Sony has a magic wand with blinky lights

I’ve been really post-happy the past few days…

EvilAvatar.com linked to a patent application by Sony for a “wand controller” with, and I quote, “several different coloured LEDs that can be switched on and off in various combinations. . . . and if two people have wands with different coloured LEDs, they can play against each other.”

Ooooooo… das blinkenlights!

Granted, the controller is designed to be implemented with a webcam-like device, similar to the EyeToy, I suppose. But still… blinking LED’s… REVOLUTIONARY! NO ONE HAS THOUGHT OF THAT BEFORE!

Elder Scrolls IV: Awesome voice acting

Well, I’ve been so wrapped up in Serenity, I missed this press release over at Bethesda mentioning that they have hired Patrick Stewart, Sean Bean, and Terance Stamp.

I was so excited for this game, I could barely contain myself. After reading this, my head just exploded.

I can’t wait to be called a “fetcher” by Boromir!

EA employee on why an EA game sucks

Kotaku.com linked to this article written by an EA developer. His insights into Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects are rather interesting, and I’m sure a lot of people are going to put a lot of stock into what he says. I am certainly not a fan of EA, but to be objective, I must take the author to task with this point:

Now, I loves me some fighting games, and I loves me some superheroes, so I really, really wanted to love Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects, but sometimes you just have to face up to the fact that the game just doesn’t give a good sense of being a superhero, or of being a fighter. I played through all of Story Mode, and a couple of versus battles, just to make sure.

For most fighting games, that amounts to roughly… okay, let me take out my trusty calculator…

30 minutes playing time. And that’s being generous. I was waiting around at a Halo 2 party for someone to hook up the 2nd TV and Xbox, and busted out a play through of Soul Calibur II’s single-player with Talim and beat in about 5 minutes. Now, if Marvel Nemesis has a mode analogous to SC2’s Weapon Master mode, then, okay, the guy spent a legitimate amount of time on the game. Otherwise, I’d take his article with a grain of salt.

What I’d really like to see is what Solyd thinks of Marvel Nemesis. He is what I would consider a true connoisseur of fighting games. An aficianado, if you will. Give him a copy of any Street Fighter II incarnation, and he will beat you with any character. You can even choose his character. He will still defeat you. So, there.

Uh oh… Bioware.com is percolating

Bioware.com is gearing up for some kind of strange announcement to be made on October 4th.

We’ll let you know what it is when we find out.

Speculation? I suspect that it’s related to the unidentified “New project” they’ve been working on. The one that they licensed the Unreal 3 engine for.

Define Irony

Situational Irony occurs when one event is expected but another oppositional event occurs.

Like when Serenity is rated 80% on Rotten Tomatoes, but grosses fewer ticket sales than Flightplan, which is rated at 37%.

Then again… Brothers Grimm is rated 38% by critics on Rotten Tomatoes, so maybe I shouldn’t judge Flightplan until I’ve seen it, but COME ON! Better than Serenity? I doubt it.

…

Okay, Okay… I’m a browncoat. So what? I can still be objective. Somehow.

My turn for what?

In my humble opinion, the title of Serenity is effective, not in its foil to the action of the film, but in how the movie does in fact have profound moments of serenity, and had these brief moments of peace not been there, the film surely would’ve failed and been another sci-fi action blockbuster that went bust.

Not to mention that Serenity takes its name from the tough little spaceship that the main characters inhabit, which in turn takes its name from the Battle of Serenity Valley. A battle where the good guys lost. Badly. When I say lost here, I mean totally completely and irrevocably decimated, and whether it is acknowledged or not, it is the most important part of the film. The Battle of Serenity Valley is what shaped and formed Captain Malcolm Reynolds, and is the keystone upon which his entire character (and indirectly his crew) is laid against.

Unless you had seen the series, however, you Top Of Cool readers (all 2 of you) might not know that.

Can someone enjoy Serenity without seeing Joss Whedon’s series, Firefly? Absolutely. In fact, those that have seen the movie will be delighted to go back and watch the series and get a little bit of history regarding their favorite characters from the movie.

Serenity, as a film, is probably perfect. Well, as perfect as any movie can be, I suppose. It’s strength lies primarily in the writing. Joss Whedon has written a story that anyone can relate with. Freedom, love, adventure, fear. I would be a fool not to mention the screenplay. The dialog has always been one of the best parts of the Firefly series, and this is also true of Serenity.

If anyone out there has been hearing about this whole Firefly thing, and hasn’t seen any episodes yet. Go watch the movie. Now. Then, go watch the episodes on the Sci-Fi channel, or rent the DVD’s at Blockbuster or something. You will thank me.

And I don’t know who these yayhoos are that you saw it with, Solyd, but if they’re complaining about this movie because it didn’t answer enough questions, THEY ARE STUPID! I will refute them utterly by using one word: REAVERS. What more do you want? For crying out loud, we have to have something left to do in the next two movies, after all.

But yeah, Serenity is the best movie ever made ever.

If I had to lay out my absolute favorite films of all freaking time, here is my current list, which has been known to change from time to time based on mood, temperature, and how much Pocky I’ve eaten.

1. Serenity
2. The Brothers Grimm
3. Star Wars: Episode III
4. Star Wars: Episode V
5. Time Bandits
6. The rest of the Star Wars movies in no particular order
7. The Lord of the Rings films in no particular order
8. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
9. Aliens

Yeah… I’m a nerd. SO?