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    February 28

    What's New....

    First I'll quickly touch on the Oscars.  All in all I'm pretty happy with their selections.  I was very happy to see Pan's Labyrinth win a few awards and then to see Alan Arkin pull off the upset for Best Supporting Actor for Little Miss Sunshine.  If you have not seen this movie, I highly recommend that you do.  The cast is superb and the writing is great a swell.  Plus it has Steve Carell in it.  How can you go wrong with that? 

    Gaming wise, I was able to rent Sonic last week for the Wii.  I haven't had a chance to play a lot of it yet but I've played through most of the first world and so far I'm enjoying it.  The graphics are nice and the sound is good as well.   The cutscenes are very much like the X-Men game that came out last year in that they are all hand drawn stills with mild actions. 

    The controls are pretty decent.  It's actually quite like playing a Sonic version of Excite Truck.  controls do take a little getting used to though.  Attacking enemies is pretty easy once you do it a couple times. You simply jump in the air and then once the target locks on the enemy, you thrust the controller forward and Sonic dashes in the air at the enemy.  The targeting is automatic. 

    I do like that the camera is more or less fixed behind Sonic and he is always moving forward...unless of course you make him walk backwards for something he missed.
     
    I also finished Crackdown yesterday.  I really didn't want to finish it this quickly but I couldn't help myself.  The game is way too addictive and I couldn't put it down.  I still have some leveling up to do on my guy but hopefully I can do that on co-op.  My strength, agility and explosives are all at 4 stars though, so it's not too bad and the driving I can do with the races that I still need to do as well.  The ending to the game was a little meh to me.  It almost seemed like they were trying to throw too much story into it at the end.  I hope they bring some DLC out soon.  However, with God of War II coming out this month, I'll have more than enough to keep me busy.  I can't even begin to say how much I am looking forward to playing that game. 

    Last but certainly not least, how great is that GRAW 2 multiplayer demo that came out on Monday?  The game looks and runs better than GRAW and the healing ability is a nice bonus.  However, I still don't like how long it takes to throw a grenade and I also don't like how you have to hold down the A button and then select the grenade launcher when playing as a grenadier.  In GRAW you just had to push the B button.  It was definitely more helpful to do that in a gun fight.  However, the new night vision in GRAW 2 is definitely a step up from GRAW.  At least now I can see what the hell I'm doing. 

     

     


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    February 23

    Oscar Night 2007

    I just realized that the Oscars are only two days away and I haven't posted my predictions here yet.  I know a lot of people think the Oscars are stupid and not important, and I can agree with that to a point, but I still watch them every year given my love of movies.  I have actually managed to see quite a few of the nominated movies, and there are still some I haven't seen that I would like to.  Maybe I can squeeze one more in before Sunday night.  So without further ado, here my predictions:

    Best Picture – The Departed
    Best Director – Martin Scorcese
    Best Actor – Forest Whitaker
    Best Actress – Helen Mirren
    Best Supporting Actor – Eddie Murphy
    Best Supporting Actress – Adriana Barraza
    Best Animated Movie – Cars
    Art Direction – Pan’s Labyrinth
    Cinematography – Pan’s Labyrinth
    Costume Design – Dreamgirls
    Editing – The Departed
    Foreign Language – Pan’s Labyrinth
    Makeup – Pan’s Labyrinth
    Original Score – Pans Labyrinth
    Original Song – something from Dreamgirls
    Sound Editing – Letters from Iwo Jima
    Sound Mixing – Flags of our Fathers
    Visual Effects – Superman Returns
    Adapted Screenplay – Children of Men
    Original Screenplay – Little Miss Sunshine

    Updated - Feb 25/07 at 6:40 p.m.

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    February 19

    What's Going On....

    So far, I'm off to a pretty good start with my games finished list for 2007.  As of yesterday, I've already finished the following games this year:

    Resistance: Fall of Man
    Call of Duty 3 (360)
    Gears of War
    Rainbow Six: Vegas (360)
    Tomb Raider: Legends (360)

    That's not too shabby if I do say so myself considering how I didn't have my 360 for the first 1/2 of January.     Hopefully I can keep that list going.  Right now I'm working on Lost Planet and I'm on level 10 of 11 (I think I heard it was 11).  So far I'm really liking it but man some of it is rather tough and frustrating. 

    I want to get Lost Planet finished so I can focus all of my attention into Crackdown.  I actually managed to buy myself a copy of it yesterday at the local Sam's Club despite the nice bright orange sticker across the top of it that reads "DO NOT SELL BEFORE 2.20.07".  I guess if they had put the game right side up in the plastic security sleeves (are those things retarded or what?) they may have noticed that but then again, I doubt they would have cared. 

    I played through some Crackdown yesterday for about a 1/2 hour so and I did notice that levelling up is slower than it was in the demo but not a lot slower.  I didn't want to play too much as I'm really looking forward to the co-op.  Quick question though....am I the only person who bought this and doesn't really care about the Halo 3 beta invitation?  I'm willing to bet I am.  However, I think it's great that it's in there and I'm looking forward to playing that.  I hope it allows private matches. 

    I guess that's all for now.  Stayed tuned later this week as I will be posting my Oscar predictions, most of which I am sure will be wrong.  :) 
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    February 12

    What Happens in Vegas....

    Not much to report today but I did manage to finish the single player of Rainbow Six: Vegas yesterday.  This is the first Rainbow Six game I have ever completed and I absolutely loved it from beginning to end.  I thought the game had as good a story as you would find in most hollywood action movies.  I definitely cannot wait for the next one.  Anyone who has finished the game will understand what I mean by that. 
     
    Now that I have finished Vegas, I have decided to raid some tombs and play through Tomb Raider: Legend.  I know I'm a little behind on this one but I picked it up cheap on Boxing Day and I'm really liking it.  After only starting it yesterday, I'm already over 50%.  Just great fun all the way through so far.  My favourtie parts are probably where you have to ride the motorcycle.  Just pure action. 
     
    So I took a look at what's coming out between now and the end of March and I think it's going to be time for some tough decisions for me.  With GRAW 2, Guitar Hero II on the 360, Crackdown, Motorstorm (PS3), God of War II (PS2), Sonic and the Secret Rings (Wii) and a few other titles, I'm going to have to cut some stuff out.  Right now though Crackdown, GHII, God of War II and Sonic are most likely my definites.  Everything else is going to have to wait unfortunately. 
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    February 05

    Layeth the Crackdown

    As most of you know, a demo came out a couple weeks ago for the upcoming Crackdown game.  I for one have become totally addicted to it.  I have played it in online co-op more than a handful of times and it is just as fun every time I do.  One of my favourite things to do is to boost my agility and strength up as much as possible so that I can leap tall buildings in a single bound and be more powerful than a locomotive and.....oops...that's Superman. 

    Having the high agility is awesome.  I love being able to jump from rooftop to rooftop across long distances between buildings.  I love being able to hop up high buildings to get even more agility points.  I also love boosting the strength ability so that I can pick up cars and throw them at unsuspecting people or even just being able to kick a car down the road like a soccer ball. 

    This game has a ton of potential and barring being suddenly broke, I definitely see myself picking this one up in a few weeks when it is released. 

    Hope you all had a good weekend as I did and I will see you all again soon.
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