Hyrule WarriorsDecember 18, 2013 by

I was not expecting any exciting gaming news today...then again, I never know when to expect exciting gaming news to come out of the industry, and so whenever it does happen, I guess I'm surprised.  But I never, NEVER would have expected something like this.  And I'll be honest: I'm stoked for this game.  But here, let me show you what I'm talking about:


*sigh* I think I might be in love.  Now, let me explain something to you: I love The Legend of Zelda.  And, I love Dynasty Warriors.  I don't really understand why I love Dynasty Warriors because it's a very simple formula that can easily get very repetitive.  And yet, I love it.  I enjoy hacking my way through hordes of enemies.  I will admit, Dynasty Warriors Gundam 2 was the first one I couldn't finish because it was the SAME story from the first one and they barely added anything new...plus, I got stuck on a boss so I said screw it.

This mash up is brilliant.  Whoever came up with this idea should be rewarded, given a million dollars and promoted to head of the company's freaking creative team.  This is genius!  Link + hordes of enemies = way, way too much fun :)  

Now, if the game sticks to the tried and true formula of the Dynasty Warriors franchise, there is so much that could happen with this game.  Could we play as Zelda?  Could we run around as a Goron dealing all kind of damage?  Could we play as Ganon?  Better yet, can we finally play as Sheik?  The endless joy that could be had with this game!  And to think that yesterday, I was wanting to buy a Wii U just for Super Mario 3D World and a few others.  Now there's this?  I find it funny that I'm more excited for a Wii U then I am currently to buy a Xbox One or PS4.  Hmmm...

Now tell me what you think...does this look exciting to you?  Are you a fan of the Dynasty Warriors franchise?  Will you buy and play this?  Or does it look/sound stupid to you?  Let me know in the comments below...

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The Hobbit: The Completely Unnecessary 2nd of 3 MoviesDecember 18, 2013 by

First off, let me state this to start this blog: I love and have always loved J.R.R Tolkien and Middle-Earth.  I may not know as much about the history and backstories and mythology of Middle-Earth as some people, but I still love it greatly.  With that being said, I must admit: I don't love the Hobbit movies.  They just don't do it for me.  Let's see if I can explain my thought processes here via written word.

Let's go back a little bit, back to the debut of the Lord of the Rings movies.  I was a freshman in high school back then, and had yet to read the Lord of the Rings.  I had tried multiple times before, but had always gotten bored.  But now, now that there was a movie of it and I had seen part of the story, I actually wanted to read the whole book, and so I did.  And it was good, so so good :)  The movies, however, were what really helped the story to come to life.  It was in the movies that we saw what it could have been like.  And it was in the movies that the standard was set for pretty much ALL book adaptations to come, at least in my opinion.  It's the standard by which book adaptations has come to be judged by.  It's why Twilight was garbage, the first Hunger Games was disappointing, and Harry Potter was so stunning.  But let's get into what I really want to say in this blog: why I don't like the Hobbit movies.

If the Lord of the Rings movies hadn't been made, or hadn't been as good as they were, then The Hobbit movies would be adequate for what they are.  They are entertaining movies that do a decent job of telling the story of Bilbo Baggin's journey.  However, Lord of the Rings WAS made.  Therefore, The Hobbit falls short in my eyes.  First off, it's been over 10 years since the release of The Fellowship of the Rings.  Technology has increased and improved dramatically since then.  Special effects and CGI animation have come so far.  And yet, the animation throughout much of The Hobbit is hard for me to watch.  So many of the characters are digitalized in one way or another.  Whether it's their face or their entirety, too many characters were digitalized.  Heck, even Orlando Bloom was digitalized in many different scenes.  Of course, there are no such things as orcs, so to put them on screen alongside human actors, you obviously have to use a lot of special effects, CGI and green screen backgrounds.  However, there has to be a way for all of these things to mesh together and flow nicely.  You would think in all this time, that this ability would have improved since Lord of the Rings, not lessened.  Unfortunately, that is not the case.  One scene in particular comes to mind...during the barrel ride scene, with Legolas hopping everywhere and shooting everyone, he looks terrible in many shots because of how heavily digitalized everything around him is as the action flows downstream.

This is something that I have always had an issue with in movies.  It's one of the reasons that the Star Wars prequels annoyed me so much.  I love getting lost in fake worlds, but I want that fake world to look real.  I want to believe that it's real around me, and not an obvious screaming reminder of how fake it is.  And yet, like the Star Wars prequels did to me with the heavily digitalized environments that sadly came off as way, way too fake, the world of the Hobbit is an obvious reminder of how fake it all is.  There were some beautiful wide shots of them all running up the side of a mountain or hiking in wilderness in New Zealand, and thankfully those were real shots.  But more often than not, the backgrounds in the shots were green screens.  This would jolt me out of my ability to believe the world being presented before me was real.  There are some instances where this is fine...like with Agents of Shield and other TV shows with much smaller budgets that don't even fully try to look like they aren't on a TV set at times.

Why are you in this movie? I mean, seriously...why?

This leads me into my second point.  To be honest, this is kind of the main point, the main reason I dislike the Hobbit movies.  As I've already mentioned, technology has come a long way since The Lord of the Rings.  And unfortunately, I don't think this helped The Hobbit...I think it hindered it greatly.  The Lord of the Rings looked real in so many different ways, from the orcs, to the wilderness, to Hobbiton, to Elrond's council, to the battle scenes, to so many other things.  And yet, none of this has translated very well into the Hobbit.  I was struck by how bad Bree looked at the beginning of the movie.  I don't remember the village of Bree looking quite so bad in The Lord of the Rings.  But the thing that did it for me was when I finally realized the greatest grievance that I had against the Hobbit.  The orcs.  They weren't humans.  They weren't actors in heavy makeup playing the roles of the orcs.  There may have been a few, some of the more notable orcs (maybe) who were played by real humans and not fully digitalized.  But if this is the case, it was completely hidden.  Unlike Lord of the Rings, where the Uruk-hai and the other orcs were very obviously humans in heavy make up.  They looked fantastic.  They didn't have the far "superior", advanced CGI graphics we have now back then, so they had to make do with artistic people making other people up to look like orcs.  Why couldn't Peter Jackson have stuck with that for The Hobbit?  Why digitalize them all?  It was unnecessary.  And in the end, it was the undoing of the movie for me.

Finally, the third reason I disliked The Hobbit: Legolas and Tauriel and the fact that there are three movies.  Tauriel was honestly a great character...but she's not from the book.  Yes, I know, the movie isn't going to be completely faithful.  Neither was Lord of the Rings.  But still, Tauriel and Legolas?  Why were they in this movie?  They really did not need to be there.  But Peter Jackson apparently felt it was necessary to put as many references to Lord of the Rings as possible to tie these movies altogether.  Like, the whole plot thread that has Galadriel and Saruman in it from the first Hobbit movie.  Do we really need to focus so much on the ring and Sauron in The Hobbit?  No, not really.  It's hinted at in the book that the Necromancer is Sauron.  I can't remember if it ever fully comes out and says that he's Sauron (it's been a while since I read the book).  And yet, here's Gandalf in the Necromancer's lair, taking him on.  What?  Why?  Although, I'll be honest...I greatly enjoyed the reference to Gimli that Legolas had.  And can I just say this...Legolas was a total douche in this movie.  My friend leaned over and asked if that was Legolas because his demeanor was so completely different from Lord of the Rings.  It's impressive that he has such an about face in the coming Lord of the Rings story.

Hey, Another Unnecessary Sequel

Three movies?  Do there really have to be three movies?  As the people at Screen Junkies put in the Honest Trailer for the first Hobbit movie, this book is only 300 pages and is getting three movies, whereas Lord of the Rings was 1300 pages or something like that and 3 movies.  Hmmm...which one deserves three movies?  I would have been okay with the entirety of the story being put in two movies, like was the original plan.  But no, this whole trend of books being split into so many different movies has become absurd.  If they took out ALL the filler in the movies and just added in the actual plot, then two movies would have sufficed.  Why so much filler?  This isn't Dragonball Z!  *sigh*

Yes, there were some great moments in The Hobbit.  There was a lot of fun to be had in it.  Jokes were made, laughs were had, and hell, Smaug looked amazing.  I could get behind him because he's a freaking dragon...of course he's not going to be real.  They did a fantastic job animating him and Cumberbatch did a great job voicing him.  The scenes with Smaug were some of my favorites.  Also, the scenes with the fat red-headed dwarf were hilarious.  Rolling down the hill taking out all the orcs, then standing up and fighting inside the barrel?  Fantastic.  I was laughing pretty hard during those scenes.  Unfortunately, these scenes could not save the movie for me.  Overall, I feel like these movies should have had more actors instead of special effects characters and a whole lot less filler.  But that's it for my little rant.  Tell me what you think in the comments below.  Have you seen the movie?  Did you enjoy it?  What do you think of what I have said?  Enjoy :)

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Games I Will Probably Never Own or Play and Wish That I CouldDecember 4, 2013 by

Whoa...it's been two weeks...so, without further ado...CUE THAT INTRO!!!

Well, that was anti-climatic.  *waves* Hi!!!!  Like I said, it's been a while since I wrote something here.  I just haven't taken the time to sit down, think about something to write about, and actually write about it. Sure, I've had thoughts and stuff that I wanted to share, but I just didn't do it...bad boy...bad!

As the title indicates, I will be talking about some games that I've realized I will probably never get the chance to own or play, whether it be because they were never released in America, don't have the money, or they're just extremely hard to find (sometimes a combination of two or even all three of these).  So let's get this party started!!!

1) Earthbound

Holy...crap...I just realized something.  I remember seeing this game in video rental stores when I was young...back in the 90's...holy crap!!! I can't believe I forgot about that.  And I remember looking at it and thinking I hated that game cuz I had tried it a bit back then.  *sigh* I was a stupid child.  Now, at 26 years old, I still have not played this game in its entirety, but I really, really want to.  I don't know why.  There's just something about it.  Whether it's the fact that its so highly regarded now (compared to back then) or the fact that it's just so unobtainable, I want to own it and play it!! This game barely counts for this blog, because I do plan on buying it someday.  I just gotta have the extra money to justify the purchase :)  

This game goes along with Chrono Trigger and some other SNES gems that I really want to own.  There are a few more on this list.  But seriously, every time I go into my local Retro gaming store, I look in the SNES case to see if these two are still there.  180 dollars for Earthbound...*sobs*...why??  Why can't I be rich!!  Enough complaining...I look forward to the day I get to hold this cartridge in my hand...

2) Bahamut Lagoon

Why, Japan, why!!!

This is one of the games that I will never hold physically because it's Japanese only.  Sadly, I do not speak Japanese.  I've always wanted to learn the language, but sadly, I'm not that good at picking up languages.  Maybe someday.  It would be awesome to pick up a Super Famicom copy of this game, put it in, understand the general basics, be able to read some of it, and play it.  But that will probably never happen.  But...there is good news.  There is an English patch available for this game online and I have played bits and pieces of the SNES rom.  It's actually pretty fun from what little I can remember...geez, now I want to go download this all over again and actually beat it.  Must control myself...too much of a backlog.

3) 7th Dragon

Two hours ago, I had never heard of this game.  But, while looking at information on another game that will be on this list, I came across a list of games that had dragons in it and this game was on it.  Sadly, it is Japanese only.  I know very little about this game (see first sentence as to why) but the bits and pieces of the video I saw looked really good...weirdly enough, that, and the fact that there is no English translation online and no way to play this game in English, makes me want to play this game all the more.  It's funny isn't it?  The things in life that we can't have, are the things that we want to have all that much more.  *sigh* why are there so many Japanese exclusive games!!! Lol :) I love them and all, but still...I'm jealous of the games they get to play.

4) Front Mission (SNES)

Once again, a game that barely fits on this list.  I HAVE played through the entirety of this game because it WAS released on DS.  But, the SNES version, the version that I would love to hold, was Japanese only.  That of course didn't stop me from playing it in English on emulator as a teenager.  Ah, good times :) this is seriously one of the best (and one of the only, unfortunately) tactical RPG games that I have ever played.  Good story, good customization system, good characters, great combat :)   heck, it even has a gladiator-esque arena area where you can challenge other NPC Wanzers (the term for the mech units in this game) to battle.  Overall, this game is fantastic.  Square, you break my heart :(

5) Panzer Dragoon Saga

I've seen Panzer Dragoon Orta sitting on shelves at the Retro store I frequent, but have yet to pick it up yet.  I really want to because it looks SO good.  And then I heard about this one today from looking at blondenerd.com (Britt5091's blog website).  After learning that it is an RPG game set in the Panzer Dragoon universe, I instantly wanted to try it.  However, two things are stopping me from going out right now and getting it: 1) it's for the Sega Saturn and I don't have one of those and 2) it costs 350 dollars used.  Yeah, you heard me right.  350 dollars!  And that's for a used copy.  I thought Earthbound was bad. This has made me decide to find the ISOs for this game and play it on a Saturn emulator (if I can find a way to get one to work).  I will play this game.  I will.  Sadly, I will never own it :(

6) Gyakuten Kenji 2 (Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth 2)


You have no idea how badly it breaks my heart that I will never be able to hold this game in my hands, put it in my 3DS, and enjoy it and all of its humor.  I love, absolutely love, every game in the Ace Attorney series.  I waited so long to play the first Ace Attorney Investigations game and loved it and the new style of gameplay (compared to the Phoenix Wright games).  Why, oh why, was this game never released in America?  There is, to the best of my knowledge, a lot of demand for these games.  They are extremely popular because of how good they are.  The fact that IGN gave the newest Phoenix Wright a lower score because it had "not enough gameplay" and "too much dialogue" was insulting.  That's what makes these games so good.  All in all, this game is the ultimate unobtainable game for me in a lot of ways.  Hopefully, someone puts out an English patch for the rom :)

Anyway, that's all for today :)   I feel like this is a good way to rejoin the MyIGN blogging community after 2 weeks away.  I hope you didn't miss me too much :)   Let me know what you think of these games in the comments.  Have you played any of them?  Ever heard of any of them?  What games do you want to play that you will probably never own or play?

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I Love WWENovember 20, 2013 by

Good evening, ladies and gents, I'm back!!!

Yes, that man in that picture is one of my favorite wrestlers ;)  And let me start this blog off right by saying that I'm not ashamed of the fact that I watch the WWE...obsessively...Monday and Friday night and each PPV (online of course).  I've been watching since March of this year, and have thoroughly enjoyed myself.  Why?  Is it because the storylines are amazingly deep and complex and...*gasp*...logical?  Nope...not even close...the storylines are amazingly shallow for the most part and make about as much sense as the popularity of the Kardashians.  Is it because of the hot divas?  Nope, although I will admit, there are a few divas who look fantastic (both in and out of the ring) but that's not a major drawing point for me.  So if it's not story and it's not sex, then what is it?  Why, it's pure entertainment, that's why.

I love watching these people perform.  I love the matches that are thrown together (usually...there are a lot of matches that just suck, and a lot more that are obvious filler that don't need to be there when they could spend more time developing great feuds and stories).  I love the promos that are cut, the witty one-liners that happen every now and again, the charismatic characters, and the absolute chaos that ensues when you throw all of it together into a pot and stir it just enough to make gold.  Sadly, this rarely happens.  And yet, I watch, hoping against hope that it will happen again.

I Swear, The Divas Aren't Why I Watch!

You know that you genuinely enjoy a sport (or "sports entertainment as WWE is referred to") when you yell at the computer screen, willing your favorites on to victory, despite the fact that you know that no matter how much you scream and yell, nothing will change because the outcome is already scripted.  And yet, you do it anyway, because you truly want them to win.  This is why I watch WWE.  I'm passionate about it when I watch it, even when it's terrible :)  Heck, I even watch Total Divas (the WWE's version of a reality TV show) for the same reason...some part of me finds it entertaining (I think it's a sicker, more masochistic part of me).  I actually laugh from time to time during Total Divas.  Oy.

Now, I know that there are many fans who yearn for the days of the Attitude Era.  I wasn't watching during those years, though I know a lot of those stars and they are my favorites.  Guys like The Rock, Undertaker, and Mankind.  These are all characters that I love and really miss.  However, I have found current guys who are just as fun to watch.  And that makes me even more excited for the future of the WWE.  While I used to think that all the new talent sucked and were worthless, I've come to appreciate them.  No, the PG era is not the same as the Attitude Era, but that's okay.  I still love it.

I will probably continue to watch the WWE for a long time.  It's one of my favorite shows.  It's my favorite sport to watch.  And while I often yell at the top of my lungs inside my head at how incredibly stupid a lot of the decisions are that are being made (story wise usually), I still enjoy it.  I need to lose my logic from time to time...it only hinders my ability to suspend my disbelief and truly enjoy everything I see.  But I mean, come on...the stories could be so much better!  There are things that I can see happening, things that I want to happen, though I know they probably never will because the WWE loves to sacrifice gold mines.  Oh well, their loss.

Anyway, I just wanted to write a little bit about this.  Something that I truly enjoy doing and watching.  Tell me your thoughts on the WWE below.  Do you watch?  Do you not watch?  Why/why not?


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When Did Gaming Become The Norm?November 8, 2013 by

This will be a bit of a different kind of blog.  Probably won't have any many images in it as usual...just have some thoughts in my head that I thought I would share.  But first, the good news :)  I won a freaking iPad in a health challenge contest at my work place...yeah, I'm that good :P lol...but, I'm probably going to take it to the store it was bought from and return it for the cash cuz I need money more than I need an iPad.  Plus, I haven't sold my soul to Apple (yet).  But, onto the topic.

When did gaming become the "in" thing to do?  I mean, I've noticed for years the massive rise in people playing video games, posting videos about games, blogging about games, cosplaying, etc.  But honestly, the more that I think about it, the more I wonder: when did it become okay to like video games?  When did society shift to a place where it was no longer just the "nerdy" thing to do?  Sure, a lot of gamers are "nerdy" in many ways, but not all.  I myself am a self-professed nerd...I love comics, video games, anime, superhero movies, and Youtube lol.  But I know people who aren't "nerdy" who love to play video games.  I see these gorgeous girls on Youtube and other places who love to play video games, and I think to myself, "When did this become normal?"

I'm 26 years old.  When I was in middle school/high school, gaming was the furthest thing from popular.  If you played video games and were open about it, you were teased and lumped in with the nerds, losers, and outcasts of the grade.  And that was where I found myself, because I loved video games.  I remember one day in Spanish class in about 6th or 7th grade, I asked my best friend at that time a question about Ocarina of Time, and he told me to be quiet and not talk about it.  I didn't understand.  When it was him and I, we talked gaming all the time, and played a lot of games (some of my fondest memories with gaming in middle school/high school happened with him...GTA III for the win).  But at school, surrounded by the group that was quickly becoming his new group of friends, it was taboo.

I guess because I've been so new coming to the wide world known as Youtube, I've missed out on this rapid transformation, this shift in thought that led to the mindset that video gaming was no longer a loser thing to do, but was actually popular and accepted.  Don't get me wrong...I could be wrong about all of this.  Kids in middle school and high school could still be teased for gaming, but part of me thinks it doesn't happen nearly as much as it used to.

To be honest, I would've loved if more kids had gamed when I was younger.  I was a social reject in a lot of ways at that point in my life, and I would've loved to have some legit friends who shared similar interests with me.  Now, at 26, I still find myself searching for that in friends.  It's a lot harder, though, at this stage in my life, to find people to be real friends with.  And heck, with the sudden influx of gorgeous girls gaming, you would think I would have no problem finding a girlfriend who shared that interest...but apparently, ever gamer chick I meet that I could see myself being interested in, she's already taken.  I don't get it.  :)

I watch Youtube videos from girls like Raychul Moore, Jessica Nigri, Katie Wilson, and others, and they are all avid gamers.  They cosplay, they game, and they aren't teased or stigmatized for it.  Maybe it's because they are hot and show a lot of boob (well, Raychul and Jessica do...Katie doesn't, and I'm glad for that).  There are many other girl gamers on Youtube as well, and it seemed like for a long time, early on, the common practice for girls was to show a lot of cleavage in video game videos they made.  I don't know if this is prevalent still for many of them, but honestly, I hope that we've moved past that point in the video game world.  Beautiful girls should not have to show as much boob as possible to find acceptance in the gaming world.

However, I do still find that there are people who are resistant to the gaming world becoming the norm.  You see it on the news all the time, and in politics, especially after violent shootings happen.  My dad is pretty anti-gaming and isn't too fond of the idea that I still play video games at my age.  He seems to think that gaming is immature and I need to grow up.  My sister-in-law is very similar in that mindset, though she grew up without TV really, so her views are a bit more understandable to me.  But that's the kind of girl that I don't want to end up some day...I want to be able to share my passion for gaming with someone, not have to give it up to be with them.  A girl I met at college told me that gaming is the most unattractive thing in guys.  A lot of other people I've met have told me similar things, that it's unattractive at this age, that it's immature, that it kills brain cells and wastes time.

So gaming, while more normal now than it ever was when I was a teenager, is still stigmatized and misunderstood by some.  My main question that I want to pose, though, is this: when did gaming become the norm?  What caused it to shift from being taboo to popular?  When did gaming become so big?  Tell me your thoughts below :)  And now, to leave you with my ending image...gotta have some kind of calling card right?

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