GOTTA CATCH 'EM ALL

So this last weekend Pokemon X and Pokemon Y were released, this for me is a huge release. Not many people I know are into Pokemon and less have a 3DS but if you own one and have played any Pokemon game before, you owe it to yourself to buy it. The Story (no spoilers) is very light, its a return to older games, possibly to contrast the dark story of black, white, and its sequels. This game contains all generations and is based in a French type environment.

            I have been playing Pokemon since blue(im not actually old enough that was just my first) and have played my way through the years and haven't been this giddy to play a Pokemon game since blue.
A major complaint of mine and others with the last two games is that the Pokemon sucked, one was an ice cream cone, another was a garbage bag, it was bad. But in this game instead of adding 150 terrible Pokemon they added 70 good, original Pokemon. Quality over quantity.

           The Pokemon in this game, instead of being 2d sprites, are rendered in full 3d and man some of them were cute before but now I wanna hug 'em all. The art style is a cell shaded  style and it works, well. Also there is only so much graphically that the 3DS can do. Speaking of the system, the 3d can only be used in contextual areas, sad but its ok because no one uses the 3d. Also if you turn on the 3d during a battle the fps drops down to about 15-, not very cool.

           All in all I give it a solid 4.5 out of 5. Its awesome but a little bit of detail here and there could make this game shine a whole lot more.

Don't Wake the Cumber-Dragon!

 

You woke the Cumber-Dragon...

  I am not sure if you all are aware or not (I would hope you are aware), but we have been shown Benedict Cumberbatch's voice as the fiery dragon Smaug. As amazing (and just generally nerdgasmic) as this voice is, that's not the main thing I'm excited for Cumberbatch to do in the upcoming Hobbit movie.

      The main thing that nearly has me crapping my pants in excitement is the fact that our beloved Mr. Cumberbatch is also going to be voicing the shadowy Necromancer (SPOILER ALERT: He's actually Sauron). Which, other than "I seeeee yoouuuuuuu" and "Aragoooorn", Sauron didn't really have any lines in the main trilogy, so its going to be very fun to see him with a few more lines.
   
     If you haven't seen the newest Hobbit trailer, I will be oh-so kind as to include a link here. And as always you can see how many days we have to wait until the movie is released over in the top left corner. That's all for now!

-Time to "abandon ship",
     The General

Video games and violence.

To start i know that every gamer and their grandmother has disused this subject but i don't care. The subject is not as complex or as touch as fox news would have you believe. The main issue is children, people claim that "video games corrupt children" and "they promote violence". One game that comes into question a lot is the Grand Theft Auto games, they are violent, have large amounts of sexuality and drugs and shooting lots and lots of shooting. This scares the sheep that seek to control video games it scares them into thinking that games are the problem, they mirror real life tragedies right? Yes they do, but mirror and promote are different things. The games are set in a realistic setting with npc's who follow traffic laws to decent object physics, and you can do anything if you can do it in real life you can do it in GTA, example you can hijack a airliner while 2 friends are throwing grenades down below. In all seriousness its an amazing game and really showcases what games can do. However you might hit some poor person in the head with grenade and this is the point at which controversy is born.

            People want these games banned because the "corrupt children", im going to show you the box for GTA 4, do you see that M in the bottom left corner,Yeah when parents but this for their kids they should know what they are getting into. Countless times a Gamestop employee has warned a parent multiple times about the content of the game that they are buying for the 12 year old standing next to them, and countless times they buy it, then later freak out when their son shoots up a strip club. This is why there are complaints, its their faults for putting these ideas into children's heads not the games.

          On the subject of ideas, it is said that these games plant ideas of violence in children heads, but ideas are strictly in the mind, they have the opportunity to be fulfilled but in reality, they cant, especially by our nations kids.

          We can look at these games in another light. There is a college professor that has a 3 year old, he sits down his child and plays GTA. What he does is he drives around the map,following traffic laws, and has his child yell out the colors of the cars, and even sometimes the makes and models. This is an excellent way for games to be used for good, instead of just entertainment value. The sheep who shudder at the sight of a violent game need to realize that video games are only bad is used improperly, or just looked at from a scared sheep-like point of view.

Podcasts.

Most of us have probably listened to podcast, be it audio, video or some other crazy format. Now some of those who have listened to podcasts listen to a particular podcast or podcasts religiously. I am one of those. For me but maybe not for others the podcast i listened to a particular podcast all day everyday. everything i did everywhere i was i just enjoyed listening to the voices of others. This as you might guess is because i spend a lot of time alone,interjecting myself into conversations that im not actually in. Which brings myself to the point of this article. I have been listening to a podcast called The Internet Box, very funny i highly recommend it, anyways i found out about this podcast about a year ago and was hooked immediately. The podcast just hit episode 100 about 2 weeks ago and they just stopped, no more internet box. The host and our overlord Mike Kroon still hosts the site and is active in the community, so that's nice. Recently a link just appeared on the site called The Experiment™ i don't know what it is nor does anyone else, but needless to say im excited.

and thats how fast my train of thought can be derailed.

also my life is in pieces because of IB withdrawal.

I Can't Handle the Excitement! (New Space Marines & a New Transformers 4 Poster)

As all of you Warhammer 40k fans will know, this past week has shown us the rebirth of GW's poster children, The Space Marines, by giving them a brand new codex with a slew of new models! Unfortunately, I have not yet got my hands on an online copy of codex itself, so I can't praise/whine about it just yet (cover art looks nice, though), so I will proceed to praise/whine about the new models!

 1)The Stalker/Hunter Tank:
For this first model, I am neutral about it. Looks fine (by no means amazing), but maybe a tad pricey at 65$ per tank.

 2) The New Sternguard Veterans:
I am loving these models, for many reasons. Mostly because they are finally plastic (I can actually convert them now (and they arent overly frustrating to put together)) and look just as nice as the old ones (albiet  slight price increase, I believe)

 3) The New Vanguard Veterans:
Also loving these just as much (maybe a little bit more) than the Sternguard (I've always loved my jump packs, so i may be a tad biased). However, they are 10$ cheaper then their shootier counterparts.

 4) The New Librarian Model:
This model is alright, I enjoy it for the most part, but I am not a huge fan of the cherub and beard.

5) Centurions:
They bring to mind the phrase "Space Marines....INSIDE Space Marines" (from Flash Gitz "Inside GW" video, if you haven't seen it, go watch it now). I dislike them for a multitude of reasons. They are way too damn expensive (95$ for 3!!!! I remember when I could get a whole Battleforce for that price), they look too bulky, the weapons just look dumb, and the concept of it is (in my opinion) stupid. 'Nuff said.

6) The New Captain Model:
I like this model, better than the old captain model, because this one really has got all the cool @$$ decoration, awards, cool helms etc etc. The only thing I dislike about it is the fact that there is NO other options, other than a choice of which head you pick (out of 2).




7) The Reclusiam Command Squad:
I REALLY like the new Chaplain model, but it is so typical of GW to make sure you can only get a 20$ model by buying a 90$ kit with other stuff you may or may not need.



Anywho, that's all I have to say about Warhammer for now. In other nerd news, a new teaser poster has been released for Transformers 4, along with the upcoming movies title: Age of Extinction. I am still pissed off that they degraded Megatron and then killed him off, but nonetheless I am very excited about this movie. Hopefully it will be better than the last 2.

This here is the new poster

This is the older (but (IMO) cooler) poster

-Time to "abandon ship",
     The General