Lookin' Ahead 2009 Edition

Last year I did a thing looking ahead at 2008. And boy was I right, 2008 was a blast. Now I know I'm doing this a little late. But here we go:

Already happened: Halo Wars (Review Soon), Resident Evil 5 (Review Soon), Hasbro coming to Live Arcade, Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X.
What else?

1. Modern Warfare 2- A sequel to a game so good it doesn't even need to be called Call of Duty any more
2. Alan Wake- A game that's building anticipation via silence. I expect an EPIC demo at E3
   
3. Bioshock 2: Sea of Dreams- You. Play. A. Big. Daddy.
4. The Beatles: Rock Band- As long as there's Back in the U.S.S.R.
   
5. I Am Alive - A game where you have to live through a huge earthquake in Chicago, battling for water and trying to save your girlfriend? Count me in!
6. Survivor- Another survival game, except multiple disasters including 9/11 and the Titanic
7. Ride to Hell- A GTA Lost and the Damned like game. Where do I sign?
8. Primetime- Can't wait to see how this is implemented.
   
9. Huxley- The First real MMO game for the 360?
   
10. Red Dead Redemption- I love western games.
11. Max Payne 3- Never got into the first 2 but the same thing happened with Resident Evil 5
    
12. Velvet Assassin- Historical game based in World War II, starring a female spy and featuring Splinter Cell like game play? Who says WWII is dead?
13. Mafia 2- The 1st game looked interesting on the computer, but dated when finally released on the Xbox. I think this maybe a lot better. Love the era.
    
14. The Saboteur- Game based in occupied Paris circa WWII. Hell yes.
15. Splinter Cell: Conviction- There's been a long media blackout since the negative reception of the first information. Will they be out this year? I'm not keeping my hopes up.
16. Sundown- Zombie apocalypse game. Need I say more. Hopefully out in '09
17. Cipher Complex- Interesting Splinter Cell like game.

And that's not including what I can only imagine are going to be huge announcements from E3 '09 in a few months.

Game Download Review: COD:WAW:MP1

Today I'll review the Call of Duty: World At War: Map Pack 1, I won't be reviewing the Zombies map though, just the multiplayer maps.

First is Nightfire: basically a night map in the streets of a German city (Berlin?) in flames. Now as a sniper the map is okay, it's not as big as Seelow and there's a couple of okay sniping spots. The map is pretty fun for objective based games like sabotage. And there is a variety of strategies one can use (ex. go through factory, alley, across street to sniper or enemy base, etc.) so you have to be on your feet.
Overall: 8/10
It's fun but there are areas for improvement.

Second is Station: Basically a recreation of the subway tunnels from the campaign, this map is a bit of a bitch because it seems as though there's ALWAYS someone behind you. This is because of the multiple tunnels that link from the main big tunnel to the secondary tunnels. There aren't any lighting issues here either. Also fun for games of sabotage. Sniping can be done here but it's kind of lame.
Overall: 8/10
Pretty good, sort of like the map Elongation from Halo 2.

Finally there's Knee Deep: This is definitely my favourite Pacific based map. It's quite large and features various sniping spots. Great fun for objective games and death match games alike. Starts out kind of boring but it really grows on you. Favourite map from the pack, better than the other Pacific maps like Makin and Courtyard (not sure of the name).
Overall: 9/10
All round very good.

BUY? Yes

Regarding This Red Eye Fox News Canada Fiasco

Here we go:
0:00-0:55 : Wow this is a horrendous, terrible, disgraceful, despicable, disgusting portrayal of our army and a slap in the face to the dead soldiers. NO IT ISN'T. Our army is pathetic. We're ranked 46 on a list of largest armies. And about our lost soldiers, a lot of them died because of shitty equipment. And the guy even points out our lack of tanks, which isn't a joke, it's true. People should be more outraged at how under funded the army is.

0:55-1:05 : I'm terrified of the U.S. invading us! Remember, ranked 46? U.S. is number 2, and we have more fresh water, oil and other resources than them.

1:05-1:20 : Doug Benson, 2006's Stoner of the Year (High Times Magazine) talks. Enough said.

1:20-1:32 : He has a point. But to be fair, countries like Ireland, Denmark and Norway don't have large armies either, and those countries are in former Hitler territory, so you'd think they'd know better. Also they shouldn't be talking considering even with their big army they got hit on 9-11 and tons of illegal immigrants are pouring into their country.

1:32- God I really don't like this guy so I really don't want to watch this...
1:32-1:55 : Arrogant stereotyping of Canada. We do have normal police. Christ even mounties don't where red most of the time. Oh good a nice lady is going to be fair to us.

1:55-2:40 : Please don't defend us again lady. First off let's straighten something out, Canada isn't "taking a year off". We're withdrawing our troops which was planned and decided by our government. Something your inept governments haven't done (yes both democrats and republicans) And then you throw in this Cold War era crap. "The Front Lines with Russia" what decade are you living in? The Cold War fear mongering is worse than anything.

2:40-3:13 : I wonder why Norway's government isn't whining about this? Maybe cause they have better crap to do then watch youtube videos of late night Fox news "comedy" talk shows?

3:15-3:30 : The first part makes sense, but then he just goes on and on. Is he talking about American forces? Canadian forces? Iraq? Afghanistan? Doesn't really make sense. Mostly conservative nonsense.

3:30-3:50 : The only thing you have to worry about for Mexico is when their army will be patrolling your streets. Just noticed something, isn't strange that our army is coming home, the U.S. is beefing up theirs overseas and we (Canada, US, Mexico) can use our armies in each others countries now?

3:50-4:00 : Wow is this a joke? Siesta gets point out as a stereotype but throwing mounties and cold don't bat an eye?

4:00-End : "Evildoers"? Enough said.

The Real Problem with the Music Industry

It ain't downloading. It's quality. No ones buying albums because there's nothing to buy! They just don't make music like they used to. I will show you a clear cut example. See how many future classics you can find in 2008:

2008 #1 on charts:
Low by Flo Rida?
Love in this Club by Usher?
Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis?
Touch My Body by Mariah Carey?
Lollipop by Lil Wayne?
Coldplay, whatever
I Kissed A Girl, a song no ones gonna give a shit about in a yea...oh wait we already don't give a shit
Disturbia by Rihanna?
Whatever You Like by T.I.?
So What by Pink?
Live Your Life by T.I. Featuring Rihanna?
Womanizer by Britney Spears??
and finally Single Ladies by Beyonce?

That's the best 2008 had to offer? What a joke! Let's look at 1978:

Some Beegees, Wings, Rolling Stones, Anne Murray Barbra Streisand and Donna Summer

How about 68?:
Beatles right off the bat, Simon and Garfunkel, The Doors, The Rascals, More Beatles, Marvin Gaye and Diana Ross

This year is even WORSE!

We've got Just Dance by Lady Gaga?? My Life Would Suck Without You by Kelly Clarkson? Crack a Bottle by Dr. Dre, Eminem and 50 Cent? Right Round by Flo Rida? Fuck me who listens to this shit!?

Lets look at 1979 then shall we?:
Bee Gees, Chic, Rod Stewart, Gloria Gaynor's "I will Survive", Doobie Brothers, Blondie, Donna Summer, My Sharona by the Knacks, Michael Jackson, Eagles, Styx and a bit more Barbra Streisand.

How about 69 then?:
Marvin Gaye's "Heard it Through the Grapevine", Sly & The Family Stone, Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Archies' "Sugar, Sugar", Temptations, More Beatles, Steam, Diana Ross and fucking Elvis!

I REST MY CASE.

P.S. I should also note you would have also had guys like Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Supertramp, Tom Petty, CCR, George Baker Selection, Bob Marley, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Cream, David Bowie, and many other all making ground breaking music at that time too.

Movie Review: Watchmen

I loved the Watchmen. No I've never read the comic novel and probably won't, I'm kind of lazy, I've got 5 other books I still need to read. Also I think watching the movie gave me a clean slate. I don't like dabbing into different medias with the same subject. I haven't seen the Harry Potter movies, but loved the books, for example. Where do I start?

The Watchmen is sort of like Lost, there's the now time line, and there's a bunch of flashbacks. Basically there's an alternate history where during the 1930s a few people put on masks to fight crime. This eventually became outlawed and now most of the people live in hiding.

Patrick Wilson stars as the Nite Owl, a character who misses the old days, but mostly keeps to himself. Jackie Haley plays Rorschach, an angry guy who only wants to keep justice. He's probably the most entertaining of them all. Billie Crudup plays Dr. Manhattan, a person who works for the U.S. government as both a weapons and scientist, he is the only character with true powers. Malin Akerman (A Swedish-Canadian hottie!) plays Silk Spectre, who is romantically involved with Dr. Manhattan but feels them pulling apart. Adrian Veidt is played by Matthew Goode, he is the "smartest" man in the world. Finally Jeffery Dean Morgan plays the Comedian, who dies early on.

The movie revolves around who killed the Comedian and why? While most of the group don't care, Rorschach is trying to figure it out. The movie is very stylish, in almost a noir kind of way, but not. I really don't want to explain anymore, just know that there is nudity/sex and gore/violence. Definitly see this in theatres, there's no way a T.V. screen, no matter what size, can do this movie justice. Just don't bring the kiddies.

Acting: 10/10
Story: 10/10
Atmosphere: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
Rated: 18-A (ONT) R (USA)

P.S. Try and notice the staged/false flag terror plot in the movie!

Movie Review: Traitor

Traitor stars Don Cheadle as Samir, a Islamic man who has ties to the C.I.A. His handler, or boss, is Carter played by Jeff Daniels. Guy Pearce plays an F.B.I. agent who doesn't know this and is hunting Samir.

The tension is that Samir's father was killed by a car bomb as a child and it isn't known which side he's really on. Does he help the terrorists or save lives?

Just like in the last review I did, Body of Lies, there's a false flag terror attack committed by the good guys.

To me the movie was bland, again like Body of Lies, it just didn't drum up enough excitement. I liked Jeff Daniels in it but he doesn't play a role long enough. The story just seems boring, it's a lot like the Siege but without any of the material that made the Siege so interesting.

Acting: 8/10
Story: 7/10
Atmosphere: 7/10
Overall: 7.5/10
Rated: 18-A (ONT) R (USA)

P.S. The movie was written and produced by Steve Martin, which I thought was kind of strange

Movie Review: Body of Lies

Body of Lies stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a CIA agent Roger Ferris working in the Middle East. Russel Crowe is Ferris' boss Ed Hoffman. They're hunting a terrorist who might as well be Osama, Saddam, whatever.

Roger's plan to catch him gets screwed up and Roger becomes involved with a Jordanian women in the process. There's a lot of trickery between the terrorists, Jordanian intelligence and the C.I.A.

There's a lot of play, almost manipulative on the movies part. There are scenes where Hoffman is talking on a headset to Ferris, while dropping his daughter off at school. It gave a feel like "This is what we do to protect our children".

Not only that, but there's a false flag attack by the United States, posing as terrorists and blowing up a base in Turkey!

The movie comes of kind of bland but still kind of exciting, Leonardo is great but Crowe doesn't really have much character.

Acting: 8/10
Story: 7/10
Atmosphere: 7.5/10
Overall: 7.5/10
Rated: 14-A (ONT) R (USA)

P.S. Ridley Scott does a wonderful job directing.