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Wednesday, January 04, 2012

Thinking about just moving the site to Facebook

To fit my lifestyle, I may just have to redirect the domain to the SuicideNinja.com fan page. It's easier for me to post things there, and I don't feel obligated to write huge reviews.

I loved to write the reviews but I'm just not playing as many games anymore. The days of shooting for achievements and playing 40+ hr games are just gone...I can't do it anymore.

Wednesday, November 09, 2011

3D Pirates

I haven't seen a 3D flick in a while so I picked up Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

Content aside, I am still annoyed that 3D flicks are coming with multiple and unnecessary discs. Digital copy is nice, but is a bonus I can live without. It is bluray; why do I need the DVD version? I want to pay a reasonable price for the movie in one format; not a high price for four bundled formats.

As for this particular flick, the story felt thrown together and the new characters were lacking resonance. However, there was a perceivable effort in taking advantage of 3D. Aside from swords failing at jutting out the screen, most of the effects stood out a bit above the standard.

Get rid of the glasses and I will be a bit more supportive, albeit not much.

Pirates 4 has a few good moments, but I recommend it as a rental. There isn't much here to justify multiple viewings, other than to show off the 3D effects.

-Written from my iPad

Sunday, October 02, 2011

ALIENS: Colonial Marines Gameplay



Just cleaning out my "to-read" list in Google Reader, and I original thought this was going to be gameplay from the DS ALIENS: Infestation.

I'm glad I was wrong! I want a piece of this game, ASAP. It looks to be my dream game for ALIENS adaptation, although AVP2 was CLOSE!

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Saturday, September 17, 2011

Theories on the re-death of 3D

3D. What a great-sounding feature. One that, is actually in competition of an expectation of something consumers already have.

Imagination.

With the extra dimension in these films no one asked for, I always wait for the "surprise". Something is supposed to pop out and threaten my bubble.

Instead, we end up with cardboard cutouts inside of the electronic diarama known as our expensive HDTV's. Even the supersized projected version in the theater does no justice to a psuedo 3rd dimension.

But hey. Technology is fashionable these days. So let's forget about the lack of proficiency of this zombie of a feature. Instead, shift focus to the consumer and what they care about: Bang for the buck, and quality of content.

I'm going to punch that first item squarely in the nose, powered by the force of a condensed black matter ball of expletives. I'll start with the lack of standards on the home-version of the tech. Passive? Active? Different for every manufacturer?

Look manufacturers and content providers. If you wanted to get consumers to fall for this 3D push in the first place, starting with $200 sets of head-inducing, ridculously sized "blinking" glasses isn't the way to go. Turning consumers off further by making those over-priced glasses incompatible with different brands digs the grave deeper for your chances.

Sure, lack-of-standards sometimes works. Look at Blu-ray; no hardware standards there. HD-DVD had standards and lost, unfortunately. If they were still around, EVERY HD-DVD player would probably be able to get an upgrade to 3D. Not with Bluray; most people need to buy another $100+ 3D player right when regular players became reasonably priced.

And we haven't even talked Televisions yet. Confuse consumers further by having 3D LCD/Plasmas priced on par with 2D LED televisions. The sad truth is, the naive (and common) assumption is that price is quality, and current technology. But for what the technical differences are, this is gouging (and trying to recoup R&D, but that would happen anyway). You don't have any more feet to shoot guys.

Most importantly is content. HD is bad enough, charging double or triple just for a higher resolution and more "features" we didn't ask for. 3D then doubles or triples the HD price, which can't possibly be warranted when you are trying to force a technology. $40-60 for a 3D film is hardly the ninja sneak attack to get 3D into homes. You aren't selling Apple hardware; consumers notice care about the price tag when it comes to films.

Am I disgruntled? Yes. I tried; I bought the 57" 3D magic and four sets of headache-inducing blinky-flashy glasses. And of the near dozen 3D films I have, the Shrek movies were the only movies to make a difference with 3D to my eyes. I'm hoping for some more mature content that doesn't suck. Please.

And if my pissy rant isn't enough, this Slate article is a bit more diverse, and contains valid points as well.

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Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Xbox 360 w/ Kinect Bundle for under $200 at Target


My mom was excited this morning because she capitalized on this deal. She had been in the market for an Xbox.

My parents had dinner at my house last weekend and I introduced them to the Kinect. As expected, good ol' Mom had her eye on Dance Central, and some interest in the other hands free games.

She took the Walmart ad with the Xbox Kinect bundle @ $249.99 and price-matched it at Target. Target in turn, was offering a $60 Target gift card with the purchase of the bundle. The result is $189.99 if you had additional purchases to make at Target anyway. Or you could use the gift card to get a "free" game.

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Sunday, August 28, 2011

My sister rocks this One Hit MMA promo video



This is a promo video for One Hit MMA, a great local gym that I occasionally train at. Honestly, I'm a bit surprised that the video didn't feature the other fighters there, as they do have plenty of talent. My guess is it has to do with her looks and exceptional form.

One Hit MMA
192 N. Fairfield Rd.
Suite #2
Layton, UT 84041

Although you would think otherwise, she's actually not lined up for any fights right now. She's smart enough not to depend on her hobby for income so I don't think we'll see her diving in full-on.

This video would be great for Everlast, or even Nike (if she had been adorned in their attire).

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Saturday, July 30, 2011

Less peripherals = mo' betta

EA's honest response to the money pit of 3D has me thinking.

I was doing some housekeeping in my gaming room, and stumbled into a bunch of Wii remotes, remote gun shells, and the balance board. None of it really got any use, other than the Wii remotes in the few games I actually purchased for the system. Did any of it really do anything special?

Without a thought, my head turned to look at the Kinect. Other providing questionable stats on my balance and weight, the balance board didn't really do anything that could be done with a camera. Having to fumble with less peripherals made for a better experience. As for EA Active, using my own weights instead of the Wii remotes is certainly more effective.

Utilizing voice commands rather than trying to figure out where the remote was last placed is great as well.

So for 3D, Nintendo tried to help us out in a similar way. However, 3D doesn't really make anything easier. It doesn't make "more sense" either. If we can't interact directly with a 3D object, then what good is it?

I am surprise that Microsoft hasn't found a way to use 3D and Kinect together in a way that gives value to the extra dimension. Yet, if the 3D effect doesn't seem to pop out, what could they do? They have done some interesting things with head tracking, but we need implementation. Changing the 3D picture per your position has possibilities. If you could get up and look to the side or behind something, with the view changing as you inch closer, they might be a step in the right direction. Again, plenty of tech demos but no usage.

Affordability and more direct interaction. That is where we need to go from here with the tech. Or just drop it. I am fine either way.