TGS 2008

This years TGS is October 9-12, there should be some fresh info for those waiting on games like Final Fantasy XIII, Street Fighter IV, Heavy Rain, Massive Action Game and much more. I'm hoping to hear a firm launch date for PlayStation Home also.
Perhaps all the amazing games coming out in the 4th Qtr of 08 will spur the gaming industry into overdrive and perform a pheonix down on the world economy...maybe not.

Knight Rider 08

Apparently one man can no longer make difference.....
I need to catch a few episodes of the original Knight Rider! My childhood memories of this show can't be that biased? For many of us the 80's are synonymous with the A-Team, Transformers and Knight Rider, a lone warrior out to protect the innocent and fight injustice with the help of Bonnie, Devon and KITT.
I missed the pilot episode a few months back but from what I heard it was better than what I suffered through the other night.
Nostalgia is the only reason I sat thru this show, and much like the Star Wars prequels this did nothing to support my memories. This was definitely NOT must see TV, in fact it was cringe inducing failure in my opinion! KITT is now a Mustang Cobra, that's fine, Kitt has double red lights compared to the originals one, KITT still has a stuffy male voice, Kitt still has Turbo Boost.....that is all the positives I can give this show. Some executive must've sat down after the pilot and suggested the following ideas to "boost" ratings...who ever thought these were great ideas needs to be fired!
Michael Tracer, military guy losses his memory and is now working with Knight Industries, no longer a secret company but a large corporation that works with the FBI or the CIA...I must've zoned out. Gone is the small team that supported Michael and Kitt now we have a Devon look-a-kinda-like, a bunch of hot scantily clad women and the stereotypical dork. KITT's transport is no longer in an 18 wheeler which makes SO MUCH sense compared to C-17 military aircraft! WTF???!
Some new additions to KITT is a touch screen windshield that also has multiple web cams so Mike can access AIM w/ flicker....FAIL!
So Mike and some chick escape from a mission to retrieve some "files" just as the chick is about to be injected with the neon juice from reannimator but during their escape KITT gets hit with a missile and is engulfed in toxic flames, to save themselves they strip down instead of using KITT to find a car wash or a thunderstorm or a lake....
Next mission Mike has to find the "package" which turns out to be some dude with a "key" in his DNA *UGGHHH*
Some hot chick with huge "headlights" driving an Aston Martin steals the dude with a key in his DNA and cuts off his thumb...things are serious now, time for KITT to transform O.o
Yep KITT transforms *FAIL* into a pickup truck and somehow doesn't kill the people inside! And KITT also transforms into battle mode *BARF*
Anyway Mike Tracer gets double crossed and shot, everyone thinks he's dead and changes his name to.........Michael Knight duh duh duuuuhhhh!
If this show lasts 5 episodes I'll be shocked, KITT = Knight Industries Total Turdfest.

Macross Frontier Movie

At the conclusion of Macross Frontiers 25th and final episode it was confirmed that the series will also be having a full length feature film!
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2008-09-25/macross-frontier-movie-announced

Life with Playstation

Nothing groundbreaking here but there's a little update to the PSN that you might not be aware of. It's called Life with Playstation, if you've never used the Folding @ Home program on your PS3 nows a good time to check it out.
Life with Playstation incorporates Google news with a realtime global view so if you want to know what the local weather in Taipei is or what's new in Sydney all while listening to your tunes stored on the PS3 HDD and Folding you can. So cancel your subscription to the Daily News and get a Life with Playstation maaan!

Megaman 9

Rejoice all ye old school gamers, the blue bomber is back and he's now available for DL off the PSN!

If you owned a NES as a kid you gotta know Megaman....he's as iconic as Mario, Solid Snake, and the Belmonts!

With todays games becoming more and more realistic it's refreshing to see a veteran game company able to return to it's roots...on purpose!

MM9 is only available as a DLable game but that didn't stop Capcom from actually creating boxart as.....unique as the early titles like MM1 and MM2.

Once it hits the PSN go grab it, it's only $9.99 and it's well worth it for those of us that wanna kick it old school and for the younger gamers today that wanna see what a trully challenging game is.

8 bit fidelity engine FTW!

Macross Frontier Episode 14: Mothers Lullaby

Episode 14 begins with Luca meeting Nanase and the two have lunch while discussing their friends. Elsewhere Ozma recollects the last time he saw Ranka before she decided to go help Alto on Gallia IV, Cathy hangs out with the Macross Quarter bridge bunnies and talk about the guys. Just as Captain Wilder enters the bridge the Vajra capital ships defold ahead of Frontier a state of emergency is declared and Island 1 closes it outer shell, Luca tells Nanase he has something he wants to tell her when he returns and runs off to SMS HQ.
Back at Gallia IV Alto hovers in orbit as we see a third of the planet is gone from the dimension eater. Alto takes the prototype fold booster left by Mikhail and rushes back to Frontier.
The Macross Quarter launches and transforms while all SMS and NUNS forces deploy to fight the Vajra forces, Sheryl wakes up to find Mikhail unconscious as they're valkyrie hangs onto the Vajra capital ship they hitched a ride on, she attempts to pilot the Mikhails Valkyrie remembering her lessons she took while at Mihoshi. That doesn't go so well as she bounces off the hull of the Vajra capital ship and is pursued by some vajra, Luca spots Mikhails Valkyrie and goes to help but before he can shoot at Sheryls' pursuers he is disarmed by a Vajra and Mikhails VF-25 is shot down. Sheryl and Mikhail float defenselessly and Luca is about to be attacked when Alto arrives just in time to dispatch the Vajra in the area!
Meanwhile Ranka wakes up aboard the Vajra mother ship with the Queen looming over her, within her prison the interior of the mother ship fades as she finds herself alone in space, she spots Frontier off in the distance, suddenly the Vajra mother ship defolds behind Frontier, Leon pushes Howard glass to authorize the use of reaction weapons, once the Vajra mother ship defolds behind them the situation becomes desperate and he authorizes it. Alto recognizes that the ship behind them as the one Ranka is being held prisoner on as requests to rescue her, Capt Wilder authorizes Alto and Ozma to use fast packs and reaction weapons to save Ranka.
Back within the Vajra mother ship Ranka has another vision, this time of a woman who begins singing Aimo, Ranka recognizes the song and begins singing Aimo also and as the battle outside rages on the Vajra begin to react to the song, Alto unleashes the reaction warheads and pushes towards the mother ship, blowing a hole in the hull. The VF-27 suddenly shows up and flys past Alto into the mother ship to free Ranka, Alto follows and once inside the Queens lair unleashes all his missile's at the queen, the purple VF-27 contacts the Frontier fleet and announces he is Brera Sterne of the Macross Galaxy fleet and he has rescued Ranka and will assist Frontier. Once Alto killed the Queen Ranka reels over in pain as the remaining Vajra appear to fall in disarray. The Macross Quarter fires it's cannon destroying the Mothership and Frontier forces go on the offensive exterminating the remaining Vajra as Brera holds Ranka. As she witnesses the battle she begins to cry and Brera questions why.
Episode 14 concludes with Grace awakening and mentioning the little queen, she most likely is talking about Ranka, This episode was all about the mecha porn and seeing Sheryl attempt to pilot a Valk was funny....apparently she can't do everything she puts her mind to. The vision Ranka had is most likely her mother based on the episode title. With Brera's announcement we have to wonder if this is all part of Graces plan, speaking of Grace she's gonna have some explaining to do on how she escaped Gallia IV!

Street Fighter IV: Here Comes a New Challenger

Those familiar with Street Fighter Lore the Shoto clones Ryu and Ken learned their martial art style from Gouken. Gouken and Gouki (Akuma) were taught by Goutetsu. The art was named Ansatsuken and Goutetsu refused to teach the full art but Gouki was determined to master the full power of Ansatsuken and it's power consumed him. He challenged Goutetsu and murdered him with his own art form. Gouki disappeared and years later returned and Gouken and Gouki fought each other, as the fight went on Ryu and Ken witnessed Gouki kill Gouken...that's the legend as I remember it anyway.

There have been plenty of rumors of Gouken being in Street Fighter all the back to the glory days of Street Fighter II, with EGM's Sheng Long april fools joke. From that april fools joke Akuma was born, his first appearance in Super Street Fighter II turbo, when Street Fighter 3 was announced the rumor resurfaced but it was again a joke.

Even in the Alpha series Gouken was not introduced, which would be the most fitting time in Street Fighter continuity.

With Street Fighter IV rapidly approaching release the mysterious legend who learned from Goutetsu along side Gouki has returned! Here is the first pics of Gouken in Famitsu.

Macross Frontier Episode 13: Memory of Global

Episode 13 continues with Mikhail in Sheryl's room, just as Grace offers her some pills to help her feel better the power cuts out, elsewhere Alto and Ranka make an emergency landing when his nav system fails, after exiting the VF-25, Ranka yells to Alto the two stand on a precipice looking out at what appears to be the SDF Macross. Alto uses the binoculars on his ex-gear to zoom in on the hull of the Macross class vessel and discovers it's designation is the Macross 04 Global which happened to be flagship of the 117th Investigational Fleet. The two begin to hike thru the jungle towards the Macross.

Later back at the base Sheryl appears to be feeling better and tells Mikhail they're going to search for Alto and Ranka, as she switches into her flightsuit Mikhail notices one of the pills Grace offered her earlier on the floor with 639 witchcraft written on it.

Meanwhile Alto and Ranka continue traveling thru the jungle towards the Macross, they spot a waterfall and rest for awhile reminising about they're first meeting. Just as they're about to head out again Ranka gets abducted while answering the call of nature....Alto rushes in the direction she was taken away in which leads him to the Macross 04.

Back aboard Frontier Luca has a meeting with Leon regarding his discision to lend out L.A.I. prototype fold booster, Luca defends his decision by stating it's his job is to record test data on all prototype SMS equipment.

Back on Gallia IV Alto enters the ruins of Macoss 04 as he searches for Ranka he finds a lab but all the research data had been deleted recently, outside Brera waits in the shadows as Alto enters the Macross he recieves a comunique from Grace stating that mission priorities have been altered.

Deep below the ruined Macross 04 Ranka wakes up in a large cavern full of eggs (think Alien), and a queen Vajra laying more eggs, high above Alto hears her scream and follows the sound down a long hole in the floor to the nest. At the same time Brera shows up in his VF-27 and fights off the Vajra queen, Alto flies to Ranka but a protective barrier encases Ranka and Alto is unable to break it, this scene is very reminiscent of the scene with Shin and Sara in Macross Zero. As Brera fights off the Vajra one of his shots ricosheas off a hamerhead and hits the queen, this sends the queen into an agonizing rage and Ranka also colapses in pain. Alto and Brera are blown out of the nest similarly to when Hikaru and Misa were ejected from the Zentradi capital ship in DYRL.The two pilots emerge from the river as the Macross emits a burst of energy and begins to rumble violently and crumble as Vajra capital ships emerge from beneath.

Alto rushes back to his VF-25 and heads back to rescue Ranka but Brera intercepts him and the two engage in a dogfight, Brera warns Alto that he is unfit to protect Ranka and just as he's about to shoot down Alto his gun is shot out of his hand by Mikhail and Sheryl. Alto tells them that Ranka's been abducted by the Vajra and is in the giant mothership, Alto and Brera go at it again and just as Brera has another clean shot on Alto, Grace informs Brera to disengage and head back to Frontier as she is about to activate the Dimension Eater.

Below Grace leaps over a large clif ala the bionic woman and activates a device that creates a fold sphere that begins to expand exponentially absorbing everything, Grace wishes the people of Frontier luck as she is ripped to shreads as the fold sphere engulfs her.

Reports of a D-pulse burst are reported aboard the 113th colonial Marines ship as the fold shere continues to expand and engulfs the entire planet killing everything. high above Mikhail and Sheryl race towards the Vajra fleet as they begin to fold out of the Gallia IV system, Alto races out of Gallia IV's atmoshere as the Dimension Eater continues to expand...

Street Fighter IV

EVO masters Tetsuya "INO" Inoue (playing the Dictator) versus the legendary Daigo "the Beast" Umehara (playing Ryu). Impressive...most impressive.

Part 1 of 2

part 2 of 2

Chun Li kicking Kens ass ^^ (this ones for my friend CJ)

Fringe debut

The fall TV season has just begun and honestly I'm having a real hard time finding "must see TV". The last show I was really into was CSI, but even that isn't what it used to be. Honestly our TV gets more use from the PS3 and the DVD player! I did however catch a few TV spots for the new JJ Abrams show Fringe, which has the feel of early X-Files episodes and well hey this is the guy who did Lost and Cloverfield! I missed out on Lost and never saw Cloverfield, but this show looks promising. Fringe debuts Tuesday 9/9/08 on Fox from 8pm est to 9:30 est. I'm setting the DVR for this debut.

SOCOM Confrontation Day 2 report

Day 2 on the SOCOM Confrontation beta, I got my clan invite yesterday. Today I spent some time with the character creation features. Merq's and Commando's have about seven different head styles, then you can customize your soldier with facial hair, scars, voice style, head gear, mics, and eyewear. Then for the body you get light/medium/heavy gear, which affects your soldiers encumbrance (mobility), after that you can choose your camo patterns and styles, choose from Night/Urban/Desert then go thru a multitude of patterns for each body part (head/body/torso). Next is the Armory the most important section! Choose your primary weapon, secondary weapon, attachments, and two sub weapons like nades or C4.



Issues I've noticed so far;
1. Occasionally I get a big red X with two arrows pointing in opposite directions on the top center of the screen which mean the game is trying to stableize your connection.
2. The game did take unusually long to load, I'm sure Slant Six is working on the servers so no big deal.
3. For the most part the lag was non existant, but one game was so bad that I lost mic capability and framerate dropped significantly. I logged out switched to a secondary account and viola problem solved.
4. Radar in upper right corner didn't seem to be working

~Controls are a bit different from OS SOCOM, I kept bringing up the taunt menu by accident, but like I just gotta get used to the button config.
~I like the map, lots of detail, lots of nooks and crannies, and heat distortion in the distance is a nice effect. This new Crossroads map is amazing the tower diagonally across from the lion is sweet! The new areas and slight changes make it feel like a brand new map.
~Gameplay speed is good, faster than MGO, slower than COD4 I think it lends itself to tactical gameplay.
~Character movement is smoother than I expected, the characters tend to float when near edges though. Jumping seemed very limited but that may be due to my encumberance ratio.
~Guns sound terrific and those with 5.1 or better surround sound systems are in for an audio daydream. The other really evolutionary aspect was the proximitty speach system, members on the same team will be able to communicate the traditional way via the mic by pressing L2 or you can speak freely and if a teammate is nearby (above, below, infront, behind) you'll hear them thru your surround sound system from their location in relation to you, distance and objects also affect the volume of their voices! VERY COOL feature! But be careful what you say or the noise you make in the comfort of your living room because you could be heard by an enemy in your vicinity!
~Once they iron out the kinks I think this is gonna reignite the SOCOM community!

Marley & Me One Sheet

This one's for my wife, she loves dog's and really enjoyed the book. So hun if you're reading this Marley opens Christmas Day...I'll get tix :)

Socom Confrontation Beta starts today!

ATTENTION!

Rise and shine maggots! Are U E? The SOCOM Confrontation Beta has begun today! Did you reserve you copy at Gamestop? I'm DLing the beta as I type so I hope to see your sorry ass on the battlefield tonight! That is all, DISMISSED!

Final Fantasy Dissidia: Kefka V Sepheroth

The latest trailer for FF:Dissidia is out and it's impressive! If you still don't own a PSP you may want to get one simply so you can play Final Fantasy Dissidia. Think of Dissidia as Final Fantasy's answer to WrestleMania. For Final Fantasy Fanatics seeing Kefka fight Sepheroth each with there own trademark attacks is a dream come true. This trailer is over 5 minutes long but it's simply amazing to watch!

Call of Duty: World at War

Call of Duty World at War is incoming! Mark your calenders, November 11th...right on time for the holiday spending frenzy! Like most I'm a bit tired of the WWII scene but I'll most likely check it out. CoD:W@W is being made by Treyarch not IW, I expect we'll see CoD 6 from IW some time next year.
CoD: W@W will feature 4 player online coop mode along with the online multiplayer. Also like CoD4: MW the story mode will be split between US troops in the Pacific and Russian troops on the European front.
Man I'm still working on getting my golden AK47 >.<

Macross Frontier episode 12: Fastest Delivery

Episode 12 begins with Ogotai and his advisor discussing the situation about Temjin and the division amonst the 33rd marines. Tension is high and they hope that a charity concert might ease the soldiers nerves.
Alto and Sheryl defold at Gallia 4 and enter the planets atmosphere. As Sheryl disembarks from the shuttle she collapses and Temjin calls off the cease fire. Meanwhile aboard the Frontier Nanase, Luca and Mikhail hang out on the steps of Mihoshi, Nanase wonders how Ranka is doing after getting stood up by Alto, Ranka surprises them when she shows up at school, Elmo gave her the day off before her debut live concert. Here Nanase meets Ai-kun and Ranka makes her swear not to tell anyone. Suddenly Luca yells over to the others, he's received news of a hostage situation on Gallia 4, Ranka shows her concern for Alto but because of the distance Mikhail tells her they'd never make it in time. Luca mentions their might be a way...
Back at the SMS hangar Luca shows Mikhail a working prototype of a new fold booster that theoretically could reduce the size of the galaxy by a 1/10th of what it is now travel-wise.
Back on Gallia 4 Sheryl lays bed-ridden as Alto looks over her, he questions why she'd go if she was this sick and Sheryl explains she wanted to show Alto a real sky.
Alto asks Grace to watch Sheryl while he's gone, across the airfield Temjin rallies the troops in his rebellion reminding them of their glorious past, as he stands infront of a reaction warhead storage facility. During his rousing speech he gets a call from an informant...
Alto sneaks across the airfield in an attempt to reach his valkyrie, just as he fires it up Temjin shows up and holds him at gun point. Ogotai gives his troops the ok to open fire to give Alto cover and the two factions open fire on each other. Just as Ogotai gives the command to fire the main guns on the capital ship Mikhail arrives with Ranka in his retro fitted VF-25G complete with speaker pods. Ranka performs her newest song, Seikan Hikou (Interstellar flight)and the Zentradi troops begin to be distracted by Ranka's song, Temjin hops aboard one of the Queadluun-Rea and targets Ranka but Alto slams his VF-25 into him and draws his attack the two have a breif dog fight where Temjin taunts Alto about the true nature of the Zentradi, this reminds Alto of what Yasaburo told him about the the actors blood that flows thru his veins which throws Alto into a rage. The fight ends with Alto driving his PPB blade into Temjins Queadluun-Rea, as he plumets out of the sky he tells Alto the galaxy isn't large enough for both species to co exist. Meanwhile back at the hospital Sheryl sits in her bed as Ranka is signing Aimo and Grace comments on how great Ranka's voice is , Alto returns and runs to Ranka concerned and asks why she came all the way to Gallia4, Ranka replies to give him his birthday gift. Later Alto and Ranka fly across the Gallian sky aboard the VF-25, Ranka signs a bit of Neko Nikki (cat diary). Alto thanks her and tells her her gift was the best of all the moment is interupted suddenly when Alto's Valkyrie stalls and they make an emergency landing in the jungle, the episode ends with a huge surprise as the two stand on a precipice looking out at what appears to be the SDF Macross!
This was a fun episode with some nice homages to series past, Temjin certainly resembles Quamzin! And what a surprise at the end, seeing the SDF Macross was a unexpected to say the least!