Monday 30 June 2008

Hancock - Preview

I am off to see Hancock in a few days time, and I am quite excited. Ever since I first saw the trailer this has looked like it will be a fun film. Will Smith with superpowers, with cool effects. That should be fun.

Deliberately, I have tried to avoid film reviews. This is because I am very impressionable. If everyone tells me something is awesome, when I check it out, I stand a better chance of liking it. If I hear something is not so good, that puts me in a bad state of mind. So I have avoided Hacock reviews like the plauge.

Big problem. Every person who I mention Hancock to responds: "Oh. That got some bad reviews, didn't it?"

And thus my plan to form my own opinion is already failing.

Sunday 29 June 2008

SiN Emergence review

I recently picked up the first episode of the videgame series SiN. Sadly, SiN was cancelled for unnconeccted reasons and only the first episode exists. Once I had finished playing, the urge to review what I had bought struck me.

"Not that long ago, everyone was abuzz about episodic gaming. About how this was the future. The first big attempt at this was SiN: Emergence, the first episode in a new series. Sadly, the developers, Ritual, were bought out and SiN appears to be dead. Only the first glimpse into this series is available for the world.

SiN is a FPS that draws immediate parallels with the Half Life Series; episodic, on Steam, all first person with no cutscenes. It even has a similar loading bar. But the difference is that while Half Life is perfectly crafted, SiN is pure entertainment. The enemies and weapons are few, and can become repetitive. This is not a flawless game. Nonetheless, its weapons feel meaty, and it is well paced. You will be entertained, through well chosen humour, diversity and tougher sections. Difficulty is something targeted by the game, dynamically shifting throughout, to maximise fun. Hardly noticeable, but that is the point. The game does not break your immersion. Music, speech and sound effects all play a role in this, keeping you involved in this sort game. You sit down, and you play, a pleasure until the end.

The problem with SiN is that it has no end. The final boss is finished with a teaser for the next episode, giving more questions. Who will survive? What is really going on? The potential for the rest of the series leaves me eager for more.

And so all that can be done is to enjoy. Enjoy an underrated great. Don’t be put off because there is no sequel, but enjoy it because it is fun. And hope, that one day, the essence of SiN is continued."

Dollhouse

Those of you who read my words on Doctor Horrible will see I referenced another upcoming Joss Whedon project, Dollhouse. This is the seperate post that it deserves.

"In Dollhouse, Eliza Dushku plays a young woman named Echo, a member of a group of people known as "Actives" or "Dolls" who volunteered for the work in the Dollhouse. They give up five years of their lives, and at the end they receive a large sum of money and no memory of anything they did for the Dollhouse. The Dolls have had their personalities wiped clean so they can be imprinted with any number of new personas, including memory, muscle memory, skills, and language, for different assignments. They're then hired out for particular jobs, crimes, fantasies, and occasional good deeds. On missions, Actives are monitored by Handlers. In between tasks, they are mind-wiped into a child-like state and live in a futuristic laboratory, a hidden facility nicknamed "The Dollhouse". The story follows Echo, who begins, in her mind-wiped state, to become self-aware."

This sounds awesome, with a huge potential scope. I am excited, and so should you be. The trailer can be seen below, and boy does it look good.

Friday 27 June 2008

Doctor Horrible

Joss Whedon always manages to impress me. He is the genius behind the greatest TV show ever, Firefly. His latest project is a musical that will be shown in three parts online.

Staring the brilliant Nathan Fillion, it features a failing supervillain, Neil Patrick Harris, and his attemts to get the girl, played by Felicia Day.

Until this morning I didn't even know this existed, and I still only know the basics of what it is. It looks like great fun, and so I cannot wait for Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.

The other Whedon project is on it's way in January, and is called Dollhouse. That deserves a post unto itself.

Check out the teaser below.


Teaser from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog on Vimeo.

Monday 23 June 2008

Nintendo Wii

My mother recently decided she wanted a Nintendo Wii. She liked the look of Wii Fit, and so she ordered one of Amazon, and now it is here. Many people will already be aware of the console that you play by waving a stick, and I know I am slightly behind the times in being able to play one now, but I am still quite excited.

I have played a Wii a lot before, round at my friends house, and so I already know how much fun it is. Sadly, having played it a lot before means that the novelty value has worn off, and this is the bit that if fuelled solely by novelty. Wii Sports is a nice free technology-demo, and so I enjoyed playing golf and ten-pin bowling in my living room.

Wii Fit is unique. You stand on a balance mat, which measures your centre of gravity, and instructs you on numerous balance games and muscle workouts. It is enjoyable, and it gives you a sense of success when playing. This is cool, but can also get boring after a while. especially as the game spends a lot of the time insulting you.

And so that is the Wii. I will be off soon to buy Mario Galaxy, and I am hugely excited.

End of Exams

Well, that is the end of my summer exams, and with that my college education has ended. It came about rather quietly, sneaking up without much notice. One week I was in normal lessons, the next everyone was saying goodbye, and the next few were spent on the odd exams.

To be fair, I am slightly worried about the lack of revision I did. I did some, and it was extremely useful, but I still know that I could have done more, and it would have helped me if I had.

Anyhoo, now I have to wait a month to see how I did. One peice of paper that will define my future, and I had the power to decide how it read. That is a depressing thought.