Music Review// Me First and the Gimme Gimmes - Have Another Ball:

Cover Band Me First and the Gimme Gimmes; a band that plays oldies with a heavy distortion rock twist, have released their latest record. Not much has changed from previous works, and that could be either good or bad depending on where you stand when it comes to rock music, but they still have a few shiners in this one that rise above the rest. 

Opening Song Rich Girl starts up the record with a catchy and fast pace song originally written and performed by Hall and Oates back in the late 70's. Some of the slower songs unfortunately bring the pace to a somewhat boring level and even tend to drag on for a bit longer than they should but overall the track-list is good, with a new flavor on what will be familiar songs to some people.

Game Preview//Tales of Vesperia

With only a day away from the North American release, the anticipation is starting to get to me. It's not like I'm afraid of not getting a copy since my pre-order took care of that problem. It's the fact that I will be experiencing a much adored series' debut title on a next gen system. The painfully obvious question I keep asking myself is "is this upgraded Tales game or just another next gen game that tries too hard." I can't believe I said it either, call me cynical or whatever else you like I'm still not too fond of the whole next-gen thing. Yes graphics, resolutions, physics and multiplayer are important but if a game relies solely on candy for the senses then where else does your 60 or 70 dollars end up going to? A short lived story, shallow characters you don't care about, a dismissible musical score, and a new game play gimmick. What's worse is that you’re also generating sales and incentive for more companies to publish more generic titles.

If I know my Tales games well enough then at least I can hope to expect a diverse cast of characters [and a pipe-smoking dog] several memorable melodies, some form of real time combat that seems to be upgraded every title, and a story that will still want me to coming back just to find out what happens next for 60 or so hours. Not to mention the obvious - it's on a next gen consoles so it'll look really nice.

Unfortunately there is no way of telling what to expect until game play starts but if it follows the same "Tales" formula that's been keeping me coming back to play each new title then I know I won't be disappointed.

Comics// The Amazing Spider-Man #568

For anyone familiar with the Spider-man of the past few months, you'll know how rocky it's been going for fiction character Peter Parker. With the end of Peter's marriage and the Brand New Day arc, Spider-man has been turned into the one dimensional character he was when he first started back in the 60's. Meaning all he does is meet new random villains where they get into some kind of non epic final fight that lasts for about 2 issues each, rinse and repeat. With little attention paid to character growth or to what now seems to be an alternate reality where he never marries Mary Jane.

Now that the whole Brand New Day arc is over and they are moving on to New Ways to Die, it looks to be a bit more promising, of course anything does if you are gonna re-introduce venom. The first issue in the arc as much promise as it shows it just still seems to fall flat compared to the writing of Straczynski. Retconning (which means to bring things back to and earlier time, or erase things that happened in the past to be able to tell a new story) is probably one of the worst things you can do to a character that has grown so much over the years and to many readers who have invested time and money. 

Yes, they wanted to bring back Spider-man to it's glory days, but the audience has changed from the 60's the medium has changed and culture as well. Now we are just left with a Spider-man song stuck on repeat.

Game Review// Wii Fit

According to my Wii, this is my 65th day playing Wii Fit. Mind you, in total I've only racked up about 8 hrs of playing but don't take that as a negative view of the game or anything, it's just been a busy month. Wii Fit actually has lots of potential to be a very helpful tool for people of any age, any size and any gaming background :)

The game starts by letting you create your own personal profile, using your Mii as a basic avatar. Up to 8 profiles can be created per game, so even if you have a house full of people who are all charging to play Wii Fit, the game has got you covered. An animated version of the balance board acts as your guide through the wonderful-fantabulous world of Wii Fit, which gives it plenty of leeway to make lame jokes about you having to stand on it all the time. At least it's courteous though since I have yet to hear any fat jokes. Anyways, when you choose your Mii, the BB (Balance Board) explains a bit about balance and posture and why all that jazz is important to health and whatnot. After that, it's time to take your very first Body Test! The game is pretty much based around these "Body Tests" encouraging you to take them daily, even if you don't have a chance to train. They're fairly quick/easy things to do, so if you're willing to put the effort into the game then keeping them up regularly is not an entirely unreasonable request. After receiving your test results, the BB will ask you to set a goal for yourself. All the things that the test measures (BMI, weight, Wii Fit Age) and your goals are monitored in a neat little graph format, that are really helpful in terms of checking out your progress.

As for the training, it's split up into 4 different categories: Yoga, Strength Training, Aerobics, and Balance Games. Each category begins with only one or two selections, but unlocks more as you continuously train with the game. By no means are any of these categories intensive training programs, but instead act as an introduction to different forms of keeping in shape. Yoga focuses on posture and balance and will introduce the player to some basic stances such as the half moon pose, the more advance dance pose and the traditional tree pose. If muscle is your thing, Strength training demonstrates exercises such as the push up/side plank, jackknife, and torso twists. Aerobics is great for cardio lovers, and ranges its activities from step aerobics, to jogging, to even rhythm boxing. Finally, the balance games are exactly what they say they are. Games that attempt to make working on your balance fun. You can avoid getting hit in the head with a soccer cleat, walk a tightrope, or even roll around in an imaginary bubble.

With all it's greatness and popularity, the game does have it's flaws. For example, it's pretty easy to shake the wiimote around and pretend you're jogging. Though personally I'd rather jog outside, instead of on the spot and chasing an animated dog with a wiimote in my pocket. Also, you can't really take the accuracy of the test/exercises it does on you seriously unless you actually try doing them PROPERLY, considering it's really easy to cheat (by holding on to a chair, or sitting down as you play, etcetera, etcetera). It's in no way intended to be a serious weight loss program, but rather a fun and quick way to keep active, and move away from the 'couch potato' gaming position we all know and love.

So other than that, and it's creepy attempts at trying to be human by asking you about the progress of other Mii's that have joined, or switching up your trainers every once in a while because yours seems to be busy with plans (animated trainers have hot dates too, clearly), I think it's worth a try. Even if you totally hate it, looking like an idiot hula hooping with an imaginary hoop will at least be worth a laugh or two.

Game// Christmas will be very very merry this year for Banjo fans!!

My day has been great so far. First I found $10 on the ground, then I sprang my ankle... wait that wasn't so good. O_o ...Well I can't even feel the pain anymore because of this spectacular news! Microsoft have announced today that if you preorder Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts you will receive Banjo Kazooie(The original N64 version) for XBLA two weeks prior to the initial release date on XBLA! Oh wait! but thats not all! Nuts and Bolts will retail for the suggested price of $39.99! Dare I say, maybe its a good thing Bill Gates left...

Game Review//Eternal Sonata

Here's a review I wrote a little while back. Just me trying to add a little bit of yesterday to today.

For those of us who don't believe that Halo is the One and Only and have waited ages for an enjoyable, quality JRPG experience for a next-gen system; hath no fear because all of your prayers have been answered within something called Eternal Sonata – a healthy dose of de-ja-vu courteously brought to us by the fellows at Namco Bandai and Tri-Crescendo.

The game world is alive with beautifully colored landscapes, the characters themselves feel like they are part of their environments meticulously placed somewhere between 2d sprites and full on 3d bodies – an effect similarly seen in such games as Tales of Symphonia or Okami but made even more glorious with the wonders of HD resolution.What really takes the player for a unique experience is perhaps the story. It starts off innocently enough, with a young girl wanting to leave her village to better understand her illness and to seek an audience with the Count, she then meets a mysterious gentleman by the name of Frederic and they both set off on an epic adventure full of very likeable characters and some moving emotional moments. While there are the shades of a “lets rebel against an evil figure of power” storyline the player is then taken behind the scenes and shown that everything is the dream world of a dying composer – a real life figure of classical music. Frederic Chopin. The story then goes back and forth between the “dream world” and what happens in the “real world” whilst Mr. Chopin is clinging to his last dear moments of life. There are 7 chapters to play through and each one unlocks a sort of “life and times” montage of the composer told through real life photographs and accompanying music of Chopin's most famous works – definitely not typical JRPG material.

What moved me to call this game a “dose of de-ja-vu” is the fact that I can't help but notice the similarities between it and another game called Baten Kaitos and/or Origins. The music most certainly sounds familiar, which is fantastic since I very much enjoyed the score of both BK titles, while the battle mechanics feel like a fusion of any of the past two BKs and a Tales game. You can still pick and chose your fights as enemies appear onscreen instead of random encounters but the battles themselves can be oddly fun and challenging at the same time. There is a certain amount of time [several seconds] that is allotted to each of your characters as well as enemies [think BK] during which you must run up to an enemy and mash the attack buttons. [think Tales] What adds a twist to your typical formula is that you are allowed to assign a “Light” and “Dark” attack to the Special Attack button which you can perform depending on where your character is standing – in a lit area of ground or in a shadow. Normal attacks build up something called an Echo Gauge and if one character performs a Special while it is at it's maximum then the effectiveness [or damage] is greatly increased. Monsters change sizes and shape in light or shade. Lastly, your primary source of income will be from taking photos of these critters. [back to BK]

This leaves us with a phenomenal piece of gaming that will probably be overlooked by die-hard Halo fanatics but if you are a gamer who has needed a healthy serving of next-gen JRPG goodness, then you owe it to yourself to experience this Eternal Sonata.

A DEFINITE BUY for 360 J-gamers and a DEFINATE RENT for any RPG fan who wants to try something new.

News// Bigfoot Update

This is so stupid. So the press conference turned out to be more of a "please believe us when we say we go bigfoot wahh, wahhh, wahh. We just happened to have shipped the body out for "scientific" research but hey look at these pictures for now!" So basically? As for new info, we got shit. I still call bullshit on these guys and if this is all a big hoax. They should be prosecuted for wasting everyones time. Wouldn't that be awesome eh? Sue someone for making shit up that wastes your time? If that were the case I could sue World of Warcraft, Facebook, Video Games and the Harry Potter Franchise for making a whole generation waste their time on made up bigfootshit.

Tech// Portable Laptop Mouse Made Easy

I found this to be pretty cool, the Logitech V550 cordless laser mouse. Do you hate using those stupid damn trackstubs on your keyboard? Is the trackpad just totally annoying and an unprecise way to play World of Warcraft or Counter Strike while you're suppose to be paying attention in class? Alright well I know some people who just hate carrying around a laptop mouse with those damn wires sticking out of it. So here's a mouse I found that actually has a little docking station that attaches to anywhere you stick it on your laptop and you just sit your mouse there when you're on the move. Pretty straightforward eh, And the USB is one of the smallest connector I have seen, as you can see on the picture, so it's not sticking out like a sore thumb and has less of a risk of snapping in half while going to your next destination.

Logitech V550 cordless laser mouse is about 60$ And you can get it on www.amazon.com

The Official Logitech Product Site

News// Bigfoot Is Found. And Dead?

Okay so I gotta call bullshit on this. Apparently some dudes found the remains of the elusive 7 foot tall hair thing called Bigfoot. And tomorrow there will be some kind of official press release with DNA confirmation and blah blah blah. So for now here is a link to the website with the disturbing picture of a dead creature and We'll follow this story up tomorrow (Friday) with what will probably end up being a bunch of bull.

Here's the link Bigfoot Dead

Games// Cant afford that new game you want? Here are some alternative ways to get it!

No I don't mean steal them! I mean the stores that usually have good deals, websites that allow you to swap with other gamers, or bid agaisnt them. Here are some ways you can get that new release without paying full price!

Trade In

There are many stores you can do trade ins. I find the best to be Blockbuster and Ebgames. Often they both will put a trade in such as, trade 4/3 next gen titles(360, Ps3, Wii) and get a brand new release for free. Ah but there is a catch! These games must be worth $14 or more. Thinking of trading Chromehounds, Perfect Dark Zero, and Sonic the Hedgehog for Halo 3? Not happening. Those titles are only worth about $7! Also you can just trade in your games for store credit. You wont be getting much in comparison to what you initially paid. I personally suggest selling them on Craigslist or Kijiji for $15 or so, but you will often get replies from some jackal who knows how much they are worth in Ebgames database, so he will offer 20% less!

ebay.com

Ahhh good old ebay. Ebay is the best when you are looking for an older gem or even not so old. I landed Dark Sector on ebay for $8.50 cdn. If you want that new release you will probably just be paying just as much or more than the retail price. For example the going price for Soul Calibur 4: LE? The bidding starts at $170. Be sure to buy from a seller with a high rating though, because if something is wrong with the game they will often replace it, or reimburse you because they will want to keep their good rep. You can use your paypal account to pay for most items.

craigslist.com, kijiji.ca

Craigslist is a great way to find your find your game and not wait for it to be shipped. You will find some games brand new with 30% of the price tag, people who got into the hype for a game and just didn't like it will sell it cheap or trade it for something older they will like. If you use Craigslist or Kijiji.ca be sure to meet the seller at a public location. It doesnt happen often, but you could meet someone who is just looking to steal from you. Also avoid buying selling from people who aren't local. Don't get tempted into that $300 Brand new $80 gig Ps3. If its too good to be true. It isnt.

tradegamesnow.com, gtz.com

Tradegamesnow/gtz are both trading communities strictly for people who want to trade anything that is games/movies/books. How it works -- you list the games you have/want. Then you can either browse by members location or by the games you want/have, or there is a quick match option that will automatically match you with people that want your games/have the games want. Once you find someone that you want to trade with. You make an offer you can do a game for game/game for 2 game's/game for game + $$, choose the method you will likely ship(Standard/expedited etc.) Confirm the offer, then wait. If the offer is accepted it is expected that the person with the lower rating ships first. These sites both have a rating system in place just like ebay. Avoid buying/selling from people with a low rating. Often there are some jerks who get there friends to sign up and give them fake ratings. So just avoid the people with a rating of 9 or lower. You know' because these jerks wont have more than 9 friends anyway. :P

sayswap.com

This is an interesting little site I have come across. Its free to join, but you will need to pay a fee to be able to list the games you have/request. You can either do the gtz/tradegamesnow method; game for game, game for game + $$ etc... or there is a point system in place. Games are worth a certain amount of points. For example you have Uncharted which is worth 40 points. If someone requests it -- you ship it out and in turn you get 40 points that you can use to request another game that is worth 40 points or less. Or there is another option to buy points which there isn't much point in doing because it would be just like buying retail. There is also a rating system like ebay's.

redflagdeals.com

There are forums at RedFlagDeals.com that work like craigslist/kijiji but they aren't as effective I find. Although if you are lucky enough to see that the person is online at the time, you can PM them and you can get a quick answer. People are also kind enough to post deals they find scattered around the internet such the Blockbuster/Ebgames deal or BestBuy' s pay $70 get Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Assassin's Creed they had last year.

STEAM

I was just introduced to STEAM by my good friend Bryan, and I have got to say the prices are not that bad. If you are into PC games(I'm slowly but surely getting there.) you will love this little program Valve have conjured up.

Movies// Jake Gyllenhaal's Leaked Prince of Persia Movie Picture.

Okay so this is really just an excuse to post a picture of favourite (not really) actor Jake with no shirt on(Really I dont care). No but seriously this picture was leaked a few days ago and shows us what Gyllenhaal  looks like as the Prince of Persia.

 

Obviously he wouldn't have been my first choice for this movie, to me it just seems like it was more of a "stick a popular name to this movie and cash in on the actor's name". But it seems like Gyllenhaal  does fit the part somewhat, he just really needs a tan, really badly, I mean this is Prince of Persia Not Ghost of Persia or whatever.

News// New Editor @ Binary Crashes

I would like to take this moment to welcome Tim to the gang. He showed interest in writing for our blog and Craig and myself were impressed with the review he sent us and hopefully he decides to post it up. Also remember that if anyone is interested in writing for our blog we'd be happy to consider you for a spot on our editorial team. 

You can contact me at bryan@binarycrashes.com and send a review of a movie, game or album. 

Great to have you onboard Tim and I look forward to working with you.

Movies// Venom: Should Topher Grace Come Back?

Okay so, Venom is a character in the Marvel comics, to be more precise it's a symbiote that attaches itself to a host to create what you see to your left.  A Venom movie is currently in the works as a spin off to the spider-man movie franchise they got going. 

As some of you guys may have seen from Spider-man 3, Topher Grace was cast to play the popular Venom character. But for the spin-off there's talk that Grace just isn't a big star name that can attract the kind of audience that Sony Pictures is hoping to bring in.

 Now I know that a lot of fans of the everything Spider-man club had complaints about the third movie and with Grace as Venom. But in my personal opinion Grace wasn't really the problem with this movie, it was really more script problems than casting. The thing is that rather then spending time developing the Venom character for people who aren't familiar with him, they instead spent a big chunk over the whole Peter, Gwen and MJ love triangle. Which included that embarrassingly horrible dance scene with what I can only assume was an "emo" Peter Parker to appeal to the emo scene.

So I ask you guys for your opnions. Do you think Topher Grace should be re-cast as Venom for the upcoming spin off or should they just get someone else and if so then who else and why?

Comics//WANTED: It's All The Movie Wanted To Be.

It's not often that we are graced with a piece of graphic literature that doesn't make your palms hit your head of embarrassment over the contents of said graphic novel. As it's become increasingly popular to want to cash in on a good hit comic, like say the Movie 300 has done, or the Dark Knight, The Hulk, Spider-man and so on. Although the movie left fans disappointed its good to know that the comic is still there, now compiled into a graphic novel for 19.99 it's a damn good buy indeed.

The story here is quite amusing actually, as soon as I heard the first line being read out by my girlfriend at the store I chuckled and decided to pick it up. The story begins with a young guy called Wesley, he's somewhere in his early 20s and life is pretty shit for him. He works at a boring office job with a bitch of a boss. His best friend is banging his girlfriend behind his back and Wes is too spineless to confront them about it. So life goes on until one day at his usual sandwich stop, a woman comes up to him and says that this is his lucky day and to come with her. He hesitates and the girl loses her cool and shoots everyone in the store and asks Wes one last to come with her. On their way to their destination she lets him know that her old man is dead and that he was the greatest assassin the world had ever known.

In a world where superheroes no longer exist, earth is ruled by super villains who decided to team up and once and for all destroy the heroes and protectors of the world. Wes was the lucky bastard who was about to inherit all the money his father - the greatest assassin there ever was - had made over his career. And so Wesley embarks on a mission to become the next great killer and leave his spineless gutless old self behind, because thats all his father ever wanted.

With one of the most surprising and disturbing ending I have ever seen, this book will leave you feeling like you just read one hell of a story. Most likely unlike any you have ever read of before or will again for a long time. Until the day that someone has the balls to write something like this again, go enjoy WANTED, and do yourself a favor and skip the movie.

PC Games// Runescape Gets A Makeover!

Ahh, Runescape. The only online game that us 56ker's could actually play back in the day. You were incredibly deep, had a ton of features, and you could be oh so addicting at times...but you were also so damn ugly! Despite its poor graphics. Runescape has established a user base of 130 million, and this number is surely to double with the news I'm about to bring.

Finally after almost a decade of waiting Jagex has decided to give their free Java based MMORPG a graphical makeover, and fix some of the annoying issues that hindered the experience. They have been working on the upgrade for over a year now. Could Jagex be looking to compete with the power house that is World of Warcraft? or are they just giving a reward to their fans for playing so long? ...or are were they, themselves just sick of looking at the graphics? All I know is that this is good news all around for fans of this old MMORPG.

  

A side-by-side comparison of an old and new human chat head.

Games// Diablo III

Mmmmm.

After several tries of attempting to get into the enchanting yet addictive World Of Warcraft, the fact that you have to pay 15 bucks a month for it usually ended up steering me away. Fortunately, I was always fond of Blizzard's former hack and slash role playing game since I had pretty much grown up with it. Every couple of months I'll end up on an LoD binge attempting to re-create my characters (thanks to the fact that Blizzard has a tendency to delete characters that are inactive for 90 days..) and trying to get as many people as I can hooked on to playing along with me. Recently I've been on one of those binges and as my Lvl 36 ice sorc is going through nightmare, I'm totally in anticipation for Blizzard's new project.

Yes they've finally answered all those loyal Diablo fans prayers by taking an awesome thing, and making it even better. So far it seems like there is nothing but improvement to expect from D3, and the gameplay vid is pretty frikkin cool looking, so I recommend you check that out if you get a chance. So far, they've only introduced the Barb, (which those who've played will know) and a new class, the Witch Doctor. All classes will have both male and female characters, and switching skills has been improved for gaming efficiency. Also the environment will be much more interactive, and will be able to work for or against your character.

Unfortunately, all we have are the vids/screen shots from Blizzard's Site and the release date is set for 9/30/09. So for now, on to the Cow Levels!!