8-Bit Madness

Today I release a banner that I have had an idea for since the middle of summer. I started the idea in September and kinda abandoned it for a while when school started. I then regenerated the inspiration when TeeFury released a T-Shirt of two things I very much have love for. Star Wars and classic Mario games. When I missed out on buying the T-Shirt now having to pay a price of $24.94 someplace else I thought I could borrow the T-Shirt design and use it for my banner. I then abandoned it when I slowly began to think it may be stealing and I don’t want to go through the trouble of emailing the creator of such a masterpiece to place on a blog no one really visits. In the midst of all this I knew it was Mario’s 25th anniversary and didn’t really have an idea of creating something of my own to continue celebrating a beloved franchise. I don’t really remember how and why I thought about doing this all of a sudden, but I remember a similar flash game in which you can play in Mario’s original world while playing other 8-bit characters from other Nintendo games. So I just merely borrowed elements from a certain flash game that will remain nameless to avoid comparisons. Well, I hope people can enjoy what I’ve done with the banner and if things go well, perhaps I can create more similar banners. Well, enjoy!

Mutatis Mutandis

Arcades. No one really bothers to go to one anymore. They are all on the verge of extinction in the US. Even if one wants to go to one, they quickly disappear in a flash. They existed for a short while in malls as just another form of entertainment to people. They were small and were missing many elements of a normal arcade. Its quick fun, but only for that moment. If you want a quality arcade you have to drive miles to a city called Ontario to find them (If you live in Los Angeles, California). They are Dave & Busters and GameWorks. Both have pretty good selection to choose from. But again they both were missing something. The fun. Dave & Busters may have the food, but GameWorks has the out-of-ordinary games. Even then it still doesn’t add that missing element.

Maybe its that bar that they both have. I think I have it. These places were made for drunk adults. Less activity and more for the adults who are intoxicated. This is what happened to the arcade that was once a weekly hangout for kids in the 80’s and early 90’s. Yeah, I think it was our fault. We got old and created arcades for our older beer drinking selves. What a huge mistake. We seem to have lost our inner child within us. Where does one look to rekindle our childhood and regain the fun of an arcade. Does one look toward the arcade fun we had at Chuck E Cheese’s? No. We don’t.

Today, while strolling aimlessly through Twin/Lone Pine Mall (aka. La Puente Hills Mall) and going through clothes stores with the family; from a distance I saw hope. Hope at which at first I thought was some sort of strange looking store that was probably some new clothing store similar to the awful Forever 21 (Here comes the hate comments). But after ignoring it for an hour and coming upon a flyer for a new type of entertainment center, I searched for it. I came upon it. Once you stand right it in front of it; it is no closing store, but the hope we all need. It was a Bowling Alley and Arcade center hybrid called Round 1. But it was also more than that.

Now believe me, in words it just sounds like your regular old Bowling alley were you see a small section for an arcade. Its way more ambitious than that as you can see from the entrance:

Not convinced? I took some pictures inside:

Very sorry for my very poor cell phone camera, but here is the huge arcade for Terminator Salvation. That is actually a projection screen.

Rambo game with actual cut scenes from the movie! Insane!

Area dedicated to fighting games including such games as: Street Fighter 2: Hyper Fighting, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, Street Fighter IV, Tekken 6, Dragonball Z and lots more.

5 year old kid owning the other guy (in the pic before) playing Street Fighter IV.

Domo crane game for the win. The blue fuzzy thing on the bottom were random Cookie Monsters. Extra bonus points there.

No way! Toy figurine prizes! Others had Transformers, The Dark Knight, and as you can see Barbies.

Food prizes! Wait what?

An Ice Cream crane game? Wait, what’s going on here?

Random prize machines. Still weird.

Japanese photo booth areas? Oh, I see what’s going on here.

So almost as soon as I saw the food prizes and these photo booths: It dawned on me. There was only one place in the world this arcade could be inspired from: Japan. Its also not inspired. This place, this company is originated in Japan! We have our answer to the revival of arcades in the United States. It is Round 1.

There are many things Japan take from our culture to theirs, but there are many things they have taken from us and can make it ten times better there. One of them that is still widely successful in Japan are the arcades. This can only be the beginning. Round 1 not only makes D&B and GameWorks look like Chuck E Cheese’s, but in Japan so does this one. Both are equally insane things to say but completely true. In Japan, Round 1 makes D&B and GameWorks look like small insignificant arcade places in malls (To be fair, they kinda are already).

Here is a floor map of all 7 floors of the many things to do in Japan’s Round 1. Yes. I said 7 floors:

Now, I don’t mean for us to get lost forever in a place like this in America, but I also think its something we need. I think this can be very fun for Americans. Is this a crazy idea? Yes. Do we need one? Probably. I’m sure as time goes on we could later expand and make it quasi-similar to that. Knowing us, we would do exactly that and half-ass it.

To see more and clearer pictures of the American Round 1, click here.

For the main Japanese website of Round 1, click here and later translate it to understand the craziness that goes on.

If you rather not, here are pictures of the Japanese Round 1 instead.

I almost forgot to mention. The bowling area uses a new system to get bowling shoes and to register. If you click on the link for the clearer pictures of the American Round 1 there is a place near the entrance called AutoShoeser. This is where you get your shoes. American Round 1 is also much bigger than it looks, as seen in the pictures. There is a separate area for Darts, Ping Pong, Pool, and even Karaoke. By the way there's better pricing than that for games once your inside.

This may not revive traditional arcades, but it certainly takes it in the right direction in America.

Live on: [American] Round 1.

You had a good run GameWorks.

Deadpool is a DC Hero and also James Bond and Indiana Jones Fight Aliens

They Belong Here More Than We

Today’s title doesn’t really reference anything in this post. I just thought it was one of the best lines out of Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

• Few days ago on the official Japanese website for Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood movie streamed the trailer to the movie. Turns out, at least not to my knowledge, the movie is being made with a new director. The animation is radically changed and the director is Kazuya Murata; who made the Code Geass series. The movie also has an official name, the very long title: Fullmetal Alchemist: Milos no Sei-Naru Hoshi. Here’s the trailer:

The one on the website was better.

• The Hangover 2 and The Muppets get more actors. One of them even gets a President. I understand a Muppet movie to be actor heavy, but Hangover? They recently kicked off Mel Gibson due to recent controversies and replaced him with Liam Neeson apparently. Click the pic for some on set photos from The Muppets were they transformed Jim Henson Studios into Muppet Studios:

• Battle: Los Angeles was talked about at Comic-Con and was less hyped as much as Skyline was. Well now that we know Skyline sucked here’s a trailer for Battle: Los Angles the next Alien disaster movie:

If that didn’t satisfy you, here’s the alternate International trailer with dialogue.

• Curious about what I got in the mail in the last post? Well, here it is!:

Got this Super Mario figurine set from Nintendo’s: Club Nintendo Program. Bad thing is it’s a lot smaller than it looks. I realize how anti-climatic this is, so I’ll probably make a stop-motion .gif later on.

?

Got this in the mail today...wonder what it could be...

Déjà Vu Movie Review Story

Now is time again for something different. This review is more of a story that is really weird and awkward. Also this won’t be edited at all since telling this story is as awkward is it is in itself so please bare with my writing here. So here is the tale of how I saw Déjà Vu starring Denzel Washington (not really important I just thought I make it part of the introduction):

This happened about a year and a half ago when I came home from school around midday. As I was walking home from taking the bus I began to reach into my backpack for my house keys. Before I stuck my hand into the pocket of my backpack I began to realize that I don’t have my house keys at all do I? I looked in my pants pocket, jacket pocket, and every pocket in my backpack and then finalized it: I don’t have my house keys. They are in the house that is right in front of me. And so it begins.

I walk up to my door and lazily thought: Maybe the door was still open. I try and twist the knob and without any surprise it was locked. So next thing I try and see if the windows were open. Again to no surprise they were all locked. If it wasn’t my parents that checked if the windows were locked, it was me. After that I retreated to my backyard in the case of anyone from the neighborhood thought I was some sort of robber. They suspect anybody since they don’t really know who I am anyway. Most of our neighbors never really talk to us.

Well, anyway as I scurry to the back, I then try the back door. Nothing. Either I’m a really terrible robber or our house has perfect homemade security. Take that real robbers. And ADT.

After that I then place my backpack down and sat on it as I begin to think of more ideas on what to do. I then went to go check to see if I accidently left the garage door open. Sadly it wasn’t. I really hope robbers won’t read this and think I left the door open sometimes. I then sat on my backpack again hoping any police that may drive by won’t suspect anything so I thought there may be places to go so that I can wait for one of my family members to come home. I then thought about the theater since at the time I was working at the movie theater as an usher. I could go watch a crappy movie for the day. Sadly I was out of money for the bus and I wasn’t really in the mood for a crappy movie.

So then another idea came into my head. Sometimes when my next door neighbors go out of town they give us their keys so we can feed their dog for them. And usually when we go out of town our neighbors do the same for our cat or pick up the mail for us. It was only about 5 or 6 years ago I’m sure they must still have a copy of one of our keys!

I then get my backpack and venture to my neighbors house and approach the door. I then think, what if they don’t have any keys. What else was I going to do? So I knock on the door and the lady owner that lives there says hi to me and I say hi back and then things become awkward. So I then tell her how we used to exchange house keys way back and asked if she would happen to have another spare. She politely said no and how she wishes she could have a spare just in case if something were to happen. I don’t really know what those things could be or why she would want to so I didn’t think about it and just said: “I’ll look into it.”

I pretty much didn’t know what to do at this point so a little after I said that, she said well why you come inside for a little while. I didn’t have much else to do and because of how nice of the gesture was I just said “Sure, alright,” and went right inside. I greeted the lady’s husband who was also inside and then was shown towards the TV room as I was allowed to watch TV while I wait for someone with keys to get me back to my house. 

So I flip through with something to watch and explain how the TV wasn’t really set right so with my TV knowledge I explained about aspect ratio. I didn’t get anything through to them so I just told them to leave the settings how they were as I set them and they should be fine. My TV lingo needs some adjustment.

So then I ended up on a channel showing Déjà Vu. Apparently my lady neighbor really liked Denzel Washington movies. She then offered me cookies and I was set. (Interesting cookies as they were Cookies with smores.) Still totally awkward to watch a movie with a neighbor you virtually have little or no conversation with ever though.

The movie was great so far. My neighbor would talk about well things about Denzel Washington between commercials and I would just mostly sit and listen and nod as I ate cookies. I don’t really watch a whole lot of Denzel Washington movies either, but apparently she knew all his movies. The movie had a sci-fi time travel thing in the plot.

After a few hours past by my sister had let me know she was home so I said my goodbyes to my neighbors and told them thank you for letting me intrude and watch a movie for the day and for giving me food as well. I then stole some cookies and went on my way.

I walked over to the house and my sister didn’t even know I was there and saw me walking from the neighbors house and asked: “Were you at the neighbors house?” She really didn’t know, so all I can say was: “Yes, yes I was.”

And that’s how I saw Déjà Vu.

Doc, About the Future…

Note: Currently watching Back to the Future and made the post title as Michael J. Fox said it. I am proud of myself.

If you haven’t read the movie news too much, there is a whole lot going on. The most surprising?:

• Emma Stone is Gwen Stacy in the new Spider-Man reboot. I’m as surprised as you are and just about everyone else. I would think she would be better as MJ. I also noticed a bit of confusion as a couple of websites got it wrong and confirmed her as MJ. She's also natural blonde. I don’t understand the world anymore…
• Superman has a new director and is indeed one of Christopher Nolan’s top choices to direct the movie. The man in question is Zack Snyder. Now bare in mind even if this news may not be so bad. I mean Chris Nolan is the producer here and may prevent Zack Snyder from doing so many slo-mo scenes. Or at least limit them as in Watchmen. At least the script sounds really promising. Kneel before Zod.
• This is probably the most interesting news I heard all of today. Apparently Japan is filming their own Paranormal Activity sequel or a “parallel sequel.” I don’t think I have ever heard of this being done. At least not in this fashion. To learn about the whole thing on this you can read about it here.
• Halo is again, trying to be made into a movie as DreamWorks tries to buy the rights for the project. So it again is not dead. I wonder how many times its tried to be reanimated. Stuart Beattie has also said he would like to help out with the project. Please DreamWorks don’t let him.
• In Blu-ray partial news: Director Edgar Wright has made his own Scott Pilgrim vs. the World custom Blu-ray set. It is awesome and I really want it to be real. If it was he may have to pay royalties to Nintendo though. We will just have to wait and hope. For now all we get are awesome blurry pics:

• Will the Hobbit ever be made? Will Peter Jackson direct? Did a greedy society burn down part of the Hobbit set? Will MGM have enough money to make both Hobbit and James Bond 23? Stay tuned as word will come soon what will become of the Hobbit as well as an inevitable documentary will soon be in the works.
• Panasonic made their own ultra portable laptop apparently which will have Linux (not the official OS yet) and will play MMO games. I don’t know how this will be with the small screen since last time I checked MMO’s are very text heavy (i.e. WoW). If Star Wars: TOR works well on this I may be intrigued to buy this.
• I was originally going to make this the picture of the day because of how awesome it is. But I Lol’d at this Medal of Honor paradox:

• I also almost failed to mentioned the new Transformers movie with its subtitle: The Dark of the Moon. Just call it the “Dark Side of the Moon,” to get it over with, and hope Pink Floyd won’t sue.

Halo Reach: The Review Part 1

I don’t do too many of these because of the type of gamer I am nowadays, but with Halo Reach I will make an exception. Quite possibly for the other games I am currently playing also. But on to Reach:

Honestly, when I first heard this was coming I had little to no interest in it and thought I would end of buying it later. The reason because I heard the main people behind Halo 1-3 weren’t going to be behind this. It was some other team at Bungie. My initial thought was it could be the same Bungie or they may screw this up. The original Halo team always made good Halo games. I don’t want it to be ruined by another team. But then the gameplay videos came and my mind was quickly changing. I regretted ever doubting Bungie. My guilt was soon gone after watching the final moments of those videos.

Now as you can see I am going to separate the review only because I also have not finished completely exploring everything. I have beaten the Campaign along with my brother in Co-op mode. I have played through some of matchmaking, but I haven’t done enough exploring with Forge World, Firefight, or Arena. I would also put Invasion into a category since it is a separate gaming element from matchmaking technically, but Bungie decided it was part of it, therefore, it will be reviewed with matchmaking. Some of Forge World will be reviewed here, but the rest will be in part 2 when I get to know it more as well as Firefight and when I actually play Arena. I also like to mention Firefight was in Halo 3: ODST, but there have been changes made in the Halo: Reach version which I will mention in the next part of the review. (By the way firefight is pretty addicting)

Now on to the story, playing mechanics and overall graphic detailing of the game. Well, the story is pretty amazing. Its also the most beautiful Halo game I am ever played as well as the hardest out of the 4 or 5…or 6…6th one doesn’t count by the way. (Halo Wars) There is some amazing detail here. I have heard somewhere its like playing art and that is very true in most levels and cut scenes. This will look epic on a 1080p widescreen TV. I couldn’t have wanted one more than I do right now.

The story holds together very well. If you have read The Fall of Reach you most likely will know what will happen, and if you have played any other Halo game you already know what will happen. There’s not really much I can tell you about the story. It does end abruptly though. Wait, scratch that. It does not.

Also I may have, on facebook earlier, spoiled a little something. Probably because of the title flub (cameo was in the title), but it is in all not really a spoiler. The reason for that it is essentially an easter egg which totally doesn’t require using theater right after. Only if you missed it the first time though. It requires to move the right thumb stick towards the right, like you would another cutscenes, and then you would see a certain person you have witnessed in other games. The only spoiler is in the manner in which you see him in and in the level. I never mentioned the level or the manner in which you see him in and yet outrage ensued against me. For a few minutes. Its not a spoiler. Its an Easter Egg. Just want to clear this up. Its Master Chief.

Now on to Matchmaking. One thing I didn’t mention before is that the buttons are rearranged. Forget almost everything you knew about Halo 1-3 for this one. I’m still getting used to this which gets me killed plenty in matches. But once I get warmed up I get a good amount of kills in.

Matchmaking is pretty much the same this time. But there is now a credit system to get new customizations for your armor. You get credits from either playing campaign or by getting a certain amount of kills in for matches. You can also only unlock things based on your skill level. Or by visiting Halo Waypoint. Another way is by getting a certain edition of Halo Reach. Limited gets you a special Elite Armor and Legendary gets you a flame helmet. Store exclusives were also distributed for pre-order through various retail locations. Not sure if those can be achieved anymore.

Anyways, because of the few glitches it does and can affect game play. It can also be mistaken for lag. There’s also lag. Buts that's normal and there's an option to only play with people with a good connection. That is what’s combined with the new filter for matchmaking. You can pick certain filters for various things in order to achieve the best game play when playing online. It works. There are just times when jerks will leave in the middle of the game and it has to reconnect to a server which diminishes game play unfortunately.

We also need more maps, Bungie. I just hope now that your with Activision that you don’t release maps that are $15…

Well those are out of the way. Now on to Forge world. Again I haven’t played enough with Forge World, so here’s a video that explains how people with big imaginations will have fun in Forge World:

For now Story receives a 4 out of 5 and Multiplayer 4.5 out of 5. Rest of the stuff is still being looked through thoroughly. Oh, and also coming soon is Campaign Matchmaking!

If This Won’t Make You Buy A 3DS, Nothing Will

Video Games | Nintendo 3DS | Japanese Software Lineup Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Halo is Within Reach

No Comic-Con yet, and perhaps I may never come to it now unfortunately. I’m sorry for promising it so much and yet its not here. Perhaps I’ll feature it in photos of my recent haul in the upcoming posts. Very sorry for that missing update. As you can see things happen a lot. School has been happening so posting is showing up less frequently. So I hope everyone understands the mistakes. Even if I am late on posts I have plenty to update on, I swear.

Everyone’s clear on the big game coming this week? Good. Got it pre-ordered and will only have a few days to wait for it. Until then I have a few other games I rented to keep me occupied. Those include Assassins Creed 2, Halo 3: ODST, and Red Dead Redemption. I do plan to beat Halo 3: ODST before I get Reach by the way. I don’t really want an expansion to be too much in the way when Reach arrives. Even if I’m renting games I’ve wanted to play months (and a year) ago, I still really really want to play Halo: Reach. I needs Halo Fix.

I know have a reason to want a PS3 and it is this:

This is the Swedish retailer box art for both games. I really hope its not the art we will get here. It really doesn’t do justice for the highly artistic style both of these games have. Even then I’m still happy this is coming to the PS3. Ever since the release of God of War 1 and 2 HD for the PS3 I have dreamed and always thought these two games should be next to be converted. And now it is truly coming. I know I should be saving up for the 3DS, but I really want a PS3 now…

Speaking of 3DS, here are some new 3DS Resident Evil screens that Capcom displays using an MT framework engine (don’t ask me, I don’t know what it means either) which supposedly makes things look better on the 3DS. On the right will be a “raw” feed, which apparently was the unfinished version of some sort, and on the left the finished product using their engine which will be used on the 3DS:

 

Looks pretty good. Impressive even. It didn’t change my mind in the first place, but I’m happy with the new graphics engine. Here are also some Street Fighter IV screens. Which may look pixely and a few grain and tears, but think about this: The 3DS screen is smaller than those images so it will look a whole lot better.

Meanwhile in France:

In other news Mario celebrates his 25th anniversary this week. Congrats Mario! But why did you let Nintendo demolish your birth place? Well, Happy Anniversary anyways!

Now finally I was about to show you a really awesome Star Wars Fan short, but then I rather show you this Adam Sessler and Kevin Butler Interview:

Game Reviews - E3 2011

Time For the Schooling

Sorry school just started for me, so I haven't been able to post the Comic-Con stuff yet and apologize if anyone is looking forward to that. Here is a live action Halo: Reach trailer to cheer you up:

Cowabunga Dudes

Hey, I’m back after a more than a week long hiatus. Comic-con usually does that to you. I’ll post pics about that later. For now I bring you something totally awesome. Enjoy the Alternate Ending from our famous turtles in a half shell!:

You can ignore the commentary if you wish.

What is Seen…

…cannot be unseen:

Trailer shows up tomorrow…

More Costumes Will Save this Game

I remember back in the day when all I used to play was Spider-Man the game on my Nintendo 64 and collecting secret comics which I believe where the key to unlocking some secret costumes for the game. They sort of enhanced the gameplay in any way when you do unlock them, but hopefully (and for its sake) for Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions that the gameplay will be more significantly enhanced. In order to get some of the costumes you have to buy them from specific retailers in order to gain the costume. At Amazon you get the Tony Stark Iron Spider-Man suit:

Thing with this costume is that its only for use in the Spider-Man 2099 universe. I think that's how its going to be with most costumes unfortunately. Its still pretty neat though. Here’s what you get at GameStop:

You get Cosmic Spider-Man! This one has an interesting feature to it. I haven’t seen if the Iron suit can do this, but apparently this one has different variations to it. This one is also used for the Noir universe for some odd reason. Although, it does create this interesting variation for Noir:

Its creates a dark blue color on the suit, with the Cosmic Spider-Man, I guess, “cosmic lines?” However you call it. Its still a cool variation. There's also this variation which may be a new look.

Just a few minutes ago these new costumes were announced for K-Mart and Best Buy. K-Mart isn’t that bad now really. Its becoming more gamer friendly lately. Here’s the K-Mart Exclusive suit:

Yep, its the Ben Reilly (or Scarlet Spider) suit. Nothing really new or anything sort of amazing really. If most people don’t know this particular Spider-Man character by now, here’s a short history on the character: Ben Reilly is actually a clone of Peter Parker and took the mantle of Spider-Man for a while, first in his Scarlet Spider suit and then as the actual Spider-Man suit. He took the mantle when Parker had to retire for a short time to take care of his unborn child. If you want more just go to the Wikipedia page. You probably use this suit in the Classic Spider-Man universe.

Now lets move on to Best Buys exclusive:

Little is known (to my knowledge) of the Negative Zone Spider-Man. Its probably some alternate universe type of thing where Spidey has a black suit sans the alien symbiote. This is probably used in the Classic Universe as well. I actually don’t really know why they wouldn’t release classic black suit symbiote spidey instead of this. Activision makes some weird decisions.

But wait, that’s not all? Some more suits will be unlockable in the game. You may be pleasantly surprised about one of these suits. Its not known wither you have to download these or they will just be made available later on in the game, but I do hope its the latter:

I’ve seen this before. I don’t know anything about it exactly, I just know it may be used in the Spider-Man 2099 universe. The future is all about armor.

Wow, this is a surprise. Even if I wont be able to go to the Spider-Man Mangaverse having him as a playable character is still as good. You get to play him in the (unfortunate) Ultimate Spider-Man Universe. Its interesting since I just mentioned this to Activision yesterday about they should have tried for the Mangaverse Spidey. Bravo Activision for trying. You guys still suck though.

Halo: Reach has Surpassed Timesplitters

It is Timesplitters of the modern age:

Timesplitters had forever to come out with a new game. Now Reach is the way to go.

Anyone else think "Inception" when they saw this? At least partially.

There's No Words...

I'm serious. Just watch:

I'm just gonna put the link for the 1:1 Evangelion head bust here now since it won't stop playing when you load the page: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/fujiqlive

New Tron Legacy Trailer

Enjoy it as much as I have:

¡¿Por Que?!

Yeah I’m pretty sure it works that way. I totally had to go Spanish on all of you for this one. The reason is because recently an update has been made for a game. After hearing it, I don’t think I’ve been so disappointed in an announcement in ever really. (Epic Mickey?) Oh, yeah…what I meant to say is: This is the most disappointing game announcement ever since Epic Mickey. I guess its better, but more to the point. I’ve been pretty excited for a little game called Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions and the announcements so far have been pretty awesome. We got classic Spidey, Noir Spidey, and Spider-Man 2099 all in the game. 3 different dimensions so far and my bar was really high for the game. Even a few days ago this was announced:

Yeah Juggernaut was announced as a villain, pretty rad (I have no idea either), even though they probably have shown his whole appearance in this trailer; its still a nice addition. And now just yesterday Activision announced the fourth dimension and it is…..the Ultimate Universe. I’m sorry, but what?

Sure, you play as black suit spidey, but its so disappointing since there’s so many missed opportunities here. I mean this could have been Ultimate Spider-Man 2 for god sakes, it was an Xbox and PS2 game before. This should have never happened. I really had high hopes for this, but this really takes it down a lot of notches for me. There’s so many ways they could have gone with this. I would have been happy with any of these: Spider-Girl universe, Marvel Zombies Universe, or someone even mentioned a steam punk universe. Steam Punk, Activision. You guys feeling bad over there yet? Oh yeah, you already got problems…No. You know what. You guys deserve it. The Modern Warfare trail and other stuff. There I said it. Man, is Activision really dropping the ball lately. Even Spider-Ham may have been better than this…well maybe not. You know what would have been good? Spider-Man Manga universe. That would have been sweet. Probably couldn’t be done though. At least try Activision.

Pictures are owned by IGN.

Deadpool, Deadpool minions, and symbiote suit soften the blow, its still a pretty big blow though. Apparently Carnage is a villain somewhere in the Ultimate Universe as well. I won’t be playing this as soon as I thought. I won’t expect to buy this on September 7, 2010 when it swings around.

Sorry, Activision made me mad…Comic-Con will cheer me up.

Hammer of Thor

We’re Not the Only Ones Going to Comic-Con

So are the movies. I don’t know the full details yet. But the main guys from Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz are gonna be in a movie about Comic-Con in about the first part of it. So its a comedy really. And something about meeting a real alien at Comic-Con? Anyway the movie is called “Paul” and will be directed by Greg Mottola. Here are some pics:

Hm, no names on the Comic-Con badges. And how do they have badges already? Maybe they went for a day already? This movie already looks inaccurate.

Its funny because they look just like us. CHUD website made a joke about this.

Yep.

Ah, we may love this. A movie somewhat about Comic-Con, never saw the day coming. Thank you Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (whom also wrote the script). The rest of the cast includes: Seth Rogen, Jason Bateman, Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, Blythe Danner, Joe Lo Truglio, John Carroll Lynch, David Koechner and Sigourney Weaver (of course, can’t have a nerdy film without her). I’m looking forward to it.

Second Helmetless Thor and Odin Photo. Update: We See Helmets!! Second Update: The Photos are Hi-Res Now!

Here’s the first photo with Loki to the right. Now here’s Thor and Odin talking about something with Loki in the backround:

Comes from a preview from a Comic-Con issue. Its more moody, yet they still need the helmets. The lighting is a bit off for this movie.

Odin and Loki don helmets, finally!!: Updated: 07/19 Clearer pic:

 

Thor is holding and has his helmet off unfortunately. Click the picture for a slightly bigger look. Loki will be to the far left side.

Also found a lighter photo with more detail. First one is real, this one is manipulated:

Credit goes to Slashfilm.

Epic Mickey May Stray Away From Its Original Concept

I sincerely hope that's not the case though. I truly hope to God since it was quickly becoming one of the best platforming games I have seen in a long while. Warren Specter has made some amazing games in the past and I just hope he is not swayed by Disney to take away some of the best concepts he has made for the game. One of the big features of the game I am looking forward to are the 3 ways Mickey can change depending what he does in the world of Wasteland. There’s the Hero Mickey, the Mickey we all know and love today, in which Mickey does mostly good things in the game. Then there's Wastelander Mickey in which he appears this way when he does both equally good and bad things. Then there's Scrapper Mickey who is more mischievous and closer to his old Black and White version. The later is reported to be scrapped (pun intended) completely from the game. It is a rumor at the moment as I have only seen one article on it and I just really hope its not true. If that's the case more things in which we have seen concept from can be canned from the game as well. Its one of the things that's really kept me from liking the game, a darker and more disturbing Disney world is what I want and what I think most people want.

Image owned by gameinformer by the way.

The source seems really unreliable, but they do say this: "People don't like when you mess with Mickey," said creator Warren Spector. "We did a focus test that was really eye-opening for me. There was a biker dude saying, 'Oh, I'd never play a Mickey Mouse game,' and then we showed him images of a changed Mickey. I was sitting there thinking, 'You're gonna love what we do,' but he said, 'No! Don't mess with my childhood.'"

Don’t listen to a biker dude Warren Spector, listen to us the gamers. Who in the past has ever listen to a biker dude, or a biker dude who doesn’t even play video games? Warren Spector should remember this is for the gamers and for true Disney fans, not some biker dude he pulls from the streets. This is why video game companies shouldn’t do focus testing on people who don’t even play video games…

Red vs. Blue and Blood Gulch Make a Return to Halo: Reach

I’ve always enjoyed the Red vs. Blue series. Glad to see they made a video of them returning to their old base in the new game. I’d like to see Red vs. Blue make a return to see what adventures they could go on with the maps in Halo: Reach. It could be huge:

So, doesn't this mean they downgraded? The world is just more confusing now...

My First Visit to Anime Expo 2010

Its that time of year when some of America’s best conventions make its appearance during that one time of the year. And for me the best conventions I have seen are E3 (which I can’t go to at all), Anime Expo, and San Diego Comic-Con. Well, now I can finally cross off a convention I can actually go to which is the LA Anime Expo. While Comic-Con is the biggest Comic Convention ever, the Anime Expo is the biggest Anime and Manga Convention where most otaku’s, cosplayers and anime fans alike are free to roam. It was my first time there and there was a whole lot to see and do. I think the thing to notice most are the cosplayers. From great cosplaying to the awful, its still probably the best thing to see. I pointed out way too many in a noticeable manner. I also tried my hand at volunteering for 4 hours which was exhausting work, but is sure to pay off when I get the next day for free.

Well moving on here are some pictures of the Anime Expo event. I will also give out non-existent rewards to some of the pictures of people cosplaying. Well enjoy some of the things I saw:

Pictured, more or less in the middle is the most powerful blogger to have ever lived: Danny Choo. An incredibly crazy dude who also does websites, owns his own show, his own anime, and even his own toyline! He also goes around Japanese schools dressed up as a stormtrooper showing us Americans what the Japanese do in school. He also has a British accent when he speaks English. He is just about everything that defines epicness.

Now an enhanced picture of Danny Choo with some dude with no relation. Stormtrooper toy though.

Somewhat after that we saw a panel for a Japanese Actress named Yui Horie. An incredibly and painfully cute person to be in the presence in. It was a bit cruel what they made her say in English, but it shows off just how adorable she is. I also tried to take pictures but was denied to keep them even if i was far. Apparently it was meant for the press only to take pictures. I can’t be press yet?

I should have been more ninja like. Did manage to catch the last bit of her new anime titled: Toradora! It shaping to be an interesting anime to watch. After that I tried to get her autograph, but I won’t go into it.

Before taking off I managed to see an Anime OVA called ICE. Its about this post apocalyptic Earth where all men have died leaving only women. These military women try to find the key to prevent humanity’s extinction through a mysterious project called ICE. It was terrible and bizarre. My cousin explained its a throwback to crappy 80’s OVA. I believe him.

It sounds shorter, but it was all in a day. I spent most of my time in the exhibit hall buying next to nothing even when I was tempted by all the sale prices. Did manage to buy a nice button pin that has a cake and the word lie on it. Some of you will know what I’m referencing.

Now for some cosplay, enjoy:

This is probably one cosplay I was looking forward to seeing at Anime Expo. The Prince from the Katamari Damacy games. The bonus was that a girl was dressed up as the Prince. She gets an award for cosplaying as something I was looking forward to! Yeah, its lame. Your going to have to live with that now.

Not the best Snake cosplay out there, but he did have a box. He doesn’t get an award since he’s missing a patch and beard. Snake? SNNNAAAAAKKKKKEEEE!!!!!

Fast food restaurant mascots get the award for best group cosplay. The king mask kind of kills it. Nah, nevermind I’ll let it pass.

Scratch the last award, best group cosplay goes to people in this epic picture of people dressed up as characters from the Kingdom Hearts series. Epic indeed.

Yay, a cousin from the Katamari Damacy series! You get an award for furthering something I was looking forward to! Good job!

And you get the strangest cosplay award my friend. Nice effort, but its your execution….wait does that person look familiar behind him? Good lord I just noticed that…And I’m gonna leave that to you on who that looks like…

And the best cosplay award goes to:

Lady dressed up as Old Sophie from Howl’s Moving Castle! Congrats on winning…on winning!

I took more pictures if you would like to take a look here. And now I will leave you with a celebrity [to most of us] that I saw at Anime Expo. Enjoy!:

Its Zack! The black Power Ranger!