Manhunt 2 - The Final Trailer

Got my money ready for this one. Manhunt was awesome, and editted or not, Rockstar Games has never made a bad game (even Midnight Club has it's moments)

Dinosaur Comics,,,,,great stuff

I hope this is big enough to read. It's funny. It's an experiment in the medium, every panel is always the same, yet every strip is different. Author Ryan North tackles issues from existentialism to a Tyrannosaurus Rex's love for chocolate covered pork chops. Check it out. For more of these visit QWANTZ.com,,,the guy is a genius.

Flight of the Conchords Ep 3 Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros

fucking awesome

‘Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree’ is a lot of casual fun as long as classes are kept short

The Nintendo Wii has brought casual games to the forefront with the system’s easy-to-use controls and games that are easy to get into, yet strangely addictive. Nintendo has already had success with Wii versions of sports like baseball and bowling in “Wii Sports” and crazy/funny games in “WarioWare: Smooth Moves,” but with the most recent release aimed toward the casual gamer market, Nintendo is targeting gamers who want to make their brains bigger.
And by bigger, I mean it literally. In the recent release “Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree,” players are tested by various mini-games, and their results are scored as weight that is added on to their brains. The player with the heaviest brain is the smartest. If this were a true way to measure intelligence, Stephen Hawking’s brain would be heavier than a Boeing 747 filled with elephants.
Ignoring for a moment the strange grading system, “Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree” does have some interesting things to offer, as long as you feel smarter for learning the mechanics of gameplay.
The game is a symbolic sequel to the “Brain Age” games that proved to be a hit on the Nintendo DS. On the Nintendo’s hand-held DS, “Brain Age” is a collection of mini-games that attempt to allow gamers to use their brainpower to solve short puzzles on the go. For the home console, “Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree” doesn’t add much to the formula.
At the beginning of the game, you’ll be tasked with enrolling yourself in the Big Brain Academy. From here you’ll play the games, each separated into groups under a theme. For example, there are the “Calculate” games which task the player with doing various mathematical calculations, like one game where you’re given a total and left with a mix of numbers printed on on-screen logs. You have to use the Wii-mote as a hammer to knock the incorrect numbers off of the screen. There are also “Visualize” puzzles where you’ll have to do things like identify the animal in a photo when you’re only shown a small part of the picture or you’re asked to recall the facial features of a cartoon character after they have floated through the screen in a hot-air balloon. It’s simple games like this that keep the game fun, and the program is smart enough to adapt by slowly upping the difficulty level as you play.
The problem is that the only real “learning” that players will be doing is learning how to play the game. Some games are simple, like “pop the numbered balloons in the correct numerical order.” Okay, no problem, I can figure that out. But some of the games cause the player to wonder just what in the world the game is asking them to do before they can attempt to figure out how to do it. I understand that figuring out the game is part of the game, but it’s frustrating to be rushed by the clock while trying to figure out if the game wants you to pick the two similar shapes or the ones that are different.
Also, there is little more to the game than the mini-games themselves. In the single player mode, there are a few ways to play mix-ups of the different mini-games, but ultimately, these modes are nothing more than training modes for the “test” mode where players are graded on their ability.
Remember that being graded means your brain is weighed. So, the professor (a blob-like thing with glasses and a mustache) will put your “brain” on a scale and smack it with your scores from the various tests, adding to your brain’s girth. Also, you’ll be given a suggested job by the game’s career counselor. You get silly job suggestions like “Museum Curator” or “Improv Actor,” but is a fun addition.
There is also a multi-player mode where players can team up and play with friends. It’s fun, but very similar to the single player modes.
Overall this game is a lot of fun, but the fun lasts about as long as these short mini-games do. Initially, it is great to learn the games and try to improve your performance. After that, however, the game becomes tiring and stale.

A ‘Black Summer’ could lead to a very green autumn for Avatar Press

The avid comic book reader often overlooks small press comics and it is a mistake that really hurts the industry. Often the big two companies (DC Comics and Marvel Comics) are so busy one-upping each other that the stories go unattended while the companies slap the latest whiz-bang foil cover or hologram card on all of their comics.
Also, the bigger companies need to take their characters on long, drawn out stories because these characters are their bread-and-butter. So, in order for something important to happen in their fictional lives, it needs to take time in the comics. Just think of what would happen if Spider-Man broke his arm. That would effect a bunch of other stories throughout the year for Marvel Comics because they would have to work his cast into every story.
But, this is just an extremely minor point, what if he died and stayed dead? Well, that could never happen, Spider-Man is too popular and he makes too much money for Marvel to ever let him go.
But, here is where small press comics are great. They allow a creative team to take any characters they want and play with them. They can build them up or destroy their lives in order to tell a good story. Since the history isn’t there, like it would be in the case of the 60-plus year old web-slinger, writers and artists have no boundaries with these characters. Unfortunately, having an elaborate history is also part of the reason why people like reading about Spidey. So, small press has to introduce these new characters and then tell their story. I believe it can be a wonderful thing and great creative talent comes from books by small or independent publishers, but with so much out there it’s hard to find what is worthwhile.
I remember when I was younger and I found “The Tick” comics at the local comic shop. I remember how hard it was getting the all black-and-white issues of the comic, but it was worth it. It was funny, clever and written well. As a reader I felt like I was in on the jokes and I knew that I found something different than other comics. It was everything a comic should be. Since then “The Tick” has had a series of toys, a video game and two separate TV shows based on it.
Well, finding a small press book like that is rare, but it is worth looking because every now and then one can find a comic that is outside of the mainstream but could be the work that eventually helps lead the entire industry. Just look at Alan Moore’s “Miricleman” for the perfect example of this.
But, I’m getting carried away. This week, I found “Black Summer” from Avatar Press and it isn’t quite what the other books I mentioned were, but it does have some interesting ideas that are worth exploring.
Veteran comic-author Warren Ellis wrote the story and artist Juan Jose Ryp drew the book. Ryp has an interesting look to his art. Things are very detailed, For example, a reader can see all the intricate details Ryp puts into the shards of glass after a bottle is shattered. But, I found his musculature of the characters to be look much like rope. Every line of their bodies is over-drawn to the point of tedium. This is not a bad thing, it just tends to make the artwork look like something from "Mad" magazine at times instead of an action-based comic.
Ellis however is on-point. The story begins with a shock; a superhero has just killed the president live on television. Then the story kicks into gear. The “hero” who did the deed is part of a group of heroes called “Seven Guns.” It consists of seven different heroes who were genetically engineered by the U.S. government to be a weapon. It seems these heroes were deactivated and separated a long time ago and the heroes were expected to lay low and turn off their cybernetic enhancements. Well, in issue #1 there is a very “Miricleman”-esque moment where we find out that some of the heroes haven’t turned off their enhancements and the power has driven them mad. (Does this sound like Kid Miricleman to any one else?)
The government decides to end the lives of these seen heroes and cut their losses. That’s understandable for the one who murdered the president, but what of the other six?
As of issue #1 little is know about the others, but one of the original seven is now crippled after a failed government assassination attempt. A bomb took his leg and the life of the woman he loved. She was also one of the “Seven.”
Anyway, the first issue introduces us to the crippled ex-hero Tom Noir, the murdering hero John Horus and their creator Frank Blacksmith.
I’m looking forward to seeing where Ellis takes these characters, but I must admit that already I’m seeing signs of imitation (or should I say flattery) of Alan Moore. It is early in the story and the similarities might be inconsequential, but it is noticeable if you’ve read Moore’s work.
However, if you haven’t or are looking for something different than the standard Marvel and DC fare, give “Black Summer” a look.

With many summer blockbusters delayed, what’s left to play this year?

Recently, I wrote a column touting the “video games of summer” that were due to be released in the weeks after that article. However, the video game industry is a tricky business, and many of the games I mentioned have had their release dates pushed so far back that they aren’t going to be “games of this year,” let alone “games of this summer.”
The game I was most waiting for — “Grand Theft Auto IV” was positioned to be released in late August. Well, last week this changed when the game’s release date was pushed back until spring of next year. That is a long time to wait just to tear around Liberty City, committing crimes and running from “the fuzz.”
Also, “Mass Effect” for the Xbox 360, which looks to be an engaging space-opera, was to have been released in late spring, but instead, the title might be on shelves by the winter holiday season. I stress that it’s just a “maybe,” and it could be pushed back even further.
Maybe it is due to the requirements of next-generation systems, and maybe it is the fact that video game development is an extremely expensive venture, and perhaps developers want to ensure that their titles have a little bit of extra polish and sheen before they push them out the door. For whatever reason, gamers are growing weary because most games released this year have been mediocre at best.
It’s truly a shame that the best Nintendo Wii game I’ve played this summer was just a rehash of a game that came out originally in 2005. But, other systems haven’t fared well, either. The Sony PlayStation 3 has been plagued with nothing but bad games or no games at all. In fact, the best game Sony has released all year was “God of War 2,” which came out for the PlayStation 2, a last-generation system.
Microsoft’s Xbox 360 has fared the best this year with a few good titles like “Forza Motorsport 2,” but big-name games that have been released have been relatively poor. Just look at any review of “The Darkness” or “Spider-Man 3,” and you’ll see that these games, with all the potential and hype surrounding their release, have been met with lukewarm reviews.
But, there is hope. A few games will retain their release dates and will be on store shelves and in gamer’s hands before too long.
First and foremost, Bioware’s “Bioshock” is still set to be released on Aug. 21. If this game comes out on its expected release date, I believe this could be the game that players have been waiting for all year. Bioware is a successful company with a few quality titles under its belt — the “Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic” games — and the “Bioshock” title is actually building off the successful “System Shock” series that was popular in the late 90s.
The upcoming game tells the tale of a man, the player’s character, who is lost at sea. He is a sailor overboard when he dives underwater. Then, in the depths, he sees a shining city on the ocean floor, and he swims toward its light.
From then on, players must investigate this ruined underwater city and search for reasons why the only inhabitants left, in what was meant to be an example of humanity conquering nature and living undersea, are monsters and maniacs with no memory of what occurred. Needless to say, it looks interesting.
Also, fans of the “Guitar Hero” franchise should be excited as “Guitar Hero III” will soon be released. Honestly, though, this is a game I could never get interested in. It looks to me like grown men playing a Fisher-Price guitar. Real guitars exist, and learning to play guitar should be as rewarding as pushing buttons on a cheap, plastic, guitar-shaped controller. If you actually learn guitar, you’re learning a skill that you can enjoy even when you have no television or PlayStation, and, ask any band member, girls like guys who can play guitar. But, I don’t think playing air guitar, while smacking on something that looks like a toy from a kindergarten playroom, will turn any heads — at least not in a positive way.
But, to each his own. That’s why they make chocolate and vanilla ice cream, right?
Anyway, “Guitar Hero” is out, and, following that idea, Electronic Arts will soon release “Boogie” for the Nintendo Wii.
“Boogie” is a dancing simulator that invites players to get off the couch and shake their respective “groove thangs.”
It looks to be a lot of fun, and I’m a fan of any game for the Wii that gets the players off the couch and invites people to laugh and play together.
So, there you have it, a few of the upcoming games of late summer. The fall holds another round of good games like “Halo 3,” “Assassin’s Creed” and “Smash Bros. Brawl.”
But, until then, I say play some of the older games again or get your hands on “Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.” It is available for almost every console and computer system, and it offers enough to get players through these slow summer months.

Are other referees guilty of gambling? I’d bet on it

Recently, NBA referee Tim Donaghy has been the subject of media and law enforcement scrutiny due to his alleged gambling on games which he refereed.
This is a huge scandal, as Donaghy, according to information collected by R.J. Bell of the Web site Pregame.com, cheated during the two seasons investigated by the NBA. Bell found that 57 percent of the time, the teams involved in games officiated by Donaghy scored more points than expected by Las Vegas sports books.
However, Bell said that in the previous two seasons, this only happened 44 percent of the time, leading one to believe that Donaghy could be involved in a scam involving point spreads. In basketball, this is relatively easy to fix. All Donaghy needed to do was call a few extra fouls late in a game, and he could easily rob one team of points or award points to a team in order to make the numbers he needed to cash in.
Bell also found Donaghy officiated in 10 straight games throughout last season where the point spread moved 1.5 points or more before the beginning of the game. Bell said that this is an indication that big money had been wagered on the game. The fact that the big money won every time, Bell said called “another indication that something [was] going on."
According to accusations made by the FBI, Donaghy had been working with low-level members of organized crime, and through an investigation into organized crime — not into sports betting — Donaghy’s actions became apparent.
However, I believe that Donaghy’s actions weren’t caught simply because he was breaking the rules. He was caught because he is a self-centered jerk who thought the rules didn’t apply to him.
In fact, Donaghy, originally from nearby Delaware County, Pa., had problems with his neighbors while living in West Chester, Pa. According to various reports posted online and in print (I found the information on Philly.com.), Donaghy set his neighbor’s tractor on fire and drove their golf cart into a ravine. He even called the police on a 6-year-old neighbor for supposedly “throwing rocks into his yard.”
Would this make him a bad referee? Not necessarily, but does it make him a jerk who craves constant attention? Yes, of course. If he is asking for police attention through his off-the-court antics, it is easy to expect someone to eventually figure out his cheating ways. But, unfortunately, he had been in the league for years before he was caught, so what does that say about other officials who might not be as flamboyant off the court?
If someone so abrasive gets away with these actions for such a long time, how long have other referees been quietly getting away with similar schemes? I’m not saying anyone else is cheating. This could be an isolated incident, but it is unlikely.
Something like this should cause professional sports to turn a critical eye on all referees and umpires. I don’t expect many referees to be cheating now. I bet the recent events will cause a scare that will keep all officials honest.
Hopefully, sports organizations will do more to keep the officials honest now that this has come to light. It’s bad enough to watch your team lose the game. But, it’s worse to learn that the team lost because the referee wanted to make a few bucks on the side.