Author: Scott Simmons

An Xbox Lover’s First Impression: Scott’s Xbox One Thoughts

I love my Xbox 360. It is my console of choice for this last generation. Now don’t get me wrong, I still play my PS3 religiously, but whenever a multi-console game has come out (which is 85% of releases) I instinctively get it for the 360. I am an admitted achievement whore and I prefer my online experiences over Xbox Live. So why am I ready to purchase a PS4 on day one and feel I can wait a few months on my Xbox One purchase?

Simple answer: the games.

Now don’t get on a high horse and say that I am jumping on a new bandwagon or anything asinine like that. There is still a long way to go before deciding what next-gen console will occupy the majority of my time. E3 is in a few weeks where both Microsoft and Sony will bring out the really big guns with game demos (hopefully) and price points. This early, early, very early impression is based solely on the two press conferences I have watched. Opinions have the wonderful ability to change.

The Xbox One is a beautiful looking machine. It is simplistic, square and black. Something that agrees with my OCD for my entertainment center. Like the PS4, it is a monster on the inside with 8GB of RAM and 8-core CPU with a Blu-Ray drive (which I am sure is killing Microsoft on the inside knowing Sony won that battle). It has the horsepower to match the PS4 which is what we expected. The other thing we expected, which I was hoping was wrong, was that Microsoft would focus on Xbox One being the central hub of your living room. This is where my initial disconnect begins.

Back in February, Sony took a calculated risk by saying the PS4 would be a gaming machine focused on the games. They bet double down that Microsoft would take the entertainment route and they were right. Now in the next six months we are going to see if that bet pays off. For a gamer like me I am more than ready to get a PS4 day one because of this reason. I understand Microsoft’s overall strategy with the Xbox One. It is the next evolution of the brand and that’s all well and good….for Microsoft. I have no problem with my cable box, I have ten sports channels to watch and a laptop and smartphone to check my fantasy teams on and while all the bells and whistles that Microsoft showed off today were certainly fun, they are not convincing me that I will be saving $500 for a midnight release.

All photos courtesy theverge.com

With so many games being multi-platform now and my existing systems still going strong with their impressive libraries and ability to play Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, HBO Go, etc., my first choice in next-gen systems breaks down to exclusives and as much as I love the Xbox brand, Sony is going to win that fight. I love my Gears of War and Halo and will be playing them (eventually) on an Xbox One, but when I begin to look at the Sony franchises that I am addicted to my choice becomes clearer. Uncharted, Infamous, Little Big Planet, Ratchet and Clank, God of War and Killzone is quite the list and two of those franchises are guaranteed to me on day one on the PS4.

I know this article may be a little hypocritical seeing as how I will eventually own both systems, but early adopters are the ones who drive the spin of which console is winning. Last generation Sony priced themselves out of my range for two years while my love of Xbox grew. Now this generation Playstation is focusing on the games while Xbox One is trying to get me to voice command it to watch Mike and Molly.

Early (and big) advantage: Sony

May 21, 2013
“Durango NextBox 720 Fusion” : Trey’s Take on the Xbox One Event

I’d like to start by saying that I was not able to watch the presentation “live,” but I was following the event on several gaming sites and social media.

The overall impression I got, and the feeling I arrived at after reading some posts and watching some of the demonstrations, was “Meh. Where are our games? When does it actually come out? Is it E3 yet?”

It is no surprise that the Xbox One will be a media-heavy device, with a large portion of its abilities focused on things other than just playing games. My 360 already spends as much time on Netflix and Hulu as it does facilitating headshots, and Sony’s PS4 reveal set the tone for next-gen integration of web and social media. Considering there is already a Pizza Hut app that lets you order delivery right from your console, things like browsing theater show times and buying tickets are just the next logical step in the process.

There was a lot of talk about games, with numbers being thrown around concerning how many exclusive titles we can expect, how many of those are new IPs, etc. The amazing thing was the sheer lack of footage from those games, or even information about titles; hell guys, I would have taken a teaser logo or two. Halo TV series sounds like a win, but again, that’s only game-related, not an actual game.

All photos courtesy theverge.com

The games that were shown off ranged from: Interesting (Quantum Break); completely expected but pretty (Forza, sports titles); and completely expected, uninteresting, bland and useless (Call of Go Fuck Yourself, Leaning in FPS is Not Something to Be Excited About).

Finally, Microsoft managed to give us absolutely zero info in way of a release date.

So what are my thoughts on this? I would have saved the money and hype for E3, since they’re essentially doing that anyway by holding off on game announcements and a solid release date. I genuinely think the folks in Xbox marketing let the media get to them about how long they were waiting after Sony’s announcement, and the end result was a half-assed presentation that gave me very few reasons to be excited for the Xbox One.

“4/10. Would not waste time on over-hyped presentation again.”

May 21, 2013
More Images Of The Xbox One

All photos courtesy theverge.com

Hey! In case you missed it, Microsoft has a new console, the Xbox One. How about a better look at the console, controller and Kinect? We are a visual society so enjoy!!

May 21, 2013
Microsoft Unveils The Xbox One

Photo courtesy Microsoft

Let the next-gen war officially begin!

Microsoft took the wraps off of their offering with the announcement of the Xbox One. The system, as you can see above, is a sleek, minimalist design with a redesigned controller and Kinect 2.0 coming packed in with the system. No release date or price point was given, but there is plenty of time for that with E3 only a few weeks away.

The system is quite the powerhouse with an 8-core CPU and 8GB of RAM, 500GB hard drive, USB 3.0 using a Blu-Ray drive.

The controller looks slightly larger but looks to have a flatter feel from the side. It has an integrated battery (finally!) and new d-pad which I pray feels better than the 360.

The new Kinect has a 1080p camera and USB 3.0 for a better field of vision and the voice controls are being made more of a focal point in the operation of the system.

The Xbox One can play live TV, games, music and movies all controlled with the voice feature on the new Kinect. During the press conference they demonstrated by saying simple commands like “watch HBO” or “watch CBS”. Not sure how it will work when I say “play College Asian Slumber Party 9”, but we will see.

We will have much more coverage on the Xbox One coming so keep checking back!

May 21, 2013
New Developer Diary For The Last Of Us Focuses On Crafting In The End Times

Photo courtesy linksaveszelda.com

Damn you, Naughty Dog. Damn you in the best possible way.

Now that we are approaching the release of [amazon_link id=”B007CM0K86″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]The Last of Us[/amazon_link] we are seeing more and more gameplay and exactly how Joel and Ellie will interact in this post-apocalyptic society. The newest developer diary titled ” Death and Choices” shows how the crafting system works as well as deciding to make it a real time event and how important it was to make it easy to use.

I love how the choice of “flight or fight” will affect you in the game. Do you sneak past a group of guys and lose everything you could loot from them and the environment or do you risk death to scrounge all you can?

God help me, I am ready for this game.

The Last of Us releases on June 14th.

May 21, 2013
New Trailer For The Wolverine Shows A Nine Foot Tall Robotic Silver Samurai. Wait. What?

Photo courtesy xmenfilms.com

Don’t cry Wolverine, it can’t be as bad as X-Men Origins.

And I will not let the fact that Silver Samurai appears to be a nine foot tall robot affect me enough to not see this movie. The source material is just to good to screw up. It can not possibly be as bad as mouthless Cyclo-Deadpool.

Can it?

No!

Dammit brain. Stop letting doubt creep in. We can still have a good Wolverine movie. You hear me?!

The Wolverine releases on July 26th.

May 21, 2013
More Batman??? Yep! Here Is The Arkham Origins Trailer

Photo courtesy theparanoidgamer.com

If you are not a fan of Batman, then today is not the day to be here.

WB Games has released the first trailer for Batman: Arkham Origins and while it shows no gameplay, it is over four minutes of Batman and Deathstroke beating the holy hell out of each other. Throw in an appearance by Deadshot and Black Mask pulling a Manhunt on someone and my interest is piqued. Let’s just hope WB Montreal can get the gameplay to match the flow of Rocksteady’s first two entries.

Batman: Arkham Origins releases on October 25th.

May 20, 2013
Batman: Arkham Origins Voice Cast Is Confusing Me!

Photo courtesy news.softpedia.com

So here’s the deal. Yesterday we posted a story saying that Kevin Conroy would be returning to voice Batman in the upcoming Arkham Origins game after weeks of WB Games saying they were getting a new actor for the role.

Read it here, I will give you a second.

Good? OK, well scratch that….or not. Hell I don’t know anymore!

WB Games announced today that Batman would be voiced by Roger Craig Smith, who voiced Ezio in Assassin’s Creed and Chris Redfield in Resident Evil. Sooo where does this Kevin Conroy saying he will be Batman? Hell if I know. Maybe the game will be told in flashback…or something?

One awesome bit of news though was that Troy Baker would be voicing The Joker. I know, I know, it’s not Mark Hamill, but Hamill appears to be sticking to his guns saying he is done with the character. Troy Baker voiced Booker DeWitt in [amazon_link id=”B003O6E6NE” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Bioshock Infinite[/amazon_link], Joel in [amazon_link id=”B007CM0K86″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]The Last of Us[/amazon_link] and also Robin and Two-Face in [amazon_link id=”B002I0F5M8″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Batman: Arkham City[/amazon_link], so he definitely has the chops to pull this off.

[amazon_link id=”B00C7103DO” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Batman: Arkham Origins[/amazon_link] releases on October 25th.

May 20, 2013
What’s In The Box?! WHAT’S IN THE BOX?! Oh…It’s A PS4.

Photo courtesy scifimafia.com

Is Microsoft announcing tomorrow? Does Sony give a f***?

Nope!

Today Sony released a video hyping the actual, really real Playstation 4. I love how they have blurred the system to give a bit of mystery to the fact that it is a black box. Although mabye they are pulling a complete mindf*** and the image is not doctored and the PS4 actually is blurry like in the video. Now that is some powerful shit right there.

The Sony press conference will be on June 10th at 6PM PDT and we will have all the coverage you can stand.

May 20, 2013
Review: Star Trek Into Darkness

As I sit here and begin to write this review I am just now seeing the weekend numbers for Star Trek Into Darkness and disturbed greatly that the movie did not bring in the metric shit ton of money the studio “expected” it to over its first weekend.

Why am I disturbed?

Because of all the things I want to be associated with this movie, flop is not one of them. Star Trek Into Darkness is big, bold and just plain damn fun and emotional.

I will keep this review spoiler free, so no need to read ahead with trepidation.

Star Trek Into Darkness moves at a break neck pace. I am not saying this in a bad way, much the contrary. There is no wasted movement here. When I say a lot happens in the first thirty minutes, trust me, it does. From Kirk and McCoy being chased off a savage world as Spock dives into an erupting volcano to save a planet, Kirk losing his command, an important character death, new faces being introduced and the set up for the majority of the movie, STID has a lot of explaining to do and thankfully it is done without feeling rushed…even though it sort of is.

Starfleet is under attack by a one man army. A former Starfleet officer named John Harrison coordinates a bombing in London and then lays waste to an important meeting of Starfleet brass and flees the planet. Kirk finds out he has gone to the Klingon home world of Kronos where Harrison believes Starfleet can not follow unless they risk starting a full-scale war with the Klingons.

Now don’t get your nerd panties all hot and bothered about seeing a lot of Klingons in this. Kronos and the squadron of Klingons are used sparingly during one part. It does seem like they are laying the groundwork for a larger scale event with them, possibly in the third film, but for now just enjoy what you get.

And yes, the new Bird of Prey looks A-MAZ-ING.

Sorry. Where was I?

After disobeying orders on killing Harrison (it’s James T. Kirk, what did you expect), they try to capture him which leads to a shootout with the Klingons and Harrison shows that he is indeed more than meets the eye. It is a secret and no, he is not a Transformer. Harrison begins to place doubt in Kirk’s mind about just what exactly Starfleet has been up to of late and if they are truly exploration based or a military on the rise. I loved this being brought up because there are some that have questioned Trek’s future losing Roddenberry’s original idea that the show was about seeking out new life and touching on social issues of the day.

A great thing that Star Trek Into Darkness does is continuing the ever evolving relationships between all of the main crew, even while the movie keeps whizzing along. The main focus, as is with most of the films involving the original cast, is Kirk and Spock’s friendship, which is something Spock is unfamiliar with for a lot of the movie. Giving this franchise the old reboot has allowed us to see it take shape and form into the lifelong bond that we all grew up watching.

The cast is more fun to watch this go round because they seemingly have connection with their characters. They were birthing them in the 2009 reboot and here we get to see the fruits of that labor. The roles are becoming theirs and can be compared less and less with their legendary counterparts. If I had to pick out the real standouts it would be Karl Urban as Bones with his (sometimes) Georgia draw and metaphor filled advice (of which Kirk makes mention) and Chris Pine can seemingly put Kirk on cruise control and still come off as suave and cocky as Shatner ever did. The biggest parts are left for Zachary Quinto and Benedict Cumberbatch who are worth the price of admission by themselves. Quinto’s Spock runs the full spectrum of emotions (yes, emotions) and should really have any doubter of his ability to be this generation’s Spock put to shame.

Quinto could have easily stolen the movie had it not been for Benedict Cumberbatch. For those of you who are used to him flexing his mental and vocal muscles on Sherlock you are in for a surprise when he uses his actual muscles. Like seriously, dude put on like 20 pounds and is completely badass. Imagine if Sherlock went evil and mix him with the physicality of Tom Hardy’s Bane and you have a good beginning.

Say what you want about J.J. Abrams (except a lens flare joke, its been four years), the man knows how to do big, and make no mistake about it, Star Trek Into Darkness is big. The effects, the feel, the music (again by Michael Giacchino) is sweeping, haunting and nostalgic at the exact right times. Watching this should give Star Wars fans hope that the prequels are long since gone and better days are ahead. I instantly began wondering where this would rank on my list of Trek films as soon as I left the theater and it is high…very high, which are also my expectations for the future adventures of the Starship Enterprise as this franchise boldly goes towards its 50th anniversary.

May 20, 2013