Why the Xbox 360 Won the Last Gaming Console Generation!


Before anyone calls me an Xbox 360 fanboy, I don’t own one. I own the PS3, Wii, and DS currently. This is gonna be a post showing you factual evidence as to why the Xbox 360 won the last console generation. But before we do that I’d like to explain what happened to make the Xbox 360 so successful and basically sell as much as the PS3. Now one of the few things you have to realize is that prior to this generation the PS2 was (and still is) the biggest success of gaming. It sold I believe 150 million units. The PS1 was a huge success based on it’s huge library of amazing games (I wouldn’t know majority of them as I liked the N64), and it guaranteed the PS2 would be a success. It was. It was a bigger success and was the best console of that generation. You’d think that from the success of the PS2 the PS3 would be an even BIGGER success than the PS2. So what happened to give their competitor the Xbox 360 win the console generation? Sony’s arrogance happened. They charged 600 dollars for a machine with no games, expected you to get to jobs just two afford a PS3, took advantage of their fanbase, and knowingly made their architecture difficult to develop for.

Now onto how the Xbox 360 won the generation. The first reason should be obvious. The architecture was much easier to develop for on Xbox 360. How many developers back in the day complained about PS3 development? A lot. That’s why many developers didn’t make PS3 versions of their games and stuck with Xbox 360 and PC. PS3 ports had to be outsourced. The Xbox’s architecture allowed developers to create better games, in less time, with less trouble. You see what I’m getting at? The next reason is the RAM. Yes, I know RAM doesn’t matter in gaming. I’m aware of this. But the unified memory allowed for certain features Microsoft wanted like cross-game chat and party chat to be included and developers could utilize that RAM for their games. PS3 had a split amount of RAM. So no cross-game chat or party chat. Another reason Xbox 360 was the implementation of achievements. You might say? Well PS3 has trophies? I know this. But not every game HAS trophies. Look at Valkyria Chronicles. My favorite PS3 game and it has no trophies. Look at Resistance: Fall of Man? MGS4 for the longest time had 0 trophy support until recently. In order to activate trophies in GTAIV and Episodes from Liberty you have to go to the multiplayer first rather than being activated from the get go. From day one Xbox 360 had an achievement system. Every game on Xbox 360 has achievements. Some of you might say I don’t care about achievements? You’re a liar. Because why did Steam users ask for achievements? Why did PS3 owners want an achievement system before getting trophies? Exactly. The last reason I have is that the Xbox 360 proves that no matter what history a franchise has to another console, it will be on Xbox if that’s where the market is. What do I mean by this? Third party games. Many games that were originally going to be PS3 exclusive eventually was announced for the Xbox 360. Resident Evil had never been on an Xbox console prior. Resident Evil 5 was then announced for PS3 and Xbox 360. Devil May Cry 4 later was announced for Xbox 360 when it was originally supposed to be a PS3 exclusive. So it would appear on both systems. Grand Theft Auto usually would be a PlayStation exclusive, until it was announced the game would launch on the same day on the Xbox 360 and PS3. The biggest shocker for an originally exclusive game coming to Xbox 360 happened at E3 2008. Where after Square Enix showed off their games coming to Xbox 360 they announced that Final Fantasy XIII was coming to the Xbox 360 on launch day. This was the biggest piece of news in gaming history. I remember seeing that announcement and thinking that’s amazing. Obviously I had heard of the game before and thought it looked amazing but I was saddened about it being a PS3 exclusive because of course, PS3 wasn’t good until 2009-2010. Now if you owned an Xbox 360 you had 0 reason for getting a PS3. That news still has to be the most exciting news in gaming history. Until of course E3 2009 happened and Hideo Kojima announced Metal Gear Solid was coming to the Xbox 360 with Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (back then known as Metal Gear Solid: Rising).

These are factual reasons as to why the Xbox 360 won the last console generation. I’m not saying I <3 Xbox. I have my faults with the system which is why admittedly I have a PS3 and no Xbox 360 anymore (might buy one next year). Some of the issues I have are primarily with digital game downloads not including an online pass, the fact you have to pay for Xbox Live Gold basically so you can use the features of your console, and the online fee is 60 dollars in comparison to PS Plus’s 50 dollar price tag.  With the PS4 all ready out and the Xbox One coming out I’m honestly not sure who will win. My personal choice for next gen is PC, as long as they bring Final Fantasy XV (originally Versus XIII) and Kingdom Hearts III (both which were announced for PS4 and Xbox One) to PC I’ll be done with new game consoles. See you all on the next post!

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The PS4 and Xbox One Suck!


I’ve been a console gamer for the better part of let’s say since the Nintendo 64. Amazing system. I’ve also gamed on every console since then. Just about a couple years ago I’ve started to game on PC with services like Steam, GOG.com, and Desura. The new PS4 and Xbox One are coming out, they’re trash. What do I mean by that? Well the architecture for both is x86, the PC archictecture. Most of the high profile third party games are also coming to PC and many console exclusive franchises are even coming to the PC or are GOING to come to PC. There is almost nothing to differentiate the PS4 and Xbox One to a PC other than the use of a controller and having to pay for online. I’d rather not pay for online. It’s funny too how recently it’s been shown that both Microsoft and Sony were going to to the same always online, blocking used games, DRM policies with their new consoles. Microsoft was more vocal about it than Sony, while Sony just kept quiet and then pretended they weren’t gonna do it. Even though it’s been said, reported, shown, and patented. The point is they were gonna do this horrible DRM practice just like Microsoft. Why should we support this as far as consoles go?

The online for PSN and Xbox Live is a subscription based model. You have to pay for online multiplayer. Xbox takes this a step further and forces you to pay for almost every single feature the system can do. Sony gives you more freedom yes, but it has less value than Steam. The exclusives on the PS4 don’t look that great. I mean Killzone, a generic FPS. Infamous: Second Son, the first one is buggy as hell. The Order? Gotta be kidding me? Knack, only a fanboy would like Knack that one looks horrible. I’d also like the point out the fanbase for the PS4 and later the Xbox One. Sony fanboys just kill the system for me, they talk SOLELY about power. As if it means anything honestly. The power of a system means nothing in regards to how I enjoy a game. I might game on PC but that doesn’t mean I care for the power of my machine, the power is just a bonus. 8GBs of RAM they say? LOL Notice how they’re saying 8GBs of RAM is important when on the PC you can have 16GBs of RAM and ironically have better looking games. LOL

Some PS4 fanboy also once told me “PlayStation Plus gives you such an amazing value. What other service gives you discounts, free avatars, themes, and three versions of a game across platforms?”, umm…. the answer to all of that is Steam. Steam gives you amazing discounts without having to pay for any subscription. You can upload any picture on your computer from the internet or from your personal photos as an avatar for free. Themes you can either pay for, for like 20 cents, or can earn by collecting trading cards and crafting a badge. Three games across platforms? If the game is SteamPlay you can have three versions of a game. On Windows, OS X (Mac), and Linux. I proceeded to tell him PlayStation Plus has 0 value in comparison to Steam. After this the idiot just stopped responding with long paragraph responses and proceeded to make one sentence responses. I’m gonna tell you why. Because he knows he just got destroyed. The Xbox fanboys just damage control their console being the most last gen and backwards system in history. The use of batteries for the controller in 2013, the Xbox Live Gold ripoff, the fact their system still uses a power brick, the fact their games aren’t 720P and 60FPS, and of course finally the biggest thing they damage control is that Microsoft lied to them about being able to do nighttime racing and weather effects in Forza 5. They aren’t doing any of that. Overall these systems themselves, the policies of the companies, the fanboys who support them, is making me go into this generation supporting the PC only. I’ll see you guys later.

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IK Reviews-The Little Mermaid


I just finished watching this movie and feel as if I need to address it. Let me explain my stance on Disney films, I am NOT a fan of Mickey Mouse. Hell, the only stuff regarding Mickey Mouse I tolerate are the Epic Mickey video games. But I am a fan of Disney, why? Their animated films. Those were part of my childhood growing up as a kid. The Lion King, Aladdin, Hercules, Tarzan, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, Snow White, all of these films were… no… ARE fantastic even to this day. One of those films is The Little Mermaid. This one is based on an actual fairy tale, that’s something I didn’t know until looking it up. The original ending, like most fairy tales Disney bases their films on, was in fact tragic and understandably Disney changed it in order to make it more memorable for the audience that was viewing an animated movie. As audiences wish to see happy endings, especially with fairy tales, it was changed to be a more happier ending. Quite honestly now that I know the ending for the original story, I have to say both film’s endings leave an impact that’s completely different from each other, but still makes you think about it even after you’ve stopped watching (movie) or reading (the fairy tale). If you ask me which one is more memorable for me, it’s the animated film. Why? The ending was much happier and I feel it was much better to see the character, Ariel, be able to get the one she loves and live happily ever after. Maybe that’s because I’m a hopeless romantic but I do love tragic stories as well… I just feel this one is told way better with a happier ending! In fact when you think about it most children and even adults know the film’s version of the events way better than the original fairy tale, and most prefer the Disney versions over the original tales regardless! So let’s get into this review shall we?

I feel this movie is wonderful, from beginning to end. It stars Ariel, the daughter of Triton, who is ruler of the sea and Atlantica. He is the film’s version of Neptune I’m guessing, who is also known as Poseidon in Greek mythology. She has a fascination with the surface and it’s people. It’s interesting to her, intrigues her, she even has a collection of actual objects from the surface world she finds in the ocean. All ready she’s a really likable character. She is missing a special musical performance for which she is part of, so her father gets furious. Ariel and her fishy friend (no really he’s a fish), named Flounder, enter this ship and find… wait for it… a spoon. Really? I would’ve never thought. So a shark comes by and attacks the both of them while inside the ship. Thankfully they escape and make it up to the surface firstly to talk to a seagull named Scuttle. Scuttle tells them what these objects are and apparently the spoon is a “dinglehopper.” Yeah… I think the seagull is full of it. Honestly he has no idea what he’s talking about, but that’s why he’s so funny. He absolutely is clueless about human “technology” and it works because he’s a seagull. Is he supposed to know it’s a spoon and that you eat with it? No. He shouldn’t since he eats with his mouth. They return to Triton who is upset that Ariel went up to the surface because apparently humans are savages. Mindless monsters who only serve to devour and harpoon fish and creatures of the sea for self-survival and self-gain. Clearly he’s misunderstanding the human race as well as their motives, and has a certain distrust for them. Truly he is a good king and does have a heart even if he’s making hot-headed decisions at times After all, he’s only… a merman In fact he has more in common with the humans than he believes in terms of personality. Ariel does too, she’s a hopeless romantic, interested in new things, and wants to see the world. While Triton is hot-headed, makes decisions with what he feels is right for his daughter, but he’s not a perfect dad, in fact in some cases he regrets his decision and wonders if he is being too hard on her. It’s quite intriguing. This is one of the best father-daughter relationships in any I’ve seen to date, it’s actually believable. Flounder is also an interesting character, he’s a fish. A fish who’s awesome. I don’t know why, but he’s just awesome. He’s scared for his life of sharks when we first meet him. It’s like “Ok now I’m gonna sit out here and be on the lookout for…. SHARKS!” Then he goes into the ship so he won’t see the sharks. It’s hysterical. Another interesting character is Sebastian who is a crap. A crap who sings and is a maestro essentially. Some of the most upbeat and memorable songs are from him, including the one most people know about, Kiss the Girl. At first he thinks Ariel is just a teenager who needs to show more consideration for her father and his laws, but you see he really does care about Ariel and sees that her being happy is much better than her being depressed. Later on in the story she sees a prince named Eric and immediately falls in love, after this she really wishes to be on the surface. After a storm hits, destroying his ship in the process, he is about to drown when she saves his life and brings him to shore. She starts singing and he wakes up, when he does he sees her and hears her amazing voice instantly falling in love. The next few times we see him he is attempting to find her and wishes for nothing else. Well as the story progresses we meet out villain, the octopus lady Ursula who is a bargainer and evil wench. She offers Ariel the chance to be human in return for her voice, and she of course accepts. Their is a price to be paid though and Ursula has evil intentions and it’s made clear. The film’s characters are all very memorable and the voice acting is top notch. Everything is great in those aspects so you won’t be disappointed.

The animation is way ahead of it’s time, especially for the time period it came out. 1989, I can’t even imagine a better looking animated film than this back then. I’m a fan of anime (japanese cartoons which are more mature) and back then, anime looked like shit in comparison to this. Animation in anime from back then, compared to The Little Mermaid is way different. The animation in most Japanese anime before the 2000’s was blurry and looked like it was it was made out of a pencil that wasn’t pointy at all, while The Little Mermaid is much more sharp and crisp.The Little Mermaid looks amazing for it’s time, and still looks impressive today. The animation is fast, smooth, and looks really good when a lot is happening on screen. Also with recent re-releases (bluray, DVD) it looks even better now than it did when it first released in theaters and later VHS. The characters look really good for this type of animation, even compared to previous Disney animated movies, they look like real people would look in a cartoon rather than some made up sketches that aren’t supposed to represent real people (like most cartoons nowadays, even Disney’s own Phineas and Ferb ironically). That’s one of the things I love about Disney movies, the animated people (aside from in Pixar films) look like real people if they were animated. Eric’s ship looks great, characters are excellent designed, the sea creatures look dazzling, especially when you consider it when it was made. 1989, this is a movie truly ahead of it’s time in the animation aspect. The story is impressive as well, once again… it’s based on an old fairy tale and DIFFERS from the original tale. If you come here expecting a faithful adaptation of the original tale, you’re not gonna get it. Sorry but Disney has a tendency to change the parts of fairy tales in their adaptations to make it more memorable for the whole audience, their audience being EVERYONE. Kids, adults, teens, what not. You can’t cater to one specific group, the original story was more for older folk based on the themes of death, heaven, and tragedy. While this one does make it safer for kids, but also much better with an ending you can relate to and a romance that is timeless. Therefore, I can definitely say the changes made to the original story were for the best. In fact, I’m willing to say most people haven’t read the original Little Mermaid, this movie is the one story they remember and probably will remember for a long time. Prior to this, Walt Disney wanted to make this movie, and from what I’ve heard many of the changes he made were in the final version. In many ways this is one of the defining aspects of Disney filmmaking, and one of the greatest examples of making a story better than what it originally was. Disney did this MANY times and some people have a problem with that, but I grew up with these stories so in that respect I might be a bit biased for preferring these ones over the originals. But I do think it’s still amazing to this day, once again I just finished watching this movie a few hours ago, it’s been years since I’ve seen it. I’m surprised I enjoyed it as much as I did. This is an awesome movie, and if you’re up for a good animated movie look no further than this. I’m giving The Little Mermaid a 5 out of 5. It’s a timeless tale about a girl from a different place, who falls in love and it shows that love can happen even if it doesn’t have communication. Check it out.

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IK Reviews-The Dark Knight Rises


Warning: This is a new segment I’m doing where I review movies, games, and other things. This is the first written review I’ve done and most reviews will be put on my website (I’ll post a link) weeks prior to bringing it onto my blog. This one I’ve slightly edited from the original post on my website. I’ll be editing the original version with the edited version’s new added material.

This is going to be my first Batman movie review, and first review in general. This is actually the second one I started, however due to me having recently watched this one yesterday, I’ll be reviewing this. I’ll be reviewing a different movie for my second review, what that is yet… well I decided it’d be a Disney movie! Look forward to that. Batman is one of the most iconic characters in any media and honestly one of my favorite film franchises. The newest film is The Dark Knight Rises, and it’s an exceptional, but flawed finale to the trilogy. In many ways the film takes what happened in both Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, and combines those ideas to form a new narrative and it works… for a while? Although I feel as though it’s sort of rushed and there’s certain inconsistencies, but I’ll get to that later. The League of Shadows are involved in wanting to blow up Gotham… again, crime is being fought against by the “actions” of Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), who died in the film prior to this via a new law that makes it so criminals on the streets are thrown into Blackgate Prison without parole. Of course the actors previously in the first two films are present. The film starts in an airplane scene with a group of… well I don’t recall what they were exactly (government agents perhaps), interrogating a group of terrorists over a character named Bane (Tom Hardy). One of them starts talking and mocks the guy doing the interrogation and how one refuses to talk which leads to the “agent” removing the bag off of the terrorist’s head, revealing him to be Bane. The random guy starts interrogating Bane, which leads to Bane admitting getting caught was part of his plan and the next part is crashing the plane, which leads to this action packed sequence of destroying the plane and killing everyone on board. We then turn to some sort of ceremony for Harvey Dent with Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) taking the stage, wanting to tell people the truth about Harvey Dent, but refuses. While this is happening Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway), as a maid brings food into Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) and steals his mother’s necklace that were placed in a so called “uncrackable” safe. Bruce Wayne has been living in isolation the past 8 years and lost the cartilage in one of his knees. He and Batman haven’t been seen for 8 long years, you know I’m still wondering how no one can figure out Bruce Wayne is Batman, I mean are the people in Gotham really THAT stupid. Apparently they are. Selina Kyle escapes with his fingerprints, and the whole film picks up from there. There’s also supporting characters such as Alfred (MIchael Caine), Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), and Talia al Ghul (Marion Cotillard) who in this film is most of the time going by the name Miranda Tate, but just call her Talia because that’s who she actually is.

All these characters are played well, Bale’s performance is the same as it’s been in the previous two films, so in short he is good at the role. Although that bat voice… it’s mostly just annoying me in this movie. In the previous two films it was fine but in this one for some reason it’s annoying. Anne Hathaway as Catwoman is excellent, she’s an amazing Catwoman. I’m having a hard time choosing between her and Michelle Pfeiffer for best Catwoman (don’t even speak of Halle Berry). Both roles are different, but unique and are both played excellently. Michael Caine plays the character Alfred Pennyworth about as well as Michael Gough did. The fact he’s telling Bruce that he wants a better life for him beyond Batman shows how much he cares about Bruce, when he was crying over how much he cared for Bruce it felt like he really was Alfred in the role, in fact for future films he actually still wants to play Alfred if WB asks him. Bane is a great character in this film. My only gripe is he’s not the Joker, but due to Heath Ledger’s unfortunate passing I guess we can’t for much. They actually wanted the Joker to appear for the final movie, but do to that tragedy had to have someone else, and to have a new actor play the Joker would be terrible as well, so we’ll have to let it pass. Tom Hardy plays the role of Bane well, but his death (character not actor) is so cheap. Seriously… that was when I just gave up on Bane. He was a great villain until that point. Talia’s so hot in this movie, this is the first time she’s ever been portrayed in a film, and she’s so hot. I mean so is Selina Kyle… honestly I think Bruce should take them both and have a threesome… don’t judge me. I do have some complaints about the film though, remember how I said it’s flawed. Well there are some really big flaws that make this weaker than Begins and The Dark Knight, and even weaker than my favorite from the original series Batman Returns. 

The plot can be kind of confusing, with some plot holes that are really big. First off, how in the hell did Bruce Wayne get from one country to another in one day? Also I feel like the villains are completely stupid in this movie, there’s so many holes to their plans it’s not even funny. I feel like it’s too easy for Bane and his men to actually crash a moving plane, and the random guys just fall for it. How stupid are these people again? It felt forced how Bane’s plan went all according to plan in so little time, seriously it was too easy. There wasn’t any intelligence in their plans, it just seems like it was a plot device to make them seem intimidating when they aren’t. If you wanna talk about intelligence and something being part of the plan, well take a look at Joker in The Dark Knight. Compare. You’ll see what I mean. Another problem is how can Bane break Bruce’s back… and then someone else put Bruce’s back into place. It was so unrealistic… if I broke your back is there some way of fixing it? I thought Chris Nolan was shooting for realism. Another point I’d like to address is if the cartilage in Bruce’s knee is really gone…. then how the fuck can the climb out a window and use a grapple to go down a couple windows down? How did he run perfectly after being locked up in the Pitt? These are just some of the many plot elements that are ridiculous and inconsistent. So if I’m going to be honest with you, The Dark Knight Rises isn’t the most satisfying entry in the Batman franchise. It’s also probably the most inconsistent, and of course the weakest of all the good Batman movies (the pieces of dog crap Batman Forever, Batman with Adam West, and Batman and Robin are excluded from that list). However; it is a GOOD conclusion to the trilogy, even though in my opinion it feels like a rushed story and forced conclusion. It’s an amazing piece of work for what it is, but falls short of the legacy left by Chris Nolan. I’m gonna give it a 3.5 out of 5. Worth seeing but flawed compared to the previous ones. I recommend watching the first two before you go out and spend your money on The Dark Knight Rises, and if you can buy The Dark Knight Trilogy boxset rather than Rises by itself.

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Man of Steel: The start of the DC Cinematic Universe?


Well the end of The Dark Knight Rises showed that Bruce Wayne is happy and at peace. I reviewed the film in written form on my website and said it was an excellent but flawed movie. I enjoyed it greatly, but became bored in certain parts and didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as the two previous films in the franchise, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Saying that though the ending was great, but it doesn’t leave any room for a potential sequel. That’s the end of The Dark Knight saga and it’s a fitting conclusion. But it’s not the end of Batman or other DC Comics characters. It’s time for a new superhero movie to release and when it does it will be amazing. I am of course talking about Man of Steel. A feature film starring Superman, perhaps one of the two most famous DC superheroes, along with Batman of course. This film is produced by Christopher Nolan (director of The Dark Knight Trilogy) and directed by Zack Snyder. The film stars Henry Cavill in the role of Superman. It sounds awesome. It’s a reboot to the Superman film series, and takes some inspiration from The Dark Knight in terms of name and tone. A more serious interpretation of Superman. If you remember the previous film series, Superman had fallen so far down that people feared it’d be the end of Superman. Batman had fared better in films, with only two real films being piece of shit, compared to Superman’s three (four in case you dislike Superman 2). At least this is how it was in terms of reviews. I’ve never watched the previous film series, but I plan on buying the four-pack release of all four. Man of Steel is being made by Legendary Pictures, a company who’s previous works include The Dark Knight Trilogy, all which were critically acclaimed.

They did work on a Superman movie prior to this. Superman Returns, which gained a positive reception, at least in terms of reviews. Fans however hated this movie, and it didn’t do as well in the theaters as Warner Bros. hoped! So they decided to reboot it. Great idea and so far it looks great, there is one criticism though from what I’ve seen. Why isn’t Lois Lane’s hair black? It is in the comics. It is in the animated series. It is even in Superman Returns (from the looks of it). The actress playing her looks almost perfect for the role, aside from the lack of black hair. I hope that’s fixed in the movie or in sequels.  If not I can deal with that. I think the best piece of news and what has me the most excited is that this is the start of a DC Cinematic Universe. That’s right. I said it. The start of a universe starring DC superheroes. This is amazing, quite honestly Marvel had an excellent idea when they came up with that idea for their superheroes. Rather than have multiple universes they just had one consistent universe and one continuity with mostly the same actors playing their superheroes (aside from Edward Norton of course). The universe works so well when it’s one continuity and you’ll have infinite opportunities to expand upon it, it’s not like where with The Dark Knight saga where the universe can’t be expanded upon. The story of that particular Bruce Wayne is done, physically he’s not as able bodied as he should be, it’s the end of his crime fighting career. He’s happy. With Man of Steel I feel that it’s not so realistic where people with powers don’t exist, but it’s a realistic situation and it’s a “what would happen if this were real” type thing. That’s how realism should be handled. I’m not saying the Dark Knight series isn’t amazing or good for what it focused on. It is amazing because of that, it was it’s own thing. Now we move on to the next stage. A shared universe. I watched the new trailer for Man of Steel, it definitely looks legendary (no pun intended) and it definitely looks like the best way to start a new universe.

Next I wanna talk about the Justice League and how they should handle the characters and everything else, using my own opinion of course. Warner Bros. I feel should use the new Man of Steel to launch this universe and have Henry Cavill come back as Superman for the new Justice League. Zack Snyder should most definitely direct. David Goyer should write the script and story. All that is fine but what about the other characters? Well as far as Green Lantern (might buy that movie) is concerned, use the 2011 Green Lantern film’s character of Hal Jordan played by Ryan Reynolds. I know the movie, from what I heard, sucks. But here’s the thing, it’s a lot easier than rebooting it. It really is. You all ready have a story set in place for a potential sequel. If you’re going to make a sequel have Legendary do it and have David S. Goyer write the plot. If Ryan Reynolds doesn’t wanna suit up, replace him with a new actor but keep it in continuity with the first film but make it more serious in tone. Marvel did that with the Hulk (replacing Edward Norton with Mark Ruffalo) Do NOT reboot Green Lantern. If a film sucks rebooting it isn’t always the best option. According to Warner Bros. it’s the only option. I mean sure… if they didn’t reboot Batman we wouldn’t have Batman Begins. That’s a completely different situation. The one they were in was the two films prior to Begins were complete and utter shit. There really wasn’t much you could do with that series because it became too campy, not to mention Joel Schumacher and Warner ruined it by making it too kiddy. I mean a film like that should appeal to kids, but it should also appeal to adults and adolescents. It didn’t. While Green Lantern was a piece of shit, they could massively improve the sequel and make it a blockbuster film if they took the time and resources to do so. Fans will forgive it after that. I assure you. Next up is Batman. Reboot it. Once again, there’s not much you can do with The Dark Knight version of Batman. One of his knees doesn’t have any cartilage, he’s way older now, he’s moved on being Batman. That was the end of that series. It’s time to start over. What I think should happen with Batman is they need to start with Justice League to introduce the character, after that give him his own movie. People say “Don’t make it an origin story. Make him it a year after he took the cowl and became Batman.” But that’s just silly talk, I mean Batman does have an origin and if they don’t mention how he became Batman it’s basically going back to the first series again. You don’t have to follow Batman Begins! You just have to retell his origin, but do it in a very different way. An original way that’s as awesome or even better than how you did in Batman Begins. We might all ready know his origin but we don’t know how it happened in a new universe. Make him younger, like in his twenties so he’s more able bodied and not missing any cartilage in his knee. I don’t care what actor you choose for the role… just pick one who will play it well and who looks the part. As for Wonder Woman and the Flash. The Flash I have no problems with when it comes to the rumors about him in the movie, that’s all fine. Wonder Woman however I think should be introduced in Justice League, than get an origin story of events that happened prior to Justice League. Like Batman. Pick a really hot or beautiful actress who can act and act well. Oh… one more thing, please no romance with Superman. He all ready has Lois Lane, she’s fine for the man of steel. A romance with Batman I’ll approve of, it’s not like he actually has a distinct love interest, he has had a ton and honestly none have been officially described as “the one he’s going to end up with for all time”. Man of Steel comes out in June so look forward to that, I know I am. Hopefully the Cinematic Universe thing is official and hopefully we see the Justice League come to fruition. Peace!

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iTunes: The Center of My Digital Life!


Now by reading the title of this article you might be tempted to call me an Apple fanboy. I’m really not. In fact I’m going to state how I’m not right now. Firstly, I’m using a Mac at this moment, but it’s the schools. Not mine. They supply us with Macs this year, next year when I’m gone it’s gonna be Chromebooks. I myself, wouldn’t buy one of these, they’re too expensive for me. The only way I would buy a Mac is if I had leftover money that I wasn’t gonna spend on anything else. I’ll stick with a PC, besides Microsoft Windows has TONS of games and I love games. The second way is while I love the iPad Mini, I don’t own it either. I’ve used them at Apple Stores, and they’re awesome. But I wouldn’t buy one. Main few reasons are lack of retina display, the one with the most space is as expensive as a PC, and of course the fact it’s not as powerful as a full sized iPad.  Every inch an iPad, my ass it is. That’s how they marketed it, like seriously. It’s not even as powerful, but it’s twice as amazing. Fix that Apple. Include all the features of the full sized iPad, specs, and retina display and I may consider paying full price eventually. Another reason I’m not an Apple fanboy has to do with both the Mini and full sized iPad. Ok here’s the problem with the iPad, Google is now competing head on with Apple. Releasing a phone under their Nexus series, a 10 inch tablet, and 7 inch tablet for WAY cheaper. Plus the specs are pretty decent on those. I’m not too big of a fan of smartphones in general, but tablets are pretty cool. I do have problems with the most recent Nexus models, but it seems like Google and it’s hardware partners are going to release new models of those three Nexus devices yearly like Apple in order to compete. BRILLIANT. That’s so awesome, I always thought Google could compete on that front with Apple and now they are. Another thing I’d like to mention is with Google Play, you can watch your video content you purchased on Youtube. Ok, I’m in love. I don’t currently own an Android device or Apple device (anymore, had an iPhone but it was free and is now in a river somewhere… don’t ask), but if I had to choose I’d choose a Nexus 7 over an iPad anyday for the reasons I mentioned.

Now I’m going to explain WHY iTunes is the center of my digital life. It’s not because I’m a huge fan of Apple (I’m not a stupid fanboy/consumer who will but anything from them… though I do enjoy their products when I use them), not because of any bullshit practical reason and is not because I’ve bought tons of stuff on iTunes. It’s for one reason and one reason only. Free stuff. Yes, I said it. Free stuff. You see iTunes every week, Tuesday mornings, allows you to get free things. You just click on “Free on iTunes” in the store. Then there it will show you free video content and songs you can get for free. It’s only temporary so be sure to act on Tuesday or a little bit after for it. Because then it’s price will go back to normal. It might not SEEM like much, I mean there’s like usually one or two free episodes of a show or one song that’s free. But when you save up for months at a time, you end up having a lot. I’ve been doing it that way for a while… and then I checked iTunes to watch my favorite anime series of all time (Inuyasha) and guess what? I had a ton of episodes of TV shows on there. I didn’t even check how much I had collected.. but let me be clear. It was a lot. I have episode 1 of Bates Motel, episode 1 of Avatar: The Last Airbender (recent), episode 1 of Made in Jersey, episode 1 of Emily Owens, M.D., and an episode of an old show called “Ninja Turtles” (based on TMNT) as well as an episode of the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. But that’s barely a quarter of them. There’s a lot more. Apple gives you more free video content and music content, than any company I know of. Certainly more than Microsoft. More than Google. Sony. Wow, awesome. I can’t forget those video streaming services like Vudu and others in that same category, don’t even have some of the content I listed. The only one that does is Netflix, and sometimes I feel like Netflix REMOVES content on their service because there’s been a couple of incidents where I was not able to watch something I had watched on Netflix before because it was no longer listed. Cheap Netflix. Cheap. At least with iTunes you are capable of purchasing, downloading, and watching the TV show, movie, etc at your own leisure without an internet connection (though you need the internet to download it). Awesome. Just awesome. This is why iTunes is the center of my digital life. I even got an episode of a show I used to watch as a kid, for free. As well as Inuyasha episode 1 free. Fantastic. Once again. This is amazing. iTunes is awesome. I’d personally recommend iTunes to anybody who likes to watch video content such as TV shows and movies. It can be downloaded on both Microsoft Windows’ PCs and Macs (actually come preinstalled with Macs) so have fun and stay safe.

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The Bioshock Saga: A tale of parenthood!


Warning: Spoilers are Present in this article. Also, Bioshock is owned by Irrational Games and 2K Games, this is just open journalism discussing these games and the story they tell and my relationship with them. How they’ve amazed me, a fan.

With the newest game in this wonderful series, Bioshock Infinite, due out tomorrow I figure it’s time I wrote about one of the most impressive game franchises man have ever seen. One I’m sure Irrational and 2K Games are lucky to have. Bioshock was first introduced to me via Youtube videos, either that or through previews of the second game, can’t remember which. But hey I’m gonna tell you my recollection I had never played this franchise. Never seen it. Heard anything about it. Nothing. I later research the game to find out more about this new franchise. It looked good. But I didn’t get the point of it at all. Looked like a shooter where you just shoot stuff. I see reviews on Youtube praising the hell out of this game. So I download the demo and after that, it was love. I know the first part of the game, and many parts are scripted, but coming out of the pod was scary. How so? Well every time I walk on through I’m afraid something is gonna come at me and attack and I’m defenseless. I know what’s about to happen. But every time I played through that first scene, I’m still scared and the feeling never goes away. Even though I know what’s gonna happen. It still feels like an unscripted event. But first going through Rapture, descending into that world, then coming out of the little pod you’re in was a site to behold. It’s a beautiful world. When the demo ended I was amazed. I had to buy the game. Later on I bought the game for Xbox, put the game in the console, and finally was playing the real thing. It was better than I expected. I was in love.

I played through Bioshock over a thousand times, ok not that much. But it felt like that much. I couldn’t get enough. I had to go through the whole game and discover all the secrets Rapture had to offer. I beat the game a ton of times, in different ways each time. That’s what Irrational wanted, that’s what they were going for with this game, an experience where you could play multiple times and beat it in different ways. It’s an amazing experience. I think the game truly is one of the finest achievements in gaming, which is kind of a funny coincidence since I got so many achievements in that game. I even went through the game on all three difficulty levels and beat it on all the difficulty levels. I honestly could not expect it to get better… well it didn’t. But I was still excited. Bioshock 2 was being shown on G4TV, I watched several videos of it. Gameplay previews. Looked great. Couldn’t wait to play through this game. Well I got it much later. It was good. Not as good as the first game, but still good. I played through it about 2 or 3 times. The first time was just a small playthrough. Second playthrough I beat the game. Third I beat the game on hard difficulty. It was actually easier than the first game, even on hard. Amazing, in a sarcastic way….

Eventually Bioshock Infinite is announced. From Irrational. I’m so hyped for the game. Can’t wait for 2012. Well it’s past that street date. The game’s come a long way. It releases tomorrow. Just recently I was watching some previews from IGN and members of Irrational Games were there talking about it, including Ken Levine. Awesome. Well, I was looking at pure gameplay and… I’ve fallen in love again. Instead of Rapture, who’s long gone now, it’s Columbia. But not only that, there’s also Elizabeth now. The Songbird, Booker himself. He’s an actual person with his own identity and agenda. The Songbird is sort of like the Big Daddies, except not as badass. It seems like a fantastic adventure to go through. I must admit, I’ve spoiled the story for myself. That’s one thing I’m gonna talk about, one of the themes of the Bioshock Saga, as I like to call it. Parenthood. In the first game you play as Jack, who turns out to be the illegitimate son of Andrew Ryan, the man who built Rapture. The second game had you play as Subject Delta, one of the first Big Daddies and the Big Daddy to Eleanor Lamb, who previously was a Little Sister. Eleanor thinks of Delta as her actual father, even though they’re not blood related at all. She and him try to save one another as they care for each other like father and daughter. Now we have Bioshock Infinite. The relationship between Booker and Elizabeth I didn’t suspect, I honestly thought she was a love interest. Well… that’s not true and I feel horrified to say that. Now it’s been revealed that she is the daughter of Father Comstock… but not in the way you’d expect. You see, Father Comstock fought in the battle of Wounded Knee or some shit like that. Then he became baptized, and subsequently founded Columbia. He needed an heir after his figuring out how to time travel makes him sterile. So he goes back in time, to an alternate reality where a man named Booker DeWitt refuses to be baptized. To pay off Booker’s gambling debts, or at least help, Comstock purchases Booker’s daughter Anna and renames her Elizabeth and brings her back to his time. Elizabeth is Booker’s daughter, but even more strange is Comstock is an alternate future version of Booker.

So it’s a confusing tale, that sort of makes sense but confuses you. The Bioshock games tell a story about parenthood, they have to do with parents and their children. What it means to love your child. They show that being a parent can be a burden (Bioshock) and that in some cases parents will go to amazing lengths to save their children, out of love (Bioshock 2 and Infinite). It’s an amazing saga and tale. I’m sure the next one will have this theme, parenthood, or whatever you wanna call it. The same parent/child relationship, in the mean time however there’s a game called Bioshock Infinite out right now. It looks like an amazing experience. The fact I know the plot doesn’t disinterest me. It looks like a phenomenal experience. Incredibly deep, interesting, and probably among the best games visually on current generation hardware. It happens to be in my opinion thus far seeing it, the best looking Unreal Engine 3 game ever. Personally, I CANNOT wait to pick this game up on PlayStation Network and play through one of my favorite franchises released. When that will be, could be a week from now, could be a couple months from now. I know it’ll be waiting for me to explore Columbia. I’m looking forward to it.

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