Starships & Dragons

Many of these new gaming systems are throwing people in a frenzy. Some are impartial, hating the new systems geared towards being "entertainment systems" rather than "gaming systems". Others are excited for the new "entertainment factor"
Those leaning towards the older gaming systems (PS3, XBOX 360, though not really old) are torn. XBOX has agreed to still produce games for the 360 however PlayStation has said they want to phase out the PS3. PlayStation has probably lost several of their younger gamers raised on the PS2 and PS3. Gamers are no longer crazed with needing the next gaming system, but are more focused with the next installment of a game series. For instance, several Kingdom Hearts fans are annoyed at the fact that they have to buy a PS4 to play Kingdom Hearts 3 after waiting eagerly for several years. I know the only reason I have intention to buy a PS4 is for that game in particular. All I can say is thank goodness they remastered Final Fantasy X and X-2 for the PS3.
Both the PS4 and the XBOX One are not backwards compatible, a factor that seriously pisses me off. However, PlayStation thinks that it makes it better if I pop in my Virtual Fighter 5 for the PS3 into the PS4, pay ten bucks, then poof I can play Virtual Fighter 5 on my PS4 until it breaks. A lot of the people however, sell their old systems to pay for the new ones. Doesn't this mean we're missing out on gaming, a new generation is being forcibly cycled out of the classics and being sucked into the guts and glory of the newer video games... Thanks gaming company's now I can never reference Pacman or ICO to anyone under 20

-Darian Wolfe

I recently picked up Beyond Two Souls.
Needless to say I am only about an hour through the game and I already have so much to say.
Leave it to Playstation to develop a game that takes the PS3 to it's limits, right when it's about to be replaced with the PS4.
The game brings you back and forth between Jodi (The main character) when she was a child and when she's an adult. It also gives you the ability to play "Aiden" (her imaginary friend, that is an entity from another dimension.) Playing as Jodi sucks (not going to lie) you're time as her is mostly walking around very slowly and trying to do things yourself, but you end up relying on Aiden anyway. Playing as Aiden however, is fun. Aiden gives you the ability of telekinesis, to move objects or possess peoples bodies.
The gameplay overall though consists of circular dots over people and objects, as you approach them button combinations will appear. This is all you do, for the entire game supposedly. It's almost like a choose your own adventure game.
The characters, are real actors, and the graphics are phenomenal (even the creases in their mouths move when they talk.) The graphics, and the storyline make this game an addicting find. I may not encourage you to buy it without trying it, but you can purchase it for $2 a day with a redbox near you.
Darian Wolfe

                                               

Several of our group will be going to PalmCon this weekend. PalmCon is a collection more for collectors, but we're using it as an intro to conventions. There will be a few guests there, and a huge shopping area. PalmCon will be held at the West Palm Beach Convention Center from 10-6 on Saturday 9/21/13. Tickets are $7 in advance and $9 at the door. I implore any comic collector to go to PalmCon. The link is as follows:
http://cosmictimes.net/palmcon/

If you can't go, we'll be writing a post telling you all about it so look forward to it.
-Darian Wolfe

     So in case you all haven't realized, I've taken the summer to do movie reviews (without spoilers). This is mostly because I just upped my cable bill $7 a month to be able to watch the Funimation Channel. I recently did a review on Vexille and have decided to keep up my trend of odd movies. My review today is on King of Thorn, another ingenious Funimation creation as I like to call it.

     If you were raised like me, the story of Sleeping Beauty was a dream for little girls, and a cookie cutter fairy tail that made dreams come true. Grimm's tale of Sleeping Beauty got a little more violent. But Funimation's King of Thorn takes the tale to a whole new level. King of Thorn is a gruesome action filled movie with a nice resident evil flair and quirky accents on key characters. Like most Funimation creations this too started as a manga, which I have not read so I cannot judge, but am interested in reading it.

     The original reason I decided to watch this movie was the description, it occurs after the world is swept by a disease called "Medusa" which ironically enough, petrifies the body and literally turns it to stone. A group of people get selected to be cryogenicly frozen to wake up 100 years later to be free of Medusa.
This movie is certainly something else and is highly recommended  in my book if you can get past the sheer gruesomeness and craziness of the movie. This epic thriller full of tragedy, mystery and the bending of reality is well worth a try and I give it a four out of five. I have watched King of Thorn five times since the first time I saw it a month ago, and I encourage you to check it out!

- Darian Wolfe

Comic Con is over and I missed it again! Now you would think that I would be depressed or upset because I missed this awesome convention...again. I mean one of the greatest reasons for going to any convention besides cosplay characters created by the fans... are the panel of celebrities that come to talk about their shows, movies or projects. I definitely missed out on the live panels but thanks to The Nerd Machine and Nerd HQ started by Zachary Levi from Chuck fame, I saw many of my favorite stars on special panels created by Nerd HQ for their fans at the convention and those fans who could not attend Comic Con this year. They streamed the panels live and late on they posted them on You Tube and Nerd HQ. It was like being there live.Here is an example from the Dr. Who Panel. Set your video slide bar to 2:32.

Now, I have been following Zachary Levi and his friends from Nerd HQ and The Nerd Machine  for the past two two years but it has been around for three. I missed the first year.

So,… what is Nerd HQ?

For the past three years, Zachary Levi has masterminded Nerd HQ, an epic gathering for fans and celebrities to play games, buy merchandise, recharge their literal and metaphorical batteries and engage in "Conversations for a Cause" during Comic-Con weekend.

Not only do you get an hour long panel with some of your favorite TV and Movie celebrities but your money goes to a great charity to help children. Here are the few panels I've seen so far.

"Open a Channel, Lt Uhura", is the famous line spoken by Captain Kirk in the old Star Trek Television series to communicate with anyone and everyone during the run of the show which now can only be heard in reruns and fan driven productions.

Blastr

Dan Roth

Friday, July 12, 2013 - 12:37pm

           Lots of people try to make fan versions of Trek. None of them look like this.

To be totally honest, whenever there's another attempt by a fan group to continue the adventures of Kirk, Spock, et al., my eyes instantly glaze over. Maybe I'll give the trailer a look, but I'm usually out in under a minute. Fan efforts just never really approach the campy goodness of the original.

But Star Trek Continues? Friend, its warp nacelles are a cut above the rest. And if you're wondering why it's so good, here's your answer -- pedigree.
Montgomery Scott is played by Christopher Doohan. Name sound familiar? That's original Scotty, Jimmy Doohan's son! How cool is that? And the ship's computer? Why, it's only played by Counselor Deanna Troi, Marina Sirtis, herself!

Then there's the pilot episode, wherein the producers decided, "Hey, let's do a sequel to Who Mourns for Adonais?" Oh, and while we're at it, let's get the actor who played Apollo in that classic episode to come back and reprise the role.

If this sounds like overselling, so be it. But, man, this just feels like Star Trek in a way I've never seen from a fan series before. The only thing? The first episode's a whopping 50 minutes long. So here's what I recommend -- do what I normally do, throw it on for a minute and see how the show strikes you.

            And then let us know in the comments if you were as taken with it as I was.

I was watching "Vexille" today and it brought some pretty crazy notions in my head.
For those of you who have never seen the movie, A highly trained U.S. secret agent attempts to investigate the changes Japan has undergone in a 10 year seclusion from the rest of the world.
Japan turns out to have created a bunch of androids to take America.
Don't worry I'm careful I won't spoil anything big, but I do suggest you go watch it for yourselves.
America is so advanced that it looks like something out of Stargate Atlantis, and I thought to myself "you know that's what the U.S. is probably gonna look like in a while longer." This seemed really cool at first, but then the movie shows Japan as a biomechanic wasteland.
When you think about it, biomechanics is not a new concept to America or Japan... Kinda got me thinking... In ten twenty years time who knows maybe Vexille could be reality.
That's the beauty of science fiction... Science is readily evolving...

Therefore it can never truly be fiction.


Darian Wolfe

With some help from Felicia Day, Chris Hardwick and Warcraft players all around the world, Jimmy celebrates one of the best video games of all time. Now as a novice, I find the World Of Warcraft mythos a little daunting. so here is a little history of World of Warcraft.

"World of Warcraft (WoW) is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth released game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe, which was first introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans World of Warcraft takes place within the Warcraft world of Azeroth, approximately four years after the events at the conclusion of Blizzard's previous Warcraft release, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. Blizzard Entertainment announced World of Warcraft on September 2, 2001. The game was released on November 23, 2004, on the 10th anniversary of the Warcraft franchise.   "Wikipedia

So what is MMORPG?

Massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a genre of role-playing video games or web browser based games in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual game world.
As in all RPGs, (Role playing games) players assume the role of a character (often in a fantasy world or science-fiction world) and take control over many of that character's actions. MMORPGs are distinguished from single-player or small multi-player online RPGs by the number of players, and by the game's persistent world (usually hosted by the game's publisher), which continues to exist and evolve while the player is offline and away from the game." Wikipedia

 Next... why play World of Warcraft?  Thanks to Mila Kunis on Jimmy Kimmel's late night talk show she shares her excitement for the game which seems to overflow to everyone. Like all celebrities there are pitfalls as she shares with Kimmel.


 Dragon One