“Highest Possible Recommendation.” The statement still stands.

From the opening sequence I was already sold. Somehow I knew I was going to love it. And with so many disposable movies coming out of Hollywood, that’s a rare occurrence. If you’re the type of person that would give this a chance, you probably have already seen a hundred zombie attacks. In the intro you just know this is going to be something special when Metallica’s “From Whom the Bell Tolls” guitar chugs start thundering in with the zombies themselves.

Zombieland isn’t just a fun movie. It’s a funny movie. It’s hysterical, in fact. The entire audience guffawed throughout and you have to kind of be a pretty hip crowd to laugh at some of the things that happen. That’s kind of the beauty of it because the characters have heart and fantastic actors playing them. Woody Harrelson is brilliant as a southern zombie-slaying good ol’ boy. He meets an unlikely hero: the nerdy unassuming narrator and zombie apocalypse survivalist played by Jesse Eisenberg (Adventureland). The two of them hook up with a pair of imperiled sisters played by Emma Stone (Superbad) and Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine). The foursome trek through the undead wasteland in a fairly linear storyline not uncommon to every other zombie flick. What sets this apart is what they do at their stops along the way. In a beautiful and twisted way, Zombieland becomes a hybrid of Dawn (Shaun) of the Dead, Superbad and National Lampoon’s Vacation.

The bottom line is that it’s obvious that the filmmakers had fun making it and the audience will have fun watching it.

Rotten Tomatoes, a site known to compile reviews across the board for movies that end up with an overall rating of “fresh” or “rotten”, has an accumulative average for Revenge of the Fallen. Ultimately decided a very rotten tomato, the new Transformers sequel is rated an abysmal 20%.
I’m not one that lives or dies by the critics, but when you consider the other highest grossing films of all time, they sit at comfortably fresh ratings for the most part.

Revenge of the Fallen is big, loud, pretty and stupid. It’s all of those things magnified to an unimaginable level, which wouldn’t be a bad thing at all if it weren’t for the stupid part. Because there are effects sequences that are mind-blowing, coupled with Megan Fox slow-mo running shots with 15 layers of lip gloss that will be sure to bring every 12 year old boy back in the theaters at least 5 more times before the month is over.

Before I go any further let me point out that I am an 80′s kid that grew up with these characters and their lore. Transformers may have been one of the most definitive aspects of my childhood. From taping every season to VHS and collecting so many Transformers that any other toyline was banned by my parents. And I was OK with that.

Staying as objective as I can while stepping out of my own skin, TF: RotF could be a pretty decent summer popcorn movie if an hour was shaved off of the bloated 149 minute running time. If you’re familiar with the first live action movie, Sam’s parents are back with some of the most stomach-turning scenes in recent cinema. Every line of dialogue and “comedic” beat is extraneous and frankly, unfunny. It would seem that humans were introduced in both movies so that the audience could relate to the characters better. But I couldn’t relate to these characters at all, in a comedic or even at a human level. They weren’t even that. They were more caricatures than anything. And it’s not that caricatures are even a bad thing. Poorly written ones are though. It’s like the foundations and concepts of what made Transformers good was introduced to the creative meeting, and grossly misinterpreted and executed with the gajillion dollar budget they were given. But the box office results absolves these sins, right?

No matter how high the box office gross, I can’t, in any reality, justify Mom Witwicky poorly acting a pot brownie high, John Turturro’s hairy ass covering 30% of the screen or Devastator’s clanking balls. Because we need these things in Imax. Ok I’m not devoid of a sense of humor. Far from it. But this simply translates as a slap in the face to a multitude of diehard fans. These are the highest offenders in the movie, which brings us to the Twins: Mudflap and Skids. With literally hundreds of characters to adapt from these two were introduced for specific use of even more cheap comic relief. These characters are bad in Jar Jar Binks levels of proportion. What makes actual Transformers great is that they are known to fans to have individuality and personality. It’s like again, this concept was introduced and then heinously bastardized. While sometimes silly, the old cartoons still retained heart, something these Bay movies soullessly lack.

I wish that this was a case of a sore fanboy that didn’t have his childhood dreams realized. But that’s not the case. What has happened here is the largest scale scenario of all style, no substance in the history of cinema.

Uh oh. Is Apple’s newest gadget going up in smoke? No official report from Cupertino is forthcoming, but most are speculating that the problem is Apple’s legendary albatross—battery issues.

The conversation is heating up on Apple’s discussion board. One user quips, “An iPhone getting warm due to a running app is normal. An iPhone getting too hot to touch is not.” But apparently, some users are having just that problem. As one user complained, ” I had been burned…from the iPhone getting so hot.”

Since hitting the market, the iPhone has been legendary for its speed, functionality, touch screen, and thousands of apps. Most users are more than pleased with Apple’s revolutionary smartphone, and the new iPhone 3GS, with an amazing array of cool features, has not been a disappointment. Now bundled with a video camera, compass, higher speeds, and an upgraded firmware, the new iPhone is sizzling hot—in more ways than one.

No functionality seems to be compromised from the incendiary phone, but users don’t want to play hot potato with their iPhone all the time. Apple is going to have to do something.

The story is about a girl named Christine, (Alison Lohman) who has to make a tough decision at work that causes a woman to give her the curse of the Lamia, a demon spirit that comes knocking for her soul. There are some CG effects used for the demon, but they don’t detract from the movie by obviously being just that, a pitfall that many horror movies suffer from when using digital effects. You can tell that these are the tools Raimi would have used if he had access to them when doing his Evil Dead movies. Fans of the series will immediately see a familiar style and technique to the suspense and action sequences of demonic invasion. It’s like he’s taken the camera action he’s learned from Spider-Man, the drama evident in The Gift and A Simple Plan and woven a demonic tale that would do the Army of Darkness proud.

Horror movies generally need an R rating for me to even give them consideration, but under the circumstances I kept an open mind. The violence usually seen in slasher flicks was absent but the action and gross-out factor were turned up to 11. Fight sequences are so extreme they feel like superhero battles. And there are enough bodily fluids to gross out even the most seasoned of horror fans. They’re done with so much style that there’s even an underlying thread of humor woven into each of the shots. There was a scene that was so intentionally revolting that an elderly couple just got up and left the theater at the showing I was at. That was just a case of poor movie research on date night, but seeing them disgusted and fleeing added to my enjoyment and the overall hilarity of the experience.

The bottom line is that Drag Me to Hell is a well-made original offering from one of the best in the movie industry. Bloodthirsty fans may leave wanting more, but if they’re simply fans of good movies they should enjoy it. Viewers with weak stomachs may want to sit this one out. But those with haunted house mentalities and a love for fun and the bizarre should have a hell of a time.

Christian Bale delivers the presence you’d expect to the leading hero John Connor and Sam Worthington seems to be a proper rising star as the character Marcus. There were plenty of throwback references in the spirit of past Terminators that have done the same. They didn’t feel shoehorned or cheapened. Fans of the series will get it without the movie jarring to accommodate them. The trepidation fans held was obvious due to unproven director MCG, which had an underwhelming box-office presence this past Memorial Day weekend. But in this reviewer’s opinion, MCG has indeed proven himself as a kinetic action director capable of handling a film with more gravitas than previously thought possible. Danny Elfman handled the musical duties and brought his own flavor using classic themes and weaving them into the score.

The only thing really holding this movie back was the PG-13 rating. While taking a 13 rating is usually a studio attempt at broadening an audience, it’s quite possible it could have served more as a detriment. While the filmmakers pushed the action as far as it could go, the lore of this material has always been very adult. Humans were collected for some unknown diabolical robotic experiments or torture. But rarely terminated. In every film prior to this one there was never a shortage of humans violently meeting their ends by a mechanical executioner. At the end of this film, you know you saw something enjoyable, but you eventually can’t quite help noticing something missing. Terminations.

Would an R-rating have brought this movie to an upper tier? Absolutely. It’s like making a PG-13 version of the Predator. Or Conan. It’s just never going to be the genuine article without the violence. Let’s hope we get a director’s cut for the home video market, because in the end it really is a well acted, well-shot action packed film with walking metal endoskeletons packing automatic firearms terrorizing the human race.

Chris Pine creates a Kirk with cool and charisma while avoiding the pitfalls of being a pretty boy with no substance. This tale of Kirk is woven through an epic hero’s journey rivaling any Star Wars film. Using the dude from Shaun of the Dead, Sylar and Harold from White Castle is inspired casting. Characters use their classic accents without being jokes or cheap stereotypes. Supporting crew members like Chekov and Sulu contribute with their own particular brands of badassery.

Not only is Abrams good at character and story, his visual directing is top shelf. When you see the Enterprise you truly grasp the sense of scale that this version of the vessel has. Having the cameras recoil while “filming” ships going to warp is an ingenious creative decision. There are also action sequences that are some of the most fun you’ll have in theaters this year that aren’t even space battles.

There’s true drama, character development, an obvious love to the material that it is based off of, action, spectacle, light-heartedness and a sense of hope that makes the film stand apart from so many of the apocalyptic dystopian realities we tend to create. As a society we tend to make what we imagine and with this Star Trek it becomes more than just a popcorn movie. It illustrates a culture that we could be and where we could boldly go.

This also reoccurs in other forms of pop media such as video games and comics. I remember reading stories about Wolverine and playing Solid Snake in Metal Gear in the 80′s. In the past couple years I’ve seen fascinating stories that revolve around their older ages. Their weathered no-nonsense countenance is reminiscent of Clint Eastwood in his more recent performances.

Here is a relevant quote that Stallone has said about action films:

“When we make action movies now, we’re considered moneymaking machines with no esoteric worth, and that’s not true at all. There’s a lot of artistry that goes into what we do. I tend to think of action movies as exuberant morality plays in which good triumphs over evil.”

To see one last hurrah with some old-time favorites is going to be the spectacle of spectacles. And anyone born in the last century should have some interest in this ambitious project. It looks like Stallone is going to make the preeminent action film with as many 80′s action stars as possible. As the 80′s have spawned so many action heroes and virtually created the genre, we’re looking at an all-star asskicker squad combining the old-school classics with the present day finest. Stallone and Schwazeneggar alongside Statham and Li is enough to blow the roof off. So blending in stars that this century’s kids grew up with is like providence.

But here is look at how much testosterone fueled power can be expected:

Source: IMDB

Jon Favreau enlisted Adi Granov, one of Marvel’s premiere illustrators to do production art and Iron Man’s costume sketches themselves. Zack Snyder brought in Dave Gibbons, artist of the Watchmen to oversee aspects of production in the film. These are the pains that should be taken to get the films visually where they need to be.

So whenever I watch X-Men and have to listen to Cyclops tell me “What would you prefer, yellow spandex?” I think, “Screw you, Scott. I know you lack imagination, but I wouldn’t use wrestling tights. I can suggest at least 5 better costume designers than yours though.” He might as well be saying, “I’m ashamed of the way we have looked in over 40 years of printed material.” Last time I checked, I don’t remember reading the comic where the X-Men all take a shopping day in the Matrix. Wolverine has a mask and I’d like to see him wear it someday. And Magneto is not built like Gandalf. Magneto is built like Daniel Craig. These things can be done by visual directors more capable than Ratner and yes even Singer. They deserve better. Catwoman is a Caucasian jewel thief and not whatever Halle Berry was. I understand if no one in Hollywood can make do for a casting choice, concessions need to be made, but to actively choose to bastardize a property in a multi-billion dollar industry just doesn’t make sense.

The Ghost Rider villain Blackheart is supposed to look like the cross between the devil, the Predator and a black panther, not the emo kid from American Beauty. Villains are half the movie and need to be on point just as much as the hero. (I have similar issues with Venom in Spider-Man 3.)

Not to take away the importance of translating the personality and essence of the character. Sometimes they get the spirit of the comic right, or sometimes just the appearance. In cases like 300, Watchmen and Iron Man they get both. In instances like Catwoman, Elektra and Schumacher Batman films, they abysmally have neither. The bottom line is that you can make them universally appealing while keeping them visually accurate to the fans that liked them in the first place. Watchmen even proved that if you stylize it enough you can make those silly Silver Age costumes work. Now I’m looking at you, X-Men. You can have the skimpy blue ninja costume, the phoenix logo, the masks, greens, blues, reds and yes Cyclops, even yellow.

The release of the movie has led to me thinking about the history of video-movie transitions, and how rocky the road has been. We’re talking ‘Colorado’ rocky (sorry, couldn’t resist). In a homage to Clint Eastwood’s classic western, I figured we’d look at today’s list with a little The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

The Good

Mortal Kombat

Unfortunately, the ‘Good’ list is going to be quite short today. Which is sad considering to make a good video game movie, all that is required is you stay true to the source material, and make it entertaining. Hell, you don’t even have to try to make it a “good” movie. Mortal Kombat is the greatest example of this.

If there had never been a Mortal Kombat game, and this movie came out then I’d say never give it the time of day. But as a representation of the game Mortal Kombat, the Paul W.S. Anderson flick is still what I consider what other filmmakers should look up to when making a video game based movie.

Why could a movie with such awful acting, and cheesy dialogue make for a good video game movie? Because Anderson knew to please the people who saw the movie, all he had to do was make the fan’s much beloved game come to life. Which means they wanted source material intact, and to watch some badass fight scenes. Which Anderson brought in spades.

Mortal Kombat did the greatest job of taking the virtual characters, and have them translated to film. When you watch the movie, all the characters are represented by closely resembled real life counterparts. Also, no one was left out from the original so no upset fanboys.

Something I believe that is overlooked in Mortal Kombat was the quality of its special effects. This movie came out in 1995; I watched it a couple of weeks ago and the effects still hold up well. They aren’t going to blow you away, but Anderson did a masterful job of taking elements of the game and putting them on screen. Also, the fight scenes in the movie are nothing to laugh at either. They are well choreographed, and are some of the best done fights you’ll see in a game based release.

Until something better comes out, I still say that Mortal Kombat is the greatest video game based movie to be released. The movie that follows second is….

Street Fighter: The Movie

Ok, it’s kind of a stretch to put Street Fighter: The Movie in the good section of this article. By god though, Street Fighter does deserve some accolades. For the time that this movie was released, along with how many characters that the film tries to demonstrate, it honestly couldn’t have gotten any better than what we got from the 1994 hokey cult classic (live action anyway).

Street Fighter is definitely a flawed movie. There’s enough things wrong with it, that it even makes Mortal Kombat look Academy Award winning. However, I truly believe that the filmmaker had his heart in the right place and in many ways did do the Street Fighter series (at the time) justice.

I’ve been playing Street Fighter games since 1992, when Street Fighter II was released in the US. After all this time, I believe it’s impossible to make a SF movie and not have it goofy. Have you seen the roster of characters in the game? You have a Japanese, and American who wear near matching gi outfits (one white, and one red) throwing fireballs from their hand. You have a green beast, with long spiky orange hair, and chest hair. And a hulk boxer, who never takes his boxing gloves off. Who in their right mind could believe that a good Street Fighter movie could ever be made?

Although you’ll be laughing through most of Street Fighter: The Movie, I think it actually stayed pretty close to the source material. The storyline was pretty close to the game, mostly because during the early days Street Fighter never had much of a narrative. It was pretty much M. Bison and his crew (Shadaloo) versus the stable of characters. The writer, Steven de Souza, didn’t stray too far from the path.

I think in terms of visuals, the film was well casted as well. None of the characters look a whole lot different than their game avatars. Again I digress, there’s no way you can style Street Fighter in real life. Jean-Claude Van Damme as Guile is one of the funniest casting choices ever in the history of movies. Someone with a foreign accent playing an over the top patriotic American is quite hilarious. Raul Julia, looks like M. Bison but the character like Guile is taken so over the top it’s funny to watch.

Street Fighter: The Movie is a film that if you put it in your DVD player, is like watching old episodes of Pee-Wee’s Playhouse. When you were younger the movie was absolute fun to watch, and is still fun but for a whole different sort of reason.

The Bad

Super Mario Bros.: The Movie

I know the light that shines from dollar signs can be very alluring. Just like the sun though, if you look too closely it blinds you. I’m pretty sure that whoever read the script, watched the first cut of Super Mario Bros.: The Movie, and still decided it should be released had to be blind. There’s no other logical explanation.

What really sucks about the movie is that it has a lot of people I like in it. Bob Hoskins has been in some movies I really liked (Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Unleashed). Then of course there’s the timeless wonder, Dennis Hopper who has been in too many of my loved movies to even name here. So, why in all that is holy on the planet Earth did they decide to appear in this movie? The dollar signs shine brightly for everyone, not just Hollywood big wigs.

I’m not even sure where to start when talking about all the things that are wrong with this movie. There’s only one shining light in the picture, and it’s that the bomb-ombs look like their game counterpart. That only lasts for like 15 seconds of the movie, so that’s how much enjoyment you can expect to have if you watch it. Every other character that is portrayed in this movie is so far from the source material that they shouldn’t have even bothered. I really don’t want to get into all the descriptions, but all you need know is that Bowser is played by Dennis Hopper, who is human like with some scaly hair.

Here’s what Bowser looks like in-game:

I wish it ended with the characters, but unfortunately their designs make even more sense than the plot. To be fair, there’s never really a plot in Mario games. The princess is kidnapped, and it’s up to Mario to rescue her. Instead of keeping something simple like that, the writers went in a different direction. Here’s a description from IMDB; I really couldn’t explain it better myself:

“This is the story of two hard working Italian plumber brothers named Mario Mario and Luigi Mario, who befriends a young paleontologist named Daisy. She uncovers a massive find of mysterious new dinosaur bones. While exploring the tunnels where dinosaur fossils lay, saboteurs hired by the Mario Bros. rival businessman, Anthony Scapelli, to break some underground pipes. Meanwhile, in a hidden world called Dino-world, King Koopa’s land is running out of water and going through problems so he sends Spike and Iggy to kidnap Daisy! Now the Super Mario Bros. find themselves the only hope to save the Earth from invasion then challenge a diabolical lizard king and they must battle giant reptilian goombas, outwit misfit thugs and undermine sinister scheme by taking over the world!”

Alone in the Dark/Bloodrayne/Postal/In The Name Of The King/House of the Dead (a.ka – any Uwe Boll movie ever made)

Unlike the Super Mario Bros. movie, I can talk about the long list of Uwe Boll movies and still put a smile on my face. The reason being, is the man behind the movies himself; who is pictured above flicking you off. Uwe Boll is one of my personal heroes for the sheer fact that he really doesn’t care, he’s an enigma. I honestly don’t think he cares about the movies he has released. Yet he keeps doing it. Why? That right there is one complicated cat, and anyone that’s wrapped in mystery, wrapped in a riddle, wrapped in a vest like Uwe Boll deserves some some form of applause.

It’s really hard to single out one of his movies out, but my personal favorite to watch is Alone in the Dark. It really is the most ridiculous sci-fi movie ever created. It makes Sci-Fi Channel presentations look like something created by Ridley Scott. I would go into a long discussion about how it doesn’t follow source material, but I think there’s not such thing as source material in Uwe Boll’s world.

Tara Reid plays an anthropologist, who stars opposite of Christian Slater as a paranormal detective. They are both studying the Abkani, an ancient dead civilization. All of this takes place on, wait for it…Shadow Island…..ohhh spooky!

What you see in Alone in the Dark, is basically what you get with an Uwe Boll movie. The characters don’t make sense, the plot doesn’t make sense, and it generally has nothing to do with the game it’s based on. But Uwe Boll is still hilarious.

The Ugly

Resident Evil Series

The ugly category is a bit different than the bad. The reason being, is that these movies are watchable. But, in terms of being a video game movie, and doing the games justice they come up short. Resident Evil is a perfect example of ‘the ugly’.

I have very mixed feelings about the Resident Evil series. I won’t deny that they’re fun, action packed, and full of zombies. Yet, it feels like they could have been so much more. The Resident Evil series are games that have a movie like presentation. There’s wonderful cut scenes, scary settings, with a character roster that is beloved by fans. The original Resident Evil especially, is scary because of its setting and sense of dread.

The Resident Evil movie however plays out more of an action flick than a horror movie. The simple nature of being secluded in a mansion is turned into a guns blazing, ass kicking Milla Jovovich filled romp. While a movie like this would have been sweet if it were something else, it just isn’t ‘Resident Evil’.

The character representation is a mixed bag for the most part. The main character in the movies, Alice, isn’t even in the games. But mainstays like, Chris Redfield, Wesker, Jill Valentine, Claire Redfield all show up in some form during the movies. Just don’t expect them to be much like their video game characters. Paul W.S Anderson, the same guy from Mortal Kombat really dropped the ball here. He did such a good job keeping the spirit of the Mortal Kombat characters, he could have done the same for Resident Evil.

The plot loosely follows the game. The setting takes place in a mansion, like the game but it’s mostly set in ‘The Hive’, a secret facility underneath the mansion. The whole story behind Umbrella, and the T-Virus, are all shown, which I give Anderson credit for.

If only Anderson realized he could have done so much more with what he had. You can’t forgive the fact that the entire tone of the movie is almost polar opposite from the game. Which is why the Resident Evil series is ‘ugly’, not ‘good’.

Silent Hill

Silent Hill, like Resident Evil isn’t a bad movie. In fact I think Silent Hill was a good half a movie. The first half of Silent is actually the best video game based movie I’ve ever seen. The only problem is that there’s a second half. An evil side, and not the good kind of evil. I’m talking, rushed, we need some action kind of evil.

It’s kind of funny that Silent Hill is in the ugly category along side Resident Evil. They’re both survival horror classics, which have dedicated fan bases. Silent Hill is probably the most disappointing movie on this list. Just for the fact the beginning of the movie teases you into thinking that a filmmaker finally got it right.

The plot of the movie, vaguely follows the storyline of the game. Silent Hill takes places in a coal town, there’s an evil girl at the center of the story, and there’s a loving parent trying to save the day. Although most of the huge plot developments are right, some of the details are different. First, the hero in the game is Harry Mason, while in the movie there is a heroine, Rose Da Silva. The movie’s true beginning also starts a bit different, but after about ten minutes or so it catches up to the game. So, barring the gender swapping nothing too horrendous to point out.

The movie starts out very dreadful, and does a masterful job of displaying that sense of seclusion. Radha Mitchell does a great job as she tries to make her way through Silent Hill in search of her daughter. There’s some very gruesome moments, that capture the spirit of the game. Unfortunately there’s a point in the movie when things start to go downhill very quick.

*SPOILER*

When Rose ends up finding out what’s going on in Silent Hill, the movie changes its pace. The eerie dread of Silent Hill is traded in for crazy CGI effects, and melodramatic Silent Hill citizens. The climax of the movie is so over the top, that it really comes off cheesy when the rest of the movie felt so right. The ending is hokey, and really doesn’t do much in terms of wrapping things up. It’s just there.

Again, Silent Hill isn’t a bad movie, it’s just a film that had so much wasted potential. Why couldn’t the filmmaker extend the first half, and make the second like it? Unfortunately, we’ll never know.

—————-

As video game fans, it’s crazy to assume that most of the franchises we love could ever make it to film. Video games just have a certain way of being, that for the most part don’t translate to live action. The narrative pieces in games are definitely getting better, so the transition could improve.

Unfortunately, much of Hollywood is driven by money and releasing these movies brings in droves. I just wish that filmmakers would do more to respect the games they’re butchering. There’s so much wasted potential out there. We can only hope that Hollywood stops what it’s doing, or gets their act into shape. I wouldn’t hold my breath though.

I left some movies off the list, so let me hear back from some video game movies you think are good, bad or ugly.

Smartmow is a 3 blade mulch system that runs on lithim ion batteries that can be charged with the included charger. The lithium ion batteries will last about 2-3 hours but the Smartmow will automatically re-dock and charge until it gets the job done. In this time frame it will cover about 3,230 square feet. For hard to reach areas it also includes a remote so you can still enjoy mowing your grass from inside your house. To start the mower you have to use a security card that is provided when you purchase. This is for safety and theft measures.

If only Billy Mays could get a hold of this product, he could sell a billion of them. They might need to look into hiring him to market the Smartmow.

To find out more information or purchase one of these visit www.smartmow.com

To get a first hand look of this product check out this exclusive video from WebProNews:

I’m not sure how many people purchased The Dark Knight on Blu-Ray knew, but they had the oppurtunity to sign up for a live commentary from Christopher Nolan. The director, and co-writer of The Dark Knight. People who purchased the movie noticed that one of missing special features was a director’s commentary of the movie. That’s because Warner Bros. decided to go another route, and show off what Blu-Ray is capable of in terms of online capability.

Tonight, at 6pm, Christopher Nolan will be providing a live director’s commentary to a lucky 100,000 people. You had to go through some hoops to sign up for the commentary but I’m sure it will be all worth it tonight. I won’t bore you with the details but you had to sign up with Warner Bros. BD Live. Then you had the opportunity to submit three pre-emptive questions for Nolan to answer during the commentary. I was either lucky enough, or quick enough but I got my invitation and will definitely be attending.

I think that I came up with three kick ass questions, and hopefully Nolan will address them…

1. Now that you’ve used three of Batman’s primary villains (Rhaz-Al Ghul, The Joker, and Two Face), what other villains do you find intriguing in the Batman mythos?

2. Which inspirations (comic book wise) made you shape the characters the way you did in The Dark Knight?

3. Now that The Dark Knight is over, do you keep up with any of the story arcs in the current Batman comics? Have you read ‘The Joker’, a new graphic novel out that parallels The Dark Knight?

Did anyone else sign up for the live commentary with Christopher Nolan? If so, what questions are you planning on asking?

It all starts when Springfield Mall gets a new Mapple store, shaped like a giant cube. “It’s so sterile”, is the first thing Lisa excitedly says upon entering. She goes from display to display looking at the MiPods and MiPhones.

Steve Mobs’, the self-proclaimed “insanely great leader”, makes a live announcement from the Mapple headquarters deep below the sea. Some geeky spectators comment, “he’s a genius” and “he’s like a god who knows what we want” before Mobs even says anything.

Mobs’ says he has something that will “completely change the way you look at everything”. Everyone in the audience now has cash in hand waiting to buy whatever it he says.

Of course, Bart sees this as an opportune moment to hook up a microphone and dub over the lisping Mobs’. “You think you’re cool because you buy a $500 phone with a picture of a fruit on it. Well guess what? They cost 8 bucks to make and I pee on every one!” The hilarity doesn’t stop there, as Bart continues, “I have made of fortune off you chumps and I’ve invested it all in Microsoft. Now my boyfriend Bill Gates and I kiss each other on a pile of your money!”

People are offended and outraged, one employee states “Who dares question the boss we fired 10 years ago and the brought back!” Comic Book Guy is so offended he does his best to recreate the classic 1984 Macintosh commercial (you can see it below), by throwing a sledge hammer which breaks the giant screen.

After getting her Mapple bill in the mail, Lisa travels to Mapple headquarters under the sea in a USB thumbdrive (I’m not making this stuff up). She finds the vein Mobs searching his own name, he geekily rejoices the findings. She’s there to discuss setting up a reduced payment plan for her $1,200 MiPod bill. Mobs then fill Lisa in on the true Mapple slogan “I know our posters say Think Differently, but our real slogan is No Refunds”.

I’m not sure if Steve Jobs did something to piss Matt Groening off, but I’ll be the first to admit… it was very funny. If anyone is interested in viewing the full episode you can check out Hulu (US Only) or MegaVideo.

Unfortunately I am of the latter ilk. For one, I am the kind of guy who likes my Terminators to carry strong tones of Austrian/governor accent. Terminators who speak in monotone voices who have very clear missions that can only begin once their first objective is achieved: obtain clothes, boots, and a motorcycle. I come from the school of “The Electronic Murderer” (even though I’m not Polish). Picture courtesy of Answers.com.

I am not so much interested in this. “Oh, but it’s got Christian Bale,” you might respond. Watch Harsh Times and then give me that argument. Was Eddie furlong not available? I can’t imagine that the Night of the Demons remake was a higher priority for him. What happened to Nick Stahl? I wasn’t thrilled to have a new John Connor forced upon me then either, but he did an adequate job.

I’m not saying that Bale can’t cut the mustard. Bale’s not the issue. The issue is that they have gotten away from what made The Terminator a classic, and that was…well, Arnold (not to mention Michael Biehn), James Cameron, and the decade of the 80s. I’m not one to totally live in the past. I realize times have changed, but films like Planet Terror prove that the dark, gritty look of the original are still possible to achieve.

Terminator: Salvation is looking more like a Transformers or Matrix knock off (if not a stylized Robot Jox remake) to me based on some of the robot designs. But I guess that’s what you get when you give the co-creator of Fastlane the reigns of one of the most beloved science fiction/action franchises of all time. I’m a little skeptical to say the least.

But to be fair, I can’t judge it too harshly without having seen it. My expectations are set pretty low, so perhaps I’ll be overwhelmingly surprised. Some of my best movie-viewing experiences have come from low expectations.

See some recently leaked video footage at io9.com. I rest my case.

Here’s an in-store tip. Shop around! How often have you heard that before? Seriously. Have in mind what you want, go to some place that they know their stuff, learn more about it, check out their prices, then go to a couple more places. Once you’ve found that same item in another store at a lower price, record it, and if you’d rather not get it at that store, go back to that first one and see if they will lower their price for you. Sometimes they may mark down some of your other items just so you’ll shop there with them. A sale is better than no sale to some places. Not all places will do it, but it’s worth a shot. The worst they can say is “No” after all, and then they lose your business as you walk out the door. Yes, it takes more time than just going to one place to get everything, but believe it or not, some places are less expensive than others! And we’re not just talking about a box of cereal.

Do not forget to shop online–there are some fantastic deals there as well! Some stores may have a good price in the store, but check their website also, because sometimes they have “Online Only” specials on their merchandise. Some internet-based stores are excellent places to go for your holiday shopping needs, like Amazon.com or if you like to take chances, try Craigslist.org or eBay.com.

Hope something in here sparks an interest in your holiday shopping needs. Maybe some of the best deals are happening right now AND during the intense holiday season? I do know one thing: if you get on it now, it’s better than the hassle of the shoppers traffic, and headaches, just to find out they are sold out of something.

I find that end of the world stories tend to fall into two basic categories in which there’s some overlap.  Fast and fun reads, and books worthy of reading.  A book like The Road is not a fast and fun read, but it is certainly worth reading.  We’re forced to watch as a man and his son wander through a wasteland making choices no person should be faced with.  We’re reminded sentence by sentence that our moral compass can be compromised by so many outside forces and we’re forced to look deep within ourselves after reading the Road.

Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse is not that kind of book.  It is fast paced, entertaining and full of twists, paced well enough to keep me coming back and light enough that I could read it easily in a few sittings.  Quick and fun with enough of a deeper meaning to make you think about what you’ve just read.  It’s irreverent enough that I was chuckling to myself while reading and good enough that I didn’t want to stop.

We follow Mortimer, who’s escaped his almost ex-wife’s desire for signatures on divorce papers by holing up in a mountain cabin just as the end of the world arrives.    After 9 years of isolation Mort re-enters society, pairs up with a cowboy emulating Buffalo Bill and finds out that civilization is all but dead, with only a series of strip clubs holding the meager threads together.

That sets us up for a wild ride where the Armageddon dollar is supreme, Joey Armageddon’s Sassy A-Go-Go clubs are holding things together between wild stretches of wasteland run by gangs and cannibals and the Red Czar, holed up in the fabled city of Atlanta wants to end it all so he can corner the market on booze.

Victor Gischler has given us a novel that’s full of guns, sex, adventure and the end of the world and still pulls off an entertaining read as we watch Mort adjust from a solitary survivor to an active, gun toting, platinum club Joey Armageddon’s card wielding member of society.  The action is non-stop and at times the plot feels a bit surreal but then in a world where strip clubs offer salvation surreal is pretty much the norm.

The Pros

Fun, fast paced and easy to read.  The plot throws heavy objects at you and changes rapidly in unexpected ways which is a good thing.  The characters are likable and human. The end of the world hasn’t been so much fun since Good Omens.

The Cons

The book could have been a bit meatier.  There is a good deal of graphic sex and violence, which while not necessarily a con, should be considered if you don’t want that sort of thing in your apocalypse.

Bottom Line

If you’re looking for an end of the world novel that combines the fast paced elements of an action flick with the survival sensibilities of a modern western with a dusting of black humor you’ll do well by Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse.

The Stats

Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse by Victor Gischler
Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Touchstone (July 8, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1416552251
ISBN-13: 978-1416552253
Price: $14.00 retail ($11.20 at Amazon.com)

Technorati Tags: book, review, go-go girls, apocalypse, end of the world

The remake, Bionic Commando: Rearmed (Rearmed! Get it?!), features the same story and gameplay as the the original, but enhanced with modern graphics and sound effects. Fans of the original will recognize levels and bosses throughout the game, as well as some nostalgia-heavy cutscenes. The remake is still a 2D scroller, and you still can’t jump (forcing you to rely on your bionic arm swinging abilities).

First, the positives. This game is absolutely beautiful. Everything from the stellar 3D characters with full ragdoll effects to the campy back and forth dialogue to the modernized 8-bit soundtrack are incredibly gratifying. It’s so much fun to combine the nostalgia of playing a side-scrolling shooter with the graphics of modern gaming machines. The visuals of this remake are at times better than those of modern original titles.

BCR also features split-screen multiplayer campaign as well as up to 4-player versus modes. The campaign can be a lot of fun, since the opponent AI alters itself to require teamwork. However the versus modes are only fun for a short while and quickly become repetitive and boring.

Where BCR suffers is in gameplay. The original Bionic Commando is known for being somewhat difficult to master, and I found the remake to hold true to that assessment as well. It took me a long time to master the swinging technique needed to traverse even the earliest levels, and many of the areas you encounter feature spiked floors or lava that will kill you almost immediately. After struggling to get through the first few levels, I went back and lowered the difficulty level to the easiest setting. This blocked off the traps on the floor and made enemies easier to defeat, thus refocusing gameplay on navigating using the bionic arm, which is where this game really shines.

For a remake, Bionic Commando: Rearmed is a stunning success. Original gameplay is left mostly untouched, with stellar graphics and soundtracks added and enhanced to really make this one of the best $10 video games out there. I definitely suggest this game for any fans of the original Bionic Commando, or for fans of retro gaming in general.

Technorati Tags: Bionic Commando, Bionic Commando: Rearmed, Grin, Capcom, XBox Live Arcade, Playstation Network, PC Games, Nintendo, NES, video games, video game reviews

The new book by Nick Sagan (son of Carl Sagan), You Call This the Future?: The Greatest Inventions Sci-Fi Imagined and Science Promised, is characterized by explanations of some of the fascinating technologies envisioned in classic science fiction along with explorations of the progress modern science has made towards achieving those visions. Classic science fiction references appear side-by-side with summaries of state of the art scientific research.

The book is divided into 5 broad chapters, each covering 10 technologies that we have made progress towards realizing. The chapters are Travel and Transportation, Computers, Cyborgs, and Robots, Communications, Weapons and Security, and Life, Health, and Sex.

The Pros

This book is very well written. Each technology is described with multiple fictional appearances as well as detailed accounts of modern advances involving that technology. I was also surprised at how realistic many of the concepts once considered impossible have become. There were also detailed diagrams and high-quality images for all of the sections, which made the content much more engaging.

The Cons

Some of the technologies in the book were much less interesting than others. In a desire to have the same number of sections in each chapter, some sections were added that probably could have been left out – language translators, watch toys, and sex toys, for example.

I definitely recommend this book. It was a quick read, and each section was engaging and interesting. The price is very reasonable, as well.

The Stats

Title: You Call This the Future?: The Greatest Inventions Sci-Fi Imagined and Science Promised
Author(s): Nick Sagan, Mark Frary, and Andy Walker
ISBN10: 1556526857
ISBN13: 978-1556526855
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Cost: $11.21 (from Amazon)
Format: Paperback, 160 pages
Published: April 1, 2008

Technorati Tags: Carl Sagan, Nick Sagan, Mark Frary, Andy Walker, science fiction, technology, books, book reviews, You Call This the Future?: The Greatest Inventions Sci-Fi Imagined and Science Promised

If you wish to choose 100d6, you may.  In fact, I had to do the obligitory test of 100d100 just to see how it worked – the app did fine as my iPod Touch screen filled up with 100 sided dice.  For those curious, I rolled a 4788.

You can also set up multiple dice to roll.  Say you want to roll 2d6 and 1d4 at the same time?  No worries.

You can also roll physically impossible dice, like a 13 sided die.

The rolling is pretty nice and the app features a neat tilt/view, where if you hold your device at an angle, the dice seem to tilt appropriately.  Not bad MachWerx, not bad. You can see an example of multiple dice rolled and the tilt effect below.

The only downside, if you can consider it one, is the cost.  At $0.99 it isn’t going to break your bank (and if you think of it this way, it’s less than a cent per die) but it isn’t free.  Personally, I think it’s well worth it, if for no other reason than to support the devs who worked on this little app.  The graphics could use a bit of an update as well but all in all it’s a great app.

Technorati Tags: dice, die roller, iphone, ipod touch, mach dice, rpg, role players, reviews, software, apple, apps, app store

Fantastic Contraption is a flash-based physics game in which the player is given a variety of tools to use in order to construct a device capable of moving a red ball into a goal.  Devices can be as simple as a single wheel pulling the ball, or as complex as a catapult used to hurl the ball over a barrier.

The levels get progressively more and more difficult, but they are never impossibly hard.  After you have completed a level, you can look at solutions that other players have used.  This often gave me ideas to use in later levels (Oh, I can string together a whole bunch of little sticks to make a chain…)

Fantastic Contraption consists of 20 levels that you can play for free.  For $10, you gain access to a level editor and player-created levels.

Technorati Tags: Flash games, Fantastic Contraption, games, video games, pc games, free games, physics games, game reviews

In the second of three Dungeons and Dragons Fourth Edition core rulebook reviews I am covering the Dungeon Master’s Guide. Earlier this week I took an in-depth look at the Player’s Handbook, and you can expect a short review of the Monster Manual soon. The Player’s Handbook review discussed game mechanics and playability as well as the general presentation of Fourth Edition, and in the DMG I intend to take a critical look at the tools Fourth Edition gives the dungeon master.

Player Management and Game Basics

The first several chapters of the new DMG are a sort of “Dungeon Mastering for Dummies” guidebook, covering basics of the Dungeon Master’s role, and providing tips on how to engage players. It opens with a Bartle-style breakdown of player personality types, discussing what motivates them, what they find rewarding and what bores and angers them. The knee-jerk reaction might be to call this stereotyping, but I’ve been using Bartle-inspired pop-psychology on players in tabletop and online games for over a decade now and I find it very effective in creating a good game environment that addresses the interests of all my players. Needless to say I was pleasantly surprised that the authors chose to include it.

The rest of the first section covers basic conflict resolution and gives some tips on how to deal with common problems. There’s a great section on building improvisational aids, as well as a brief introduction on the theory behind Fourth Edition’s three-tiered 30 level character progression. I’m still not completely sold on the idea but they make a good argument.

Encounters

The next three chapters discuss the DM’s role in creating and managing challenges and encounters. I found the guidelines for creating skill challenges somewhat obtuse, in that they refer frequently to tables and guidelines laid out in an earlier chapter; I spent a lot of time flipping back and forth on the first read. Fortunately the system is simple enough that with a little bit of practice you’ll have it all memorized. Combat encounters are very streamlined in Fourth Edition and the DMG doesn’t spend much time on elaborating rules. As you’ll see in the forthcoming Monster Manual review, Fourth Edition’s monsters have very clearly defined combat roles, and most of the chapter on combat addresses NPC tactics. Although somewhat arbitrary in nature, the roles they define and the tactics they suggest are a good jumping-off point for encounter design, especially considering the highly strategic nature of the combat system. They provide outlines of a few encounter templates for quick plug-and-play action when you’re short on time, but the system is robust enough to allow for plenty of tweaking and creativity.

Game Design

Most of the latter half of the book is devoted to campaign and adventure design. I found this section somewhat disappointing. Dungeons and Dragons has always tried to walk the middle road between providing a generic game system and a full-fledged campaign setting, and they continue that trend in Fourth Edition with the typically bland outcome. The DMG presumes you want to comply with the defaults provided in the Player’s Handbook and don’t even touch on the theory behind class, race or cosmology design. This is fine for DMs who just want to run a light and simple Tolkienesque game, but it leaves those of us who enjoy creating rich and unique campaign settings out in the cold. If you intend to create your own races, classes, powers, or invent your own religion and cosmology you are on your own.

Once you get past that issue they do give you a good breakdown on creating adventures or customizing them from packaged adventure books, as well as tips on campaign design. They don’t give you a full campaign setting so you’re expected to come up with geography, social and political schemes (beyond the basics described in the race entries in the Player’s Handbook) and all the other things that flesh out a world, but they do give you some good advice to help get it done.

DM’s Toolbox and Fallcrest

Last but not least is a chapter devoted to monster and NPC design, a small entry on house rules and a system for generating random dungeons and encounters, and then another chapter detailing a sample starting area called Fallcrest. This is pretty standard stuff, so I won’t get into it here. I’ve used random generators for fun on-the-fly games before to kill an afternoon or a long road trip, but for serious games I don’t recommend them.

Fallcrest is everything you would expect in a generic starting adventure: a small, remote village with a few notable characters and a low-level monster problem awaiting destruction by a band of inexperienced heroes. It contains a great selection of maps and a few solid encounters in an easily readable format with plenty of tips and advice for new DMs. I doubt an experienced gaming group will get much out of Fallcrest, but they’re not the target audience.

Conclusion

The first half of the DMG is a great read for anyone interested in running a roleplaying game, with solid advice from experienced DMs and plenty of effective techniques for game management. I would suggest at least browsing through it even if you’re not planning to run a Fourth Edition game.
I could take or leave the rest of the book. It leaves me wanting either a fully fleshed out campaign setting or a thorough and detailed guide to world building. It’s clear that WotC wants to reach a broader audience with Fourth Edition, and they may have hit on the right combination of depth and open-endedness for newbie game designers. I just can’t help feeling they could have done more.

Technorati Tags: dungeons and dragons, dnd, d&d, fourth edition, dungeon master’s guide, dmg, review

WotC’s Dungeons and Dragons Fourth Edition introduces a slew of changes to the venerable franchise, from a new modern look and feel to streamlined gameplay rules and a completely redesigned class and skill system. Today I take a look at the Player’s Handbook, and I will review the Dungeon Master’s Guide and Monster Manual in upcoming articles. After running a couple sessions, I’ll follow up with play impressions.

Fourth Edition has taken quite a lot of criticism, both because of the radical changes it’s undergone since Third Edition and because of the nature of the changes made – toward a simpler and more broadly appealing game. The first thing I heard about it from friends and fellow gamers is that looked like World of Warcraft on the tabletop. As a WoW burnout myself, and a vocal critic of Third Edition’s many shortcomings, I went in with a healthy amount of skepticism. To my surprise I was really impressed with the game’s focus and direction.

In this review I’m taking the approach that Fourth Edition is a complete game deserving to stand or fall on its own merits, so if you’re looking for a detailed comparison with previous incarnations of Dungeons and Dragons you’ll have to look elsewhere. At its heart it’s still a d20 system game, but beyond that it’s all apples and oranges.

Presentation

The new edition eschews the leather-bound tome look in favor of a more modern layout, with clean lines and simple decorative elements. It’s not quite as captivating as some of the really well-designed gaming manuals we’ve seen in recent years (here’s looking at you, Exalted 2nd Edition), but it delivers on the most important aspect: usability. Full color page-and-a-half paintings mark the beginning of each chapter with high fantasy action scenes, and smaller illustrations are scattered liberally throughout the book. The authors made great use of color and iconography in identifying important blocks, such as character powers and tables. Information is well organized and easy to access with an informative table of contents and extensive index.

Tables or lists of class powers by level would have been nice, as would an organized collection of important tables in a central area. As a PDF user with a hyperlinked table of contents and a bookmarks sidebar I don’t worry too much about these issues myself, but if you’re paging through a hard copy your mileage may vary.

Game Mechanics

The core mechanic is a simple roll a die, add numeric modifiers system familiar to almost any gamer. I’ve always been a fan of dice-pool systems for their smoother advancement and statistical spread, but the designers seem to have put in a lot of effort to ensure the difficulty of tasks keeps pace with character advancement. Characters gain their abilities almost strictly according to class selections, which is locked in at the time of character creation, and advance by level. This leads to a lack of character variety, but the selection of powers and feats available let players give their characters at least a little flavor.

Dungeons and Dragons has always been a combat heavy game and Fourth Edition continues that trend, with a reinvigorated focus on strategy. The game requires the use of a grid and a system to keep track of positioning and movement, and many character powers incorporate tactical movement into their effects. They’re not shy about pushing their miniatures products, but they do offer advice on simpler alternatives for players short on cash or shelf space. You may have heard this about 3rd Edition and other roleplaying games, but this time they really mean it: you are not going to get much out of Fourth Edition without a battle grid.

Non-combat activities have been streamlined and the skill system is incredibly simple – a character chooses a handful of trained skills which provide a flat bonus to his rolls. Fourth Edition introduces a few new mechanics to spice up non-combat encounters called skill challenges and rituals. In a skill challenge the Dungeon Master introduces a complicated scenario such as infiltrating a palace or discovering the location of a hidden temple, and players take turns using any relevant skills to advance the party toward the goal. The object is to accumulate a number of successful rolls before exceeding a maximum number of failures, and each participating character must act on his turn.

Rituals are sorcerous ceremonies conducted by any character with the appropriate instructions, though the magic-oriented classes excel at obtaining and performing them. They involve large investments of time and money and produce powerful effects from raising the dead to useful abilities for all participants, like underwater breathing. You’ll find most of the group utility-oriented and non-combat magic in rituals, a two-edged sword that allows a non-standard party to overcome common game-stopping obstacles but also reduces dependence and demand for traditional spellcasters.

Playability

Fourth Edition adheres to the philosophy that the rules should be simple, streamlined and easy to remember. Every rule has many exceptions, but the exceptions are encapsulated in powers and other abilities. When a power violates a gameplay rule it spells out the exception explicitly, so there is no need to memorize a complicated list of exceptions or special mechanics that may apply in odd circumstances. In this sense it reminds me of collectible card games with their extremely simple core rules and myriad special mechanics introduced by individual cards. Character creation is straightforward – allocate points to the six primary stats, choose a class, pick a few powers and a handful of skills and you’re ready to roll. We’ll see how well this all plays out in the upcoming game play article.

The game provides little to no mechanical support for theatrics or roleplaying, character personality traits and quirks. A few small concessions are made for creative problem solving, but for the most part the parameters are laid out and don’t allow for exceptions. Both the PHB and the Dungeon Master’s Guide (more on that in the next article) talk a lot about how lively description and interaction make the game more fun and engaging, but the words seem to ring hollow. As a long time GM I know better than to think roleplaying is enough of a reward in itself to keep players enthusiastic.

Conclusion

If you’re looking for a roleplaying game mixing the best aspects of tactical turn-based strategy, collectible card games, and the heroic action of a typical MMO, Fourth Edition is right up your alley. The strategic elements of the game are strong enough to keep the intellect stimulated without taxing capacity for rules memorization, and the emphasis on movement and position should appeal to wargamers and tactical RPG fans.

On the other hand if you prefer your games gritty and political with a heavy emphasis on character development and roleplaying you’re likely to be disappointed. It’s a step up from a miniatures game, and wont’ suffer from the problem of anonymity that plagues the modern MMO, but it really doesn’t supply the carrot or the stick to draw out shy players or reward the enthusiastic for their efforts. The good news is that there are plenty of great games out there that do; in an upcoming review I’ll tell you all about the Burning Wheel, a system on the opposite end of the spectrum.

Technorati Tags: dungeons and dragons, fourth edition, fourth, 4th, review, roleplaying, role playing, role, play, player’s handbook, PHB, D&D

Frotz is a Z-machine interpreter which is needed to run Zork and other Zork like games, made popular waaaay back in the day by this little company called Infocom.

It’s a free app from the store, which comes with a bunch of games pre-loaded, and the ability to natively browse the IFDB (Interactive Fiction DataBase) for new stuff to download and play.

Game play is a little slow thanks to the iPhone keyboard but it’s still pretty much the same experience as it was back in the 80s.

Technorati Tags: frotz, iphone, apps, app store, zork, infocom, ifdc

The Way Toys Work is a book that explores the origins and inner workings of 50 popular toys.  A guide on how to recreate simple versions of each toy is also included, as well as various science experiments that can be performed with them.

The book is divided into 50 chapters – one for each toy.  Each chapter includes sections on history, function, dismantlement, and duplication.

My opinion of this book oscillated between excitement and disappointment.  But as I eventually recognized the goal of the authors and who their target audience was, I became very satisfied with the book.

The Pros

What the book does especially well is describe the origins of each toy.  I was a little shocked to discover how many popular toys were created by people with no toy-making experience.  I found the histories genuinely interesting.  I also enjoyed the in-depth explanations of how many of the toys worked, especially ones that involved scientific principles more complex than gravity and aerodynamics (the Dunking Bird is powered by methylene chloride vapor, for example).

The Cons

It is difficult to tell who would best benefit from reading this book.  The brief histories and simple related crafts would best benefit school children, but the in-depth scientific analyses would frequently be over their heads and better suited for older geeks.  Also, each chapter is disconnected and it is sometimes difficult to read the book for more than a few chapters.  I found it best to leave the book sitting out and read a chapter or two when I was bored.

I eventually decided that this book has a place both in the classroom and at home.  Children can benefit from the brief explanations of how their favorite toys work, and adults can benefit from the interesting backgrounds and inner workings of their childhood playthings.

I would certainly recommend this book to geeks of all ages.

The Stats

Title: The Way Toys Work: The Science Behind the Magic 8 Ball, Etch A Sketch, Boomerang, and More
Author(s): Ed and Woody Sobey
ISBN10: 1556527454
ISBN13: 978-1556527456
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Cost: $10.17 (from Amazon)
Format: Paperback, 178 pages
Published: May 1, 2008

Technorati Tags: books, book reviews, The Way Toys Work, The Way Toys Work: The Science Behind the Magic 8 Ball, Etch A Sketch, Boomerang, and More, Ed Sobey, Woody Sobey

The concept is simple, you play the roll of a stone, bronze or iron age racer equiped with the latest in fast moving vehicles.  You plow your way around the track racing against three others in an attempt to come in first.

There are 9 different tracks to choose from, each with their varying levels of ease and obstacles.  You can choose from 11 different vehicles and also grab a number of power-ups as you race around the track.  These range from weapons you can use against other racers (bone bombs, bottle rockets and torpedos to name a few) to better suspensions or turbo shots.

Cro-Mag Racer makes use of the iphone as stearing wheel.  To turn to the right, simply tilt the phone or pod to the right.  Acceleration is handled by the F or R arrows (forward/reverse) on the left side of the screen.  Power ups are activated on the right hand side of the screen.

I found that after the first race, steering had become quite natural.  Apparently it was not always so with this game but an update from Pangea made it much more manageable.  I didn’t have a problem with it once I became acclimated.

For the device it’s on, the graphics are good – not stunning but certainly no eye sore.  The controls are fairly intuitive but I did encounter several minor issues. The first is something that’s bound to happen on any game like this for the iPhone or iPod Touch.  The accidental pressing of the one button on the device.  In the heat of a close race, I nicked the Home button and just like that I was staring at a sideways version of my home screen.  That was a bummer.  The other issue I encountered was a bit of hand strain after about 30 minutes of playing, particularly on my left hand.  Or it could be that I’m just getting on in age.

I’m on day three with this game and I haven’t tired of it yet, which really says something about it.  It’s a great casual dip into racing that’s varied enough that I look forward to playing it and causual enough that 10 minutes is good for a few games.

My favorite track – Atlantis even drops the racers in favor of subs and ads a third axis to gameplay, up/down.

Cro-Mag Rally goes for $5.99 and is worth it – a far better deal than more expensive games available through the App store.  Note also that in both screen shots, I’m in last place.  It’s damn hard to play this game and take a screen shot.

Technorati Tags: review, iphone, ipod touch, app store, cro-mag rally, video games

I’ve used it as an audio converter, to move a bunch of ogg files to MP3 for use on my iPod.  The process was very smooth and fairly simple.  Just select the tracks you want to convert, choose what you want to convert them too and click the convert button.

Blaze handles video conversion as well, and was very helpful at converting my home videos into a format viewable on my iPod.  I also took some older movies I had in WMV format and converted them to AVI for easy use on my Linux box.

Lastly, I wanted to archive a few DVDs that I had laying about, as well as convert them into a format I could use on my iPod.  The DVD Ripper utility is very intuitive – allowing you to rip select portions of a DVD (either titles, or by time, say the first 45 minutes of a select title).

Other functionality includes audio editing, burning your CDs, DVDs, VCDs and SVCDs, and support for full screen playback of your media. If Blaze MP is one thing, it’s a comprehensive bunch of software that will handle all of your media.  I like having to only use one piece of software to do just about everything, including light video editing.

Here’s a complete list of what it handles:

Formats supported for audio conversion include CD, MP3, WAV, WMA, OGG, MPEG-4, AIFF, M4A, AAC, AC3, FLAC, and ALAC, and two-way conversions among MPEG-1, MPEG-2, AVI, WMV, ASF, Flash (SWF and FLV), iPod, PSP, 3GP, and MOV are available for video. MPEG options are available for VCD, SVCD, and DVD compliant output. DVD ripping, and audio compression functionality are also present. When converting from audio CD, track information can be dynamically downloaded from the CDDB and used to automatically name saved files.

Video editing is available for AVI (uncompressed), AVI (compressed using any available codec), MPEG-1, MPEG-2, WMV, and ASF. Comprehensive video editing operations are provided (delete frame, delete selection, crop, resize, rotate, mirror, flip, trim, text overlay, adjust audio volume, etc.). In addition, an extensive list of over 30 effects and color adjustment operations allow for powerful video enhancement and alternation. WAV, WMA, and MP3 audio files can be inserted into the video or extracted from the video; and BMP, GIF, JPG, PCX, PNG, RAS, PPM, TGA, and TIF are the supported image formats that can be inserted or extracted.

The only thing this app doesn’t do well, or at all, is give you different dice.  You’re stuck in parlor game, six sided limbo unfortunately.

And we were so close!

The app is free and I’d suggest you get it anyway since it’s so pretty.

Technorati Tags: iphone, ipod touch, apps, app store, motionx, dice, die rolling application

Be it 2d4 for your wizard’s magic missile or 5d8 for your uber-dwarven palladin’s war axe of d8 ravaging, Diceshaker’s got you covered. You can roll the dice by the little Roll button, or just flick your iphonepod back and forth.

There are no elegant animations of dice actually rolling though, which I still think would be a good touch to any die rolling application.  There is the sound effect of dice rolling, should you choose to use it, or Diceshaker can remain silent for you.  In addition to rolling dice, it will remember your multiples for you.  You’ll not have to go in and set the wheels for 5d8 more than once and can easily return to your preferred combos.

Diceshaker also lets you know what was rolled on each individual die.  So if you’re running a game where dice pools are used, this app is still useful for you.  I do wish it had a little more oomph to it graphically but as a straight utility piece of software it certainly gets the job done.

Best of all, it’s free.

Technorati Tags: iphone, ipod touch, apps, app store, apple, gadgets, software, role playing, diceshaker, roll the bones, die roller, 4d6

A free demo of Too Human was put up on Xbox Live a few weeks ago, and I’ve spent some time playing both of the available classes (there are five character classes in the full game). The combat in the game is similar to that of the Devil May Cry and God of War series. The player employs a combo system to defeat waves of monsters while advancing through the level. The combat system is touted as being complex and requiring more effort than simple button-mashers, but I found that a single blow was enough to defeat most enemies. Pointing the right analog stick towards an enemy causes the player to slide across the ground to attack them, usually killing them in one hit. There exists a mechanic in which the player is able to toss an enemy into the air and then fire ranged weapons at them, but I was never able to experience this because my opponents died too fast. Every fight degenerated into me just pushing the right analog stick towards the nearest enemy until they were all dead. Hopefully later levels in the game will feature more complex fights where the combat system can be better incorporated.

The combat system is further enhanced by a steady stream of weapons and armor that drop from monsters. Players can customize their equipment to enhance damage dealt, but again, the system did not quite live up to expectations. The duration of the demo is only a single level, and of the pile of equipment I amassed by the end, I was only able to use one or two items. As players level up, they gain skill points that can be invested in a tree of skills (reminiscent of World of Warcraft talents), further developing and customizing their character. However, the duration of the demo only allows the accumulation of a few skill points that do not show a significant difference in gameplay. Hopefully the full game will better explore both the equipment and skill mechanics.

The primary redeeming quality of the Too Human demo was the storyline. Conversations between characters hint at a massive mythology that will be (hopefully) explored in-depth throughout the trilogy.

Too Human also incorporates a multi-player aspect over Xbox Live, but this was not present in the demo.

The Too Human demo is fun to play, but I have a feeling the full effect of the game is not really available in the short demo on Xbox Live. The demo has left me somewhat apprehensive, but hopefully the full game will flesh out the gameplay mechanics and deliver the promised complexity. Too Human hits store shelves on August 19.

Technorati Tags: Too Human, Silicon Knights, Xbox 360, video games, review

I find this trend very interesting – a while back we had cheap software that anyone could download and use and then pay the author if they liked it, or pay a small fee for some nifty software.  Now we’re seeing this trend appear again with the App Store and phones/PMPs of all things.

While it’s listed under the productivity category, Ambiance is really a relaxation tool.  It’s a wonderful little app that plays relaxing sounds and white noise so you can tune out the rest of the world and concentrate on the task at hand – even if that task is gently slumping forward onto your desk and drooling on your keyboard.

There were other white noise or relaxing sounds apps out there but Ambiance seemed to carry more bang for your buck (or 99 cents).  In this version you have 13 different sounds to choose from, ranging from good old white noise to my favorite – crickets.

The sound quality on all is good, if a little loud with some of the static noises.  I found that sitting at my desk with this app running it worked wonders for tuning out the rest of the world. In situations that are loud, such as on the train during my commute, the softer sounds like crickets or the creek were very hard to hear.

Ambiance also has a simple timer built into it.  Let your sounds run for 5 minutes or 5 hours based on how you set the timer.

Matt Coneybeare, the author, has a few updates already in the pipe with Apple that should prove to be very good for this app.  There will be a built in volume bar for Touch users to turn down the louder color noises as well as 10 new sounds:

- Cicada
- Coast
- Rain – Light
- Rain – Thunder
- Rain – Tinroof
- River
- Stream
- Subway
- Train
- Vinyl

If you’re looking for a white noise and gentle sounds app this will be $0.99 well spent.  It’s got all the hallmarks of great software.  It’s pretty, easy to use, does what it says it will and it’s cheap!

Technorati Tags: reviews, software, apple, iphone, ipod touch, app store, ambiance, white noise, crickets

First up is Koi Pond developed by The Blimp Pilots.  The premise behind this app is simple really, it’s a virtual koi pond that resides on your iPhonepod.  From the App Store:

Imagine gazing into a pond of crystal clear water.  Picture bright, playful koi swimming through its shallow depths.  So close. . . . Can you touch them?

You run your fingers across the cool  surface of the pond.  Water ripples away from your touch.  The koi, disturbed, dart away.  Only to quickly forget and swim close to you once more. . . .

Now imagine all this on your iPhone or iPod touch!

Koi Pond is really very lovely to look at.  The water is done wonderfully, reacts well to touch and has nice splooshy sound effects.  Even the plants react when brushed with your finger.  The fish act naturally and will dart around your screen if disturbed, as advertised. As you can see from the screen shots, everything is proportional and really shines on your screen.

There are several settings you can control, such as the hue of the water, the number of fish and number of plants.

The upswing is, it’s really a relaxing app to gaze at.  I’ve gotten in the habit of leaving it on and sitting next to me on my desk while I work for the relaxing visual.  This app shows off what the iPhonepod is capable of graphically.

There are just a few suggestions I’d make for the next version.  It would be nice if it wouldn’t allow the iPhonepod to autolock while it’s running.  To keep it going next to me, I have to turn autolocking off – not a huge deal but I’ve often forgotten to turn it back on again at the end of the day.  Or better yet, a timer function.

A few more effects in a newer version would also be great!  Rain, wind blowing gently over the water, the ability to feed the fish.  None of these effects are necessary though to make this a worth while app.

Koi Pond was released July 30th, and has found itself #1 at the App Store in a relatively short amount of time and with good reason.  It’s pleasing to the eye and I’ve already gotten a number of comments on it from other folks just wandering by.  If you’re looking for a beautiful way to show off your device and a great way for a little relaxing visual, go spend your buck on this rather than a candy bar and enjoy.

Technorati Tags: ipod, iphone, touch, koi pond, the blimp pilots, review, software, app store, apple