Opening Thoughts:

As far as PlayStation 3 goes I’ve been having some trouble finding games that I actual find fun and exclusive. I often go for Xbox 360 games when it is multi-platform solely because most of the people I know are on the 360 and no one I know uses a PS3. But that awkward period between my PS3 and myself seemed to pass when I purchased Infamous.The game has you take control of Cole McGrath a bike messenger boy who seemed to have been given quite an explosive package to deliver. Horrible puns aside the game follows a pretty standard path of an open world video game.

Gameplay:

There are scattered missions throughout the world that you can choose to do; from escort missions to time attack across roofs. What makes the game dynamic are karma missions. There are 15 karma missions that have you take a bad side or a good side. Once the mission is done it locks the opposite mission forcing you to be entirely good or entirely bad in order to lock all of Cole’s power upgrades. There are also things you can do to further your virtuous or vice side. Reviving people who have been attacked by gangs or sucking them dry once they are incapacitated is almost seamlessly placed into the game, though after a while it sometimes feel as if you are going out of your way to do it. With the title being Infamous it can be implied that actually becoming infamous would be easy and that is essence is correct. There are far too many ways to become a bad guy while the only real way to become a Hero outside the game is reviving people. Destruction of cars. people, and simple and catastrophic idea that pops into your head will push that little meter down a wee bit more each time. Though with that being said, some of the neutral things you do advance your good karma once it has hit a certain point. Cleaning up the city of Empire City aside the obligatory missions move the story along. Exploration of the world is good if not lacking in a few departments. You have your collectibles in blast shards and dead drops but the feeling of collecting all the blast shards seems a bit over whelming and more time consuming than its worth. Dead Drops are satellites that are easily located with a radar like sensor on the map that points out the nearest one, though obtaining them makes for a little challenge here and there. There are some powers that making getting around Empire City much less of a hassle and feels more fun than a chore, which in the beginning of the game felt like it would drag on forever.

Story:

Now to be honest it was difficult for me to invest into the story at first. I was given my standard gruff voiced protagonist who had choices to make. It wasn’t until around the second half of the game does it truly get good and it is definitely worth the wait. The ending of the game is a clear view for a sequel. Cole delivered the bomb that gave him super powers, now everyone wants said bomb to potentially give everyone else powers. It is a used plot but it fits well into this game because it is shown in a new way so it feels fresh. Cole is a one man army bent on getting everyone he cares for out of the hell city while helping or harming those he come across. With such crucial decisions it can make one feel like they truly have control over the fate of the city.

Combat:

The combat (in all its super powered lightning glory) is a little bit in the lacking department. You have you standard lightning strike but then you advance those moves as the story progresses with lightning bombs and lightning sniping. The melee combat was almost never used and some of the good side powers were simply either too boring to use or simply too destructive to use due to the collateral damage it caused, once again pushing your karma further down. Being Infamous though causes a wide variety of destructive abilities to be at the players finger tips, though as the game goes on enemies don’t know when to stay down and on harder difficulties it can mean death to not clean up that one enemy who should, by all means of logic, be snuffed out. Boss battles are few, I think I recall fighting one or two bosses that didn’t become a standard enemy.

Characters:

Incidentally there are very few characters that are in this game. Trish, the disgruntled girlfriend who seems to be a real pain in the arse at every turn simply because the explosion that gave you your powers killed her sister, QQ. Zeke, who in my opinion is one of the best characters in the game, is the best friend and conspiracy theorist. Moya, your employer who promises safe exit out of the quarantined Empire City for finding her husband John. The bad guys are few as well, with Kessler being the main antagonist, gangs, and a former employee of Kessler named Sasha.

Overall:

Overall this game is a good pick up even if you aren’t a fan of the open world. If you don’t mind a few bugs here and an unusually medium sized world to explore than this game is something that could be fun. Feeling like Cole is fantastic and charring your enemies even if sometimes it can become a little excessive lets you fulfill the lightning powered dreams you’ve always had.
Gameplay: 8.5
Story: 8
Presentation: 9
Replay Value: 10
Overall: 9

The long awaited sequel to the iPhone is said(by reliable sources at Wired Gadget Lab) to finally be release at the WWDC 2009.
The new version is said to sport

• 1.5 longer battery life
• 16gb and 32gb sizes
• new rubberized back
• built-in FM transmitter
• 3.2 megapixel camera
• Video recording and editing
• MMS
• Double the RAM processing power
• OLED screen
• THE APPLE LOGO WILL GLOW
• built in compass
• turn-by-turn directions
• no more metal band around the screen
• Same price
• Of course the new iPhone OS 3.0

In case you haven’t found out on your own, a teaser trailer for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was released. Plenty of people have already submitted their analyses of the trailer, so I won’t bother with whatever crap I may think it involves. I leave it for you to interpret the video as you wish.

Here is the link to the trailer online on the main site:

http://modernwarfare2.infinityward.com/

Here are some forums and videos of pretty detailed opinions for the trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQ1qSQBzPjA

http://www.bingegamer.net/2009/a-comprehensive-look-at-the-call-of-duty-modern-warfare-2-teaser/

I can’t wait for the new MW to come out - 11/10/09!

Witch Hunter Robin

Genre: Mystery, Action

Story (8/10): Witch Hunter Robin is a 1 season, 26 episode run created by Sunrise. The narrative is an interesting and refreshing mix of CSI and Men in Black (but with witches in place of aliens). STN-J, the Japan division of a worldwide secret organization, Solomon, which is dedicated to the investigation and hunting of criminal witches. The organization receives its newest member to its small task force. Robin, a young Craft (witch powers, specifically she uses fire) user, assists in catching many dangerous witches with varieties of powers. An encounter with a mysterious old witch soon reveals a dangerous power and many secrets about Robin and the past history of witches. Meanwhile, two mysterious organizations, Factory and Solomon, are soon discovered competing in the war on witches.

The first several episodes are not much more than simple action and mystery versions of CSI, with a kind of “criminal witch of the day” feel. Yet as the story progresses, it grows into a much involved and powerful plot. Overall the story is good, but the series starts to suffer. The middle seems somewhat drawn out. The ending, in my opinion, was also not as dramatic and fantastic as I had hoped.

Characters (5/10): The characters are also not very memorable. The team at STN-J consists of a simple assortment. There is a hot-shot kid, Haruto, a young spoiled but maturing girl, Yurika, a women with a special Craft power, Miho, and Michael, a computer hacker that acts as their main source of information. Even the two main characters, Amon and Robin, don’t quite stack up. Amon is a mysterious, quiet, but strong guy with some secrets that proves an asset to the team. Robin is also pretty quiet and mysterious with some interesting secrets of her own.

I suppose that’s why I can’t warm up to these characters. They say too little of what is on their mind. There is a lack of feeling that an audience needs to really connect with the characters. They do, however, have certain shining moments in a few episodes, including the last couple, which still saves them somewhat.

Visuals (8/10): The visuals of this show, while impressive in certain respects, were not outstanding. I found it cool to watch Robin use her special fire Craft, as well as other witches use their own unique powers. The mood is mostly dark throughout the series with overall little use of color. This may have caused the artwork to suffer a bit.

Audio (6/10): The audio was decent but slightly disappointing. Voices were ok but not very memorable. The music, while setting the mood for the story, became monotonous. But that might just be to match the characters. Yet there are some cool effects, however, when the crafts are used as well as some gunfire from the team’s special Orbo ammunition.

Overall (7/10): This show was fun to watch but overall forgetful. I still rate it a decent 7 for its originality from other anime I have seen. It felt more like a real life TV show rather than an anime. But perhaps this is why I didn’t score it as highly in certain areas. Good, but not great. I still recommend it as a decent watch though.

(In picture: Ayanami=Top, Teito=Bottom)

I just picked up the first 4 episodes from a friend and I watched the first episode now. So far the anime seems very interesting, and I plan on watching the next 3 episodes now. From the opening, and pilot episode it seems like the anime is going to be a magic military drama type show. The episode takes off with main character Teito dreaming of a man speaking to him whom he cannot remember, but his friend Mikage wakes him up from it. The two are in the Empire’s Military school, just about to take their final exam, which has about a 4% passing rate hah, hopefully my calc is better than that. After taking down the prisoner that their team was pitted against, Teito and Mikage are of the 19 out of 500 who pass the exam. Walking around the next day Teito overhears the sound of the necklace the man in his dream wore and investigates. Memories start rushing back and he remembers that Chief Ayanami is the one that killed King Ragg, the man and also Teito father, and Teito tries to attack the Chief, put is stopped but one of Ayanami’s bodyguards. Teito is then taken prisoner, and then Mikage finds Teito surrounded by the grounds limp bodies in the cell and helps him escape the academy. Time for episode two, I want to see where this goes.

Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion

Genre: Action, Drama

(Image from: nyannyan.animeblogger.net/?p=573)

Story (10/10): Code Geass is an incredible 2-season series with a complicated yet intense storyline. Try and follow along. The conquering world empire of Britannia has subdued Japan with large mech units called Nightmares, although small groups of rebels still try to carry out terrorism against the empire. Britannian citizens within Japan (now called Area 11) outcast and oppress former Japanese citizens.

The main character, Lelouch Lamperge, is an exiled prince of the Empire who has pledged revenge against Britannia and his father, the emperor, after witnessing his mother being brutally assassinated. Along with his blind and weak sister, Nanali, they attend a prestigious academy within Area 11. Yet one day, Lelouch suddenly becomes in a rebel terrorist plot. There he meets a strange girl, C.C., that will change Lelouch’s life forever. He grants him a power that will allow him to destroy the empire – Geass. This power grants him the ability to force someone to obey his command, but only once. With this new power, Lelouch becomes the hero of the rebellion, Zero, and begins his campaign to destroy Britannia. (Indeed its complicated.)

The plot is extremely deep and branches out through many characters. There is everything from high school drama, romance, betrayal, secrets, death, as well as tons of military, political, and strategic action. Imagine something along the lines of Gundam and Rumbling Hearts. It is a beautiful story with one of the most epic endings (it made me tear up).

Characters (10/10): Each character is played out very well and with great detail. Lelouch, especially, is an extremely deep character on par with many Shakespearean characters in his complexity. He is a mastermind with a strong will, but who still has much of the feelings of a young high school student. Yet he desperately tries to hide his torn feelings behind the mask of Zero. There are many complicated ties between characters that add even more depth to the story. For example, while Lelouch becomes the rebel, Zero, his best friend, Suzaku, joins the military and eventually a knight of the emperor that seeks to kill Zero and end the rebellion. The characters are what help make the story so amazing.

Visuals (9/10): The animation for the characters and environments are all very artistic and eye-popping. And you’ll drool over the awesome, ridiculously powered Nightmares that are seen fighting each other. There are plenty of intense battle scenes. Even the animation of Lelouch using his Geass has remarkable graphics.

Audio (8/10): The character voices are all pretty well selected and tend to match each character’s personality pretty well. Usual everyday sounds up to the explosions and powers of the Nightmares are pretty cool as well. The music is also enjoyable and dramatic when it needs to be. The overll audio is not outstanding in any way though from other anime of this genre.

Overall (9.5/10): This series is one of the best I have ever seen. Everything from the epic story to the unforgettable characters makes it a must-see. If ever you get the chance, watch it.

According to a new study people that play violent video games are 58% better at detecting contrast differences. They studyed people that played 50 hours of Call of Duty 2 to people that played Sims 2. The sims players do not have experince the improved vision.

the entire article can be read at slashdot

A concept or design has been published in a Russia. I thought Russians only knew about Vodka. Apparently they know something about Apple that we don’t. The netbook is suppose to cost 899 with an atom processor,2gb ram, wirless a/b/g/n, and a Geforce 9400M.

For the entire article read it at slashgear

http://www.chooseresponsibility.org/

The drinking age used to be 18, then about 25 years ago, mothers against drinking finally got the age up to 21. This sent kids underage, into hiding their drinking, and it became some sort of taboo. Now the age is being questioned again, but this time in the opposite direction. John McCardell and plenty of others are trying to get the drinking age lowered, as to keep kids from doing it behind closed doors.

Check out the site for more info.

Apple leaked on their education page that there is a 17 inch iMac. The 17 inch model will supposedly cost 899. This would be the entry level all in one desktop for Apple.

read the full article at slashgear