Wednesday, March 31, 2010

tHop - Step Up 3

Hello and welcome, it’s time to do some trailer Hopping.

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=64710

That, my friends, is the trailer to the third installment in the Step Up franchise. Adam Sevani, A.K.A. Moose in both this movie as Step up 2: The Streets, returns to us in this movie alongside two new main cast members Rick Malambri and Sharni Vinson who will take on the roles of lead dancer dude and dancer gal. I highly doubt that this movie will bring anything new to the table other than the 3D aspect. Which, on its own, will be an interesting thing to behold. I've seen plenty of things in 3D by now. Like blue aliens in a pretty jungle and a fake, severed arm in water, bitten off by a fake shark.
The story seems to be pretty much the same like in the previous movies. There’s this big thing that everybody is going to practice for and there’s going to be a romance between two people with smaller romances on the side. Pretty basic stuff in my opinion, with some clichés thrown in there as well. But, in the end, it all makes for a good movie and I hope that it’s going to be the same here as well.
From what we could gather by this trailer, the soundtrack is going to be up to par with the previous installments and even the cameras seem to have been given an upgrade or two.
Honestly, this is one movie I’m definitely looking forward to.

If you want to see dance movies, your best bet for one of quality is one of way back when. Footloose for example is still one of the best dance movies out there. As is with a lot of things for this generation, there’s no real shining examples of a genre. I guess it all depends on when you are in time. Because these days and ages, it’s the superhero movies that seem to be the shining examples. Still, I find it to be a damned shame that the best we have for dance is Step Up. Basically because there’s nothing much else out there. Save the last dance, sure. Honey is also an acceptable movie. But none of these movies are nowhere near the levels of entertainment as Footloose. Step Up however, is pushing this in the right direction and I hope that soon we’ll … see … a …

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1068242/

*facepalm* Oh dear god, no.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Mystery Science Theater 3000

Mystery Science Theater 3000

I live in a backwater country when it comes to quality offshore entertainment. Shit, son, I pissed my chance at even the tiniest glimmer of quality entertainment. Sure, I had X-men, Sonic Sat A.M., Transformers: Beast Wars, Power Rangers, Beetleborgs and many others like it. But, in the end, there’s a couple of things of entertainment that we missed. To which all I could do was shed many a manly tears. When cruising forums I sometimes get across some of these gems. However, I usually have no clue what they are talking about. Like for instance: Thundercats, G.I. Joe and many others. One of these gems I just recently discovered on the vast and immeasurable wastes of Youtube.

Mystery Science Theater 3000, or MST3K for short, is a program starring Joel (Followed by Mike), his robot friends and whoever would be feeding them bad movies to watch.
Two mad scientists named Clayton Forrester (No relation to Ridge) and Laurence Erhardt, launch their janitor named Joel in to space. This to find the ultimate bad B-movie that was so bad it would drive all who watch it bat shit insane. Trapped on the Satellite of Love, Joel creates his robot friends. There’s Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot who accompany Joel as he watches these movies. And then there’s Gypsy and Cambot, the camera of the show.
Upon receiving these B-movies, Joel is sent to the screening room with Tom and Crow. They sit down in front of the screen in cinema chairs and give their comments on these horrific movies as the movie plays. Intermissions do occur however as Joel performs some skits with his fellow cast members.

That, my friends, is Mystery Science Theater 3000 in a nutshell. I think you’ll be happy to know that Joel managed to escape the Satelite of Love. Unfortunately for Mike Nelson, another janitor of the mad scientists (no relation to Doctor Insano. I think … you never know.), the mad scientists strap him on a rocket and launch him to replace Joel on the SOL to watch more crappy movies.

So, let’s get my opinion out of the way so you can watch an episode, as provided by tirol9 on you tube.

Even though I would never, ever watch these movies, they’re still watch worthy when you stick the MST3K guts in front of it. Seriously, this is absolutely stuff. You’d never suspect that the show is so awesome from the opening alone. I never saw the funny stuff coming from the first episode that I watched on the tubes. Normally I care a lot of some idiot is talking during the movie, but these guys are absolutely forgiven they are so funny. If I had to give this show a score, it had to be:

10/10!

Now stop reading this crap and watch this episode:




The movie featured here is Space Mutiny, a thrilling space opera starring the ever charming and Oscar nominee worthy Reb Brown. Who you should know from The Spoony Experiment. If you do know who Reb is, or god forbid Spoony, then shame on you and head on over to: http://www.spoonyexperiment.com/

The other parts of this episode are available on tirol9's channel. Plus other MST3K episodes!

This has been Puddle Jumper with MST3K, see ya later.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Featured on DTT

Hey everyone! Got some cool news for you all. The more than awesome website known as Debasedtothis featured my Heavy Rain review on its Submission Wednesday. I'm so proud right now to have something from little ol' me be features on a website so awesome. I suggest you go there either by following the link to the site itself (www.debasedtothis.org) or by following the link to the article: (http://www.debasedtothis.org/node/269)

Debaser is an awesome guy and you all should go check it out! Or not, your choice. But my vote goes to go and check it out!

[DUTCH] Regels zijn er om gebroken te worden!

Liberty City, een stad vol met zonden. Het Las Vegas van weleer, wat de gangsters thuis noemden, was absoluut niets vergeleken met dit oord van dood en verderf. En toch zit deze stad vol met regels. Wil dat zeggen dat ze ergens op slaan? HA, nee. Meestal slaan ze nergens op. Het probleem daarmee is dus: Liberty City is een fictionele stad in een videospel. Nu ja, niet zo maar een videospel. Grand Theft Auto is misschien een van de meest gedebatteerde videospellen ooit in politieke en familiale kringen. Niet moeilijk eigenlijk, wat met al die drugs en hoeren en zo. Persoonlijk zie ik niets verkeerd om Nico zijn lul te laten aftrekken door een niet zo enthousiaste hoer in een steegje ergens. Maar, ik was bij regels, niet waar. De regels van het spel!

Vroeger was vele simpeler om de regels van het spel te begrijpen. Want ja, de spellen waren toen ook vele simpeler en onrealistisch. Bwoa, simpel is een groot woord als het over Zelda, Megaman en Battletoads gaat, maar ik denk dat je me wel snapt. In de 8 en 16 bit era was er weinig plaats voor realistische spelomgevingen. En dus kon waren de spelregels ook vele gemakkelijker te ontcijferen. Tegenwoordig is dat zeker niet het geval. We nemen GTA als voorbeeld. Met wat dichterlijke vrijheden natuurlijk.
De stad in GTA IV is immens. Rond elke hoek valt er wel weer wat nieuws te zien dat ongelooflijk echt lijkt. Van de mensen die over straat wandelen naar de bakstenen waaruit de gebouwen bestaan, alles kreeg een zeer goede grafische behandeling. De auto’s handelen zoals in het echt, de geweren klinken echt, de gezichten zijn echt en de mensen voelen echt aan. Kortom, alles voelt zoals het in de echte wereld is. Liberty City leeft. En dan begin je het spel te spelen. Je bent bijvoorbeeld aan het rijden op straat. En voor de ene of andere onverklaarbare reden ben je de verkeersregels aan het volgen. Voor je springt het licht op rood en je stopt braafjes. Nu, de eik … de politieagent achter ramt je auto met de zijne. Hij is dus in de fout, want hij was eventjes achter me. Fuck you, zegt die dan. Hij zet zijn sirene aan, stapt uit en arresteert men reet. Probeert dat toch alvast, want ik knal twee kogels door zijn knieën voor ik het op een lopen zet. Waarom hem doden als hij voor de rest van zijn leven gehandicapt is en Nico zijn gezicht in zijn nachtmerries ziet? MHUAHAHAHAHAHA. Sorry. Moest er effe uit. Nu, ik ren weg van deze flik richting een steeg. Ik wil tussen twee gebouwen lopen, waar Niko normaal gemakkelijk tussen kan als hij op zijn zij er door gaat, maar de sukkel loopt er gewoon breed tegen. Spijtig dat er geen knopke is op het kaske om hem scheef te zetten, niet waar?
In een ander spel wil ik een plek gaan onderzoeken ietwat verderop. Maar er is iets dat me tegenhoud. Rarara, wat is het? Een onzichtbare muur! Je weet wel, zo een muur waarachter het landschap niets anders is dan een background of dat de ontwikkelaars je op een vast pad zetten waar ze niet willen dat je van af gaat.
Of er zijn instanties waar de ontwikkelaars express je een hartaanval willen geven uit woede. Bijvoorbeeld, ze zeggen: Ga van punt A naar punt B. Maar er is een probleem. Allé, een paar ongelooflijk onmogelijke en woede ontlokkende problemen waar je niet langs kunt of je gaat dood. Dus wat doe je? Je probeert uit alle macht de regels van het spel te breken door zelf een pad naar Punt B te vinden dat normaal gezien niet mogelijk. Zoals bijvoorbeeld glitches in het spel te misbruiken.

Voor doorgewinterde gamers is het niet al te moeilijk om zich aan te passen aan de regels van het spel. Wij hebben alles meegemaakt van 8-bit naar nu. Zo hebben wij ook alle veranderingen ondervonden. Het is een beetje zoals een nieuwe taal leren. De mensen die al bij de lessen hebben gezeten sinds het begin zullen vele beter kunnen volgen als de regering iets verandert aan het woordenboek of zo, maar degenen die er pas later zijn bijgekomen, of die compleet nieuw zijn, zullen een beetje van de kaart zijn. Waarom gebeurt dat? Wat heb ik verkeerd gedaan? Waarom kan ik niet naar daar, want als ik naar daar ga dan is het korter/beter/gemakkelijker.
Mensen die ook niet goed weten hoe het game design proces in mekaar zit zullen ook niet goed begrijpen waarom de regels in het spel zo anders zijn dan in het echte leven, terwijl het spel ook zo echt is.

Die problemen hebben we niet echt met spellen zoals Little Big Planet, Viewtiful Joe, Ratchet and Clank en anderen zoals ze. Want ze spelen zich niet af in werelden die zoals ons zijn. Daar is het gemakkelijker om te aanvaarden dat je ergens niet naartoe kan. Je weet dat het niet zoals de echte wereld is en dus verwacht je niet dat ze de regels volgen van ons.

En hier knelt het bij mij. Als ze gaan voor realisme, waarom zetten ze er dan zo onrealistische situaties in. Terugkerend naar GTA IV, waarom mogen sukk … politieagenten en gewone burgers andere mensen, mij inclusief, omverrijden of neerschieten maar ik niet? Waarom mag die kerel een oud vrouwtje overvallen en waarom mag ik die overvaller niet slagen omdat die dat oud vrouwtje heeft overvallen? De mongo … politieagenten deden niets om die man te stoppen, maar toen ik hem sloeg was de wereld te klein.
The Saboteur heeft een systeem overgenomen van GTA IV waarin er een cirkel is rondom je personage als de nazis achter je aan zitten. Maar, hoe weten de nazis dat ik het ben waar de andere nazis achter zaten vijf straten verder. Ik bedoel, geen andere nazi heeft mij gezien sinds daar en het is niet dat ze even de radio gebruiken.

Dit zijn de regels van het spel. En je kan je er beter bij neerleggen. Maar, voor de toekomstige spelontwerpers zeg ik dit. Als je iets realistisch wilt maken, doe het dan ook. Probeer het zo realistisch mogelijk te maken door zo veel mogelijk open terrein te geven om over te gaan, als een NPC een misdaad begaat, bestraf die dan. En zo voort eigenlijk. Is dit niet mogelijk, verander je grafische stijl dan naar iets minder realistich. Ik bedoel maar, een spel zoals Jak 3 is ongelooflijk cool. Het heeft zeer goede graphics en zeer moor maar toch is het niet realistisch.

Nu, dit was een random rant dat in me op kwam en ik dacht: waarom niet in het nederlands? Ik bedoel, ik ben van Vlaanderen en ik heb bijna geen contacten hier. Niet in forums, websites of andere. Hiermee hoop ik dat te veranderen! Ik hoop dat je er van hebt genoten en verwacht meer random rants op deze blogger. In het Nederlands! HAHA!

Dit was Puddle Jumper voor Greyarch Entertainment, peace out!

Monday, March 22, 2010

Jumper's Art Gallery #3 - We were Artists once

This is part 3 of my Jumper's Art Gallery section over at Teh Pwn Shop. Parts one and two can be found at the following URL's:

1) And so it Begins: http://tehpwnshop.wordpress.com/2010/02/18/jumpers-art-gallery-and-so-it-begins/
2) Origami Adventures: http://tehpwnshop.wordpress.com/2010/03/05/jumpers-art-gallery-2-origami-adventures/

Enjoy part 3 everyone!



This is the banner that I made using Mel Rains' banner for Teh Pwn Shop.



This is a signature of the Heavenly sword character known as Nariko.

This was a quickie, really. to get back in the groove for my next sig and avy set. ^^



This is an Avatar of Skylar St. Claire from the videogame: The Saboteur.

I saw the concept art in the loading screen and I just had to make something out of it.

This is the Avatar of the set.



This is a Signature of Skylar St. Claire from the videogame: The Saboteur.

I saw the concept art in the loading screen and I just had to make something out of it.

This is the Signature of the Skylar Set.

Thank you all for sticking with me so far and I'll see you next time!

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Revised Knight Online review



This is the revised version of my Knight Online which was previously uploaded to youtube. What this means is that I sproosed up the intro a little bit. So the credits might be a tad off when it comes to the music. The music used in the intro now is in-game.
At any rate, I hope you enjoy it again if you’ve already seen it and if not, I still hope you enjoy it It’s old, bear that in mind. Seriously, it was before I pulled myself together …

revised version originally found at: http://tehpwnshop.wordpress.com/2010/03/14/pjs-revised-knight-online-review/

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Thinking of the Overthinker's Overthinking


As I was watching this video (So see it first), I felt the need to comment. Seeing that comment grow and grow and grow in size, I decided to just make a blog about it and show it to you all here. These are 10 things I wanted to say. So read up, folks!

1) The only thing I know is that the video promoted there was garbage and is not about gaming at all. It was about this guy's own addictive personality.

2) Videogames are a toy, but being a gamer is a lifestyle as much as being a geek is.

3) Marathon gaming is only a slight problem IF the person at hands continues to maintain a healthy work and social life.

4) Agreed on the fact that if you're playing many games, you should exercise more often. Or change your life so that you move more when you move anyways, like taking a bike instead of your car.

5) Those little exercises and food tips you gave were given to me in my school class: OFFICE. Yes, there are far more situations than being gamer that requires that stuff, like sitting right and not turning to unhealthy snacks for easiness. BUT, you're also forgetting that you can also change from Coke to Coke Zero and from Chips to oven baked chips. Oh and Nuts have Oil ... Oil = fat ...

6) Yah, energy drinks should only be drank if you intend to move, like running or working a labor shift.

7) The first part of your culture part was completely off. Gamers know shit about gaming. Some gamers only know things about gaming and don’t tend to follow anything else. Many gamers however keep themselves well informed on global matters though. Now, switch up the word Gamer with “beauty” (from let’s say Beauty and the geek) and gaming with pop-culture and fashion. Once again, Bob, it may be true for us gamers as well, but we’re just part of the problem. Like a small cog in the machine.

8) Some people prefer to read modern books, Bob. Or Modern movies. Just because people don’t know shit about Shakespeare, doesn’t mean they know nothing. They might know more about Dan Brown or J.K. Rowling. They might not have seen Kane but they might have seen The Hurt Locker. (Not exactly comparable but seeing as it won a couple of Oscars ((undeservingly)) I might as well use that for modern movie) AND just because someone is not interested at all in politics, doesn’t mean they are pathetic if they know more about Valve than which asshat is running the senate. But yeah, if you haven’t even at least seen one of those faces in those pics. You have a slight problem. Because, let’s face it, some of these faces pop up everywhere and Kim Jong Il isn’t exactly a stranger to the media. Not knowing is one thing, but not recognizing is another thing.

9) ATTN, bob. Many of the people, if not almost all of the people, that I come across online that can type a sentence with minimum grammatical errors wants split screen multiplayer for their games. Many even cry out for it. Hell, many people still go to each other’s houses to play split screen games. Here it is not the gamers that need to change, but the developers. Also, that kid isn’t the fault of online games. Neither is it the fault of games that people take the kid’s side. It’s the parent’s fault for not EDUCATING THEIR CHILD. In the end, it all boils down to two things: Bad parenting or a fucked up kid to begin with.

10) Seriously, dude, you’re making a point here that is viable for a lot more people than just gamers. Almost everyone needs to pull their act together or shape up, just like you said and just like everyone else was already thinking. Not to sound like a douche here, but why you think we gamers need to change our ways to become better persons? The problem with this is that we will not step up to everyone else’s level. We will step beyond. What you did wrong here was focus on the gaming community whilst these are tips for everyone.

Monday, March 8, 2010

The Oscars 2k10

The Oscars 2k10

Oscar season has come and Oscar season has gone. The dust is settling once again to leave behind a trail of dissapointment and bewilderment as the Oscar night was filled with surprises. Who won and how do I think about it? Let’s find out!

The Wieners … Euh, winners … sorry: (As copied and pasted from Comingsoon.net)

BEST PICTURE:
**Winner** The Hurt Locker
Avatar (20th Century Fox)
The Blind Side (Warner Bros.)
District 9 (TriStar)
An Education (Sony Pictures Classics),
Inglourious Basterds (The Weinstein Company)
Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire (Lionsgate)
A Serious Man (Focus Features)
Up (Disney•Pixar)
Up in the Air (Paramount)

DIRECTING:
**Winner** Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker (Summit Entertainment)
James Cameron - Avatar (20th Century Fox)
Jason Reitman - Up in the Air (Paramount)
Lee Daniels - Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire (Lionsgate)
Quentin Tarantino - Inglourious Basterds (The Weinstein Company)

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE:
**Winner** Jeff Bridges - Crazy Heart (Fox Searchlight)
George Clooney - Up in the Air (Paramount)
Colin Firth - A Single Man (The Weinstein Company)
Morgan Freeman - Invictus (Warner Bros.)
Jeremy Renner - The Hurt Locker (Summit Entertainment)

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE:
**Winner** Sandra Bullock - The Blind Side (Warner Bros.)
Helen Mirren - The Last Station (Sony Pictures Classics)
Carey Mulligan - An Education (Sony Pictures Classics)
Gabourey Sidibe - Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire (Lionsgate)
Meryl Streep - Julie & Julia (Columbia Pictures)

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:
**Winner** Christoph Waltz - Inglourious Basterds (The Weinstein Company)
Matt Damon - Invictus (Warner Bros.)
Woody Harrelson - The Messenger (Oscilloscope)
Christopher Plummer - The Last Station (Sony Pictures Classics)
Stanley Tucci - The Lovely Bones (Paramount)

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:
**Winner** Mo'Nique - Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire (Lionsgate)
Penelope Cruz - Nine (The Weinstein Company)
Vera Farmiga - Up in the Air (Paramount)
Maggie Gyllenhaal - Crazy Heart (Fox Searchlight)
Anna Kendrick - Up in the Air (Paramount)

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
**Winner** Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire (Lionsgate), Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher
District 9 (TriStar), Written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell
An Education (Sony Pictures Classics), Screenplay by Nick Hornby
In the Loop (IFC Films), Screenplay by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche
Up in the Air (Paramount), Screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:
**Winner** The Hurt Locker (Summit Entertainment), Written by Mark Boal
Inglourious Basterds (The Weinstein Company), Written by Quentin Tarantino
The Messenger (Oscilloscope), Written by Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman
A Serious Man (Focus Features), Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
Up (Disney•Pixar), Screenplay by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:
**Winner** El Secreto de sus Ojos (Sony Pictures Classics), A Haddock Films Production, Argentina
Ajami (Kino International), An Inosan Production, Israel
The Milk of Sorrow, A Wanda Visión/Oberon Cinematogràfica/Vela Production, Peru
Une Prophéte (Sony Pictures Classics), A Why Not/Page 114/Chic Films Production, France
The White Ribbon (Sony Pictures Classics), An X Filme Creative Pool/Wega Film/Les Films du Losange/Lucky Red Production, Germany

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM:
**Winner** Up (Disney•Pixar), Pete Docter
Coraline (Focus Features), Henry Selick
Fantastic Mr. Fox (Fox Searchlight), Wes Anderson
The Princess and the Frog (Walt Disney), John Musker and Ron Clements
The Secret of Kells (GDKIDS), Tomm Moore

ART DIRECTION:
**Winner** Avatar (20th Century Fox), Art Direction: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg, Set Decoration: Kim Sinclair
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (Sony Pictures Classics), Art Direction: Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro, Set Decoration: Caroline Smith
Nine (The Weinstein Company), Art Direction: John Myhre, Set Decoration: Gordon Sim
Sherlock Holmes (Warner Bros.), Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood, Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
The Young Victoria (Apparition), Art Direction: Patrice Vermette, Set Decoration: Maggie Gray

CINEMATOGRAPHY:
**Winner** Avatar (20th Century Fox), Mauro Fiore
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Warner Bros.), Bruno Delbonnel
The Hurt Locker (Summit Entertainment), Barry Ackroyd
Inglourious Basterds (The Weinstein Company), Robert Richardson
The White Ribbon (Sony Pictures Classics), Christian Berger

COSTUME DESIGN:
**Winner** The Young Victoria (Apparition), Sandy Powell
Bright Star (Apparition), Janet Patterson
Coco Before Chanel (Sony Pictures Classics), Catherine Leterrier
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (Sony Pictures Classics), Monique Prudhomme
Nine (The Weinstein Company), Colleen Atwood

FILM EDITING:
**Winner** The Hurt Locker (Summit Entertainment), Bob Murawski and Chris Innis
Avatar (20th Century Fox), Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron
District 9 (TriStar), Julian Clarke
Inglourious Basterds (The Weinstein Company), Sally Menke
Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire (Lionsgate), Joe Klotz

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:
**Winner** The Cove (Roadside Attractions), An Oceanic Preservation Society Production, Louie Psihoyos and Fisher Stevens
Burma VJ (Oscilloscope Laboratories), A Magic Hour Films Production, Anders Østergaard and Lise Lense-Møller
Food, Inc. (Magnolia Pictures), A Robert Kenner Films Production, Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers (First Run Features ), A Kovno Communications Production, Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith
Which Way Home, A Mr. Mudd Production, Rebecca Cammisa

MAKEUP:
**Winner** Star Trek (Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment), Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow
Il Divo (MPI Media Group through Music Box), Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano
The Young Victoria (Apparition), Jon Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore

ORIGINAL SCORE:
**Winner** Up (Disney•Pixar), Michael Giacchino
Avatar (20th Century Fox), James Horner
Fantastic Mr. Fox (Fox Searchlight), Alexandre Desplat
The Hurt Locker (Summit Entertainment), Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
Sherlock Holmes (Warner Bros.), Hans Zimmer

ORIGINAL SONG:
**Winner** "The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)" from Crazy Heart (Fox Searchlight), Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett
"Almost There" from The Princess and the Frog (Walt Disney), Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
"Down in New Orleans" from The Princess and the Frog (Walt Disney), Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
"Loin de Paname" from Paris 36 (Sony Pictures Classics), Music by Reinhardt Wagner, Lyric by Frank Thomas
"Take It All" from Nine (The Weinstein Company), Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston

SOUND MIXING:
**Winner** The Hurt Locker (Summit Entertainment), Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett
Avatar (20th Century Fox), Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson
Inglourious Basterds (The Weinstein Company), Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano
Star Trek (Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment), Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J. Devlin
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (DreamWorks and Paramount in association with Hasbro, Distributed by Paramount), Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson

SOUND EDITING:
**Winner** The Hurt Locker (Summit Entertainment), Paul N.J. Ottosson
Avatar (20th Century Fox), Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle
Inglourious Basterds (The Weinstein Company), Wylie Stateman
Star Trek (Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment), Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin
Up (Disney•Pixar), Michael Silvers and Tom Myers

VISUAL EFFECTS:
**Winner** Avatar (20th Century Fox), Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones
District 9 (TriStar), Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken
Star Trek (Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment), Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton

DOCUMENTARY SHORT:
**Winner** Music by Prudence, An iThemba Production, Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett
China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province, A Downtown Community Television Center Production, Jon Alpert and Matthew O'Neill
The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner, A Just Media Production, Daniel Junge and Henry Ansbacher
The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant, A Community Media Production, Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert
Rabbit à la Berlin (Deckert Distribution), An MS Films Production, Bartek Konopka and Anna Wydra

ANIMATED SHORT FILM:
**Winner** Logorama (Autour de Minuit), An Autour de Minuit Production, Nicolas Schmerkin
French Roast, A Pumpkin Factory/Bibo Films Production, Fabrice O. Joubert
Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty (Brown Bag Films), A Brown Bag Films Production, Nicky Phelan and Darragh O'Connell
The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte), A Kandor Graphics and Green Moon Production, Javier Recio Gracia
A Matter of Loaf and Death (Aardman Animations), An Aardman Animations Production, Nick Park

LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM:
**Winner** The New Tenants, A Park Pictures and M & M Production, Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson
The Door (Network Ireland Television), An Octagon Films Production, Juanita Wilson and James Flynn
Instead of Abracadabra (The Swedish Film Institute), A Directörn & Fabrikörn Production, Patrik Eklund and Mathias Fjellström
Kavi, A Gregg Helvey Production, Gregg Helvey
Miracle Fish (Premium Films), A Druid Films Production, Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey
_____________________________________

Most of these I do not care about. What I’m here to discuss is the travesty surrounding The Hurt Locker and Avatar. Whilst both movies deserve their credit where it’s due, neither of them truly deserved the Best Picture statue. Even though they seemed to be the only ones running for it. The Hurt Locker especially did not deserve to be even nominated in the same year that Watchmen was DENIED from being nominated to begin with. As this movie was superior to The Hurt Locker. For me, there was only one true winner for this category and that was Basterds. True, the movie was too long in certain scenes and it did not a few tweeks here and there … but the movie was far better. That first chapter in Basterds alone would be good enough.
Now, The Hurt Locker also got several other statues that it most definitely did not deserve. Let’s start with Best Director. The movie needed a better director, really. There were so many things that needed to be changed in order for this movie to truly shine. Following this is Writing. Now there’s a statue that the movie did not deserve. The Hurt Locker has been made before, it’s been made better and it’s certainly not new or innovative. Hell, it’s just about better than Avatar. When it comes to director, I’d have given the award to Neill Blomkamp. Then there’s other awards like Best Editing. My ass. That movie was a mess when it came to editing. My thoughts throughout the movie were: FOCUS. Lady, FOCUS. The only reason this movie got the awards it did get was because the director had boobs.
Avatar deserved the statues it got when it comes to its visuals though.

Oh and Sandra Bullock won an award that should also have been sent out to the one thousand other actresses and actors even that performed the same part in other movies exactly like it.

Lastly, I think that we need to stop caring about the Oscars. It’s gone the road of Spike’s Game of the Year Awards, as in it rarely hit’s the nail on the head. It’s nothing more than an advertisement for a movie. As Moviebob said, if anyone remembers The Hurt Locker by next year, I’ll be surprised. Then there’s the fact that in a clip of memorable horror movies, Twilight was put between The Exorcist, The Shining, Jaws and others. Proof and Point that the Oscars are a hoax.

Friday, March 5, 2010

Heavy Rain: The Movie, the game - review

Also to be found at Teh Pwn Shop: http://tehpwnshop.wordpress.com/2010/03/09/pj-review-heavy-rain-the-movie-the-game/

Fahrenheit was a game unlike I’ve ever played before. It was dramatically engaging, difficult but fair in gameplay and revolutionary in my humble opinion. Never had I imagined that there’d be a similar game that could surpass it. I mean, come on, you could get laid in the game after all. TWICE. Bow chika wow wow. Which I did on my first playthrough by the way. I’m a player like that.
Yet here we are, years later and one game later. It’s kind of like James Cameron. Fahrenheit was the number one game in its kind for all these years and the only game to surpass it is this one.
So, without further ado, I hereby give to you:

As presented by Teh Pwn Shop,
A Puddle Jumper review of:

Heavy Rain: The movie, the game

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An interactive drama of the top shelf, Heavy Rain is a videogame where you are given control of four different characters all tied together by a single person. This person is none other than the infamous Origami Killer who has been terrorizing parents for several years now.
Ethan Mars was a loving father and husband, until his oldest son was killed in a car accident. Two years have passed and now Ethan’s youngest was taken from him by the Origami Killer. The man then begins on a difficult and very challenging quest to reunite him with his son.
Madison Paige is a young woman who suffers from insomnia when she sleeps at her home. Upon going to a motel to get some well deserved sleep, she stumbles upon Ethan Mars. After which she is trusted in to the story that is unfolding before him.
Scott Shelby is a private investigator who was hired by the families of the Origami Killer’s victims. They asked him to find out who exactly the killer is before he kills again.
Norman Jayden is a member of the FBI who is one of the few people who gets to tinker with a new device called the ARI. Norman and his ARI are now working together with the local PD to hunt down this Origami Killer.
The rest of this story isn’t exactly written in stone. Sure, it’s not infinite, but it’s sure enough to make sure that only a few people will have the same playthrough as you. One thing is for certain however. No matter what you do and how it ends, you will have played one of the few must play games out there with a story worthy to win an Oscar, if those still mattered at all. Heavy Rain definitely belongs in anyone’s top ten list when it comes to videogame storylines.

Then there’s the graphics. So unbelievably good. The amount of details put in to the environment and the realistic nature of the people themselves. True, there’s an uncanny valley around the people’s mouths and there could be a few texture issues here and there, but in the end this is still one epic view to behold. What also impressed me is the detailed and fluid movement. From drawing an architectural design to shaving your bears, it’s all so beautifully detailed. That is, until like half an hour in when the game shoves a guy’s hairy ass in your face. Oh, sorry, SPOILER ALERT. There’s going to be a hairy ass in your face at some point.

This game is like a sensory overload, really. I mean, your mind is being boggled by the story, your eyes are being amazed by the pictures that appear on screen and then there’s the sound’s that perfectly matches or sets up the mood at all times. If this game could give me a blowjob, I’d be the happiest man alive.
Whilst the music and the sound effects are quite awesome, the voice acting … is not. Don’t get me wrong, there’s some quality acting going on up in there. But overall, there’s just too many accents that keep getting in the way. It’s quite obvious that these people are written to be American all the way, not just in nationality.

As usual, the meat of the game is the gameplay. Said earlier, there are a ton of different ways this game could play out. What’s also good to know before I go deeper in to this is that there is no game over until all four characters have died. Even if one of the characters dies, then the game still goes on if you do not reload the chapter yourself.
Tightly interwoven with the gameplay is the story. As with Mass Effect, Fallout 3 and other games like it, you get options during conversations. These options are displayed over the character’s head. Not exactly a good thing when you don’t have an LCD TV or an HD TV as the camera won’t always be close. Even if you switch it yourself. Meaning that if you think that you’re supposed to press circle, you were actually supposed to press square. Just a tiny complaint that many games have these days, but nothing to really stress about. Now, it’s not just in the conversation where you can get to make decisions. Some times you will have to make decisions like: do you go right, or do you go left? Then there’s the more difficult options like: do I go with the reaction command or do I go for a conversational option? Speaking of reaction commands, these are primarily used when in action scenes. Fights, for instance, are filled with reaction commands from start to finish, with a few decisions to be made as well sometimes. For those who prefer, reaction commands are also known as Quick Time Events. I just call them reaction commands because Quick Time Events are usually nothing more than a means for the developer to thicken the gameplay for no reason at all other than the cut scene was lasting too long or something, I don’t know. Then again, if done right, it’s quite an addition to the game. Like in Resident Evil 4. As with the conversational commands, you might have to lean in to the TV screen at times to see what exactly you’re supposed to press if you have an old fashion tube TV.
What’s most fun about this game is that also uses the controller’s motion functionality. Remember the guy’s ass up the player’s face? Well, you’re going to dry that puppy off by waggling the controller left and right and up and down and what not. Isn’t that neat?
Also available to the player is the option to interact with his or her environment. Want to turn on some tunes? Simply turn on the radio. Want some coffee? Then make it, damn it! You can do all sorts of things and many things aren’t even vital to the story. Though unnecessary in the big picture, they do add a lot to the story in a whole. It gives your character more personality, in a way. You get to find out what one character likes to read, which magazines he or she likes, what tricks they can and more things like that. Of course, all these actions are cued by a command and many times you even have to follow up on it.
I gotta tell ya though, you reaaaaaaally need to be finger magician if you want to play this game. At some points in the game, you need to press several buttons at once. That wouldn’t be a problem if they came in a good order. You’re already holding the controller in a certain manner because of how you got to point B, but now you need to get to point C by first pressing square, then circle, then cross, then R1 and then Triangle or something like that. Problem is, slip for just a second and you need to start all over again. You need to keep that sucker pinned down!
One last thing, and this is quite a complaint, they’ve made the control scheme in such a way that the only way for your character to walk is for you to press R2, which makes your character walk automatically. Yes, there’s a walk button. And yes, it’s quite annoying and clunky.

Heavy Rain in short:

The story is unbelievable. It’s now officially ranking as number 1 in my favorite stories list for games. It might pick up slowly, but when it does … wow. Just, wow. And it never seems to stop as well.
Graphically, there’s nothing much I can really say about this that isn’t in superlatives. I mean, come on, seriously. The loading screens alone, where you get to see a character’s face up close, is unbelievable detailed. And to think that their faces are like that in the game. The subtle changes in skin color, other imperfections in their skin, the color of their eyes and the red in their eyes, their hair and their eyelashes, the reflection in their eyes, the wrinkles, the bags under their eyes and the movement of their face. It’s … wow. But, sometimes the animation can be off like the uncanny valley around their mouth.
There’s nothing much to say about the sound but superlatives as well. Besides the voice acting. Though they might be good performances all around, they just didn’t cast the right people for many of the roles.
And gameplay wise, this game is amazingly addictive and smooth. Even if you mess up a few commands, the game is quite forgiving, offering another chance or just going on without punishing you that much. Whatever you do, the consequences will be clear later on. Either by scorch marks, bruises or something of the sort. Even though you need to a magician with your fingers at times, the controls are easy enough and adjustable, depending on your familiarity with the controller.

In the end, this game is a solid

9/10.

And since there’s no such thing as a 10/10, that’s saying a lot.

If you own a Playstation 3, and I don’t say this often, you must have at least played this game once. In the great debate between the 360 and the Trey, the 360 is still going to win though.
Trey: We have Blu-ray
360: We have Xbox Live
Trey: We have Uncharted
360: We stole Final Fantasy and Metal Gear Solid
Trey: We have Heavy Rain
360: I WAS FROZENNNNN TO-DAY
Trey: …

This has been Puddle Jumper with a review of the Playstation 3 exclusive: Heavy Rain. Special thanks to thatguywiththeglasses.com for so many awesome jokes like: I was frozen today! For more awesome content, go to the main page of Tehpwnshop.wordpress.com, Headshot Gaming or my very own blogger: Greyarch Entertainment.