Apologies

My apologies for the decline in posts lately - my internet has really broken down and some sites, especially the ones I get my videos for this page from, do not load at all. Hopefully things will be back to normal when the situation calms down, but until then, I'll do my best to bring you the best of games, films, the internet and my own personal ventures into the world of pop-culture.

New Games To Watch For pt. 5 - Halo 3: ODST

Originally titled Halo 3: Recon, the next installment in the lucrative Halo franchise is set to be released on September 22 to a good reception. Halo 3: ODST continues the Halo story as a sort of prequel, by allowing play as an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper (or ODST) instead of the Master Chief, as he searches through the ruins of New Mombassa for his missing team mates. At the same time, there will undoubtedly be lots of Covenant baddies to blast away. Seen as more of an expansion to Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST will be followed by another prequel in Halo: Reach later on in 2010.

Halo 3: ODST aims to leave behind the shackles of the previous games in the series and reinvent itself with new characters, a new era and an open-world environment that will undoubtedly shake things up a bit. The question is will it be for the best? Leaving the Master Chief out could be a franchise killer, with the new character being more susceptible to attacks and obviously not as kick-ass as we're accustomed to with the Chief. Having an open-world environment will obviously change the game completely, while making the game a prequel may give the feel of retreading covered ground.

Multiplayer is very similar to Halo 3, with 24 shipped maps including the Heroic, Legendary and all 6 Mythic maps. A new addition will be the Firefight mode, which runs along the same line as The Horde in Gears Of War 2 and Survival Mode in Left 4 Dead, and was a sure-bet for inclusion after its' highly rated reception in other game series. In my opinion however, it's a slightly tired game mode - let's hope this time round it includes some new twist. Owners will also get a chance to test out the Beta multiplayer mode for Halo: Reach. Other than a few tweaks to the HUD (including some night-vision), weapons (fans of the original, unadulterated pistol rejoice!) and play, ODST looks like more of the same from Bungie. Lets' just hope that its' more of the same in a good way and that the game doesn't reach too far away from what fans loved in the original series.

District 9

After seeing the trailer for District 9, I was hesitant to agree when my friend said he wanted to go see it with me. Things went from bad to worse after we arrived, only to find that most of the theatre was sold out and that the only seats left were in the front row to the side. The biggest screen in town, the closest seats to said screen and two hours of film is not a combination for the faint hearted. Luckily, the film exceeded my expectations by a long way, so it was worth it. Kind of.

The film is typical of a Peter Jackson-billed release and you can't come away not thinking that everything he touches turns to gold. With a strong setting, an interesting and unique plot which pushes the current boundaries, and a lot of amazing effects and aliens, District 9 pleasantly surprised me in both its' free-hand filming and editing, acting and overall story. With undertones of apartheid and company ethics running through the film, District 9 takes being a dumb sci-fi and turns it into a cinematic gold mine.

There were laughs, shocks and the odd tear, but after leaving the theatre (with eyes the size of plasma televisions and a neck like Michelangelo's), it only made me yearn for Jackson's next release, The Lovely Bones, which isn't that far off now. Let's face it, the guy could shit out a brick and make it watchable. This just goes to show that you can't judge a book by its' cover, and certainly not a film by its' trailer. So although I wouldn't recommend getting front row tickets, I will recommend that you go out and see District 9 and indulge that inner alien in all of you.

August 11th Xbox 360 Update Review

Another month, another update for the Xbox 360 LIVE experience. At least there wasn't any major disruption this time while they added the changes, other than taking a few minutes to install when I turned on my Xbox in the morning. Despite all the videos and advertisements detailing the arrival of this great new update, it affects relatively few people's gaming experience and in the end, doesn't accomplish a whole lot. A few of my friends are still scratching their heads wondering what the fuss was about. Others don't even know there was one.

The most notable change is to the customization options available to your avatar. You may have seen a few of your friends wielding lightsabres or donning COG helmets, or even a couple playing with remote-control cars. If you're inclined to throwing out Microsoft points for new avatar items, this update may excite you. But if you're like the rest of us - normal - the thought of dishing dollars out for pixels will disgust you. Apparently you can earn new items by playing games, and although I haven't received any as of yet, this will probably be the only joy I will get out of this aspect of the update.

The marketplace has had a few new bells and whistles added; you can now rate games and downloadable items, hopefully saving others from purchasing dud-arcade games or themes. It looks like an item must have at least 10 people rate it before the rating shows, so don't be alarmed if your ratings don't show immediately. Also added are Games On Demand, a feature similar to the Xbox Classics room, except for Xbox 360 games like Mass Effect and Viva Piñata. Unfortunately if you don't have a credit card enabled on your account, you're going to have to go out and purchase enough Microsoft points, which means you probably could get the game you're after while you're out too!

A few other features included in the update are advanced friends list sorting, a few tweaks to the achievement system and of course the number of years you've been with Xbox LIVE posted on your gamertag. While overall this is an painless update, it didn't warrant the hype for what is also a fairly mundane update. The few features it adds aren't all that special and for most gamers, won't be noticed.

Gaming Stories

This past week I've been playing quite furiously on the Xbox 360. Sadly, although I haven't been able to afford any new games to write reviews about (although there are quite a few which I have my beady little eye on - see my series of "New Games To Watch For"), I've been keeping my range of games played wide open. A friend got me interested in Fable 2 again, so for the last week I've been swapping between Albion, a post-infection Earth in Left 4 Dead, Worms 2: Armageddon and Gears Of War.

Fable 2 is a good game. Definitely not as emotive or special as its' predecessor, but still a good game. This week I tried to round off those last few pesky achievements which I still hadn't unlocked yet - The Gargoyle, The Dollcatcher, The Completionist and The Hoarder. By chance, I bumped into a friend of mine which I hadn't played with in a long time that was handing out free stuff. Stuff like dolls. I also managed to score The Enforcer off him, which I had lost after I gifted it to my ex-girlfriend foolishly.

The Gargoyle and Hoarder achievements were easy once I enlisted the help of the internet, which led me to Arkon's Knot in Brightwood and behind the Gypsy Camp in Bower Lake. The Completionist followed not long after with the last upgrade of my Inferno spell. Contrary to popular belief, you do not need to get all expressions in order to unlock the achievement. While I was at it, I decided to gift my wife another baby. Imagine my surprise when I returned a few days later to find the grown boy was in fact black. My wife had a very guilty look on her face...

Well guys, stick around for some more upcoming game previews, a look at some interesting new movies and of course, hilarious videos for you to laugh at. I'm pretty busy of late with new job opportunities, but keep your eyes out for new updates.

Videos For The Voyeur

By the end of this video I couldn't stop laughing. It reminded me so much of my relationship with my ex.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Time To Put Out The Ashes

I hadn't even noticed a new cricket game sneak up on me this year until I saw the big Ashes Cricket 2009 advertisement on the Xbox 360 dashboard yesterday. A huge fan of Shane Warne Cricket '99 when I was but a lad on the Play Station, and cricket in general, cricket games since then had seemed overly complicated or reasonably dull. I'd all but given up on cricketing games until I downloaded this latest demo for the Ashes Cricket 2009 game. From the demo, I was unsure whether it'd just be a game based on the Ashes series (boring!), or if it'd have world tournaments as well - thankfully I've discovered it will include a multitude of teams as well as some pretty cool gameplay.

Game play seems enjoyable and user-friendly. I was able to bowl people out and hit sixes with equal measure in the demo's limited 3 over play, and there was plenty to do. Graphics were pretty horrible, but that is about the only complaint I can have for what was an enjoyable gaming experience. After reading a few previews online, it's good to learn that the game will include lots of unlockables, teams and commentary - not sure whether it will include statistics however. Cricket is a hard game to convert into a video game, and one never quite knows when a game such as this will fall under the cricket curse. Nevertheless, this seems one time when CodeMasters have got it right.

Videos For The Voyeur

This video will sum up the childhood of most people out there. The sad look of the baby as he gets dragged on by will haunt many. With laughter.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.