E3 2014

The famous E3 Logo from E3

It is that time of year again for gamers and tech geeks. This year's E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) was more focused around the games than the hardware (minus the new augmented reality "Project Morpheus" from Sony! There were many ups and downs, but most importantly, there were AWESOME announcements for games.

Uncharted 4, Star Wars Battlefront and of course, a NEW Star Fox game! This year will truly be remembered as a year of games from E3, and the next year shall unveil many more fantastic announcements that have yet been released!

Here's to another good year!

Divergent - Film Review

Very often, we see movies before we read the books. This was reversed when I read the Harry Potter series, as I read all of the books THEN watched the films as I grew up. When I ventured into seeing the movie Divergent by myself one late winter night (this was around a month ago - old story) I wasn't too sure what to expect, due to me seeing the movie before the novel.

Please note - I kept spoilers at a minimum today for your sake, just go see this movie!

One of the many posters. Used from Summit (Owners).

After seeing the film in all of it's post-apocalyptic/future glory, I now understand why A) People see movies sometimes before reading the novel, and B) Why Divergent is so successful as a film AND novel.

I really, really enjoyed the film. As a 19 year-old, I had a lot in common with the main protagonist, who was going through a some-what identify crisis, and is eventually literally thrusted out of her home into a new life of adulthood and humanity. The film works on many unique and interesting ideas of humanity, while maintaining an atmosphere both pleasing to the viewer, and keeps them on their toes. I felt a real connection to the actress Shailen Woodley (Main character). She continues her journey through life, unsure, yet wants to keep going forward. Honestly, she's VERY good looking, but she did an excellent job acting as well. The audience really connects with her character and I can feel the connection with her character and the events in the story.

Overall, I highly recommend the movie, and LOVED Shailen in the film. I am excited to read the book now due to me having the connection with the characters, and having an easier visualization of the world. Sometimes, this can damage a connection with a book, but in this case, I think it is going to assist due to the movie being so well thought-out and done. Overall, I feel a 9/10 for this film *personally!

Disney's Frozen

The Digital Cast of Frozen. (From: Disney)

One of the most talked about and popular movies amongst my age group at the moment remains to be the Disney movie 'Frozen'. While it has been out since late 2013 and is soon to be released on Blue Ray, DVD, etc... The film continues to capture the hearts of kids, teenagers and young adults everywhere. Possibly the most notable impact is amongst young women due to the general idea of sisterhood, being yourself and growing up. However it also had a large effect for those around my generation that were raised with the magic of Disney movies, and continue to look forward for more heartwarming productions from the studio. Today, I am going to go over what made it special for me (both as a person and as a guy) and explain why I actually liked the film.

Besides the fact that most of my friends, both male and female like the film, I wasn't really interested in the trailers and what-not. I was skeptical and didn't necessarily have high hopes for the film. That's how I was, well, until after I saw it. From the fun references to other classic childhood disney movies to the beautiful soundtrack and Oscar winning song "Let It Go", the movie was a refreshing move from Disney.

---Spoiler Warning(s)! You have been warned! ---

All of us young adults, male, female, black, white, purple, young, old, short, tall, straight, gay, fit, fat, etc... We all are different people with our own unique gifts. That is what makes the world such a wonderful place. Elsa, the older sister in the movie, has special ice powers (that through a series of events and an accident regarding her "normal" sister, Anna) is forced to hide her powers from everyone else and make sure she controls and assimilates herself to be a "perfect queen" for her kingdom. Eventually when they grow up, her power overwhelms her and accidentally shows her powers off in front of everyone. This forces her to flee her home and become an exile in the tall, lonely mountains. While being exiled, Elsa discovers that she could now be herself, release anything holding her back from being not herself and learning to "Let It Go" (As one can possibly tell, this is where the famous song comes in with a very epic feeling to it). This is a very iconic moment and pivotal part in the story. This gives a real personal view with the themes of "staying true to yourself" and "Love yourself". Many, many young adults have these pressures in the real world today. From social media, family issues to body image, youth today are continuously assaulted with images and thoughts of the ideal person. Filled with fear and regret, many people never stay true to themselves and learn to resent their natural gifts. they hold themselves hostage within their own body. Not until they let it out, and learn to take their fear and societal conventions and "Let It Go", will they learn of true happiness and joy.

The next most iconic part of the film was that Disney actually did something new! Yes, they actually added a twist to this film! While just like other Disney stories such as Cinderella , there is a love interest involved. Anna, looking for her sister, accidentally has her heart "Frozen" (movie title!) by her sister's fear. While only true love can save her, another protagonist, tries to save her with his love for her, but surprisingly he is too late and to the viewers sadness, Anna is Frozen forever, that is, until a love even more powerful appears. Elsa cries for her fallen sister and gives her a warm hug, in term de-frosting her and saving the day. For once, the "stereotypical prince" didn't save the day but instead, the love of two sisters.

In the end, Frozen is a well produced, marketed and overall great joy to have experienced. While ending it perfectly, I was satisfied, among millions of others with it's loveable characters, themes and story. I am no longer skeptical, and have learned to keep an open mind! All of us have been reminded the important lesson of taking our fears and the past, and learning to let it go.

Starfox, ready for takeoff! - My favorite video game ever and why

Starfox Adventures cover art from 2002

Made back in 2002, Starfox Adventures, to this very day, remains my favorite video game of all time. There are many reasons why this game is on the top of the list, and I will try to explain in the very best detail below, but first, I have to get something out of the way. Most hardcore fans really hated this title, for it had very little flying unlike the rest of the games in the series. However, where people saw walls, I saw beautiful works of art.

Originally suppose to be a totally third party game called "Dinosaur planet" Nintendo decided it was time for another Starfox game, so they combined dinosaur planet and many of its original existing elements, and integrated them into the Starfox franchise. While many fans thought of this as a negative move, for me, this made it even more interesting as a game. When playing a game, I want to feel emotionally attached to the story. This game does an excellent job of immersing the player into an entirely new world that many have never even dreamed of.

When I young, I was totally blown away by the graphics of the game. For a game in 2002 on the Nintendo Gamecube, this game took  the graphics card to the max. The amount of details in this game can bring many modern HD games to shame, and that is double for the plot twisted story line  Overall, I doubt that I will ever find such a well build and loved game ever again, but just for some extra details, here is a list of things I loved about this game:

My top reasons for loving this game:

1. Story: This game had an absolutely beautiful story line and always surprised the player and gave extra motivation to keep playing. Many elements were a suprise to see in the Starfox franchise  and gave an extra "punch' for a few times during the game where the player was blown away by a new plot twist.
2. Characture design: The creators of the game did a brilliant job with making the charactures seem, well, human. Even if they are foxes, dinosoars, etc... the personalities and actions of all the charactures stay true throughout the game, and seem so realistic. It does such a great job of telling the story and emotions of every character, yet at the same times, leaves extra room for the player to fill in some of the 'blanks.'
3. Graphics: For a Gamecube game in 2002, this game looked, and remains to look stunning. While still putting some modern games to shame with detail, the changing of the time of day, weather, and even Fox's fur interacting with the environment all brought that extra scene of realism to the game, and made the experience an enjoyable one.
4. Fun and interesting game play: The game mechanics and controls were beautiful and simple. The game also had a very wide diverse of different moments of game play  From exploring dinosaur planet on foot, to flying your Arwing, narrowly dodging asteroids on your way to the next place, to riding a mammoth to break into a prisoner camp, the game play was always enjoyable, and used the story line as much as it could to keep the player playing the game, and happy at the same time.
5. Sound: The game utilized both brilliant and enjoyable voice acting, to the most beautiful and realistic ambiance the industry could offer. Also to give kudos to the amazing classic soundtrack by David Wise, the game was absolute extacy to the humans, or Fox's ears. Also, while some sound effects were industry standard, all the elements fitted perfectly with the game.
6. Prepared and full of love and life: unlike most modern games that are with the entire idea of "quantity over quality" Starfox Adventures was FULLY completed, and had hundreds of elements that had to be cut from the final release due to the space available, and changes in the plot (Hackers can get the extra scenes and recordings that are hidden on the game disk that were left behind as a 'cookie' by the game developers) This just shows how games used to be loved so much by their creators. Today, we never see this amount of love or work put into a game anymore. When I bought Adventures, I KNEW I was getting the full experience, but today, games are plagued with bugs, DLC (Downloadable content) and other little things that really piss players off. Adventures, however loved the players that plated it.

7. Imagination overload: This game actually encouraged the use of the players imagination  The game never forces ideas down the players throat  and gives the player a sense of freedom and allows their own personal sense of perception to certain events. As a young kid playing the game, I loved how the producers left a few holes here and there for the player to fill in with his or her own thoughts.

8. FUN! Lastly, this game is an overall fun game to play. With funny moments, streamlined design and a few 'memes' here and there, the game rewards playing with enjoyment.

Well, that's it for now! Comments bellow! ;^)