First of all, this is not your daddy's Phoenix Wright. Apollo, unfortunately (though only so far) is not anywhere near as interesting a character as Phoenix was. But never fear, because the lovable Nick makes plenty of appearances throughout the game (and you control him through his final trial as well).
Apollo Justice is an orphaned lawyer prodigy. At just 22 years of age, he's well on his way to a successful career in defense. Apollo works under the guiding hand of Kristoph Gavin, a famous defense attorney and a friend of former attorney Phoenix Wright. Our favorite spiky haired lawyer has been out of the business for about 7 years, when a fateful trial cost him his attorney's badge. He's been biding his time as a professional poker player for the Borscht Bowl Club, where he also (barely) plays piano, and his attorney's office has been turned into a talent agency. Maya and Pearl are (physically) absent (they're mentioned a couple of times), and have been replaced by 15 year old Trucy, Phoenix's adopted daughter and an aspiring magician. Everything goes topsy turvey when Phoenix is charged in the murder of a mysterious Borscht customer. He hires the young Apollo from Gavin's office to defend him.
Taking Edgeworth's place is young rock star Klavier Gavin, brother of Kristoph Gavin, a brand new prosecutor and lead singer of The Gavinners. In place of Gumshoe is forensics fanatic Ema Skye, who appeared in a bonus case in the US version of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney.
For those not familiar with the series, the Ace Attorney games are visual novel games for the DS (though the Phoenix Wright games are actually just DS ports of GBA games, and Apollo's game is the first originally made for the DS) in which you act out the part of a defense lawyer by gathering evidence and miraculously defending clients with piles of evidence against them. They're a lot of fun, if you don't mind all the reading. The stories are really great, and the characters are interesting, and that's why you play them. Don't expect any action, because the most you'll find is an occasional finger print analysis while you're digging around an area for evidence. The games utilize the touch screen with evidence gathering and forensics analysis, though most of the time you can just use the D-pad and buttons. You can also use the microphone to call out an "Objection!" if you so desire, or simply use a button if you want a quieter experience. There's not much animation either; it's mostly character expressions (which are still great), and a short "cinematic" event depicting the crime before each case begins. But the environments are nicely detailed, and everything is well drawn. They're simple games, in that respect, but you really have to use your brain to figure out your cases; the object is to catch the witness in a lie, and then present your evidence that proves your theory.
In Apollo Justice a new ability is added. You may remember from the last 2 Phoenix Wright games that Phoenix could use his Magatama to unlock Psyche-Locks from characters hiding secrets. Apollo has a bracelet that allows him to "perceive" the nervous habits of the people is questions in court. This allows you to zoom in on a witness and search them during sections of the testimony to locate a nervous tick (such as playing with a ring on their finger or swallowing when they are nervous or lying) and use it to force the person to tell the truth. Otherwise the game play is the same as the Phoenix Wright games, but that's why they're played to begin with. The use of forensics returns, including the addition of poison detecting spray, but it's used sparsely as before.
The game is good enough. The last case is pretty fantastic, although the way it's played out makes little sense. I don't want to give anything away, but you use Phoenix to do some past and present investigating into a couple of cases (including his final case seven years ago) to help out Apollo, but sometimes the way the information is used makes little sense (ie: you go back in time to ask someone who is dead a question about something you just learned). If you ignore that, it's fine, and it's great to watch all of the events come together. Unfortunately, I felt like they got rid of their payload all too soon, at least if they wish to make 2 more games like before. There are still some things to work with, but a lot of the secrets (which in the Phoenix games, regarding the Fey family, didn't come out until the end of the 3rd game) have already been solved, and I wish they had saved them for a later title. Because I do think there will be more Apollo Justice titles, as they left some things unsolved or unfinished regarding Apollo and Trucy; so there is stuff to continue on with.
If you liked the Phoenix Wright games, you'll like this one as well. It's all there - mysterious murders, creative cases, evidence hunting, brain wracking cross examinations, kooky characters, perfect mood music. Though be warned that Phoenix is not the same Nick he was before. A bad turn in court and 7 years of living in disgrace have made him a very different person. I don't like Trucy as much as I adored Maya and Pearl, but she has her own charms and I'm sure she'll grow on me. She's certainly adorable. And while Edgeworth will always have a place in my heart (and my wallet...I'm really excited about his game with Gumshoe they're working on), I must admit to falling a bit in love with the Gavin brothers as well. One of them has already proved pretty interesting, and I hope the other does as well.
8/06/2008
8/01/2008
A Quarter of a Century
This Sunday I will turn a quarter of a century year old. That seems like an awful long time when it's put that way, but it feels very short to me. Especially when you consider that I spent 18 of those years toiling away in school.
Anyway, because I'm spoiled and self-centered, the entire weekend is a birthday celebration. Typically I declare my birthday for an entire week, as it usually falls somewhere mid-week, but this year it falls on a weekend day. Of course, all this really means is that I will be spoiled far more than usual (which I love, of course), and will be busy maybe spending some money, playing with new toys, and hanging out with some friends. All I'm officially planning right now is to have a few friends over on Sunday to play some video games and hang out. We've got Mario Party, Smash Brothers Brawl, Halo 3, and some group board games. I'm also planning on baking a cake and maybe making some of my famous cheese dip.
What this means is that I'll probably fall even further behind with my anime reviews (I've actually been a horrible little reviewer and watching continuing episodes of ongoing shows instead of checking out all the new stuff that keeps piling up on my HD...oops). My forum modding will be absent for a while (even though I've been slacking lately; hope SPAM hasn't gotten out of control as I haven't been in there for a couple of weeks...oops again).
I think I had more to say but...Bubble Boy is on TV. And as horrible and cheesy a movie as it is, Jake Gyllenhaal is super adorable. By the way, in case anyone didn't know yet, Gyllenhaal is going to be playing the Prince in the upcoming Prince of Persia movie. Can we say YUM? Running around possibly (hopefully) topless, swinging his sword around at nasty monsters.... Oh man, I can't wait!
Anyway, because I'm spoiled and self-centered, the entire weekend is a birthday celebration. Typically I declare my birthday for an entire week, as it usually falls somewhere mid-week, but this year it falls on a weekend day. Of course, all this really means is that I will be spoiled far more than usual (which I love, of course), and will be busy maybe spending some money, playing with new toys, and hanging out with some friends. All I'm officially planning right now is to have a few friends over on Sunday to play some video games and hang out. We've got Mario Party, Smash Brothers Brawl, Halo 3, and some group board games. I'm also planning on baking a cake and maybe making some of my famous cheese dip.
What this means is that I'll probably fall even further behind with my anime reviews (I've actually been a horrible little reviewer and watching continuing episodes of ongoing shows instead of checking out all the new stuff that keeps piling up on my HD...oops). My forum modding will be absent for a while (even though I've been slacking lately; hope SPAM hasn't gotten out of control as I haven't been in there for a couple of weeks...oops again).
I think I had more to say but...Bubble Boy is on TV. And as horrible and cheesy a movie as it is, Jake Gyllenhaal is super adorable. By the way, in case anyone didn't know yet, Gyllenhaal is going to be playing the Prince in the upcoming Prince of Persia movie. Can we say YUM? Running around possibly (hopefully) topless, swinging his sword around at nasty monsters.... Oh man, I can't wait!
7/30/2008
Harry Potter in the House
Or Hizzouse or whatever the kids are saying these days.
The official Half-Blood Prince teaser trailer has hit. And it rocks. I got some serious chills watching it. This is where I watched it, but the quality isn't good. Officially it's here, via moviefone, but I can't play that one; I assume because I don't have Quicktime installed. Oh, it's also here, via MSN.
I especially love this part:
"Did you know, sir? Then?"
"Did I know that I had just met the most dangerous dark wizard of all time? .... No."
Ooooooooh snap. I think I may actually venture forth and see this one in the theater. There's a great little snippet in there of Dumbledore chasing off the Inferi with this huge wall of fire, which seems a little exaggerated from what happens in the book, but who cares! As long as they get the Watchtower scene right, I don't think I really care about anything else. I know Alan Rickman can really pull off the tortured Snape. Oooooh I can't wait! The film looks really dark, as it should be. If you didn't already notice, I'm a Harry Potter nut. So I apologize for now, and in advance of my inevitable increasing excitement as the movie nears. :)
To Know the Future, Return to the Past.
The official Half-Blood Prince teaser trailer has hit. And it rocks. I got some serious chills watching it. This is where I watched it, but the quality isn't good. Officially it's here, via moviefone, but I can't play that one; I assume because I don't have Quicktime installed. Oh, it's also here, via MSN.
I especially love this part:
"Did you know, sir? Then?"
"Did I know that I had just met the most dangerous dark wizard of all time? .... No."
Ooooooooh snap. I think I may actually venture forth and see this one in the theater. There's a great little snippet in there of Dumbledore chasing off the Inferi with this huge wall of fire, which seems a little exaggerated from what happens in the book, but who cares! As long as they get the Watchtower scene right, I don't think I really care about anything else. I know Alan Rickman can really pull off the tortured Snape. Oooooh I can't wait! The film looks really dark, as it should be. If you didn't already notice, I'm a Harry Potter nut. So I apologize for now, and in advance of my inevitable increasing excitement as the movie nears. :)
To Know the Future, Return to the Past.
7/29/2008
Makoto Shinkai
If you don't recognize that name, then you need to become immediately acquainted with him for you own good. Here is a simple Wiki for quick orientation. It is one of my missions in life to introduce him to as many people as possible. I've even shown Voices of a Distant Star to my mother.
Makoto Shinkai has 3 major creations and one small short. His first cartoon, titled She and Her Cat, is a very short piece that follows a cat's daily life, all from the cat's perspective. It's insanely adorable, but also rather melancholy. The cat's master seems to be depressed very often.
His second work is a roughly 20 minute movie called Voices of a Distant Star. (She and Her Cat can be viewed on the Voices DVD as an extra feature, just FYI). Voices was created entirely by Shinkai (as was She and Her Cat) on his Macintosh computer. You can also enjoy a wonderful vocal dub on the DVD by Shinkai and his wife (there are only two characters in the film), though a professional Japanese dub was also done, as well as (of course) an excellent English dub.
Voices follows the story of Mikako and Noboru, two young students (I think they're about 15 at the start of the film). Mikako gets drafted into their army to become a mecha for the space ship Lysithea, but Noboru gets left behind (Mikako's grades are better, etc). The only way they can keep in touch is via text messages with their cell phones. Mikako sends these almost daily, but as the Lysithea travels further out into space, the messages start taking longer and longer to reach Noboru, with one taking over 8 years to reach him.
The story is beautiful, honest, and emotional. And the animation is truly breathtaking. The stark contrast of the hand drawn looking characters in their CG environment is a major part of what makes Shinkai stand out as a master in animation.
His second film, Beyond the Clouds/The Place Promised in Our Early Days, is something I can, unfortunately, tell you less about. I only saw it once or twice, and I wasn't immediately taken with it. Shinkai's stories are served better in an episodic format rather than a feature film, as Beyond the Clouds is. There are several jumps in time within the story that probably required more attention on my part that I gave the film at the time. But I felt that Voices was far superior, though this film was by no means a bad film. There are also two boys in this film, Hiroki and Takuya, and I recall having some trouble telling them apart as they grew older. And then there is the girl, Sayuri.
The three teens come across a crashed plane and decide to work on it together, so that one day they can fly across the water and visit Hokkaido Tower (a large, mysterious tower being built by the northern military faction, the Union). The strange tower has some sort of ability to change the matter around it and form alternate realities. Somehow Sayuri becomes involved with the Union and falls into a coma where her mind is trapped in a parallel universe. Her coma is directly related to the effect of the matter changing tower. Takuya joins the National Security Agency, and the Uilta Liberation Front (which is working to destroy the tower). Hiroki, who was in love with Sayuri, lives in constant depression without her. The two boys must eventually unite to save Sayuri or save the world.
5 Centimeters per Second, Makoto's most recent film, hits his usual themes of time and distance hard core style. The film's title references the speed at which cherry blossom petals fall. This film follows Takaki and Akari. Close friends in elementary school, Takaki and Akari are forced apart when Akari's parents move to Tochigi Prefecture for their work, while Takaki attends school in Tokyo. They keep in contact by writing letters, and although they clearly have feelings for each other, the time and distance between them works against them. When Takaki's family decides to move to Kagoshima, Takaki realizes that he will live too far away to ever visit Akari, so he decides to take a trip to see her. Unfortunately the night he leaves is wrought with heavy snow and his trains are consistently delayed. His heartbreak is, well, heartbreaking, as he begins to realize that he may not get to see her one last time. She managed to wait for him at the station, and the two talk and finally share a kiss. But there is a sad, heavy feeling, as they know they will only grow farther apart.
The film is divided into 3 sections, each running about 20 minutes. The first, Cherry Blossoms, was just described. The second, Cosmonaut, again follows Takaki, in high school now. A classmate named Kanae has feelings for him, and the episode centers mostly on her and her thoughts than on Takaki himself. But all the same, we see Kanae trying in vain to gain his affections; Takaki always seems to be lost somewhere else.
The final segment, 5 cm per Second, wraps the story up as the characters go their seperate ways. Takaki now works as a computer programmer in Tokyo, but he seems perpetually hung up on the past. Akari on the other hand has moved on and is getting married. It leaves one to wonder what would have happened had Akari and Takaki not been forced apart.
Again, another beautiful, honest, and absolutely heartbreaking piece from Shinkai.
You've probably noticed some obvious themes there. Shinkai seems relatively happy in his interviews. He's happily married, he enjoys working on his animations, etc. So I'm not sure how he's able to write such sad stories about love, distance and time. But it's best not to wonder about the creator and just enjoy the films, and let the emotion present in them wash over you. He gets hailed as "the next Miyazaki" a lot, but I think the honesty and emotion that Shinkai puts up on screen is a bit different than what Miyazaki creates. Not any better or any worse, just a different sort, presented in different ways. I strongly encourage checking out, at the very least, Voices of a Distant Star. If you're prone to "becoming emotional" at all, make sure you have a box of tissues nearby, because you will probably cry. I bawled my eyes out the first time I saw it, and I still shed some tears every time I watch it.
It's not that anything horribly tragic happens in Shinkai's films, but (and I know I keep using this word) the honesty of the characters' emotions is really moving.
Makoto Shinkai has 3 major creations and one small short. His first cartoon, titled She and Her Cat, is a very short piece that follows a cat's daily life, all from the cat's perspective. It's insanely adorable, but also rather melancholy. The cat's master seems to be depressed very often.
His second work is a roughly 20 minute movie called Voices of a Distant Star. (She and Her Cat can be viewed on the Voices DVD as an extra feature, just FYI). Voices was created entirely by Shinkai (as was She and Her Cat) on his Macintosh computer. You can also enjoy a wonderful vocal dub on the DVD by Shinkai and his wife (there are only two characters in the film), though a professional Japanese dub was also done, as well as (of course) an excellent English dub.
Voices follows the story of Mikako and Noboru, two young students (I think they're about 15 at the start of the film). Mikako gets drafted into their army to become a mecha for the space ship Lysithea, but Noboru gets left behind (Mikako's grades are better, etc). The only way they can keep in touch is via text messages with their cell phones. Mikako sends these almost daily, but as the Lysithea travels further out into space, the messages start taking longer and longer to reach Noboru, with one taking over 8 years to reach him.
The story is beautiful, honest, and emotional. And the animation is truly breathtaking. The stark contrast of the hand drawn looking characters in their CG environment is a major part of what makes Shinkai stand out as a master in animation.
His second film, Beyond the Clouds/The Place Promised in Our Early Days, is something I can, unfortunately, tell you less about. I only saw it once or twice, and I wasn't immediately taken with it. Shinkai's stories are served better in an episodic format rather than a feature film, as Beyond the Clouds is. There are several jumps in time within the story that probably required more attention on my part that I gave the film at the time. But I felt that Voices was far superior, though this film was by no means a bad film. There are also two boys in this film, Hiroki and Takuya, and I recall having some trouble telling them apart as they grew older. And then there is the girl, Sayuri.
The three teens come across a crashed plane and decide to work on it together, so that one day they can fly across the water and visit Hokkaido Tower (a large, mysterious tower being built by the northern military faction, the Union). The strange tower has some sort of ability to change the matter around it and form alternate realities. Somehow Sayuri becomes involved with the Union and falls into a coma where her mind is trapped in a parallel universe. Her coma is directly related to the effect of the matter changing tower. Takuya joins the National Security Agency, and the Uilta Liberation Front (which is working to destroy the tower). Hiroki, who was in love with Sayuri, lives in constant depression without her. The two boys must eventually unite to save Sayuri or save the world.
5 Centimeters per Second, Makoto's most recent film, hits his usual themes of time and distance hard core style. The film's title references the speed at which cherry blossom petals fall. This film follows Takaki and Akari. Close friends in elementary school, Takaki and Akari are forced apart when Akari's parents move to Tochigi Prefecture for their work, while Takaki attends school in Tokyo. They keep in contact by writing letters, and although they clearly have feelings for each other, the time and distance between them works against them. When Takaki's family decides to move to Kagoshima, Takaki realizes that he will live too far away to ever visit Akari, so he decides to take a trip to see her. Unfortunately the night he leaves is wrought with heavy snow and his trains are consistently delayed. His heartbreak is, well, heartbreaking, as he begins to realize that he may not get to see her one last time. She managed to wait for him at the station, and the two talk and finally share a kiss. But there is a sad, heavy feeling, as they know they will only grow farther apart.
The film is divided into 3 sections, each running about 20 minutes. The first, Cherry Blossoms, was just described. The second, Cosmonaut, again follows Takaki, in high school now. A classmate named Kanae has feelings for him, and the episode centers mostly on her and her thoughts than on Takaki himself. But all the same, we see Kanae trying in vain to gain his affections; Takaki always seems to be lost somewhere else.
The final segment, 5 cm per Second, wraps the story up as the characters go their seperate ways. Takaki now works as a computer programmer in Tokyo, but he seems perpetually hung up on the past. Akari on the other hand has moved on and is getting married. It leaves one to wonder what would have happened had Akari and Takaki not been forced apart.
Again, another beautiful, honest, and absolutely heartbreaking piece from Shinkai.
You've probably noticed some obvious themes there. Shinkai seems relatively happy in his interviews. He's happily married, he enjoys working on his animations, etc. So I'm not sure how he's able to write such sad stories about love, distance and time. But it's best not to wonder about the creator and just enjoy the films, and let the emotion present in them wash over you. He gets hailed as "the next Miyazaki" a lot, but I think the honesty and emotion that Shinkai puts up on screen is a bit different than what Miyazaki creates. Not any better or any worse, just a different sort, presented in different ways. I strongly encourage checking out, at the very least, Voices of a Distant Star. If you're prone to "becoming emotional" at all, make sure you have a box of tissues nearby, because you will probably cry. I bawled my eyes out the first time I saw it, and I still shed some tears every time I watch it.
It's not that anything horribly tragic happens in Shinkai's films, but (and I know I keep using this word) the honesty of the characters' emotions is really moving.
7/25/2008
Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu
Or, Nogizaka Haruka's Secret.
Ayase Yuuto (appears to) share his house with two older women whom he identifies as Ruko (his sister) and Sensei (Yukari, one of his teachers and a friend of Ruko's). Both women are loud, demanding and often drunk. They've given Yuuto a negative image of females, whom he thinks are all selfish, violent and ill-mannered. All of them except for Nogizaka Haruka, a girl at his high school. Known by the student body as Nuit Etoile (The Silver Star of the Night), Haruka plays the piano, is beautiful, intelligent, humble, and rich. But Haruka has a deep dark secret that she doesn't want anyone to know about - she's a closet Otaku and a Clumsy Girl Aki-Chan addict (a popular anime show).
So desperate is she to hide this secret that when she bumps into Yuuto in the library while checking out an anime magazine called Innocent Smile, she nearly destroys the entire library to keep him from seeing the book. He manages to find out anyway (she seems to be as clumsy as the character in the show she loves), and she runs away in embarrassment. From then on she avoids him at school, and runs away (in more embarrassment) any time she bumps into him...which seems to happen often. It's super cute.
Yuuto tries to confront her, but it's perceived by their classmates that he's trying to harass her somehow. So it takes quite a bit of work for him to get to her alone. He promises that he won't tell anyone her secret, and says that he's not bothered by it at all. She seems to be ashamed of her hobby, but he assure her that he thinks it makes her more interesting. This surprises Haruka, but it also makes her very happy. As the lone person who is "in" on her secret, it's up to him to help her out. And it's not long before she calls on him (seriously it's later that same day). It seems the book she checked out will be overdue the next day, and she doesn't want her name announced at school in the morning, so she asks Yuuto to help her sneak into the school to return it. I'm sure it's not hard to imagine where that leads.
Ah, get your minds out of the gutter! She just makes a lot of cute little "I'm scared of every little thing in the dark" faces as she clings to Yuuto's arm. And a budding friendship is formed that will probably lead to a budding romance.
While the show may be about a female otaku, it's definitely geared towards male otaku, as it's loaded with fan service from the very beginning of the show. The opener quickly flashes plenty of fan service shots as well, though the song is forgettable. The end theme has even more service as a bunch of the characters dance around in maid uniforms (or maybe they ARE maids, Haruka's maids, though I'm not sure).
The show is definitely cute. It feels like Clannad, AIR, and Tokimeki mixed together. It's probably just a generic high school romantic comedy kind of show, but it's well animated, and the characters are really adorable. That's Yuuto and Haruka in the above image.
7/24/2008
Good to Bad
Let's start with the good news. Gambit is finally going to appear in an X-Men movie. Specifically X-Men Origins: Wolverine. From the mouth of Hugh Jackman, the clawed mutant himself. It's this fellow right here, named Taylor Kitsch. I've never seen anything he's been in, so I can't tell if he'll be good in the role or not. He's pretty enough, though. Though I have to say that they get some really horrible actors for these X-Men movies.... They get some great ones too (Ian McKellin, Kelsey Grammer), but they're drowned in a sea of bad acting.
Now for some maybe news. As in maybe it's good, maybe it's horrid. Hollywood (the horrid part) is making a live action Cowboy Bebop (the possibly good part). I've always thought the show would translate well into a live action version, but I'm not so sure that I want Hollywood to touch something I hold so dear.
As terrified as I am, I do have some casting suggestions. Though to be honest, a lot of the people I think would be perfect in the roles (acting and image wise) are too old. :(
Spike - Jet Lee (stretching the age there), James McAvoy (The Last King of Scotland, Wanted)
Faye - Milla Jovovich (Fifth Element, Resident Evil), Anne Hathaway (Get Smart, Becoming Jane)
Ed - Dakota Fanning (Uptown Girls, Charlotte's Web), Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine)
Julia - Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation, The Other Boleyn Girl), Claire Danes (Stardust, Romeo + Juliet)
Can't think of anyone for Jet or Vicious right off the top of my head. Edward Norton would make a good Vicious, I think, but that's pushing the age again. And Hugh Jackman would make a good Spike, but for the same reason.
And now, get ready to die a little inside.
MTV is going to remake The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I've seen next to zero positive response to this, and I'll certainly add my own anger, frustration and disdain. It's impossible to recreate Rocky Horror. I honestly don't think it can be done. And I also think they should stay the hell away from it. I don't care if they're using the original script and songs; that just makes it worse, in my opinion. It's like saying "the original wasn't good enough, so let's redo it." Fuck. That. MTV and Fox, stay the hell away from my Rocky Horror! Maybe the fan outcry will be so bad that they'll change their mind. I can only hope.
Oh and by the way, Disney is making a sequel to Tron. I wish Hollywood could leave good things alone.
Now for some maybe news. As in maybe it's good, maybe it's horrid. Hollywood (the horrid part) is making a live action Cowboy Bebop (the possibly good part). I've always thought the show would translate well into a live action version, but I'm not so sure that I want Hollywood to touch something I hold so dear.
As terrified as I am, I do have some casting suggestions. Though to be honest, a lot of the people I think would be perfect in the roles (acting and image wise) are too old. :(
Spike - Jet Lee (stretching the age there), James McAvoy (The Last King of Scotland, Wanted)
Faye - Milla Jovovich (Fifth Element, Resident Evil), Anne Hathaway (Get Smart, Becoming Jane)
Ed - Dakota Fanning (Uptown Girls, Charlotte's Web), Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine)
Julia - Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation, The Other Boleyn Girl), Claire Danes (Stardust, Romeo + Juliet)
Can't think of anyone for Jet or Vicious right off the top of my head. Edward Norton would make a good Vicious, I think, but that's pushing the age again. And Hugh Jackman would make a good Spike, but for the same reason.
And now, get ready to die a little inside.
MTV is going to remake The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I've seen next to zero positive response to this, and I'll certainly add my own anger, frustration and disdain. It's impossible to recreate Rocky Horror. I honestly don't think it can be done. And I also think they should stay the hell away from it. I don't care if they're using the original script and songs; that just makes it worse, in my opinion. It's like saying "the original wasn't good enough, so let's redo it." Fuck. That. MTV and Fox, stay the hell away from my Rocky Horror! Maybe the fan outcry will be so bad that they'll change their mind. I can only hope.
Oh and by the way, Disney is making a sequel to Tron. I wish Hollywood could leave good things alone.
7/23/2008
E3 - Afterthoughts
Just wanted to point to Kotaku again really quickly. Their excellent E3 coverage helped me out a lot. If I fell behind while watching a conference, a quick live blog check got me back on track (or filled in what I missed). They also helped me put some names to some faces, since the only people I really recognized were Reggie, Peter Molyneux, and Will Wright. And of course a scan of their live blogs of the conferences not televised let me sum up the other announced titles.
Is E3 dead? I don't think so. I'm sure there will be one next year at least, even if it's as bad as this year's. But I don't think it will continue on after that if they don't change things next time.
E3 used to be held in May, not July, when most companies had not yet announced the games for the upcoming holiday season. By July, most of that news is out. This leads to almost no E3 surprises. The biggest and most talked about "reveal" of the week was the addition of FFXIII for the 360. This is a game everyone already knows about, has seen the trailer for, but is now going to be on 2 consoles instead of 1. It's a little sad that that's the biggest surprise of the week.
You could also say that Microsoft's reveal of the new 360 dashboard was a big event, unless you were actually watching the event, and noticed the pause of silence after the announcement before some awkward applause. Which I suppose could be credited to live bloggers, but I prefer the lackluster announcement approach.
Nearly every game there was a game that the public already knew about. It's great that there were so many demos, which is a plus for having the convention a little later in the year, but there's just not much that's new.
And then there were the casual games; mounds and mounds of casual games. Everyone from Microsoft to Ubisoft drowned us in them. Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto himself said that E3 will no longer be an event where they will announce "core" games. Maybe he misunderstands the people who actually pay attention to E3. We're the people who are more likely to pick up your next Zelda game than Wii Music. We want Prince of Persia, not Imagine Fashion Designer. The average "casual gamer" isn't going to pay attention to E3, so why is E3 catering to them instead of the rest of us? Unless CNN and Fox News are going to do big E3 news briefings, or local news channels do E3 specials, they probably won't even know there even was an E3. My mother has a DS, PSP and Wii, and I guarantee you the only reason she even knows E3 exists is because I had an opportunity to go a few years ago and she offered to fly me there. She'd never heard of it prior, and she probably doesn't remember about it now. And yet the whole conference (no offense mom) was aimed at people like her. Ubisoft, who brought us amazing games like Assassin's Creed, devoted at least half of their conference to games geared toward 13 year old girls. Even Microsoft, with their new dashboard complete with Mii60s, hit the casual gamer. G4's Morgan Webb and I can agree on at least one thing - the avatars bite.
So where can E3 go from here? It can go away, and I don't think many people would miss it. Especially since we still have TGS, E for All and PAX. It could be replaced with individual, private company conferences. Or they could work together and find a happy medium between the E3 of the past and the E3 of today. They complain when there's too much of a spectacle ("It's too expensive!"), and they complain when there's hardly any ("No one came!"), so maybe they can find a mix that will please everyone. The future of the ESA intertwines with this of course. Some companies have bailed from the organization (and consequently E3...sort of). Many have complained that the current president is not properly representing the industry (like how it did absolutely nothing when Fox News attacked Mass Effect (a perfect opportunity), though the actual gamers seemed to take care of it themselves). There is more than enough speculation on sites like Kotaku and Game Politics, as well as from people like the CEO of EA.
So I'll leave you with some amusingly accurate portrayals of this year's E3:
Penny Arcade - It's Just Like Being There
VGCats - Waiting
Fanboys
Slackerz
Joystiq - E3, then and now (if you want to cry a little inside)
Oh and again, sorry for the lack of anime previews. I'm uh...a little busy (finally) playing Assassin's Creed. But I'll get right on them, I (kinda) promise.
Is E3 dead? I don't think so. I'm sure there will be one next year at least, even if it's as bad as this year's. But I don't think it will continue on after that if they don't change things next time.
E3 used to be held in May, not July, when most companies had not yet announced the games for the upcoming holiday season. By July, most of that news is out. This leads to almost no E3 surprises. The biggest and most talked about "reveal" of the week was the addition of FFXIII for the 360. This is a game everyone already knows about, has seen the trailer for, but is now going to be on 2 consoles instead of 1. It's a little sad that that's the biggest surprise of the week.
You could also say that Microsoft's reveal of the new 360 dashboard was a big event, unless you were actually watching the event, and noticed the pause of silence after the announcement before some awkward applause. Which I suppose could be credited to live bloggers, but I prefer the lackluster announcement approach.
Nearly every game there was a game that the public already knew about. It's great that there were so many demos, which is a plus for having the convention a little later in the year, but there's just not much that's new.
And then there were the casual games; mounds and mounds of casual games. Everyone from Microsoft to Ubisoft drowned us in them. Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto himself said that E3 will no longer be an event where they will announce "core" games. Maybe he misunderstands the people who actually pay attention to E3. We're the people who are more likely to pick up your next Zelda game than Wii Music. We want Prince of Persia, not Imagine Fashion Designer. The average "casual gamer" isn't going to pay attention to E3, so why is E3 catering to them instead of the rest of us? Unless CNN and Fox News are going to do big E3 news briefings, or local news channels do E3 specials, they probably won't even know there even was an E3. My mother has a DS, PSP and Wii, and I guarantee you the only reason she even knows E3 exists is because I had an opportunity to go a few years ago and she offered to fly me there. She'd never heard of it prior, and she probably doesn't remember about it now. And yet the whole conference (no offense mom) was aimed at people like her. Ubisoft, who brought us amazing games like Assassin's Creed, devoted at least half of their conference to games geared toward 13 year old girls. Even Microsoft, with their new dashboard complete with Mii60s, hit the casual gamer. G4's Morgan Webb and I can agree on at least one thing - the avatars bite.
So where can E3 go from here? It can go away, and I don't think many people would miss it. Especially since we still have TGS, E for All and PAX. It could be replaced with individual, private company conferences. Or they could work together and find a happy medium between the E3 of the past and the E3 of today. They complain when there's too much of a spectacle ("It's too expensive!"), and they complain when there's hardly any ("No one came!"), so maybe they can find a mix that will please everyone. The future of the ESA intertwines with this of course. Some companies have bailed from the organization (and consequently E3...sort of). Many have complained that the current president is not properly representing the industry (like how it did absolutely nothing when Fox News attacked Mass Effect (a perfect opportunity), though the actual gamers seemed to take care of it themselves). There is more than enough speculation on sites like Kotaku and Game Politics, as well as from people like the CEO of EA.
So I'll leave you with some amusingly accurate portrayals of this year's E3:
Penny Arcade - It's Just Like Being There
VGCats - Waiting
Fanboys
Slackerz
Joystiq - E3, then and now (if you want to cry a little inside)
Oh and again, sorry for the lack of anime previews. I'm uh...a little busy (finally) playing Assassin's Creed. But I'll get right on them, I (kinda) promise.
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