Quickie: Job Hunting

Well the time has finally come; say goodbye to student loans, wave your 7 day weekends away, it's time to get a job. Why? Well, because I feel it's my calling (see: I'm skint). OK, so what will your fearless hero be working as? A quantum physicist? Boring! A fireman!? Too dangerous! The next Hollywood actor/model? Yawwwn! OK, so what already?

Well, yours truly has made several inquires into the following areas:
Market Research
Clerk
Market Research Clerk
Clerical work in the Market Research area

Haha! It's sad but true (although, admittedly I did make the job titles up!).

Anyway, like any 21 year old I have a plan (say again)! And working low pay temporary jobs is all part of that plan!

So peace out and wish me luck!

- Reality Unjustified BA. (that's right sports fans, Bachelor of Arts , you better show me some respectaa!)

Quickie: For reasons unknown!

Just a quick one from me. I'm off for a few 'drinks' tonight, my mate is driving us and we're kipping at a mates. Interestingly enough we're not going because of my mate but because of her mother. That's right, we were invited to her birthday party and as with all great birthday parties there is a theme! and I quote: "Come as an object not a person"...

What?

Ok, so by powers of great cunning and foreward thinking I'm going as a bottle of stella artois!

Well I'm wearing a Stella shirt, that counts for something, right?

R.U

E3 - Games I'm looking forward to seeing, but not as much as the other ones

There are 2 games that just missed out of my very exlusive list, they are as follows:

-------------------------------------------------------------

GTA IV

On this outing you will play as Niko Bellic who has come to the good old US of A to start a-new. Hailing from an undisclosed Eastern European country, Niko has come to Liberty City (based on New York - which was met with a sea of New-yorkers screaming "It isn't that bad over here!") to hook up with his cousin, Roman. Who has previously been telling Niko of his high flying life style, needless to say he was lieing and now Niko seems like he's going to have to sort Roman out himself, while trying to turn his back on his past crimes...

Niko arives at Liberty City, with hopes of going straight. Ha!

Tell me more, tell me more!
Details are still a bit sketchy, but here's a few confirmed things that may (or may not) interest any gamers out there:

• Set in the year 2007 (aka nowadays)
• Much more control over what you do and how you do it, and allow, and I quote 'The player to create their own destiny'
• No planes due to there only being one city...
• ...but helicopters are still in!
• Stealing cars is made more realistic with more animations (breaking glass to get into locked cars etc.)
• Mobile phones and the Internet become essential tools, allowing you to talk to friends, increasing relationships (for reasons still unknow...) as well as some internet/phone based missions (e-mailing a CV to gain an interview - ringing a 'hits' phone to see where he is in a crowd)
• Old favourites: Ammu-Nation and Pay 'n Spray are gone. With the player having to call arms dealers to make specified deliveries or meeting locations and times.
• You can use taxi's as, well, a taxi... Jump into a cab, select somewhere on the map, sit back and relax. Or skip the traveling and arive there instantly.
• Release Date: October 19th (for Europe) 16th (Noth America)

-------------------------------------------------------------

Fallout 3
Fallout 3 is the 3rd in the series of Fallout games (currently under development by Bethesda Softworks), which also spawned 2 spinoff games (Brotherhood of Steel and Fallout: Tactics). This is the first Fallout game, however, to use a first-person perspective; allowing players to view from their characters eyes, third person or a the original isometric perspective, as with the original games.
The game starts off with an interest idea (see below for a run down on the games opening). You begin as many of us do in real life; with your own birth. At this point your (character's) mother dies during labour, and so it is up to your father to bring you up.
When you turn 19 years old, one morning, you realise your father has disapeared, leaving The Vault (an underground area that keeps you and your community safe from the fallout which has occured above). Venturing out into the world above, you go in search of your father. From here, you'll be presented with a world much smaller than that of Oblivion, but much richer and more compressed; giving you more quality of Oblivions quantity.

Remember, someone always has to clean up your mess!

Tell me more, tell me more!
We're still a long ways off getting this game, it's penciled in for the final quatre of next year (2008) so I wouldn't hold your breath. Suprisingly enough, we did get a walkthrough of the game which is explained below:

• Main character creation is implemented by specifying the character's childhood. The character's mother dies in labor in a Vault hospital, after which the player chooses the character's Traits and general appearance during the father's DNA analysis. Afterwards, the father removes his surgeon's mask to reveal a face much like the one chosen by the player for the character.
• As a child in the Vault, the character receives a book titled "You're Special", whereupon you'll set the character's 7 primary aptitudes. The character receives training weapons and a PIP-boy during childhood, and the player's performance in various tests determines the rest of the attributes. Additionally, there will be quests inside the Vault that influence the pc's relationship with his or her father.
• Skills and Perks are similar to those in previous games: the player chooses 3 Tag Skills out of 14 to be the character's specialties, and the character will gain a Perk every other level.
• Max level will be 20.
• There will be a definite end to the game, with many possible endings based on good/evil/neutral events you trigger.
• The Vault-tec Assisted Targeting System, or V.A.T.S. will be implemented. Various actions cost action points, and both the player and enemies can target specific body areas for attacks, inflicting specific injuries. While using V.A.T.S., real-time combat is paused creating a combat system that the Bethesda developers have described as a hybrid between turn-based and real-time combat.
• The game will maintain the same level of gore. All gory deaths in the game will be shown in slow motion. One of the featured screenshots is of a super-mutant's head exploding in great detail.
• The game will feature a new health and radiation system. The player can measure an object's radioactivity and gauge the effect it will have on the character.
• Karma titles, similar to those from previous games, will grant Xbox Live Achievements on that platform.
• The number '101' can be seen on the back of several characters' Vault suits. This signifies the characters home of origin, Vault 101 in Washington, D.C.
• Characters will be able to create small blasts by targeting nuclear generators and using nuclear catapults.

E3 - Games I'm looking forward to seeing

#1

Overview.

Just pipping Mass Effect to the number 1 spot, Assassin's Creed, somewhat totally opposite to Mass Effect, is set during the end of the 12th century during the Third Crusade in 3 cities; Damascus, Jerusalem and Acre, as well as the locations inbetween. You play as Altair, a member of the very real Hashshashin (believed to be the original Assassins). As the game begins you begin as a, for want of a better word, Pro; you have all of the abilities, weapon and moves of a great Assassin. However, you soon lose many of those abilities and weapons and have to start from scratch - here is where the player will begin. Your task, to win back to respect of your piers, is to assassinate 9 key individuals, on either side of the Third Crusade, to prove your worth. How you do this is up to you...

What's so good?

Bottle. It took some unbelievable bottle and creative vision to attempt something on the scale of Assassin's Creed.

Parkour like you've never parkour'd before!

(You probably never have!)

First and foremost, Free Running has never been so Free; where as in the past you have been able to climb walls (Spiderman, anyone?) or the odd fence (GTA SA, huh?) it was all scripted, and very repetitive. Now, instead of a wall, fence or building being interactive - the environment and, as Jade Raymond (producer and total hottie) says "Any architectural detail that sticks out more then 2 inches can be used as a hold for your hands or feet."* Reading that description doesn't do the visuals justice however, and seeing it in action is something beautiful to behold. Altair does not just climb up; if there is nothing for him to grab with his hand or stick his big size nines into then he won't, he'll look for something close and within reach to do so - and thus why this game is amazing: realism.

You'll actually grab 'sticky-outty' bits when you climb.

Fight like a freakin' Ninja!!

Although this is perhaps the first game when running away like a big girls blouse actually looks cool, there will be occasions when you need and/or just feel like kickin' some guards' ass. The fighting style isn't a button masher, nor does it seem particularly difficult to use (perhaps, to master though...). It seems as though there will 3 different types of ways to attack an opponent: grapple and to then stab or push/throw, block and then counter-attack, or simply swing for them. There also seems to be 4 types of weapons; the uber cool Assassin switch blade (used for assassinations), a short and long sword and throwing knives. All of these weapons are interchangeable and make for some beautiful combinations.

Take the target out head on without a second thought.

Variety is the spice of life!?

So, you've got your uber cool climbing, jumping and basically spiderman-like moves and you've also got your somewhat ninja-like cut throat abilities for when things get up close and personal, but what else? Well, games like to give us gamers things in 3's and this is no different. The final and perhaps most original idea (although I think IO Interactive may have something to say about that) is the new social stealth concept which seems to be the coders new toy; next gen has given programmers the ability to program multiple A.I for each NPC (non-playing character) and thus the birth of social stealth). Social stealth is a pretty simple idea; to avoid looking suspicious you perform tasks or mimic actions of others to remain inconspicuous: think "that" peeping tom who pretends to attend to his garden every time you catch his eye!

In Assassin's Creed, the idea is the same. Perhaps you want to get close to your target but have no buildings near by, or perhaps there are just too many guards. Well, with social stealth you will be able to blend into a crowd, or small group of people (say, a bunch of monks) and make your way towards the target within said crowd. This will allow you to get as close as possible without your target or his bodyguards becoming suspicious of the guy in the hood with the multiple weapons on his back. It can also be used when splegging it (see "running away, fast") to lose the guards; perhaps there's a group of individuals sitting on a bench? Sit next to them and watch as the guards go running on past you!

Feeling sneaky? Use crowds of monks to approach the target without being seen

It's the next stage of gaming-evolution!

We're at the stage now where next-gen games are now, finally making an appearance. Sure, Gears of War introduced us to what could be achieved and even the game play was pretty darn good too. But it didn't really push the boundaries game play wise, it didn't introduce us to any new ideas or innovative game play techniques. It was, if we're being fair, a very beautiful looking 3rd person shooter!

Assassin's Creed (and Mass Effect) are pushing the envelope to the extreme, offering players as much freedom and high quality of content that games such as Oblivion (lots of space, lacking on quality), GOW (again, looks nice - but a rehash of old ideas and very short), and so on, failed to do. It's clear to see that the final quarter of 2007 will see the rise of the true next gen games.

So...?

So?! You need more? Well, let me take this opportunity to turn into the hormone driven guy that I truly am and present to you Jade Raymond...

We love you Jade..!!!!! <3

Ahem, quite..

Pencil your calenders folks. November has been announced as the release date for Assassin's Creed - it's gunna' be one helluva month!

E3 Game Play Video

Newest Trailer

PS. The song from the new trailer is Lonely Souls by Unkle with vocals from Mr Richard Ashcroft himself. I promptly downloaded that song, as it's so damned good!

R. U

Quickie: The Life of David Gale - Movie Review

Ego, desire: a half martyr is no good to us

The Life of David Gale is a drama based around David Gale (Kevin Spacey) and his convicted rape and murder of fellow activist Constance Harraway (Laura Linney). Bitsey Bloom (Kate Winslet), news reporter, is drafted in by Gale not to stop his death sentence, or prove he did not do it, but to find out "why" and to make sure people remember him for what lived for and not for why he died, interestingly it eventually becomes apparent that his reason for living and dieing were the same.

Overall The Life of David Gale is kind of a predicatable film, but it's told very well - and led by the ever brilliant Kevin Spacey, acting his socks of as David Gale. Kate Winslet puts in a decent performance as Spacey's female lead, Bitsey Bloom, and has really made me question her talent (for the better!) as of late. (Although technically, by "as of late" I mean the films I've seen her in and not those she has done most recently.)

The most effective part of the film is that you really feel for Gale right up until the last second when you realise he wasn't doing it to prove a point but because of his ego and, as he describes in his own words about a woman who does the same to him.."(she did it to) Poke her finger at authority, show the powers that be how much smarter she was" - this is not a preachy film about the death penalty, nor should it be advertised as being. Once you see the last scene that will become apparent to you. This film is about sacrificing yourself for your desire because (another quote) "(T)he moment... the second... that you get what you seek... you don't... you can't want it anymore."

It's a good movie, solid. Kate Winslet is Ok, Spacey is a diamond. It's certainly worth a shot, especially if you're a die hard Spacey fan.

3 out of 5

(It's easily a 4 if you're a fan of Kevin Spacey)

Quickie: Transformers - Movie Review

A film in disguise!
(Unless I totally love a film, expect reviews to be about this long)

I have a few gripes with this film. Firstly, the acting - terrible! No chemistry at all - especially between the two lead characters, Mikaela Banes (Megan Fox) and Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf), argh, horrible.
Graphically it was amazing, but it was so badly used it was unbelievable - apart from some slow motion shots where you could actually see the detail and care that had gone into the special effects and the fantastic Optimus Prime transforming moments (and the transforming in general) they were really difficult to make out (I saw it at the flicks, not on some pirate by the way :P) whenever there was a battle, it just turned into a mesh of 'robot' where you couldn't distinguish between who and what was fighting - realistic, yeah. Entertaining, not for me...

On a nicer note, it did have some genuinely funny moments, however that took away a lot of the emotion that could have been used. I didn't feel sorry for anyone, nor did I feel like they were afraid it seemed like a joke to them... Maybe that's what they were going for when they wrote it but I believe had they tried to involved the audience emotionally it would have worked a lot better.

Apart from that the best thing in this film is Megan Fox and that's only because she was the least worse thing on show (and looked very, very attractive...)

For all you transformer hardcore fans, you will love it no doubt. My mate couldn't stop harping on about it after but it just didn't do it for me.

On a positive note, I did get to see that awesome trailer for JJ Abrams' new film. It was the best thing about this movie

It gets a very lenient 2/5 from me. (Thanks to Megan Fox - although she can't act for toffee, bless her...)

Please don't make a sequel

2 out of 5

Thank you!!
What can I say, I'm a guy!!

R.U

Update and Lost Countdown added!

Hey ho,

Well I've not posted for a bit and I am behind on a few things blog-related. My final game of E3 should be up before the weekend is over. I think I may put the Lost rewatch on hold for a week or so. Also, in other news, I have been writing a short story - you may remember me having a moan about my creative process during a Midnight Reflection at 2:51am. My short story, aptly named Man, covers the, somewhat mundane life of Frick, a lower class factory worker. Set in an unspecified time in the future, we see what man has become, and during the story uncover specific parts of Man, and how we, as a race, have changed. The following is from the opening chapter, which focuses on Man... and his daily routine:

...and his daily routine
"Is anyone alive in there?!" He shouted. But he was not heard, or at least he was not received; Work had become such an impossibly repetitive routine over the, Frick thought, endless years. The factory itself seemed to go on forever, both vertically and horizontally, like it's line of various items which resembled pretty much nothing at all at this stage of production, but promised to be put to efficient use by the time the various items had reached the external sector of the factory. Frick, currently in his late 30s, medium height, medium build, and unshaven had always described himself as being 'built perfectly for the job' - which was both a fair estimate, a true reflection of himself as a man, and a statement of irony; working the factories did not require any special abilities or a specific body type as say, Bin Beatles do - named so after the Dung beetle for the way at which it would push its huge mound of waste around. Frick was currently wearing the factories brown-shaded overalls, and brown-shaded gloves.

"Hey, you!!" The shout came again. Snapping back into reality, Frick feverishly began checking the various items that had arrived at his sector of the assembly line, picking out those which he instinctively recognized as being "null" and placing them in the nearby bin which would, sooner or later, be taken to another factory. At this new factory, the bins contents would be emptied onto an almost identical conveyor belt, where people, not unlike Frick, would sort through the somewhat random trash, locating those items that were relevant to that particular factory, and discarding those which were not. This would repeat forever if needs be, or at least until the bin was empty.

Well if you manage to stumble across this blog, give it a read and let me know what you think. It should be noted that this short story is heavily influenced by Phil K Dick and in particular the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Or at least that is where I am heading with it. At this moment in time I'm about half way through so expected to see the rest of this chapter up some time soon, with an update!

One last thing - I've added a Lost Countdown (very cool!) for all us Losties out there.

Just 200 days to go!

R.U

E3 - Games I'm looking forward to seeing

#2

Overview.

Set in the not-so-distant future, Mass Effect (an action/RPG) see's players taking on the aged old saving the galaxy quest from utter distruction yet again. This time however, it's a whole lotta' different. You play as Shepard; gender, appearence and back story customizable, commander of the SS Nomandy and the first human to be allowed entry into the Spectre's - an elite policing force used to bring law and order to the galaxy. As the first human spectre, your actions (or inaction) will have a diverse effect on how the other alien races, populating the universe, percieve both you and humanity. Described as Jack Bauer in space, you will be faced with many moral discisions which could see you choosing to allow many thousands to perish for the greater good. This is your story...

What's so good?
Where to begin? Graphically, well, I have not seen a game rival these kinds of graphics. When I first got my 360 and popped in Gears of War I thought, how can anything be any better? The fact Gears of War came out relatively early in the 360's life, boded well for future titles, and now we have evidence to support that; Mass Effect.

Bioware.

Bioware is also a reason why it's looking so good. In an age where many publishers are dumbing down their franchises to be accessed by the masses (see Splinter Cell: Conviction) you can better your bottom dollar that Bioware know what they are doing. Primarily this is an RPG. You fight, you gain experience, you use that experience to increase a skill or skills and continue on your merry way. We've had little or no gameplay footage of RPG and experience pooling, and that may be a worry for hardcore-RPG'ers but I would not worry. They will be there and they will be sound. You only have to look at Biowares previous titles for evidence of this; Baldur's gate, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire, Neverwinter Nights - all tremendous RPG titles. Mass Effect will be packing with RPG features, have no doubt about that..

Action.

What's even more impressive is the action elements of this game. As a fan of the tactical shooters (GRAW 2, Rainbow 6: Vegas and so on - although, granted, these newer versions are a dumbed down version of the original classics...) the promise of controling your party members, ordering them to take cover, use specific skills etc, is almost as exciting as the game itself.

Conversations.

Now, my thoughts on the conversation system keep fluxuating. At times I think it looks beautiful, inovative and original. Other times I think it looks difficult, fiddly and poorly planned. However at this moment in time, I do thnk it will be a plus to the games never ending positives;

Instead of choosing from a list of responses and then watching your character reiterate them back at you, it will work a little more like this. Once engaged into a covnersation you will be presented with several emotional responses. So instead of a bunch of lines of conversation to read you'll have a more watered down, basic direction which you'll be able to choose from. Many of these options are one word choices, based on the current conversations direction. Another, even more innotive, feature in the ability to jump into a conversation while another character is speaking to impose yourself, cut them off, knock them out or any combination thereof.

E3 Update: Release date!!
Oh yes, we finally have one. During Mass Effects presentation at this years E3 we were finally given a release MONTH. Ahem, yes, well it's better than nothing. The month in quesiton is November and although many are enraged at it being so damned long away. At least we have something to look forward to. Bioware have been very careful not to release a date until they could be sure that they could deliver. I'm 99% certain that Mass Effect will be in stores sometime in November!

New E3 2007 Trailer

Stay Tuned for my number 1 game for E3 2007!

Quickie: Graduation Mayday!!

Well, it's finally here. Graduation is tomorrow.

Currently I'm a little nervous, a little apprehensive, but overall I'm looking forward to it. Sadly, two of the four individuals who were coming to my graduation can no longer make it. A familiar friend has become ill, and, since she was going to pick my grandmother up (drop-out numero 2), both my family friend and my grandmother will not be able to come. My mother and brother will still be their though, so all is not lost!

Another mini-drama has also reared it's ugly head: transportation. As I said above, we're now down a car and neither me or my mother (brother is too young) can drive. Initially I was going to get a lift of a mate, but I can't get hold of him at the moment so that means that I may have to get a bus; and since we have to be at the Stadium of Light (did I mention the graduation is at that hell hole?!) by 8:30 in the morning, and it takes half an hour on the bus, that means I will have to get up at around 7:00am, which I haven't had to do for a long time. Old habits die hard, and all that...

Anyway, I'm sure I'll pop back on here to note down how it went.

- RU

PS. Piss up has probably been scheduled for the day after
PPS. (Lost) Tabula Rasa episode review up later

E3 - Games I'm looking forward to seeing

#3

Overview.

Alan Wake, is a psychological action-adventure thriller featuring, you guessed it, Alan Wake: a popular novelist who is currently having a huge amount of writers block. This he puts down, in part, to the loss of his wife as well as an uncomfortable dose of insomnia. Following this, Alan retreats to the East Coast town of Bright Falls; where his darkest nightmares seem to be living and breathing in reality. Taking control of Alan, players will explore Bright Falls, and the mysterious herein, attempting to unravel who or what it is that is lurking behind the shadows.

Structured in a similar style as a TV series, Alan Wake is divided into segments, each segment representing a TV episode; with similar plot twists, character arcing and so on and so forth. However, this is far from a linear story - Bright Falls will be open for exploration where one gamers actions could be diversely different to another’s. Although during Remedy Entertainments previous series Max Payne, this time the players most effective weapon may actually be his flashlight. It's believed that there will be both day-time and night-time elements. With the day-time focusing on gather clues and conversing with individuals, and the night-time focusing on exploring the shadows and following up on leads.

What's so great?

There's something about the structure that's very interesting about the structure; the day and night time segments, the promised TV series-style and the freedom to explore and change the progression of the story depending on, for instance, which lead you follow up on first, or whether or not, while driving to your destination, you decide to check out that vacant light that just switched on as you drove past.

The atmosphere is spot on, during the demonstration trailer we were shown how Bright Falls can be changed from a beautiful countryside-esc town into a creepier-than-creep, dark, spooky, almost ghost-like town. And the great thing is, it's the same place. It's not two different maps, one with more visuals and another with sharper looking shapes and shadows. Just like reality, what can initially seem like a beautiful landscape during the day, can become a terrifying twist on perspective. Like other games such as Silent Hill, many of the scares will most likely come from within oneself; constantly on the edge of your seat you will be expecting something or someone to jump out at you, only for it to happen when you least expect.Coupled with this Remedy Entertainment have also focused on environmental factors. Although details are sketchy, from the demonstration you could see a full cycle from day to night to day again. This almost seems like there will be full day cycles, as well as various weather effects; including rainstorms and even tornados which rip up buildings, cars and other scattered debris.

Opening mission walkthrough.
I stumbled across this during my research, it's a descriptive of the opening mission and objective of Alan Wake:

On with the playable mission, and as Alan drives to the cabin, he reveals through voice-over that his new book is about a writer, who, after a tragic loss, goes to live in a secluded cabin where he creates a horror story about creatures of darkness disguised as men. However, when the writer leaves the cabin he discovers the world has turned into the nightmare he's written. Alan's story begins with the writer picking up a hitch-hiker on the way to the cabin - and right on cue, the spooky piano music strikes up again and a real hitchhiker is spotted on the road ahead. "That's creepy..." says Alan.

Of course, Wake picks up the shabby hitcher and begins telling him about the fact he's a writer, and that his story has a hitch-hiker in it. "The hitch-hiker's a killer of course," says the creepy guy in a gruff drawl. "No," replies Alan. "The hitch-hiker gets killed. Then he comes back, or something, a creature of darkness that haunts the writer." Alan drives on, but then is stopped in his tracks - ahead, on the road, a car has overturned, the result of an accident.

Alan pulls up, and gets out of his vehicle to examine the wreckage - there are bloodstains on the road, but no-one around. Suddenly, a lorry hurtles round the corner and smashes into his car with the hitcher still inside, as Alan has to frantically dive to safety, losing consciousness. He starts to hear voices, then wakes up - it's now dark and he has a gun and torch in his hands, and the hitch-hiker is nowhere to be seen. Alan still has to reach the cabin, now on foot, which is up on a nearby hill and across a rickety wooden bridge, which he bravely skips across.

The camera cuts to a first-person shimmering view of the bridge, as we hear a horrific whispered voice: "Waaaaaake!" The enemy zooms Evil Dead-style towards the other side of the bridge, causing a streetlight to shatter. Alan starts to run on the path up towards the cabin, pursued by the unseen enemy, as each street lamp that he passes explodes and plunges the area into more darkness. Wake turns around and shines the torch at the creature, allowing him to shoot at
a shadowy human form that recoils in agony.

Back to the heart-stopping demo, and as the chaotic music rises to a crescendo, Wake runs the rest of the way, more lights smashing as he moves past them on the path to the cabin. Finally, he reaches the hideaway, but we can see from outside that all the bulbs in the rooms are exploding, creating more darkness. Trapped, Alan turns around, and as the screen fades to black we hear a voice say: "Wake, we have a common destination..."

- The full article can be found here

What's not so great?
There's a lot of information yet to come on this title; the amount and diversity of combat, investigation methods, npc interaction, freedom and so on have far from been explained.
Day and night cycles will be interesting to experience; how will they be done? Apparently, as the story progresses, day shorterns and night icnreases in length. That's an interesting concept, but again, without detailed information on how exactly this will work we're left with concepts without substance. Will the day and night segments be split up? Or will their be a natural progression from morning to noon and then finally to night? I'm not even sure which method would work best, the former being very unnatural and will most likely remove the gamer from his or her experience. And the later being rather constrictive; with the promise of freedom, if the game is split up into day and night segments, will there be certain interactions and places to explore that is exclusive to one or the other?
Also, a release date originally rumoured to be end of this year, seems to be more likely to be penned in for 2008.

Alan Wake - Trailer

What to expect at E3.
I'd like to think we'd get a 2007 released date confirmed at this years E3 and I'm afraid that if we don't get that then the rumoured 2008 release may actually have some substance. Alan Wake should be at E3 this year, although whether Remedy will be their or if Microsoft will just be showing off some new footage is all guess work.
Cross your fingers and hope for a release date. I'm pretty sure we'll get some new game play, maybe even some hands-on, as well as some information on the structure and character interaction.

Movie Reviews: Die Hard 4.0 (2007)

Intro.

Almost 20 years since his first adventure, some 10 years since his last, Bruce Willis returns as John McClane: wise-cracking maverick with a need to shoot and be shot at, wearing his sweaty, dirty wife beater, foiling the bad guys plans and saving the world. And for what? A pat on the back, and multiple gunshot wounds.

All in a days work.

Plot Summary.
This time, McClane is fighting in the digital age - subroutines, modems, the internet, hackers and so on. To begin with, McClane is asked to act as transport for a high-profile hacker: Matthew Farrell (played by Justin Long) - a geeky, stuttering nervous, digital genius, a suspect in the recent unauthorised digital entries into US government networks. However, things turn from what seemed like a routine chauffeuring job to plain, damn, bad as someone tries to remove Farrell from the picture, as well as having already killed several of the other suspects.

After some fantastic action scenes; "killing" a helicopter with a car (pictured below), exploding apartments, and using a fire extinguisher as remote TNT, McClane and Farrell manage to make it back to government headquarters; here it becomes apparent that Farrell has no direct involvement in the current days events; which include the shutting down of power, gas, information flow and so on, but is pivotal to saving the day.
McClane and Farrell bond, with Farrell asking how McClane can be that guy; the hero. McClane then says that he doesn't want to and that if someone else could he would leave them to it. Farrell still can't understand how McClane can be so calm after being shot at so many times, but McClane persists it tends to happen quite a lot. Farrell and McClane compliment themselves extremely well, and in several situations both have to use their talents (Farrell’s brains and McClane’s muscle, as Gabriel (the baddy - played by Timothy Olyphant) puts it: "John, you're a Timex watch in a digital age.") at the same time to overcome a situations; McClane’s face-off with Mia (Maggie Q), while Farrell worked to undo what she had done for example.
It soon becomes a personal vendetta between McClane and Gabriel as McClane kills Mai Lihn, who is also Olyphant’s love interest. Gabriel then seeks out and kidnaps Lucy McClane (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), who has since had a strained relationship with her father and his over protectiveness and spying on her when she's out fraternizing with her boyfriend.
With help from the Warlock (Kevin Smith) they locate Gabriel, it is now a race against the clock before Gabriel shuts down all power across the country and escapes with millions in digital cash. During the persuit Farrell is also kidnapped and McClane takes down a F-14 fighter plane, due to Gabriel’s control of communications and his targeting of McClane’s pursuiting truck.

In a final showdown, McClane, already shot once in the shoulder, is held at gunpoint by Gabriel who proclaims that he will shoot Farrell, Lucy and then McClane himself to add insult to injury. In a final super-bad-ass moment, McClane pushes the gun into his own gunshot wound and shouts "Yippee-ki-yay Motherf***er!" - shooting himself - with the bullet going through his wounded shoulder and into Gabriel. With Farrell stepping up and taking out Gabriel’s final goon, whom was hold Lucy hostage.

The film ends on a nice, rather chessy, note. With Willis acting as the go-between between Farrell and Lucy, as the two ask McClane if he/she "said anything about me". Naturally, McClane recieves little more than a pat on the back, he does however tell Farrell that he is that guy; the hero, that he was so far from at the beginning of the film.

Final Thoughts.
This film is a fantastic action film (suprisingly) brilliantly acted. That's not to say that there are particularly bad actors/actresses in this film, or that the previous Die Hard films were badly acted but, usually, action films leave little or no room for actors to show off their range of talents. Here however, Bruce Willis, Timothy Olyphant, Justin Long and Mary Elizabeth Winstead were all excellent. With Justin Long and Timothy Olyphant shining. The interaction between Long and Willis was very natural - with Long playing the nerdy "why is it happening to me" hacker to perfection and Willis playing a bald(er), although less wise cracking, naturally more mature, John McClane. Some may not like McClane in this movie, he's played different in this film as he was in the first two films, the third showing a transition. But then, that was 20 years ago, and McClane, like Willis, has aged.

Although I'm a little biased toward Mary Elizabeth Winstead, it's not without reason. Yes she's beautiful, but she can act too. Previously, Mary has played the screamer in slasher films - and was even being hailed as the next scream-queen. However, here she was so far from that it was unreal. She really was her fathers daughter. She was like a female version of John McClane in "Die Hard", at one point - when a normal person may be thinking this is the last chance to talk to their father before they die - Gabriel offers the radio to Lucy, asking her to talk to McClane because he can't. Instead of proclaiming her love for her father and saying how sorry she was, she instead tells him that "There's only 5 of them left" - classic.

Action-wise. It's pretty impressive. Also, knowing that Willis performed a high percentage of stunts himself makes the visuals all the more impressive. The most notable being the F-14 sequence, where at one point, McClane is, what can only be described as, surfing the plane as it swirls around. He then jumps off of the plane to which he is chased by an explosion. Great stuff.

Dialogue was also impressive. Everyone was awaiting that famous one-liner, and when it was delivered it was worth the wait. As well as that ever famous like, others returned too; "It seemed a good idea at the time" being a favourite of mine, after he shoots himself to shoot Gabriel.

• Overall, if you want to go to see this movie for realism. Don't go.
• If you go and see this movie expecting to see the John McClane from Die Hard 1 and 2, and to a lesser extent, 3. You may be disappointed.
• If, however, you want to see a brilliantly acted, modernized John McClane - who takes a little longer to get up, is a little older, and has...erm, no hair - then go. And enjoy it for what it truly is.

A fabulous action movie.

4 out of 5

Quickie: A "Die Hard 4 Point Oh" /slash/ "Xbox 360" Hybrid

This entry (I'm still not sure what I should call these; posts? Entries?) is two fold:

First: Xbox360 - Makes an early return.

About a week ago I sent my barely a month old Xbox360 back for repairs (it was scratching my discs and not wanting to take any chances, phoned them up - where I was greeted by a very nice young lady who told me I would receive my Xbox360 back within 20-25 days. I was a little gutted with the time scale given to me, but I suppose that's what makes this news so much sweeter). Yesterday I received an email saying that my beloved xbox would be making it's way - Homeward Bound-esc - back to me in 2 to 5 working days. So sometime before Monday/Tuesday!

Lets hope the bugger is fixed!

Second: Die Hard Four Point Oohhh

I'm off to see Die Hard 4.0 tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it, truth be told - I think this is because of the similarily ancient Rocky Balboa experience I had earlier this year, which saw me totally awe struck by what I thought was going to be garbage. I mean, Die Hard is such a great franchise and requires little-to-no brain power to enjoy. And Bruce Willis is just so damn great - such a lovely chap too.

Plus this time round we get to feast our eyes on the kick-ass Maggie Q (MI:3) who plays the 'baddy' and the delicious, and one of my favourite ladies of the moment, Mary Elizabeth Winstead (of Final Destination 3, Grindhouse and Black Christmas fame - pictured) who plays McClanes daughter (I bet poor Bruce feels old!!)

So, my thoughts on this film to follow probably tomorrow or Friday, along with my #3 for E3 (oh that rhymed!)

- R.U

Movie Reviews: The Fountain (2006)

Intro.
Spanning across 3 different time periods – 1500s, 2000s and 2500s – The Fountain is a fantasy-like symbol of (re)birth, living, dieing and accepting the inevitable. Hugh Jackman takes on the lead as Tomas, Dr. Tom Creo and Tommy during the 1500s, 2000s and 2500s respectively. Rachel Weisz plays Jackman’s love interest/wife during the first two time periods (as Queen Isabel/Izzi Creo respectively), and strangely enough a tree in the final 2500s, time period. The film switches between the three time periods extremely quickly at times, so to keep things legible, and to make things a lot easier for myself, I’ve split the film into three sections; covering the three time periods.

Plot.
During the 1500s setting, which is, in fact, the dieing Izzi’s story, Queen Isabel asks Tomas “Will you deliver Spain from bondage?” to which he promptly promises that, on his life, he shall. To be successful Tomas must eat from the Tree of Life, in the garden of Eden, then return to Queen Isabel so that she “can be his Eve”. The story ends, one chapter short, with Tomas being stabbed by Lord of Xibalba a guardian of the Tree and the entrance to Eden who proclaims to the dying Tomas that “Death is the road to awe.”

Mainly, the movies storyline follows that of Dr. Tom Creo’s actions during the 2000s time period. Here, Tom is trying in vain to cure his wife, Izzi, from a terminal brain tumour. During this setting, Tom finding it difficult to come to terms with his wife’s impending death, where as Izzi seems more than ready to let go. Upon looking for a cure to the tumour, Tom stumbles upon a tree which can halt the aging process. Although this discovery, in its own right is phenomenal, Tom realizes this won’t help his already dying wife and ignores its importance. After Izzi becomes hospitalized she asks Tom to help her “finish it”, her 1500s story. Eventually, she dies – leaving Tom in a world of hate and anger. He promises his colleagues that "Death is a disease, it's like any other. And there's a cure. A cure - and I will find it."

During the future setting of the 2500s we see that Tom, who is travelling towards the about-to-explode-and-create-a-star-system nebula, on a small part of land with a Tree, has now reached a higher form of understanding.
It’s possible that the he writes the final chapter of Izzi’s book – which shows Tomas (of the 1500s) survive and eat from the Tree of Life, only for him to die while doing so; plants, flowers and finally a tree sprout from his body, killing him –– to which we are then also shown the final part of the 2000s time line – Tom plants a seed where his wife has been buried, believed to be a seed from the Tree of Life that he discovered earlier – so in this final scene. Tom and his wife’s body (living through the tree) head straight towards the nebula. This is to symbolize the acceptance on Toms part of death, and how it is also the beginning of new life – just like the end of both the 1500s and 2000s time period storylines.

Final Thoughts.
The perspective to which this film can be viewed is open to interpretation, which will either have you annoyed or in awe of the film. Personally, I believed that the 2500 storyline was the present, with the Tom having illusions of his past – either because of his heightened understanding of life and the universe or because he had been alone for so long. The 1500s period was written by Izzi as pure fiction; a way of helping her husband understand and eventually deal with her death. The ending of the book was left blank because that part of the story hadn’t occurred yet; 1500s Tomas being stabbed by Lord of Xibalba was a clever metaphor of Tom losing his wife – and becoming, what it seemed at the time, the end for him.

Jackman was… OK. I’m usually a pretty good fan of his but I wasn’t completely convinced with his obsessive actions nor was I completely taken in by his loss. Rachel Wiesz on the other hand was fantastic during both the 1500 and 2000 time periods. I thought she was extremely diverse to play both the queen and the angelic and playful Izzi.

Visually, this film is stunning. The small portion of land and the nebula to which Jackmans 2500s character spent his time was beautifully created. Also, the throne room for Queen Isabel was extremely effective too, with the halo-like lightening behind her as she spoke, as well as the jagged screen which was used to hide her face, which contrasted well. However, as beautiful as the scene design turned out to be, some of it felt out of place. Because the film flashed forwards and backwards almost several times a second, it would sometimes become disorientating and you would become confused with what, where and when the current scene was supposed to be taking place.

I’ll be honest; I didn’t get this movie straight away, at least, not as a overarching symbol for the circle of life, but it’s such an interesting story riddled with fantastic metaphor which stimulates all the senses. It can, however, seem to be preaching at times and the film is basically a simple idea made rather complicated but other than that it is a highly enjoyable film. I was left a little empty at the end but once I had taken time to digest what it all meant, I was left feeling inspired and content.

Reccomended for those looking for a movie to discuss and one that is open to several different interpretations
4/5

E3 - Games I'm looking forward to seeing

#4

Overview.
You play as a plane-crash survivor who stumbles across a once utopia but now forgotten community named Rapture. This ruined community is inhabited by things you once believed lived under your bed - but this isn't a kill or be killed society, at least not unless you want it to be. Many of the inhabitants such as the Big Daddy will not attack you unless you threaten it or its Little Sister - and if their names are creepy enough, Little Sister use syringes to extract a substance - known as Adam - from corpses. This substance, to which you are also partial to, is an addiction to those who consume it and allow of a variety of physical and mental enhancements - for instance, biotic implants or psychic abilities.

What's so great?
It's not a mindless first-person shooter (yes, I'm looking at you Halo 3). There is substance to this game that goes beyond it's shoot'em up roots. Primarily, this game is an Action/Adventure which focuses heavily on puzzle solving and player choices. These choices can seem rather daunting at first but it's more to do with flexibility than deciding which shoes go with which pants. For instance, if you've decided or have no choice in engaging an enemy you may wish to just shoot him to bits; set an object on fire and hurl it at him with your telekinesis powers; hack into a medical machine and make it hurt instead of heal your enemy; unleash a plague of insects on him; brainwash him or his bodyguard and make him your puppet - or any combination of those, to name but a few. Some of these abilities are powered by a diverse range of plasmids (used to enhance oneself in the world of BioShock). The following (obtained from the official BioShock website) is a list of the different types of plasmids available in the game:

• Electrobolt. This projectile can be used to stun both man and machine-like enemies as well as being, naturally, dangerous when combined with water!


• Telekinesis. Can be used to move and manipulate object if they are out of reach, too heavy or on fire! useful for creating shields, returning enemy grenades and creating obstacles.


• Incinerate. Sets objects and creatures on fire


• Winter Blast. Freeze your foes in place and then shatter them into a thousand pieces!


• Security Bullseye. Turns security devices and machines to your advantage as you tag enemies with this plasmid - causing security devices to act aggressively with your enemy.
  

What's not so great? (This section should be short.)
One of my main concerns is how far the supposed freedom will go with respect to the environments and exploration - and what this will mean for the story. Will the story get lost within all the exploration? Will the player lose his bearings while he's exploring the environment? Inside chatter hints toward optional objectives and little extras that don't need to be explored to complete the game. Although that sounds like great news, does that mean we'll be privy to yet another linear first-person shooter with some interesting RPG elements?
That said, I'm not worried. With my ear to the floor I have heard that not only is the story excellent, the way it is told is innovative too.

BioShock - Trailer (This is such an awesome trailer)

What to expect at E3?
I do not expect the information overload from this title as I do some of the others. With a release date already penciled in (August 21st and 24th for USA and Europe respectively) I think this E3 will be about generating as much buzz as possible. Maybe we'll get a date for a playable demo or such, other than that I predict some hands on playing and maybe some new features/enemies/interactions/plasmids or such like.

E3 - Games I'm looking forward to seeing

#5

Overview.
Returning for his 5th installment, you play as Ubisofts Sam Fisher, former Third Echelon Splinter Cell and current fugitive. The game mechanics, that is to say the previously fantastic light and dark engine, has been thrown out of the window. This time Sam uses what we as mere civilians see as normal actions to seamlessly glide past a guarded area or alternatively creating a scene or incident elsewhere to draw the attention of a patrolling guard so that Sam can simply stroll on in and complete his objective.

What's so great?
It's naturally the next chapter in the Splinter Cell series. Double Agent (the previous installation) saw Sam playing as a, well, double agent - where he was given choices and objectives by both the Third Echelon (aka the good guys) as well as the terrorists he was working for. Now, Sam has cut all ties from Third Echelon leaving him all dressed up with nowhere to go. Because of this new direction in the storyline, a new engine and approach has been created. Previously, Sam would hide in shadows and work his way around from dark spot to dark spot, avoiding lights, making sound, and so on. You might even say it was an extremely advanced version of Frogger, but we won't...

Because the light and shadows engine has all but been removed, Sam has new techniques and abilities at his disposal. He's slightly more hardcore, helluva lot more interactive and very much like Jason Bourne. New interactions available to the player are almost endless - almost all objects in the environment are interactive. This is to allow the player to improvise with his surroundings; been spotted by a patrolling guard? Casually throw a bottle at him and make a run for it - alternatively: lead him into a room and barricade the door with a table, chairs and TV set and slip out of the back window.

Also, where as in the past Sam would of had one or two CQC (Close-quarters Combat) moves, Sam is now as handy with his fists as Jackie Chan, although perhaps not as nimble!

Finally, visually it looks pretty good. Especially the lighting - funny I should finish talking about the lighting...

What's not so great?
OK, well that sounds spiffing but "Why are they doing that to OUR Splinter Cell!!!!"

I was really pumped for this game until I started perusing the official Splinter Cell: Conviction forums. Initially I just thought the forum folks, sprouting the above phrase, were just overreacting. But the more I considered their argument the more they seemed to be right. From my instant reaction of the game which at first had been "Oooh a new Splinter Cell with new ideas" quickly became "Noooo, a new Splinter Cell without an actual SPLINTER CELL in it".

Many aspects of this game are appealing to the masses; the casual gamer - the clever sneaking around has been replaced with CQC, throwing a bottle to attract enemy attention has changed to, erm, CQC with a bottle. Whereas the previous Splinter Cell games were a lot more mature and tactical. Hopefully - and I do still have hope - Ubisoft will still keep the game strategic. At the moment I'm still confident this game will be more than worth the price but there is still an ounce of squinting going on here.

Splinter Cell: ConViction - Trailer

What to expect at E3?
This is the part where I actually stick my neck on the line and make some predictions on what we'll learn about this game over the 3-day E3 event:

• A comment explaining either - "We're on schedule here's a confirmed release date" or "Well, we're still aiming for November but..."
• A new trailer - I suspect featuring a new location
• Some information on Multi-player
• More hands-on playing. Perhaps at the new location and/or presenting new features

With a degree of uncertainty...

Salutations!

Right, so I was chatting to a buddy on msn and he happens to tell me that "our degree results are available for pick up and I got a FIRST!!" So I ignore the last bit and begin to text all my buds; telling them that we can all go in a pick our results up together. During the middle of said texting I get a text saying, and I quote: "We gettin results :p"....

Yeah, OK, thanks for telling me!!

Anyway, I hop onto a bus - I can't drive, I really should but I don't - arrive at Uni a mere minutes before the receptionist packs up for the day. I relax a little, receive my results - at this point, by the way, I have no idea what they actually mean, I'm just kind of happy that it says "Pass and Proceed" at the bottom - so I can actually go to my own graduation.

Anyway, on the bus journey home I work out that I have, in fact, obtained a 2:2.

That'll do, I say...

Anyway, graduation ceremony is on the 9th of this month so I have that to look forward to as well as the little event directly after that, of getting, beyond any kind of doubt, completely smashed!

Congratulations to the rest of my squad - Class of 2007!

Although one of my mates failed (ironically the one who sent me the text message above)

Midnight Reflection @ 2.51am

Is this normal?

I have this inspirational urge to write a book, or at least a short story - but I'm afraid to even start writing, with the possibility I won't finish it. Somewhere deep inside myself, past all those trouble teenaged years, left at the miserable memories sign post I've cunningly deduced that if I don't write this short story then I won't actually fail at it.
Score for me!!

That's kind of pathetic isn't it?

Send you answers in a stamped addressed envelope to...

Quickie: E3 2007

With gamings FA cup final just a mere 10 days away, I thought it would be nice to include a countdown (see right) and my opinions on what we (and indeed, I) should be looking out for. But first, a little history:

The Electronic Entertainment Expo, commonly known as E3, is an annual trade show for the computer and video games industry presented by the Entertainment Software Association. It is only open to game industry professionals, journalists, and guests of exhibitors, such as celebrities. As of 2007, E3 will be invitation-only, leaning that instead of around 60,000 people at E3 there will only be 5,000. The reason for this change is to allow for a more intimate atmosphere where business will be emphasized. A separate conference called Entertainment for All Expo has been created to accommodate the public demand for a major, annual video game event.

- (Source: Wikipedia)

Over the next week and a bit I'll have a muse at the top 5 (ish) games that I'm looking foward to this year.

For a current list of games currently confirmed to be showing at this years E3 go here.

- Signing out