I've made a small goal for myself. That goal is to blog about something every day for at least a month. There's always stuff I want to say about something so putting it down in a post should be no tough feat. Right? Well here we go.
Yesterday saw the announcement of Persona 4 Golden Edition for the PS Vita and a Persona Fighter for PS3/360. I'm a big fighting game fan so the Persona Fighter intrigues me. It's being developed by Arc System Works, the guys who made the Blaz Blue games (fighters I enjoy but am terrible at). This rerelease will include tons of new content and features such as new voice work, a new intro and theme song, and utilization of the Vita communication abilities.
Persona is a series I've always been curious about. The gameplay sounds interesting and I'm a sucker for anime cutscenes in a game. I also enjoy the visual style of the characters and That said, I've never tried any of the Persona games. It's always been in the back of mind to buy one and finally try it out, but I tend to forget these kind of things.
I have learned though that all the previous Persona games are already on the PSN, and Innocent Sin (the rerelease of P2) will be coming out in September. So now when I buy my Vita (and oh, I will) I will already have some games to play on it besides whatever I decide to buy on launch. From what I've heard, these Persona games aren't exactly short. It'll be nice to have a large series to sink my teeth into, considering I managed to finish Deus Ex: Human Revolution within three days.
So what do you guys think? Are you excited for the rerelease of Persona 4? What are your thoughts on the series in general?
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Friday, August 5, 2011
Tales from Comic-Con 2011: Silent Hill Downpour Impressions
Alright. Ladies and gentlemen, this is my final Comic-Con 2011 post. After this, I have nothing to post about... Okay that isn't true, but I won't have anything more to post on Comic-Con. With that said, let's dive right now.
There are few disclaimers I need to make before I begin though. The first was that the game was in 3D, so the graphics looked slightly stretched and pixelated. The second is that this is the same demo Konami had brought to E3 which I'd watched a few times over. Therefore, I knew (for the most part) all the puzzles and where to go, so I can't speak to the riddle difficulty.
What I can talk about is the combat, controls, and overall atmoshpere of the game. The demo starts with Murphy (the main character) just outside of Silent Hill. I'm assuming this is near the very beginning of the game because Murphy's goal is find different clothes to change into. For those who don't know you play as Murphy Pendleton, a prisoner on transport to death row. Like the Fugitive, your transport crashes and you escape. Unlike the Fugitive, Tommy Lee Jones is not chasing you, and you've landed your ass in Silent Hill.
Vatra Games (the development studio) has certainly nailed the look of the town. Everything looks like Silent Hill and for someone who hasn't played a Silent Hill game since '09s Shattered Memories, it felt so good to be back. The controls are much more consistent with the older Silent Hill games. Instead of being able to strafe and run all the time, you have to turn Murphy and then push forward on the analog stick in order to make him go forward. You also have to hold a separate button to run. These are all welcome changes from the last two games as it increases the difficulty and certain adds to the fear when you're being chased by something.
One thing I particularly liked about Downpour was the real time transformation from regular Silent Hill to the nightmare world. This was in Homecoming but it only happened once in the entire game (before you fought the first boss in the greenhouse). I'm hoping in Downpour it will be a more regular occurrence.
The combat in Silent Hill Downpour is a combination of the combat in Silent Hill: Origins and Shattered Memories. There are chase sequences like the ones from Shattered Memories, but there are also regular combat situations. The chase sequence also took place while Murphy has no weapons, so I'm wondering if there will be times when Murphy is unarmed or he's being chased by something too big to fight (or intangible, as the first thing chasing you was a red light.... sound familiar?).
The combat controls play out similar to the older games. You swing and hope you hit. From what I could tell, there wasn't a light swing or a heavy swing. Another thing I noticed was that the monsters I was facing were damn hard to kill. I don't know if at that point in the game I wasn't actually supposed to kill them, but I'll be damned if I could find a way out of the area I was in. After a long ten minute battle that mostly involved me running and healing, I finally died. It's worth noting that these particular enemies has a screeching ability that stunned Murphy whenever it hit. Very frustrating, but the difficulty is welcome as the last two Silent Hill games were way too easy.
Unfortunately I never found out what was past those enemies. There was a line behind me and it was continue until you die or finish. Even so, we all continued to make fun of Homecoming and how much better this demo was than that entire game. Good times.
Silent Hill Downpour is set to release (currently) on October 25, 2011.
There are few disclaimers I need to make before I begin though. The first was that the game was in 3D, so the graphics looked slightly stretched and pixelated. The second is that this is the same demo Konami had brought to E3 which I'd watched a few times over. Therefore, I knew (for the most part) all the puzzles and where to go, so I can't speak to the riddle difficulty.
What I can talk about is the combat, controls, and overall atmoshpere of the game. The demo starts with Murphy (the main character) just outside of Silent Hill. I'm assuming this is near the very beginning of the game because Murphy's goal is find different clothes to change into. For those who don't know you play as Murphy Pendleton, a prisoner on transport to death row. Like the Fugitive, your transport crashes and you escape. Unlike the Fugitive, Tommy Lee Jones is not chasing you, and you've landed your ass in Silent Hill.
Vatra Games (the development studio) has certainly nailed the look of the town. Everything looks like Silent Hill and for someone who hasn't played a Silent Hill game since '09s Shattered Memories, it felt so good to be back. The controls are much more consistent with the older Silent Hill games. Instead of being able to strafe and run all the time, you have to turn Murphy and then push forward on the analog stick in order to make him go forward. You also have to hold a separate button to run. These are all welcome changes from the last two games as it increases the difficulty and certain adds to the fear when you're being chased by something.
One thing I particularly liked about Downpour was the real time transformation from regular Silent Hill to the nightmare world. This was in Homecoming but it only happened once in the entire game (before you fought the first boss in the greenhouse). I'm hoping in Downpour it will be a more regular occurrence.
The combat in Silent Hill Downpour is a combination of the combat in Silent Hill: Origins and Shattered Memories. There are chase sequences like the ones from Shattered Memories, but there are also regular combat situations. The chase sequence also took place while Murphy has no weapons, so I'm wondering if there will be times when Murphy is unarmed or he's being chased by something too big to fight (or intangible, as the first thing chasing you was a red light.... sound familiar?).
The combat controls play out similar to the older games. You swing and hope you hit. From what I could tell, there wasn't a light swing or a heavy swing. Another thing I noticed was that the monsters I was facing were damn hard to kill. I don't know if at that point in the game I wasn't actually supposed to kill them, but I'll be damned if I could find a way out of the area I was in. After a long ten minute battle that mostly involved me running and healing, I finally died. It's worth noting that these particular enemies has a screeching ability that stunned Murphy whenever it hit. Very frustrating, but the difficulty is welcome as the last two Silent Hill games were way too easy.
Unfortunately I never found out what was past those enemies. There was a line behind me and it was continue until you die or finish. Even so, we all continued to make fun of Homecoming and how much better this demo was than that entire game. Good times.
Silent Hill Downpour is set to release (currently) on October 25, 2011.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Tales from Comic-Con 2011: Street Fighter X Tekken, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, and Street Fighter Third Strike Online Impressions
Though the title may be long, the fact of the matter is that I didn't get a lot of hands-on time with UMvC3 and 3SO. I spent most of my Comic-Con game time playing Street Fighter X Tekken. Therefore, the impressions of the last two games will be short, and not worth their own post.
Third Strike Online is... Third Strike plus an online mode. It's literally a perfect arcade port with online functionality and replays. There are additional challenges as well that earn you points that I believe you can spend on "things". Not too sure what they mean. They could just be for bragging rights or maybe to unlock costumes/stages. The game itself is a bit of a bore. Everyone uses the same four characters because they're considered top tier. That gives little variety to the game. The art style is bland looking and the graphics options only help it a little. I'm going to pass on this one, but for those interested the game is supposed to launch at the end of August.
Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 only had four of the twelve new characters. At the time those four were the only ones revealed, but the other twelve leaked later on. The four available were Ghost Rider, Strider, Firebrand, and Hawkeye. I only got the play the game twice - the line was huge - and the only new character I got to try in that time was Ghost Rider. I believe he has the farthest reach in the game now (over Super Skrull), but this chain counts as a hitbox, meaning if someone strikes the chain Ghost Rider will take damage (kind of like Dahlsim from Street Fighter). There are a ton of balance changes coming with it as well. From what I've heard, Phoenix is now the most useless character ever. She has even less health and does less damage. Plus, lvl 3 x-factor doesn't last as long. Ultimate MvC3 will be available in November.
The game I got the most hands on time with was Street Fighter X Tekken. At first I didn't like the game all that much. I think this was because I wasn't used to playing on a fight stick. I eventually got the hang of it though and the game because rather enjoyable. The game is super dependent on not over extending yourself. If you combo too fast and your opponent blocks it, you've opened yourself to a juggle between both your opponents characters. It's a frustrating balance that's tough to learn quickly. SFxT is definitely a game that requires precision timing in order to "work properly" for the player.
So that's all I can think of to say about these games. If you guys have any questions for me, please feel free to ask them in the comments and I'll do my best to answer them!
Third Strike Online is... Third Strike plus an online mode. It's literally a perfect arcade port with online functionality and replays. There are additional challenges as well that earn you points that I believe you can spend on "things". Not too sure what they mean. They could just be for bragging rights or maybe to unlock costumes/stages. The game itself is a bit of a bore. Everyone uses the same four characters because they're considered top tier. That gives little variety to the game. The art style is bland looking and the graphics options only help it a little. I'm going to pass on this one, but for those interested the game is supposed to launch at the end of August.
Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 only had four of the twelve new characters. At the time those four were the only ones revealed, but the other twelve leaked later on. The four available were Ghost Rider, Strider, Firebrand, and Hawkeye. I only got the play the game twice - the line was huge - and the only new character I got to try in that time was Ghost Rider. I believe he has the farthest reach in the game now (over Super Skrull), but this chain counts as a hitbox, meaning if someone strikes the chain Ghost Rider will take damage (kind of like Dahlsim from Street Fighter). There are a ton of balance changes coming with it as well. From what I've heard, Phoenix is now the most useless character ever. She has even less health and does less damage. Plus, lvl 3 x-factor doesn't last as long. Ultimate MvC3 will be available in November.
The game I got the most hands on time with was Street Fighter X Tekken. At first I didn't like the game all that much. I think this was because I wasn't used to playing on a fight stick. I eventually got the hang of it though and the game because rather enjoyable. The game is super dependent on not over extending yourself. If you combo too fast and your opponent blocks it, you've opened yourself to a juggle between both your opponents characters. It's a frustrating balance that's tough to learn quickly. SFxT is definitely a game that requires precision timing in order to "work properly" for the player.
So that's all I can think of to say about these games. If you guys have any questions for me, please feel free to ask them in the comments and I'll do my best to answer them!
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Tales from Comic-Con 2011: Day 4
Previous Posts:
Day 0
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4: Sunday
This is gonna be a short one. Not only does Comic-Con close early on Sundays, the amount of panels left to see is small. That said, I didn't see any panels at all! I was planning on seeing the Castle panel, but we overslept so that was out. Instead we went for a nice breakfast at Cafe Diem (the Hard Rock's redone cafe in the style of the Eureka restaurant). I even have some of the menus.
I spent the rest of my time in the expo hall. I walked around for a bit, trying to find gifts to buy for my little brothers. I found some Pokemon figures and a Mario plushy that they wound up enjoying quite a bit. After that I went back to the Capcom booth and played more SFxT. I participated in another tournament for the game, but lost very quickly. I simply need more practice!
Unfortunately that was the extend of my day on Sunday. Our flight was early in the afternoon so there wasn't a lot of time for us to stay. In the end though I didn't mind that though. I was exhausted by Sunday and ready to go home. The only problem? We had two flights that felt very, very long. I didn't get home until 1 AM EST.
Overall though I really enjoyed my time at Comic-Con. I didn't see as many panels as I had planned but even better things filled with that time. If you've happened to stumble upon this post, I strongly suggest you go back through my previous posts on Comic-Con. There are many more interesting things over there. If you've read all of those then stay tuned because over the next two days I'll be putting up posts on the games I played at Comic-Con.
For those of you who have read everything, I thank you and I hope you enjoyed my retelling of Comic-Con 2011!
Day 0
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4: Sunday
This is gonna be a short one. Not only does Comic-Con close early on Sundays, the amount of panels left to see is small. That said, I didn't see any panels at all! I was planning on seeing the Castle panel, but we overslept so that was out. Instead we went for a nice breakfast at Cafe Diem (the Hard Rock's redone cafe in the style of the Eureka restaurant). I even have some of the menus.
I spent the rest of my time in the expo hall. I walked around for a bit, trying to find gifts to buy for my little brothers. I found some Pokemon figures and a Mario plushy that they wound up enjoying quite a bit. After that I went back to the Capcom booth and played more SFxT. I participated in another tournament for the game, but lost very quickly. I simply need more practice!
Unfortunately that was the extend of my day on Sunday. Our flight was early in the afternoon so there wasn't a lot of time for us to stay. In the end though I didn't mind that though. I was exhausted by Sunday and ready to go home. The only problem? We had two flights that felt very, very long. I didn't get home until 1 AM EST.
Overall though I really enjoyed my time at Comic-Con. I didn't see as many panels as I had planned but even better things filled with that time. If you've happened to stumble upon this post, I strongly suggest you go back through my previous posts on Comic-Con. There are many more interesting things over there. If you've read all of those then stay tuned because over the next two days I'll be putting up posts on the games I played at Comic-Con.
For those of you who have read everything, I thank you and I hope you enjoyed my retelling of Comic-Con 2011!
Friday, July 29, 2011
Tales from Comic-Con 2011: Day 3
Previous Posts:
Day 0
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3: Saturday
Saturday is the biggest day of Comic-Con. The most people attend on Saturday because it has the biggest panels. Ironically, I only saw two panels on Saturday. I spent my entire day doing two things: expo hall, and the IGN meet and greet. I wanted to go see the Chuck panel but the line was way too long and I was never going to make it inside. Instead I decided to stand on line with my sister to try and get tickets to the Chuck autographs.
WB ran an awful show last year in how people got autographs. You could wait hours on line only to have people who just showed up get picked to be put on line. It was horrendous and really demoralizing. This year though they got smart and changed the way they did things. This year you would stand on line for the chance to pull a ticket that would get you on the autograph line. It's different only in the sense that everyone has the same odds, and you could be first, or last in line and still not get in. We didn't get in, but we met a cool Asian guy who we talked to for awhile (I don't remember his name though lol).
I then dropped my sister off with my dad because he was trying to get autographs at the FOX booth and I wanted to go play more video games. Naturally, I made my way back to the Capcom booth. I participated in a Street Fighter X Tekken tournament. I made it to the round of 16 before I got knocked out. It was fun though, I just need to practice more with a fight stick (I'm actually planning to invest in one, they're just super expensive).
The highlight of the expo hall was getting the autographs of Katsuhiro Harada the producer of the Tekken series and Yoshinori Ono, producer of the Street Fighter series. Both were super cool and really funny. I really enjoyed meeting them.
After the tournament I headed back to the hotel to rest my feet and clean up a little. About twenty minutes later I got pretty bored just being in my room and decided to head down to the IGN Oasis which was in my hotel. I about an hour and a half early, but I had nothing better to do. I just sat at the table and rested until people started showing up around 3 PM.
A lot of people from IGN and 1UP came to the meet and greet. The classics, such as Greg and Daemon were there. Jack DeVries, Rich George, Chris Carle, Stephanie Lee, Jim Reilly, Erik Brudvig, Jessica Chobot, and Noami Kyle were all there. Greg and Daemon actually know my face now so it's like seeing old friends. I really enjoy meeting Rich and Stephanie. I talked with Rich about Capcom and Comic-Con for quite awhile and I discussed Spiderman and gaming panels with Stephanie.
Overall the meet and greet was easily one of the best I've been to (it doesn't beat the PAX dinner, but it was still really fun). I got plenty of pictures, as you'll see in a moment. I want you to notice Greg's expression here and tell me he doesn't make that face in EVERY picture you've seen him in with fans. I've taken four pictures with Greg over the course of two years and I swear his expression never changes.
Once the IGN meet and greet was over I headed back to the convention center to catch two panels before the day was over. I got in the room pretty early and sat through the Nikita panel before the Person of Interest panel started. Person of Interest is a new show from David Nolan and J. J. Abrams. It's about a man, Finch (played by Michael Emerson) who has a machine that only prints out a social security number. He only knows that the people who own these numbers are linked to a crime in one way or another. He hires John Reese (played by James Caviezel) to help him prevent the crimes.
Overall I really liked the show. There's definitely going to be a mythology behind it, which worries me only for the reason that the show has been picked up by CBS who has had the worst luck with serialized shows (Jericho anyone?). That said, I'm hoping the episodic core of the show will help it stay afloat.
The next panel was the Mythbusters panel. I've been a big fan of the Mythbusters for a long time now and they were great last year. Each year Mythbusters co-host Adam Savage cosplays and roams the expo hall. He tweets one hint and whoever finds him first gets a prize. Last year it was a custom iPad. This year... I don't remember what it was. Something not as important. Anyways, last year he went as one of the 501st Storm Troopers. This year he went as No-Face from Spirited Away. The costume was really good despite the fact that he got found out in half an hour.
The rest of the night was spent by us waiting for two hours to get into the Nobu, the Hard Rock's resident sushi restaurant. Now it's time to get a tad personal. For whatever reason, I am extremely texture oriented when it comes to eating foods. If something doesn't "feel" right, it immediately doesn't taste good. This unfortunately applied to the sushi tacos I got. So that was easily my least favorite dinner of Comic-Con. We then promptly went to bed because we had only a few hours at the convention tomorrow before flying back home.
Tomorrow is the post about the last day of Comic-Con. It might be the end of the show, but stay tuned after that because I will have at least two more posts about games I played during Comic-Con. Hope you enjoyed this post!
Day 0
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3: Saturday
Saturday is the biggest day of Comic-Con. The most people attend on Saturday because it has the biggest panels. Ironically, I only saw two panels on Saturday. I spent my entire day doing two things: expo hall, and the IGN meet and greet. I wanted to go see the Chuck panel but the line was way too long and I was never going to make it inside. Instead I decided to stand on line with my sister to try and get tickets to the Chuck autographs.
WB ran an awful show last year in how people got autographs. You could wait hours on line only to have people who just showed up get picked to be put on line. It was horrendous and really demoralizing. This year though they got smart and changed the way they did things. This year you would stand on line for the chance to pull a ticket that would get you on the autograph line. It's different only in the sense that everyone has the same odds, and you could be first, or last in line and still not get in. We didn't get in, but we met a cool Asian guy who we talked to for awhile (I don't remember his name though lol).
I then dropped my sister off with my dad because he was trying to get autographs at the FOX booth and I wanted to go play more video games. Naturally, I made my way back to the Capcom booth. I participated in a Street Fighter X Tekken tournament. I made it to the round of 16 before I got knocked out. It was fun though, I just need to practice more with a fight stick (I'm actually planning to invest in one, they're just super expensive).
The highlight of the expo hall was getting the autographs of Katsuhiro Harada the producer of the Tekken series and Yoshinori Ono, producer of the Street Fighter series. Both were super cool and really funny. I really enjoyed meeting them.
A lot of people from IGN and 1UP came to the meet and greet. The classics, such as Greg and Daemon were there. Jack DeVries, Rich George, Chris Carle, Stephanie Lee, Jim Reilly, Erik Brudvig, Jessica Chobot, and Noami Kyle were all there. Greg and Daemon actually know my face now so it's like seeing old friends. I really enjoy meeting Rich and Stephanie. I talked with Rich about Capcom and Comic-Con for quite awhile and I discussed Spiderman and gaming panels with Stephanie.
Overall the meet and greet was easily one of the best I've been to (it doesn't beat the PAX dinner, but it was still really fun). I got plenty of pictures, as you'll see in a moment. I want you to notice Greg's expression here and tell me he doesn't make that face in EVERY picture you've seen him in with fans. I've taken four pictures with Greg over the course of two years and I swear his expression never changes.
Once the IGN meet and greet was over I headed back to the convention center to catch two panels before the day was over. I got in the room pretty early and sat through the Nikita panel before the Person of Interest panel started. Person of Interest is a new show from David Nolan and J. J. Abrams. It's about a man, Finch (played by Michael Emerson) who has a machine that only prints out a social security number. He only knows that the people who own these numbers are linked to a crime in one way or another. He hires John Reese (played by James Caviezel) to help him prevent the crimes.
Overall I really liked the show. There's definitely going to be a mythology behind it, which worries me only for the reason that the show has been picked up by CBS who has had the worst luck with serialized shows (Jericho anyone?). That said, I'm hoping the episodic core of the show will help it stay afloat.
The next panel was the Mythbusters panel. I've been a big fan of the Mythbusters for a long time now and they were great last year. Each year Mythbusters co-host Adam Savage cosplays and roams the expo hall. He tweets one hint and whoever finds him first gets a prize. Last year it was a custom iPad. This year... I don't remember what it was. Something not as important. Anyways, last year he went as one of the 501st Storm Troopers. This year he went as No-Face from Spirited Away. The costume was really good despite the fact that he got found out in half an hour.
The rest of the night was spent by us waiting for two hours to get into the Nobu, the Hard Rock's resident sushi restaurant. Now it's time to get a tad personal. For whatever reason, I am extremely texture oriented when it comes to eating foods. If something doesn't "feel" right, it immediately doesn't taste good. This unfortunately applied to the sushi tacos I got. So that was easily my least favorite dinner of Comic-Con. We then promptly went to bed because we had only a few hours at the convention tomorrow before flying back home.
Tomorrow is the post about the last day of Comic-Con. It might be the end of the show, but stay tuned after that because I will have at least two more posts about games I played during Comic-Con. Hope you enjoyed this post!
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Tales from Comic-Con 2011: Day 2
Previous Posts:
Day 0
Day 1
Day 2: Friday
Friday was supposed to be a really light day. On my schedule I had only two panels. The first was The Walking Dead and the second was Sony's Hall H presentation, which was to include The Amazing Spiderman. After getting up early again and rolling into the convention center, it became clear very quickly that I wasn't going to get into Ballroom 20, where the Walking Dead panel was. So I bailed quickly and met up with my dad and sister who were on line for a panel about "The Captains" a documentary by William Shatner about the life of all the starship captains after Star Trek. I've yet to watch it, but my dad did and he liked it quite a bit. You can watch the documentary here. Just sign up for the free trial and you'll be good to go.
Back to the panel though, it was moderated by Kevin Smith, whose comedy I'm not the biggest fan of. I heard though, that he was a much better moderator than he was panel participant. This was definitely true. He was hilarious and mixed well with Shatner and Avery Brooks (Captain Sisko from Deep Space Nine). Scott Bakula even made a surprise appearance on the panel. The panel was a lot more fun than I thought it would be and I didn't really mind that I had missed the Walking Dead panel (also, the trailer for season 2 is on AMC's website now).
Since my next panel was Sony's Hall H presentation at 4 PM, I had a few hours to kill before I had to get on line. Of course by now we all know what free time means right? Expo hall! I spent some more time playing more Capcom games, practicing my SFxT play on a fight stick. Fun stuff all around.
Around 1 PM we decided to jump on line for Hall H. In past years the line for Hall H has been so long you could be there the entire day. To avoid this problem, we got on line three hours early. Turns out the line wasn't all that long and after waiting half an hour we rolled right into the hall. Hall H sits over six thousand people so getting close wasn't really an option. That's okay though because they have giant screens projecting what everyone is doing/saying all the way in front.
I believe the first panel we sat through was for the fourth Underworld movie. Now, I've never watched these movies so this panel, and the following Q&A was pretty boring. The same was the case for the following panel, which was about two different movies. One I can't remember and the second was called "Attack the Block" or something like that. It's an alien movie set in South London. The footage they showed didn't look that good, so I'll be passing on that one. Either way it had Edgar Wright on it and all anyone did was ask them questions about Tintin, Ant Man, and the next movie he'll be making with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. No new info all around.
The next panel was the Fright Night panel. For those who don't know, Fright Night is a "remake" of an old horror comedy involving a vampire neighbor that is stalking the main character and his family. I somewhat of a Colin Farrel fan, so seeing him in the role of a villain tickled my fancy a bit. Unfortunately the rest of the movie looks a bit lackluster. So perhaps it'll be a good DVD buy.
Finally, after sitting through three hours of panels I wasn't too interested in, the main event was here. Sony's presentation consisted of four different movies: Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, 30 Minutes or Less, Total Recall, and the Amazing Spiderman movie. First off, until I looked at the programming schedule about a week before the show, I had no idea they were making a new Ghost Rider movie. I never saw the first movie because Nic Cage makes my eyes burn and my ears bleed. That said, it seems like there will be more Ghost Rider this time around then last (from what I've heard) and that it'll a much darker/edgier movie. The trailer looked pretty crazy and action looked fun. Who knows. Depending on reviews, I might still see it. Oh, and for those asking: yes, Nic Cage is back.
30 Minutes or Less was next up. This movie looks pretty funny, plus it's by the same guy who directed Zombieland (a movie I did a speech on for a class). The only problem with the panel was that neither of the big names were present. Both Danny McBride and Jesse Eisenberg were off doing other films.
Total Recall on the other hand, really surprised me. The clips they showed looked a lot like Mass Effect (more than the Mass Effect movie probably will). The action looks fun and my hope is that the story will be good as well.
Last, but not least is Spiderman. I'm not going to repeat the beginning of the panel, if you don't know what I'm referring to, go here. It's the first item on the list. Personally, I thought it was refreshing to see such honesty from a Hollywood star. They showed the original trailer and then went right into some new footage. I'll say here right now that hte trailer that's out for everyone to see is terrible. It's an awful trailer that portrays a boring movie. The footage shown at Comic-Con though, shows a much more exciting movie. There was more action, more story, just better stuff all around. After the footage we bailed out because we had been sitting for quite some time and were rather hungry.
We dropped off our stuff at the hotel and then went looking for dinner. We wound up at Dick's Last Resort. For those who were at Comic-Con last year, you should remember this as the restaurant that IGN had their meet and greet last year. It's basically a place where the waiters yell at you a lot of and make fun of you. It's so much fun and they actually make pretty good food. Dinner was awesome for another reason too. I walk inside and lo and behold, Epic Meal Time is inside. Naturally I had to get a picture with them.
We ended the day by roaming around the hotel lobby looking for more celebrities to meet. I only met two on Friday, but they were two very awesome people. They were Joss Whedon and Michael Emerson (LOST). Both were really cool and people I respect quite a bit. It was really fun meeting them.
That's me about done for Friday. Tomorrow will be my post on Saturday! Where IGN had their meet and greet. Stay tuned for stories and pics about that.
Day 0
Day 1
Day 2: Friday
Friday was supposed to be a really light day. On my schedule I had only two panels. The first was The Walking Dead and the second was Sony's Hall H presentation, which was to include The Amazing Spiderman. After getting up early again and rolling into the convention center, it became clear very quickly that I wasn't going to get into Ballroom 20, where the Walking Dead panel was. So I bailed quickly and met up with my dad and sister who were on line for a panel about "The Captains" a documentary by William Shatner about the life of all the starship captains after Star Trek. I've yet to watch it, but my dad did and he liked it quite a bit. You can watch the documentary here. Just sign up for the free trial and you'll be good to go.
Back to the panel though, it was moderated by Kevin Smith, whose comedy I'm not the biggest fan of. I heard though, that he was a much better moderator than he was panel participant. This was definitely true. He was hilarious and mixed well with Shatner and Avery Brooks (Captain Sisko from Deep Space Nine). Scott Bakula even made a surprise appearance on the panel. The panel was a lot more fun than I thought it would be and I didn't really mind that I had missed the Walking Dead panel (also, the trailer for season 2 is on AMC's website now).
Since my next panel was Sony's Hall H presentation at 4 PM, I had a few hours to kill before I had to get on line. Of course by now we all know what free time means right? Expo hall! I spent some more time playing more Capcom games, practicing my SFxT play on a fight stick. Fun stuff all around.
Around 1 PM we decided to jump on line for Hall H. In past years the line for Hall H has been so long you could be there the entire day. To avoid this problem, we got on line three hours early. Turns out the line wasn't all that long and after waiting half an hour we rolled right into the hall. Hall H sits over six thousand people so getting close wasn't really an option. That's okay though because they have giant screens projecting what everyone is doing/saying all the way in front.
I believe the first panel we sat through was for the fourth Underworld movie. Now, I've never watched these movies so this panel, and the following Q&A was pretty boring. The same was the case for the following panel, which was about two different movies. One I can't remember and the second was called "Attack the Block" or something like that. It's an alien movie set in South London. The footage they showed didn't look that good, so I'll be passing on that one. Either way it had Edgar Wright on it and all anyone did was ask them questions about Tintin, Ant Man, and the next movie he'll be making with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. No new info all around.
The next panel was the Fright Night panel. For those who don't know, Fright Night is a "remake" of an old horror comedy involving a vampire neighbor that is stalking the main character and his family. I somewhat of a Colin Farrel fan, so seeing him in the role of a villain tickled my fancy a bit. Unfortunately the rest of the movie looks a bit lackluster. So perhaps it'll be a good DVD buy.
Finally, after sitting through three hours of panels I wasn't too interested in, the main event was here. Sony's presentation consisted of four different movies: Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, 30 Minutes or Less, Total Recall, and the Amazing Spiderman movie. First off, until I looked at the programming schedule about a week before the show, I had no idea they were making a new Ghost Rider movie. I never saw the first movie because Nic Cage makes my eyes burn and my ears bleed. That said, it seems like there will be more Ghost Rider this time around then last (from what I've heard) and that it'll a much darker/edgier movie. The trailer looked pretty crazy and action looked fun. Who knows. Depending on reviews, I might still see it. Oh, and for those asking: yes, Nic Cage is back.
30 Minutes or Less was next up. This movie looks pretty funny, plus it's by the same guy who directed Zombieland (a movie I did a speech on for a class). The only problem with the panel was that neither of the big names were present. Both Danny McBride and Jesse Eisenberg were off doing other films.
Total Recall on the other hand, really surprised me. The clips they showed looked a lot like Mass Effect (more than the Mass Effect movie probably will). The action looks fun and my hope is that the story will be good as well.
Last, but not least is Spiderman. I'm not going to repeat the beginning of the panel, if you don't know what I'm referring to, go here. It's the first item on the list. Personally, I thought it was refreshing to see such honesty from a Hollywood star. They showed the original trailer and then went right into some new footage. I'll say here right now that hte trailer that's out for everyone to see is terrible. It's an awful trailer that portrays a boring movie. The footage shown at Comic-Con though, shows a much more exciting movie. There was more action, more story, just better stuff all around. After the footage we bailed out because we had been sitting for quite some time and were rather hungry.
We dropped off our stuff at the hotel and then went looking for dinner. We wound up at Dick's Last Resort. For those who were at Comic-Con last year, you should remember this as the restaurant that IGN had their meet and greet last year. It's basically a place where the waiters yell at you a lot of and make fun of you. It's so much fun and they actually make pretty good food. Dinner was awesome for another reason too. I walk inside and lo and behold, Epic Meal Time is inside. Naturally I had to get a picture with them.
We ended the day by roaming around the hotel lobby looking for more celebrities to meet. I only met two on Friday, but they were two very awesome people. They were Joss Whedon and Michael Emerson (LOST). Both were really cool and people I respect quite a bit. It was really fun meeting them.
That's me about done for Friday. Tomorrow will be my post on Saturday! Where IGN had their meet and greet. Stay tuned for stories and pics about that.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Tales from Comic-Con 2011: Day 1
Previous Posts:
Day 0 of Comic-Con
Day 1: Thursday
Thursday was the first official day of Comic-Con. We had decided to wake up around 7:30 and get out around 8:30. The Hard Rock Hotel is literally across the street from the convention center, so it's not like we had to account for travel time. My dad wanted to hit the expo hall and my sister and I wanted to see the Psych panel. Psych was in Ballroom 20, the second biggest room in the convention center (the first being Hall H). So we divided up amongst the lines and waited.
The wait to get into Ballroom 20 wasn't long, perhaps an hour at most. Psych was the third panel in Ballroom 20, but we'd gotten there just in time for the first panel, which happened to be Burn Notice. The goal is always to get in the room at least a panel ahead of the one you really want to see. We were two ahead.
Now, I don't watch Burn Notice, but last year when I attended the panel Bruce Campbell was there and he made it all worth it. This year was no different. He and creator Matt Nix made a panel about a show I don't care about a joy to watch. It was a lot of fun, which is only to be expected with Bruce Campbell on your panel.
The next panel was Covert Affairs, yet another USA show I don't watch. This panel wasn't nearly as exciting as the Burn Notice, but Bruce Campbell is a hard act to follow. I did my best to not pay attention during this panel and instead passed the time by playing Cut the Rope on my iPhone.
Finally, after two hours of waiting, the Psych panel was here. They opened with a video with Shawn and Gus wondering how they could top their act from last year. So naturally, they got William Shatner to be in their video (he's guest starring this season as well). The video was decent and then they had the band come out and play the theme song. Then the cast rolled out and the panel started for real. They showed a sizzle reel of next season which looks pretty cool, then a clip from the first episode of the new season. This season looks to be much better than last year's, which I felt was tired and overplayed. Overall the Psych panel was decent. It wasn't nearly as good as last year's though, which had Kurt Smith and a tap dance off between Gus and his dance instructor.
After the Psych panel we moved into the expo hall. This is where they have booths set up across a building the size of two football fields. It literally takes about 25 minutes to get from one end to the other without any people in front of you. It's crazy. That said, there's also a lot of really cool stuff. The first booth I stumbled upon was the Konami booth, which brought Silent Hill Downpour with them. Naturally, I had to play it. My opinions on the game will be in a separate post later in the week though. The same goes for Capcom's games such as Street Fighter X Tekken, Ultimate MvC3, and Street Fighter III Online Edition. They had their other non-fighting games there as well (like Operation Raccoon City, Asura's Wrath, etc), but I never got a chance to play those.
While roaming the expo hall I found the booth of my artist friend Jason Palmer. I met Jason Palmer back in 2005 at Celebration 3. Somehow he remembered us two years later when I attended my first Comic-Con. He makes really cool art based on a lot of my favorite Sci-Fi shows. The only problem is that this year he didn't draw anything new, so I never bought anything.
Before leaving the expo hall for the day there was at least one thing I needed to accomplish, and that was getting Felicia Day's autograph. Sure, the rest of the Guild cast is there too and they're awesome, but let's be honest here. On my way to their booth though, I ran into one Casey Hudson. Yes, THE Casey Hudson who makes those Mass Effect games everyone loves so much. Usually this would be an awesome thing for me, since you know... I kind of like those games. The problem though, was that Casey Hudson was a bit of a jerk. I saw him passing by and I was like, "hey Casey Hudson." and so on right? Well he just completely bypasses me and keeps going. So I was like "No? Really?", and then he turns around. So I know he totally heard me.
Look, I don't mind if people don't want to take pictures or whatever. Just do me the favor of telling me you're busy or on your way to another panel, or something. Don't just blow me off, 'cause then you come off a bit like a douche. This happened plenty of other times throughout the day where people were on their way to something and couldn't stop. That's totally cool.
Anyways, back to the story at hand. So I finally get on line for the Felicia Day thing and get the autograph and picture (below). Done for the day, I decide to head back to drop off my swag bag and rest my feet for a bit before dinner. On my way back to the hotel, I ran into Allison Scagliotti from Warehouse 13. So that was really cool for me.
After heading back to the hotel, we went and grabbed dinner. Before leaving I had learned there was an IGN party happening at the Hard Rock Hotel. The one and only Walter Lopez was working community for IGN and had helped coordinated this party (I apologize if some of the facts here are wrong, my memory is a tad fuzzy). Alas, this was mostly a corporate party, so there was no getting in.
Thankfully, that didn't matter! As it turned out, people had to actually get to the party through one of two entrances. I happened to be right in the middle of them. In total I met and took pictures with over 13 different celebrities which include most of the Game of Thrones cast, Dominic Monaghan, Mikey Tuttle, Jon Favreau, Piper Perabo, Jewel Staite, and Justin Timberlake. I also ran into Adam Sessler from G4 and Hideo Kojima of MGS fame. (the other girl in the photos is my sister)
These people were so nice and awesome, meeting them was so cool. Stay tuned for Day 2 where I miss a panel and somehow watch three more than I planned. I also meet more celebrities.
Day 0 of Comic-Con
Day 1: Thursday
Thursday was the first official day of Comic-Con. We had decided to wake up around 7:30 and get out around 8:30. The Hard Rock Hotel is literally across the street from the convention center, so it's not like we had to account for travel time. My dad wanted to hit the expo hall and my sister and I wanted to see the Psych panel. Psych was in Ballroom 20, the second biggest room in the convention center (the first being Hall H). So we divided up amongst the lines and waited.
The wait to get into Ballroom 20 wasn't long, perhaps an hour at most. Psych was the third panel in Ballroom 20, but we'd gotten there just in time for the first panel, which happened to be Burn Notice. The goal is always to get in the room at least a panel ahead of the one you really want to see. We were two ahead.
Now, I don't watch Burn Notice, but last year when I attended the panel Bruce Campbell was there and he made it all worth it. This year was no different. He and creator Matt Nix made a panel about a show I don't care about a joy to watch. It was a lot of fun, which is only to be expected with Bruce Campbell on your panel.
The next panel was Covert Affairs, yet another USA show I don't watch. This panel wasn't nearly as exciting as the Burn Notice, but Bruce Campbell is a hard act to follow. I did my best to not pay attention during this panel and instead passed the time by playing Cut the Rope on my iPhone.
Finally, after two hours of waiting, the Psych panel was here. They opened with a video with Shawn and Gus wondering how they could top their act from last year. So naturally, they got William Shatner to be in their video (he's guest starring this season as well). The video was decent and then they had the band come out and play the theme song. Then the cast rolled out and the panel started for real. They showed a sizzle reel of next season which looks pretty cool, then a clip from the first episode of the new season. This season looks to be much better than last year's, which I felt was tired and overplayed. Overall the Psych panel was decent. It wasn't nearly as good as last year's though, which had Kurt Smith and a tap dance off between Gus and his dance instructor.
After the Psych panel we moved into the expo hall. This is where they have booths set up across a building the size of two football fields. It literally takes about 25 minutes to get from one end to the other without any people in front of you. It's crazy. That said, there's also a lot of really cool stuff. The first booth I stumbled upon was the Konami booth, which brought Silent Hill Downpour with them. Naturally, I had to play it. My opinions on the game will be in a separate post later in the week though. The same goes for Capcom's games such as Street Fighter X Tekken, Ultimate MvC3, and Street Fighter III Online Edition. They had their other non-fighting games there as well (like Operation Raccoon City, Asura's Wrath, etc), but I never got a chance to play those.
While roaming the expo hall I found the booth of my artist friend Jason Palmer. I met Jason Palmer back in 2005 at Celebration 3. Somehow he remembered us two years later when I attended my first Comic-Con. He makes really cool art based on a lot of my favorite Sci-Fi shows. The only problem is that this year he didn't draw anything new, so I never bought anything.
Before leaving the expo hall for the day there was at least one thing I needed to accomplish, and that was getting Felicia Day's autograph. Sure, the rest of the Guild cast is there too and they're awesome, but let's be honest here. On my way to their booth though, I ran into one Casey Hudson. Yes, THE Casey Hudson who makes those Mass Effect games everyone loves so much. Usually this would be an awesome thing for me, since you know... I kind of like those games. The problem though, was that Casey Hudson was a bit of a jerk. I saw him passing by and I was like, "hey Casey Hudson." and so on right? Well he just completely bypasses me and keeps going. So I was like "No? Really?", and then he turns around. So I know he totally heard me.
Look, I don't mind if people don't want to take pictures or whatever. Just do me the favor of telling me you're busy or on your way to another panel, or something. Don't just blow me off, 'cause then you come off a bit like a douche. This happened plenty of other times throughout the day where people were on their way to something and couldn't stop. That's totally cool.
Anyways, back to the story at hand. So I finally get on line for the Felicia Day thing and get the autograph and picture (below). Done for the day, I decide to head back to drop off my swag bag and rest my feet for a bit before dinner. On my way back to the hotel, I ran into Allison Scagliotti from Warehouse 13. So that was really cool for me.
After heading back to the hotel, we went and grabbed dinner. Before leaving I had learned there was an IGN party happening at the Hard Rock Hotel. The one and only Walter Lopez was working community for IGN and had helped coordinated this party (I apologize if some of the facts here are wrong, my memory is a tad fuzzy). Alas, this was mostly a corporate party, so there was no getting in.
Thankfully, that didn't matter! As it turned out, people had to actually get to the party through one of two entrances. I happened to be right in the middle of them. In total I met and took pictures with over 13 different celebrities which include most of the Game of Thrones cast, Dominic Monaghan, Mikey Tuttle, Jon Favreau, Piper Perabo, Jewel Staite, and Justin Timberlake. I also ran into Adam Sessler from G4 and Hideo Kojima of MGS fame. (the other girl in the photos is my sister)
These people were so nice and awesome, meeting them was so cool. Stay tuned for Day 2 where I miss a panel and somehow watch three more than I planned. I also meet more celebrities.
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