Next Week, Everything Changes...

Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty finally launches on PC next week and the long wait is almost over after the endless beta sessions. The launch trailer is above and obviously, it does not represent what the game is a RTS, but in Blizzard tradition, it delivers once again as another amazing cinematic trailer for the world to see. If only I had a computer that can run it decently, then I could get into it like most people that are capable PCs or Macs would. Everything in the gaming landscape will change next week with Starcraft II's launch and could be as big as any other Blizzard launch in recent times especially with World of Warcraft still going strong as Catcalysm approaches release. How many of my friends' lives that eagerly await this game will change next week? I will say the majority of them.

Music Video of the Day for 7/21/10

Nicki Minaj - "Your Love"

The MvC3 Roster Gets Six More...

With this weekend's San Diego Comic-Con becoming crazier and crazier trying to fit as much comics, movies, television, and games, as possible, the reveals can reach megaton-quality at this rate. Gaming has come a long way at Comic-Con since I first went there in 2005 until my last trip in 2008 when I played vanilla Street Fighter IV for the first time. Its crazy gaming has become a staple of Comic-Con now perhaps having more space in the convention than ever before that I seen. Anyway, one of the gaming showstoppers at the convention is of course Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds. We last saw this game at Evo 2010 when Capcom revealed level three supers for the first time, but we knew they were saving up for another big reveal at Comic-Con and that's what they did. Four new characters get added into the roster in the trailer above as Dr. Doom, Super Skrull, Chun-Li, and Trish get the MvC3 treatment. Doom has some of his MvC2 tricks back, but who knows how valuable his rocks assist will be this around than last time, but at least his Photon Arrow super is still intact. Chun-Li also boasts similar tricks from the last versus game she was in, but it makes me wonder if her super air kick will make it as a level 3 (makes sense to me). Super Skrull and Trish make their fighting game debuts and so far they look pretty good. Trish from Devil May Cry pretty much will play like Dante, but different enough she has her own bag of tricks. Marvel 3 is still a long way off, but these reveals are making the wait even more worthy.

UPDATE - Marvel.com decided to provide some MvC3 leakage tonight with reveals of Amaterasu and Thor as if the previous four weren't enough. We all know Thor from Marvel and good thing he's in with a movie out next year (first trailer this weekend at Comic-Con likely), but Amaterasu from Okami may seem like an odd choice considering you're playing as a wolf. At least Capcom is still going crazy adding non-fighting game characters into the game, which is also a good thing. No video has surfaced of the two in action yet since I don't think they're in the Comic-Con build, but its looks like they will playable the next time the game gets shown (TGS likely).

Didn't Realize The Scott Pilgrim Game Will Be That Good...

Apparently The Scott Pilgrim vs. The World game is out next month first on the Playstation Network (August 10) and Xbox Live Arcade later (August 25) and it came off my radar, but after seeing this trailer above, maybe I should pay attention to this after all and give it a shot when it comes out. I do love beat-em-ups, so Ubisoft pretty much nails that and the 8-bitish feel of the music and presentation is the most surprising for me. Then again, since the movie is almost like a video game in itself with the crazy effects, this makes sense and no wonder it got all those awards at E3 last month. It is fifteen dollars with four player co-op offline like any other arcade beat-em-ups of the glory days, but the lack of online play does worry a lot of people especially me which would prevent the game from being way better. I can understand why there is no online considering the rush to release the game in time of the movie and it is probably better to have no online than crappy online. In the meantime, enjoy the crazy trailer above as Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game comes out next month downloadable on the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.

Inception... Truly "The Movie of the Forever"

I just wanted to share some quick thoughts about arguably my new "Movie of the Forever" as NeoGAF loves to claim, which is Inception. Watching it in the morning was a good thing today because I never expected myself to be that mind f-ed by the time credits rolled bJy. Then again, leave it to Christopher Nolan to once again create another epic movie that is different from the rest of the movies out this summer and yet continue to amaze with the various concepts of dreams, mind, extraction, and most of all inception. These concepts when being demonstrated feel like reality of sorts on how they spin it even though it may seem like a dream, where also impossibility can become a possibility. Even though I was still mind f-ed by the end of the movie, everything that the crew goes through led by Mr. Cobb (played by Leonardo Dicaprio) makes complete sense when the epic job was taking place. I also want to acknowledge the superb acting by the cast throughout the movie as I felt no one felt obsolete from Cobb's sidekick, played by Joseph Gordon Levitt, Ellen Page (of Juno fame), Ken Wanntabe, and more. They really brought it making the movie seem believable despite all the craziness going on with their performances. I also wonder how philosophers, with me being a philosophy major, would think of the movie especially my classmates as perhaps another viewing or discussion can be considered. In the meantime, Inception is pretty much my favorite movie of the year so far as well as one of the best movies I have seen in years (probably since The Dark Knight, another Nolan masterpiece). Go out there and watch it if u haven't yet.

And yes, sometimes we have to dream a little bigger...

Music Roundup for 7/16/10 aka The Teflon Don Edition

This time on the music roundup features the one and only Rick Ross as his new album, Teflon Don, has been on repeat the past couple of days. I must say, this album has surprised me beyond my expectations turning to be one of the more impressive hip-hop albums of the year. Then again, there is actually some hype regarding this album since Rozay is on the up and up with the mixtapes, EPs, and other stuff. This 50 minute album is simply good stuff throughout with cameos on all the tracks from Jay-Z, Drake (no rapping by Drizzy though, which may be a bummer for Drake fans), Kanye West, T.I. and more. Other than Rozay doing his rap thing, the production of most tracks are the more impressive thing for me from "I'm Not A Star," "Aston Martin Music," and the first single "Super High" featuring Ne-Yo. As far as how hip-hop the album is, I think it is pretty diverse spreading across different forms since you will have some "gangsta" song, chill driving tunes like "Aston Martin Music" and "Super High," and others just based by the production alone. All in all, I enjoyed blasting this album and say you want to say about Rozay with what he has been through before this album comes out next week, but he has become of one of hip-hop's better mainstream artists with a lot of momentum on his shoulder now. Anyone that enjoys any form of hip-hop will like this album, so it is worth a listen or two.

Why James Bond 007: Blood Stone Will Be Better than GoldenEye 007 Wii...

I was a little surprised Activision still decided to go all out with a GoldenEye 007 remake exclusively for the Wii as if it is the only reason they got the rights for the license. After its E3 showing, it is too easy to write that game off for being some desperate attempt to bring back the nostalgia and good days of the N64 classic. Plus, only being on Wii also makes the game somewhat pointless being a FPS on Wii where it would fare better on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 due to the hardcore shooter audience there. Personally, I would rather wait for a Proper Bond game to come out and I got my wish with the announcement of Blood Stone for PS3 and 360 with a release apparently slated for this holiday season too.

Blood Stone could be the Bond game we have been waiting for since Everything or Nothing being a proper third-person game with shooting and vehicular sequences throughout. It is developed by Bizarre Creations, the folks that brought you the Project Gotham Racing franchise, The Club, and recently Blur putting all the rumors about them doing a Bond game to rest. Blood Stone also seems to apparently be the next movie, but who knows how that will go and perhaps it is a good thing it is only a game in the meantime starring Daniel Craig, Joss Stone, and Judi Dench. The third person shooting elements take some parts of Gears of War in terms of a cover system, some good CQC-like moments when beating people up, and a Splinter Cell Conviction-like Mark & Execute system for quick kills. Of course, since it is developed by Bizarre, expect the vehicular elements to impress as well with the experience they had in the racing genre and add along crazy setpieces like the recent Bond movies.

So Why will Blood Stone will be better than GoldenEye 007 Wii in terms of Bond games this year? Well, in a nutshell, it is the proper Bond game we have been waiting for years (Quantum of Solace doesn't count to me), a reputable developer is making the game, and it could the next best thing for the franchise than another movie, but who knows how the new movie is stacking up these days anyway. Who needs nostalgia to bring back Bond in a big way when there is something like this for those that prefer Bond doing more things than just shoot at dudes. James Bond 007: Blood Stone will be out this holiday for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 as so far it is shaping up to be a pretty good game despite the graphics looking questionable from we have seen to some people.