Juggling Mike

I figured I would do a quick summary of what I have been playing lately. I’m not a huge gamer anymore, so I only play every now and then. Even at that pace, my list spans several consoles, so it may seem like a lot.

Xbox 360:

Braid
This is a quirky Xbox Live game that just came out. It is a puzzle platformer which lets you handle time to solve the puzzles. While the time gimmick has been done before, never has it been done so well. Each world has different characteristics that force you to think outside the box. In one world, walking forward (to the right) advances time, while walking to the left reverses time. Thus baddies that had died are brought back to life if you walk too far to your left. Some items are not affected by time change and continue moving as usual. While it is a short game, I had a lot of fun with it and the ending is really well done. It is a bit steep at 15$ for an Arcade title, but I highly recommend it!

Naruto: Rise of a Ninja
I picked this up for 10$ while I was in Nova Scotia for Ride the Lobster. I have not gotten very far in it, but it is a fun adventurer mixed with a fighting engine. While sometimes the cpu feels cheap, the pay off from winning is always a great feeling. There is also a lot of “fetch x amount of y items” quests, but somehow, it does not really become annoying, which is a feat in itself. I would recommend it if you are a Naruto fan, otherwise try it out first to see if it is your cup of tea.

Need to get back into/play:
Grand Theft Auto 4
Stranglehold

Wii:

Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros’ Tresure
This is a really fun puzzle game which fell completely under the radar for most gamers. It features characters that were not in any prequels and had a more relaxed thinking approach to gaming. I don’t think it will be picked up by many mainly because it is a new IP, but it definitely needs to be checked out. If you want something different and you have a Wii, check out this game!

Need to get back into:
Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
SSX Blur
Smash Brothers Brawl

DS:

Pokemon Pearl
I bought this game about a year ago, yet I never played it. Reason was that when I bought teh game, it came with a free copy of Spectrobes. I had been curious about Spectrobes so I played it first and then other games came out on DS and well, I never went back to Pokemon. I kept it in view all these months and I finally decided to give it a chance. So far, I am quite liking it, but I find it very slow (fights need a fast forward button) and I am hit with a huge sense of “I’ve played this before”. Pokemon Blue back in the day was really fresh and original and every other iteration felt like a copy. Nonetheless, it still sucks you in and you end up enjoying it.

Civilization Revolution
What can I say about this game? It is just like the other Civilization games we played in the past, but finally made for consoles. This game is addictive as hell, and I have to be careful playing it. Often I go to sleep way too late since I want to play just one more turn. I tend to always finish a game on one session. If you like Civ and want to play it on the go, you pretty much need this game. Very awesome and lots of fun.

Need to get back into:
Puzzle Quest
Spectrobes
Guitar Hero
Picross DS
Crosswords DS
(I have way too many DS games.. but it is the best gaming machine out there)

PC:

Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People - Episode 1 - Homestar Ruiner
I am a huge fan of Sam n Max, and I really enjoyed the episodic variations that TellTale games came out with for the series. Being a fan of Strong Bad, I pretty much HAD to pick this up. So far it has not disappointed. It feels exactly like the cartoon (in a good way) and the humour is jam packed. It does seem a tad slow, but it is the first episode. If Sam n Max is any indication, the other episodes in the season will simply get better and better!

On the Rain-slick Precipice of Darkness - Penny Arcade Adventures - Episode 1
I picked this up on Steam since it was half price. I’m not the biggest fan of Penny Arcade, but I love the whole mythology idea behind the series. The game feels very accurate to the web comic and the humour is the same. It is an rpg and while I would have preferred an adventure game, they did a good job incorporating the role playing elements with the Penny Arcade universe. I’m not far enough to fully give a rating, but I like what I see so far.

Need to get back into:
Toonstruck (I need to replay this game.. thanks Jiahui)

- Juggling Mike

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This is probably old news to most of you, but I just discovered Dr. Horrible yesterday. I have to share it with everybody since it is so bloody awesome! It is a short online video directed by Joss Whedon and has to do with Dr. Horrible (Neil Patrick Harris), an evil doctor who wants to join the big leagues. He’s also trying to win over the woman he loves (Felicia Day), but he’s constantly blocked by his nemesis, Captain Hammer (Nathan Fillion). Oh, did I mention the entire thing is a musical?

I have embedded the video below, but I don’t think it will last very long, since it is also available for purchase on iTunes. Check it out while you still can!

Update: Seems that non-Americans have been blocked from viewing the movie. Even us Canadians

- Juggling Mike

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I survived the convention! Today was a lot busier than yesterday. Although we had less clients in the photo booth, we encountered a lot of technical difficulties. The good part of it, is that it made the day pass by a lot more quickly. The con of it, is that I didn’t get to go out and take many pictures. Nonetheless, here are some of the photos that I managed to grab. You can see more after the break.

Travis Touchdown from No More Heroes

Franziska von Karma, 2 Godots, and Edgeworth from Phoenix Wright

Avatar: The Last Airbender
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- Juggling Mike

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So I survived day one of the convention. I must admit, I was not prepared for what I would see. There were a lot of people and about half of them were in costume, if not more! I was surrounded by all sorts of characters from various animés. The most popular cosplay seemed to be L from Death Note, most likely because it is so easy to do. There were also a lot of Bleach characters, although I don’t recall seeing any Ichigo. I spent most of my time volunteering in the photoshoot area, which you would think would attract a lot of people, but only a handful of people came in. Even then, we were quite busy. I didn’t get to take a lot of personal pictures, but I hope to be able to grab more tomorrow.

Here’s a couple of pics that I did manage to take.
There are more after the break.

Haruko from FLCL, wielding Cloud’s sword(?), and Yoruichi from Bleach

Retsu Unohana and Ikkaku Madarame from Bleach

Usopp as Sogeking, Nami, and Roronoa Zoro
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- Juggling Mike

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Since I had nothing better to do this weekend, I decided to volunteer for the Otakuthon convention here in Montreal. I have never been in the past, so it will be a new experience to me. I went tonight to scope out the area (thanks to a small volunteer orientation meeting) and it should be rather interesting. It is at the Palais des Congrès near Place D’Armes metro.. which is also conviently right beside Chinatown.

There were a bunch of people who were picking up their preregistered passes. Some were already in costume. I’m used to Fantasia and all the various people there, but it was quite surprising to see the people who were there tonight. They seem to be younger than the Fantasia crowd, and a lot more energetic. They are expecting over 2000 people over the weekend, so it should be quite packed. I will have my camera with me, so hopefully when I am free, I will be able to go snap some pictures of cosplayers.

You can check out the schedule here. If you don’t find it hardcore as it is, stay around later at night and you can catch the hentai showings. I just don’t understand why they have so much yaoi stuff going on… why??

- Juggling Mike

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Well, Fantasia has come and gone for one more year. I limited myself to twenty movies, yet I know I could have seen more. There was a nice mix of films from all over the world and only a couple were disappointments. Congratulations to the entire Fantasia team and all the volunteers who helped out. The 2008 edition was, once again, a blast. I look forward to revisiting the genre festival in 2009!

- Juggling Mike

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This was my last movie at the festival. I had not seen any trailers and I knew barely any information about it. All I cared about was that it was a zombie comedy being compared to Shaun of the Dead. That’s good enough for me! While I would not really compare it to Shaun, it definitely was funny and is a great zombie flick.

The movie revolves around prom night in this small suburban town. The town is normal enough, except for the huge nuclear power plants situated right beside town. What possible side-effects could these power plants have on the town? Did anybody say “wake up the dead”? That’s right! The smell of the waste is enough to make the dead arise from their graves.. no wait, explode from their graves and land on the ground running. These are not your grand parent’s shuffling zombies! These run as fast as you can and are hungry for your brains! When all hope is lost, a group of ragtag students from school, who were on their way to the prom, decide to battle evil and save the others. Will they survive the night? More importantly, will they make it to the prom?

If you like zombie movies, then you will love this. As a horror movie, it does not disappoint, and as a comedy it is even better. It is practically action all the way, and you can’t help yourself from cheering the kids on. I want to share this movie with some of my zombie (loving) friends. There is no way they will not enjoy this. I really hope this gets released in theaters!!

- Juggling Mike

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Along with Repo! and Let the Right One In, Going by the Book was my most anticipated film at the festival. It looked like a great Korean comedy and the trailer was awesome. It did not disappoint. We were a lot of people seeing this and every one of us greatly enjoyed it.

It is extremely clever and never dwelved into the oh-too-common pace-breaking sentimental scenes which pollutes too many Korean comedies. The actors all do a great job and the way the story unfolds is nothing short of great. If you ever have a chance to see this movie, watch it! It is absolutely awesome and I can only hope it gets brought to regular cinemas for everybody to enjoy.

Check out the trailer here

- Juggling Mike

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I know this is old, but I just saw it and I find it cute. It is another AMV, this time featuring Osaka from Azumanga Daioh. Since that show is one of my favourite animés, I figured I had a duty to share it here. To those who wonder where I get Orange Cat from, check out this video.

- Juggling Mike

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I`m a big fan of musicals that try to be different. Hedwig and the Angry Inch and The Rocky Horror Picture Show both proudly stand among my dvd collection. When I found out about Repo!, I knew I had to go see it. I can easily say that it will join the others on my shelf when I can pick it up on dvd.

Repo! The Genetic Opera is a rock opera. There is barely any talking throughout the movie. Everything is sung and there are many full scale songs all the way throughout. It is hard to describe the story, so I recommend just checking out the trailer.

The movie has a very surreal style and the fact that everybody is singing adds an overall charm to it. I was really impressed by the actors since they can actually sing. Even Paris Hilton does a good job here, and I am not a fan of hers. It is really difficult to properly describe this movie, so all I can say is go and watch it when it comes out in theaters! It is definitely unique and is really fun! Support original movies such as this!

- Juggling Mike

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