Demons, Dinos, and Dharma

Three things:

Turok demo: It was alright... Kinda didn't feel like Turok, though. Which I guess should be expected, since they're trying to re-invent the series and all, but... Part of me still wants awesome Native American chosen "Turok" in another world fighting dinosaurs, and not some John Turok dude in the future fighting space dinosaurs on another planet.

But maybe the full game is awesome.

Devil May Cry 4 demo: It was exactly what you'd expect from a Devil May Cry game... Only easier. I hope (and expect) that that's just a demo thing. It was fun, regardless.

Lost Season 4 Premier: Totally awesome. In just about every way. This is the first time I'm actually upset about the writer's strike (go writers. I still support our cause. Whooo!), as I hate that we've only got 7 more episodes of Lost until another forced break. It's gonna suck.

Early Flood Warning: Gaming '08

So 2008 kinda sucks for gaming so far... But for the COMPLETELY wrong reason.

See, usually the case is that all the good games are released in November/December of the year for the Holiday season, and the first several months (plus the summer) of the next year kinda suck. There have been exceptions, such as when Resident Evil 4 came out early in its year of release and went on to win Game of the Year, but usually things are slow.

Now? Well, I've already bought Advance Wars: Days of Ruin, which is fantastic. But I've also had to (temporarily) skip out on Burnout Paradise on the PS3/360 (which I hear is fantastic) on No More Heroes on the Wii, which I'm really anxious to get my hands on sometime.

Coming in the very near future? Assassin's Creed: Altair's Chronicles on the DS (an iffy one, as no one's actually played it yet, to my knowledge, though it comes out like... next week), Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword on the DS, Devil May Cry 4 on the PS3/360, Turok on the PS3/360 (hopefully it won't suck. Haven't tried the demo yet), and others I think I left out.

Plus what's possibly the biggest one (in my opinion at least), Super Smash Bros. Brawl. That one is REALLY tempting me to bring my Wii up to Lubbock.

Rez HD was released on the Xbox Live Arcade today as well, and I haven't yet tried Omega Five either. Plus, once I do get back to my Wii in some form or another, I have titles from 2007 that I missed. Namely Fire Emblem, Zack & Wiki, Batallion Wars II, and Metroid Prime 3.

Dang, I need to get a publishing deal and start making money to buy all this stuff.

Oh well. Truth be told I still need to finish Mass Effect anyway. Plus the afformentioned Advance Wars. Oh, and write... I guess that's important too.

Alice

While I knew that Sarah Michelle Gellar was supposed to play Alice in the adaptation of American McGee's "Alice" video game. What I somehow wasn't aware of was that she didn't just sign on to do a role, she and her husband Freddie Prinze Jr. are actually the ones who bought the movie rights.

"I just thought [it] was the most weirdly beautiful game," Gellar said. "I finished it, which was a miracle. I had a lot of help. We got the rights to it, and Universal wound up getting really excited and put a lot of money into it, and then it's the usual story. There was a regime change."

Shame. I haven't played Alice myself, but I understand it's great (or at least was for the time). I guess it's a super mature kind of retelling of Alice in Wonderland, with a crazy girl? Sounds like a golden movie opportunity to me!

But the girl who was Buffy 'aint stopping there. "It's still my project, and I'm still working diligently. So to all those Alice fans, I'm not giving up. Because I believe there is such a beautiful, crazy, cool, twisted story to be told there."

Beautiful AND diligent. You go girl. And if Freddie ever leaves you, my place is always open.

Original Source: SCI FI Wire via Kotaku

Victory!

Well, maybe people who are completely idiotic and dumb can actually be enlightened... I've seen it happen.

The crazy self-proclaimed psychologist Cooper Lawrence that went up against Jeff Keighley on Fox News about Mass Effect (calling it pornography and saying how horribly horrible it is) has actually LOOKED at the game since condemning it, and SUPRISE! She realized that she was being ignorant and stupid.

To quote an interview with the New York Times:
...Ms. Lawrence said that since the controversy over her remarks erupted she had watched someone play the game for about two and a half hours. "I recognize that I misspoke," she said. "I really regret saying that, and now that I've seen the game and seen the sex scenes it's kind of a joke.
"Before the show I had asked somebody about what they had heard, and they had said it's like pornography," she added. "But it's not like pornography. I've seen episodes of 'Lost' that are more sexually explicit."

The first step is admiting you have a problem. Thank you, Ms. Lawrence.

Fox News has not yet recanted what they themselves said on the show, and are basically ignoring requests from EA (who owns Bioware, developer of Mass Effect) to do so.

- From the New York Times via Kotaku

Advance Wars: Days of Ruin - First Impressions

I'll probably end up writing a review/hands-on for Advance Wars: Days of Ruin on the DS for the Daily Toreador next friday, but that's a ways off. To borrow from Jeff Gerstmann's early reviews, here's a short review of the game:

Industry not at fault - Opinions

Industry not at fault - Opinions

Or, my personal title for the column, "Sex, Kids, and Videogames."

It's about Mass Effect, mostly.

Reminder: Download Undertow

This is a remainder to all Xbox 360 owners: Chair Entertainment's underwater Xbox Live Arcade game Undertow is downloadable for free from now until Sunday, Microsoft's somewhat lame attempt at an apology for all the downtime Xbox Live has experienced for the past month or two (lose two months of gaming, get a $10 game?).

It's multiplayer focused (though it has a single player campaign that will last about an hour), and it's actually a lot of fun. Kind of a weird mix between Robotron and Battlefield... And hey, you can't beat free, right? So check it out. And don't miss my previous blog below.

Another blog may follow shortly, as my Daily Toreador column got pushed up to today.

Barkley Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden

It's really too bad that I already finished by "Best of '07" awards, because THIS (introduced to me by my buddy the Duck) would probably have won Game of the Year, even though I haven't played it... and it came out here in '08.



The video trailer, if you can't see it above.

NOTE: Video has some strong language in the form of text dialogue.

Few people probably remember Barkley Shut Up and Jam!, and frankly, all I remember about it is that it existed. And has an awesome name/cover. But needless to say, it starred Charles Barkley, and was about basketball.

If the trailer for this... fan made sequel(?!?) didn't start with, "My Name is Charles Barkley", I actually might have taken it seriously until the first game footage showed up.

Anyways... You should definitely check it out if you're into post-apocolyptic RPGs in which basketball has been outlawed and you play as/meet up with former NBA stars. This is probably one of the best of those to come along in a long while.

If you can't slam with the best, then jam with the rest!

Heath Ledger Found Dead at 28

Here's one for the "holy crap" files. Heath Ledger, most recently starring in the upcoming (and eagerly anticipated) "Dark Knight" Batman flick, was found dead today in NYC at age 28.

They're saying drugs may have been a factor, which is of course uncool. Kids, don't do drugs. They'll kill anybody, even if you're a knight, cowboy, or even the Joker.

...unless he committed suicide or something, which is even more uncool. And extremely sad. I mean, it's sad anyway, but more sad if he just got fed up with the life he had. They haven't announced anything either way.

Anyway, it's a shame. Dude had some talent. Heck, looking at pictures of him now, he may have been someone I tapped to cast as a Talebearer character. He might have made a good Simon. Real good.

Dang.

My prayers go out to him and his family. May he rest in peace.

Welcome to BrittonPeele.com

Well, it's finally official... Or at least feels like it. I now own http://www.brittonpeele.com/

On it is... nothing, save this blog. But that's still cool. Idealy, it will later be the home for book news, stories, message boards, and all kinds of good stuff. But that may be a ways off, depending on when I can get a publishing deal/literary agent.

I've imported the final three blogs - my traditional "Best of the Year" awards - which appear below (I gave them their proper timestamps). If you're new here, you can check them out. My first column for the Daily Toreador is also hidden in a post down there, if you missed it and are interested.

So... Yeah, I'm kinda excited. I think there are really big things on the horizon, and I don't just mean as far as me blogging (come on, that's crazy talk!). Hopefully we'll be experiencing some exciting times together...

...hopefully that doesn't come off as creepy.

Talk to you guys soon.

- Britton

Best of '07: Part III - And the Winner Is...

The following is copied and pasted from my final post on former blogs...

Game of the Year 2007
Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)

I admit it (or, "believe it or not", if you happen to view me as a bit of a Nintendo fanboy), I actually didn't think Super Mario Galaxy would be up for this award, much less win it. Don't get me wrong, I expected the typical Nintendo quality and a fantastic 3D Mario game... But I figured that we had been there and done that. Mario 64 was extremely revolutionary and one of the greatest games of all time... Mario Sunshine, however, didn't quite live up... I wasn't sure ANYTHING could, really. How do you improve on something that set the standards for 3D platformers?

The answer, apparently, is to set those standards again. Super Mario Galaxy is sort of a weird title in that it feels just like your typical 3D Mario game, yet at the same time feels very different. Running around planets, messing with gravity, trying on different suits... It all somehow feels NEW. The controls are extremely tight - something absolutely needed in a game like this - the camera very, very rarely gets in your way, the platforming is fun, and the motion controls, when present, add something worthwhile to the experience and are fun to mess with. They even managed to make an oddly compelling multiplayer option designed specifically for parents and non-gamers.

So with a very complete package, extremely tight gameplay, and adventure that's fun through and through, I had no choice but to give the Game of the Year award to Super Mario Galaxy.

...however, it was still an EXTREMELY tough call. There were times when I really, really wanted to give this award to Bioshock. There were other times when I was moments away from bestowing it on Call of Duty 4. But in the end, the Italian plummer won out.

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Also, I neglected to mention in Part II that I wanted to give the PSP Game of the Year "Runner Up" title to "Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles" for FINALLY letting me play Rondo of Blood, as well as giving me a portable version of Symphony of the Night. For a port, Final Fantasy Tactics was great as well, and I lament the fact that I haven't yet played Silent Hill Origins, which might be pretty great.

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This concludes my time with LiveJournal, Xanga, and MySpace Blogs, I suppose. It's been a blast.

As stated previouisly, I can be found at brittonpeele.blogspot.com, but I'm excited to say that I also bought the http://www.brittonpeele.com/ domain name. For now (and probably until I nail a publishing deal/get an agent), it merely redirects to the afformentioned blog, but that'll be updated at least weekly with links to my Daily Toreador columns. So if you're interested in keeping up with my, you can go there.

Also, if you're into the whole Facebook thing, you can check out my Page there: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Britton-Peele/18963145383?ref=nf

Thanks for reading, guys. See you on the other side.

Video games look promising in 2008 - Opinions

First column for the Daily Toreador is online:

Video games look promising in 2008 - Opinions

Coming Soon

The gates of Hell are opening...

Best of '07: Part II

The following is copied and pasted from the final posts of my former blogs...

A note before I continue:

Xanga is dead. It's been pretty much dead for the past 2 years or so, but I've continued to post there just for convienence. Certain friends still recieved e-mail updates from them, and more importantly, the blogs posted there were automatically imported to Facebook.

But I'm sick of copying and pasting to a million different sources. And Xanga is just one of them. LiveJournal, MySpace, GameSpot... Even GameTrailers on occasion. And the fact is that MySpace seems to be dying as well, at least to most of my friends. I very, very rarely touch it anymore, and blog comments there number 0. I get one or two comments on LJ occasionally (mostly from G2G buddies), but that's it. And Xanga, as mentioned, is nothing.

So here's the deal: After I announce my pick for Game of the Year in my next post, I will no longer be posting on LiveJournal, Xanga, or MySpace blogs.

From now on, I will most easily be found at brittonpeele.blogspot.com. This blog will contain everything I write, which - I THINK - includes my columns for the Daily Toreador. That means that the blog will at LEAST be updated weekly, which is way better than I've been doing the past year or two.

I will still be having said blogs imported to Facebook, so they'll be found there as well. Game related blogs may also still be going on GameSpot.com on a case-by-case basis. I'm not sure a ton of people read my stuff there, either, though views and comments are definitely higher than other places (see: Xanga).

So yeah... More on that next time, if I need to clarify anything. Onto the awards:

PLATFORM AWARDS
Best Nintendo DS Game: The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

Best PSP Game: Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords

Best Xbox 360 Game: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
RUNNER UP: Bioshock

Best PlayStation 3 Game: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
(NOTE: As I don't currently own a PS3, my experience with PS3-only games [Uncharted, Ratchet] is severely limited)

Best Wii Game: Super Mario Galaxy

Best PC Game: Crysis


GAME OF THE YEAR NOMINEES

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Bioshock
Halo 3
Mass Effect
Assassin's Creed
Super Mario Galaxy
Crysis

The winner will be announced... Sometime in the future. Shortly, I'm sure. See you then.

Best of '07: Part I

The following is copied and pasted from my the final posts of my former blogs...

A couple of notes before starting my traditional list of "things last year that were awesome":

1) Genre/platform specific and "Overall Game of the Year" awards will come later. This is partly because I want to give all games their due consideration (read: finish Mass Effect), partly because I'm busy, and partly to add a false sense of suspense.

2) Blogs may come slow(er) now, at least for awhile, as I'm fairly busier than I was last semester. The more writing intensive courses may or may not have much of an effect on my time, but I've made a personal vow to finish "Tobias' Tale" before the semester is over, and I can't do that if I'm not actually, you know... writing it.

I also took up a "job" writing an Opinions column for the Daily Toreador (Texas Tech's newspaper, for those not in the know), so that'll keep me a bit busy as well. Chances are, things I'd write in my blogs will be things that show up there, weekly. So feel free to check www.dailytoreador.com on Fridays (I think?) if you REALLY need to read stuff from me.

Ok, on to the awards! Both serious and... not serious. In absolutely no order, here's a general look back at the crazy ride that was Twenty Aught Seven.

Best Movie Featuring Giant Robots: Transformers

Celebrity With Most Appropriate Last Name: Megan Fox

Best Book: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Best Secret Assistant to the Regional Manager: Pam

Best Video Game Music: Halo 3

Best Original Song: "Still Alive" (AKA "The Portal Song")

Best Companion Cube: The Weighted Companion Cube

Most Disappointing Game: Lair

Worst Game: Sonic the Hedgehog

Most Addictive Game: TIE - Picross DS and Puzzle Quest

Best Game You Should've Played: TIE - Picross DS and Puzzle Quest and Zack & Wiki

Best Reason to FINALLY Leave World War II: Call of Duty 4

Best Underwater Adventure: Bioshock

Best Game Story: Bioshock

Best Conclusion to the Halo Trilogy: Halo 3

Best Multiplayer: Call of Duty 4

Best Use of Portal Technology: Portal

Best Game That Was Once a Student Project: Portal

Best Fraternity: Kappa Pizza Pi

Best Use of a Creative License: The Darkness

Best Game Sonic Team's Made in Like a Long Time: NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams

Best Group of Young Inklings: The Young Inklings

Best New Pipe Smokers: TIE: Matt and Noah

Worst Executive Decision of the Year: Firing Jeff Gerstmann

Best Game About Assassins and Templars: Assassin's Creed

Best Mario Game: Super Mario Galaxy

Best Vampire Slayer: Buffy

Best Hero: Hiro

Best Pop Star Leading a Double Life: Hannah Montana

Best Powerade Flavor: Mountain Blast

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...OK, now I'm just running out of ideas. If I think of anything else that's actually noteworthy, I'll include it in Part II.