The Doubleshot Expresso

Broadband Policy, Net Neutrality, and the DMCA

ac3raven — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 04:52:00 GMT

Three battles, in a larger fight, with the backdrop of the first amendment. If all goes well the internet will stay neutral, while federal regulations ensure a faster and cheaper connection and more ISP's. But if we lose, the consolidated corporate world...(read more)

an analysis of EA's properties

ac3raven — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 03:56:00 GMT

Current EA EA Mobile India Criterion Software Digital Illusions CE EA Black Box EA Canada EA China EA Los Angeles EA Mobile EA Montreal EA Casual Entertainment EA Mythic EA Korea EA Byrnest EA Redwood Shores EA Singapore EA UK Maxis EA Phenomic EA Tiburon...(read more)

Police State?

ac3raven — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 16:56:00 GMT

This post will be absent of my commentary, primarily because I think you'll get the point. http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/03/report-recruit.html http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h110-1955 If you've read my previous posts, and the...(read more)

If we don't fight now, we will fight later,

ac3raven — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 03:34:00 GMT

and I wager it will be quite literally a violent fight to restore the values of free enterprise and the constitution. I don't know about you but all this rampant consolidation and monopolizing is getting quite scary to me. It is virtually impossible to...(read more)

A few of the things I firmly believe in.

ac3raven — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 01:48:00 GMT

Imagine a world where money is not a goal, where greed does not motivate. Imagine a world where art and philosophy dominate and exploration of the mind and human potential is a common goal. Imagine an open world, connected, where every idea, every thought...(read more)

Openness in the Video game Industry

ac3raven — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 00:38:00 GMT

Nocturnal Initiative PhyreEngine Independent Game Press XNA UT 3 Modding for Console versions XNA Zune development Wii Ware This years GDC theme seemed to be one of openness and advancing games as a viable platform for artistic expression and communication....(read more)

Obstruction of Justice

ac3raven — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 08:44:00 GMT

ArsTechnica The above news tells us that our Senate firmly believes that breaking constitutional law is okay, as long as it's helping the federal government "protect our freedoms". The Bush administration claims that warrantless wire tapping is necessary...(read more)

Review: King of California

ac3raven — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 07:45:00 GMT

To get passed all the credits with minimal effort, here you go: IMDB Now, onward to the shiny new blog post! For those that are stricken with pure boredom, and a slight case of that dangerous impulse called curiosity, I hope my opinion spices up your...(read more)

The Rise of Linux

ac3raven — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 03:30:00 GMT

Excerpt from the GNU Manifesto : " I consider that the golden rule requires that if I like a program I must share it with other people who like it. Software sellers want to divide the users and conquer them, making each user agree not to share with others....(read more)

Best. Day. Ever.

ac3raven — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 16:25:00 GMT

This post isn't about a new development in technology, or entertainment. This is a post about one day in my life that just plain rocked. Nothing relevant to the focus of eggxpert will be discussed and I don't want Blog Picks to highlight this post; this...(read more)

Art

ac3raven — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 04:28:00 GMT

Upon the eminent start of my 2nd quarter of ITT, I've been thinking quite a bit about my chosen career, that is video game design. I've been thinking about the place of video games in society, and where they will be in the future. I firmly believe that...(read more)

WGA Strike Information

ac3raven — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 00:32:00 GMT

The reason for the strike is because the writers are unfairly compensated for their efforts and sometimes not even compensated at all.

here is some of the latest news:
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=0a39ff8c-04ad-40e3-a5f8-5383896886fd&k=6049
shows mentioned to be shutting down in the article above are Bionic Woman, Battlestar Galactica, Aliens in America, Reaper, Smallville, Supernatural, Psyche, The 4400,and Kyle XY.

Here is what Ron Moore, executive producer of BSG had to say about why he is striking:
http://tv.ign.com/articles/833/833633p1.html

Here is the most updated news about the status of BSG:
http://www.rondmoore.com/Site/Blog/Entries/2007/11/17_Galactica_wraps.html

this link is a list of most of the shows being affected in some way due to the strike, it's a huge list with lots of popular shows and a few good ones. BSG got half of season 4 done before they shut down, that's a good thing at least. Look here for your favorite show and be disappointed:
http://hollywoodstrike.blogspot.com/2007/11/wga-strike-updated-strike-affected-show.html

here is a link to what Joss Whedon (Buffy, Angel, Firefly and THE best television writer ever, in my opinion) had to say about the strike:
http://whedonesque.com/comments/14650

Here is a plot synopsis for a new show being written by Joss Whedon called "Goners". Universal didn't like his original draft so he re wrote it and re submitted it. They still didn't approve, so he's rewriting it again. All this WGA strike news got me to thinking: Why isn't television like the internet or radio? Why are a select few corporations controlling what we can watch and who can write what on television?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0481738/synopsis

This strike is bigger than it looks friends.

Beowulf in IMAX 3D

ac3raven — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 05:52:00 GMT

It was kind of a haphazard plan, but my cousin and I decided that it would be a good idea to see the recent Beowulf rendition by Zemeckis in IMAX and in 3D. We saw it today (Saturday) and the experience was well worth the 10.25 I paid for it, I would have been willing to pay 20.50 for it!

Firstly, I have to say that despite the criticism this film received prior to its debut about the CGI overlay style, I think it worked extremely well. The CGI overlay opened up options in terms of cinematography, allowing the fantasy-esque appeal of the story to be fleshed out via stylistic lighting, and more creative camera work. The 3D goggles I was wearing certainly helped to immerse me into the films settings and plot, although the 3D was a bit overwhelming at first. Visually, Beowulf was excellent, but the real question is whether or not the story-arc of the movie was handled well.

If you've read the text of Beowulf, then you know that it is a very generic (by today's standards) story with subtle undertones of love, grief, and the imperfect nature of man. The text focuses on heroism, defining the archetypal hero with attributes such as courage, physical strength, perseverance and what not. Well, I can tell you the movie pulls these things off very accurately, and of course that's not necessarily a good thing. Yes the fact that the movie followed the story arch of the text for the most part is respectable, but its also predictable. The movie suffers only because the reference material is so generic and lacking of depth. It's an action movie, nothing more really; that said, it is a good movie, one worth paying a steep price to see and you'll like it if your not expecting too much from it.

I sit down in the IMAX theater, and one of the first things I wondered was how Grendel would be portrayed. I've seen 3 different personalities of this being (Beowulf the original text, Beowulf and Grendel, with Gerard Butler, and the novel simply titled Grendel). Both the movie with Gerard Butler as Beowulf and the novel (more of a long short story) Grendel portray the being as a victim rather than a criminal and the same goes for the Zemeckis version. Giving Grendel a backstory adds just a little more depth to the story so I'm glad they went that route.

Overall it was a good movie (especially in IMAX 3D), but keeping in mind the not-so-deep reference material, I guess there was no reasonable way to make it anything more than an action fest. The visuals were nice, the casting was good (although I think they could have found a better actress to play the role of Grendel's mother, Jolie just wasn't strange enough), and the plot was executed finely.

I'm giving Beowulf a 7/10

Metroid Prime 3 Review

ac3raven — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 04:34:00 GMT

So, I finally finished the game and now I am going to tell you what I think of it. First and foremost, I have to point out genius of making the Metroid series of console games into a first-person platformer (it is not, contrary to popular belief, a first-person shooter). This gave the original Metroid Prime a sense of scale that no other game at that time could even come close to matching. Add to that the masterful level-design, puzzle layout design, and beautiful environmental effects and you get a game that defines its generation in every way. A sequel was inevitable; Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (also known as Dark Echoes) didn't particularly raise the bar that its predecessor had set so high, but regardless, the game was well-received by critics and players alike. Echoes introduced what would be a critical component of Corruption's plot: Dark Samus. The concept of phazon corruption really gave the game a nice good vs evil feel, although I'd say that they went a bit overboard with that. I would have liked to have seen phazon be treated more like an indiscriminant disease or plague (maybe something like the Flood in Halo or the creatures in The Thing). Anyway, this is a Metroid Prime 3 review is it not? So let's talk about Corruption. I didn't finish Echoes so I couldn't tell you if Corruption picks up right where that left off or if it's a few indeterminable time frames later. But without spoiling the game for you I can honestly say that Metroid Prime 3 is by far the most intense, and satisfying game I've played in a long time. The locales Samus visits are jaw-droppingly gorgeous, and mind-bendingly dangerous at the same time. The enemies can scare you if your not careful and the puzzles are flawlessly designed to make you think, not throw the controller in frustration, and upon figuring it out, you are left satisfied, even if the reward is only that you've found another puzzle to solve. The controls (I'm sure someone thought I was going to mention this first) are solid, and the game really makes you use both the remote and nunchuck in very logical and fun ways. The grappling hook, for instance, requires the player to target a context sensitive area, then push the nunchuck forward as if tossing a rope, then when the hook (it's a plasma beam) latches, pull back. The back of the case will tell you that the game has the best FPS controls ever made; now I would definitely say the game has the best CONSOLE fps controls ever, but it's hard to beat a mouse and keyboard for fps games. Now onto the Audio; guess what? it's awesome too! The music is, and this has been the case with every Metroid game, absolutely stellar. The musical score has the perfect mix of epic, adventurous, and scary and the sound effects compliment it well. The extra content is really cool also, the concept art, story boards, and such are actually worth unlocking, and the bonus content is definitely worth the effort. If you have enough points (earn point by scanning new creatures, finding secret areas, etc..) then you'll be able to buy the ability to take screen shots or you could get decals for your Hunter ship. All the music can be unlocked for full-playback as well, which is nice, because a lot the music makes for good ambient sounds while your busy with something else.

The only issues I have with this game are the loading time and the friend voucher. in the previous Metroid games, the moment you shoot a door to open it, it opens, but in MP3 you'll almost always have to wait no less than 3 seconds, sometimes up to 10 seconds. the friend voucher feature, while it makes perfect sense, is really just annoying. Friend vouchers act just like the awards you get for in-game achievements, and most of the unlockable content requires at least one friend voucher. That's a problem because in order to get one of these vouchers I have to send one to a friend (friend meaning that they are in my wii address book) that also has a wii and the game. Once I send that voucher, the friend has to accept it, giving him/her a voucher and then once he/she adds me to their wii address book, they can send a voucher to me. It's a complicated process and unless I go online to some random forum about friend vouchers and trade them with people I've never even met before, I'm not going to get very far into the unlockable content.

I'm giving Metroid Prime 3: Corruption a 9.5/10

The Wii Potential

ac3raven — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 14:17:00 GMT

I'd say with confidence that the design of Nintendo's Wii is revolutionary, and inherently, it has almost infinite potential. Nintendo is making all the right moves, and it's fascinating to witness this companies success. The Wii is sold out world wide, and for good reason. The recently updated version 3.1 of the Wii dash board coincides with an update that allows a USB keyboards (wireless or not) to be used within Opera and the dash board. The virtual Console has been host to a flux of new titles lately, and original downloadable content has been promised and is coming very soon. A massive update to the Everybody Votes channel will not only make polling more fun, but also introduce game rankings and search functionality. Opera will now support user-created content for it's wii web browser as well. When I turn on my Wii, I have access to weather reports, news report (both channels feature a really cool globe view), I can buy and play classic games from the past, download trailers (and soon game demos), answer polls and look at world wide or nation wide results, view and edit (editing is multiplayer!) pictures or videos from an SD card, post pictures to a message board and view them in a slide show with custom music, I can also transfer my Mii to my remote and carry Mii around, and we've established that I can browsing the internet. I could also send messages from my Wii to a friends Wii, cell phone or computer. Keep in mind that the Wii is backward compatible, so I could go to the disc channel and choose to play a game cube game or maye I want to play Mario Strikers online with 3 other friends.

Many may argue that Nintendo's online strategy is horrible when compared to Xbox Live or Home, but I think it is simply a case of the tortoise and the hair. Consider Nintendo's market penetration, they've sold their Wii to hardcore gamers, casual gamers, parents, and grandparents. Not to mention the DS sales, now all Nintendo needs to do is slowly get their new found audience to accept Online multiplayer, then you'll have close to 14 million Wii's Online.