Shadow Man 9

District 9
Not knowing too much about this movie going into it was a good thing. It allowed for a feeling of surprise that I have not felt in the theater in sometime. Without digging to far into the plot I will share some of the interesting background bullet points that made this movie stand out to me. Peter Jackson tapped director Neill Blomkamp to first work on a Halo film after seeing his shorts and commercials. The Halo project fell apart when some investors pulled out, so he (Blomkamp) made D9 with Jackson instead. The film was made for $30 million dollars, given its impressive special effects and visual candy the cost is a feat in and of itself. The lead on the film (Sharlto Copley) was the producer on Blomkamp's most successful short and has no other acting credits to his name on IMDB at least.

Hmm, I have dedicated a paragraph to the all the stuff not on the screen. How about a seven word summary to put a nice little bow on this not review review then: Gritty aliens on Earth sans brushed aluminum.

Shadow Complex
As mentioned previously on this here bee-log I was looking forward to 2D shooter like it was 5am on Christmas morning. Well now having played through it once and starting up a second time I can say it was worth the wait. To get it out of the way early the story is straight up terrible. It does just enough to support the amazing game play and not get in the way. What really shines are the graphics, game play and progression. Starting out without weapons or the ability to hang on a ledge and then quickly ramping up to super human solider is pretty cool. The collectibles are meaningful and around every corner and weapon upgrades are doled out at a perfect pace. The combat is rewarding and switching to the Z axis for some attacks feels natural. Overall this game delivers and for the price ($15) there is no reason you shouldn't be playing it.

'Splosion Man
In the lull before Shadow Complex I went hunting for a game to pass the time between raids. What I came across was a 2D game with a fun concept, but little depth. There is one action you can take in S. Man outside of moving left or right, you splode. All the buttons are mapped to it and it essential boost you vertically and is driven by your momentum. That basic mechanic is repeated ad nauseum for the duration of the game to the point that I can not be motivated to finish it. It tries to be funny, but the most I ever do is crack a smile. The puzzles go from "Hmm that was clever" to "I want to pull my finger nails out with pliers". The long and short, skip this game unless you are hard up for summer entertainment or you some how win it on 1 vs 100.

Recycled Content

Some how I missed the fact that Blizzard was recycling their old content with greater frequency when the first instance in Wraith of the Lich King was Naxxramas. Granted it could be that it was the only instance I had never been too prior to WotLK. It felt right, the vast majority of the population missed out on the level 60 version, as it butted up to Burning Crusade by less than six months. So why not show everyone what they missed out on, continuity be damned. The recycled instance was one thing, but reusing the same recolored tier 3 gear felt a little lazy. Granted it was gear that looked cool when it came out two years prior, but still lazy.

This spring Ulduar (patch 3.1) was released as a real meat and potatoes instance. All new art for the dungeon, bosses and gear. Really cool stuff. When Trial of the Crusader (patch 3.2) was announced it felt a little too soon after the release of 3.1. My guild had already cleared Ulduar, but it looks like the vast majority hasn't, 6,450 out of 19,521 as of today. Technically only 148 guilds have killed all of the bosses. At this point we are clearing normal Trial bosses and then heading back into Ulduar to work on hard modes every raid week.

Back to the topic of recycled content. Outside the fact that the Trials instance feels lazy, no trash, not much story and recycled WotLK mobs for bosses, the gear is a creative rehash. Horde shaman tier 9 as an example feels like a mix of tier 1 and the dungeon set. Creatively bland is how I would describe it when compared to tier 6, 7 and 8 that came before it. Mind you as long as there are new boss mechanics that most of the WoW population has never seen the lazy gear recycling is a minor complaint. Que the re-release of Onyxia (patch 3.2.2) coming to a WoW server near you. It will be re-tuned for level 80, offer up recycled tier 1/2 art and drop a mount. All of that sounds kinda lame save the 310% speed mount. I have been into the Broodmother's den way to many times then I care to count.

I hope all of this fluff content is a smoke screen for a killer Icecrown instance this winter.

2D Goggles
Is a blog and comic about the fictional adventures of Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace by Sydney Padua. It is an experiment in comics, story telling and alternate history. Though they (comics) are not released that frequently it is interesting to see the process explained. Much of the dialogue is inspired by the actual letters and personal accounts of Babbage and Lovelace. Great stuff for a geek who has a large gap in their understanding of geek history. I have never been a biography kind of guy, but I think I might make an exception for Babbage and/or Lovelace.

The Coming Storm

Just off the coast a storm of video game releases is building for the Fall of 2009. I expect to be knee deep in the tide as it rushes ashore, reporting into the studio as the satellite feed craps the bed. The first salvo will hit this month with Batman: Arkham Asylum and Shadow Complex. Both games will hit my weak points for critical damage...

Batman: Arkham Asylum
The caped crusader has a scarred history of semi-passable to awful video games, with bright spots associated with the Lego franchise. To date no one has given him the dark comic book style treatment he deserves. Arkham Asylum looks to do that with a tour of the most sadistic criminals the dark knight has ever faced a la the comic that carries the same name. The demo for this game dropped just days ago and for the most part delivered on all of the marketing push that is positioning it as the official start to the Fall gaming season.

Shadow Complex
While Epic is calling this a Metroidvania game the aesthetic very much reminds me of the Flashback series. Seeing a game like this done on a 3D engine and in a modernish setting puts a smile on my face. Seriously go watch the quick look and you will soon be asking for a glass of the Shadow Complex kool-aid I have been filling my belly with all summer.

Modern Warfare 2
While I don't need a pair of night vision goggles (ok, maybe I do), I want the next volume of the Call of Duty series more than ever. The departure in 2007 from the World War II story setting was tenuous in that it was a change to what was already a winning formula. Modern Warfare brought with it a single player story line that stood on the shoulders of its predecessors and reached higher and a multiplayer that was black tar heroin like in it's addiction. Bring on part two this Fall!

Mass Effect
Not the second one due out this spring, I recently bought the original a second time and played through it. The first time I bought Mass Effect was the day it was released in 2007. Call of Duty 4 also came out 15 days before it though, so every time I sat down to play I was drawn by the sirens call of modern warfare. Not giving it a proper shack the first time around is what I sat down to rectify this summer. I played through as a solider and skipped all of the side quest once I left the citadel. My goal was to see the main story line and skip the side quest which I had heard on numerous occasions were boring. I have done so and now await the second game with bated breath.

Do the Riverside Dance

My dreams are haunted by the Sesame Street songs Kaden watches on DVR these days and apparently my post topics are too. "Do the cucumber dance".

Moving on, our crew assembled on Saturday at the house that Mehtul built for some cycling. New to the group was Ethan, a cyclist, Dad and like minded geek who happens to be related Kevin Bacon style to our group. How our ships passed in the night for so long I can't say, but I have worked with him at the same company for three years. Yet some how we didn't know we had the same hobbies. If that weren't enough, Grant also works with his wife. Long story short Ethan is a good guy and now a member of Pants de Richmond.

Saturday we were two wheels rolling by 8:30am and hit the same Riverside loop we did previously, but in reverse. The ghost of late night video game past came calling for me half way through the ride in the form of a near bonk. The hills of Old Gun are an unforgiving mistress to those that do not come prepared, take heed. A little break and understanding from my fellow riders and we were on our way. The rest of the day was mostly uneventful and we have plans to do it all again this coming weekend. The rest is in the pictures...

Group shot with the "Z"

Grant and Mike

Ethan

Deer

Grant and the "Z"

My ride.

Ethan's ride.

Raid Progression
Well, as I stated Tuesday 3.2 did drop this week. The new raid content was underwhelming in that we cleared all of it and took a trip back to Ulduar in one night. The new epic gems are nice and easy to get and give me an opportunity to actually use my old heroism, valor and conquest emblems for once. The inclusion of triumph emblems is nice, but I don't plan to change my raid logging ways to get them in the daily 5 man quest.

Automata

I have been a daily reader of Penny Arcade for six of the ten years they have been in the business of creating comics. Granted they only post comics three days a week, but I still check back daily for the off chance that they supplement the accompanying blog post with additional post. I am a fan of their day to day work and an even bigger fan of their trips outside that work. Cardboard Tube Samurai stands out as the work they go back to the most, but their PA Present's serious is a great example of the range they can play at.

For the first time that I can remember they put forth three worlds that they might explore per the readers choosing. Lookouts, Automata and Jim Darkmagic. While I am a fan of the New Hampshire Darkmagics by way of the D&D Podcast, the choose came down to Lookouts and Automata for me. My original vote went to Lookouts, maybe it is the recent reception of our first son, but the look and possibilities of the story that could be told appealed to me. The end result was interest enough in both and the promise of more. What resulted was the farming out of Lookouts to Becky Dreistadt and Oliver Grigsby. They did it justice, but still would have preferred Gabe and Tycho tackle it.

They did save Automata for themselves though and it is running this week. Gabe's artwork on this piece stands out as some of his best as far as I am concerned. Tycho is also at his best when he can craft every detail of a world and splay it's innards out for all to see. All in it is a masterful collaboration so far by two guys who know each other and their styles all too well...

Automata
Page 1,Page 2,Page 3,Page 4, Page 5, Page 6

Lookouts
Page 1,Page 2,Page 3,Page 4,Page 5

Raid Progress
We are stuck in the perpetual hell of farm content and hard modes that are too hard for our semi hard core guild to complete. Thankfully 3.2 seems to be just around the corner. As a matter of fact it will be out today or next Tuesday if I am not mistaken. Onward and upward I say. In a pre-achievement WoW we would have been done with Ulduar anyway, well except for Algalon of course.