New location...same dorkiness

http://straightupdorkinit.wordpress.com/

Extraneous Prequel Character(s) I hate # 1

Was there any doubt?





























If you need an explanation, you are an ahole.


I will say that what annoys me most is I had to suffer through him for over an hour in Episode I and then he gets less screen time than Mas Amedda through the last two films. Oh great in joke George, Jar Jar was responsible for the fall of the Republic, just like the prequels...how f'n clever.

And in Revenge of the Sith he is in two scenes...no dialogue. I am happy about that in general, but why could he have not been with the doomed on Mustafar? That could've saved Revenge of...on second thought...no.










10. Ric Olie

9. Pontifex Maxiron Agolerga

8. Baron Papanoida

7. Boba Fett ( calm down and read, I said prequel)

6. Ki-Adi-Mundi & Plo Koon

5. Queen Apailana

4. E.T.'s

3. Dex Jettster

2. Rune Haako and Nute Gunray

Extraneous Prequel Character(s) I hate # 2

In an imperfect prequel world there are many characters to take shots at. These two missed out taking the top spot, but that makes them no less offensive. I still can't figure out what Lucas was thinking when he created the Neimodian duo of Rune Haako and his master Nute Gunray. They were, like many races in the prequel world fueled by stereotypes...in this case the Asian community. Worse yet they were simply boring and innocuous.



































Nute Gunray or Rune Hakko? Who the F*CK cares? They are offensive, boring sterotype characters who show what happens when you have flaccid villains( albeit secondary ones)...films fail. Grand Moff Tarkin schools these guys rears...hell even Admiral Ozzel could take these guys out.



I could not believe it when I sat through Episode I the "beer goggle" free time. The are not menacing and flaccid as villains. Of course they were simply pawns in the grand scheme of things, but much like entry number 1 (coming tomorrow...tease) they chewed up valuable screen time that could've been used for useful things that were missing from the prequels...like character development or having Obi Wan and Anakin spend time on screen together having bonding adventures...you know so we can actually see that Anakin was whiny little punk and a poor student....I digress.

The best thing "Darth Vader" did in Episode III was wipe these two out. They are lucky to be number 2...

10. Ric Olie

9. Pontifex Maxiron Agolerga

8. Baron Papanoida

7. Boba Fett ( calm down and read, I said prequel)

6. Ki-Adi-Mundi & Plo Koon

5. Queen Apailana

4. E.T.'s

3. Dex Jettster

The great WordPress migration

I am playing the part of a lemming today. I am migrating all my posts to http://straightupdorkinit.wordpress.com. LA13 just did it and claims that they have a lot of cool features that are not accessible here. We shall see how the import goes...I have a lot of video I don't feel like reworking.

ADD: Fail, there is no way to have the media links transfer...I will have to think this over, but I love what I see from WordPress.

DLC Madness starts Wednesday

First up, Gears of War 2: Snowblind Map Pack.



Personally I love (well made) map packs. They keep shooters fresh.

Teaser War

Last week to much fanfare Modern Warfare 2 (Formerly Call of Duty 6: Modern Warfare 2) released a trailer. There was much much dissection and a general consternation within the gaming community about the content. There was very little in terms of actual information. Sure people have been able to translate it, break it down. I wonder how badly they will want those minutes, or hours back on their death bed. My guess is that they may not have that amount of clarity.

Here it is, below, in all its glory. I found it meh, but understand that it is a teaser...and tease it does. The problem is it has production qualities of a Seagal DTV trailer...not a good thing. It tries to be too clever in my book and it misses on an ability to brand the game in even the vaguest of fashions (unless they are going with the game will be played through a gamma ray filter that flickers images. K.I.S.S. is the standard in branding, though they have a loyal (somewhat aggressively so) following they missed an opportunity to create buzz in any non fan boys gaming heart.




I hope and believe that the game will deliver. I think that that single player of Call of Duty 4: Modern Combat is among the best, if not the best, visceral single player campaign I have ever played. IW (Infinity Ward, the developer) hit the nail on the head. Multi Player was an issue for me. With all the stat tracking they should've broken down kills more. Who was a slave to the air strike and copter? We'll never know. I wish they were not in the game as it were. Let's give the best players further advantage. Yeah that is smart game play balance. (And that was sarcasm.)

This leads me to a teaser that was released this weekend. Though it showed no actual game play footage (man, I hope not) it set a theme in game play mechanics for Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Every weapon, strategy, or vehicle has a counter. That is a glorious thing. Though I am sure there will be some over powered in all the above, I love that balance was addressed.

It is no surprise that in our aesthetic driven world that the graphically superior get a bump with the masses. "We don't need no thought control" Give me balanced, fun game play and I will choose that over a vapid beauty any day. Battlefield Bad Company 2 seems to want to brand itself in that manner. And I will keep it on the radar. If it is an 09 release then it will have to get in the Santa line as no matter how good it may turn out it will not bump my big two, Madden 10 and NHL 10.

Here is the teaser:



In the end will any of this matter? No. Modern Warfare will likely pummel Bad Company by a 7 to 1 margin in sales. The accolades will fall IW's way. And they know that. And I guess that is my core issue; the arrogance involved in how they presented the teaser. It screams, "we can stamp Call of Duty or Modern Warfare on this box of shit and it will be a guarantee sell. It will be a guaranteed piece of crap; but it will sell."* And that just pisses me off.


* Thanks to Tommy Callahan for that line. By the way, I happen to think Modern Warfare 2 will be great and will sell. But I hate the attitude that is sent when you release such a lame teaser. I'll see you in game; Christmas time and I will disavow writing this it will be so good (At least SP).

Gears Peter Parker

Horde mode is an amazing time on Gears of War 2. In fact I think it will be THE mode that keeps it firing up in my 360. One thing is for sure it will keep me putting money down for map packs.

I can only hope that as I play more and end up dead early that my photography skills will improve. Below are some from today.



We have got the Horde on notice.. My current highest rated photo. 4856



LA13 in standard position...down, but not out. Where am I? Dead and taking photos.