Final Fantasy Advent Children Complete Blu Ray

You can't really call this double dipping, as SquarEnix has actually added almost 30 minutes of brand new materia l.

That brings the running time up to an impressive 130 mins for Final Fantasy Advent Children Complete. If you've never seen it I recomend picking up this copy when it's released on April 16th, feed it to your PS3, and watch it in all it's HD glory on your Pioneer Kuro TV!

Final Fantasy XIII trailer

The countdown on http://www.square-enix.co.jp/fabula/ff13/ has reached zero and SquarEnix has given us a new trailer to drool over. This new trailer also shows off some actual gameplay footage as well as a glimpse of FFXIII's battle system.

Kelly Clarkson's New Music Video for MLWSWY

Check out Kelly Clarkson's newest music video for her forthcoming album "All I Ever Wanted" due for release March 10, 2009.

Street Fighter The Legend of Chun Li Teaser #2

How can one thing be so awesome yet so awful at the same time!?
Street Fighter IV is gonna break sales records on Feb. 17...guaranteed. Street Fighter: The legend of Chun Li will break all sorts of records at the box office come Feb. 27, not the ones that are good though. The fact that the folks behind the movies advertising are linking it with the game should raise all types of red flags! If this movie lasts a week in the theaters I'll be shocked.

9 teaser trailer

9 looks like another wonderful story that fits perfectly into Tim Burtons visonary style. The trailer for 9 is fantastic and the score by Coheed and Cambria fits perfectly with the action and mood.

9 opens Sept, 9 2009...ohhhh 9/9/09.....

Machine Girl Trailer

Move over Ash, Ami is out to avenge her brother's death! Sometimes high kicks and short skirts just ain't enough...when Ami starts losing body parts she upgrades to stuff that's got a bit more "kick". Forget chi Ami's got a little Capt' in her!
As bad as this looks it's probably more entertaining than the crap we get here in the States like Hotel for Dogs.

Machine Girl Trailer

High Kick Girl Teaser Trailer

Lets stop kidding ourselves, here's what we really want to see in the upcoming Street Fighter: Legend of Chun Li. Kristin Kruek in a sailor fuku! While we're at it lets just rename High Kick Girl to Street Fighter the legend of Sakura >.<

High-Kick Girl Teaser Trailer

Street Fighter IV: Beyond Power Trailer

With less than a month left, this may be the final trailer I post before I pick up the CE on February 17th. Enjoy! This trailer showcases all the characters in SFIV with their english vo's. I think the VO actor for Fei long is the same person who did Fei Long in the Street Fighter II animated movie.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Review

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is the story of a man who is born with all the ailments and physical attributes of an 80+ year old man and as he ages his physical demeanor grows more youthful. The story of Benjamin Button begins in 2005 in a hospital room as hurricane Katrina approaches landfall an elderly woman asks her daughter to read a diary, as the rain comes down outside the room the young woman begins to read the diary to her mother. It was 1918 and WWI had just ended, the city streets of New Orleans are alive with celebration as fireworks light up the night sky, a man rushes through the crowd to his home as his wife struggles with a difficult delivery. When I say difficult I mean she dies giving birth to a hideous looking infant, the husband rushes out into the night with the new born intent on throwing it into the river, but as luck would have it a constable sees this and chases Thomas Button through the city streets. The infant is left on the steps of a Nursing home and is discovered by Queenie (Taraji P. Henson). She takes the new born as her own and decides to care for it, naming him Benjamin. Unexpectedly Benjamin, survives but because his body is still so frail Benjamin is wheelchair bound, through his diary we learn about some of the characters he lives with in the nursing home, his only company is other elderly people, and through this interaction he learns some valuable lessons about the value of life and inevitability of death.

It's in this time that Benjamin first meets Daisy Fuller (Elle Fanning) who comes to visit her grandmother at the nursing home.

The film transitions between the present and the life of Benjamin told through the diary seamlessly and you quickly realize who the women in the hospital bed is.
I found myself feeling the many similarities to Forest Gump, this movie basically chronicles the lives of Daisy Fuller and Benjamin Button as their lives begin at opposite ends (yet the same) of the circle of life and meet at an intersection of their lives then again head off in opposite directions yet end in the place the other began at.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a magical journey through Benjamin's life as we meet very curious individuals such as Queenie, Captain Mike, Elizabeth Abbott (Tilda Swinton), and the guy who was struck by lightning seven times. The story is bittersweet and as it comes to a close you'll be hard pressed to not find a lump in your throat when an elderly Daisy is seen walking a little boy about 5 years old who is actually an elderly man suffering from dementia.

Cate Blanchett is mesmerizing as the adult Daisy Fuller and in my opinion puts in one of her finest performances to date. Elle Fanning shows that she is as gifted an actress as her older sister. Tilda Swinton puts in another terrific performance, but I have to admit Brad Pitt's performance throughout CCoBB is truly phenomenal, from the quiet inquisitiveness of a young boy watching kids playing on the street, to a young man who leaves the nest and learns about the world, to an adult who must forgive the sins of his father or the man who makes the heart wrenching decision to leave the love of his life and their child because of his situation...Brad Pitt's, acting in this role is possibly the best of his carrier.

Other than the magic of the story and characters TCCoBB also has some pretty impressive effects for Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchette's ages throughout the film. Seeing Pitt as he is today, as he might look in 30 years and what he looked like in his earlier movies like Cool World, was certainly interesting. The movie also had some beautiful sets, I especially liked the scene where Benjamin carries his ailing father to the riverside to watch the sunrise, the symbolism of that scene was beautifully understated. The film runs about two hours and thirty minutes but it is a complete story from start to finish, well worth the price of admission.

http://www.benjaminbutton.com/

A

NY Comic Con 09

The 2009 New York Comic Con is coming Febuary 6th-8th to the Jacob Javits Convention Center. Tickets are $30 Friday and Sunday, $40 Saturday. Sega will be there and they have Art of Valkyria Chronicals books to give to those who love the game so much they'll cosplay as one of the characters! Check out more details about the convention by clicking the link below!

http://www.nycomiccon.com/app/homepage.cfm?moduleid=4728&appname=100453&submenuheader=7&campaignid=61424907&iUserCampaignID=47083696

And for more info on the Sega booth and the Art of Valkyria books click the link below!
http://blogs.sega.com/usa/2009/01/14/valkyria-chronicles-cosplay-prizes-at-nycc/

Valkyria Chronicals review

Valkyria Chronicals is a JRPG from SEGA. I got a chance to play the demo and I was very impressed, so I advised Mr. Claus' liason in the US that I wanted it.
Let me begin by stating the game is gorgeous, the "canvas" graphics engine truly makes the hand drawn artwork jump to life, it's like a water color paiting in motion, the fluidity of the artwork must be seen to be appreciated.
Valkyria Chronicals takes place in 1930's Europa at the onset of the second Europan War. The game chronicals the story of the members of Squad 7 of the Gallian miltia and their battle against the Imperial Army and their invasion of Gallia for the precious Ragnite ore. Gallia is a small county nestled between the Imperial Federation (think Nazi Germany) and the Atlantic Federation (think Allied countries). Valkyria Chronicals is a JTRPG but it uses a unique battle system called BLiTZ (Battle of Live Tactical Zone). The basic Strategy RPG elements are there, movement restrictions based on the character types such as scouts, shock troopers, snipers, lancers, and engineers, CP (command pts.) which tell you how many times you can use your squad members AP (action pts.) which show how far each squad member can move, this is shown by a meter that drains as you move the member. You learn quickly not to just move characters arbitrarily but to find cover, which bring up the third person shooter aspect, you actually move the character around a 3D map and shoot, throw nades and deactivate landmines in real time. As with most JTRPG's there is a wealth of characters and in Valkyria Chronicals you command a squad of twenty members with a vast amount of fresh recruits to customize your squad with. Not only is each character unique in description but they're each is has it's own unique and well done voice acting that further adds to the individuality and quirkiness of their persona. The main cast is extremely likeable and each adds another layer of depth to the story and the multiple sub plots going on during the story.

Welkin Gunther, Son of General Belgen Gunther, hero of the first Europan war, meets Alicia during the empires attack on Bruhl and the two join the Gallia military and are assigned to Squad 7. Welkin loves nature and uses his knowledge of wildlife to lead Squad 7. He stands up for his sister Isara whenever she is harassed because of her Darcen bloodline.

Alicia Melchiott, A member of the Bruhl town watch, and an apprentice at the local bakery. She mistakes Welkin for an Imperial spy at first, but the two join the Gallia militia and are assigned to squad 7.

Isara Gunther, A Darcen by birth she is the daughter of professor Theimer, after his death she was adopted by Welkins family. She is a gifted engineer, like her father, and thru her efforts helped squad 7 overcome difficult missions like the Marberry beach assault.


Brigitte "Rosie" Stark, A former bar tender and singer, now a corporal in squad 7 and friends with Largo Potter. Rosie has a huge bias against Darcens and thus gives Isara a very hard time thruout the story until the tragety at Fouzen.


Largo Potter a lancer in Squad 7 and good friends with Rosie, he served in EW1 and now is a sergeant in EWII.
Squad 7 consists of those five "main" characters as well as fifteen other members of your choice. Choosing the right characters to put into squad 7 is another aspect to be mindful of, there is a list of reserves to choose from; scouts, shocktroopers, lancers, snipers, and engineers. It's also important to be mindful of their relationships with other squad members, not everyone likes each other or works well in certain conditions. Always pick the right members for the mission, having squad 7 with 20 scouts that don't like each other....not recomended. Valkyria Chronicals menu is accessed thru a book, chapters are recorded thru this book and within these pages are other sections such as the Headquarters tab. When up access the HQ tab there is sub sections for Squad Barracks, this is where you can review squad member details and can upgrade equipment. Command Room, this is where you can choose/swap out squad 7 members with new recruits. Training Field, this is where you level up the 5 different classes in squad 7 by spending your EXP. R&D Facility, this is where you spend your DCT ($$$) to upgrade weapons and equipment including the Edelweiss.
Other sections in the Headquarters tab are Castlefront St where Ms. Ellet works at The Writing on the Wall where this journalist chronicals the heroic actions of squad 7 in the Gallian Tribune. The War Cemetary where an old man will teach you new commands for a price. The Audience Hall where Princess Cordelia awards Welkin with metals of honor after completing a mission.
Other tabs in the book are Skirmishes, this is where you can gain extra exp and dct by replaying previous battles. Personnel this is where characters info is udated as you progress thru the game. Weaponry info on all weapons aqcuired throughout the game, and the Glossary. Valkyria is a fantastic game visually, the gameplay is solid and well designed, the story and characters are top notch...I liked Welkin, and Alicia a hell of alot more than Vaan and Penelo from FFXII! Each of the main characters are well designed and have multiple layers that add complexity and add to the depth of the game. Valkyria Chronicals deals with the subjects of love, loss, racism, nationalism and humanity all to the back drop of an alternate version of WWII in Europe. A fantastic addition to the PS3 library, unforunately with the US addiction to FPS, Valkyria Chronicals is a gem that will be overlooked by most. If you enjoy the game be sure to check out the upcoming anime, the link is below.
10

http://www.valkyria-anime.com/


http://valkyria.jp/

3 minutes of Push

Check out three minutes of the upcoming movie Push starring Chris Evans, Dakota Fanning and Djimon Hounsou. The movie is about Evans and Dakota fighting against division, a top secret government organization that recruits people with telekenetic abilities. It looks pretty cool like X-Men and the Matrix thrown in a blender.

Square has also launched a website for Final Fantasy Vs XIII, not much there but I'm sure some spectacular promotional video's are on the way.

Check out the FF Vs XII site @ http://www.square-enix.co.jp/fabula/versus13/

FFXIII V-Jump scan of Chocobo breeder Sazh Kalzroy

Move over Barret, there's a new playa in town and his name is...erm..uh..Sazh Kalzroy (sounds like a Galka name to me). So what can I tell ya about Sazh; well first off he appears to be the Lando Calrisian of Final Fantasy, and he loves chicks....Chocobo chicks that is! Unlike Lando, Sazh doesn't appears be an "old smoothie" with the ladies as we can see Lightning smacking him in the face...

Final Fantasy XIII Website Updated

SquarEnix has updated the FFXIII website with new story board artwork, music and hi res images of Lightning, Oerba Dia Vanille and Snow Villier.

Outlander

I first mentioned Outlander back in November http://willsfreeswim.blogspot.com/2008/11/outlander.html, and I wasn't sure when or if it would make it stateside, but the sci-fi epic of a starship pilot crashing on earth and teaming up with Vikings to battle a nasty fiber optic alien beast is coming January 23rd! I haven't seen any advertising for it unfortunately because there's really nothing worthwhile coming out in the next two weeks and Outlander may be the only sci fi fix we get til the summer.

Transformers: RotF: Teaser Poster

Tis the season for pissed off red eyed robots! Just imagine if the Witwicki's and the Connors had a family picnick...oh the horror! Toasters to Mountain Dew machines would be leaking oil from their "servos". Anyway here's the teaser for this summers sequel Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen....and for the record I am a firm believer the fallen is Megatron, not some obscure transformer that is only mentioned in comic mythos.

Street Fighter Legend of Chun Li Vs. Street Fighter Legend of JCVD

What better way to enjoy this latest Hollywood train wreck adaptation of Street Fighter than to have the main characters of each movie battle it out in the Streets!? Will Kristin Kruek be the strongest actor in Hollywood or will JCVD tell her to go back to smallville and be a family man? Ready...

FIGHT!

Socom Confrontation Trophies

Since the beta I haven't actually played SOCOM Confrontation, After reading all the complaints from guys in my clan I held off on buying it, but after months of constant nagging I broke down and bought it on monday. With the up coming 1.30 there's alot of useful patches and upgrades, such as being able to use the D-pad iso the sixaxis motion control, and trophies! I've taken a glimpse at the requirements for achieving these trophies and let me tell you, I've been playing the socom games since S1and these are HARDcore!
http://www.ps3fanboy.com/2009/01/07/trophies-socom-confrontation/

http://socom.us.playstation.com/post/2008/12/SOCOM-Confrontation-130-Update-Features-(Part-5).aspx

Street Fighter Legend of Chun Li Poster

Wow I, really can't tell you how utterly unimpressed I am with the Street Fighter: Legend of Chun Li poster! I think my eightyear old niece could've come up with a better poster! In fact I ask anyone who reads this blog and has the time and interest, make your own SF:LoCL poster and I'll publish them here on Free Swim, entries accepted till Feb. 27, 2009.

This movie is about the "Legend of Chun Li" so you'd think she'd be front and center but instead we get some floating heads in a siloette of two guys fighting. From top left is Neal McDonough (M. Bison, Tatoo (Vega), Michael Clark Duncan (Balrog) Moon Bloodgood (???) Kristin Kreuk (Chun Li) Kris Klein (Charlie Nash)

And here is my entry, it's still a work in progress but I banged this out in 5 mins simply using MS paint and I like it better than what we've been offered.

Movie Review: Gran Torino

"Ever notice how you come across somebody once in awhile you shouldn't have messed with? That's me"

We all know one, ya know the cranky old man in the neighborhood, the one that yell's, "get off my lawn"! It could be a neighbor or a relative we've all met one in our lives.

Meet Walt Kowalski, a grissled Korean War vet that has just lost his wife and is completely disconnected from his two sons and their families and the rest of society for the most part.

He has absolutely no poker face and wears his feelings on his sleeve, he tells it how it is and doesn't sugar coat his feeling....in todays PC world he's an imperfect blemish...but that's the problem with our soceity today, were taught that everyone's special and to turn a blind eye on bad people and bad things...like if we ignor it it'll go away...it doesn't.

Gran Torino is a simple story of a man who stands up to a group of gang members and finds a friendship in the most unlikely place for a old splintery man set in his ways that would make Archie Bunker look like a saint. Gran Torino is a terrific drama, I can't say it's an action flick even though Walter reminds me alot of Harry Callahan, this movie is more of a character study of Walter Kowalski. I have alot of respect for Clint Eastwood he is an amazing actor and director and it's amazing how he commands the scenes in this movie, to make you believe that at his age he could kick your ass and not lose sleep over it is a testament to his prowess as an actor!

Aside from Clint Eastwood's terrific performance, I have to say that Bee Vang (Thao) and Ahney Her (Sue) did an exceptional job considering that this was their first time acting in a movie! It was also hilarious seeing clint call his son Scott Eastwood (Trey) a pussy!

Gran Torino is a great movie that'll make you laugh, cringe, cheer and sob. Well worth the price of admission!

B+

Free Swim's 9 PS3 titles for '09

Well 2008 couldn't end soon enough for most people around the world, with the economy in very poor shape and unemployment hitting an all time high in 30 years, what's there to look forward to? Well if you have your health that's a good thing and if you have a Playstation 3 that's something else!

2008 was a good year for Sony's Playstation 3, We got MGS4, GTA4, Resistance 2, Socom Confrontation, Bioshock, Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, Valkyria Chronicals, Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm, Fallout 3, Dead Space, Little Big Planet, Life w/ Playstation and Playstation Home.

Keeping with tradition here's Free Swim's list of the nine most anticipated titles for 2009.

9. M.A.G. One of the surprise announcements at last years E3, this "massive action game" had me at hello, but then I stopped and thought.."this is coming from Zipper, they can't even get 32 multiplayer to work properly let alone keep glitchers from hacking their games...how the hell are they gonna do this!?". I'm hoping this will be the new "socom experience" we're all looking for.

8.Gran Turismo 5 GT Prologe is probably the best beta you'll ever pay t play....lets face it, we know GT5 is gonna be amazing but if this game takes much longer to launch, Duke Nukem might beat them to market. I understand perfection takes time, and I'm really looking forward to this GT, especially if they get the online multiplayer tuned!

7. Resident Evil 5: Chris Redfield goes on safari in Africa and stumbles upon a secret....Umbrella had a sister company named Parasol! Chris reactivates Stars and fights his way thru bubble making zombies till he's finds himself face to face with Albert Wesker and his mutant buddies Bub and Bob!

6. Final Fantasy XIII: Well XII was a bit of a let down so I'm sure SquarEnix isn't gonna hold back on the awsome for this installment...but Shiva becoming a motorcycle...I'm not so sure about that...

5. Killzone 2: This game has ALOT to live up to, that infamous teaser from E3 07 is gonna be scrutinized when KZ2 launches, all I care about is if the gameplay is solid and the multiplayer is lag free.

4. Uncharted 2: The teaser from 2008's VGA's got me so psyched for this game, Nathan's the man!

3. Final Fantasy Versus XIII: The PS3 exclusive looks simply amazing, I'm not sure it'll make it out this year but if it does, it'll be a system seller for sure!

2. God of War III Kratos on the PS3, what else needs to be said?

1. Street Fighter IV: Yeah this list may be a bit biased, but I've covered this game so much last year I had to put it as MY #1 choice! HADOKEN!