Street Fighter IV: Rose

It was announced Friday the 19th that Rose would be the latest addition to Street Fighter IV. The lovely Rose first made her appearance in Street Fighter Alpha and uses her scarf as a deadly weapon. You can look forward to playing as Rose and the other Street Fighters favorites on February 17th on the PS3 and the X-Box 360.

Rant or Rave: Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe

Since I don’t have an Xbox 360 or a shiny PS3 I can’t legitimately write reviews for certain upcoming games. What I can do is rant or rave about future games based on trailers that I’ve watched and the reviews I’ve read. From what I’ve gathered Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe is a little uneven. If you look at the roster you will see classic mortal combat characters like Liu Kang, Raiden, and Sub-zero taking the stage with DC greats like Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. The problem I see with this game is that the DC characters have better attacks than their Mortal Kombat counterparts.


Can’t We All Just Get Along?

The big controversy of the summer was if the DC heroes would have fatalities for which the Mortal Kombat franchise is known for. The answer was a no, but the DC heroes would perform Heroic Brutalities meaning that the good guys wouldn’t kill their enemies, just rough them up a bit. If you check out this clip from gametrailers.com you’ll notice that some of the Heroic Brutalities are a little more dangerous than a simple knock out.



Did you see Superman hammering Jax into the ground or Green Lantern crushing Raiden? Jax and Raiden are either dead or will never walk again, what kind of superhero does that? As you may have noticed, some of the finishing moves are awesome while others are extremely lame. What’s up with Batman’s Heroic Brutality? Would a cold blooded killer really be that scared of bats?. Luckily, each character has two finishing moves.

Am I a Broken Character?

Superman has ice breath, laser eyes, and limited flying capabilities, what can you do Sonya? What! You can only kick, too bad for you then. The Joker can teleport (when did he learn that) and has several long and short ranged attracts and if you play the Flash properly he’s just a blur on the screen. Oh and did I mention Lex Luther is in the game. What’s Lex going to do, throw money at his opponents hoping to buy a victory?

Final Thoughts

This has been more of rant, but even though the game has its issues I still want to play it. From the looks of the reviews and previews Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe is an above average game. I’m sure I’ll buy the game once it makes its way to the bargain bin, until then I can only dream of giving superman a virtual back hand to the face.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine Trailer

I was clicking around on youtube and I found the trailer for the new Wolverine movie. I have no idea how long this trailer has been floating around on the interweb so this post might be old news.

I might be making a few enemies here, but this movie looks soooooooooooooooo unbelievably bad. Am I really to believe that the scrawny guy in red with the swords is the assassin Deadpool? And I know everyone is excited to see Gambit, but who said it was OK for him to look like Willy Wanka? (mmm chocolate) To save face with the comic book nerds (or just me) I hope the creators put at least one mutant from Alpha Flight in the movie. It could be a good segue into a sequel (if this movie doesn't fall flat on its face).

Spike TV's Video Game Awards Show Overflow

So what’s up with the award categories in spike TV’s 2008 award show? Best Performance by a Human Male or Female. What does that mean!?! Are robots making our video games now? (I hope they’re not evil). And what about the categories Best Individual Sports Game and Best Team Sports Game, why isn’t there one umbrella category called Best Sports Game? I get that Spike TV is the “Man Channel” but seriously guys, did you really need two sports categories. But what really blows my mind is that Fallout 3 won Best RPG. How did a shooter win Best RPG! (Argggg the rage I feel right now!!!!) I guess I can’t be too mad, if I take into account Spike TV’s target demographic (males 18-49) I bet 70% of them only own an Xbox and I also bet that their top 3 games are Gears of War 2, Halo 2, and of course freaking Fallout 3.

2008 Spike TV Video Game Awards

Jack Black hosted this year’s Video Game Awards and I must say he was hilarious if not a little too raunchy, but it’s Spike TV what do you expect. The Award show included performances by 50 cent, All American Rejects, Weezer, and LL Cool J with a bevy of stars presenting awards.

And the winners are....


Best Shooter: Gears of War 2 (is anyone surprised)

Best RPG: Fallout 3: (Wait! Isn’t that a shooter)

Best Music Game: Rock Band 2

Best Soundtrack: Rock Band 2 (What, the best music game also has the best soundtrack, that’s crazy talk)

Best Original Score: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

Best Fighting Game: Soul Calibur 3

Best Individual Sports Game: Shaun White Snow Boarding

Best Team Sports Game: NHL 09

Gamer God: Will Wright (I think they really wanted to give Will an award so they made up a category just for him. Will Wright is responsible for games like the Sims and Spore)

Big Name in the Game Female (Voice acting award): Jenney McCarthy as Tanya in Command and conquer red alert 3

Big Name in the Game Male: Kiefer Sutherland as Sgt. Roebuck in Call of Duty

Best Performance by a Human Female (I have no idea what this category is about): Debi Mae West as Meryl Silverburgh in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

Best Performance by a Human Male: Michael Hollic as Niko Bellic in Grand theft Auto IV

Best Driving Game: Burn Out Paradise

Best Game Based on a Movie or TV show: Legos Indiana Jones: The Original Adventure

Best Action Adventure Game: Grand Theft Auto IV

Best Graphics: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

Best Handheld Game: Professor Layton and the Curious Village

Best Studio: Media Molecule (the creators of Little Big Planets)

Best Independent Game: World of Goo

Best PC Game: Left 4 Dead

Best PS3 game: Little Big Planets

Best Xbox360 Game: Gears of War 2

Best wii game: Boom Blox

Best Game of the year: Grand Theft Auto IV

Congratulations Grand Theft Auto IV you won the tiara and the bouquet of roses. Take your bow and enjoy your time in the spotlight but be careful, there are a handful of crazed beauty queen-esque video games ready to knock you off your throne.

A Look at Fusion Fall

I tried the beta version of Fusion Fall, Cartoon Networks first MMORPG. The premise of the game is that an evil planet called Fusion Planet has come to the Cartoon Network Universe to destroy it (more specifically, fuse with it and then destroy it) and only you (and a million others) can save the world. Dexter from Dexter’s Lab (how cool is that!) transports you into the future to fight the evil invaders.


Character Customization

Customization of your online avatar is decent. You can change the height and the weight of the character, but there is virtually no difference from default setting. (Cartoon Network is going to give kids body image issues since the default looks like a 5’8” 125 lbs teenager). There is a wide range of haircuts and clothes to wear, but customization is not as robust as other MMORPGs. There wasn’t even a class system.



Game Play

Honestly, I’ve never played an MMORPG I’ve only seen people play them. I can only guess that the game play is standard to any online game. You go around killing angry green blobs to level up and gain money (or money equivalent). Eventually you will run into a Fusion which is a green ugly version of a famous Cartoon Network star. When you defeat a Fusion they turn into a cute plush version of themselves called Nanos that float above your avatar’s head. These adorable Nanos have special abilities that help you in battle. The first one I got was Buttercup whose special ability was to stun enemies.Your default weapon is a gun, but I changed it to a melee weapon the first chance I got. I didn’t get far enough to see if there were spells, but I did get the impression that if I leveled up enough I would be able to cast magic (or something like it).

Online

The game was a little glitchy because it was the beta version, but I was OK with it since I got to play it for free. The game allows you the option to meet people online and create parties so you can collectively fight bigger baddies, but I didn’t try this feature. My reasoning for not talking to anyone online is that 80% of the people playing the game are probably 10-18 years old and I didn’t want a show like How to Catch a Predator confusing my good intentions of fighting a boss with seducing a child (blegh!)



Final Thoughts

I think it’s fun and will probably be popular. It won’t be a life stealing MMORPG giant (ehem WoW), but kids who like the shows on Cartoon Network will be all over this game. I would also recommend the game for anyone who was a fan of the old school Cartoon Cartoons because you will instantly be hit by waves of nostalgia. If you want to play this game for free you better play it NOW! because the free offer ends Sunday the 14th.

Rockband 2 the Stars Finale

This is the season finale of Rock Band 2 the Stars. Congratulations winners (I don't want to spoil it for anyone who cares and still hasn't watched the episode yet). I had previously posted that the winners got to play in the famous Viper Room in L.A. as thier prize, but I neglected to mention that they will also open for Panic at the Disco and Dashboard Confessional on the Rock Band Live tour. Not a bad prize for 15 miniutes of fame on VH1's website.

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Batman the Brave and the Bold

How did this happen? How is it possible that I let a new Batman series get past me? Batman the Brave and the Bold (ummm can they maybe work on that title a little bit more) premiered on Cartoon Network a couple of weeks ago. Batman the Brave and the Bold is a retro reincarnation of the Dark Knight with an art style similar to the 60’s version Batman (Adam West would be proud). The TV series is based on the DC Comics team up series with the main focus being on Batman. According to Wikipedia, the creators decided to have Batman team up with the lesser known characters like the Blue Beetle (who?), Plastic Man (lame!), and Aquaman (now that’s just upsetting), but Wikipedia never explained why they decided to use characters from the superhero B team. (On a side note, the Flash will appear on the show…when did the Flash become a B list hero???? Isn’t he one of the original founders of the JLA? Come on people show the Flash some love.)


I’ve only seen one episode, but here are my general thoughts. The music at first is great. It has an old school jazz vibe and one hell of saxophone taking the lead. Unfortunately, halfway through the episode you’ll realize that there is only one, maybe two background songs for the entire episode. Meaning, the same intense crazy saxophone music plays when Batman beats up the bad guys or when he walks through a door. It gets old fast. The writing is good, I didn’t want yell at the TV because the writers decided to throw in a lot of corny jokes or use ridiculous plot lines. OK I'll admit the plot was a litte out there, but it made for an interesting episode. The animation is fun. It’s not serious, but it’s not too cartoony which goes well the retro feel of the show.


______________(ZAP! POW! BAM!)_________

As for the characterization of Batman, he is one big stick in the mud. Honestly, he is not very interesting and doesn’t have a lot of depth. Do good and fight evil, that’s all there is to this Batman. No sarcasm, no troubled past, no workaholism, nothing but do good and fight evil (very disappointing). Despite Batman being dull the sidekicks do provide entertainment. Plastic Man was a relatively deep character with some interesting qualities, but I still don’t care about him. I get the feeling that this show isn’t really about Batman, but about the no names he teams up with. My theory is that the creators tried to pitch a similar show with their favorite obscure characters, but had their ideas rejected because nobody cares about a team of B squad superheroes. When the creators put Batman in the title, the network big wigs couldn’t resist producing Batman the Brave and the Bold because they knew kids would watch anything with Batman in it.

Final Thoughts

If you don’t take the series too seriously you’ll find yourself really enjoying it. I don’t know what direction the series will ultimately go in, but I’m excited to find out. Batman the Brave and the Beautiful (oops I meant Bold) airs on Cartoon Network Fridays at 7pm central.