assumption that they would be able to play the game in the same manner as games released 5-10 years ago. I'm sorry folks, an assumption you made in ignorance is not Blizzards fault. As many others have pointed out, this is technically been how games have worked all along, one license for one user, but there was previously no way to enforce it. Well with Battle.net 2.0 Blizzard now have a way to enforce the one license, one use rule. I have no issue with this rule, and personally I find it ridiculous that people think that they can bitch and whine about this and get Blizzard to change things. Blizzard have a perfect system in place from a corporate perspective. Which leades me to my next point. The folks that complain that Blizzard are only interested in making money. Blizzard is a company, companies generally want to make money - this is hardly new.

In short quit whining about how you're brothers, sisters, sons, daughters etc can't play their own profile. This is the way it is, this is the product that Blizzard has shipped, if you don't like it don't buy it. Just don't complain that the game lacks features when Blizzard never even said those features would be there in the first place.

The Tides are indeed Strange

Thanks to the magic of the interwebs we are finally able to view some of the new teasers and snippets that were made available to Comic Con attendees. This one in particular caught my eye, it's a promotional teaser for the new Pirates of the Caribbean flick - On Stranger Tides. There's no teaser shots of the movie in this one, it's just Captain Jack sitting at a table discussing the new adventure (that he wouldn't be involved in at all, far to dangerous - nudge, wink etc) over a bottle of rum.

I for one, like the idea of more Jack and less (i.e no) Will Turner and Elizabeth Swan, who were honestly starting to grate a tad by the end of the third movie. If nothing else this is a very well put together tease, focusing on the character everybody loved most from the terrific package that was Curse of the Black Pearl.

Lance Henricksen has a clone...

and his name is Stephen McHattie. I saw this actor in an episode of Haven last week (the episode was titled Butterfly if you want to check it out) and I was convinced it was Henricksen. Well it seems I was wrong, but there's no denying the similarities between these two actors. Take a look:

Separated at birth? You decide.

The most epic Starcraft 2 preview yet!

This new video is already a hot news topic at pretty much every gaming related website I frequent, but for completeness sake I figured I'd go ahead and post a quick blurb about it too.

Blizzard have always (and I do mean always) delivered some of the best CG cutscenes to help propel the story of their games. Does anyone else remember the insanely cool final scene of the Human campaign in Warcraft 3, when Arthus kills the King? Or how about that terrifically Aliens-esque scene during the Zerg campaign in Starcraft when a marine strike team detonates a nuke to prevent the Zerg from spreading any further - Epic!!

Well it looks like Starcraft 2 will continue the trend by supplying some top quality cinematics to round out the story. Allow me to borrow from Arstechnica writer Ben Kuchera and say "I would watch an entire movie of that."

In fact there's an idea, how about we get the boys at Blizz to cook up an epic feature length 90 minute CG movie base in the Starcraft Universe - even if it went straight to DVD it would make boatloads of cash!! I can't wait to see what kind of classy cinematic cut scenes they will be applying to Diablo III, keep up the good work Blizzard, don't let Activision corrupt your spirit!!

A couple of trailers

First up Due Date:

I'll be honest I have done no research on this movie beyond seeing the trailer, and frankly none is required. I'm already psyched about it and really can't wait to see it. Robert Downey and Zach Galifianakis, what more needs to be said. They're two pretty big names in Hollywood these days and if the trailer is anything to go by, they work pretty well together.

Next Red:

Helen Mirren with a machine gun... there's really nothing more I can say on that particular topic. You can't go wrong with this kind of set up, especially with the stellar casting!!

Ed Norton is a classy guy

So it seems Marvel have fucked over Ed Norton in the same way they fucked over Terrance Howard, by handing his role to someone else. Edward Norton will sadly not be reprising his role as Bruce Banner/The Incredible Hulk. I think Ed should be a little more pissed though as they don't even have anyone lined up to replace him. From what I understand the official Marvel line is that Norton was "not a team player" or some such.

I honestly wonder what is going on behind the scenes at Marvel Studios... is this all a result of the Disney buy out? I mean why would you want to screw with a project that would have put Robert Downey Jr. and Ed Norton on screen with Sam Jackson? Between Iron Man and the Incredible Hulk, Marvel was really on a role redeeming the reputation of superhero movies at the box office, but this move just seems completely retarded. It would be like Microsoft selling the majority of their shares to Apple in an attempt to improve their OS.... assbackwards and moronic.

Anyway, to tie all this in to the title of the post, Scifiwire has the official response made by Edward Norton in regard to the whole situation and, to reiterate, he is one classy guy!

The Green Hornet

I admit, this could just be a masterfully cut trailer, but I'm starting to think The Green Hornet might be pretty damn good.

I wasn't particularly interested in this one, but this trailer has me curious. So I guess if nothing else it can boast an engaging and exciting trailer..... right?

Stan Bush rides again!!!

I haven't picked up a copy yet, because you know fucking summer classes sucking up my free time, but apparently Transformers: War for Cybertron features a brand new track by Stan Bush (for those of you who don't know, that would be the guy that recorded two of the greatest tracks for the 80's animated Transformers movie - which is the ONLY fucking Transformers movie... but I digress). It seems this new track will accompany the closing credits of the game as seen in the following video:

Credit for this goes to Rob at TR, which is where it came to my attention.

Predators

I wasn't too sold on this idea when I first heard about the project. However, the recent trailers have me reconsidering my earlier stance. I loved the orignal movie, and I'm hoping this one will be the true sequel we've been waiting for. Given that Predator 2 was a completely different movie, it's nice to see the franchise return to its jungle roots - do you see what I did there ;)

Adrien Brody was an odd choice to cast as lead in a new Predator movie, but I have to admit after seeing the trailers and glimpsing the occasional still that he may in fact be able to pull this off. Only time will tell. In any case my point is that while I would originally have skipped the movie, I'm now seriously considering seeing it in theatres. I guess the marketing department really know what they're doing.

In an attempt to get you onboard with the idea that this movie may in fact be worth seeing, take a gander at the Red Band trailer below:

Mortal Kombat: Rebirth

I had intended posting something about this way earlier than this, but some other stuff had to be taken care of first (namely coursework). Anyway, the following is a movie pitch for a new Mortal Kombat movie, featuring a grittier, more realistic feel than the other two. Personally I think it looks pretty fucking awesome. If this movie got made, I would be in theaters during opening weekend. Of course it's not without risk, the original MK movie is generally regarded as the greatest video game adaptation ever made. So the bar is set pretty high here.

Well, without further ado, here's the preview:

So what do you think? As a long time MK fan or as a general movie goer... is this a movie you'd like to see?

Red Dead Redemption

Grand Theft Horse, well not really. Red Dead does actually have a very different feel to it than GTA did. It successfully captures the classic western setting, in my humble opinion of course. I've sunk about 20 hours into it so far and still haven't completed the main story, granted I did take the time to burn through side quests pretty regularly.

If open world is not your thing, Red Dead will annoy the shit out of you, if on the other hand you're still partial to the occasional GTA game, this one will probably impress. My biggest complaint about the game is the way it allows you to be either a hero or a complete bastard. On the surface that does seem like a good thing, but the story just doesn't work if you play as a bastard, the whole idea of the game is kinda welded to the title "Redemption". Playing anything other than an honest to God hero just doesn't make sense.

Anyway I'm rather enjoying it so I thought I'd give it a quick shout out.

Civ 5 Release Date Confirmed

Shacknews gets credit for this, simply because its the first place I read about it. Civilization V will be released in the United States on September 21st. Mark your calendars folks, The apocalypse is coming:

...and in other news.. nerds around the world seem to have gone missing... nobody is quite sure what happened but some time around September 21st or the 22nd 'nerds' around the world stopped showing up for work and haunting their usual Dunkin Donuts shops. It's been about a week now and the world is beginning to suffer from their absence. Computers and laptops around the world are no longer being repaired... sales of Kleenex and Doritos have plummeted... web and applications servers around the world have crashed because nobody is around to reboot them. The US is hinging on a national disaster. Employers have discovered signs on some of the missing 'nerds' desks reading things such as 'gone to play Civilization - see you next year' but nobody is quite sure what this means. Experts claim it's a movement to overthrow the government... others say the 'nerds' are actually aliens from an alien "civilization" and have returned to their homeworld. The story only escalated on Saturday when one such 'nerd' was found wandering the streets aimlessly with a dazed look on his face, obviously deprived of food and water for at least a week.. he was incoherent and mumbling something about betrayal and trade agreements and civil wars... government scientists are studying the man now and believe they HAVE found evidence of anal probing... stay tuned to FOX NEWS to get the latest on this national disaster we have come to call "Civilization Day"...

This little gem was posted by Shaknews user Gwyndion, so lets all give a big round of applause to him/her for brightening our day.

P.S. Apparently Civ 5 will utilize Steamworks for copy-protection purposes. Yes, that does mean you'll need to install and use Steam to play it, and no I don't think that's a bad thing (though seeing as I may be switching continents at the beginning of next year - I suppose region locking on Steam could still fuck me over)

Scott Pilgrim Vs The World

I have seen this trailer a few times now. Normally after I've seen a trailer more than a handful of times, I get a little sick of it, but like Knight and Day, this trailer just makes me more eager to see the movie with repeat viewings. I'll admit I've never read the comic, in fact I'd never even heard of it. So I took a quick look over a Wikipedia and decided it probably wasn't worth reading, but the movie non-the-less looks awesome. Cera tends to be extremely predicable, but it actually looks like he might be branching out (ever so slightly), Pilgrim doesn't appear to be a complete incompetent (at least not based on what I see in the trailer).

Did it feel like you've seen the pink haired chick before? She seemed awfully familiar to me - turns out she played Lucy McClane in Live Free or Die Hard. And the character at then end of the trailer "maybe next time we don't date the girl with 11 evil ex's" - that's Ana Kendrick, who starred in Up in the Air (which was a terrific movie if you haven't seen it).  

Anyway, my point is that Scott Pilgrim Vs the World is looking pretty damn good. I'm pretty excited to see this one.

New Captain America costume, and some other news

I read an article on the new Cap costume a couple of days ago, think it was on Scifiwire. Anyway now there are some concept art style pics on the web (TR gets credit for this particular pic). I make no assurance as to the authenticity of this image, but I know this... I don't hate it. I really like the suit and it's nice that they haven't screwed around with the shield, but I'm not so keen on that helmet. So the new suit looks pretty good, but how will it look when it's on an actual human being (that would be Chris Evans by the way for those not paying attention) who has to look convincing on screen.

Next item on the agenda, after that whole exlposion between Megan Fox and Michael Bay, whereby some said he fired her and others said she quit, it appears her replacement is official..... and said replacement is a Victoria's Secret model (Rosie Huntington-Whiteley). So what we're looking at here is proof positive that the female lead in Bays Transformers movies requires no acting talent of any kind, all they need is a rocking body and the temperament to put up with Bay's psychosis. Anyway, take a look over a Scifiwire for more info.

Finally, I want to take a moment to talk up Knight and Day, a movie I've been cautiously optimistic about since seeing the first teaser trailer. Well a new trailer (I say new, it's new to me at least) is up on Trailer Addict (embedded below) and it has succeeded in raising my status from cautiously optimistic to "I have to see this fucking movie". Really, even if the one-liners in the trailer are the funniest in the whole movie, it'd be worth the price of a ticket. Strangely it seems like Cruise and Diaz actually have chemistry together - I would not have called that. In any case, for your viewing pleasure - the Knight and Day: International Trailer

The Forgotten Sands, Split/Second and Highlander: The Series

I promised a quick review thingy about the last week so here it is.

First: Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands
I picked this one up on release day and proceeded to play the shit out of it for the next three days, and then I reached the end and completed it. So yea it is a relatively short game and there are some shortcomings, but overall it was an enjoyable experience and a pretty good story. I'm not convinced it's worth a $60 purchase though, so if you feel like trying it out, I'd recommend renting it or perhaps just waiting until the price drops to Platinum Hits price ranges.

Second: Split/Second
After completing Prince I decided to go ahead and burn some cash on this "adrenaline fueled" racer. It's been a lot of fun so far, I'm still working my way through the episodes (of which there are twelve), but it's something I keep going back to on a daily basis. I'm not sure how much lasting appeal it will have after the last episode gets knocked out, but I may dabble in the multiplayer for a time too. If you enjoyed Burnout Revenge, then you'll probably enjoy this one, but a word of warning - buy a console version, do not buy it on the PC - from what I understand the port is very poorly done.

Third: Highlander: The Series
I discovered that this is actually available on Netflix via Instant Streaming. So I've been working my way through season 1 and 2 (it also appears that season 3 is on there too). I'd forgotten quite how cheesy the show can be (and it's true that there are some pretty poor episodes), but on the whole its fairly entertaining and I very much enjoy recapping some of the events I'd forgotten about. Especially the season 2 opener that introduced Joe Dawson.

Neglect

Just occurred to me that I have not updated Undead Geek in an entire week. Shame on me. I'll dispense with the grovelling and get down to an explanation. I'm attempting to successfully complete two course over the summer term. That's actually a little more taxing than it sounds as (collectively) that's 32 weeks of coursework crammed into 20 weeks (10 weeks x2 classes). Summer term started last week and I've been fairly mowed down by the degree of stuff I have to complete in such a short period of time. I will attempt to post a minimum of 5 updates this week in addition to my coursework, but I make no promises.

Check back later - I really do want to do a kind of summary, wrap up, type thing of some of the recent stuff I've been looking into to make up for the gap.

Quick shout out for Soul Hunter

I finished up the Black Library novel Soul Hunter by Aaron Dembski-Bowden last week, just want to take a moment to shower some praise. For those unfamiliar BL is the official publisher of Games Workshop related media. For those who don't know who Games Workshop is, sorry... I can't help you :)

Anyway Soul Hunter represents the first novel dedicated to the Night Lords traitor legion since Lord of the Night (widely regarded as one of the BL classics), so suffice to say it had big shoes to fill. Plus Aaron is a new author with BL, the only previous work published in a novel was a short story appearing in Heroes of the Space Marines. Well despite all that, Soul Hunter was a terrific read. The main character was equally as imposing (and more importantly interesting) as the lead from Lord of the Night, the action is tense and exciting and the plot is so full of intrigue and questionable loyalties that you're never really sure how it's all going to end. All in all a very well put together package, more than worth the low-low purchase price of $8.99.

For fans of 40K fiction, fans of the Night Lords, or simply fans of a good thriller - Soul Hunter is a must have. Aaron has cemented himself as a great new talent at BL as far as I'm concerned, in fact I've already moved onto his other work Helsreach. As an added bonus for folks who've read Lord of the Night, Soul Hunter drops some nice hooks and easter-eggs back to that novel, so watch out for those.

Split / Second and a bunch of other games...

I was trying to settle on two, just two games that are released tomorrow. The dilemma I face is that Forgotten Sands, Red Dead Redemption and Split / Second are all released on May 18th. I simply cannot justify buying all three, not only would that be a tremendous amount of money to drop on a single day, but I would not have time to play all three anyway. So I figured I'd pick up Sands tomorrow and then get Red Dead a week or two later, skipping Split / Second entirely.

Well I played the demo for Split / Second and I'm more than slightly hooked on it. Not to mention the fact that it has been getting a lot of pretty good press in the reviews (IGN, Gamespot and Ars Technica are all giving it a positive thumbs up). Ars review is available here. So now I am faced with picking up Forgotten Sands tomorrow, snagging Split / Second a week or two later, buying a copy of Red Dead further out (perhaps a month or more) and cramming in Alpha Protocol somewhere in-between.

Damn May/June is busy on the game front. Which is nice and all, but I'm enrolled in two summer classes that I expect to be pretty intense (what with 16 weeks of work crammed into 10). Thus I foresee some tough calls in the time management department in the coming months.

The Adjustment Bureau, looks interesting

I'm something of a fan of Matt Damon. It's true that I did arrive at Good Will Hunting late, but that movie kinda got me hooked on the actor. Since then I've enjoyed the Bourne movies, the Ocean movies and the recent Green Zone. So with that in mind, when I came across a trailer for The Adjustment Bureau I was somewhat intrigued. As an added bonus it seems Terrance Stamp has a role in the movie, and anyone familiar with the classic "Kneel Before Zod!!" should have a fair amount of nostalgia for the actor too. Anyway, here's the trailer:

Weep for the end is near....

As of 10:00 p.m. eastern standard time on May 10th 2010 MacGruber has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Something horrible is happening to the universe, the four horsemen will march. How the fuck does this happen? Now I know the movie ain't out yet, and there is no 'consensus' on RT at this time, but still.. there are seven (fucking seven) reviews up already - and they are all positive. Are these folks smoking something, and if so where can I get some - cause it must be some powerful shit.

Anyway - just to prove I am not having some kind of psychotic episode, here is the actual screen-shot of the offending RT page, for your consideration.

The American, Why had I not heard of this?

It's no secret that I'm a fan of George Clooney, the man is one of the best actors on screen today (at least I think he is). So I'm curious as to how it is that I didn't know about a new movie that he's starring in called The American. The trailer leaves me both wanting to see the movie, and worried that it might not deliver. It doesn't give too much away about whats going on, but it also looks like it could be a slow burn. Granted that isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it is a lot harder to execute successfully than the good old fashioned action fest. Well, as a fan of Clooney, I really hope this one is good - looks like it has potential. In any case, the full trailer appears below, check it out for yourself:

Starcraft 2 Dated

I'm well behind the time with this, as is so often the case, but I just felt the need to broadcast it anyway. The official release date for Starcraft 2 has been announced by Blizzard as July 27th. In addition it appears to be a worldwide release, so mark your calendars now folks, and start saving too as the prices are a little higher than average. The standard edition is going to run you back $60 (US) and if you feel the need to splurge for the super tiger dragon edition, then you're gonna need to scrounge together $100 (US). While $100 for a game seems a tad steep, I have to admit that I'm seriously considering the collectors edition, granted most of the stuff they packaged in there is shit, but the art book and the soundtrack actually look pretty good.

Yeah it's true that I could probably just pick up those two items on eBay or some-such, but the prices will undoubtedly be hiked through the roof.

The Other Guys...

looks like it could be good. Will Ferrell has done some good stuff over the years, chief among them being Stranger Than Fiction, but he's also churned out some real garbage. As such I am cautiously optimistic that this one will be a fun flick. Mark Wahlberg turned in a pretty serviceable comic performance in Date Night, which gives me hope that he'll add something to Farrell, who can be a tad predictable to say the least. Overall it does seem like a vanilla comedy, but ... I don't know there's just something about the trailer. I think it looks fairly good.

Turn Around Bright Eyes...

a song that has previously been covered by The Dan Band (and really did anybody think this could be upstaged? I know I didn't)

has now been covered by none other than William Shatner, with the assistance of some other guy I've never heard of. Still this may be one of the craziest, most fucked up things I have seen in at least a week ;) I kinda feel like every time I watch it, another little piece of my cold, dead, blackened soul is lost forever. Like a train wreck happening in slow motion, I just can't seem to look away!!

Beat Hazard, Another MUST PLAY!!

Discovered this game earlier in the week, and seeing as it was only $8 on Steam, I bought it. Boy, what a fucking good decision that was. This is another example of the excellent gameplay that can be found by playing indie games. Though it is certainly true that anyone with photosensitive epilepsy should probably remain in a separate hemisphere of the planet while you play (I'm serious!! This game almost causes me to stroke out).

The game is modelled after the classic Meteor style combat. You control a single ship, while hordes of enemies (of varying power and size) assail you from all sides. The twist is that the entire game is fueled by your own music collection. The number of enemies and the power of your ship are directly related to the intensity of the music playing. The nature of the gameplay does discriminate ever so slightly against those who don't have a pulse pounding electronic collection, or some equally crazed thrash metal. It does come with a few tracks that would probably get you started at least, but I'm not convinced the game would have much replayablilty if you only played the packaged tracks.

The most intense, and immediately apparent aspect of the game is certainly the visuals. On a slower track, with a low powered shit, it might not look that impressive, but fire up anything by Dragonforce and you can barely even see your ship.. it can get pretty crazy - and I have not even dipped my toes into the hardcore difficulty setting yet.

Anyway for $8 it was a steal, and for $10 I think it's still pretty good value if you are going to pick it up yourself. There is a demo available on Steam, and the game is also on the PS3 Network (or so I'm told). Here is a video to wet your appetite:

Dr Who - New Season, New Doctor

Personally I rather liked this first episode with Matt Smith in the leading role. Talking to one of my friends yesterday, he indicated that he still wasn't sold on Smith in the role, but personally I think he did an excellent job. Smith, I think, feels more like Tom Bakers Doctor and thus distances himself from the 9th and 10th docs. This is a good thing - because while I loved both Eccleston and Tennant, I really felt like it was time for a change. Especially in Tennants last season I felt like I was getting a little tired of the 10th Doctor.

Smith was great, full of crazy, leaping around like a maniac and basically leaving everyone else squarely in his wake. Also loved the new companion Amy Pond, not only is she a better looking red head than Catherine Tate (and yes I am one of those folks who hate, HATED, Tate's character), but she is a much better foil for the Doctor. Honestly I don't envision her breaking down in tears ala Tate's character. Only one episode in and already I am very much looking forward to the rest of this season. Here's hoping Moffat can maintain the caliber of this episode throughout his tenure as 'The Boss of Dr Who'.

Also take a look at Robs review at ToplessRobot, he and I are pretty much in agreement on this one.

24 and the Big Bang Theory - Spoilers

After watching this weeks episodes of 24 and The Big Bang Theory I have to ask . . . WHAT THE FUCK????

In 24 Jack and Renee finally hooked up after an entire season of 'will they wont they' bullshit and less than 2 minutes after they hook up - Renee is shot and killed. Is there no justice for Jack Bauer, can they guy never catch a fucking break. Lets not forget that this is the final season of the show (unless it gets picked up on another network, but honestly even if it does - I can assure you that this is the last season I will ever watch). So given that the first season ended with the death of Jacks wife, is it too much to ask that he end the last season with someone still alive that he cares about? The writers of 24 should be shot, and I haven't even begun to discuss the absolute trash they are peddling as plot this season.

Now, onto The Big Bang Theory, different journey, same destination. After 2 seasons of 'will they wont they' bullshit - Leonard and Penny finally go together. The geek got the hot chick, I liked the message they were sending here. All was well with the world until I watched last nights episode, in which Penny fucking dumps the poor bastard, by walking out on him, in a bowling alley, in front of his friends, all because he told her that he loved her. Are the writers on this show injecting themsleves with the same shit the 24 writers are on, are they even fucking sharing needles? Once again I ask you - WHAT THE FUCK? The show works better when they are a couple, I honestly can't take another season of Leonard pining after Penny, or moping about and complaining because he isn't with Penny - enough already for fuck sake, I had to watch an entire season of that shit, just let the poor bastard be happy.

Which brings me quite conveniently to my closing point - attention writers, your characters dont have to be drowning in misery and dispair every second of every fucking episode. With 24 I could almost be convinced that it was appropriate because Jack is married to the job, and shouldn't as a result every be happy with anyone else, and it is a pretty dark show when all's said and done. So in that regard, okay, I may not like it, but I understand why Jack has to be shit on at the end of every episode. Big Bang Theory is a light hearted comedy, is it really so bad for the characters to actually be fucking happy - or at least content? The writers better have one hell of a fix planned for that one, because if this season ends and Leonard and Penny are still broken up, I may not be back for the next one.

(Well, those who know me probably know I said a similar thing about the previous season finale of Bones, and I still watch that so ... whatever, my point still stands, they need to fix that shit)

The UK's Digital Economy Bill

Well I have to admit, seeing as I am not currently a resident of the UK, that this bill went unnoticed by me until arstechnica posted a couple of news stories about it. Had I been aware of it previously I would have been extremely vocal in my protests against such a laughably flawed piece of legislation. The official party line states that the purpose of the DEB is to "Strengthen the nation’s communications infrastructures, equipping the UK to compete and lead in the global digital economy." Which is a nice way of saying absolutely fucking nothing at all.

Well it has come to my attention that clause 8 of the bill (which can be reviewed in its entirety here) essentially allows the UK government to block users from accessing any website that it chooses to. Of course, that is not what the politicians will tell you, instead they indicate that the what clause 8 really does is give them the right to block websites that are engaged in copyright infringement. To be clear the wording of the DEB: clause 8 allows the government to:

"[block] a location on the internet which the court is satisfied has been, is being or is likely to be used for or in connection with an activity that infringes copyright".

What is so wrong with this you may ask. They are endeavoring to prevent copyright infractions, isn't that a good thing? Well yes, of course preventing copyright theft is a good thing, but this bill has been rushed through parliament so fast, nobody is stopping to deliberate on any of the issues or take the time to ensure that it is worded clearly. I absolutely support the idea of protecting copyrights, I have gone on the record before in support of the idea of Digital Rights Management (even if I think the current implementations of such systems are critically flawed and do nothing to restrict or discourage 'piracy'). This bill however does nothing of the sort.

If this clause was worded thus: "to block a location on the internet which the court is satisfied has been or is being used for or in connection with an activity that infringes copyright," I would grudgingly accept it. I am not, generally, in favor of Government censorship of the internet, it leads to all kinds of craziness. Look at the whole China Vs Google nonsense, or the recent censorship fiasco in Australia. Nothing good comes from government enforced censorship. The current wording of this clause allows the government to block any site that "is likely" to be used for copyright infringement. How, pray do tell, can we ever conclusively prove that a website might be used for copyright infringement sometime in the distant (or not so distant) future. More importantly how can we disprove it, how can a website (fallen victim to such a block) defend itself against something it hasn't even done yet. Is there a fucking pre-crime division operating in London that I don't know about?

Another factor which has been the cause of criticism over the bill is the speed at which it is being rushed into law. First, the entire thing is being presented to parliament during the "wash up"  period (the brief time before the new elections) which inevitably means that less time is spent on debate as parliament wants to take care of as much as it can before the whole place is repopulated. Gary Marshall, a writer for Tech Radar emphasizes the complete lack of interest exhibited by many of the MP's who voted for the bill (and those who didn't even bother showing up), and adds that over 20,000 constituents wrote letters of disapproval during just 48 hours and were summarily ignored by their elected officials (big surprise).

What we essentially have here is a new law that will make government censorship completely legal in the UK. The messy, vague wording of clause 8 means that if the government is 'convinced' that a site, might possibly, be utilized for copyright infringement at some point in the distant future - they can legally block access to that site.

Of course, the crux of the matter here is that this bill will in no way prevent piracy. It's true that peer to peer programs have a long history of copyright infringement, and it is a very efficient way to distribute stolen content, but there are so many alternatives now that locking down P2P usage is not going to make a damn bit of difference. BitTorrent is another widely used method of file sharing that does not rely on said P2P networks. USENET groups also have a long history of flying under the radar as far as copyright infringement is concerned, but still represents a viable alternative to P2P in the acquisition of pirated content (games, movies, music etc).

The idea that copyright infringement (piracy) can be contained by shutting down access to a single website is flawed to begin with, whenever one site gets closed down a hundred others will pop up to replace it, there is no way to win that fight. It sucks, but piracy is here to stay, copyright holders and governments can continue to pass bogus legislation and implement flawed and crippling DRM schemes, but in the end the pirate always wins. Today the pirate winds up with a superious product in many cases because the version of the software they are using has had the DRM stripped out, it is the legitimate consumer that is bogged down with the infruriating DRM scheme that is preventing them from using the software they have ligitimately purchased. As Tycho over at Penny Arcade once said "I don't know why anybody tries to stop nerds from doing anything. It's really such a huge waste of time!"

But I digress - the point here is that the Digital Economy Bill is flawed, it (just like modern DRM) will not prevent or even discourage piracy. Even more alarming is that due to vague (hell, maybe even deliberately vague) wording this bill gives the government an unprecedented amount of freedom in regard to censoring the internet for British Citizens. Personally I am fucking disgusted that this bill is being passed into law. I used to think that Australia had to worst internet policies on the planet - I guess the UK is in the running for the top spot now!!

For more on this, and the possible implications of the bill, the following sites offer some interesting articles:
Arstechinca
The Register
Tech Radar
DEB Wiki Entry

The Thundercats theme with a Rock flavour and some Knight Rider craziness!!

Don't ask me how I came across this particular video, it's probably better left unsaid. Regardless, I regard it as something of a train wreck in the sense that it is really pretty cheesy, but I somehow couldn't look away. The video in question (which appears below) is a rock rendition of the Thundercats theme song by the Rembrandts, and for some reason it's spliced together with the animated characters from the show. Anyway if you're in the mood for a laugh take a look.

As truly bizarre as that was, I honestly think this next one is even crazier. To paraphrase from Yes Man, this video will blow your mind, it's like a fucking mind grenade - honestly!!

The Expendables: Can one movie really contain this much Awesome?

Just watched the latest trailer for The Expendables, and it looks fucking epic!! The cast of this movie is absolutely off the wall - Stallone, Statham, Li, Lundgren, Rourke, Willis, and as an added bonus even Arnie has a cameo!! I'm entirely sure what plot drives the movie, nor do I care, with a cast like this one and a premise that involves guns and explosions - I would actually pay for a prime time ticket to see it.

And now for your viewing pleasure, The Expendables: -Trailer B:

This feels like a good old fashioned 80's movie to me and I approve. Damn do I approve!! Speaking of the 80's I'm sure there's another movie coming up that reminds me of that era... now what was it again? Oh!! Of course... its the fucking A-Team!!

Now, from a strictly nostalgic point of view, I have to award the A-Team movie with the Gold Medal here, Expendables picks up a well earned Silver. Hell, I grew up with the A-Team the idea of seeing it on the big screen makes me all warm and tingly inside - roll on Summer!!

Just Cause 2 - Guns, Drugs, Explosions.... etc

I pulled the trigger on Just Cause 2 over the weekend, it was a bit of a gamble seeing as how I hadn't even played the demo, but honestly I could not be happier with this game.

It's a sandbox title so naturally the plot isn't all that exciting, in fact its fairly vanilla. The real treat of this game though is in the absolute over the top hyperactive physics engine on display. Shoot out a tire in a chasing jeep in this game and it wont swerve to the side or slow to a stop - no it will flip and launch itself 30 feet in the air, plummet into the ground and explode. That, in of itself, pretty much sums up why I love this game so much, it's like living an episode of The A Team.

It's available on pretty much every major platform out there so I highly encourage you to check out the demo at least - you will not be disappointed (well if you like blowing shit up at least).

Finally let me leave you with some BASE Jumping goodness:

More Captain America Hype

Once again I have to give credit to Rob at TR for posting this:

Now I know this is completely unofficial, but still that is some pretty impressive editing there. I'm fairly sure thats a Fantastic Four still under there, but I could be wrong. Regardless, great job to whoever took the time to put this together. Once can only hope the official poster looks as good.

Another Cheapshot at Apple

Saw this hilarity over at bbspot earlier today. If you're afraid to click the random links I post here (well done you are learning!!) let me summarize. Basically the whole thing begins with a question "should I buy an iPad?" Now speaking for me personally I already know the answer to that question, but I can see how the average consumer might be undecided. Apple products are shiny afterall and those crazy people out there are mysteriously attracted to shiny, so to help you out the friendly guys over at bbspot have developed a flow chart:

With the help of this handy guide, you can figure out if you should buy an iPad in less than a minute. For those of you who think a whole minute of their life would be wasted on this question, remember you could save a cubic-fuck-load of money as a result. :)

Evans is the First Avenger!!

Saw on Yahoo today that Chris Evans is now officially Captain America - and has in fact singed on for something ridiculous like 9 movies. Now again I'll reiterate that while he may not have been my first choice for the role, he's not Channing Tatum!!

I would say some more on this development, but instead let me direct you to Rob's post on the topic over on TR!

Captain America: Who Will Wield the Shield?

It's not really news at this point, I'm about a week late to the game with this one, but Chris Evans has been offered the role of Captain America in the new First Avenger movie. In a strange twist though, the actor did not immediatly jump on the role and is instead 'thinking about it.' Well as Sci Fi Wire reported he is somewhat commited to another flick, but to paraphrase a famous Ghostbuster:

If someone asks you if you're a God you want to play Captain America... You say YES!!

Well to be fair, Evans wouldn't be my first choice. My first choice of actor to play Cap would be Mark Valley (he's even a West Point grad so you know he'd do the part justice). My support of Evans stems from the fact that TR has just cited that the final three being considered for the part are as follows:

1. Chris Evans
2. Sebastian Stan (apparently he's on that show Gossip Girl)
3. Channing Tatum

There you have it folks, Tatum is in the running for Cap. If that's not enough to get you to endorse Evans then I don't know what is. Don't leave us with Tatum, we're begging you Chris.... Take the part already!!!

RTS Games: The Best and the Worst

In the last couple of weeks I have picked up two new RTS games. Well to be a little more accurate I picked up the latest releases in a couple of well established RTS franchises: Dawn of War 2: Chaos Rising and Command and Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight.

These games illustrate perfectly the two ends of the current RTS spectrum, from entertaining gameplay to plodding methodical and poorly implemented trash. Dawn of War 2: Chaos Rising adds another satisfying chapter to the Dawn of War series, even going so far as to allow you to import your character from Dawn of War 2. Command and Conquer 4 (lauded as the conclusion to the tiberium universe and 15 years of story) is sadly disappointing across the board. There has been much debate online about the removal of base building and resource gathering in favour of small scale battles with artificially imposed unit limits. Well perhaps debate is the wrong word, most gamers agree that this was a huge mistake on the part of the developers.

I did play in the beta of C&C 4 and thought it was a interesting idea. The beta was multiplayer only though, and didnt even give you the chance to try out skirmish mode against the AI. As a result I had no prior indication of how the single player missions would handle the drastically redesigned format. Well now I have my answer, the new format is a dire choice for the single player campaign. The devs were talking up the vast options we would have in approaching each of the missions, how they didn't code in solutions, just objectives that we  could tackle in new and inventive ways. Well I call bullshit!! I finished the Nod campaign yesterday - yes you read that right I completed an entire campaign less than 24 hours after buying the game - and I can say that in almost every instance, there was only one way to win (and it usually involved the selection of a particular battle class). The entire campaign comprised of around 7 missions, which is pathetic for the grand conclusion to the Tiberium saga that has lasted 15 fucking years. Add to that the fact that most of the missions can be completed in a half hour at most (really 15-20 minutes should be enough in most cases).

Now Gamespot tells me that the real value of C&C 4 is in its multiplayer aspect. Well I played through a bunch of that in beta and while it was fun to muck about with for an evening, I don't personally see much longevity in it. There are only so many times you can run around in circles capturing nodes, losing nodes and capturing nodes again before it becomes stale. Add to that the fact that the community is (just as in previous C&C games) dominated by the hardcore fanatics, those people who are kind enough to curse you out if you haven't won the game in less than 5 minutes.

So to summarize C&C 4 delivers a lukewarm, vanilla single player experience and a repetitive multiplayer experience dominated by pricks and assholes alike. Well you have a winning strategy there EA (not to mention another example of 'always on' internet DRM).

Alternatively Dawn of War offers a rich RPG/RTS that really draws you into your character (you build your hero your way and thus you feel more invested in him as opposed the faceless commander of C&C). Additionally the missions are kept fresh in DoW as the maps are varied and the textures are diverse. Sure when you get down to every mission really amounts to kill everything else, but the story is solid and plot moves along nicely. In C&C it feels like the story is being dragged kicking and screaming behind a truck to get to its - lets face it - preposterous conclusion.Finally DoW offers a far variety in its multiplayer via the Last Stand mode, where you face off against a horde of enemies with other hero characters. This offers a nice alternative to the tried and true capture and hold style gameplay that I find rather uninteresting.


Overall it's just really sad to see the franchise that essentially solidified RTS gameplay fall so far from grace. I still own all the old C&C titles and even fire up the first game every now and then. I have very fond memories of the old style C&C, but then perhaps that's why I find the new gameplay style so pathetically drab. I know Tiberian Twilight is the end of the Kane saga, but if they do release another game in the Tiberium universe, I believe I will skip it - in fact given the poor quality of this title I think it will be the last C&C game I ever buy. Looking forward to the next Dawn of War title though, that should be fun!!