Transformers Prime: Beast Hunters S3E54 Scattered recap

Last night Raf and Bee find Rachet, Jack and Arcee are met by Autobot Wrecker Commander Ultra Magnus, Wheel Jack escapes the Decepticon Citadel and meets up with Miko and Bulkhead, Smokescreen stays by FUBAR Prime...
On the Decepticon front Shockwave rejoins the Decepticon forces to the delight of Starscream,
Starscream "lets" Wheel Jack escape the citadel with plans to track him back to the remaining autobots, but WJ outwits Scream and escapes Starscreams armada....Megatron gets pissed. Shockwave activates Predaking to resolve the cons ineptitude in eliminating the remaining Autobots....
Next Week the gang reunites under Ultra Magnus's Command and Smokescreen sneaks into the Citadel and retrieves the Forge of Solis Prime....God I hope they find Optimus before he passes the matrix over to Smokescreen!
Shudders at the thought of Smokescreenus Prime!

GDC 2013: Primal Carnage Genesis on PS4 RRRRWWWAAARRRR!

Primal Carnage came out late last year for the PC, and when I first heard about it I was like, "Now THAT is what the FPS genre needs!"
Personally I got burnt out on the bi-annual CoD games after MW2. I was gonna return to the FPS scene with Aliens: Colonial Marines...thankfully the early reviews saved me from that acid bath! But this game looks like out of control fun that doesn't take itself too serious...a refreshing change for FPSers!

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain GDC2013 Trailer

 Well it seems Joakim is a man of his word and the veil of secrecy has been lifted from the Phantom Pain and as  suspected The Phantom Pain is in fact Metal Gear Solid V!
The trailer is actually quite lengthy, clocking in at almost 6 minutes! There is alot to take away from the trailer, most notably all the time and effort I put into MGS Peace Walker building Mother Base will be blown to smithereens....but we already knew it was gonna happen didn't we.
Big Boss and Mother Base get their asses handed to them Big Boss looses his left hand and recieves a prosthetic from Dr. Madnar (maybe). Interesting how the similar the prosthetic looks to Zadornov's!
It also appears Big Boss is gonna be in a coma for at least part of the game and some old friends will be paying his sub-conscience a visit....9 years in a coma one can have some funky dreams!
Now who are the Diamond Dogs?
I cannot wait for this game!!! Who thinks we will see the offspring of the Les Infants Terribles project?

Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD remaster trailer.

Most people including myself became fans of the Final Fantasy franchise with FFVII, but for me FFX was the one that solidified my fandome. In my opinion what FFVII did for the PS1, FFX did for the PS2, it was a dramatic change from the traditional FF RPG in many ways, visually, audibly, character design but the beauty of the game is undeniable and the characters were so well developed  that the bittersweet ending was one of the most emotional in my history of playing video games!
Final Fantasy X Review
Around a year ago with the drama of the announcement that FF versus XIII was most likely "cancelled" there were articles talking about FFX HD remake. Yesterday at PaxEast the trailer for FFX/X-2 HD remaster was shown! How am I suppose to play all these amazing PS3 games when Sony keeps pulling me back to the PS2 with all these fantastic HD remakes like Okami which I'm currently playing.
The game itself is a must own but this HD remaster will actually be the International version and will also come with FFX-2 which I never played and trophies!
So this is a nice treat from Square Enix but I still want my FF versusXIII!

 

Transformers Prime: Beast Hunters S3E53 Darkmount NV recap

Season 3 picks up right where season 2 ended, with team Prime scattered across the earth and Optimus FUBAR in the rubble of the Autobot base. The highlight of the episode was Shockwave walking thru the space bridge like a boss at the end of the episode! The part with Smokescreen snagging the phase shifter "during the chaos on Cybertron and jumping back thru the bridge after abandoning the base on earth seemed a tad shoe horned for my liking but they needed a way to move Prime before the cons found him.
So all Bumblebee needed to do was get a paint job and the cons can't spot him? Really? No tracking of energon emissions??
Miko and Bulk checking out the scenery in the Rockies....ok we get it don't use your cell phones to contact your friends or the cons might find us!
Then we have Arcee and Jack, Jack should know better but what does he do? He texts mom and BAM Soundwave finds him faster than AT&T LTE....what I gotta question is if they were able to pinpoint Jacks cell so precisely why couldn't lazerbeak hack the phone and get all his contacts and then pinpoint them via jacks cell? Just curious...
Oh and Megs conversation with agent Fowler was brilliant! Basically G1 Megs with a much more mature/sinister tone.
Good start to the season!
If you don't have the Hub available via your provider and really wanna see the episode now and not wait for Netflix.....the entire episode is on YT....for now.

Movie Review: Oz the Great and Powerful

First this movie is not for kids! There is enough nightmare fuel in this movie to burn down the emerald city!
This is in no way a bad thing though, and as a sort of prequel this movie excels in every aspect where the Star Wars prequels tripped up.
I really enjoyed this new trip to Oz, the original is a timeless classic and this new trip to Oz respects the original material and simply builds on The Wizard of Oz's foundation. as much as I think Johnny Depp would've made a fantastic Oz, James Franco did a phenominal job in the roll. Franco made Oswald "Oz" Diggs a flawed narcissistic charlatan who uses his charisma, good looks and illusions fool his audience as well as the ladies. But the act is simply a facade to hide his true self, a man with a good heart that dreams of living a life of meaning.
We get a glympse of the real Oswald when Annie (Michelle Williams) pays Oscar a visit after one of his shows, she tells him that she is engaged to John Gale...this scene is fascinating as it shows that Oz dreams of being a "great man" like Einstien (brains), He didn't have the courage to tell Annie how he felt about her, and thus has locked his heart away so he cannot be hurt....there's a tremendous amount of regret in Oz that this scene displays masterfully.
The moment comes crashing down around him when his reality catches up to him and he must bid Annie a final fair well and run away, or in this case fly away.
The scene when Oz arrives in....Oz is just as magnificent as when we first arrived in 1939 with a house!
It's here we meet Theodora (Mila Kunis) a witch who believes Oz to be the wizard prophesied to defeat the Wicked Witch and become King of Oz. Hearing this Oz reverts to his conniving ways and feeds into Theodora's naivety as they head to the emerald city. Along the way Oz uses his "powerful magic" to rescue Finley, a flying monkey, from a Lion.
There are a healthy amount of easter eggs throughout the movie to form a continuity with the 1939 film....the lion being scared off by a fire cracker is one such example.
Once back in Oz we meet Theodora's older sister, Evanora (Rachel Weisz) ...also a witch, who is acting guardian of the Emerald City since the Kings demise, not as naive as Theodora, Evanora see's thru Oz's lies and plays on his greed.
Soon after Oz sets off with Finley on his quest to claim the throne we are treated to a wonderful scene where Oz meets a little china girl...not Ni Ho Kai Lan China but the Porcelin type, this scene was fantastic because it hearkens back to an earlier scene in the movie that reiterates my belief that Oswalds regrets torment his conscience. Very good scene!
If there's one thing to be learned from The Wizard of Oz is that nothing is what it seems and we soon learn this when we meet Glinda (Michelle Williams), another witch, who happens to look incredibly similar to Annie.....coincidence?   I think not!
Now that all the players are revealed the events can unfold, Will Oswald become a great man? Who is the Wicked Witch?
Oz the Great and Powerful is a great movie with a powerful performances (yes I did that) from A list actors and actresses James Franco, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz and Michelle Williams. The special effects are gorgeous and compliment the story, I enjoyed Finley and I never found his comic relief cringe inducing or face palmable....LFL/ILM please take notes!
Disney/ Sam Raimi did a great job with this prequel to an American classic, it's definately worth the price of admission, take the kids at your own risk...

B+

The Walking Dead S3 E14 Prey recap

Like I said last week Season 3 has very successfully transitioned the fear of the undead to the fear of the living! And this episode epitomizes that, holy crap this episode might as well be renamed when relationships go bad or Stalking 101 or the bad governor!
So Milton shows Andrea the governor's welcome home party room EGAD! After seeing that Andrea goes AWOL ad warns Tyresse and Sasha the Governor ain't the stand up guy they think he is.
The episode was terrifying because shit like that happens, people escape from an unsafe environment only to be within yelling distance of safety and then get snatched back up and disapear.....holy F'n nightmare fuel!!!

Game Trailers Geoff Keighley interviews Joakim Mogren at SXSW

So Geoff Keighley got to sit down with Joakim Mogren during SXSW to discuss The Phantom Pain....
Is Metal Gear Solid V The Phantom Pain coming out for PS3 or PS4? What's the story about? Who's the main character?
Joakim said all our questions will be revealed at this years GDC March 25-29 in San Francisco.
Funny Joakim looks nothing like his G+ profile picture....

Star Wars.com's This is Madness Tournament!

Star Wars.com  is having their own March Madness....for geeks! C'mon we've all pondered who'd win in a match between Assaj Ventress and Darth Maul or Emperor Palpatine and IG 88! Now's your chance to support your favorite character from either the Dark Side or the Light!

Check out the brackets below then go to Star Wars.com and place your vote!

Rocket Jump Presents: Metal Gear Sunrising

Check out this amazing video from Freddie Wong and the team at Rocket Jump! Raiden enjoys a good fruit smoothie as much as the next cyborg ninja!

Transformers Prime Season 3 Beast Hunters Ultra Magnus reveal

Season 3 of Transformers Prime is looking very dark. Prime is in bad shape....not sure he's gonna survive the short season, the Autobots are scattered across the planet as Megatron unleashes Shockwave's latest creation Predaking!
The Hub put out a recap of seasons 1 & 2 where Bulkhead sends out a distress call for help.....looky who answers the call!? Ultra Magnus!
So the Decepticons get Shockwave and the Pedacons, the Autobots get Ultra Magnus and the Dinobots....both rosters upgraded!
Transformers Prime Season 3 premiere's March 22!

The Walking Dead S3 E13 Arrow on the Door Post recap

Season 3 has successfully transitioned the fear of the undead over to the fear of the living. We've seen Carl loose his childhood in the most terrible way, the mental anguish Rick is struggling with over the lose of his wife, and the way others like Morgan and the Governor have dealt with their losses.
For anyone watching this show for the first time they'd have to wonder where da zombies at?
So we have two leaders meeting to attempt to settle their groups differences...on the surface it seems civil but as we know the Governor is a devil in sheep's clothing and if you didn't the conversation between him and Milton back at Woodbury proves it!
Once again Daryl MF'ing Dixon shows his badassness in a walker killing competition against Martinez!

And I'm sorry but Milton creeps me the F out! Who asks an amputee if they can see their stump!?

Hershel handled it alot better than I would've! If I were Hershel I would've shoved my crutch so far up his ass...

I'm glad Rick realizes the Governor is NOT a man of his word and warns the Ricktatorship that they're going to war! 

I also think Andrea is gonna start politicking the citizens of Woodbury to open their eyes to the monster the Governor truly is. 

CJ's right, Rick's group might be out numbered but Rick's group are all 100% badasses all hardened by the world, where as The Governor's has a few troopers but the majority are asthmatics and elderly people.

This episode was the quiet before the storm...shit's about to get real yo!

And what the F is up with this chair!??

UFF presents Chun Li Vs Tifa

Anyone who reads my blog knows I am a fan of Capcom's Street Fighter and I main Chun Li....I also enjoy Squeenix's Final Fantasty gamesVI-X + Tactics mostly.
So it's a no brainer I was gonna enjoy this fan film! These girls got skills! Amazing choreography and VFX makes this a must "Add to Favs on my YT channel"!
Check it out and chime in with who you want to win!
Tifa's badass but Chun Li is The Strongest Woman in the World!
Yata!

My new Hori VLX diamond fight stick: An elegant weapon from a more civilized age

21 years!
I've been playing Street Fighter on a console controller for 21 years....I've become fairly decent, but it wasn't until Street Fighter IV did I realize I had hit a ceiling with how good I could be using a console controller. In SSFIV I got my Chun to B rank, when AE came out regardless of the twins imbalance I got Chun back to B rank, when I played with friends from Capcom Unity I would have good days and bad days but on my very best days I struggled against my friends playing on a fight stick.
Last year I participated in Capcom's SF25th anniversary tournament in NYC, my best friend CJ and Mike and his wife joined me, and I saw how few people (serious players) came with console controllers. In fact the tournament would not allow the use of PS3 dual shock controllers unless they were hardwired, reason being if the controller came unplugged it would auto pause the match.
My 40th birthday just past last month and CJ hooked be up with what can only be described as the Ferrari of fight sticks! A Hori VLX diamond Fight Stick!
I gave it a test run the other night in an endless room with CJ....21 years on a console controller is not gonna be easy to unlearn! Good games Krogenar My Chun may be B rank but on the fight stick I'm below D rank.
Interestingly the next night I played against Mike using the Dual Shock 3 and I played extremely aggressively.
HUGE thank you CJ!!!! I will train hard like Rocky Balboa and make my new sponsor proud lol!  

Yes that is a Boss 302 Mustang behind the fight stick!

For all yall whipper-snappers on Unity that  bust on me and Brandon's age...Look out here comes the next generation of fighters!!!

The Walking Dead S3E12 Clear recap

Governors' to the left of me, Morgans' to the right
Here I am, stuck in the middle with you....
This episode was a welcome change of scenery....there's alot going on in the "side quest" to King County, first and foremost how many times have I thought to myself "I wonder how Morgan and his Son are doing?' Well we finally find out and I'm sorry to say Morgan is the Captain of the crazy train....not Rick, although Rick is close...
The scenes between Rick and Morgan were sad...sad to see how much of their humanity has been lost to the shit fest the world has become.
RIP Lori and Duane
After finding out how Morgan has arrived at his current state I wondered if I would want to clear or just punch out...
"The meek shall inherit the earth", when Morgan said that to Rick, I was like, "Dayum, Morgan's gone!"
The field trip Carl and Michonne take in King county proved Carl isn't  or hasn't become the cold hearted killer I thought he was becoming.....yet. It was great to see a lighter side of Michonne also!
The episode might have seemed like a "side quest" but there was some fantastic character development, and it was good to find out happened to Morgan, cudo's to the actor Lennie James...for a completely believable performance.
I think we've seen the last of mentally unstable Rick, I hope!

And next Sundays sneak peak for Arrow on the Doorpost totally looks like a map from Call of Duty MW2!
So henceforth the episode shall be called Call of Duty Zombie Warfare: Fire Team Daryl! (c)

 

Star Wars Episode VII Speculation/theory

I haven't written anything regarding the sequel trilogy yet because honestly there's little to no info regarding the direction episode VII is going to take. We know JJ Abrams is directing, we know Kathleen Kennedy has left JP4 to focus on the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy.
I've read the rumor that John Noble (Walter Bishop/Denethor) may be involved...if this materializes into something more tangible I think he would be a phenomenal Sith Lord!
So a long time ago...1995/1996 I registered at a little site known as the Galactic Senate, when the prequel trilogy was announced that site  blew up with speculation and from many knowledgeable fans some really great ideas came to fruition....some better than what we saw on the silver screen.
Since the prequels ended I haven't posted there much but yesterday I ventured over and started reading some early speculation about episode VII. Most of what was being discussed revolved around Mark Hamill and how he's been asked if he'd want to reprise his role as Luke Skywalker and how it will tie into the Sequel Trilogy.
Most theories revolved around Luke forming a new Jedi Order after the events of RotJ....this seems to be the most popular belief of state of that galaxy far far away after Vader tosses the Emperor over the edge and then dies from his wounds leaving Luke as the last remnant of the Jedi (not counting Yoda's mention of another).
We're all told that the outcome of the events from RotJ had brought the force back into balance, I have to disagree!

Everyone is assuming Luke continues down the path/life of a Jedi.

 Balance=equality=1 to 1 ratio.
Here is my theory of why Lucas Film has approached Mark, Harrison and Carrie and how they will fit into the ST. 

What if Luke becomes a recluse/hermit? Why would he choose this path? 

Because Luke realizes to truly bring balance to the force there must be equilibrium If the Sith are truly extinct then the Jedi must fade away as well...Yin/Yang, equality, balance! Luke realizes this and chooses to let go of all he loves and fade into obscurity to achieve true balance, the last thing he tells Leia is to never mention to her children anything of Anakin, Darth Vader the force or of their family history....in essence let the legends fade into obscure legends of hokey religions. 

Leia not being a fan of the force and the whole Jedi/Sith mess because of what she learned about her father promises without hesitation and follows in her maternal mother's footsteps and pursues a career in galactic politics as the Republic begins to recover from the fall out of the Empire.

If there's one thing thing I know Lucas loves to do is mirror events in the Star Wars Universe and flip them on their heads, this is seen throughout the PT compared to the OT.

So X amount of years after the events of RotJ Leia Organa marries Han Solo (this is what 90% of fans assume) and have X number of offspring, 3 if were borrowing from the EU.

Leia keeps her promise to her brother, but curiosity killed the cat and one of Han and Leia's kids begins to question who this uncle Luke guy is that mom and Dad mention every once and awhile. His curiosity leads him to extra curricular studies where he learns more about that hokey religion that seems very taboo to talk about these days.

I'm gonna guess the Solo kids will be around the same age as Luke was in ANH and if Leia is all in politics they may live on one of three planets, Coruscant, Naboo, or some yet to be seen planet.

So while mom's off doing politics on Coruscant, and Dad's off with Lando working out some business this curious kid somehow travels to Tatooine to find out more about this Uncle Luke guy and gets in over his head with some locals or sand people and just as the Batha poodoo is about to hit the proverbial exhaust port a hooded cloaked figure scares of the attackers crouches down on bended knee and places one hand on the solo kids head. 

As he sits up the mysterious man pulls the hood back and it's Luke Skywalker!

Am I the only one who thinks Mark Hamill mirroring Sir Alec Guinness when we first meet him in ANH wouldn't get the entire theater up with a standing applause?! 

Now this could really go anywhere from there but it would be incredible fan service! 

If it were me writing the script I'd have Luke also go to Toshi Station to catch a ride with this young kid to where ever they're needed to go, Yavin IV perhaps. And while walking thru Toshi Station Luke stops to purchase something and young Solo asks Luke what he just bought, Luke responds "Something I've been meaning to get for some time"...

Again this is just me speculating on Star Wars episode VII, please share your thoughts....