Review: Tron Legacy

Ah...Tron. What a strange film you are. I remember watching bits of you around 3 years ago on TV and wondering 'what the hell is this thing?' I still haven't seen all of the original 1982 film, the one that I guess you could say was way ahead of it's time and can now be considered a flop at the box office. What it did do successfully was create a 'cult' which probably led to the 2010 sequel Tron Legacy we see today.

Well actually, I saw it yesterday and I have mixed views about it. Before seeing the film, I was actually reading a review on the game being released as a tie in 'Tron Evolution' but the article made some very strong points related to the film. Whilst the original film was ahead of it's time, when the general public didn't really know of CLU's and RAM, this film is perhaps past it's time. Nowadays, even 10 year old's know of the ins and outs of computers and slightly older audiences could just laugh off character's called 'Clu' and races called 'ISO's' I'm not sure how true this is but it's certainly a good point - are we as an audience too savvy to find Tron Legacy interesting?

Well I'm not incredibly techno minded, but I found the film interesting. That's not to say good however. I'm not giving spoilers but too be honest, I was waiting for the final showdown between good and bad to happen quite early on. Is this a result of a good storyline with emotional characters? No, I just wanted the end to come. Not so much to get the hell out of the cinema, but just to 'see' the ending. I've now confused myself - is that a result of a good plot? You tell me.

I'm not going to go overboard with describing the visuals. It's pretty obvious they spent a lot of time on them and they do look good. Not mind-boggling good, but then again I didn't see it in 3D, so maybe that was the reason.

A lot of things in the film just didn't make any sense...at all. Large chunks of the film are used to tell of what happened to 'the Grid' and the perfect world Flynn wanted to make in it. To do this he believed in 'Isomorphic Algorithms' or ISO's which are incredibly intelligent forms found in the Grid that could actually  help the real world with religion and science etc. How they could is never really explained and just breezed over, down to sheer laziness on Disney's part I would imagine.

Tron Legacy didn't do amazingly well acting wise, with our protagonist, Sam Flynn, played by Garrett Hedlund, a pretty flat, boring character. Olivia Wilde plays Quorra, the real Kevin Flynn's apprentice and she was fine. Oscar winning Jeff Bridges gave the best performance, as you'd imagine, but even then most of it just involved him doing lots of yoga and meditation. There were also a few odd cameos splashed about - Michael Sheen as some David Bowie-like club owner, Cillian Murphy as some corporate nasty-man and even Daft Punk.

Yet the main star in my opinion was Jeff Bridges CGI younger self -Clu. Digitally made, the character looks like Bridges fresh from the 1982 Tron or there abouts. And my, my it's creepy. There's most certainly a case of teh 'uncanny valley' in question here with Clu*. At first, watching the trailers, I didn't realise it wasn't a real person. But the more I watched, his rubbery face and lack of facial expressions gave it away. You'd think they might have done something about this for the final film but no, it's still there. Over done Botox-Bridges gives one main expression - a creepy looking smile and that's all. Unfortunately, in the end I couldn't really take the character very seriously because of the strange effect he had but it was a good try on Disney's part.

One more thing about Tron Legacy I want to take note of is the amount of Star Wars-like imagery in there. Now, having not seen the original, I don't know whether there was a lot in there, but in this I counted at least 4 to 5 major links. Let's see if I find a few images to show you what I mean...

1) The main character being in some kind of aircraft gunner during a space battle (ok, so it may not look very convincing with these pictures, but if you've seen the film, you should know what I mean).
















2) The main character having a wise-guardian/teacher - I'm mean c'mon, look at these pictures! Plus, in a part of the film Kevin Flynn reprogramme's an evil guard thingy to allow him to fly a jet in the same fashion as Obi Wan using the force to allow them into Mos Eisley Cantina.



3) Tron's evil jet things looked like X-Wings to me.













4)  I can't find any good pictures but in one scene, Quorra's arm get's chopped off - remind you of anyone?

5) Finally, again I can't find any pictures but near the end of the film, people can expect to find huge similarities to Darth Vader and his forces. This in turn mirrors Hitler. That is all I shall say

Ok, this review has gone on long enough. If you liked Tron from 1982 go see this. If you like crazy visuals go see this. If you're bored go see this. But don't expect anything more than a cheesy Disney movie crammed full of 'homages' that doesn't really become what it could have done. It's like Inception but more tech-y! And worse.

* I'm sure you're asking 'what the hell is Uncanny Valley?'

Sudden Realisation.

Ever since I owned a copy of GTA: San Andreas way back in 2004, I have never ever ever played through it's storyline. It's terrible to think now, but back then I was only 12 - all I wanted to do was drive and shoot and blow up thing and mess around.

Skip forward 6 nearly 7 years and me and a friend are trying to complete it (I wouldn't say 100% because that's ridiculous, maybe just the missions and collectibles). Only now do I realise how cheat-y 'Weapons Set 1' was, only now do I realise how incredibly useful the food shops are, only now do I realise how body armour is vital.

This game shows absolutely no damn mercy.

You died? Well back to the hospital, then to the mission again, but now you've got to go get a gun again, and do the whole mission again. It's so tedious, but we will finish this damn game. I love it and now I hate it at the same time.

I'll keep you updated on how it's going, but don't expect anything amazing - my friend can't shoot and I can't drive!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1: Review

I finally went to go see the new Harry Potter a few days ago, after dangerously trudging through snow and ice to get to the cinema. It is quite ridiculous the amount of snow we're getting at the moment, but digress...

I confess I have not read all of the books (despite wanting to go to university to study English Literature...ahem...) and so, very slightly I was lost concerning the plot. However, I'm sure I also missed a ton of references that only readers will notice, so maybe after all these years I should return to the books - who knows?

Despite these drawbacks, I found the film entertaining. Very much so. It's standard now for the Potter films to be made with such high quality and attention to detail that you almost forget what a polished film it is. The special effects were superb, and yet some so subtle you probably don't even notice them, you expect them.

Fortunately, or unfortunately the film is mainly composed of just Harry, Ron and  Hermione running from a wild goose chase by Voldermort...y'know...the nice politician from Maid in Manhattan? I say fortunately and unfortunately because whilst you get to see some nice acting and all that from the three young stars, you miss out on a lot of the great British talent the past films have scooped up. Smidgens of Bill Nighy, Mark William, Julie Walters, Alan Rickman, David Thewlis, Robbie Coltrane and more crop up, but not enough for me. Of course, the film's based on a book so it's not their fault, but it's a disappointment none the less.

So yes, the film was solid - none of it was amazingly bad (although the cheese factor was knocked up a notch in some cases...BAM!) but then none of it blew me away either. The main reason for this, or indeed the only reason, is because as it says in the title, it is 'Part 1.' In other words, the prequel to the action, the calm before the storm and inevitable most of it therefore is going to be build up and story setting for the final film as it goes out with a bang.

And don't get me wrong, I really do like the story and it all works well but I do have a small problem. I'm not sure whether this is a fault to the film or the books, but the latest cinema outings for the Harry Potter franchise do seem rather bleak and depressing. I am still content with the Chamber of Secrets being my favourite film, or perhaps the Prisoner of Azkaban because they act as the 'Harry learning and growing within the wizarding world' films. In those, everything was fun and light-hearted and there was cool magic and happy people and not everyone was dropping like flies all the time. Now I feel they've went too far the other way and left the films feeling empty. Or this whole paragraph could just be me reminiscing of simpler times when the three stars were young and had nothing to stress over...like me when I watched those films for the first time. Sigh...

Anyways, yes the film was good and yes of course it's made me want to go see the final final but I don't know, something just wasn't right for me and of course, it's only going to get worse in the next film where everything and everyone goes kablamo!!! That's right isn't it? That's what happens!?

It's still terrible.

This game is so wrong and so bad on so many different fronts, I don't know where to start.

So I won't.

I will say this, though. After playing on it for only 20 minutes, its made me question my fondness of FPS's.

Stay away from it, please.

Uh Oh Spaghettios!

It's official - no one cares about Pudsey any more. Children in Need last night only managed to make £18 million by the end of the night (and what a dire night that was as well) and looking at the stats below, the little bear seems to be on a downward spiral.


2005 - £17,235,256

2006 - £18,300,392

2007 - £19,089,771

2008 - £20,991,216

2009 - £20,309,747

2010 - £18,098,199

The solution? Don't make it annual! The reason Comic Relief is so successful, not just because it's far more fun and entertaining, is because it's held every two years meaning when it finally comes, there's excitement for it. However, I'm sure this will never happen, Terry Wogan seems obsessed to keep his little charity drive annual and he shall face the consequences...

Please note:

I am currently playing the Halo Reach campaign because there's nothing else to do on the Xbox and actually quite enjoying it.

Variety of gameplay. Damn intelligent AI. Nice cinematic cutscenes. Interesting storyline.

I guess you can't judge a book by its cover...or a game by its online multiplayer.

Remember this?

"At the moment I'm still not completely sold on buying this, but no doubt if my chums do on x-box, I will to. Maybe the campaign and/or other features we sell it to me, but at the moment all eyes are on Halo Reach!"

Well it turns out I couldn't be more wrong. Firstly, I have absolutely absolutely no inclination to buy Call of Duty: Black Ops. The campaign and/or other features, to me, seem pointless, unnecessary and generic. So much hype surround the game and now it's finally out I can't wait for the moaning to begin. Campers. Guns. Boosting. All that delicious stuff.

Of course, the game is different, but not different enough for me to warrant forty-odd pound to buy it. In general the gameplay is the same, the maps are the same, the guns are the same which all means it could boil down to DLC for Modern Warfare 2 and nothing more. Now, I must admit, I haven't played Black Ops, but surely if I have no lust to play the game, it has failed at it's purpose?

For those who have the money/time/patience to buy it, play it and not get annoyed by it (for the first couple of weeks anyway), good for you. But personally, the Xbox has seemed a bit lackluster lately. Maybe I'm not trying hard enough but all I want it a nice, original, interesting, absorbing game to play whilst everyone else is nuking, bombing, bow and arrowing, RC driving, knifing, sniping and n00btubing their way into frustration.

Oh, and the second point that is wrong in the quote is that I find Halo Reach to be truly one of the most disappointing titles in a long, long time. Sorry Bungie.

It think it's time for some expansion on here...

Expansion into what? I don't know...

What I do know it that things around here (when shakily updated) are getting a bit stale so here are some remedies to take twice daily...

• More posts - this is quite obvious but the more I do in here, the more varied and more interesting it will become...right?
• Make use of the other pages - as you can go see now, I haven't done this yet.
• Experiment with the limitations of blogger (which I much prefer over tumblr or wordpress).
• Other things...

I know this isn't the most interesting of posts (how ironic!) but to be honest this is more for me than it is for you...and whoever 'you' are, thank you for actually reading it!

Review: RED

I really wanted to title this post 'RED-iculously bad' but in my annoyingly obsessive manner I must stick to what I did with the Expendables review.

Anyway, as you may have now guessed, I didn't think RED was that good. But at the same time, I don't think it was that bad either. Of course, it was 'film bad' which means something completely different, but to me is was watchable. Most of the films released nowadays are 'film bad' which simply put means they weren't incredibly amazing, but worth the £5 or so you spent going to see it (plus if you have a bag of Werther's Originals with you, you're set!)

The ensemble cast of Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren and John Malkovich did a pretty good job, combining very well into the 'Retired and Extremely Dangerous' category. However, something was most definitely missing. The film felt 'empty' and raw. The spy-like thriller tone with a hint of comedy (and I mean a hint, the funniest character on there is Malkovich as the kooky funny man, a foil to Willis) doesn't really go anywhere. There is a...ahem...plot per se but everything moves too fast to keep up and ultimately care about.

It's a run of the mill film to say the least, and after a strong summer of films it certainly quivers in comparison. At this time between the big Hollywood blockbusters of the summer and the upcoming Christmas bonanza of films, it's stuck in the middle leaving no real desire to see it.

Whilst to some it may have dragged on and on and on, it comes as fast as it goes leaving no impact and little to be seen again. Sure it's entertaining, but it has to be - it's a film. That doesn't necessarily mean it has to be good...

Hee hee hoo hoo ha ha!

See how carefully and most deviously in my previous post I ignored the fact my last update was 24 days ago?

I am so smart, I am so smart! S-M-R-T...I mean S-M-A-R-T!

I have a bad feeling about this...

So it seems George Lucas could be making more Star Wars films after the 3D release of the three we all know and love as well as the...other three. Shudder. Meh, I shouldn't really say that - the whole three prequels thing has been done to death and although they are bad and are nothing but an insult to the original trilogy, the awfulness has certainly been exaggerated over the years. (On a minor related note, the third of Plinkett's Star Wars reviews is coming out soon, hoorah!)

Back to the rumour however, and it seems the new films will be unrelated to the Skywalker's and all their mess, starting fresh once again. I must wonder though, how much Star Wars-ness can exist? After six whole films, billions of expanded universe novels and a planned 100 episodes of the television series, surely ideas will repeat themselves and/or people will bore of George Lucas' world. Pah, what am I saying? It's been going on for 33 years and looks to never diminish!

Bother, blast and piffle.

A recent surge in university open days, Minecraft and of course, school work led me to kinda, well - forget about Dropped Banana.

For that, I am sorry.

However, after a recent update on LudiCrumb, I was reminded that blogging is indeed good and healthy and wise and many other positive words.

So yes, once again I shall update but I can't promise them to be regular and/or indeed funny, amusing or interesting.

Nonetheless, I shall try and actually, there are quite a few things I need to catch up on

• Halo: Reach has been released which I have bought and played and well...didn't amazingly enjoy (which I shall explain about another time). If you want to read a review by someone who did enjoy it, then try LudiCrumb again.
• The new season of The Simpson's has began airing over in the US - be prepared for more ranting on the crapiness!
• Other things I cannot yet think of...but they exist!

I can't think of a decent exit so I'll just say this...goodbye!

Gas brake honk. Gas brake honk. Honk honk punch. Gas gas gas.

(excuse the crapiness, I did this myself from one of those watch Simpsons online sites)

Shame.

At the beginning of this very year, a new decade, I set myself a new year's resolution. And not a crappy one like "I'm going to be nicer to people" or "I'm going to donate to charity more", no no no, instead I decided upon a meaningful, fully-fledged one.

To go to the cinema more often.

So far I think I've done well. Compared to my previous record of 4 in 2009, I achieved viewing all these so far in 2010:

• Kickass
• Iron Man 2
• Prince of Persia
• Toy Story 3
• Inception
• The Expendables
• Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Hmmm, after actually looking up what films I've seen this year it isn't as many as I originally though. Damn. Oh well, it's better than last year. I'd say at least four of those films count as amazing films, I'll leave you to guess. Although actually I'm going to tell one of those because this whole post was in fact about Scott Pilgrim's performance at the box office.

With a budget of $60 million it's only made around $35 million, classing it as a "major financial disappointment." I went to go see it only the other day and whilst I wasn't blown away by it, it's a whole damn better than some of the other stuff on at the moment. And I really do have to wonder why it's doing so badly.

As mentioned, I thought the film was very good and I loved the style and cinematography of it, the gaming references and the fact it made me laugh (very few films I've seen lately are actually that funny). My only guess on it's low income is it's marketing. I saw the film advertised but I never truly got a grasp on what the film was - it's like they didn't know what to advertise it as.

I really do hope it's boosted by DVD sales because it doesn't deserve to be in the state it is. Edgar Wright, director of Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead (one of most favouritist of films evar!) has done a great job on this, and the actors are all fantastic.

So if you didn't go watch it, if you still can do. And if you can't, buy the DVD multiple times!

p.s. I have noticed a lot of my posts end with me commanding you to do something. Please do not feel threatened by this.

Avada Kedavra this game immediately!

A few days ago I played the new Harry Potter Years 1 -4 Lego game with a friend and I just quickly want to give my thoughts about it. They are quite basic really...I don't like it.

I'm sorry, but any Lego game I see I straight away compare to Star Wars Lego and they just can't be beat. Batman Lego? No. Indiana Jones? No. Harry Potter Lego? God no. And it isn't even because it's not as good as Star Wars that makes this a bad game, no, it's just flawed anyway.

Much fuss was made of the new split screen thing that means you don't get pulled by the other player which in theory sounds good. But lots of theories sound good...it doesn't necessarily mean they are. And this isn't. It's strange, the screen just decides to cut in half and the line separating the two screens swivels and turns and makes my eyes go banana crazy.

Other crapness about the game involves the settings. I like Harry Potter, I really do, but this game just doesn't have the vastness Star Wars had - everything seems cramped and tight and hard to see. I know this just lends itself to the theme of Harry Potter but it gets on my nerves. Also, the constant changing of spells to do the most pathetic actions then having to change back to do another thing is grilling and saps away any enjoyment that's left.

The game boasts having 150 characters. Oh my God! 150!? Well yes and no, as there are 150 characters but I'd say 50 of those are the same damn characters with different outfits. Ron Weasley. Ron Weasley Quidditch. Ron Weasley casual. Ron Weasley swimwear. You get the point and it's just sheer laziness.

Oh, and the brick builder function is downright boring to use, fiddly and a complete waste of anyone's time. Halo Forge it is not, shite it is.

All in all my advice is stay away from this game - read the books or watch the films instead.

p.s. To cheer myself up from this terrible game I chose to use a picture of my favourite character from the Harry Potter series, Remus Lupin - look at that mustache!

Review: The Expendables

Ok, ok...I think I'm good now. After two days of rest I feel capable to write in words what I thought of this film. And to be honest, it was actually quite good!

I think the whole outcome of people's opinion on this film is based around their mindset when entering the cinema. If you go in expecting developed characters, a coherent plot and stunning special effects you're going to be disappointed...quite why anyone would enter thinking that is beyond me, it's directed by Rocky/Rambo man Sylvester Stallone! If you enter knowing that what you're about to watch is two hours of explosions, blood, guns and death you won't be disappointed. It's as simple as that.

The Expendables seems to be one of films where you just switch off your brain and relax enjoying the cinema and friends (unless you go to the cinema alone...you freak). Personally, I thought a lot of it worked well and for what it was trying to be, an 80's-like action mish-mash, it damn well was! The cast of macho men including director Sylvester Stallone, weird shaped head man Jason Statham and big lipped Mickey Rourke pulled the film along with their 'witty' banter and one-liners (for examples, when responding to what his and Sylvester's names are, Jason Statham replies "I'm Buda...and he's pest"...Hilarious!). And that's probably the of the best things about this film, the interaction between the characters and how they get on together.

There's not really much to say about the ideas about this film...obviously, and analysing anything is out of the question but there's one moment in the film which was very strange indeed and I guess is a testament to Mickey Rourke's acting abilities. Halfway through the film after...you've guessed it, lots of fire and bullets, there's a scene between Stallone and Rourke's character 'Tool'. After a bit of conversation, Rourke goes into a story about how when he was with the Expendables he left someone to die when in fact he could have saved them. It's not really important to the...ahem...'plot', but it slows everything down quite abruptly by Rourke's performance.

Whilst nothing was really wrong with the film, there were parts that kick-started the cringe function in my brain, including some very dodgy CGI that looked like a Nintendo 64 game and such cliche shots like a close up of someones eye with a reflection. But they all helped I guess, in it's downright crappiness this film is amazing. I couldn't stop laughing after leaving the cinema, so at least it was enjoyable. I say, if you know what to expect and just want a simple sit-back, no think-y movie then this is for you.

And just to give you a little taste of what it's like, a man's torso gets blow off in the first five minutes! Enjoy!

News just in!

I'm going to see the Expendables in a few days...



May God have mercy on us all.



Expect a review after my brain has took in all the explosions, bullet dodging and muscles.



May God have mercy on us all.

Ahem...your attention please...

Go place your eyeball lens looker devices onto a screen or monitor displaying the twelfth episode of The Simpsons's fourth season, otherwise known as Marge vs. the Monorail. I shall give you three reasons why:

1. It's funny.

2. Conan O'Brien wrote it.

3. It has amazing quotes:

• "Heh heh...mule"
• "Do you want to change your name to Homer Junior? The kids can call you Ho-Ju!"
• "So then, “mono” means “one”. And ”rail” means “rail”. And that concludes our intensive three-week course."
• ..."I call the big one Bitey"
• "We're too late!" "I shouldn't have stopped for that haircut. Sorry."

Ask me to recite a quote anywhere near as funny as those from let's say...season 15 onwards and I wouldn't have a clue. Go figure...

Double poop, but don't worry - Minecraft!!!

Now I don't know if this sounds just too coincidental but the day I planned to write something for this very blog, was the very same day my body decided to contract a bug my cousin had obviously been carrying.

Does it?

Well it's the truth either way, which means the past three days have been nothing more than me lying in bed not noticing/caring about the outside world. However I'm going to stop depressing you with my awful story and get on with what this post is about, and lemme tell you this, it's something pretty special...

If you watch Seananner's video's on YouTube then you should know what I'm on about because it was was he that brought this game into the limelight. It's been around for around a year and after mentioning in a vlog, Seananners has opened it up to a lot of new people, including me! What he actually did was give a link to someone else on YouTube called davidr64yt who is currently doing a walkthrough of it. After watching all his 30 or so video's on it I was hooked.

The basic premise of the game is that in this randomly generated blocky land where your character starts, there are many different resources around you that you can mine. After mining them, you can craft things with them, y'see where I'm going here? However, to save boredom kicking in, the game also incorporates a day/night system - in the day happy cuddly animals such as cows, chickens and pigs roam the land, but at night they are replaced by skeletons, spiders and zombies that are out to kill you. So the goal is simply to survive by building shelters, food, armour, weapons etc etc.

This game looks set to explode in popularity now more people know about it, and then maybe the developer, Notch, might finally finish the game (at the moment it's still in alpha development). Minecraft looks to have unlimited potential with the way things can be created and the various physics the game holds including electricity, water and gravity. You can already see the amazing things being created back when it's audience was tiny so have a search on YouTube and whilst there watch some gameplay vids because believe me - you'll be impressed!

There's so much more to say about this game but I think it's easier just to watch it and find out for yourself, so go on, do it now!

Oh poop.

Well it's been two days and there's been nothing but having only missed yesterday by 24 minutes I don't feel incredibly bad.

25 minutes now*.

I'll make up for it tomorrow with something good and longer than usual I think. That should happitise anyone who reads this. And to those people I say well done, have a goldstar**.

As for now I shall just show this advert that came up whilst I was listening to the wonderful Neil Diamond on YouTube. I know adverts are supposed to be related but it made me chuckle nonetheless...

* 29 minutes now
** You will not receive any actual goldstars, instead you must use your imagination

Motion controls: Useless.

So I was scrolling through YouTube aimlessly as usual and decided to go on IGN's channel. There I found a video about the new Harry Potter Deathly Hallows game. Now I'm definitely not a major Harry Potter fan (I gave up on the books after number three) but...I guess I was bored so I watched it. And to my surprise I found this...



Now I shouldn't judge it on one game...but when the one game in question looks this bad I can't help it. To be honest I don't really like the idea of motion controls in game consoles anyway (some Wii games that I have are an exception because it uses them well e.g. MarioKart, Super Mario Galaxy, Warioware Touched...you see a pattern?) because the majority of gamers, being fat/lazy/nerdy/unfit, don't want to move. Wii have opened up a disgusting terrible market with 'family' games but the less said about that the better.

But this Harry Potter video is new level of crapness. Firstly it seems to be an on-rails game, making the actual gameplay nothing more than what you see - waving your arms. Secondly, it's the arm waving!!! Who wants to do that? Who wants to work with a friend flicking your arm? There's no strategy, no excitement and no fun (not to mention the fact the detection looks a bit iffy).

When I first heard about Kinect (or Project Natal back then) it did sound exciting but not for the reason I think they meant. I didn't want to play any games on it, oh my no. I was just fascinated with the technology involved and that's all. And even that looks a bit dodgy now with all these demo's. The Playstation Move looks exactly the same except instead of holding nothing you're holding...well...y'know what people have described them as...

Xbox and Playstation - leave the Wii with it's own market and don't try and interfere. Just stick to what the people want - more explosions, more guns and more Timesplitters...ahem...no? Just me then...

Lights, Camera...no, I won't be that cliché.

There was no news or anything at all yesterday. Not a single thing. No cells. No light. No gravity. No laws of Physics. Therefore I didn't exist and could not post anything.

But now, there is. So that's good.

And today and I want to say something fairly simple. Play this game now.

I don't care if you don't like films. Or Activision (however greedy and manipulative they are). Or Lionhead with the seemingly always high Peter Molyneux. Or strategy games. Just get it and make movies on the creator part. Trust me, it's amazing and for a game that came out in 2005, it hasn't been trumped and probably never will do.

As for the expansion pack 'Stunts & Effects', I've haven't got that yet but I'm planning to and it looks to make the experience even better!

People care enough to not care on Facebook

Petitions are currently being signed by people who obviously need to get out more. Yes, Facebook users are demanding a 'Meh' button similar to that of the 'Like' one, after seeing the button being taken up by many other websites to great success. Some idiotic CEO bloke quotes "it's a surprising hit", despite the fact all that shows is people are publicly declaring 'I don't like this, I am bored or disappointed or unimpressed by this" about his particular website. Now that's business!

Plus, the addition of this button to Facebook would only mean more junk to arrive on your newsfeed...

So that's a definite no from me, yet one thing I will take away useful from this apparent slow news day (ahem..three days ago...) at New York Daily News is that the actual word, like all things, was created by the Simpsons. God bless Jebus...and the Simpsons...the good Simpsons...seasons 1 - 9...ok I'll stop.

And that's the end of that chapter...

Well there we are. I finally completed Red Dead Redemption, after blogging about it all that time ago. I don't really want to get into a full on review about it, well not yet anyway but I will say this - it's probably one of the best games I ever played. The ending was incredible and really does make you realise how good Rockstar are at storytelling and creating real, emotional characters. Of course, this doesn't mean it's 100% complete though. No, I've got all the stranger side missions, the hunting, the outfits, the weapons, the extra activities, the achievements, the forts and a whole lot more to do now.

All I know is I'll be getting the DLC for sure, and I really do hope there's a sequel on the way, or perhaps even better, a prequel.

Oh and another thing I'm going to try and do is find the elusive Donkey Lady and Cougar Man!

Poor Mexico

Good news everyone!

I lied. Bad news actually. I'm in a non-write-y mood today but after watching a new episode of Futurama just now, I feel the need to praise it. Therefore, I shall show you how good it is in just three GIFs...

 

 

 Go watch it now! 

Oh and by the way...

Happy Friday the 13th!!!

Enjoy it, and try not to die.

A belated Call of Duty: Black Ops Multiplayer Trailer analysis!

Yes, Treyarch finally decided to show all the 10 year olds what they can use to annoy next, and I must say I'm split. However glitchy, unfair and hugely irritating Modern Warfare 2 is, people can't excuse the fact it's a good FPS. No, it's just other players that make it the way it is. Yet it's when they add things to game which purposely seems to be there for campers or hackers or whatever to take use that annoys the hell outta me (ahem...tactical insertion...grenade launcher...). And from this trailer for the next game in the COD series, things seem just as jumbled up in the good/bad factor as Modern Warfare 2 was...



So let's go through this shall we...

0:10 - Some strange camera thing allows you to see other rooms with a thermal like vision. Interesting, yet rather obvious and I'm guessing they wouldn't last long before someone takes it out. Basically a worse version of a UAV.

0:19 - Here we see it's a 3 killstreak for the little racing car which you shall soon find out about...

0:20 - Look at the big fancy rocket! Ooh-ahh!

0:22 - Like MW2, care packages are 4 kill streaks.

0:28 - Holy Moses, a bomber bow blow-y-up-y thing! Yeah, I don't like the looks of this, firstly because I can see you just dying randomly by not hearing the thing. But also, if you're the one firing, I can imagine the time it takes for it to blow up the enemy would already be dead.

0:30 - 5 kill streak equal Predator Missile, or something similar.

0:31 - Knife/dart shooter looks cool, but hard to use as well. Then again, maybe that's a good thing. Followed by a double knife kill that looks just a lunge-y as before...great...

0:42 - Helicopter/Copper Gunner another killstreak reward.

0:50 - Yeah yeah, a sticky grenade, something we've seen in Halo and MW2...who cares?

0:55 - Here we go, the racing car bomb - I like this...it's something new and seems fun enough. However, only 3 kills needed to get it? I can see a lot of them racing around you in a game, chasing after you - which sounds pretty darn good in my opinion. (Also, spot the controlled missile in the background, which could be the Predator Missile 4 killstreak thing we saw earlier)

1:03 - In the background, we see a napalm attack which appears to be the Black Ops version of Precision Airstrike. Looks far better and more explosion-y.

1:08 - Sigh...sniping...although to be fair, it seems the hit detection is a lot smaller in this (at least I hope so) so, y'know...people have to actually aim when sniping and we don't get any of this quickscoping/noscoping crap again. Listen players...if you want to shoot like that, use a normal gun...not a sniper rifle...they are not meant to be used like that. Rant over.

1:10 - Bam! Another appearance of that missile, which seems to be a horizontal version of the Predator Missile.

1:18 onwards - What I believe to be the most exciting and interesting part of the trailer - Black Ops will have a playback system like Halo 3's Theatre mode. Finally! So when you do do that amazing grenade multi-kill or a particularly funny kill-cam, you can show your friends without trying to explain it to them! Later we see an upload feature, either being to a dedicated site by Treyarch or perhaps to Youtube. Who knows? Either way, it'll make montages and killcam kills a lot more prominent on Youtube. Hmmm...good or bad?

And there we have it, a mixture of woo hoo's and boo hoo's I think. At the moment I'm still not completely sold on buying this, but no doubt if my chums do on x-box, I will to. Maybe the campaign and/or other features we sell it to me, but at the moment all eyes are on Halo Reach!

News just in!

INCEPTION IS GOOD!!!

Long time no see

Yes, yes I know - 77 days...I do apologise most sincerely...well, a bit anyway.

However, be prepared for daily updates starting today! That's right, every day a marvellous new thing to read from Dropped Banana going straight from the webpage into your eyeballs!!!

Enjoy!

p.s. My days are much different from your puny human 'days', hopefully that doesn't muck things up...

Console fanboys...prepare for more arguments!

Sorry for the delay, just a bit of life to attend to, nothing special. Anyway, after trawling through the Internet I came across this piece of news...

PSN Premium Service Details Coming "Very Soon"

"I can assure you that the current PSN as you know it will remain a free service. It is something that our competitors don't offer and something that shows our loyalty to the PlayStation Community. However, Kaz Hirai stated a few months ago that we were looking at a premium service to sit alongside the current free service and that objective has not changed. You'll learn more about it very soon."

Well there you have it, everyone knew it was coming eventually and here's the first sign. Personally I like the PS3 although I don't own one, instead I chose an Xbox. And this is coming from a life-long Sony fan. The thing is however, I feel as though Sony are dropping behind in the console market (not as far as the Wii of course) because they just aren't trying hard enough. With the success of the PS2 all those years ago now, I think they're just sticking to what they know best. I'm not sure what happened with the PS3, whether it be the price or the lack of games that interested me...I just don't feel as though I'd like it.

Anyways, with this news will spark a whole new debates on YouTube comments concerning how the Xboxer's were right all along or some crap like that. Honestly, I only chose the Xbox because my friends had an Xbox, and I think the main way it works. With this premium service coming, the two consoles are only going to become more similar to each until finally the two sides have nothing to argue about.

Now wouldn't that be nice?

The Simpsons hit a new low...again...

I won't get into too much detail here but we all know that the Simpsons is not funny anymore. What should have ended 10 years ago keeps crawling onwards producing such lifeless, dull and unfunny episodes it's become everything the show detested back in the 1990's.

Along with this comes the sell-out merchandising, much akin to the Lady Krusty Mustache Remover and Krusty Geiger Meter. However, whilst this applies to actual products, it can also apply to events on the show. Take the opening couch gag of season 21's "To Surveil with Love", if you can really call it a couch gag. In part of 'Fox Rocks' week, a number of their shows got a musical number added to them, including the Simpsons. So, instead of the usual opening, we got Lisa and eventually the whole of Springfield miming, of all songs, Kesha's "Tik-Tok". It was a cringe-worthy, avoidable mess even with the out of place interesting animation. If you dare want to feast your eyes upon it, be my guest. (It's back to front but the best quality, so it can stain your eyes even better!)

I thought after that atrocity we might have a little break from the sell-out-ness but I was very wrong. With the 2010 World Cup comes a short film by Nike. Concerning most of the film, I think it's very good (never mind that I know nothing about football and don't follow it at all) but then this happened...



That's right, they just don't stop! Admittedly it's not as bad as the Tik Tok opening but it still adds to the depressing feeling that the writers just don't care what they do now, as long as it rakes in the cash. It's not funny and it's not well animated. The only good thing about it is that they managed to capture Ronaldo's (or should I say Ronal-d'oh's? No, no I shouldn't) smugness and irritating persona. So there we go, even more to add to the growing pile of desolate crap the Simpsons churn out.

Oh and click here if you want to see the whole film.

It's Pacman's 30th Anniversary!

Look at this little guy, he's reached the big 3-0 today (well actually tomorrow but meh) having been released on May 22nd 1980. Pacman is the signature figure of retro gaming, an icon of the 80's and overall one of the most recognisable video game characters ever created. Selling over 100,000 units in it's first year of production, Pacman was immensely popular and so he should have been. It's simply gameplay meant anyone could play and ever since it's spawned numerous sequels and remakes, one of the biggest being...

However, I'm sure you already knew all this because you've been on Google's home page, haven't you? Yes, to celebrate the anniversary in style Google have not only made their doodle Pacman themed, but actually made it a Pacman game! Wait on the page for about 5 seconds and the familiar noise starts up allowing to play in a Google shaped map just like you would normally. Or, if a friend's around, press the 'insert coin' button and go co-op with husband and wife! It's a real treat and not to be missed (if that's even possible). Not sure how to get to Google, don't worry for I have included a link!

http://www.google.co.uk/

Have fun!

Just a little update..

Ok, so I've been thinking of some things to do for Dropped Banana because at the moment all it's been is:

1. News
2. Games

But alas, I want it to be more than that, with a wider variety of posts and topics. Yes exams are coming up but we don't need to care about them just yet, or at least you don't. Therefore, I've come up with some possiblilites for the future that I hope you'll enjoy. They are as follows:

1. Rants - I enjoy a good 'ol rant from time to time about certain aspects of the media (or anything at all I should say) so be prepared for some moaning (to be specific I think the first one may be about the Simpsons).
2. Reviews - This can cover both films and games (and TV I guess to an extent). I must warn you, I don't really want to make them to long to read because I think short and sweet posts are the best. Ergo - you can't expect too much of these, as in full on analysis etc. They're just going to simple ones to have a quick skim through.
3. Top 20's, 10's or 5's of a particular subject...who knows what though.
4. Quotes of the Day/Week perhaps...hmmm, maybe some more thought into that one.

There'll be other things of course as I go along, but these are just a few examples of the things you should expect. That is all.

p.s. I can't promise these to be funny.

p.p.s. I'm sorry.

Red Dead Redemption Out Now!

This is another game to add to my 'games I want to buy as a reward after the exams' list, because who wouldn't love GTA mixed with the Wild West? With a huge setting, untold objectives and brilliant graphics, it looks as though Rockstar San Diego have got a winner on their hands.

When Gun came out in 2004 I snapped it up immediately - unfortunately I was disappointed. The thing is I'm not exactly sure why either, it just didn't deliver what I thought it would. Having been in development for over 5 years, this game looks to do what Gun didn't (and once again I'm not sure what this is). When I play it in the coming weeks, I'll be able to tell because whatever it is - this game has it!

And c'mon...look at this...

SMG2 - The Best Mario Game Ever!?

I swear this blog won't just be about Mario but yesterday and today a ton of reviews came pouring into the Internet that I though you might like to see...


Joystiq
"It's a near-perfect mix of superb controls, unequaled level design and pure creative genius. Simply, it'll never fail to put you in a good mood. You can't ask for more from a game than that."

IGN - 10/10
"Most of all, Super Mario Galaxy 2 perfectly captures that classic videogame charm, the reason why most of us got into gaming from the start."

GameTrailers - 9.7

1Up - A
"Nintendo shows that "more of the same" doesn't have to be a bad thing."

Wired - 9/10
"A new surprising gameplay twist every few minutes, great nostalgic moments, deep challenges if you want them."

Edge - 10/10
"We’ve come so far, from stepping on mushrooms to drop-kicking meteors into the heart of the sun; Galaxy 2 offers a new understanding of where we’ve been, a new sense of wonder at where we’ll go next."

Official Nintendo Magazine - 97%


So there we are, early reports are looking incredibly positive, with some even labelling it the best game on  the Wii or even the best Mario game yet. One things for sure though and that is I'll be getting the game when it comes out, so expect something soon on my thoughts.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 or Super Mario 64?

With the arrival of Super Mario Galaxy's sequel aptly named Super Mario Galaxy 2 coming soon to the US on May 23rd and Europe June 11th, more and more information has been released. We've got new power ups - Rock Mario, Cloud Mario and weird driller Mario as well as the inclusion of Yoshi to look forward to but as well as that we've got the new levels.

The other day I saw this video and started to gush like a little schoolgirl...

Yes that right, some kind of retro galaxy will be featured in the highly anticipated sequel including Thwomp's Fortress of Super Mario 64. I won't go into now (maybe for another post), but for me and many many other Mario fans Super Mario 64 was the best of the best. I mean it was one of the first truly 3D games, and revolutionised gaming back in 1997. The music, the levels, even the stupid sign that everyone thought mentioned Luigi...it was perfection. To see it come back in better graphics with an orchestrated soundtrack filled me giddy with joy.

And only now has this video been released by Nintendo...



Yup it's official, it's certainly going to be in there. And now we can truly say Luigi is in Super Mario 64! For a rough comparison...

Of course it's not going to have the same charm as the original and obviously it doesn't look exactly the same but it's nice to see that Nintendo are not forgetting their past and including a few little nods to keep the nostalgia filled nerds like us happy!

What is wrong with me!?

Look at this...

Starting from this very post you're reading now with your beautiful eyes, I shall start to post what I deem 'good.' I'm not sure how this will all go and whether or not it will be successful but hey, this is new and all. So, all that's left to do now is wonder the internet for all it's wonderful information it contains...

I said the word 'all' FOUR times in two sentences! What a freak I am!


Anyway, if you're arguing this is not what I should be posting then you are wrong because it's exactly things like this I'm going to blog. As well as, you know...interesting things...

...And here we GO!

Starting from this very post you're reading now with your beautiful eyes, I shall start to post what I deem 'good.' I'm not sure how this will all go and whether or not it will be successful but hey, this is new and all. So, all that's left to do now is wander the internet for all it's wonderful information it contains...

p.s. By that I did not mean porn.

p.p.s. The reason for that is because my computer is too slow anyway.

What? Why? When? Who the hell are me?

Here is a new post just for the sake of having a new post. I hope you enjoy this because it is for nothing and yet everything at the same time. I like to just write random things like this that have no meaning but at the same time I feel no one would like to read them so I think I'd better start doing some things that are interesting soon. I think I'll start with games and maybe even include a film review when I go to see a movie. Hmmmm...so many possibilities. Anyway, that'll do so all that is left to say now is...

Bye.

Holy moley! Yet more posts!

Here is another post - I promise I will start posting good things soon, I just need to find the right type of drug...

In the meantime, here is a highly amusing picture that unfortunately is not amusing...

Farewell.

More tests...

Video time...and to fit into the theme of the blog...

Fail.

It did not work.

So I've heard about these jump breaks...

Let's try one shall we. So I'll just type these words you are currently reading right now as I think of something to write. I am writing this nonsense to test this jump break feature and see if it really works. Now I am finding it difficult to think of things to write except I'm not because I just wrote that. Now I really am finding it hard because I finished talking about not having anything to write earlier on. I think this will never end and I'll be stuck in an infinite loop of writing something and then explaining that I just wrote it but actually I think that's enough now so toodle loo, tutty bye.

I forgot to write a title...so here is one.

Done.