A New Challenger Enters the Ring: Psylocke

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, while being a short game, is really freaking fun... or so I’ve been told. (I’m not bitter about not having a PS3 yet) Well our friends at Activison have made me more anxious then ever to get my hands on this compilation of Civil War in video game format. Psylocke my favorite body swapped psychic ninja is now available for for DLC on the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3. Check out this video of the psionic assassin doing what she does best.

Drooooool. While Psylocke does appear on the Wii and PS2 version of the game she certainly doesn’t look as good when compared to her NextGen facelift. Expect to see Psylocke and other downloadable goodies coming your way in coming weeks.

[source]

Learn Something New

So you might have noticed I haven’t really posted anything of substance for about a week and....well...the reason for that is because (cue the dramatic music). I’ve been cheating on this blog with another blog (gasp). I know it’s horrible and I feel terrible, but I’ll make it up to you somehow my sweet blog. Dramatics aside I’ve been working on articles for a site called Lunchlearning.com. It’s basically a place where business people (who have real jobs and actually get an hour lunch break) can go on their lunches and learn something new. It’s a really cool idea if you think about it. Feel free to go there and poke around. While you’re there you can check out my articles, they’re not hard to find, they’re the only articles about video games.

So anyways, while I was writing an article for Lunchlearning.com I ran into a really funny video about the potential video games have for teaching. I would have written a post about it on Lunchlearning, but the video was too short, had no real business application, and well, didn’t look professional. It might not have been a good fit for my mistress site, but it’s an excellent addition to this one. If you’ve never heard the argument for games as teaching tools Daniel Floyd (the robust stick figure in a green tie) basically breaks it down for you. He explains the rift between games created expressly for fun and the games specifically created to teach. Floyd explains the pros and cons of both sides and offers suggestions on how to fuse both fun and education into one rewarding experience. While I doubt there will be a game that lets me beat people into submission while teaching me the fundamentals of trigonometry (what a weird game that would be) our tiny sketched friend has a point. Lets see if developers take the hint and use video games for something other than cheap thrills and one night stands.....[breaks down in tears] Oh I’m sooooo sorry my beautiful blog, I’ll never leave you again. Can you ever forgive me?

Let me give you the BOOT!!!!

HAHAHAHAHA just another reason why people with video cameras who love video games and have way to much time on their hands should be my friend. I don't know what I would have done if that boot tried to stomp my way.

Superman/Batman Public Enemies Review

I watched Superman/Batman Public Enemies this weekend and I was surprised to find that the movie was good. I mean, I wasn’t expecting the movie to be bad, I just didn’t expect it to be as good as it was.

Plot

A meteor made of kryptonite is on a crash course towards earth and President Lex Luthor (ehm bad guy) with his infinite wisdom decides to use his own patented missiles to destroy the space rock of doom instead of asking for help from one of the many superheroes who could have easily punched the meteor out of the sky. Superman and Batman, who think Lex’s plan will fail, decide on their own method of saving the planet and inadvertently bruise Luthor's ego. In retaliation to the egregious offense to his pride, Lex implicates Superman of murder and slaps a $1 billion bounty on the Man of Steel. Superman must then team up with Batman, the only person in the world smart enough to know that Superman isn’t a cold blooded killer, if he wants to survive the constant onslaught of foes looking for a little extra cash and friends wanting to bring him to “justice.”

What the Movie did Right

• Fan Service-They definitely crammed a lot of characters into one movie, but it never felt like the abundance of characters were arbitrarily thrown into the movie just because it need bodies. A lot, but certainly not all, of the cameos got a chance to show off their talents as they battled our two heroes.

• Battle Royal-A lot of animated movies try to focus on telling an interesting story with one or two big action scenes and that’s fine...sometimes, but this is a comic book movie and we (the fans) want action and this movie delivered it. I don’t think five minutes passed without someone getting thrown into a building or being pelted with exploding batarangs.
• Good Writing- So what if the plot, “The world will be destroyed unless you save it,” has been done a million times before, it doesn’t mean the writing can’t be good. The dialogue wasn’t drawn out or sappy and none of the lines seemed forced or cliched so kudos to the voice actors. But what I really liked was that several characters brought jokes and friendly banter with them. I couldn't help, but laugh at random comments about Batman’s dreary personality and Power Girl’s accentuated costume.
• This One’s for the Big Kids-Not to say that this film isn’t kid friendly, but the movie was definitely aiming to please teenagers and up instead of the 5-12 year old crowd that most cartoons these days are targeting. Basically, good job creators for targeting the larger demographic of your audience, I’m sure that will equal bigger sales.

Here’s What the Movie did Wrong (I’m just being nit picky)

• Why so Stiff-The animation was stiff and it looked like all the characters couldn’t move properly because their rippling muscles got in the way.

• Special Features-The special features were not interesting, well on disc one anyways. When the special feature says Green Lantern preview I expect to see a clip of the movie or some really good concept art, but all I got was the director telling me Green Lantern's origin and how perfect the voice actors were for their roles. Now there is a second disc with a slew of extras, but unfortunately Redbox doesn’t let you rent the bonus disc. Sad, I know, but I might add onto the review if I ever see the bonus features.

Final Thoughts

Overall the movie was a good, straight forward action packed flick that should make any DC fan happy. I’m giving Superman/Batman Public Enemies 4 batarangs to the face out of 5

Oh hey, in my preview of this movie which you can check out here, I mentioned that all the characters in the movie were ripped and that everyone must belong to a gym as some kind of world mandate. I’m here to go on the record and say that I was wrong. My new theory is that everyone had liposuction and the doctors didn’t know what to do with all the extra fat so they put it in her.

See that rather large androgynous looking woman with no neck making out with Lex Luthor...it looks like she's sucking out all the fat from lex's body. I bet you can't think of a better way to perform lipo, can you?

Poll Results

The polls are in for “Who Wields the Power of Thunder Better, Storm or Thor?” And the winner is....THOR!!!!! It was a good try Storm, but a weather witch just can’t beat a Norse god whose title is God of Thunder. Lets all go to Valhalla and party down with the the victorious Thor.

This month question is, “Who is Faster, The Flash or Sonic the Hedgehog?” Is it the Flash who is faster than Superman or is it Sonic, who according to his Saturday morning cartoon theme is the fastest thing alive. The race to be the fastest is on and it’s up to you to decide a winner.

Here are two clips that let you compare the two speedsters...sorta.

This is an episode of The Justice League that really shows off the Flash's abilities. Start watching the clip at 2:08 and if you like what you see just keep watching the episode.

This is Sonic, the song explains it all.

If you feel strongly about one speedy hero being faster then the other then post a comment like the one below. Otherwise, thanks for clicking one of the options to the right.

Hero of the Month

I was having a rough day yesterday and as I walked to my car I imagined that the best way to end my long day was to have a little yellow piece of paper tucked neatly under my windshield wiper informing me that I had to pay $25 for an expired meter. Luckily, that wasn’t the case, but I continued to think of what might have happened if the meter maid had left a gift for me. My one conclusion to the scenario was to yell into the dark empty void of space hoping that my reverberating voice would somehow cure my mounting frustrations. At that moment, without thinking, I let out a weird little yaaaaaa sound that reminded me of Banshee. My tiny yaaaaaa sound was so awkward and random that I instantly started laughing out loud and that is why Banshee gets hero’s honors this month because he made me smile on one of my off days.

Uncharted 2's Big Screen Preview

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is getting raving reviews from everyone and it’s already been predicted to be the best game of 2009...not bad for game that hasn't been released yet. Even G4’s Adam Sessler said that Uncharted 2 has the best single player experience of any game he has ever played and that’s saying something when it comes from the guy who controls all the gaming news for an entire cable station and its website. Apparently the game’s graphics will blow your mind and the game's attention to detail makes it standout from the heaping mass of generic shooters that clog Game Stop’s shelves.

As a way to create buzz around the game, Sony has decided to let people preview the game before its release in four movie theaters across the nation. Mike Fidler, Senior VP of Sony’s digital camera division said, "This is the first time we're doing it in a theater. We think it's a start of something for us, and hope we can build this into a standard element in the movie-going experience." Uncharted 2 will be projected onto the theater’s mammoth screen using Sony’s new 4K digital projectors. Combine the state of the art projectors with the game’s stunning graphic engine and the eyes of those at the preview will most likely melt out of their sockets due to all the prettyness happening on the screen...so if you plan on going to the preview you have been warned.

San Francisco and Thousand Oaks, California; Bellevue, Washington; and Rosemont, Illinois are the lucky winners of this video game/theater experiment (YAY Illinois). I’m not really into shooters, but I am interested in this one so come down to the MUVICO Rosemont Theater at 9701 Bryn Mawr Ave Rosemont, IL 60018 and check it out and don’t forget your seeing eye dog.

According to MUVICO’s website the Uncharted 2 tournament (yes, not just a preview, but a competition as well) will happen on Tuesday October 6 from 5:00 till 10:00 PM. It’s $15 to play or $10 to watch other people play (boring). If you want to order your tickets in advance go to MUVICO’s website or call (847) 447-1030.

[source]