In a recent Eurogamer article Cliff Bleszinski confesses that the limitations of designing games on current-gen, or otherwise affectionately known as "now-gen," consoles is probably the reason there are so many bald space marines floating around these days. Or rather, this gens specialty is rendering, grungy space heroes. He says,

"At the same time, in this generation the translucent effects are very hard to pull off. That's why everybody sees a lot of these bald characters and wonder why games feature so many f***ing space marines. Well, the tech is good at showing off armour and it's not that good at doing hair. That's why we have bald space marines. There's your answer people."

Polytroncorporation.com confirms that Fez, the lil' indie that could, is coming to the XBOX 360 courtesy of LIVE Arcade in early 2010.

Why should you care? We'll if your that cool dude at the party who likes to talk about how groundbreaking and ingenious Braid is then you'd be good to RSVP a seat on the Fez bandwagon.




Fez will be the "it" game of 2010. Mark my words.

I'm so jealous of my older brother...


He ordered this amazing Land of the Lost themed t-shirt that was only available to order for 24 hours from teefury.com (that's the sites gimmick, which I must admit is pretty damn clever and enticing).

The artist responsible for the Sleestak and baby Chaka shirt is Jared Moraitis who has one hell of a knack for pop culture puns.

I particularly like these...

Pac Samurai

Warning: Potential spoilers!

One might suspect when entering the cinema that they're about to witness the rise and fall of the infamous bank robber, sociopath, and all around scumball John Dillinger (played by Johnny Depp). But this plot presumption would be wrong. We see no rise, only the fall. The film begins in September of 1934, Dillinger's first prison break, and follows him until his demise eleven months later. Everything starts going wrong for him, basically, from the beginning of the movie.
John Dillinger likes fast cars, movies, woman, and money. And he's not the type of fellow who is "thinkin' bout tomorrow". That's about all we get about the man. There's no real insight into his past and why he is the way he is, and why he has this obsession with living on the edge. In this universe he's somewhat of an enigma. Some, after seeing the film, might view this lack of character development as grounds for some deserved negative criticism, but I didn't care. He more than makes up for these ambiguities with his humor, charm, and cockiness. Perhaps the real Dillinger was a mystery as well.
Those who are also anticipating a non stop thrill ride of murder, sex, brutal gangster violence, and bank robberies might also be disappointed. Although the highlight for the film, for me, does involve a car chase and a shoot out between cops and robbers, the action is very sparse. Mostly a lot of chit chat between thugs in jail cells, restaurants, and hideouts. The character of Dillinger spends nearly half the film falling for a dame he meets in a club in Chicago. Their ultimate goal is to go away together after Johnny makes his final big score. You already know what's gonna happen, don't ya?
The film looks great though. Obviously a lot of work went into the costumes and sets to make it look like 1930's midwestern America, rural and metropolitan. I read somewhere that they did a lot of the filming for this movie where the real events actually took place. That's always great for authenticity.
Now comes the part where I tell you if I liked the movie or not: yes. I did. Overall, a solid picture. It was entertaining. The 2 hours and 20 minutes flew by without me looking at my watch. Is it an amazing film? Of course not. Very rarely do I ever see, or expect to see, and amazing work of cinema that totally blows me away. I suppose, now, I'm a little cynical when it comes to movies. Especially Hollywood movies.
This picture gives you the basic hollywood gangster movie package: a little action, some drama, decent performances, and a love story. Nothing new under the sun. And that's just fine by me.





Also: since I'm reviewing a biopic about Dillinger I might as well mention another biopic I saw last week about another 2oth century hero to some, and fiend to others: I'm talking about last years Che. Part 1 and 2. If you can handle a four hour movie I'd very much recommend it. I think I actually liked it more than Public Enemies. It was more of an intriguing film, for me, because of the fact I knew close to nothing about it, or its main character, Che Guevara. So there was an element of genuine surprise. Plus, his story is more compelling than the story of Dillinger to me. Benicio Del Toro gives a fine performance, which is important considering the film focuses entirely upon him, plus the visuals and the locations where they shot it were quite beautiful. Check it out if you get the chance.

So you've seen all the Pixar movies and bought all the merch. You're a regular Pixar aficionado, aren't you? Not so fast...have you read Pixar's Pixarpedia? Most likely not, because it's not scheduled for release until August 17th and will retail for $26.40. It's worth it, it's the completed guide to the Pixar universe with facts, trivia etc. Reach for the sky!!

Two weeks before his death, Michael Jackson wrapped shooting on a 3D movie known as "the Dome Project" that was created to accompany his European This is It Tour.

Footage was shot using 3D cameras developed by stereoscopic extraordinaire James Cameron. I'm guessing that concert goers would have been given 3D glasses to experience the effects:wonder if they would have looked like MJ's signature aviator shades?

Of course of the big question is when and how will we be able to see this last documented footage of Jackson getting his sing and dance on. The running time of "the Dome Project" is unknown, so we cant say yet if it would merit a full theatrical 3D release.

Surely all unreleased projects including this 3D film and the 100+ new songs that Jackson recorded before his passing will eventually see the light of day. How soon will the powers-that-be decide to cash in?

Here is a unreleased song that MJ recorded with Akon from 2008 called "Hold my Hand".
Michael's first line in the track is now a heartbreaking connotation...

This life don't last forever... So tell me what we're waiting for...

While most people were working hard, or hardly working in some cases, I was, of course, making it a top priority of mine to man up and enjoy the summer, which means staying indoors and enjoying some sort of entertainment.


First up:
I watched Waltz with Bashir.

This was an animated documentary of sorts. It's weird to talk about this movie as if it were a documentary, because it has a tendency to be fantastic at times while being realistic most of time. The graphic (a term that gets thrown around too often) quality of the film is what makes Bashir work. It's the recollection of reality that is often times the most jarring or fantastic. It's in our vivid minds that dreams and reality mingle, fantasy and fiction coalesce. Though in this case, one might not be discernible from the other. I enjoyed this film and although the low key dream like animation lulled me to sleep in some parts, it certainly jarred me a wake in others. If you have the chance, see it.

Next: (these aren't really chronological) I beat Resident Evil 5.
In previous podcasts I was particularly harsh when it came to this game. So what compelled me to finish it? I really just wanted to get over stubbornness. I was frustrated at the beginning and actually quit playing for a whole month. But I stuck with it and in the conquered my RE5 controller phobia. I still don't understand why you can't reload while moving. Perhaps Capcom angled for a new genre. Survival Frustration, or Control Horror? Joking aside the last level looked amazing as well as most of the game. Though there were a lot of buggy A.I. issues. And some design choices didn't exactly float my boat, albeit, inevitably this is really a moot point.



Lastly:
I ended up playing some good old fashion Coin-Op at my local arcade. I played a bit of Sega Rally 3. So, even if I wasn't enjoying the blue skies outside, I at least got to see them inside. I lost every match and over-compensated my steering. But toward the end I got the hang of it. Still Andy creamed me. And by the way, this game on these monitors looks amazing.

I also got the chance to beat Rambo co-op with Andy. The shooting felt really accurate and the Rage audio was priceless. It was a quick pleasant experience, except for the boulders. The quick targeting was a snap, and I actually Got a good commendation in the end! I've got what it takes. By the way, Adam wrote a review of this at Blast Heroes.



Oh yeah and I played about 50 rounds of Street Fighter 4 with Andy last night. We have an ongoing debate about whether or not one of the kids in the background is sporting a cap turned backwards on his head or if his head is shaved with a tuft of hair up front.

Click image to see larger.
We're still waiting for conformation from Capcom.

RIP MJ

Oscar decides to allow 10 of his friends to come to the party next time. This was the announcement made earlier this week in what appears to be an attempt to give UP a chance to win best picture. But then who'll win best animated feature? This is a double edged sword because, on the one hand, although great animated features may finally get recognized in the Best Picture category they'll most likely still have an extremely uphill battle trying to win. Does this mean that they won't be recognized in their own category? For instance, if UP gets a BP nod, will it also be included in animation? There are so many questions still swirling around the Academy's announcment.