Music Roundup for 12/03/09... aka Alicia Keys Being Awesome + Shock Value 2 Edition.

Today's music roundup features Alicia Keys's World Aids Day performance from YouTube on Tuesday (yes, the whole thing). She performs her hits through the years as well as new songs off her new album, Element of Freedom. I don't want to spoil the ending if you haven't seen it, but I think it ends right. All I have to say is "Empire State of Mind 2" is an awesome song and as good as her hit songs. So if you got a hour to kill with some great music, then enjoy Miss Keys doing work above.

I have been trying to enjoy Timbaland's new Shock Value 2 album, but other than his productions, its just that and the songs are whatever to me. Its probably the random cameos in this album compared to the last one like Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry, the singer from Nickelback, Jet, and Daughtry. At some cameo appearances are still good like his first single "Morning After Dark" with SoShy and Nelly Furtado as well as songs with Justin Timberlake, Keri Hilson, and Drake. I guess it goes to show how known Timbo is now in the pop world being a production genius for so many artists, but you gotta miss his old days as a producer when he produced better songs back then.

That's it for the music roundup for now. Hopefully, next time I can talk about Snoop's new album and maybe some other stuff.

Music Roundup for 11/30/09 aka "The Jay Sean Edition"

This music roundup is all about one of my new favorite artists of the year (while not really new, but new here at the States), Jay Sean. His U.S. debut album, All or Nothing, came out last week and I have been enjoying it a lot. Of course, it has the current smash hit "Down" with Lil' Wayne as I would sing that song like crazy on the car (no joke) as well as his current single that has a video out in the coming days, "Do You Remember" (the video is now up above) with Sean Paul and the crunk master himself Lil' Jon. The album starts off with a bang with "Do You," one of my favorites and "Fire" setting the tone up high with the bangers. Then it is the hit songs I mentioned earlier and then slows it down with "Ride It" (one of a handful songs reappearing in this album from his last UK release, My Own Way), which is my favorite song from both albums. The tempo goes back up again with "Love Like This" and "If I Ain't Got You," but slows back down with "War" and "Cry." Actually the only slow tempo song I like from his new album (if its considered slow tempo) is "Stay," another reappearance from his previous album. The bonus tracks are remixes of "Down" with a piano version as well as a techno version remixed by Jason Nevins, known for his awesome remix of N.E.R.D's Rock Star. All or Nothing is a great album for Jay Sean to start with here at the States and I hope he is not an one hit wonder either, but with Cash Money backing him up and a number one radio hit, he will be around for a while.



Before his new album came out however, I decided to blast My Own Way to figure out what to expect from him from the States and it is actually another solid album too with "Tonight," "Maybe" (video below), and "Stuck in the Middle" (also in the new one). It is also filled with hits that radio would play at a constant rate if he was popular in the States before "Down." The deluxe edition also has remixes of some of the singles, but they are not that different from the original songs. As an introduction to him, I enjoyed the album and I wonder why no one here at the States didn't pick him up then till Cash Money did.

That's it for the music roundup for now. As I mentioned in my last post, expect my top 10 albums and 100 songs of the year posts sometime next month. Out of the new male R&B artists that entered the U.S. gate this year, I think Jay Sean will have the most success out of them, but that's probably a given if you got Lil' Wayne, Birdman, and Drake on the same record label. In the meantime, I think the sky might be falling down now.

December plans for G Unit Ver1's World...

Since Winter Break is approaching soon for me as well as the end of the year, expect to see major blogs here in the coming weeks ranging from:

• My Top 10 Games of 2009
• My Top 10 Albums of 2009
• My Top 100 Songs of 2009
• Retrospectives on some things...
• Whatever else I think of... but then again it is possible I won't get around to any of this too.

As for a holiday list of what I want, let's see... I have lots in my wishlist, but I won't likely get around to all of them.

• Buzz Quiz World
• God of War Collection
• DJ Hero
• Band Hero
• Modern Warfare 2
• Ratchet & Clank: A Crank in Time
• Final Fantasy XIII (Japanese version) - Actually that would be a miracle.
• A Droid phone
• More new clothes

In the meantime, enjoy the videos in this post...

Even more Vegas shenanigans aka why did I watch New Moon???

My Thanksgiving weekend so far for me has been a return trip to my "second home" Las Vegas. This trip however was one of the longer trips I have been on being there for three nights, so it is like I seen everything there. From eating a Pink's hot dog at Planet Hollywood, staring at the new City Center that opens in the coming weeks, shopping to take advantage of some deals around the area (not on Black Friday though), and gambling being a pure fail, that is some of the things I did at Vegas, but that's only the beginning.

After eating Thanksgiving dinner at Table 10 in the Palazzo where I actually had turkey, the "adventure" kind of began with watching Twilight Saga: New Moon alone at the United Artists theatre by GameWorks. Now if case you are wandering why the hell would I watch it, I did watch the first one during my plane trip to the Philippines earlier this year and it was okay being curious about what is the big deal with this popular franchise. New Moon, on the other hand, was one of the most hilarious movies I have seen in a bad way. The acting by the three main stars is just flat out horrible most of the time with their cheesy dialogue trying to express love. Those lines made me quietly giggle throughout the movie even though there weren't a lot of people watching. As the movie went on, I was like... damn Edward is such a jerk. Then later on, damn Jacob is a jerk. No wonder Bella has to choose sides and why Team Edward / Team Jacob is such a big deal. The slowmo action also was hella cheesy and expected since that happened in the first movie too. I don't know, vampires that sparkle = Ehh. Good thing I was drinking a Monster energy drink to keep me sane.

Then it was time for Jet later that night which was okay. The most random moment for me there was hearing the Cartman Remix of Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" twice there, which made me laugh. Personally that remix does not deserve to be played at nightclubs because it taints the remix in every way as it was originally meant to be something else. Other than having a beer and a decent sized crowd in the main room, Jet on Thursday night was whatever, but going there for four times already, I'm noticing trends in terms of music being played that seem like why are they playing it such as a "Wonderwall" mix or even a song mixed with "Smells Like Teen Spirit." At least they were playing some of the hits especially "Stanky Leg" in which you just gotta do the move every time you hear that. The next night, however, is a different story over at XS. My time there was better (better song selection as my favorites of the moment were being played, a great turnout of people to the point it got crowded, better ladies, and more random stuff). Some of the random things I saw range from a midget sighting at the one of the reserved tables as if he's having a blast, one dude before the dance floor filled up was dancing alone to the point I was like I should dance battle him, but I was like never mind and let him be. Other than that, I was at XS enjoying life and the surrounding environment even though my legs are so worked after four hours there (They still feel like that right now). Music moment of that night has to be this song when it played... truly awesome.

That's it for more Vegas shenanigans for now. Being at Jet and XS as an one man army again goes to show how much I miss my friends and I wished they were there as well, but there is always a later time for more of that since that Summer trip was the best Vegas trip I went to that was filled with good and random memories. Then again, living life as a G never stops whether alone or with others and the party, or I should say life, goes on.

The latest on my YouTube channel for 11/24/09 aka the new FFXIII Trailer...

So the new and "final" Japanese trailer for Final Fantasy XIII has surfaced on the interwebs and words cannot describe how amazing it will be when it comes out on Japan on December 17 and the U.S. on March 9, 2010. I promise myself I will buy this even though March is indeed a stacked month with that, God of War III, and Super Street Fighter IV out around the same time, which is crazy. This is one of many reasons why 2010 will deliver in terms of gaming compared to this year (still a great year, but the first quarter of 2010 is stacked!!).

More Alpha for your Super Street Fighter IV!!!

I woke up today to read up on the newest news regarding Super Street Fighter IV according to Famitsu scans confirming three more characters for the expansion, which are Cody, Adon, and Guy. I definitely approve of these characters being in the game as that rumored list is looking more true as it gets revealed slowly. All three characters being revealed today will be interesting to see how they will play out in Super SFIV. Cody with his knives, Adon (another potential main for me), and Guy's "own get in that ass" style (also another potential main). It is also about time the Alpha games get more love in the SFIV series as if Sakura, Dan, Gen, and Rose are enough. The scans also confirmed a new stage for the final game (another stage was revealed on a G4 preview not too long ago, which is a India stage with elephants - not exactly Dhalsim's SF2 stage though), which is a metro city-like setting in a construction area. I think a new trailer showcasing these guys in action will surface later this week, so wait till then for that. I also already claimed in this blog that I will main as only the new characters in Super SF4 from now on (Yeah I will still use Bison here and there), but for me the candidates are Dee Jay, Adon, and Guy. With the tease of Ibuki in the scans as well, the 3rd Strike presence will be icing on the cake for me if Makoto and Dudley are confirmed as well along with the new oil wrestler dude. I hope Capcom-Unity announces another Street Fighter Club event in LA sometime soon for the fans to go hands-on with the game because I would go to that in a heartbeat. My HYPE for Super Street Fighter IV has risen once again.

UPDATE - Trailer is now out featuring these guys on IGN.

Super Street Fighter IV PlayStation 3 Trailer - New Fighter Trailer

I'm playing "that other big shooter" early... Hands-On with the Battlefield Bad Company 2 MP Beta

While everyone is probably still playing hours and hours of Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer, I'm apparently in the Battlefield Bad Company 2 closed multiplayer beta thanks to FilePlanet. It is arguably the first big shooter of 2010 coming out on February and this beta I think lasts till the end of December. There are other ways to acquire this beta from random giveaways of codes by Twitter to pre-ordering the game. At this point, this beta is exclusively on Playstation 3 with a PC one out in the coming weeks. If you prefer the Battlefield style over other shooters, its more of that which is a good thing.

There is one map playable in this beta is a harbor level that is huge as one mode is also playable, which is the standard attack/defend certain choke points for victory. Since the levels are in fact huge, on-foot movement may feel somewhat of a drag because you just want to go straight to the action. Luckily you can do that by spawning close to your squadmates if they are alive rather than spawning away from everything taking a while to get there. As with Battlefield games, there is a class system of different skills with the standard assault class, engineer, recon, and medic offering different weapons and secondary abilities for players to mess with. Along with the class system is the level up system racking up points by killing the opposition, assist kills, and completing objectives. As you level up you gain more weapons to use that are better than the standard equipment you are offered when you first start. It may be a cheap advantage for starting on the beta now rather than later as you may see players that are high leveled with more toys to fire upon. With the classes being offered, they definitely have their separate roles from the assault class being for mid to close range, engineer for taking out vehicles by a secondary rocket launcher, sniping for the recon class, and so on.

If you played a Battlefield game before especially the first Bad Company, you will feel right at home with this sequel as there are definitely improvements in place that hardcore players have noticed that I don't care about since I was like why not get this beta for kicks. The shooting feels fine and especially satisfying getting kills by an assault rifle from far distances that you don't expect it would kill them. The level in this beta is also good being mostly an open environment along with some buildings to destroy, which made Bad Company such a hit with everything being destructable and it remains true here. My minor gripe about the mode being played is maybe the attacker respawn count is too much, which starts at 100, but I don't mind if the defending team keeps shutting them out. Their respawn count does restart again back to 100 when they control both choke points at certain areas as all that hard work can lead to nothing.

In terms of the graphics, it is a beta even though Bad Company 2 looks and performs fine at a constant framerate. When getting hit, at least your screen is not filled with blood stains like Modern Warfare 2. As for the sound, it is also fine considering its in the beta stage as things could be worked out for the final game. Did I see players hopping to Bad Company 2 when it comes out in February? I think so if they are tired of Modern Warfare 2 in which they won't be, but they are two separate games as I consider MW2 more in your face while Battlefield requires more teamwork completing objectives and handling the vehicular combat. We shall see when Bad Company 2 releases in the coming months if people are indeed ready for another shooter to play.