"Polar Express 3D"
Just gotta add a short blurb on Polar Express 3D showing at the IMAX. To put it simply, it was engrossing. My eyes were just glued to the screen. Going into the film, I was thinking that the 3D effects were just going to be tacked on since the majority of the screenings are in traditional 2D. But if they just tacked on the 3D to PE3D, I'd really like to see what a dedicated 3D computer generated movie would look like! This 3D was the most natural looking 3D I'd ever seen! Maybe that's because instead of looking like things were coming out of the screen, it looked more like I could see into the screen. It was more like the screen had depth. That's a lot more natural if you think about it. It was almost like watching a live play with very elaborate sets. The illusion of depth really makes it work because that's how we see things. Because seriously, how many times do you get shit thrown right into your face in real life? It reminded me a lot of those "Magic Eye" posters only like 100x better. The movie itself was not what I expected either. It was like 90% action. It also wasn't too sappy. Both good things. Man, and that 3D snow falling... wow. Anyway, it was worth every penny of the $12 admission. If you have one showing near you (they're showing it at the Bob Bullock Museum here in Austin), go see it ASAP!
Rob's Rating: Super kickass!
Friday, December 10, 2004
"Nintendo"
The fact that Nintendo is trying to hold off Sony with two screens and a stylus is laughable. The DS isn't as powerful, it's bulky, and so far the games are uninspired. The DS is just plain ugly, and it feels like a poorly made Hong Kong knockoff. The dual screen thing is an absolute joke. A handful of games will take advantage of the 2nd screen in a truly innovative way, and maybe a handful more will take advantage of the touch screen, but for the most part we're going to end up with a bunch of games with a built-in map. About all I can hope for is a decent Punch-Out!! conversion, which truthfully, never really needed 2 screens anyway.
Just to set things straight, I am not a Sony or MS fanboy. In fact, I'm wearing my black Nintendo logo shirt right now. :) Truthfully, I'm not a fanboy of any company and/or system. I just like games. In fact, I buy every single console released. I do tell it like I see it however. And if I were to tell Nintendo anything right now, it's that they fucked up royally with the DS. Sure, it's selling right now, but it's Xmas and everything fucking sells. They can only ride the success of their NES/GB for so long.
It's funny how the non-gaming giants Sony and Microsoft beat the shit out of the gaming mainstays Nintendo and Sega. Nintendo is hanging on, but that's only because of their portable market share, and Sony's taking care of that shit.
It'll be a sad day, but at this rate Nintendo will cease to make console gaming systems. They'll be the Next Atari... the next Sega. I suppose they're going to try to tough it out for one more generation, but honestly, if their nextgen system isn't fucking awesome (and given Nintendo's track record, it won't be) then that will be Nintendo's final console. Their portable hardware might survive a bit longer, but their showing signs of weakness there as well.
You know, if I had to name my favorite console of all time, I would say it was the SNES. Though sales numbers may disagree, anyone with a brain could see that it beat the living shit outta Sega's Genesis. It looked and sounded way better than the Genesis, and the games were just beautiful. It's also the home to my favorite controller of all time: the SNES pad. Then it happened... the Nintendo64 came out, and console-wise, it was all downhill from there. As far as portables, the GB was OK, the GBA was good, and the GBA SP is actually pretty damn awesome. You know why? Because it's a glorified, portable SNES with a lit screen. :)
The fact that Nintendo is trying to hold off Sony with two screens and a stylus is laughable. The DS isn't as powerful, it's bulky, and so far the games are uninspired. The DS is just plain ugly, and it feels like a poorly made Hong Kong knockoff. The dual screen thing is an absolute joke. A handful of games will take advantage of the 2nd screen in a truly innovative way, and maybe a handful more will take advantage of the touch screen, but for the most part we're going to end up with a bunch of games with a built-in map. About all I can hope for is a decent Punch-Out!! conversion, which truthfully, never really needed 2 screens anyway.
Just to set things straight, I am not a Sony or MS fanboy. In fact, I'm wearing my black Nintendo logo shirt right now. :) Truthfully, I'm not a fanboy of any company and/or system. I just like games. In fact, I buy every single console released. I do tell it like I see it however. And if I were to tell Nintendo anything right now, it's that they fucked up royally with the DS. Sure, it's selling right now, but it's Xmas and everything fucking sells. They can only ride the success of their NES/GB for so long.
It's funny how the non-gaming giants Sony and Microsoft beat the shit out of the gaming mainstays Nintendo and Sega. Nintendo is hanging on, but that's only because of their portable market share, and Sony's taking care of that shit.
It'll be a sad day, but at this rate Nintendo will cease to make console gaming systems. They'll be the Next Atari... the next Sega. I suppose they're going to try to tough it out for one more generation, but honestly, if their nextgen system isn't fucking awesome (and given Nintendo's track record, it won't be) then that will be Nintendo's final console. Their portable hardware might survive a bit longer, but their showing signs of weakness there as well.
You know, if I had to name my favorite console of all time, I would say it was the SNES. Though sales numbers may disagree, anyone with a brain could see that it beat the living shit outta Sega's Genesis. It looked and sounded way better than the Genesis, and the games were just beautiful. It's also the home to my favorite controller of all time: the SNES pad. Then it happened... the Nintendo64 came out, and console-wise, it was all downhill from there. As far as portables, the GB was OK, the GBA was good, and the GBA SP is actually pretty damn awesome. You know why? Because it's a glorified, portable SNES with a lit screen. :)
Thursday, December 02, 2004
"Why I hate your shit."
So I admit it. There is a lot of shit in this world that I dislike. A lot. I mean more than most. Or if not more than most, I'm more vocal about it. And it's not like I don't like it and let it be, it's like I don't like it and I have to tell you that it's shit.
Well, that's not really true. I've actually gotten a lot better about this. Now I only go off on people that insist on fucking with me about it. For the most part I don't evangelize about how they should stop liking whatever bullshit thing they're obsessed about at the moment. I just try to get the opposition (who's usually a raving lunatic about whatever it is I hate) to at least agree that I don't have to like their whatever-it-is.
One of the things that I'm constantly given shit about is my diet. This is because I fucking hate whole genres of food. Yeah, that's sounds like a pretty stupid thing to do... food prejudice. But nevertheless, I hate shit like seafood. Have I tried all seafood? Of course fucking not. What kind of stupid ass question is that? But what I have tried tasted and even felt fucking disgusting. So why the fuck would I want to try squid testicles? Because I might like them? Listen, there is enough food in this world that I do like that I don't think having to resort to eating squid testicles is necessary. If I should miss out... oh fucking well... more squid nuts for you and your pansy friends.
That shit goes for Chinese food, Indian Food, Polynesian Food, Mexican food (from Mexico... not Tex-Mex... that shit is good! Well, some of it is.), Thai Food, Vietnamese food, French Food.... let's just say damn near all food that isn't Tex-Mex, American, or Americanized Italian in nature. And even within those, I'm picky.
I like to think of it as God's way of keeping me from being 500 lbs. Ever see a picky fat kid? Yeah, didn't think so. I'm already 'not my ideal weight', and if I wasn't picky (and sometimes I do go without eating because I'm picky), I'd be waaay past my ideal weight.
And yes, this does go beyond food... like what broght this whole thing on: video games. I simply do not like certain games. The one that brought this on is Tekken 5. Now, I used to like Tekken, back when I didn't know any better, and we had a blast with Tekken 2. After that, I tuned out. I ended up tuning out of the whole 3D fighters thing in general. Virtua Fighter, Soul Calibur, Dead of Alive. Yeah, fuck those games. I mean, I guess they're OK. But I hate games where you can just mash buttons and 'special' moves come out. Sure, you can be good at these games, and mashing buttons isn't going to get you a win against a decent opponent, but in the fighting games I'm used to (that would be 2D fighting games for those of you keeping track at home) if you sucked at the game, you got fucking destroyed by a good player. If my wife can do even ONE special move, that game is suspect in my opinion.
This, of course, means that the games I like aren't the most popular games. Joe Schmoe doesn't wanna play a game where he gets destroyed everytime. He wants to know that he can hang with anyone. Even if it's just sometimes. This is the reason that the games that are the most popular are the "most suck" in my opinion. Counter-Strike is another fine example. From what I've heard, they have introduced more and more randomness to that game with every patch... thereby leveling the playing field. So, yay, more people can 'hang' now. Too bad the game is shit.
Other times I'll admit that a game is good, but for whatever reason I just didn't get into it. Take the Grand Theft Auto series. Please. (Ok, that was bad.) But yeah, take that series. I thought that GTA3 was, you know, pretty good. But it wasn't super fucking awesome in my book. So, I didn't buy Vice City. Other people loved the shit outta that game. I just happen to not. Now, with San Andreas, people were going nuts. People touting it as the BEST GAME EVER! WTF? It's the fucking same thing with new missions, people. Sure, it's pretty good, but so fucking what? There are a lot of pretty good games out there. Seriuosly. This one dude was adamant that I should go and buy San Andreas because it was so damn awesome. And I'm like... dude, if I didn't really care for GTA3, nor Vice City, why the fuck am I gonna be in love with San Andreas? That just doesn't make sense. Now, get off my balls about it.
Some people...
So I admit it. There is a lot of shit in this world that I dislike. A lot. I mean more than most. Or if not more than most, I'm more vocal about it. And it's not like I don't like it and let it be, it's like I don't like it and I have to tell you that it's shit.
Well, that's not really true. I've actually gotten a lot better about this. Now I only go off on people that insist on fucking with me about it. For the most part I don't evangelize about how they should stop liking whatever bullshit thing they're obsessed about at the moment. I just try to get the opposition (who's usually a raving lunatic about whatever it is I hate) to at least agree that I don't have to like their whatever-it-is.
One of the things that I'm constantly given shit about is my diet. This is because I fucking hate whole genres of food. Yeah, that's sounds like a pretty stupid thing to do... food prejudice. But nevertheless, I hate shit like seafood. Have I tried all seafood? Of course fucking not. What kind of stupid ass question is that? But what I have tried tasted and even felt fucking disgusting. So why the fuck would I want to try squid testicles? Because I might like them? Listen, there is enough food in this world that I do like that I don't think having to resort to eating squid testicles is necessary. If I should miss out... oh fucking well... more squid nuts for you and your pansy friends.
That shit goes for Chinese food, Indian Food, Polynesian Food, Mexican food (from Mexico... not Tex-Mex... that shit is good! Well, some of it is.), Thai Food, Vietnamese food, French Food.... let's just say damn near all food that isn't Tex-Mex, American, or Americanized Italian in nature. And even within those, I'm picky.
I like to think of it as God's way of keeping me from being 500 lbs. Ever see a picky fat kid? Yeah, didn't think so. I'm already 'not my ideal weight', and if I wasn't picky (and sometimes I do go without eating because I'm picky), I'd be waaay past my ideal weight.
And yes, this does go beyond food... like what broght this whole thing on: video games. I simply do not like certain games. The one that brought this on is Tekken 5. Now, I used to like Tekken, back when I didn't know any better, and we had a blast with Tekken 2. After that, I tuned out. I ended up tuning out of the whole 3D fighters thing in general. Virtua Fighter, Soul Calibur, Dead of Alive. Yeah, fuck those games. I mean, I guess they're OK. But I hate games where you can just mash buttons and 'special' moves come out. Sure, you can be good at these games, and mashing buttons isn't going to get you a win against a decent opponent, but in the fighting games I'm used to (that would be 2D fighting games for those of you keeping track at home) if you sucked at the game, you got fucking destroyed by a good player. If my wife can do even ONE special move, that game is suspect in my opinion.
This, of course, means that the games I like aren't the most popular games. Joe Schmoe doesn't wanna play a game where he gets destroyed everytime. He wants to know that he can hang with anyone. Even if it's just sometimes. This is the reason that the games that are the most popular are the "most suck" in my opinion. Counter-Strike is another fine example. From what I've heard, they have introduced more and more randomness to that game with every patch... thereby leveling the playing field. So, yay, more people can 'hang' now. Too bad the game is shit.
Other times I'll admit that a game is good, but for whatever reason I just didn't get into it. Take the Grand Theft Auto series. Please. (Ok, that was bad.) But yeah, take that series. I thought that GTA3 was, you know, pretty good. But it wasn't super fucking awesome in my book. So, I didn't buy Vice City. Other people loved the shit outta that game. I just happen to not. Now, with San Andreas, people were going nuts. People touting it as the BEST GAME EVER! WTF? It's the fucking same thing with new missions, people. Sure, it's pretty good, but so fucking what? There are a lot of pretty good games out there. Seriuosly. This one dude was adamant that I should go and buy San Andreas because it was so damn awesome. And I'm like... dude, if I didn't really care for GTA3, nor Vice City, why the fuck am I gonna be in love with San Andreas? That just doesn't make sense. Now, get off my balls about it.
Some people...
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