I’m not a big fan of the racing genre, but… Holy shit.
Leave it to CodeMasters to come out with this sleeper gem. This game is sure to please because: a)It looks sim enough for hardcore junkies, b)It looks fun enough for more casual gamers, and c)It looks advanced enought that tech junkies will enjoy just seeing it work.
Long story short: I’ll come for the technology, and I sure hope I’ll stay for the fun.
Vantage Point, a movie that came out last weekend. Heres the trailer: Click Here
Lets start off with…this was an awesome movie. It was about this president assassination that happened and different points of view that saw it. But they are all connected in a way. It starts with small parts and then it changes views to another person and then goes back 20 mins to before the assassination. Everytime it does this, I believe 4 times, it adds something to the plot. Brilliant.
It was really well written and has tons of suspense and action. The way everything works out in the end and how it is all connected is pretty sweet.
I would recommend this movie. Go watch it! NOW!
Posted in Uncategorized on February 29, 2008 by shadow024
This is a new game coming out based off the battlefield series. It looks fun, and best of all, its free! Check the new trailer at the link here: http://www.gametrailers.com/player/31298.html
See you all later! -Shadow
My last article segways nicely into my first top list. These are the First Person Shooters that I need to get my hands on in the coming years:
1. Mirror’s Edge – Parkour, First Person Shooting… What more could you ask for?
2. Killzone 2 – Anyone who knows me knows that nearly orgasm over this title. With a gritty art direction and an entirely first person storytelling experience, it has to be good.
3. Half-Life 2: Episode 3 – With hints at a portal gun integration and being the sequel to my all-time favorite game, ever…
4. Resistance 2 – Insomniac surprised me with their ability to create an epic and unique FPS with Resistance: Fall of Man. The intensly original weapon set and lag-free 40 player multi-player leaves me eager to see what they’ll throw at me next.
5. Frontlines: Fuel of War – A game where you advance not by completing missions but instead by pushing foreward various chokepoints along your own frontline?! Hell yes.
A while back I entertained the thought of a first-person shooter that, without leaving the eyes of the character, infused the player experience with a full set of Parkour-esque movement options. Well, thanks the the badasses at DICE (you may know them for their Battlefield series of games), that is about to become a real possibility.
The game is called Mirror’s Edge, and from the article, I have to say I’m a little more than excited about it. (by the way, here are some enigmatically awesome screenshots!
This is really a push for me because innovation in the FPS genre is in a rarefied state. All manner of 3rd person games have been coming out, and they have been successively ground-breaking titles. Despite the lack of information about Mirror’s Edge itself, if they pull off half of what they are saying they did, this game is bound to go down in the history books as the singularly most impressive sleeper since Half-Life 2.
Message to the gaming industry: Pick a day for games to come out and stick with it. Every new DVD is released on tuesday. Every single one. Games, who the hell knows. If you look it up most games have a release date on tuesday. As an example lets use a game called Pie Shooter. Pie Shooter comes out on January 23. Oh but wait, when I go to the store there is no Pie Shooter. What? Are you saying I should not have expected to buy it the 23nd? Thats just the ship date? Oh, that makes sense. Tell me the date when the game I want is being shipped to the store but not when I can buy it. Who the fuck decided that? Seriously, I will go back in time and kill you.
So I go home without Pie Shooter. Then I return to the store the next day and buy Pie Shooter. But sometimes I am not this lucky. Sometimes some stores don’t get games on that day and you might have to wait a few more days. Maybe friday (I’m looking at you Eternal Sonata). Is it so hard to get things on time? Damn the ‘r’ got cut off.
A similar thing has happened now. I was hoping to buy the super awesome No More Heroes today(release date 22nd) but no one seems to have it and I’m not going to drive around town looking for it. I’m super pissed.
If you don’t know No More Heroes is from developer Suda51 who did Killer7 for the gamecube. Killer7 is one of the most surreal gaming experiences I’ve ever had. The best way to put it would be if Tarantino did a videogame that would be it. Look it up if you want to know more.
Anyway. No More Heroes looks to be even better.
Expect a review, all two people who read this. Expect a review.
Can you do the can can, now my gas can’s empty, la la la la la La La La la la la la.
And yes, gas is outrageously expensive. I remember when people were pissed off that it went over two dollars, now their just happy if it is under 3. Honestly, make some damn water cars (electric too, I guess) and get over the fact that our economy is based entirely on gasoline. A lot of people will lose a lot of money that they don’t have to, so I guess I can understand their position.
However, I don’t understand why they won’t even work it over gradually, there’s other money to be made. I would get a smart car if hitting a squirrel didn’t kill in one. Why do eco-friendly cars always have to look weird. Can’t they just make them look like normal cars? “Hey guys, I have this great idea for a car. It runs on water and it looks like a half-eaten taco!”
Anyways, it’s very early, and I am just getting up so…
First off, you will find a lot of glowing reviews and a lot of terrible reviews for this film, and only about 1/17th of either of them are educated reviews. Even after reading this one, your best bet is to just rent it and watch it for yourself. However, I recommend you watch it in Korean with English subtitles, as the english dubbing is terrible and slightly incomplete. As a side note this film is in the IMDB top 250 if that will sway you.
Chanwook Park is the premiere Korean director, having one many awards internationally. His unique styles and precise visualizations show in every scene. This is coupled with great lighting direction, an important aspect of Asian cinema, that bursts with moodiness. What he has achieved here is a perfectly balanced clash between drama, action, and humor delivered with an indescribable cool that can almost never be done in a Hollywood production (this due mainly to their fear of unique conceptualization).
Now let’s talk about action, since a lot of people are concerned with this aspect of any movie (often it is 90% of their decision). It’s great. That being said, this is definitely not an straight-laced action film. In fact, the action serves more as complimentary (and it’s a damn good complement) to the story. The most important function of the fights scenes is to reveal the character. There are several notable sequences here, each with it’s own originality that lends to the ‘coolness’ of the film overall. Especially one sequence (and certainly the most famous) in a narrow corridor with a hammer that lasts about four minutes with no camera-cuts.
The plot? Well, I don’t want to give too much away, so I’ll just tell you how it begins. Oh Dae-su is an ordinary man who, in a drunken stupor on his daughters birthday, is kidnapped for apparently no reason. He is then kept in a hotel-room like prison for 15 years with no explanation (all the while growing increasingly insane). On the eve of the fifteenth year, he is released and given a suit, a cell-phone, and a wad of cash. Confused and angry, he begins the hunt for the culprit. Trust me, there is a lot more to this movie than a plot overview can give you, and the themes will haunt you until its final moments. It’s a great metaphor wrapped up in a revenge drama, and you’ll definitely remember it later.
Choi Min-sik plays the lead character, and I’ll have to say that his performance put him in my top ten actors list. He succeeds at everything he portrays, whether it be anger, maddness, joy, confusion, indifference. He adds a distinctly human element to every scene he is in, even when the scene itself is stylized or outlandish. That’s not to say the other actors performed poorly. Kang Hye-jeong was a great female lead as Mi-do, and Yu Ji-tae’s performance was also top-notch as the enigmatic and memorable antagonist Woo-jin Lee. However Choi Min-sik stole the show.
I have few problems with this movie. The budget was tiny compared to just about every Hollywood production (I think it was about 3 million), but they did more with that than an American production can do with 100-million. I would almost say that this should give them leeway with some of their mistakes, but the screw-up pool is so small that they don’t even need this grace. There were a few wonky camera tricks (more than made-up for by the great cinemetography) and the I thought it was going to end about four times (ala Lord of the Rings: Return of the King) but these are miniscule remarks.
If anyone says that this movie is overly violent and bloody, dismiss it. There are only about three scenes that have blood in them, and they are definitely not greusome. The violence is barely enough to warrent a R rating (but don’t let that suggest it is amateurish, because it’s not). Their is two instances of nudity, but it’s not any worse than most American movies. There are disturbing ideas, and this is definitely not one you want your kids to see, but Ichi the Killer is about a million times as gross and twisted, so anyone with at least some maturity should be able to handle it.
Overall, this movie is smart and fresh. It succeeds in originality and cool, and it also should open up Korean cinema to a lot of people. I’d recommend it to anyone looking for something new, pulp fans, and anyone who already appreciates Asian films.
