Saturday, July 14, 2007

Reports are saying that iPhone owners are loving their new device!

Congrats, Apple, for once again making a smash hit among the technology communnity. It has been reported that early owners of the iPhone don't have any regrets as of yet, 90% of all people asked were either "extremely" or "very" happy with Apple's new wonder. If you somehow have enough money to buy this tight phone/music player/ect..., then go out and buy it - you surely won'y regret it, according to mostly everyone who did the right thing and purchased it!

Tank rampages through Sydney, Australia.


Is is it just me, or do we see a lot of whackos stealing tanks and going on rampage? Well, it's happened again, this time in Sydney, Australia. From the video I saw, it looks like this tank can go fast (BTW, the picture to the right is an image of the tank that went on rampage), and it appears that the man inside isn't happy - He's been running into buildings, including six mobile phone towers. He must have something against them, because ramming into six of them doesn't just happen by chance.

Ninety minutes later the cops were able to stop the moron, who is now being charged of drug, weapon, and driving assualts.

E3 2007: Check out Blocks



Blocks is the first of three upcoming Stephen Spielberg titles, this particular one being exclusive to the Wii. It looks quite interesting and fun, something I'd probably rent. Even though it does look fun, it seems it would fit being a WiiWare title rather than this...

Gametrailers.com updates


*Frontlines: Fuel of War
*Conan the Barbarian (must be 18 or older)
*F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate (Must be 18 or older)
*Legendary: The Box (Must be 18 or older)
*SOCOM Confrontation
*Burnout Paradise
*Jenga
*Crysis
*Jam Sessions
*Dark Sector (Must be 18 or older)
*Half-Life 2
*Starcraft II
*Ghost Squad
*S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky (Must be 18 or older)
*Mercenaries 2

New 10,000 B.C. trailer

I now (or, in reality, Yahoo! presents to you) present to you, a trailers for the upcoming movie 10,000 B.C., which is created by the director of Indepence Day, and the beyond crappy The Day After Tomorrow. I don't know what I think of the trailer personally, though the CGI effects look pretty good, nearly stunning (ya betta dodge meh Mammoths!). Anyway, check it out -

Link

Toshiba HD-DVD player for only $99?!?

The new rumor going around is that Toshiba will be selling, for one week and one week only, their Toshiba HD-DVD players for only $99. And guess what else - They're also, if the rumor's true, going to give you three FREE HD DVD's (whether they're your choice or not is yet to be known). Great deal people. If you're planning to buy an HD-DVD, then do this, of course, if it's true!

Uh, not cool. Indiana will allow BP to pollute Lake Michigan every day.

Yes, that's right. Indiana state is now going to allow major gas company BP to pollute Lake Michigan with 4,925 pounds of "sludge" and 1,584 pounds of ammonia in the lake---EVERY DAY! This isn't very good, as you could guess, not only because pollution isn't something our world needs right now, but the very fact that ammonia can also casue serious health problems doesn't make it very pleasing to know that BP is dumping 1,584 pounds of that crap in the lake every day.

I just went to calculator.org to see how much ammonia they would be dumping in the lake every year - That would be 578,160 pounds of it. How much "sludge" are they dumping in the lake? 1,797,625 pounds of it. Yes, seven digits, over one million pounds....

After doing some research, I found out that Lake Michigan is the largest freshwater lake in America. Not only that, but some 12 million plus people live around the lake, and major cities such as Chicago are situated right next to it...

Oh yeh, and a lot of drinking water comes from the lake. >_<

E3 2007 - Great new God of War PSP videos

WARNING: Not for the faint of heart!


Video 2

Sweet new Dragon Quest Swords video



Check out this awesome new video of Dragon Quest Heroes for the Wii.

Coca-Cola to replace Pepsi in an exclusive deal



Coca-Cola will aparently take over exclusive rights to sell pop and water at 10 racetracks. The deal was previously with Pepsi, and will be so until 2012, when Coke will take over the deal with International Speedway.

It should also be noted that this is a 10 year deal.

Snail venom


"In 2004, the FDA approved the cone snail venom ziconotide (Prialt) for the treatment of chronic pain. It is only used for severe cases because it must be injected directly into the spinal column. This month, researchers from the University of Utah have reported the discovery of a new snail venom with a completely different amino acid sequence. Because it very selectively attaches to and blocks nerve signals by binding to a particular type of acetylcholine receptor without causing any collateral damage, the newly discovered venom could also become a fantastic medical tool." - Article on Slashdot

Anticipated game of the day: Super Mario Galaxy


Whenever I feel like making a preview on an upcoming video game, I'll call the post: Anticipated game of the day: BLA BLA BLA. I'll start off this new feature with Super Mario Galaxy!

Why?
Good question, me, I'll answer it for me. Galaxy is doing what Sunshine failed to do - Innovate the Mario series. You can give me all that "FLUDD was innovative" crap, though in all reality - there were other platformers at the time that were not only as good as Sunshine, though were also surpassing it in terms of gameplay and innovation. Nintendo obviously had to do something to bring the Mario series back - and Galaxy was it.

By just looking at Galaxy you can obviously see the innovation that is included. Mario is able to traverse every side of almost every planet - meaning you can walk on both the top of the planet and the bottom. You'll find many secrets on each side, and it's required to do so on many occasions. The planets thay you'll land on greatly vary in size - sometimes you'll land on generally small astroids, though at times you'll land on large planets such as the Bee planet shown at this year's E3.

And while on the subject of bees, that reminds me of something else that got people talking - costumes. The first costume announced for Galaxy was the Bee costume, which like the raccoon costume from Super Mario Bros. 3 will allow you to fly. Though that's not all! This costume will also make our plucky plumber a little lighter and will also allow him to climb on honey combs.

The next costume announced was the Boo suit. For those who don't know, Boos are the ghost enemies in the Mario series. It's great to finally be a Boo in a Mario game, and I'm not including those subpar Mario Party games. Since the Boo costume was only shown for a few seconds, not much is known about it, such as what it allows Mario to do. It should also be noted that there will be more costumes, though those are the only two Nintendo announced as of yet.

Now back on the subject of planets - To travel from planet to planet, Mario will be have to spin around (via flicking the Wii remote) a star shooter, which in turn will shoot him to another planet. Once to the other planet, you'll have to find another star shooter, often times only accessible once you've solved a puzzle.

NoE has to recall Mario Party 8 for including the word "Spastic".


It appears that multiple copies of the recently released European version of the game includes a word that was later taken out of the game - "Spastic". The Magikoopa shown in the picture above apparently says the word, and an error in some disks caused it to return despite the fact that it was deleted.

In my opinion - anyone who really cares about a simple word should grow up, ecpessially one so mild. Though if you remember about a month ago Ubisoft had the same problem when they released Mind Quiz, where if you got a bad grade it'd call you a spaz, and they got multiple complaints.

Who knows, maybe the few who got the game will be able to sell it for big bucks on Ebay... or then again, maybe not!

Minor Nintendo news.

The following is Nintendo news that just isn't very important enough to have a separate, and thus I'll put it all here.
*According to Nintendo employee Beth Llewlyn, their company doesn't plan to release very many more Virtual Console games a week, seeing that they already have 100.
*Nintendo president Satoru Iwata plans to sell more Wii's than Sony was able to sell PS2's.
*Activision will apparently be shifting much of their development towards the Wii.
*Dragon Quest Swords for Wii has been doing very well in Japan - selling 200,000 copies in just one day!

The world's smallest DVR... oh boy (*complete sarcasm*)


So, we *Finally* get to record our tv shows on the world's smallest DVR ever released. For only $499.95 (it may seem cheap at first, but just know that I got my TiVo for only $99), you get to buy this 2.28 inch "wonder" with a long lasting battery. And that's not all! It also comes with a hidden camera so you can, errr, take pictures.... THOUGH IT'S HIDDEN, SO IT'S LIKE 100 TIMES BETTER!

Something else I don't like (well, I do, but I also don't), is that they're trying to sell this product by giving us eye candy.

Portable Media Player?


Here's a new handheld "console" that can emulate NES, SNES, Sega MD, and SMC video games. Oddly though, correct me if I'm wrong (which, you know, I'm not), but didn't the SNES hav four face buttons, rather than three? Other than that it also supports AVI, MPEG-4, DivX, XviD, MP3, WMA, and FLAC playback, among other features. However, in this man's humble opinion, this console is not worth it.

The Asylum - Quite possibly the worst movie studio of all time...

The Asylum, you may have never heard of them, but if you've ever ventured through a video rental place (all of their movies were never in theaters, but only on DVD's), I'm sure you may've seen some of their videos, and thought to yourself "WTF?" Well, The Asylum is a devilish little movie studio who makes blatent copies of smash movies. I'll go through a list through each one.

*King of the Lost World - This is the first of the movies that I've seen of theirs. It looks very similar to King Kong, and guess what - It was released on DVD one day before Peter Jackson's King Kong was released in theaters!
*When a Killer Calls - I don't know why they felt like coping off When a Stranger Calls (which in turn was also a not so good movie), though they did. Just like the REAL movie, a babysitter is being terrorized by a killa.
*666: The Cild - A movie about two peeps adobpting a child who ends up being a DEVIL! Released the same day as the extremely similar movie The Omen.
*Hillside Cannibals - Released 18 days after the similar The Hills Have Eyes.
*Pirates of Treasure Island - Released a few days before Pirates of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. Not only does it feature a similar plot and an actor who is obviously based of Jack Sparrow, though it's boxart is also very similar to the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie.
*Snakes on a Train - Need I say anything?
*Dragon - Probably based off of Eragon, though the story is pretty different.
*30,000 Leagues Under the Sea - God I hate the Asylum, you just can't get much lower...
*Transmmorphers - ...Or can you?

Theme park news.

Now that E3 is finished, I can get back to covering non-video game related news. Now instead of covering all of the theme park news in seperate posts, I'll post them all in one.
*Starliner, a ride at Cypress Gardens, is officialy open now!
*After only two or three months, Wild West World in Witchita, Kansas has been closed. To read the full report, read this.
*Hankatten, a rollercoaster, is now open at Bon Bon Land.
*Apparently, Steel Venom, a rumored new roller coaster set to be released in Dorney Park, has been semi confirmed, as new markings and survey flags have been set.

Friday, July 13, 2007

E3 2007: Traveller's tales has completed a new build of LSWDS

According to IGN, while the the Nintendo DS version of Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga wasn't shown at E3, it has been reported that Traveller's Tales has completed a new build on the DS Game.

Some funny photos I found...

Here are four funny pictures I found on the internet. I just felt like posting them. Enjoy -


Great Ultimate Spider-Man interview.


IGN's Richard just posted up a great five page interview with Ultimate Spider-Man's creators Mark Bagley and Brain Bendis. Go check it out-
Link!

E3 2007: What Nintendo did wrong.


I've already been deemed as the biggest whiner of the month for saying Nintendo's conference was dissapointing, though I didn't really give an in-depth look at why I was. And now that E3 is definately finished, I can surely say that this was the most dissapointing year when it comes to Nintendo... and I'll say why.

First off was the press conference. For the most part, Nintendo was quite arrogant (and this is coming from a huge Nintendo fan BTW) during their large speach of how they totally dominated the competition. Why it may ultimately be true, it gets quite tedious to hear them say it over and over again.

Then they revealed the Wii Zapper. When they announced it, I was quite confused. It looked uncomfortable to handle, and I also felt like you could control games easier with just holding the Wii remote in one hand and the nunchuck in the other like you do with most games. Though with the Wii Zapper, this was a perfect time to announce the game they were developing, though they didn't, they just showed off third party titles.

Next thing I'm dissapointed in was the amount of games (both casual and hardcore) that Nintendo announced. I'm sure everyone here remembers just how big last years' E3 was - It almost seemed like every hour Nintendo announced more and more quality looking games. And then when all hope for a new Smash Bros. was lost - they revealed it a couple days after the press conference. Not only did they only reveal five (I'm pretty sure only five) games, though only two of them were actual hardcore games, one of which (Advance Wars DS 2) wasn't even shown. Mario Kart Wii was great to see, though it just wasn't enough.

Now onto the casual games - I personally think Wii Fit looks great, though it's really odd to see this Eye game they're making. It looks really unprofessional and really un fun. Mario Party DS just made me sigh.

Now I hope you atleast see why I'm reletavely dissapointed with this year's E3. If you have any questions, send them over to the comments page.

Japanese Hardware sales


The Japanese hardware sales chart has come in, with no surprises what so ever. Let's give it a look -
1.DS Lite - 139,271
2.Wii - 75,279
3.PSP - 32,946
4.Playstation 2 - 14,120
5.Playstation 3 - 12,691
6.Xbox 360 - 2,370
7.Game Boy Micro - 340
8.Game Boy Advance SP - 261
9.GameCube - 174
10.Nintendo DS - 15
11.Game Boy Advance - 0

E3 2007: Come September, you'll no longer be able to buy the old PSP

Once the new PSP is released, the old version will no longer be in stores (similar to Nintendo's strategy with their DS Lite). Not that big of news, though notable none-the-less.

E3 2007: Bomberman Live and Yie Ar Kung Fu coming out on Live the 18th

In just a few days, Bomberman Live and Yie Ar Kung Fu will be released on Xbox Live. The latter will cost $5 while Bomberman will cost $10.

E3 2007: First in game images of Halo Wars released

Great new images of anticipated title Halo Wars has been released. There the first in game footage, so check them out.



E3 2007: New Turok images

Touchstone has released 11 new images of PS3 and 360 title Turok. Check three images of the game below, then check out the link for more.



E3 2007: PS3 price drop only temporary.

Yes, sadly, the PS3 price drop will only be temporary. How temporary - Until supplies lasts. So really, all Sony is doing here is generating hype for the console, probably hoping that it will quickly sell out, causing greater demand. Once there is higher demand, companies such as Gamestop and so on will start to buy more systems!

E3 2007: Fishing Master images

New images of the Wii video game Fishing Master have been released. For more check out the link.


Link

E3 2007: "Dinosaurs play an important role in [Turok]", so says Captain Obvious

I just read this article over at Joystiq and just had to post it. Apparently at Disney's press conference, they stated that in Turok, "Dinosaurs play an important part"... No, really?

New banner

Well, it's simple, and has great characters on it - Mario, Captain America (why'd ya kill him), and Optimus Prime. Call me a geek, though these guys are my heroes...

Anyway, there are some obvious mistakes in the image, so during the week I'll try to fix it up a little.

Luxor (Vegas version) not going to be Egyptian themed anymore.

Luxor (the Vegas hotel) has some of the neatest designs in any hotel... atleast on the outside. Inside it's a cheezy and crappy "egyptian" themed area that looks really pathetic. However, I love how the hotel is in the shape of a pyramid - And if you take the elevator to the top, it looks really cool looking down.

So I guess it's a good thing to hear that MGM is removing the theme, and spendning $300 to totally change it. Now all they need to do is change Circus Circus....

Lots of new DVD boxart.

Penty of new shots of boxart has come in. Three are listed below, tons more are listed at the link.




More!

Smash Bros. Brawl update - Smashville

Smashville has just been announced as a new stage for Super Smash Bros. Brawl. It is based off of the Animal Crossing series, and takes certain aspects of both the original and Wild World and adds them in the stage.

It should also be noted that, as in the two games, if your Wii's internal clock is at 12 at night, then the time of day will be night time in the game. Also, at 8:00 PM on Saturday, K.K. Slider will come and play music for the smashers.




Thursday, July 12, 2007

E3 2007: It's almost over...

After hours of blogging and banner making, the great beast that is E3 is about to come to an end. Though that doesn't mean you'll have to wait a whole nother year for more news, as in just a few months the huge E for All #1 will start up, which I'm having HIGH hopes for.

Though in turn that obviously means more and more tiresome blogging for hours... though in all truth it was actually pretty fun. And also, if I'm able to stay up, I'll try to cover some of the news stories that I missed. And if not today, then tomorrow.

So, with that, I bid adieu. Right now I'm going to watch V for Vendetta with my bro, and if I'm still awake at the end I'll try my best to do some more updates.

E3 2007: New IGN previews!

Here are some new and interesting previews that should take a few hours to read. Enjoy!-

Wii
*Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3
*Geometry Wars: Galaxies
*Iron Man
*Jenga
*Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games
*Pinball Hall of Fame: THe Williams Collection
*SoulCalibur Legends
*Wii Fit
*Zack & Wiki

Paper Mario released on Aussie Virtual Console

Rejoice Australians (whom also happen to include our good friends over at Nintencoverage)! One of the greatest RPG's ever has been released on your Virtual Console! Along with that gem, three others have also been released - New Adventure, Chew-Man-Fu, and Double Dragons. Too bad that none of the latter ones are, you know, very good...

Now, just why don't us Americans have the game yet? Aussies, Europeans, and Japanese all have it... Well, don't worry - I'm a good guesser, and I'd say that the game will be released this upcoming Monday!!!

E3 2007: Spectrobes 2 announced!

Spectrobes is a popular title that was released on the Nintendo DS just a couple months ago. Well, luck (and Disney's advertising team) happened and the game was a huge success. At Disney's keynote speach, they just announced that they are indeed making a sequel for the Nintendo DS as everyone expected!

E3 2007: Nitrobike video!


When I first heard of Nitrobike (and reported it earlier on today), I didn't expect anything great of it. Though Ubisoft has released a new video of the game, and good greif it looks fun. Check out the video, though while the first half of the video's music is nice, you'll be scared out of your britches if you have your sound up after the "definition" of NitroBike is shown! My my my my my!

Link!

E3 2007? - Geometry Wars: Galaxies boxart


NOTE: I added ? next to E3 2007 becasue I don't really know if it was revealed there or not.

Man, this boxart is purely awesome. I just can't wait for this game. The 360 version is a classic, very addictive, and probably without a doubt the best downloadable game on any console!

E3 2007: Brand new information regarding Project Hammer, Kirby, Brawl, and Disaster

Gonintendo's Lube had a chance to sit down with some bigwigs at Nintendo, and he amazingly got information that I wouldn't even expect IGN to obtain. He also asked a question that everyone has been wanting to know - What of Project Hammer, and also, will Super Smash Bros. Brawl be online?

1. Project Hammer HAS been currently put on hold, though not canceled. No one is currently working on the game.
2. Super Smash Bros. Brawl online can neither be confirmed or denied.
3. Disaster: Day of Crisis is coming along very well and looking great.
4. Kirby Wii has not been abandoned.

Well, congrats to Lube over at Gonintendo for obtaining these questions. While it's good to hear that Hammer hasn't been cancelled, it's sad to hear that no one is working on it.

E3 2007: Beautiful MGS4 imags!

Amazing new image stills of the movie that was released yesterday! I've listed my three favorite, to check out the rest, click the link!



Link

New Simpsons movie pictures/artwork

Nineteen new images of The Simpsons Movie have been released, including movie stills, artwork, and photos of some of the creators. I've listed three below, though to check out the other sixteen you'll have to click the link.



More!

E3 2007: Battalion Wars II artwork

Eight new Battalion Wars II artwork have been released. I'll show a few of them, but to check the rest out, click the link.



More here!

E3 2007: One new piece of Metroid Prime artwork!

One new piece of artwork displaying Samus in a sweat new suit has been released! Check it out below.

E3 2007: New DK Jungle King artwork!

One new piece of artwork for DK Jungle King has been released!

E3 2007: New Mario series artwork!

Mario Kart Wii

Mario Party DS

Mario Kart Arcade GP 2
TONS of new artwork here!

E3 2007: Videos galore! 3

More as they come in!

Wii
Boogie
Crash of the Titans
DK Bongo Blast
Endless Ocean
Fire Emblem: Goddess of Dawn
Guitar Hero III
NiGHTS
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games
Mario Kart Wii
Mario Strikers Charged
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
Simpsons Game
Super Mario Galaxy
Super Mario Galaxy
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Wii Fit

Nintendo DS
Chibi-Robo: Park Patrol
Contra 4
Crosswords DS
DK Jungle Climber
Flash Focus
Mario Party DS

Xbox 360
Army of Two
Assassin's Creed
BioShock
Bomberman Live
Bourne Conspiracy
Burnout Paradise
Burnout Paradise
Call of Duty 4
Crash of the Titans
Darksiders
Fatal Inertia
Guitar Hero III
Madden NFL 08
Mercenaries 2
NBA Live 08
Rock Band
Simpsons Game
Skate
Too Human
Universe at War: Earth Assault

PS3
Army of Two
Assassin's Creed
Bourne Conspiracy
Burnout Paradise
Burnout Paradise
Call of Duty 4
Crash of the Titans
Darksiders
Fatal Inertia
Guitar Hero III
Infamous
Mercenaries 2
Metal Gear Solid 4
NBA Live 08
Rock Band
Simpsons Game

Comics to get, or atleast read this week.

There are tons of comics being released every week, though I obviously don't have the time nor the patience to 1.Talk about every single one and 2. read every single one. Rather, I, and hopefully you, would only want to get the ones that are must reads, and occasionally at times must haves. In all, I've listed five comics that you should definately check out this week, each one listed below with a description and the cover! Alright, let's get started.


GREEN ARROW #1:
So the new Green Arrow comics are coming out, and this is one you should definately get. I'm sure anyone who's even read his comics or atleast watched Justice league would know that the Green Arrow simply rocks. Be sure to check this one out, okay!

(NOT YET DONE)

World War Hulk tie-ins this week.


As last week, there is only one World War Hulk tie-in comic this week, this one titled World War Hulk: Gamma Corps #1. I don't have much knowlage of this book, so in turn I I'd have to check it out to write a description on it. I do have the cover uploaded though, so happy days!

If I end up getting the book, then expect a review soon.

E3 2007: Devil May Cry 4 images

Perrty images of the upcoming Playstation 3 video game Devil May Cry 4 have been released. Also, a demo (that was also shown during two other trade shows) was also present at Capcom's booth.


More!

E3 2007: Miyamoto reveals plenty of good (and bad) stuff

As you probably already know, Miyamoto revealed that there would be a fencing mini-game in Mario & Sonic at the Oylmpic games, well, now he's at it again with more stuff.

First of all, it looks like the Wii will be getting a Pikmin 3 sometime, as Miyamoto not only said that the console is perfect for the series, though he also stated that we haven't seen the last of the Pikmin.

Next he and Mr. Aonuma (current Zelda director) stated that regarding Zelda - Nothing is set in stone yet, and it'll be a good couple years before we see the next installment, whether it be on DS or Wii.

Finally he revealed that Wild World director and Mii creator Mr. Nogami is currently making Animal Crossing for Wii, and that we should expect new information on the title soon.

E3 2007: Miyamoto talks sword fighting game and Mario & Sonic at the Oylmpic Games

While talking with IGN, Shigeru Miyamoto, the website asked the man behind Mario whether or not Nintendo is thinking about making a sword fighting game with one-to-one controls. Miyamoto had this to say -

"We haven't announced anything, so I can't speak about any particulars, but we do have a lot of ideas about how we could potentially use the Wii remote for something like that."

He then went on to say that Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games will include such a feature though with a fencing game. After that, he said "I don't know if I'm supposed to say that, so if I'm not, I'm very sorry, SEGA!", while laughing.

E3 2007: Ubisoft conference


Ubisoft is one of the best known third party companies around, and currently their press conference is going on. I'll give you the latest scoop as it happens!
*At the beginning of the conference, Yves Guillmot of Ubisoft states that he thinks the video game market could very well grow 50%!
*The company then starts to take Nintendo's route and talks about games for everyone, mentioning Nintendogs clone Petz, and then announced... oh boy.... Dolphinz.
*Starts to show off DS title Jam Sessions.
*Starts to show off videos of titles, including Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway.
*Ubisoft shows off another Wii exclusive - Nitrobike. Apparently looks like Excitetruck, but with bikes (so it's essentially just a 3-D Excitebike (despite the fact they already had one on Nintendo 64) ).
*Start talking about the PS3 exclusive title Haze, which was also shown during Sony's press conference if I'm right.
*Ubisoft is now talking about their main game - Assassin's Creed!
*That's it!

Banner?

How's this one?