Impressions: Eric’s Press Conference Wrap-Up
Nintendo Safety. It’s a luxury granted exclusively to the confident and victorious or, relative to our spectrum, Nintendo of America and their massively successful Wii and DS platforms. Their annual E3 Media Briefing, which had previously been witness to infamous acts of delirious journalistic atrocities, was relatively calm, cool, and, to put it bluntly; unflattering. Pre-show speculation was ram...[Read More]
Final Fantasy 1360
Funny things happen when you get off planes; the gaggle of children whom screamed for the previous three hours suddenly cease their hostility-inviting siren, you suddenly remember your copy of Edge that you ‘temporarily’ placed in the seat pocket, and you walk away convinced $25 is a reasonable price for the marshmellow bazooka you saw in the Sky Mall catalogue. Oh, one more thing, Sq...[Read More]
Pr(E3)
My adoration of Pixeljunk Eden is almost completely unjustified. I saw the trailer last May and was enamored with the presentation, then I saw a demo/how to play video on The Playstation Blog and still had no approximation of what was happening. It all culminated when I saw it on The 1up Show and the universal consensus was “this looks awesome, but I have no idea what the hell is goin...[Read More]
Get Smart
It's my mom's fault, really. There was little to no reason for a kid growing up in the 80's to be entertained by a show broadcast in the 60's. But, you see, I was a huge fan of Inspector Gadget, and when my mother pointed out the similarity between the voice of Inspector Gadget and the drone of Maxwell Smart, I was hooked. Hell, the show often featured a man talking into his shoe, which, even f...[Read More]
Journey to the Center of the Earth
I can has 3D glasses?
Mama’s Boy
Jon Heder really it hit big with Napoleon Dynamite. Somehow that film was miraculously able to pull itself out of its cult trappings and transition into the mainstream surprise for the summer of 2004. Unfortunately, Heder's socially awkward and interpersonally clueless role in that film has become the base for all future casting decisions. The last few movies I've seen him in, School for Scoundrel...[Read More]
The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night
Like his counterpart Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon kind of lost his way in his transition to the Playstation 2. Their respective founders casting them aside certainly didn't help matters, but the new developers assigned to each franchise didn't exactly elevate the series to creative heights. If that wasn't bad enough, the PS2 Jak/Ratchet/Sly triumvirate cleaned house and enveloped every trac...[Read More]
Crash of the Titans
To many gamers, myself included, Crash Bandicoot was a character who lived and died in the 90's. The first entry was one of the first crown jewels in Sony's lineup, and the two sequels were the finest platformers of their generation. Sure, they didn't offer near the amount of freedom of Mario 64 or the limitless imagination of Nights, but Crash had it where it counted in the gameplay department. W...[Read More]
Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem
I almost bought a Jaguar. You see, Alien vs. Predator was released for the system in 1994 and, along with Tempest 2000, nearly justified owning the system. I didn't know about the comic books, so the very proposition of Aliens and Predators (and Space Marines!) satisfying their seemingly insatiable bloodlust by fighting each other was mind blowing. I didn’t play the game until recently, but I di...[Read More]
The Incredible Hulk
Well, it's summer again, so that means it's time for high budget, over the top action movies. Despite a weird ass and somewhat misguided outing just five years ago, Bruce Banner is once again happy to oblige. And just like any PG-13 action film, you can bet there's a load of licensed software making a desperate attempt to cash in on the movie's hopeful success. Last time Vivendi defied all odds an...[Read More]
SWAT: Target Liberty
Spartans, Fox Hound, COG Soldiers, SOLDIER, and Koopa Troopas all share one extremely desirable hallmark; they're all squads of super elite badasses in the realm of interactive entertainment. Unfortunately few of us will ever get the chance to join any of these organizations due to their default status as works of fiction. Life may imitate art, but until turtles grow wings or men can carry sword...[Read More]