D.C. Douglas, the man who voices classic video game villain Albert Wesker, has recently added to his blog a series of fan-written voicemail messages and ringtones that you can download to use on your own device. All the man asks in return is that you donate to a charity, any charity will do. As an added bonus for Wesker fans he made a parody video of the hillarious Old-Spice commercials, only with Wesker selling Uroburos as a way to enhance your man’s puny human DNA. Check out the video above, then head over to D.C. Douglas’s blog and pick up the voice mail messages and ring tones, just make sure you donate to charity before or after you do so. I had a chance to donate to the Boy Scouts of America yesterday, which I passed on for morality reasons which I care not to explain, so I’ll throw a fiver (I’m pretty much broke until Friday, but you should totally donate more) into the charity collection for Ronald McDonald house when I go to pick up my lunch today, and write “From: Albert Wesker” on it just so they know who to thank.

PAXEast is coming up in only a few weeks and Level Up News will be there in more than spirit. As part of the PAXEast exhibition hall the Boston Indie Showcase selects three games created from small local Boston developers that normally couldn’t afford to showcase their games in the exhibition hall.

“The winning entries are:
 
·         Blinding Silence (PC) – Team Uncertainty – A sound-based puzzle game as viewed through the ears of a blind man.  As a wave of darkness has fallen over the land, and as the light wanes, so too does free will.  Using the power of sound, the player must influence mindless drones in order to progress through obstacles, complete levels and return light to a land of darkness.
 
·         Smuggle Truck (PC, Mac, Web, iPhone, iPad) – Owlchemy Labs – Smuggle Truck is an over-the-top physics-based driving game where you smuggle your passengers across the border in the least amount of time. Tilt your truck, catch newborn babies, drive over armadillos, and rocket your way over hills, through caverns and over quicksand to save the people!
 
·        Snapshot (PC) – Retro Affect – What if a camera captured more than just an image?  In Snapshot, that’s exactly what Pic’s camera does.  It actually absorbs objects into photographs, removing them from existence!  Paste one of your pictures back into the world and see all of your captured objects come tumbling out.  Capture even the most unusual objects: doors, light, even copies of yourself! Travel through five unique worlds, collect beautiful and elusive objects, and overcome the most challenging puzzles.”

Stop by the BIS booth and check out the winners, I know I will. PAXEast is coming up on March 11th-13th, 3 Day Passes are almost sold out, so if you are planning to go you may wanna get on that. Oh and those hotel rooms, totally gone at con rates, but you may get lucky on a discount website.

Company:

THIS WILL BE BRIEF AS TO AVOID POTENTIAL SPOILERS!

The Scoop: After 28 years Disney revives the 1982 classic science fiction film that set the bar for special effects with this high budget sequel shot in glorious IMAX3D.

The Setup: Back in the 1980′s Kevin Flynn, CEO of computer conglomerate ENCOM, was on the fast track to change the world through technology. After making a huge breakthrough with his secret project, a digital world called The Grid, he disappears mysteriously, leaving his son to inherit his company. Twenty years later Sam Flynn is still haunted by his father’s disappearance, living a reckless life and sabotaging his father’s former empire. After his father’s former partner Alan receives a page from Flynn’s old office he sends Sam to investigate, hoping to find some evidence to his father’s whereabouts. While looking around Sam discovers the entrance to The Grid and gets transported to the virtual world his father created.

Inside the digital utopia things haven’t been going so well, Kevin Flynn’s digital double CLU has gone insane and attempted to kill his creator, forcing him into hiding. CLU has turned The Grid into a dangerous place where programs have to either submit to his master plan or fight to survive in the games arena; and the legendary protector of The Grid, TRON, has been missing since the coup.

What’s Hot: First and foremost the effects in the movie are fantastic and look especially good in IMAX3D, which is seriously how you should consider seeing the movie. They world certainly lacks in a variety of colors, but all the designs are sleek and sharp and look nothing less than awesome. Using digital effects they have attempted to make a 30 year old Jeff Bridges and this looks pretty good while being used to show CLU inside The Grid, though during the opening flashback it looks incredibly out of place; but it shows that within years this kind of computer technology could be perfected and put to good use.

The soundtrack to the film is phenomenal. While a couple of the tracks are old school tecnho, Daft Punk largely composed a soundtrack that combines the bold brass orchestra of Inception with a light Daft Punk style electronica beat. It sounds so good that I think Daft Punk could have found a new calling, I believe they should do more sci-fi movies in the future, or maybe just go ahead and redo the soundtracks to some existing ones… The Matrix sequels maybe? I enjoyed it so much I had to go and purchase the hell out of it and I recommend you do the same. Personal favorite… The Game Has Changed, there is no better music to accompany a lightcycle battle.

Thank you Daft Punk, keep it up.

The first movie was, for lack of a better word, pretty boring. Fortunately there is a lot more action in the sequel, and for the most part it is pretty good. While some of the action sequences seem pointlessly inserted and poorly cut, such as the fight inside The End of the World (SPOILER ZOMG), most of the action is pretty solid and original. I’ll make a special note of the lightcycle sequence, which was pretty awesome. The scant few scenes involving TRON himself were also pretty awesome, as he uses an interested fighting style that is rarely seen in film, I just wish there was more.

The non action sequences are reasonably well acted, all things considered. Jeff Bridges is obviously a seasoned actor, and he plays two very different roles in the film (Kevin Flynn and CLU); he does a particularly good job with this, drawing from roles like The Dude for the portrayal of Kevin Flynn (who was kind of Dude-ly as a younger man, but is almost dead on at times in his older age), and hitting up some of his more villainous roles like Obadiah Stane in Iron Man for the portrayal of CLU. Garrett Hedlund does a good job as our new series hero, though at times he was a little too ‘extreme’ for my taste; I know it does good for your character to try to be the epitome of cool when dealing with younger children, but it was just too much when he base jumped off a building after a daring bout of corporate espionage and ended up riding on top of a car like he was Spider-Man.

Olivia Wilde is pretty damn hot in a Gridsuit…

Why hello...

…so is this Beau Garrett chick…

...and a hello to you too.

What’s Not: The dialogue isn’t terrible, but at the same time it isn’t fantastic either. There were no particularly bad lines, but nothing that will ever be remembered or quoted (except maybe a few reference lines from the original, such as “I fight for the Users”, which is especially a shame as the movie is so visually memorable.

My main problem, and my only major problem, is the movie is light on story. It’s a very basic good vs evil story at the core, and it has no real substance; the world created in TRON: Legacy is beautiful and sounds like it has a lot to offer to a story, but the writers seemed to forgo any sort of history or explanation. It seems that the entire twenty years is wrapped up into a two minute story told by Kevin Flynn to his son. The story of The Grid’s creation and the story of the ISOs seems like it would be very interesting and rather important to know, but instead we get a one sentence explanation with no real reasoning ever presented. There is also this stuff that comes out of nowhere like Kevin Flynn having these magic powers inside The Grid which is never really explained, nor the mortal connection between Flynn and CLU. It just seems that so much important story is left out in order to make way for more action to counterbalance the lack of it in the original. The movie also tries to retain the pseudo religious tones of the original, but it just doesn’t seem to fit as well this time around with the lack of detail and comes off as more forced than before. Maybe with a more seasoned director it could have really been something. Perhaps in the future Disney will think twice before handing a highly anticipated 200 million dollar production to a newcomer, especially when Pixar wants in. Besides, even Gore Verbinski had a few movies under his belt before he did Pirates of the Caribbean.

Final Verdict: It definitely has more style than substance, but TRON: Legacy stands out as one of this years more enjoyable blockbuster titles. Just make sure you see it in IMAX3D to get it for all its worth…

Oh yeah, and buy this while you're at it!

]]> http://levelupnews.com/other-stuff/special-movie-review-tron-legacy/feed/ 0 http://levelupnews.com/black/check-out-this-epic-trailer-for-hotel-mario/ http://levelupnews.com/black/check-out-this-epic-trailer-for-hotel-mario/#comments Mon, 06 Dec 2010 16:57:50 +0000 Dave Taylor http://levelupnews.com/?p=8165 Originally released on New Year’s Eve in 1994 Hotel Mario stands as one of the better games for the Phillips CD-i, yet still one of the worst games to ever feature the now famous video game plumber. It’s been sixteen years and it is pretty clear that a re-release is never going to happen. If you can manage to snag a copy then it is worth checking out, preferably with a group of friends that are just as intoxicated as you are; if you can’t get a copy though (as is the case for most people as it is one of the rarer games on one of the rarer systems) you can still relive much of the glory that proves that anything, even something as terrible as Hotel Mario, can truly come off as epic if you add the soundtrack from Inception to it.

Inception as it turns out gets released on DVD and Bluray tomorrow, and if you haven’t seen it you should definitely check it out, as it is currently (and will probably remain) my movie of the year… and the Bluray is only 18 bucks at Best Buy.

Tell me, Why? Why now?

For years, my friends have tried to get me to play World of Warcraft, and for a while I was quite content with not playing it. There’s nothing that I personally have against this game, it’s just I didn’t have the time, nor the computer that could handle such a game. But after a friend of mine was able to build myself and my sister a decent gaming PC, I started diving into games such as Left 4 Dead, Star Wars: Empire at War, and other various games. However, MMO’s were not my thing. I already owned an Xbox 360 and was paying for the online play of that, so why would I pay two monthly subscriptions for two completely different titles?

It was the year before that I had actually purchased World of Warcraft to give it a shot. Unfortunately the way that my service was set up, I kept having latency issues and was being disconnected. So I decided that since I had put off World of Warcraft for so long and saying how it would waste my life that my computer was trying to save my soul. After all, this is the game that has the option to buy a USB powered soul-taking device that you can use while playing the game.

I did manage to find myself playing other types of MMO’s, that being Champions Online and Star Trek Online, both developed by Cryptic studios. But I never actually had enough friends that would sit down and play side-by-side. In fact, the majority of Champions Online I played by myself. The most I had with Star Trek was the standard five player party. Now with Star Wars: The Old Republic sometime in the near future, I find myself itching to play one of those two again.

It was about two weeks ago where I had took a mini-vacation with my friends in which we spent four days procrastinating. Of course, the majority of them there were avid World of Warcraft fans. When I got home, and talking about how awesome the vacation was, it was back to business as usual. Then, it happened.

One of my friends had been trying to find Christmas gifts for everyone, and something was about how we should all get into World of Warcraft seeing as the new expansion back Cataclysm is coming out. Our trusty tank in Halo: Reach had just recently received a laptop and was given it as a gift. All of a sudden, they’re planning on building a guild and starting out as certain classes. Then they turn to me. I kindly inform them that I don’t play the game. I said how I owned the battle chest, but I never got it to work and it would just be too late for me to join in.

The next day, he shows up to work and hands me a copy of the Wrath of the Lich King and a pre-order for Cataclysm. “You’re playing,” is all he said. I sighed as I grabbed the box. It was empty. “Digital version,” he replied. I sighed again. Let the patching commence.

You could customize your mech anyway you wanted. Mine had a giant satellite. That meant I couldn't have any big guns sadly.

Now, whatever video game I play, whether that is Rainbow Six, Battlefield, or even MMO’s like Star Trek Online, I always play one of two characters: a healer and a commander/tank. For example, in games like Rainbow Six and the late Chromehounds, I was the commander. Most of the time I was looking at a map, figuring out where the enemies were, and coordinating positions with my other teammates to engage the hostiles.

In Battlefield 2 I was a commander whereas in Battlefield: Bad Company 2, I was the medic. In fact the best story playing that game was when I was a medic and my entire team followed me until the fighting happened, then they took point, and I patched them up.

In Star Trek Online, I played the engineering class, the equivalent to a paladin in World of Warcraft. I was both the tank and the medic. Needless to say, guess what class I picked when I finally got into the game? It should be noted that for a while I was going to pick priest and be pure 100% medic, but James gave me a sound reason to start as a paladin in by saying that paladins have plate armor and priests are squishy.

So I loaded up World of Warcraft and started my paladin character. I don’t think I’ve played another game besides this in the past 72 hours. It’s not like I haven’t done anything else in the past 72 hours, it’s just I haven’t played a different game in the past 72 hours; two different scenarios. And seeing as there’s only one gaming PC in the house, I do have to give up on it when my sister is in a mood to play The Sims 3.

What can I say about this game now that I’m playing it? Well, I like it. I can understand how people can get roped into it and start playing this game for a long time. The only thing is there are some quests I would not ever want to do again, but there hasn’t been a quest that I’m sad is over like in Star Trek Online.

For those that have never played a MMO before, let me break it down to you. From a casual observation, each race in World of Warcraft has its own starting zone, but will be able to travel to other zones in the game. This way you’re not stuck replaying the same starting sequence over and over again, such as games like Cryptic’s Champions Online and Star Trek Online. But there are certain quests known as “fetch quests.” Essentially it’s a quest in which an NPC asks you to gather X amount of an item or several items. Some of these can be very boring and may not pay off in the long run. But so far in World of Warcraft, I have not come across a quest in which I have gone “I wish I could play that again.”

The Doomsday Machine vs Me

Now let it be known that I am both a fan of Star Trek and Star Wars. While playing Star Trek Online, there was a mission in which you faced off against the Doomsday Machine from the original Star Trek TV series. By far, it was one of the best experiences I’ve had in an MMO. Unfortunately with most MMO quests, you’re unable to replay a mission without starting a brand new character.  So it was somewhat sad when I had completed the quest and moved onto my next mission.

So what can I say, I like it. Of course right now I’m soloing, but even still it’s an enjoyable game. As I was told by one of my friends, “congratulations, you have been assimilated by the Borg.”

My name is Jeffrey, and I’m a paladin.

Next month: Minecraft

“Got what?” We all asked. Next thing we know, these three were sitting down in front of us. We call it, the Evolution of the Halo Controller. Yes, we did put them in order from best to worst, seeing we all said the Reach controller was the best with the ODST as a close second. The Halo 3 one? It just looks lame.

Then again, I can find better things to spend $80 on ($40 per controller thanks to GameStop’s buy 2 used get 1 free sale)

ShopWiki.com gives on-line shoppers the ability to view prices of products at more stores, which means better savings and more deals!  Find the best deals from top on-line retailers like Macy’s, Kohls, eBay, Amazon, and many others.  At ShopWiki.com, you can find prices on popular and every day products like Indoor Light Fixtures, Home Furnishings and Decor, and Lamps. Speaking of lamps, students and teachers are now in full back to school mode and ShopWiki.com is the perfect place for them to buy a new Desk Lamp for their classrooms and dorms.

With the Fall season upon us and Winter right around the corner, now is the perfect time to upgrade your Indoor Light Fixtures since you may be spending more time indoors than outdoors. And with the Holiday season right around the corner there’s no better way to get ready for the Holiday parties and gatherings than to spruce up your Home Furnishings and Decor.

Whatever your shopping needs are be sure to check out ShopWiki.com for the best deals around the web!

Just check out the in-progress fan made game posted up on You Tube. Here’s hoping it’s finished soon!

Recently I was shown the trailer for Tron: Legacy and somehow thought to myself, “I really want to play Kingdom Hearts 2 again.” Oh sure, say what you will, but in all honesty, Kingdom Hearts is more for the Disney lovers than the Final Fantasy ones. The fact that I also have a copy of Kingdom Hearts RE: Chain of Memories still in it’s plastic wrap still urged me to pass on it for 2. Then again, I do need to play that game as well.

Kingdom Hearts 2, like every other big Square Enix title, was huge when it first launched. I remember sitting down for a week straight with my sister trying to beat that game, and in the end we were satisfied and could not wait for the sequel. Having not played Kingdom Hearts 2 in over three years have given me a lot of surprises I did not pick up the first time. Oh sure, we all know the general plot and premise, but it’s the subtle things that either puts a smile on my face or make me go “why did you do this terrible thing?”

Good Things I Forgot:

• Pete’s Boss Fight in Timeless River.

There was some charm to the whole Timeless River campaign. Sure the Black and White style mixed with the old artwork for the characters was neat. But if it was one thing that pulled this level together was the end boss fight with Pete. What made it so good? Every so often, when you’ve knocked enough HP out of Pete, the camera would do a close up and Pete would do the timeless “exit stage right” zip. The curtain would close and a mugshot of Pete appeared. The curtain would raise and now you’re on a completely different set. Sure it happened like five or six times, but it was still funny everytime it happened for some reason.

• Voice Cast = Win

Seriously, when you sign on either to do a Disney movie or a Square Enix game, you’ve almost sold your soul to continue that character on forever. But even the most subtle characters bring joy. Okay sure, Johnny Depp isn’t playing Jack Sparrow, but you’ve got other great actors like James Woods, James Earl Jones, Christopher Lee, hell even Bruce Boxleitner and Angela Lansbury among a list of other great screen and voice stars. I didn’t even remember Quinton Flynn was Axel. Yeah… this was a good line-up guys.

• The Drive Feature

I’m not sure why I didn’t use this earlier. I’m guessing that when you’re introduced to a new and powerful technique you need to build up, you save it for the most opportune moment. Now that I’ve beaten the game and have somewhat of an understanding what will happen in a level, I’m using it a lot more freely. Let’s face it, two keyblades = slaughter fest.

Bad Things I Forgot:

• The Music in Port Royal

Let’s face it. The music in Kingdom Hearts 2 was gorgeous. The melody’s were great, even battle musics seemed in it’s place. It’s just for some reason, once you get to the Port Royal level, the music goes from great orchestration to MIDI music like we’re playing the game on a PS1. Seriously? For one thing, my sister couldn’t wait for me to breeze through the game just to get to the Pirates of the Caribbean stage. Oh sure, the battle music was He’s a Pirate from the soundtrack of the first movie, but the entire level just seemed that the music just was rushed through.

• The Friend Quest

For a while now, I’ve been sitting here and wondering. Sora’s off and trying to find Mickey and Riku, yet not once does he ponder about Kairi. Even while he’s traveling throughout the different worlds, you’d think he would at least land once back at Destiny Islands to see how everyone was doing. Or… maybe that’s just me.

All in all I’m still about 7 hours into the game and just hit Port Royal, so there’s still a lot more to go in the game, for that I’m sure. Regardless, it will be interesting what else I’ve forgotten about this game.

Off the topic of poo though, I remember when I smoked, I could eat anything. I mean ANYTHING and I’d remain in awesome shape. Now that I quite, even if I eat something healthy like a bowl of flippin’ grape nuts, I get bloated like I’m about to pop twins out or something. I’m going to try a celery diet xD. The most unhealthy thing in the world, but I won’t get bloated. The texture of the celery will fudge with my tongue though x-x. G-Damnit.

So I beat Heavy Rain. Great game. Everyone should check it out. And check out my review for it because I’m sexxy.

P.S. I also found out in some mexican comics that instead of saying ha ha ha in spanish… you say jajaja xD. That’s so fudging awesome! Later and good luck with the herpies!