ABDC Season 2 Episode 6 Recap

Oh man, this is probably the most shocking ABDC so far and perhaps we seen our final already with the bottom 2 crews this week....

Fanny Pak went first and it was a solid performance, but it could have been better. Their creativity and humor is still amazing (look at those Mario and JC pics).



So Real Cru gave another great performance this week and MTV just has to make a big deal of the storyline with Aliyn's parents not approving her dancing career. They'll be around for another week.



Boogie Bots were next and their performance was okay, but also the weakest number of the night. Seriously, who is voting for these guys - (Maybe all those Asian women who think they're hot). Obviously their storyline is the main reason they're still around for another week.

RANT Mode has commenced!!!!



Okay, this week's bottom 2 is my season finale already with SuperCrew and Supreme Soul. This is just nuts seeing these two in the bottom already. SuperCrew went first and their performance this week is why they are still my #1 pick to win the whole thing. The creativity and stuntwork is amazing with the basketball theme going. I thought they would be saved this week after last week's Black Cat performance - Clearly America has voted wrong yet again or MTV is deciding to keep whoever to keep their ratings high.



Supreme Soul perhaps had their best performance of the show with their hockey themed number. It just sucks they had to be eliminated (Blame MTV Politics!!!!!). Seriously, I feel like busting a tear or two like them because they didn't deserve to be out now. The judges are obviously correct with the voting this week that both SS and SC didn't deserve to be in the bottom 2 and this would be the finale. I happen to also agree with Lil Mama for calling out the Boogie Bots like that (it was probably her anger doing the talking because of SS and SC in the bottom 2).



Of course at this stage of the competition, it is going to be hard to see a great crew be eliminated like that, but it wasn't SS's time to go. Obviously, Boogie Bots should be out already, but the voting and I guess MTV has kept them in. The storylines have also casued this to happen since BB's story is supposed to be touching (It is indeed), but this should be their time to go. Hopefully the voting will agree next week.

You can tell Supreme Soul is pissed for leaving this week because MTV politics had to step in and do its work. Plus, having 3 West Coast teams in the final 4 doesn't make sense for them to attract the nationwide audience, but hello!!! The 3 West Coast teams were the best crews anyway this season. With this week's elimination, my rankings are...

1. SuperCrew
2. So Real Cru
3. Fanny Pak
4. Boogie Bots

As mentioned, it makes sense for MTV to keep crews from different regions in the game as long as possible (2 West, 1 South, and 1 East), but this isn't the right way to do this now that SS is eliminated.

At least next week's challenge will be good with Missy Elliott around to guest judge (maybe??) and crews doing her songs.

Again - Why America????

The New Trailer for Punisher: War Zone

Comic-Con 2008 is off and running with so many surprising announcements from various panels of movies, games, comics, and TV. The Tron movie sequel announcement is perhaps the most surprising so far. There was also a Street Fighter IV Panel today with Capcom folks revealing a new anime trailer featuring Guile, Cammy (now likely in the console versions of SF4 with Dan and Fei Long), and Chun Li along with showing other trailers like the Ryu/Ken/Akuma/Gouken anime clip and the focus attack/ultra trailer that is now out on XBL Marketplace and PSN.

The trailer above is for the new Punisher movie, called War Zone, and it is definitely Punisher so far.

Xbox Live Arcade Explosion Next Week!!

Microsoft promised another great summer for XBLA games and they're delivering on that front already this week with 1942: Joint Strike (review will be up during the weekend), N+ DLC (messed with that a bit - its easier as adveristied), Go Go Break Steady (whatever that's called and I didn't buy it), and the Puzzle Quest DLC (just finished that up and its more Puzzle Quest which got me hooked for the day).

Next week is going to be even better with Geometry Wars Retro Evolved 2 already confirmed for a Wednesday release on XBLA. The other big game is possibly also the long awaited Bionic Commando Rearmed too, even though not yet confirmed for now. The last time I went crazy for a double whooper of XBLA games was when Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix and Streets of Rage 2 out on the same day, these two would top that.

With those two and Soul Calibur IV, I'm set for a while...

I'm going back to Paradise City (aka Burnout Paradise) tomorrow to check out the new update for a bit and skipping the new Guitar Hero III DLC. In addition, Ninja Gaiden II's Mission Mode DLC will be out on Friday.

Plus, I'm officially going to Comic-Con on Sunday = Yay!!! - At least it won't be as crowded hopefully.

UPDATE - So no Bionic Commando Rearmed next week and the Burnout update was delayed again (WTH??) Geo Wars 2 is good enough anyway for a single release.

Some Darth Vader footage in SC IV

Since Soul Calibur IV is out next week and some lucky people already got it, might as well show it off... (This part will feature the Star Wars stuff).



First up is Darth Vader action at the Death Star game (with Imperial March music!!!). Rumors and speculation are running around with a missing character slot where the Star Wars characters are at. One likely scenario is the obvious DLC for which ever exclusive character the 360 and PS3 versions didn't get (Vader on 360 and Yoda on PS3 by DLC). Another rumor is pretty random with R2-D2 playable in the game, but that is confirmed to be fake.

UPDATE - Looks like the exclusive character idea won't be exclusive after all.



This is likely DLC and probably pricey too since Namco likes microtransactions (yeah I fell for Ridge Racer 6 stuff and I will fall for SC4 stuff too).

Unstoppable.... The Unreal Tournament III (360) Review

Unreal Tournament III has been around for a while on other platforms (PC and PS3), but it finally makes its appearance on the Xbox 360 with some new content along with the same fast and intense FPS action that the series has provided. As an "old-school" first-person shooter that separates itself from the current crop of shooters that have more depth, UT3 is more of a relief of bringing back the glory days of late 90s shooters (The Doom, Quake, first UT days) into the new generation of consoles. Despite being that simple of a shooter, it remains to be seen whether or not this type of shooter is relevant now with Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4 continuing to dominate the online world on 360. With the chaotic and simple gameplay along with great graphics and sound, Unreal Tournament III is a solid shooter to check out on 360 whether or not you are late to the party or not.

Epic wanted to improve the single-player component for UT3, but they still came away short with a campaign that still consists of bot matches, but with cutscenes that tell the storyline. In the campaign, you play as Reaper, another space marine on a quest of revenge against the Necris, an alien-like race that has wrecked havoc on the Earth. Other than that, the story is pretty bare-bones and it is just an excuse to get used to the game's modes and mechanics before hopping on to multiplayer. There is also instant action modes for more practice against bot-like opponents that can be customized to be way easy or difficult (godlike in Unreal terms). For an easier time compared to the PC version, the game does allow a little auto-aim, but it is still up to the player to be efficient using typical FPS-like controls. The vehicles also have simple control following console FPS traditions, but some of them are truly worth the drive especially the Necris vehicles. If you bought this just for the single-player without a Live connection, don't expect to be amazed even though the campaign on Intense will provide a good challenge. In addition, the lack of mod support that the PS3 and PC versions also hurts the replay value for this 360 version a bit.


The multiplayer, on the other hand, is the cream and crop of Unreal Tournament III as with previous games in the series on PC. All of the modes are playable from the staples Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, and Duel. Warfare is the new addition to UT3 which involves lots of nodes to link to attack a team's core. This mode offers lots of teamwork in order to do well especially when to be aggressive in attacking the opposing core or defend other nodes to keep the opponent defending. Exculsive to the 360 version is splitscreen and co-op play that can be played locally and online with other players. Even guests on the same console can play player matches online along with someone, which is cool. Online play is the main reason why Unreal Tournament is still around in today's world of gaming as the addicting action of killing sprees and monster kills is still as fun as it was back in the beginning days of the original UT. The signature Unreal weapons of the Flak Cannon, Shock Rifle, and the Rocket Launcher are still amazing to use in blasting enemies and opponents away in close or long range. The online multiplayer runs smoothly with minimal lag and a deep leaderboard system keeps track of victories, kills, awards, flag captures, and orbs returned.

Graphically, Unreal Tournament III looks pretty good on 360 with Epic's own Unreal Engine 3 doing the goods. The environments have tons of variety with over 50 maps in the game from a space facility, Chinese temples, urban-like settings, and more. The characters themselves also look great and similar to Gears of War with all that heavy armor they wear (well Epic made both games). While some will say that this game looks too similar to Gears, pending whether or not you are new to the Unreal games after playing Gears, it still looks better than most shooters in the market today.



As for the sound, Unreal Tournament III also delivers the goods. The music is great and moody pending on which map you are playing on. The weapons still sound as accurate as they were in previous games with the explosions and more. Even the signature announcing is pretty good as a staple of the franchise. It is just satisfying to hear the announcer say Rampage!!! or Flak Master!!! The voice acting, however, is still as cheesy as expected with generic lines coming out of the characters as if they are talking smack.

As a first-person shooter in this era of consoles, Unreal Tournament III is not as deep as other shooters, but it is still a good time especially for a game that goes fast and simple at a consistent 30 frames per second. There is enough content to satisfy anyone for weeks and months with the huge number of maps, different modes, and the intense competition online. While Epic has tried to improve the single-player campaign by giving it more of a meaningful story, it ends up being generic and an excuse for more bot matches. The game also looks great at Unreal Engine 3 even though some texture pop-in may happen at rare instances. It is also a good game to blast up the sound system for the music and the announcers. Even though this game is almost a year old, it is still a great shooter on 360 for fans of the genre and maybe Gears fans if they want to see a lengthy video about Gears 2.

Score = 8/10

Pros:

• Fast and frantic FPS gameplay.
• Loads of content along with additional maps, characters, and splitscreen for the 360 version.
• Great graphics and sound under Unreal Engine 3.

Cons:

• Pointless story for the single-player as another excuse for more bot matches.
• Gameplay not as deep as other shooters on 360.
• Voice acting for the characters can be cheesy at times.
• No mod support compared to PS3 and PC versions.
  

The Giant Bomb is Out!!!!

A new gaming website launched today called Giant Bomb, which consists of former GameSpot staff members (Jeff Gerstmann leads the charge). Plus, this ain't your typical gaming website with tons more community input compared to other ones. Along with that, the database is pretty cool other than just games in which there are seperate pages for characters, famous people in the industry, and gaming locales (like a wiki of sorts). Check it out if u can and it is safe to say that I will officialy defect to Giant Bomb as well (already have a blog there too with the same username as here).

Botchmania 49 to end the day...

More messed up wrestling - Highlighted in this one is Tornoto's crazy crowd at Summerslam 2004, Vince screwing up in an old-school program, why the last years of WCW sucked, and some other recent stuff.