Temple of Geek

Die-Cast Construction is a Lost Art

OPrimal — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 05:30:53 +0000

To coin a very overused cliche, “they don’t make them like they used to,” about sums up the way I feel on the Toys that are being built for kids today. When I was a kid, which was a friggin long time ago, the toys we played with were not only built well, but you could seriously get hurt playing with them…which only added to the fun!

Toys were built to last back then…sure, back then was around 15 or more years ago, but nevertheless… Take for example the basic Tonka Truck…back then, they were made of the most durable Die-Cast metal manufacturers could find! A kid could throw them on the roof, have it crash down on the concrete, get it run over by the Ice Cream man’s truck and you knew that you could still play on until the sun went down. Not to mention the fact that if you tossed this monster of a metal toy at your friends, they might not get up for a few minutes! Again, more of the appeal to well built toys!

Today, the “so-called” tonka trucks are made from the world’s cheapest plastic so the manufacturers can save money making them and insure that parents buy more of them to replace the ones that get broken when tossed on the roof! The wheels are held on by the smallest plastic parts that are the first things to break! What a bunch of Crap!

Transformers are another Prime example! The TFs of 1984 were made again, of Die-Cast Metal Parts. I remember playing with them as a kid with my friends and no matter how hard you played, the worst that would happen to the toy is the paint would get scratched! Game on for tomorrow!! I found an old Astrotrain with one of his wings broken off. The metal wire that held it on was still there hanging out ready to poke out an eye! We still played with him. We considered him damaged in battle. Sure we got scratches, but what do you know…we survived to play another day.

Some of the newer Transformers look Awesome. Take Optimal Optimus for example. This is one of the largest most intricate Transformers I have ever owned. He is built pretty well, but you have to be careful. His arms and legs are attached with plastic ball sockets. Even in a normal transform, they can pop out. If you do this a couple times, the plastic gets dinged out of shape and you can’t even put his limb back on. With the Transformers of old…you needed a complete set of tools to dismantle one of them. I took apart one of the original Dinobots (Snarl) and found there were about 50 screws holding that bad mahamba jamba together. Not to mention that the torso was made of my favorite Die-Cast metal providing him with durability and bruising power!

My toys growning up were awesome! They were made well and lasted a long time. By the way, did I mention I have a friend that sent his XBox off for repair twice and it still came back broken? I have my Nintendo from 1987 and it still works Awesome!

I went to a popular auction site (which is obvious, but will remain nameless) and spent an hour or two looking up the toys that I used to play with. Tonka Trucks, Legos, Tinkertoys etc… There is a huge market for that stuff. Some people are buying it for sentimental value, but I emailed a couple of the bidders and some said it is because they were Awesome when they were kids and they wanted them for their children.

Maybe the Manufacturers of the popular toys and games can get it together and make some good stuff that will last. Who knows, people might buy it!

OPrimal – Chris Stecher

GTA IV Finally Revealed

Jeff Standley — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 00:21:16 +0000

The long awaited GTA IV trailer was finally released today giving fans of the franchise a sneak peak at the highly anticipated game from Rockstar. The trailer had been building up all month with a countdown clock on the website and a TV infomercial that ran on FX. I never saw the commercial for it, but I was standing by the site waiting for that glimpse. I for one couldn’t wait to see the trailer and was not let down at all in what I saw, even if it was brief, it gave a good peak at what the game has to offer.

The trailer shows off what seems to be a real New York city complete with Time Square and lady liberty, and not a fake version actual cities we have come to know from past games. The trailer is said be in game footage and if this is true the game looks very detailed and polished in comparison to the last several GTA games. The only thing lacking in the trailer is actual gameplay footage of the main character. The game looks beautiful, but how will it play? I for one hope Rockstar goes through the game and revamps their control style to reflect the improvements other games have made to the genre over the last couple years since San Andreas. GTA is the king of the sandbox style games, so let’s hope they pull out all the punches for their next release. Now more waiting.

Is the Xbox360 Elite worth $80 more?

Jeff Standley — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 18:52:14 +0000

Microsoft has officially announced the Xbox360 Elite and it will be on store shelves April 29th 2007. This news is not really news at all to most geeks though. The Xbox360 Elite has been a very poorly kept secret for the past several months and featured on most popular gaming sites as speculative articles to keep fans mouths watering. The time is finally here to get your beloved Xbox360 in black, and have plenty of room for all that content you’ve been going back and forth on whether or not to delete or not to make room for more demo’s and TV shows.

The biggest question answered from all of the speculation is how much Microsoft would charge for this new unit. Would they keep the current price structure and send another blow to the PS3? Or would they bump the price and lose a little of the gap between the two systems? My personal thoughts were that Microsoft should keep the lead they have over the PS3 right now and release it at $400 and replace the core unit with the current premium model. This of course did not happen and the new Xbox360 Elite will be on sale for $479. The $79 price increase is not a bad price for what you get. All black sexiness, HDMI support and a 120GB HDD. But when you think of the comparisons between the 360 and the PS3, the differences just got even slimmer at $479.

Microsoft could have solidified their lead in this generation even more at the current price of $400. The current 360’s have reportedly been seeing profits on each sale for some time now, and Microsoft could have easily absorbed the extra cost of the Elite to keep that lead locked down. I have no doubt that when a price drop happens they will drop the Elite down to $400 and replace the core with the premium model at $300. Dropping the core out of the lineup completely is obviously the next step. Microsoft gains nothing from the core units in the long run. It does not have HDMI, no HDD and no option for IPTV that will out later this year. With the top two models they can position themselves as a top end entertainment system for gamers and keep their current lead that much longer.

The new 360 Elite finally adds HDMI support and a much bigger hard drive to the Xbox. These are two things that have been lacking on the current units since launch, and Microsoft has finally added them. HDMI support gives the consumer ultimate resolution, one of the features that Sony claimed to have over the competing unit, and a HDD that doubles the largest capacity HDD in the PS3. The bigger hard drive will allow you to keep more than one demo and two TV shows on your unit. I have had one hell of a time deciding what goes and what stays on my current hard drive when something new comes out because it is so limited at 20GB. So I welcome the bigger hard drive with open arms. The unit also comes with an all black headset and an all black controller, which will also be sold individually with battery packs and chargers on the 29th.

Microsoft may have missed an easy opportunity to take even more ground in this generations battle of the consoles, but even at $80 more I still don’t think they will lose too much ground in the console war. I wouldn’t rush out and replace you current 360 with an Elite, but if you’re in the market for your first 360 then you must get the new Elite model.

360 achievement points = crack

Jeff Standley — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 02:33:52 +0000

When Microsoft was announcing the features of the upcoming new system, the Xbox 360. They announced one new feature that seemed to stand out among the new list as an odd feature, and that was the new achievement points scoring system. Not only was it new to the system, but it was new to gaming as a whole, and people didn’t know what to make of it. No one knew what it was a gave Microsoft a hard time for implementing something so foreign into the gaming market. Now that the system has been out for more than a year and the games are out and in full force with over 100,000 possible points to earn. It is plain to see that this new point scoring system is not some crazy add on, and it’s here to stay.

One of the reasons why I think the new point system is so popular, other than the fact that people naturally like positive feedback for anything, goes way back to the days of arcade machines. Back in the day when arcade machines weren’t a thing of the past, I would spend several hours perfecting my game just to get the chance to post my initials among the top 10 high scores. The high score was something everyone tried to get and many people spent countless more hours on a game than they normally would have, if the lure of the high score was not there to tempt them. It was great, your initials, and in later machines your full name, were emblazoned on the screen for everyone to see. It was a great sense of achievement when you finally got your name on the screen. When consoles started to come out and get better over the years the high score achievement system was not in place. The games did not have a place for the high score, and if it did, it would be erased as soon as you turned off the console. You could play a game and max out the score, yet there was no way to put in your name for future players to see. There were no bragging rights, just tall tales of flipped scores on Super Mario Bros. It was sorely missed for many years, that is until the console manufacturers started to add more memory and you could finally enter in your name with your top scores into the game again. The sense of achievement was back again, but this time on your console at home and you could brag again to your friends.

With the achievement system linked to your gamertag Microsoft and the Xbox team have revolutionized the high score and the achievement system with their new console. The actual high score is still there in it’s original form, except now you can share and brag to all you friends and everyone else connected to the Xbox Live. This is something that is catching on for gamers and the achievement system is just more fuel for that competitive fire. Finishing a level with a certain amount of health or in a certain time frame didn’t really mean much before to most gamers.
Now for something as minor as just finishing a level or something as hardcore as killing 10,000 people in an online match, you can get a virtual high five from your console that surprisingly enough means quite a bit to a lot of gamers now. This is not something you would have thought of, or even gone back through the game just to do. But with achievements added on to every game that comes out for the 360, you find yourself doing stuff you never would have of done before. And all this just to hear that sound and see that icon pop up on your screen. It is like crack in my house. Finding everything I can to get a set of points that mean absolutely nothing to the game itself, and in the long run mean absolutely nothing more than bragging rights amongst friends.
This new system is nothing short of genius in my opinion. The simple addition of make believe points to games has encouraged me to play games much longer than I normally would have in the past, and even helped my decisions in purchasing games I was on the fence about. I bought NHL2K6 for $20 even though I had the 2007 version just because it had an easy 1000 points. How’s that for pathetic? But this the type of draw the achievement points have. A simple system that ultimately plays a huge part of the entire console. The implementation of these points is getting very clever from developers as well. Strategically placed achievement points can make you play a game in ways you never thought of before also. A good set of achievements in a game can almost guarantee your game getting played longer and explored more than it normally would have with an audience. Instead of blasting your way through a game, you may now spend your time in that game to find certain achievements littered throughout the level, and in the end giving you a much broader view and better understanding of the game. This is where the genius comes in to play in my mind. A smart developer would make the achievement points easily obtainable, but placed in ways that make you play the game the way the developer wants you too, or have you doing things that really show off the games potential. But a developer can also change the system into a mindless grind for points in the same respect, case in point is the like 10,000 kills achievement in Gears of War. That is an achievement worth bragging rights, but getting it is no fun for anyone. The system is still brand new and making huge improvements with every game coming out. So it will be very interesting in the next couple years to see what happens with the achievement points system.

We may see the other consoles develop something similar in the coming years. Sony has something coming with their games but not much is known about it. The fact that something so simple can make games that much more enjoyable is amazing to me. But I say bring it on, and in the meantime we might see achievements for doing basic things start to pop up everywhere. Like reading this article. LOL.

2007 Oscar Winners – Scorsese wins big!

Jeff Standley — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 16:44:00 +0000

The Oscars have come and gone so it’s time to see how the TOG crew stacked up with our predictions. Out of the six main categories I grabbed the most points with 5 of 6, just missing the supporting actor with Eddie Murphy instead of Alan Arkin. Chris got four points and Jesse got three points. If you missed the show, it was great and now the wait is over for Martin Scorsese. He finally grabbed the Best Directing Oscar that he was so deserving of. The Departed took Best Picture also, making this the first movie to take the best picture award for Scorsese. It was a big night for The Departed and Martin Scorsese, taking Best Picture, Best Director, Screenplay and Editing.
Best Picture – The Departed
*
Directing – Martin Scorsese
*
Actor in a Leading Role – Forest Whitaker
*
Supporting Actor – Alan Arkin
*
Actress in a Leading Role – Helen Mirren
*
Supporting Actress – Jennifer Hudson
*
Original Screenplay – Little Miss Sunshine
*
Jean Hersholt Award – Sherry Lansing
*
Art Direction – Pan’s Labyrinth
*
Makeup – Pan’s Labyrinth
*
Short Film (Live Action) – West Bank Story
*
Sound Editing – Letters from Iwo Jima
*
Sound Mixing – Dreamgirls
*
Short Film (Animated) – The Danish Poet
*
Animated Feature – Happy Feet
*
Best Costume – Marie Antoinette
*
Cinematography – Pan’s Labyrinth
*
Visual Effects – Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
*
Foreign Language Film – The Lives of Others
*
Documentary (Feature) – An Inconvenient Truth
*
Documentary (Short) – The Blood of Yingzhou District
*
Honorary – Ennio Morricone
*
Original Score – Babel
*
Original Song – An Inconvenient Truth
*
Film Editing – Thelma Schoonmaker for The Departed

Oscar predictions from the Temple

Jeff Standley — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 22:30:22 +0000

Oscars are tonight and what kind of geek site would we be if we didn’t have our own predictions on the ceremony later tonight. Jesse, Chris and I will post our prediction on the nights awards and go over our prediction’s on next weeks show.

These predictions do not reflect who we might think should win, but who we think will win.

Jeff’s predictions
Best Picture: The Departed
Best Director: Martin Scorsese
Best Actor Leading: Forest Whitaker
Best Actor Supporting: Eddie Murphy
Best Actress Leading: Helen Miren
Best Actress Suporrting: Jennnifer Hudson
Animated Feature: Cars
Documentary Feature: An Inconvenient Truth
Best Adapted Screenplay: Borat
I threw in the screenplay category because I think the Academy will find a way to honor this movie.

Chris’ predictions
Best Picture: Babel (Departed should)
Best Director: Martin Scorsese
Best Actor Leading: Forest Whitaker
Best Actor Supporting: Mark Wahlberg
Best Actress Leading: Helen Miren
Best Actress Suporrting: Jennnifer Hudson
Animated Feature: Cars

Jesse’s Predictions
Best Picture: Babel (yes, should be Departed)
Best Director: Babel (sorry Martin, I wish it was you)
Best Actor Leading: Forest Whitaker
Best Actor Supporting: Alan Arkin
Best Actress Leading: Helen Mirren
Best Actress Supporting: Abigail Breslin
Animated Feature: Cars (not that I saw it OR care )
Film Editing: Children of Men (should win, but probably won’t)

I threw in Film editing because of all the great movies that were nominated…and cuz I love Children of Men

This game comes with a free kick to the nuts

Jeff Standley — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 05:55:27 +0000

Having so many games to choose from these days on the PC, 6 different consoles and two hand held gaming devices, it’s relatively easy to get a good game on at least one of those chosen platforms. Yet time after time we see terrible games being bought and played, over more well deserving titles. Games like “50 Cent Bulletproof” and “Jaws Unleashed” climb up the sales charts with horrible reviews across the board, as great titles like the recent “Viva Pinata” go basically unnoticed to the buying public. There are plenty of useful sites that give detailed reviews of every game that comes out, so why aren’t people using them? What is wrong with people? And why the hell do they prefer bad games over creative and unique releases year after year? Obviously big name franchises and popular branding is the most common factor when people are blindly buying games.

As far back as the Atari 2600 we had good and bad games to choose from, yet people still bought up bad games in huge numbers. The now infamously bad game “E.T.”, sold 1.5 million copies during it’s day. A game that was so bad it is now considered by most, as the worst game ever made on any platform. Yet the magical number of 1 million sold was hit by this title. The only reason people bought this game was the name E.T. slapped across the cover. Recently we’ve seen a number of awful games hit the market and clean house while others sit and collect dust on the shelves. Jaws Unleashed is one of those awful releases to see nice sales numbers once it hit retailers. It didn’t hit the 1 million mark, but it did climb to over 370,000 in sales numbers. A good enough number for that particular game, and for the industry to consider it a commercial success, further guaranteeing that we get more titles just like this in our gaming future. There is no shortage of good games out there, and it’s not that hard to find out what is good and what is bad. All you have to do is google “game rankings” or “game reviews”, and a hundred sites pull up instantly for you to choose from. The Xbox 360 released just over a year ago, and there are already over 40 games with an average score of 8 or higher to choose from on that system alone. Yet one of the lowest rated games on that system (Superman Returns), still manages to sell over 370,000 copies. The fact that someone would bypass all common sense and buy it just because it said Superman on the cover is amazing to me. I of course can see the draw towards games like this, I like Superman, but reviews still count for something to me. And there are plenty of sites out there with good reviews and detailed explanations behind that particular review. And if that one review isn’t enough for you, there a hundred more reviews to choose from so that you don’t have to rely one just one persons point of view on a particular title. If you want a second opinion on a game you have high hopes for, keep checking different reviews and see if someone lays out exactly why they didn’t like it. Hell I like to see games come out with branding I like, but I’m not going to buy a game just for the name alone. It has to be reviewed well before I throw down $60 for a title. I browse several sites and see what they all say on any game before I buy.
One thing gamers get stuck into, is the rut of buying a particular type of game and what type of gamer they are. FPS, RPG, RTS etc. gamers get stuck in this rut and don’t branch out to try new titles that might surprise them into liking different genre’s of gaming. There is so much to choose form that I find it amazing when someone says they only play a certain type of game and that’s it. The end of the year when game sites posts there official “games of the year” is a perfect time to get some great games and even some that went overlooked through the past year. The end year game picks is one of my favorite times, because most sites list the best games no one played through out the past year. This is where you’ll find the diamond in the rough. Games like Viva Pinata which I actually picked up on release day, was on several lists this year. This is a great game with a lot to offer and it slipped by just about everyone. I’m disappointed a game like this didn’t get more recognition than it ultimately did. Viva Pinata barely sold above 50,000 copies and was picked not only as best game no one played, but made it as a finalist as game of the year on several sites. I also saw more promotion for Viva Pinata than I did for Jaws Unleashed, and it still undersold Jaws Unleashed in retail stores. I don’t understand how Jaws Unleashed gets more sales with less marketing than Viva Pinata. Jaws? Really? What is there really left to say about the Jaws franchise that hasn’t already been said. I cant stand to see games like this continue to sell and great games go unrecognized year after year. People need to think about their purchases and hold off on that next 50 Cent inspired game, maybe then you might start to see these developers step up their game making abilities in future editions. For now, anyone who buys these games from companies who are just in in for the money, needs to receive a kick to the nuts as a bonus gift as you pay for your new game at the counter.

Jeff Standley

Edit:
Viva Pinata has since sold almost 200,000 copies in North America.
The numbers are getting better, but still not even close to what this titles deserves.

Review: Netflix online movie service

Jeff Standley — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 02:17:19 +0000

A few weeks back Netflix announced a service to subscribers where they could watch select movies directly from their website. The article stated that they Netflix would roll this out to very few subscribers per month until June, where they expected all current subscribers would have this ability. I checked my account daily to see if I was the one of the chosen few, and a couple days later and to my surprise I was. Clicking on the link the service activated, downloaded a player for my browser, and added the “Watch Now” tab on the top of the website for easy access. The process was fast and easy, I barely had to wait 30 seconds for everything to install and I was ready to watch my first movie.
The service now offers it’s subscribers movie time equal to the dollar amount you pay for your subscription. If you have the $18 package, you get 18 hours of time to watch per month from their website. $24 = 24 hours etc. This does not count against your movies you get per month either. This is in addition to the 2 3 or 4 picks you have at one time. The service scans your internet connection to determine the quality of the movies. In my case it picked the lowest quality since I only have 768 download.
Glancing over the front page you you are given the option of picks Netflix thinks you might like, movies form your queue and various picks from different genre’s. I started to search for a movie, but there on the front page was Zach Galifianakis Live, a movie I had waiting in my queue. I hit the play button and was directed to the browser / player screen. Once the player screen pops up it downloads the file and depending on the movie, it queue’s up for a few minutes, or starts up with in seconds. In this case it started about 10 seconds after I hit play. I was very surprised to see this. With only having 768 download, I expected to wait about 20 or 30 minutes before I could watch it without running into buffer issues along the way. I played the movie straight through and had absolutely no problems with it catching up to the download as I watched. The movie was actually finished downloading about 30 minutes into it, and never hiccuped once.

I have since watched about 5 different movies from the service, and only had to wait once for about 10 minutes for the movie to queue up far enough that I wouldn’t run into problems. The service is very nice overall and has very nice quality even at the lowest setting. I was most excited to for this service because I have my PC connected to my home theater set up. Being able to pick from my Netflix selection and watch right away is perfect. The service on my home theater set up looked and sounded great too. If Netflix ever offers the rumored set top box for this service they will have an even stronger grip on the online movie business. Cant wait to see what’s next. As for now, go get Netflix and try for yourself.

Jeff Standley

Does the Wii hit or miss with gamers?

Jeff Standley — Sat, 27 Jan 2007 00:21:48 +0000

After months of keeping an eye out for a Nintendo Wii, I finally stumbled into my local retailer right after they had put 4 on the shelves, perfect timing. I grabbed one instantly, ran home to hook it up, and quickly put in Wii sports to give it a go. I wanted to finally see for myself if it was all hype or well worth the $250.00 purchase.
Anyone who had the last two Nintendo systems (64 and GC) came to the same conclusions on both. They are fun systems but lack just about everything you want in a video game system to take it to the next level. The last two systems were plagued with very few worthy games, lack of third party support and no online support whatsoever. My big question, and I believe everyone else’s too, is will the Wii suffer the same outcome as the last two consoles from Nintendo? Or has Nintendo actually created the next generation in video games?

I got the Wii home and my four year old son was even more excited to play with it than I was. The first thing that got me was that the system did not come with high end cables at all, I’m not asking for HD, but not even S-video cables to maximize picture quality right out of the box? Come on! I wasn’t too concerned about the cables at that point, I just wanted to play. Even though Ive heard from multiple sources the component cables make a huge difference, I just wanted to play the thing after months of waiting. Finally got everything hooked up and downloaded all the updates waiting for my new system and got to checking out the menu options. My first gripe was when I was downloading the virtual console game Mario 64, there was no background downloading. You have to watch Mario run across the screen and hit blocks for coins until the download is done. It wasn’t that long of a wait, but I hope this is something they fix in future updates. Second was the set up of online with the Wii codes. In order to connect with your friends over the internet, you need to put in a sixteen digit code and give them yours to do the same. With Xbox Live setting the bar for an online community, and Nintendo having seen how it’s done, it’s hard to believe that they would pick such a long and confusing way to do it. Nintendo said in a statement about the Wii codes, that they wanted to keep their customers safe, especially young players, from predators and basically out of harms way when online. I commend Nintendo for taking the time and thinking of young gamers safety online. But, even with these long codes that both players have to enter, the same thing can happen. Little Johnny is going to post his code all over message boards to all his friends no matter how you serve it up to them, sixteen digit code or four character alias. It was a nice try Nintendo, but in the long run it will only hinder their online system, and make it harder for you to enjoy it. Once again I think this could be an easy fix in a future update (not that Nintendo will do it).
After everything was hooked up, all things downloaded, I slapped in Wii sports to try it out. My son and I went through the various games on the disc and were having a great time, and eventually settled into bowling, which is now my favorite out of the package. All of the games are pretty fun, but lack the depth of a real sports game. Boxing is a series of wild punches, Golf gives you four clubs and a direction to choose and Baseball comes down to pitching, and swinging, nothing more. No strategy, no setting up plays, no interaction beyond throwing and swinging. The rest of the games suffer from the same problems in depth of play, but this isn’t a bad thing in the scheme of things. Wii sports is not supposed to be a real sports game. It was put in the box to show you how the Wii is supposed to be played, and what it truly offers gamers if done right. Bowling is about the only complete game on the disc. It is still dumbed down a little for fun, but it is the closest to the real thing as far as setting up your throw and actually taking into account normal things you might do if really bowling. Knowing how much fun bowling is on the Wii sports disc, makes me really want a true bowling game for it. One with realistic physics, deep gameplay, online and maybe a career mode. The thought of how kick ass that will be is awesome.
The one game I bought for the Wii so far was of course Zelda, who wouldn’t. Zelda as always, is an incredible game, and the use of the Wii-mote is great. But this is a Nintendo title, who didn’t see that one coming. I’m more interested in seeing how developers take advantage of the system and it’s capabilities. We have already seen a poor addition from the allstar developer Ubisoft, with Redsteel. This is what I’m afraid of with third party once again. Third party games tha dont deliver anything beyond basic gameplay to gamers in comparison. With the Wii being underpowered compared to it’s rivals, it’s hard to see how a person would pick up a third party cross system game even with crazy controls.

Can you imagine playing COD3 like the picture above for three or four hours straight. I know you don’t have to do this for real, but the thought of using a control scheme like this for an FPS doesn’t sit well with me. Add to the fact that the Wii version of anything brought to all three systems, will be underpowered and have less than half the resolution of the PS3 and 360 versions. I have no idea why anyone would pick it over the other two when given the choice. From my perspective any developer would have to do something really crazy and so far out in left field for me to even consider buying this type of game over the 360/PS3 version. The graphics alone will stop most of my purchases on the Wii, and the fact that I love achievements on the 360, I have no use for a wild control scheme on the Wii. The great things that come out for the Wii will be stuff you wont see on the other systems. I just hope developers come out of the wood work to do such games.
Where the Wii really shines is in family fun, interaction and bringing new gamers to the table, just as Nintendo said it wanted to do. The Wii is not the powerhouse any hard core gamer would want from their beloved manufacturer, but it is a lot of fun. I had my parents come and they wanted to check it out. Especially after seeing countless stories on the news and other various TV shows raving about it. Three hours later my parents wanted to get one. I couldn’t believe it. My mom hasn’t played video games in, well forever, and she loved it. Couldn’t wait to come over again and get back to bowling.
Overall the Wii is not the next gen system I was hoping for, but it was never sold as “Next Gen”. The system is very fun, and I believe will be even more fun than the last two without question. But it still lacks the same things as the previous consoles did. Some of these may change over time, like online play and connectivity. But the game situation in my mind, will unfortunately will be the same as the last two systems. When given a choice between Wii/PS3/360, you will most likely never pick the Wii. but it may not get the third party support from big games like we all want. The possibilities though, of very creative and inventive games coming to the Wii from third party developers is limitless. Let’s just see if they do what’s needed for the system to really shine. The Wii will bring new gamers to the table and create a new generation of gamers, but it may leave something desired for hard core audiences. The Wii is well worth the $250 price, even with the lack of third party games, it still has a solid stable of games like Mario, Zelda and Metroid that could easily justify any Nintendo purchase.

Jeff Standley // LordStandley

Superman – The DVD Tin of Steel!

OPrimal — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 08:01:26 +0000

This could potentially be a long review simply because there are 14 freekin disks in this collection! Of all the Superman DVD sets in the world, I think this one would be the quintessential collection. If you are any kind of Superman Fan, you must have this set. It is the most complete with only a couple of criticisms that I will explain later.

Might as well start from the beginning. In order to own this Fantastic DVD tin, you must shell out a few Flintstones clams to get it. It runs anywhere from $69.99 to $89.99 at most retailers. I beat a local retailer down and got a smoking deal…some places you can do that. If you are buying a TV have them throw it in. With the added extra feature disks in here, the price is not bad. If you bought all the DVDs individually you wouldn’t get the bonus disks, the tin, or the other collectible items.
It is only too appropriate that the Superman collection is encased in a Metal Tin. After all, he is the Man of Steel! Esthetically it is a very clean looking and simple box with the Shield from the Original Movie embossed on the front and the Superman Returns Shield on the Back. The front and the back of the Tin are hinged and open from either side. Collectors out there will like this box because the Tin is streaked in such a way that fingerprints are unnoticeable. When you open the Tin from the Front, you see the Christopher Reeve Superman Flying up and Crashing through the Superman Shield in a cool Lenticular picture. When you open the other side of the tin, you see the Brandon Routh Superman in one of the commonly seen posters.

As there are 14 disks in this thing, the DVD Case/Book is pretty big. It is a bit of a pain to get it out of the tin, but oh well. Next, the images I mentioned above are on the front and the back of the “sleeve” that holds the DVD book with all the disks. Slide this thing off and there you have your nicely designed DVD set.

The Documentation is in the inside cover of the book. You get a nicely designed “Daily Planet” style description of the DVDs. It is concise and really well put together. Not cheesy at all. You also get a reproduction of a 1986 Superman comic book. There really isn’t any significant story in the comic, but again, a nice addition to the tin.

The Best part of the Documentation is the Rebate form…thats right, I said it…The Rebate! For $5.80 you mail this thing off and you will get reproductions of the Full Size Original Movie Posters for All Five Movies! This is a very cool addition, but send it off quickly the supply is limited!

On to the Disks! First, I will say along with the great presentation of the packaging, the Disks are done very nicely as well. Each one having an appropriate picture of elements of each film.

Since Superman The Motion Picture and Superman II are the two movies that really make this package, they really took the time and put an awesome set of DVDs together. The Original Movie is a 4 Disk Special Edition with Featurettes and Documentaries, Deleted Scenes, Screen Tests, and 2 versions of the Film. The two versions are the Original Theatrical and then the 2000 DVD re-release. Now, since I am the type of jerk that will buy every release of every DVD, I have the re-release from 2000 as well. This version is the most complete I have seen.

The same will be said for Superman II. They included the Original Theatrical Cut that we all came to know and love, plus they also included the New version put together by the Original Director, Richard “Dick” Donner! This new cut makes the theatrical look like crap! It makes the Original Motion Picture flow seamlessly into the second film! I liked the Donner Cut so much better than the theatrical that I probably won’t watch the latter again!

Now, as far as the Third Superman Film, I won’t say much. We all know this movie kinda Bit! I will say about Part III that Richard Pryor was Great, and the scene with Dark Superman vs. Clark Kent was cool too. Otherwise….no…robot ugly chicks and computer missile targeting video games were not good ideas. Superman at a Bar is a joke tellers Dream come true however!

To make sure, my crediblility as a Superman Fan stays true, I will only make two comments on Superman IV – The Quest For Peace. First, is that Shadow Stevens? And, Second, Lex Luthor had a nephew named Lenny…Wow…This movie really tied it all together!

Undoubtedly, there are little to no extras on the third and fourth movies…wonder why….

I recently wrote a review on the latest Superman Installment…Superman Returns. I liked it. I won’t be redundant, so please go back and read my earlier review.

There are extra disks with additional Bonus features on Superman Returns and the Richard Donner films…Very cool stuff in both of these disks. Lots of behind the scenes and how they did it kind of featurettes. Also, they included all the Fleischer Cartoons from the Fifties, and they included the Classic George Reeves Superman Movie, Superman and the Mole Men…Very Cheesy, but great fun to watch again!

The only thing that would have made this set more complete would to have included the George Reeves Television Series as well. I grew up watching those shows and they really did a great job portraying the humanity of the character, plus his springboard out the window was the best!

This DVD Set is truly incredible. I would have liked to see some more special features on the 2 films that sucked, but thats me. I like the extra features a lot! I am happier knowing I own this set. On a scale of 1 – 10 for a DVD collection it is a High 9. Great set. You will not be disappointed owning it!

Chris Stecher – OPrimal