Hey guys, sorry I haven't been posting regularly in the last weeks. In the midst of changing the look of the site and fixing various bugs I haven't had a lot of time to do much else including set up podcasts. Rest assured that sometime in the coming week there will be new episodes of both podcasts. That being said, I have been able to watch some movies and play some games which I thought I would share as a kind of a catch-up for the last couple weeks. So let me entertain you with some random thoughts.


First, I saw Terminator Salvation. Which I must confess, I've been excited for ever since the teaser and even after I learned how the internet could actually ruin a movie. I'll admit at first I was reluctant, but the idea that we would see what happened at the beginning of T2 fleshed out with glorious detail in a new franchise became ever so enticing. But it may have been this excitement that ultimately led to me not liking the movie. Which doesn't matter all that much because on rotten tomatoes it seems to be doing fine among users. Which says to me that most people probably had a good time with this one. Those of us with high expectations, however, weren't so thrilled, which is highlighted by the discrepancy between user and critical reviews, 71% and 32% respectively. New fans of the series were positively thrilled, while old fans were positively pissed. Maybe, this is a sign that I'm getting old. The styles that I once loved are slowly falling out of style, and my favorite franchises slowly re-invent and re-position themselves to aggressively attack today's market. Which can't be all that bad, right? Terminator 2 was a healthy departure from the Terminator 1 model. So maybe it's just me, maybe I've outgrown this franchise. After all, I have seen 5 different actors play John Connor, six if you count the show.


Secondly, I saw Up. Twice in fact. Once the old fashioned way and once in 3D. Both versions had their merits. And although I completely agree with Adam's first impressions, I must admit this movie hit me like very few movies have. I wanted to cry, during some parts and had a blast during others. This movie was the best adventure movie since Sahara(I'm looking in your direction crystal skull). Before this starts to sound like a full fledged review let me just derail by conveying my innumerable excitement for the summer blockbuster that is Up. For me this movie signals something that Pixar has wanted to do for a while. Ever since the Incredibles, Pixar has been slowly making their movies more accessible to an adult audience. Who would have thought that a movie about middle age superheroes going through a mid-life crisis would appeal to children anyway? With Up the bar has been set even higher, and I must say that the integration of adult issues into to a movie aimed at a younger audience was pretty astounding. I think this might actually spur some interesting discussions at the dinner table. But it wasn't all so serious, in fact I don't think the second half was rooted in any kind of realism. Instead, it was pure adventure, which had me slurping soda and chewing popcorn faster than ever. Good times.


And the last thing I want to talk about briefly was a movie called Fear(s) of the Dark, which I watched over the weekend. It's a series of black and white animated horror stories, or rather scary stories. They aren't really horrifying, but are scary enough to make you afraid in a cerebral way, which to me is more bang for your buck, and totally merits the words inclusion in the title, because that's what you get, fear. It's not shock, horror or thrill, it's fear that haunts you and It reminded me of the Stephen Gammell illustrated Scary Stories. The movie is full of eerie folklore and would be a perfect ritualistic Halloween movie, alongside the Nightmare Before Christmas. Plus, it has great graphics. :)

All in all, it was a good week. So, hopefully, I'll be posting more often in the next couple of weeks. And as always, thanks for tuning in guys.

Okay so maybe it's not exactly coming soon, seeing as it's already been released. But if you're like me, that is, you don't live in a big city, then you're still probably waiting for this Norge gore-fest. Everyone loves zombies.

Video game powerhouse Nintendo kicked off the first official day of E3 with an ample software lineup set to please both their casual and "core" fan base.

The Kyoto-based game company opened strong with the announcement of New Super Mario Bros. Wii; a classic style Mario game that allows up to 4 people to play simultaneously. The title is a follow-up to best seller New Super Mario Bros. on the Nintendo DS and is set to be released at the end of 2009.

Nintendo shifted focus to their casual audience with sequels to two of the platforms most successful titles, Wii Fit Plus and Wii Sports Resort.

Wii Fit Plus is an expansion title to its four-million plus selling predecessor and will be offered at retail with the Wii Balance Board peripheral or sold alone for players who already own the original.

Wii Sports Resort, sequel to the popular title packed in with every Wii sold includes new games such as fencing, Frisbee, ping-pong and jet-skiing, to name a few. Wii Sports Resort will be packaged with Wii Motion Plus; a small peripheral that attaches to the wii-mote to offer more natural motion detection.

Both Wii-branded titles will be available this year. Wii Sports Resort is dated for July 26th; Wii Fit Plus was given a Fall release window.

Nintendo carried on the conference with a look at their popular handheld brands Nintendo DS and the newly released Nintendo DSi. Keeping with their theme of offering games for both their casual and hardcore-gamer markets, a large variety of games were shown. Tween and women skewed titles like Style Savvy and Woman's Murder Club: Games of Passion were shown along side fanboy-only games such as Kingdom Hearts DS, Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story and The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks.

The newest addition to Nintendo's handheld family, The DSi had a small presence at the conference. Nintendo acknowledged the significance of user-created game content during the conference and announced three downloadable titles that are built around this latest gaming trend.

Flipnote Studio is a game that allows player to draw and animate their very own cartoons with the DSi stylus. WarioWare: DYI, the latest title in Nintendo's madcap mini-game fest puts players in charge of designing everything from the art, music and character animation. The last DSi downloadable title shown was Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again, a game that puts players in charge of designing various platforming and puzzles that can be share with others over the internet.

The conference took a bizarre turn when Nintendo President Satoru Iwata took the stage to unveil the Wii's latest hardware addition. The Wii Vitality Sensor is a device that attaches to the players index finger that apparently can measure vitals such as stress and heart rate. Iwata's vague announcement made no mention of specific games or a release date but iterated how the Vitality Sensor would help players "relax".

To close out the show Nintendo showed their commitment to their hardcore-gamer by showing an impressive lineup of fan favorites with two genuine surprises.

For the first time ever, a Nintendo console will receive a sequel to a 3D Mario game with Super Mario Galaxy 2. Historically, Mario fans have to wait years for a true sequel to Nintendo's flagship series. A holiday 2010 release date is being speculated, putting the the length of time between Super Mario Galaxy and it's sequel at only 3 years.

Nintendo showcased third party support for the "core" audience with Sega's The Conduit, a sci-fi first-person-shooter and Capcom's Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles. Both of these titles are rated M for mature, a rare find on the family friendly Wii.

President of Nintendo North America Reggie Fils-Aime closed the press conference with a shocking announcement. Team Ninja, developer of popular XBOX title Ninja Gaiden, are collaborating with Nintendo on a new title in the fan-favorite series Metroid. An action heavy trailer was shown for Metroid: Other M, which eluded to the game containing a mix of classic-style Metroid game play and first-person features similar to those found in recent Metroid Prime Series. No concrete date was given but a 2010 release was mentioned.

The industry-leading company may not have had the glitz and pacing of the Microsoft's E3 conference but had a strong show that included "Something for everyone".

I just finished watching the first new Tonight Show with, it's brand spanking new, but also seasoned, host Conan O'Brien. I was very excited, in my own subdued way, to hear that he would be taking charge when Leno left, and, after viewing this first episode, can safely say I was not disappointed. Conan's as good as he ever was. Great skits, and great interviews. I especially enjoyed Will Ferrell's rendition of the popular Jackson 5 ballad "Never Can Say Goodbye". Very funny stuff. And Pearl Jam gave a decent performance as well. It's amazing that those guys are still together. If Monday's show is any indicator of the quality I can expect on every show, every night, it looks like I'll be watching the Tonight Show more often than usual. Sorry, Letterman.

Microsoft kicked off E3 2009 with a star-studded press conference displaying the company's dedication to licking competitors Nintendo and Sony with the mantra "showing not telling".

The first third of the presser was dedicated to blockbuster multi-platform titles with a rousing unveiling of The Beatles: Rock Band. The game was demoed live by Harmonix followed by a surprising appearance from surviving mop-tops Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr.

Tony Hawk took to the stage to demo his newest title, Tony Hawk: Ride. This newest addition to the successful skateboarding franchise introduces a new skateboard peripheral that promises to take the skate game genre into unprecedented levels of realism.

Infinity Ward followed with a live demo of Modern Warfare 2, the sequel to 2007's giga-hit Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. The demo showed off the snowy mountain level from MW2's most recent trailer, concluding with a thrilling snowmobile chase sequence.

Microsoft wrapped up their multi-platform segment with Square Enix taking the stage to showcase Final Fantasy XIII running on XBOX 360 hardware. Square Enix announced they are shooting for a 2010 release date, but did not announce a simultaneous release with the PS3 version.

After a strong showing of multi-platform sure-hits, Microsoft shifted gears to XBOX 360 exclusives.

Cliff Bleszinski (of Gears of War fame) and Donald Mustard from Epic Games unveiled Shadow Complex for the XBOX LIVE Arcade platform. Shadow Complex is a side-scrolling action title reminiscent of old-school NES titles like Castlevania and Metroid. A "summer" release was announced in the teaser video.

Microsoft's newly acquired developer Big Park prepared a teaser trailer for upcoming cart racer Joy Ride. This free to download title features heavy 360 Avatar support and will offer additional content like additional cars and tracks for sale through the LIVE Marketplace.

The conference rolled on with two teaser trailers; one for a sequel to cult-favorite Crackdown, and the other for Valve's co-op zombie hit, Left 4 Dead 2. A date was not projected for Crackdown 2, but Left 4 Dead 2 is set to be released this November, a year after the release of the original Left 4 Dead.

Ubisoft's long-in-development Splinter Cell: Conviction was unveiled through a slick demo showcasing the popular series new approach to stealth game play. Protagonist Sam Fisher's latest outing has a grittier, more violent tone than the previous Splitter Cell titles and looks to incorporate intuitive platforming elements into play similar to the PS3 game Uncharted.

Microsoft continued with a lengthy presentation dedicated to Forza 3, the highly anticipated continuation of the popular racing-sim for the XBOX brand. Community incorporation and customization were promised to play a big part in the continuing success of this popular series.

Halo, Microsoft's biggest and most successful XBOX title, had a big presence at the conference with a live demo of this falls Halo 3 spin-off Halo 3: ODST and a teaser trailer for a presumed prequel title, Halo: Reach. On stage Halo developer Bungie announced that purchasing Halo 3: ODST would grant gamers access to the Halo: Reach multi-player BETA program. A holiday 2010 release date for Reach is being speculated.

The exclusive title segment concluded with a trailer and live demo of Alan Wake, a mysterious title from the creators of Max Payne that has been in development for many years. The demo showcased the games premise; Alan Wake is a supernatural thriller author whose nightmarish stories are starting to come alive before his very eyes. Remedy, the developers of this title announced that they were eyeing a Spring 2010 release date.

The third part of Microsoft's press conference was dedicated to showcasing revisions and additions being made to the XBOX 360's user interface, the NXE (New XBOX Experience).

Popular internet applications Last.FM, Facebook and Twitter are coming to the NXE sometime this year. The XBOX 360's popular Netflix application is receiving an update that will allow users to have complete access to their media queue without having to sign into their accounts via home computer.

One of the biggest shockers of the conference was the appearance of legendary game director Hideo Kojima who "snuck" onstage to announce that the XBOX 360 was finally getting a Metal Gear Solid title. A port of popular PS3 title Metal Gear Solid 4 was expected to be announced but was not; instead Kojima announced Metal Gear Solid: Rising, a brand new Metal Gear experience starring series veteran Raiden. A short teaser trailer was shown containing footage of rolling storm clouds punctuated by static close-up shots of the famous cyber-ninjas face. "Raiden is back..." MGS creator Hideo Kojima is a famous prankster. Is MGS: Rising legit, or is Kojima bait-and-switching us like he did with Metal Gear Solid 2?

The final segment of the conference was also the most interesting. Microsoft unveiled Project Natal, the company's long-rumored motion-control interface set to compete with the massively successful Nintendo Wii.

A proof-of-concept video was on display, showcasing families playing games totally hands-free through the power of Project Natal's 3D camera peripheral.

The significance of this technology was hammered home by the surprise appearance of world famous filmmaker and cultural ambassador Steven Spielberg. Spielberg shilled for Project Natal and spoke highly of it's possibilities. He also announced that he will be developing games for Project Natal, but gave no specifics.

Three demos were present at the conference that showcased what Project Natal's 3D camera was capable of.

A fit young women took the stage to play Ricochet a 3D "breakout" style tech demo where she kicked and punched at orbs flying towards her on-screen avatar. The 3D camera captured her real life actions with shocking accuracy as the woman deflected the orbs away from her avatar.

The second tech demo called "Paint Party" showed one of the project developers "painting" with his arm motions an abstract landscape on an on-screen canvass. This demo ended with the developer and an audience member posing in front of the the 3D camera to make a shadow puppet of an elephant that they then placed inside the "painting".

Famed game designer Peter Molyneux ended the presentation with a tech demo featuring a computer rendered little boy named Milo. Molyneux showed a video of a woman interacting with Milo through Project Natal's voice and face recognition features. In the demo the woman carries on a natural conversation with Milo and fluidly interacts with him and the environment. She draws Milo a picture, then he tells her to look down into a small pond. The woman reaches into the pond and everything, including the water physics and the behaviors of the pond's gold fish, are all rendered with staggering realism. Molyneaux concluded the presentation by announcing that the Milo demo will be showed to the press behind closed doors during E3.

Microsoft wrapped up their E3 presentation by reassuring the audience that they are committed to the XBOX 360's evolution, and that it is not only a game console, but also a all-in-one living-room media hub.

The press conference was jammed packed with popular game announcements, new console features and a brand new motion-control interface. The ball is now in Sony and Nintendo's court Will Microsoft's competitors have as many surprises at their E3 showings?

Stay tuned for more E3 coverage.