Latino Gamer for the Masses

Hanna Movie Review

2011-05-05T22:29:00.000-07:00

We are introduced to Hanna’s killer instinct in the very first scene of the film. In the cold wilderness of Finland our protagonist played by the Irish actress Saoirse Ronan (Atonement, Lovely Bones) displays a stern portrayal of a child-killer. She tracks her prey, with a bow and arrow she kills the beast and begins to skin it. In her moment of distraction, she is attacked by Eric Heller played by Eric Bana (Troy, Munich). We learn the attack is actually a training session for the young assassin.

The lesson is to adapt or die.

Hanna is not your ordinary child growing up in Finland. She is in fact part of a pet project of secretive CIA agent in a plot of creating the next super soldier. The agent, Marissa Weigler, is played by Cate Blanchett (Elizabeth, Lord of the Rings Trilogy) who betrayed Eric Heller and left him for dead. As the scenes in Finland progress, Hanna is curious of the outside world, especially the sound of music and for her to leave the nest she must be prepared to hunt as a hawk.

There is two sides to our little Hanna. While on her mission to kill Weigler, the first attempt was a success but on a body-double yet, Hanna ventures out to Berlin to meet her father. It is in these moments -- her interaction with the modern world of television, electricity and boys -- she is the most vulnerable.

Her inner child or our human nature tells us she is still a child. The concept of human nature and innocence of a child is explored in the many scenes following the first part of the film. Hanna’s time in Finland is metaphorically Plato’s cave, and after her departure we the metaphysical nature of good and evil.

In the movie “Hanna” our protagonist has a change of heart when learning of her origin in the Grimm’s house. Again, the dark nature of Grimm’s storybook stories as the backdrop of the final parts of the film is telling. In another violent scene, Heller battles three menacing would be killers at a park-for-families at a Berlin apartment complex.

It is the question presented in the movie “The Boys from Brazil” a child cloned for evil intentions grow up to be evil itself? Are children capable of misguided cruelty? Is it in the child’s nature or part of a grandeur system? It is heavily implied that Hanna acted on her father’s life lesson, “To adapt or die.” Human nature, of course.

Sony does owe us for the PSN malfunction

2011-04-23T22:40:00.000-07:00

Sony does owe us for the PSN malfunction

Interesting discussion about the PSN outage. Go comment folks

Buitiful movie review

2011-03-11T11:09:00.001-08:00

Buitiful is the latest film by the acclaim Mexican director (Amores Perros, 21 Grams and Babel). Alejandro González Iñarritu latest exposition of life and death roars by the great performance of the lead actor Javier Bardem. He plays as a single father of two children living in the poor area of the Catalan city of Barcelona.

We meet our melancholy protagonist Uxbal caught in the underbelly of the dark side of Barcelona.

Uxbal is flawed. He is a loving father who keeps his family afloat from his bipolar wife. He makes ends meet by brokering deals with the police by letting undocumented African peddlers sell their goods on the streets of modern Barcelona. Furthermore, he is also the go between the Africans and the manufracturing Chinese.

Uxbal's family is in disarray. His older brother agree to terms in selling of his father's burial spot. An immigrant himself, his father left Spain to Mexico in search of work only to die from a disease. As never meeting his father, he views his father's corpse only to learn that his father die without any regrets. Uxbal's spirituality as he guides past souls to the other world plays out in an early scene. Three school age children are in a terrible accident. The father of one asks Uxbal to speak to his son or to find out if he pass to the other world. For others, Uxbal is fake preying on greiving families only having the truth revealed to us, the audience. Uxbal's older brother is far the father figure one could want or had.

The fantastical part of the story is portrayed as humanly as possible through the spiritual eyes of Uxbal. It is not grim nor utopian, but flawed like the speeling of it's title Buitiful.

Each scene is comparable to a poetic line. Reavealing little by little the poem the love and guilt of our doomed protagonist. Early on the film we learn of Uxbal's fate. Diagnose with cancer and only having a few months to live is just the begining of sympathetic interaction with the acting of Bardem. He draws us in. He hides his money in a pair of soccer socks of his club, Espanyol. As brief as the scene plays out the attention to detail is grand. Espanyol is foreever the little brother to the giant Barcelona club the more flamboyant team. Uxbal and his older brother play into the similar role.

Uxbal is foreever the flawed underdog.

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Mexican state legislature moves to ban barely announced video game

2011-02-21T11:05:00.001-08:00

Mexico state congress asks ban of video game

On Sunday, Mexican state legislators of Chihuahua unanimously past a request to the federal Interior Department to ban the game. The announcement is not a sursprising one: Call of Juarez The Cartel is seen as a controversial game by The Escapist, El Paso Times and the El Paso Police Chief.

While others, do not feel the game merits any controversy, in fact, others forms of entertainment media have dealt with the border war violence.

Officials speaking to the Wasington Post are not so pleased, state congressman Ricardo Boone Salmon said, "we should not expose children to this kind of scenarios so that they are going to grow up with this kind of image and lack of values."

Ubisoft's video game is barely new to gamers with a scatter of screenshots teased on their promotional website, is it too early to jump on the banning-bandwagon?

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Call of Juarez: Cartel controversy

2011-02-16T09:31:00.001-08:00

THQ's open-world western series takes the drama of the 1800s to the modernized world of Mexican drug cartels. Numerous websites balked on the idea of basing a game on a perhaps too relevant the Mexican drug cartels. But the issue of playing as an organized crime member is not unique to gamers as other video game titles, Scarface, Mafia, and the Godfather dealt with modern day organized crime.

As with the controversy with EA's Medal of Honor portrayal of the War in Afghanistan is it synomous with the even closer drug cartel wars of Mexico? Should video game creators shy away from the violence when other mediums dabble in? Music, movies and literature do not shy away from the violence in Mexico, with each medium having multiple expositions on the subject. Would a video game trivialized the events when blood is spilt each day be insensitive for consumers?

In Mexican music, the rise and fall of narcorridos (think of a modern day Johnny Cash) is an example of mainstream consumers to be accepting of. In later years, mainstream audiences have rejected it, while radio stations adhering to a self-ban of narcorridos as the bloodshed grew. While the demand of narcorridos may have dropped the songs still remain hugely popular with young adults.

Movies have been critical on the drug cartels, Steve Soderbergh's Traffic stands above the rest, as it portrayed the level of violence and corruption Mexico faces. Certain characters in Traffic are straight from the headlines while the Roberto Rodriguez films, El Mariachi, Desperado, Once Upon a Time in Mexico and the lowbrow Machete all have dealt with cartels and their violence. Perhaps, THQ greenlit the project based on the popularity of Machete.

In regards to literature, Roberto Bolaño's cryptic 2666 deals with the horrors of 21st century. The multiple murders of woman or femicides commited in the city of Juarez still remain unsolved and were part of the plot of Hollywood movies starring Jennifer Lopez and Antonio Banderas.

Does the video game publisher THQ and developer Technoland have no right to take on the subject? The answer becomes diffcult to answer as the cartel violence continues and as the Mexican government struggles to bring the war to an end. If the uproar of a video game in 2011 is a big deal, why no uproar in 2010 when Machete came out?

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Minorities are rarely featured video game characters

2011-02-09T09:18:00.001-08:00

A year ago I wrote tongue in cheek list on black secondary video game characters who deserve their own game. The list got a lot of traction on the net, especially when kotaku posted the article in a their weekly Top Lists post.

A year later minorities are rarely featured in video games. A shake really, but understandable when games are tailored two the same cultural audience that movies, and television cater to.

Are there any solutions? Not really, unless the customers demand more diversity in video games.

http://www.bitmob.com/articles/top-five-black-video-game-characters-that-deserve-their-own-game

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El Crítico

2011-02-06T12:43:00.001-08:00

The issue with critical game reviews, is the approach of attaching a numerical rating, because with the passing of time the game itself changes, and our contemporary critique becomes detached.

How does a videogame itself change over time? Let take for example the Mario series, started out as 2-D sprite, side scrolling platformer with its' contemporary being a 3-d adventure played on a sphere. Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Galaxy are two great games, based on a 3-D engine that scored roughly the same, with Edge Magazine giving a 10/10 and Gamespot placing a 9.4 and 9.5, respectively, scores. If I were to replay Super Mario 64, I would recognize the charm, and the great joy that I experience in September 1996. I fearfully cringe at the though of missing Super Mario 64, only to return to it in 2009, coming away from the experience as being a stepping stone or an innovator for 3-D platformers.

Both games are very similar in nature, 3-D, Mario controls the same, ice levels are slippery and boo shy ghosts chase when not seen. These two games are, undoubtedly, favorites of gamers, but they are unfinished, as to say, another Mario will build upon the familiar and loved gameplay themes. We are playing unfinished copies of our favorite games. If the reader agrees, then placing a numerical value to a critique is pointlesss.

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Dead Space 2 Ad Campaign of Fisting Mothers

2011-01-18T19:30:00.000-08:00

During the holiday season of 2008, when Dead Space came from a small unnamed studio buried in the swamp of Redwood Shores -- creators of the EA published Simpsons and Godfather games -- was one of those titles without a small ad campaign but reviewed very well in the video-game media.

With Dead Space 2 a week away of hitting store shelves statewide, the ad campaign debuted during the NFL divisional round playoff games. The ad campaign, YourMomHatesThis.com, has the social media networks and video-game blogs crying foul over the concept. Their point is simple, violent video games should not be marketed to kids (likes alcohol and tobacco).

The concept is a tongue in cheek riff of the popular Will Smith song “Parents Just Don’t Understand” and apparently, neither do vocal Internet gamers. If you have not seen the commercial, please do so now here. Do we ever see the game marketed specifically for anyone under the age of 18? Never.

Funny, right?

Well Isaac thinks so

Video-game podcasts were calling Dead Space 2008’s Bioshock, and as one does with praise, I picked up the title with no hesitation. As to find out, right before Christmas dinner, my mom hated Dead Space and she let me know it. In the early evening and before everyone had arrived, I was playing as Isaac Clarke; gunning, running and stomping necromorphs.

My mother, who once chided me for playing as the Middle Eastern faction in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare multiplayer -- because to her killing Americans for sport is a sin -- was again genuinely upset by Dead Space’s concept.

Limb by limb

Besides the modeled necromorphs, which apparently were design after hours of researching photographs of car crash victims, my mother complained of the terrible sound. The noise, the loud swoosh that sounded like two subway rail cars passing each other at top speed to the heavy breathing of Issac Clarke in his suit.

After the holidays, with mom at home, I proceeded to play and complete Issac Clarke’s adventure on the Ishimura, and how I enjoyed the game more than the popular Resident Evil series. As for the Dead Space 2 ads? Reminds me of the time when my mom did not understand.

Jersey Shore Season 3 Episode 2 Of I'll Pound You

2011-01-16T18:05:00.001-08:00

As the viewers have grown accustom to, fights within the Jersey Shore cast are regular as fist pumping. In episode 2, we see Jwoww and Sami continue their epic hatred of each other as they fight once more. The cast heads off to Karma, there familiar hunting grounds and two of the boys are caught in unfamiliar territory. Rides on the boardwalk become awkward with the pouting of a young child and the cast begins their careers of t-shirt sales.

The camera fades away from the violence only to show cast reactions to a girl fight that is quickly broken up by security as Mike sends his one-night-stands home. The season seems to be headed of a Sami and Ronnie break up with the other cast getting into drunken trysts and a lot of fist pumping in Seashore, New Jersey.

Ronnie and Sami know they are the troublemakers, as Sunday church is on their radar as they take one of the two cars. This completely ruins Mike's plans, not sure how, but he says it does. We see the guidos go to the gym, tan and shop for Sunday dinner. Deena cooks, everyone seems to survive Sunday dinner.

And as Vinny raps his one-hit single "T-Shirt Time" he begins to attracts the stalkers. And neck-suckers, three kissing blondes, and a girl who is DTF. The proverb of the night, is no better said by Mike the Situation, with Vinny locking him out of a potential threesum, "sharing is for caring." We all wish Mike.

Pauli, rather falls into a background like Justin Beiber dancer, never to be seen or heard again. Oh wait, he cracks a few jokes here and there. As he says, "Come home missing Sunday dinner with a big banana and expect everything to be peaches" to a standoffish Sami.

With Jenni, we begin to see issues with her long time boyfriend, Tom, who gets upset over a forgotten anniversary. Does he not know, his honey is getting paid to hang out and sell shirts in Seaside? Give her a break.

Deena and Snooki, like Starsky and Hutch, are two peas in a pod or two meatballs of fun. They are each other's Robin without a Batman. Deena quote of the night, " I am down for the get down." Yes babe, we know you are a walking holiday.

The show ends with, surprise, Sami and Ronnie still fighting over the events of season 2. When will these two kids ever learn...

Goal of the year and possibly the decade

2011-01-12T11:48:00.001-08:00

Naples and Uruguayan striker Edison Cavani possibly scores the goal of the year.

The video replays the goal over and over and each time I finger it more incredible with each view.

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Jersey Shore Season 3: Book of Proverbs Episode 1

2011-01-07T17:14:00.001-08:00

The MTV runaway hit about eight Italian Americans or Guidos and Guidettes living in a shore party house, started their third season Thursday night. Their influence on American culture is known. The housemates create their sanchismos (ironic Proverbs, and crude humor). And last their was a plenty.

Snooki, when referring to her wandering eye hump buddy Vinny, who was flirting with the new housemate Deena, if he was to sleep with her (Deena) she (Snooki) was to "done all ties." Now of course "cut all ties" is the popular saying, heck, US cut all ties with Cuba years ago but down them? Hilarious.

Now Deena, the new girl, who later picks an argument with Sammie, calls herself a "blast from the glass" and no omw really knows what she means. Is she comparing herself to a shot glass or just the red plastic cup. We know she hijacked "the blast from the past" but Deena is nothing to blast at.

The season just begun, so with each new episode I'll update you all with latest Jersey Shore proverbs and sayings. Oh, cuca, the goodies, hooha and vayjayjay all mean the same thing. Vagina.

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San Francisco Auto-Show 2010

2010-12-03T20:13:00.001-08:00

Enjoy.
Some of the cooler looking rides at the Moscone Convention Center

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Cholula's Hot Sauce Review

2010-11-21T16:29:00.000-08:00

On Thursday night, there was a thick fog lay out across the San Francisco Bay and with only Cholula Hot Sauces to keep warm. From Cholula’s Original Sauce to Chili-Garlic, Chili-Lime and Chipotle, each flavor offers a great bold taste without sacrificing the original flavor. The calm night called for savory treats in the form of deep fried taquitos to be topped off with Cholula’s powerful sauces.

Cholula’s Original sauce offers a spicy taste that goes well with taquitos, popcorn and other savory appetizers and dishes. The original sauce is clearly a fan favorite, as the dinner party left a close to empty bottle by the end of the night. The charm of the original sauce is the spicy, but not too hot flavors. Chips, popcorn, tacos all can use the flavorful spice of Cholula’s best sauce.

Cholula’s Chili-Lime sauce was the second sought after bottle of the night. The citrus flavor bursts in each drop of sauce. Great with chicken, or pork sided with vegetables but can be easily be edible paired with fruits -- apples, mangoes and a jicama salad is a must try with Chili-Lime sauce!

The remaining two sauces, Chipotle and Chili Garlic, are two distinctive flavors remarkably different than the others. Cholula’s Chipotle sauce is strong, musky and smoky taste that paired remarkably well wit the chicken taquitos. The Chipotle’s smoky taste may be too much for some eaters, but perfect for chickens wings and pork ribs. Cholula’s Chili-Garlic is, unfortunately, a garlic lovers dream. Unlike the other Cholula’s sauces, use the Chili-Garlic sparingly as the taste goes a long way which may not be a negative on how much one loves their garlic.

Overall, Cholula’s brand is a bit stronger with their newer flavors. Combined with any of you favorite comfort foods, Cholula is guaranteed to add a little of spice to all of your taste buds.

SF Auto Show Range Rover

2010-11-19T16:01:00.001-08:00

Daily updates and photos of San Francisco Auto Show

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Lucha Libre AAA: Héroes del Ring Review

2010-10-28T10:35:00.001-07:00

When I first heard about a lucha libre wrestling/fighting game, with a Mexican publisher and Latin American developers, I was estatic. Growing up Latino in the US during the 1980s is a mirror of racial harmony and backlash. As a young kid, I wanted to fit in with the kids in school, but not made fun of the food I ate at lunch. Young latin kids, to this day, must find a balance between this dualness or veilness. Because of the aforementioned ideas, Lucha Libre AAA is a very important IP to the young latin kids the game will undoubtedly be marketed to.

The company, Slang, who is behind Lucha Libre AAA is based out of Mexico City and has been in the video game distribution business for countless of years in Latin America. An interview with myself and Federico Beyer of Slang, detailing their motivations is hosted on bitmob. Lucha Libre AAA has enough features to hold its targeted audience of adolescent boys and young men who are into the wrestling and fighting genre, but the game has key critical flaws.
One of the core features is the build your character. While other games like UFC and Fight Night, only feature certain subset of physique options. In Lucha Libre AAA having the option to build costumes and masks, hours could be spent alone in creating ones character. The options continued with a customizable ring-set of moves. While wrestling moves seem similiar, there are unique moves to Lucha Libre like La Hurucana and La Campana.

The story mode campaign, which must be played to unlock wrestlers, are actually two. One side you play as a technico or as rudo. As one progresses, the technicos are the heros and the rudos are the heels. The game awards players with star-points (move sets are based on reward points labeled as stars) all leading up to a finishing move. As a tecnico, fairness and highflying moves get extra points, whereas a rudo, gets awarded points for fighting dirty and outside the ring.

The culmination of winning matches, with your custom wrestler, is the historical/documentary style video of Lucha Libre. These vidoes show the beginning of Lucha Libre in Mexico, the Super Campeonato and the dynasties of Mexican luchador families. The hometown heroes, as my mother is from La Cormaca Lagunera, is the Wagner Family; Dr Wagner, Dr Wagner Jr and Silver King.

It is also interesting, but not relevant to the review, Silver King played as Ramses in Nacho Libre and recently, change his name to Silver Cain. Dr Wagner Jr, recently has a feud with his brother Silver Cain, with Cain showing a video of their deceased father claiming Cain is the better wrestler. Drama.

Lucha Libre AAA does indeed have its flaws. Besides the miniscule glitches; sound going off and on, long loading and multiple screens between fights. There are two issues that plagues the game. First, the difficulty level balance. Easy is too easy and Normal is ridicously hard. While playing on Normal, the AI countered every move, and while knocked down on the canvas, repeatedly pressing X to get up was tiring and frustrating. On Easy, the notch of difficulty was as simple as a few body slams, and then the finishing move all within a quick minute. For future iterations, there must be a better balance between the difficulty levels.

The second issue was the relaince on the counter move, where counters are super important in Dead or Alive and other fighting games, in Lucha Libre the counter relies on a time press of the L1 Button. Too early or too late, your wreslter gets hit. But when one becomes the master of the counter, the later stages of the story mode the game becomes a one button-fest. And with the later stages reling solely on countering, frustation starts to set in as the timing seem to be off at times. Forget in trying to attack the AI, as the computer controlled wrestler will counter every move.

Lucha Libre is a good game, even with ill timed game-breaking flaws, the highlights outweigh them. The wrestling and fighting genre is thick marketplace, but Lucha Libre AAA has enough quality attributes to give a chance on. For Latinos living in the US, with enough support, we may see Slang try for an encore American release in the near future.

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Video Game Law, Manga, the Taliban and Nazis

2010-10-12T19:42:00.001-07:00

As the November Supreme Court date looms, the video game law is much of a hot topic. As all of you may know, California State Senator Leland Lee Phd authored the controversial law with Attorney General Brown and Governor Arnold Schwarznegger appealing the a lower court's decision. While researching news articles, videogame and entertainment outlets have deemed the law an infringement of free spech. And giving the law no chance in winning its' appeal at the Supreme Court. We are wrong, very wrong.

First and foremost, a few Westernized countries have become more and more consevative over time. We all know about the Internet censorship in China, North Korea, Iran and Cuba, but did you know the US, Australia and the UK all partake in their form of censorship? From the creation of free speech zones in the US, a draconian Austrialian Classification Board and the UK's Coroners and Justice Act 2009 are examples of such means to protect its' citizens. The United States has a similiar law as the United Kingdom with the PROTECT Act. Ask American Manga collector Christopher Handley who was sentenced to 6 years of prison for importing lolicon and yaoi Manga from Japan.

My keen eye readers are to notice that there is a key difference between Leland Lee's Law and the PROTECT Act, one is set to protect children from violence rather child pornography. And I agree, the material is rather different, yet the process of censorship is the same, elected officials are dead set to protect America's children with the all for nothing blanket of protection.

Pornography (even if the material of under age sex as drawn a la The Lost Girls) came first and now violence is next. Where does it stop? Why dont we start to, in a effort to fight child obesity, fine fast food joints who offer a toy in their meal without offering a healthy food? That law exists in one county. Yet school yard bullying continues in the LBGT community, anchor babies are under fire and education in the US continues to be understaffed and underbudgeted. The hypocrasy is thick with American elected officials.

The law may be very well upheld, even after all the legal mumbo jumbo, in the eyes of the Supreme Court they will protect the children from violent images and content, just like they do with child pornography. They might argue brain maturation or how violence does indeed affect children after researching countless of medical studies that hardly make any sense. More mumbo jumbo. Or they might just upheld the previous rulings, striking down the law and say it is a Federal duty to protect the children or something to that effect.

Maybe the Supreme Court Justices will ammend the PROTECT Act and include violent images too. Especially if violent images are brutal, henious, atrocious or cruel, because anyone with a law degree can tell difference. Hopefully, we can start to protect our children from brutal violent movies too. Let's start with California Governor's Terminator movie. After watching the movie as a child, I was compelled to vote for him, too scared to think of the consenquences if I had voted democrat. When the video game law does get upheld, and lets just say it does, other entertainment mediums alike; film, music and comic books may come under fire.

The comic book industry has suffered these attacks as well. The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (think the ACLU of comics) have come to aid of defendants when proscecutors have encroached into the First Amendment Rights of creators, retailers and consumers. CBLDF even filed a brief on behalf of the ESA, saying the law to the LA Times "would undermine more First Amendmeny principles in a single case that any decision in living memory." The line between art and a consumer good are being blurred.

There is much discussion on the definition of video-games, which are popular with all ages, a consumer product or have artistic merit like a novel or a movie. The argument is, video-games, in the creation and marketing process, have more in common with a bar of soap than a comic book.

Regardless, the decision may be handed to Americans by the Supreme Court in the the ruling of Scharznegger v ECA, which is a scary thought.

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A Halo History

2010-10-04T10:53:00.001-07:00

When Halo: Reach begins, the sense of death and wonder becomes an ominous and lingering feeling from chapter to chapter as the player progresses on. The opening cinematics show a bullet-holed Spartan helmet lay on a war torn terrain. In previous Halo games, we have seen key characters die, Marines killed by Convenant and Flood forces, but never came across a dead Spartan.

Halo: Reach is not your fathers' Halo.

The story of the Reach and the trilogy of Halo reads as a Greek epic. (Please be warn, I have not dabbled in any of the Halo Novels, yet played all of the four Halos and ODST). And the Halo series is sprinkled with Greek and other popular epic-space fantasy references though the series. Spartans, Noble Team's last stand and Master Chief's sacrifice all read as Herodotus' Histories. The Halo series is faithful to the Greek War than the fantastical God of War series is to the mythology of the Greek Gods.

In Herodotus' work, he details the battle of Thermopylae and in larger extent, The Greco-Persian Wars. The Halo series may not go as expansive as Herodotus did in his writings, but the team at Bungie invoke a grand story for their Spartans, the fall and last stand on planet Reach, origin of Master Chief and the eventual triumph of the Convenant invasion. The Greeks, impartially told by Herodotus, went through similar situations.

The better fantasy stories relate to humanity and it's struggles. In Halo, with all its monsters, hiveminds and artificial intelligence the story of Noble Team, ODST and Master Chief share the human idea of hope. And it is with this idea—the Halo series is Bungie's greater works.

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Six Video Game Titles to Budget for Holiday release

2010-09-23T15:32:00.001-07:00

From Halo: Reach to Gran Turismo, there are six must have video games titles that I have to buy from today till the end of the year. Some are blockbusters to sport franchises, on console or the PC. Many of the games sport a higher sticker price bundle as limited editions.

With rent and responsibilities always nipping on my conscious-ear, I will not be able to afford the steep, and before taxes, $400. These six games will either leave you homeless, single or dieing of hunger. Which games will not make your cart and stay on your wish list?

Halo: Reach
Chances are the Halo Series is this generations Star Wars, a fanatical following, a space opera and a prequel to boot. Halo Reach is a must have for multiple reasons, Bungie's last console exclusive, their last Halo title, and and a brand new multiplayer (checkout bitmobs game night.)

Civilisation 5
A PC exclusive for many many years, Civ 5 is another much anticipated game (out today). Take the role of any civilization and lead them to world dominance. With Starcraft 2, Civ 5 leads the PC pack.

Donkey Kong Country Returns
One of the elders when it comes to video game characters — Donkey Kong is back in a brand new adventure with Diddy in tow. Thanks to the highly successful New Super Mario Bros Wii, Donkey Kong Returns is the successor of the popular Nintendo 64 series (Mario and Donkey the original duo before Shrek and ... Donkey).

Medal of Honor
Before there was Halo, Call of Duty and Gears of War, there was this World War 2 genre, ripped from Hollywood, Medal of Honor. The landing and storming of Normandy Beach was done by this series, it's present form takes on the now controversial American War against the Taliban. Ripe with furor, Gamestop, pressured by the Military, pulled the game off shelves, essentially banning the sells on American bases.

Call of Duty Black Ops
Shooters, shooters and more shooters. Lets face it, shooters are the bread and butter of the video game industry. With all the turmoil surrounding Activision, and dissolving of Infinity Ward, Black Ops creators Treyarch have a mountain to climb. Not only is Modern Warfare 2 doing so well on XBL (Sony PSN doesn't release details) and their map pack selling well on Steam, Bungie now flys under the Activision banner.

Gran Turismo 5
With NASCAR, World Rally Championship and Super GT licenses—Polyphony Digital's Grand Turismo is an incomparable driving-sim beast. With five years separating GT 4 and GT 5, will Sony's crown jewel shine in the holiday season? One thing for sure, racing genre has not been the same without GT.

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Machete Review: A Long, Hard and Cold Federale

2010-09-07T16:37:00.001-07:00

Robert Rodriguez latest movie, based on a trailer created for The Grindhouse cinema, Machete is a bloody-revenge filled adventure. The story takes place in the state-capitol Texas, which goes unnamed, where a day laborer is thrown into a mixture of politics, corruption, and law. Machete quickly realizes that the state of law and order in the United States of America is just as corrupted as the United States of Mexico.

Aided by a conflicted ICE agent Jessica Alba, an aspiring revolutionary in Michelle Rodriguez and a Father-Priest-Brother in Cheech Marin -- Danny Trujo's Machete plays a one-liner dealer of death and vengeance. There is an a unique underlying context that Robert Rodriguez bashes throughout the movie when a subtle approach would be ineffective. It is as the director/creator wants to convey a great message but limits himself to his own art. Machete doesn't differ too much from Rodriguez's previous works, as El Mariachi, Desperado, Once Upon a Time in Mexico and Planet Terror, all share similar film qualities.

There is a strong conviction for an argument that if Robert Rodriguez were to take the subject matter in a differing approach, Machete could be his Departed -- a movie of betrayals, violence and honor. The topics are on the forefront with Arizona's controversial immigration law, the never-ending drug war violence in Mexican border cities and the cultural conflicts at home (role of the Church, Mexican-Americans, etcetera). These topics were handled in a campy manner.

And it is these topics, the film moves away from halfway through the plot, only to catwalk these characters. "Look at the cool conflicted character I just made." A pseudo-Border Promises with the film only to tie a picture perfect ending. But do not confuse the character Machete as a misanthrope, he ultimately seeks to do right at the belief that evil must not reign. Leaving the viewer satisfied, but left wondering when will a director handle these topics much seriously.

Madden and Me

2010-09-03T14:00:00.001-07:00

With the NFL heading to to season kickoff, gamers are booting up the latest football video game, EA Sports Madden NFL 11. With updated rosters, a new play-call system and an extensive multiplayer mode, Madden promises to be the best one yet, however, the game is inherently broken and unplayable. How?

There is no save function for half played matches. With consumers age expanding, having a shorter and shorter play sessions, the ability not to save a match in progress is video-game blasphemy.

I have played Madden since the Sega Genesis, where my older cousins played each match for quarters. I am not the greatest one on one players, but I enjoy the franchise mode of comp stomp with my fantasy draft of stars.

The problem, as I grow older in age, I have less time to play and progress. In the past week, I had to quit three games in Franchise mode, Raiders v Seahawks, because either; my two dogs daily walk, time with my significant other and gym. In general, life would interrupt all of my Raider games (yes I roll Silver and Black.)

The only solutions was to either leave my PS3 on or have the ability to save a match mid-way. Leaving the PS3 on, as it hums like a gatling gun, provided to be useless, as the playstation is dedicated to be the entertainment provider of the household. Movies became unplayable, background downloading in limbo, as my PS3 became dedicated to saving a half finished game.

The functionality of saving a match is really a common cornerstone video-games. PC gaming has had the feature for years, from first person shooters, RPGs and Real Time Strategy games. Why does Sports games have to be behind the curve? Espcially in sport games like Football and Baseball, where the clock stops on certain plays or the game ends until there is a winner. My Madden games were lasting 40 minutes or longer, whereas FIFA matches last eight to ten minutes! The discrpency betweem games are huge.

So life continues to get in the way of my Madden matches, as Raiders v Seahawks has became a never ending nightmare of replays, and try again. For EA Sports, it is a feature worth implementing, as your audiences continues to grow. That, or suffer sleeping on the couch with on eye open on the lookout of a disgruntled wife for the rest of my adult life. How do you think I managed to get to week four in pre-season?

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Mass Appeal in Video-games

2010-08-20T15:03:00.001-07:00

With my thirtyish birthday nearing, I came to the realization of having consumed video-games more than any other entertainment medium. Regardless, video-games struggle for mass appeal has lead to a damaged reputation. Video games has lost it's art form.

Art, not in the Ebert sense of the word, but as a distinctive artistic form. My main issue with video-games, as developers push for a universal medium, games lose their distinctiveness. How so?

Walk into any video-game store, can you name the difference between two off the shelf shooters? How many titles feature bald space marines as the main protagonist?

Limbo is a video game that should influence other developers look at their respective genre. Playdead Studios took staple video game mechanics, some a given in their respective format and choose to be unique vis-à-vis another Super Mario rehash or clone.

With the early buzz on Tomb Raider Guardian of Light; there is hope that developers are starting to think outside of their comfort zone of established franchises.

The medium craves it.

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Irrational's Ken Levine on Bioshock Infinite

2010-08-13T21:16:00.001-07:00

With the announcement of Bioshock Infinite, Irrational Studios head hit-man, Ken Levine sat down with the press to be peppered with mundane questions. But he also released a statement on Irrational's Website to the rest of us. With his State of Union address, gamers are clamoring for more information, but here is an editorial that the rest of the gaming media is igrnoing. Bioshock Infinite is changing how we think big-budget sequels are made.
Is Bioshock Infinite a prequel? Star Wars like prequel? Or is it only loosely based in the Bioshock-verse?

Levine is clear, there are no sacred cows in Bioshock Infinite (the sky is the limit). Viewing the trailer there is a sense of American expansionism (a la Red Dead Redemption), a Manifest Destiny of sky, before the invetible space-race. A floating sky city by the famed American ingenuity, a city that could of been built if a Rockefellar had of thought of it first. Columbia, as the sky city is named after one of the famous explorer known, is a departure of Rapture. As Levine points out, "that's the easy path for us... we took a harder path for ourselves."

Levine paints BI as a departure from their highly rated 2007 splicer-thriller Bioshock. The only core values that these titles share are the obvious; a fantastical world created by the same Irrational team. And there is no confusion on the Levine's view of American 1900 Historcity, nationalism and internationalism are key themes in the game. These ideas are not ones would link to a sequel or a prequel to milti-million sold series.

Levine is adamant on Infinite is more of a "re-imagining" of the original Bioshock, building on ideas of their precedent game and exploring the world artistically and questioning the bigger, badder and better philosophy other game series fall into. With that in mind, Bioshock Infinite swoops in our space with breath of fresh air.

Source http://irrationalgames.com/insider/announcement-from-ken-levine/

Chivas on the cusp of Futbol History

2010-08-11T11:25:00.001-07:00

Hours away on what is expected to be a dramatic showdown between two futbol giants of North and South America. Chivas de Guadalajara hosts, in their French designed Omnilife Stadium, 2006s Copa Libertadores Champion Internacional of Brasil. Both teams come from grueling matches, with Chivas scoring two away goals again U de Chile. Inter faced a strong Sao Paolo side, but again, the away goal scored by Inter sealed their fate into the final.

Not at stake for tonight's match is the World Club Cup birth held in the UAE in December. Inter will go as the South American representative regardless of the outcome. Tune in to Fox Sports Espanol, match starts at 8:00 PM EST.

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I'm Back

2010-08-10T17:22:00.001-07:00

The one and only Latino-Gamer is back. If you want the end all coverage of sports and video games, go elsewhere. Latino Gamer will cover interesting trends in football/ soccer and a bit of video games.

Since this blog is the whim of thoughts of the writer, topics may be daily or weekly.

Tomorrow we have coverage of the friendly, Mexico vs Spain and the first leg of Chivas de Guadalajara vs Internacional.

Cheers!

Latino-Gamer

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FIFA World Cup 2010 South Africa Group A Preview

2010-06-11T20:42:00.000-07:00

Group A in the FIFA World Cup South Africa is one filled with interesting opponents; the host nation coached by a former champion, a nation with help of a lucky handball and lost without their talisman, a young-fiesty nation looking to build from their youth championship and a nation struggles with their past glory.
First, the Bafana Bafana as they are called by their fans, the host nation South Africa is lead by one of two men who has coached Five different nations in the World Cup. Parreira's sixth World Cup, as he coached Brazil twice, is faced with the prospect of a possible elimination during the group stage. But the fans of the Bafana Bafana are not to worry, with home-field advantage, wisdom of a winning coach and the luck of the home nation, getting to the group stage is far from a dream.
But they must face the stiff competition, although in poor form at the moment, of Les Bleus or the French National Team. No one can argue the deep heritage of great football of France. Platini and Zidane are walking legends, but that is the core of the problem, their best players are retired and with no one to fill the void left. With poor form during qualification, Serbia won the group, France faced a give-no-inch Irish team on a playoff. At the end of it all, the French stole the World Cup birth by a blown non-called Henry handball. The French team are cursed to be ousted within group round and without a talisman to ward the bad mojo away.
For the Mexican community, the 2005 Youth World Cup victory was the rally cry for the youth to push the once-chiseled stalwarts to move on, and they have. Donning a black jersey, a rarity of Mexican soccer, the team has the swagger, the speed and the leadership in their coach Aguirre. A team mix with veterans, but fueled by youth, Mexico is one of my surprise tickets to make a semifinal birth, a la Bulgaria in '94, '98 Croatia, Turkey and South Korea in '02. If El Tri does well in the tournament, the black jersey may become the form rather the colors of the flag (See Italy).

The Uruguayans are the older cousins no one remembers about in South American Football. Them with Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia and Columbia all seem to battle for the final birth. And battle they did, although Argentina had to beat Uruguay for the fourth spot, it was the Uruguayans who fought Costa Rica tooth and nail for the World Cup birth. La Celeste will need a goals, and lots of them, if they are to dream of their past glory.

Assassin's Creed 2 Hispanic Market Campaign

2010-01-04T22:04:00.001-08:00

According to a pbr.com report, Ubisoft and Univision partnered up for an Assassin's Creed 2 marketing blitz during the festive holiday week. The ads will be shown through univision.com Deportes and Liga Mexicana digital portal landing page and the televised quarterfinal playoffs of the Mexican Soccer League. David Lawenda, president of Advertising and Sales of Univision, details the campaign as a "business imperative to market to Hispanics... one of the fastest growing segments of the U.S. population." The announcement also includes statistical data of the Hispanic market, more than 80% of Hispanics between the ages 18-44 are gamers, and half of the said Hispanic gamers are Spanish speaking or bilingual. Ubisoft widely reported a 1.6 million first week of sales and surpassed the 2007 predecessor. (I land in both categories, as well as, over indexing in buying new gadgets, and less price sensitive than non-Hispanics. )

Will Ubisoft's Hispanic blitz be the swing vote in increasing November's NPD numbers for the coveted number 2 spot, behind Modern Warfare 2. For context, the only other video game to advertise for Spanish networks was EA's FIFA 10. AC2 and FIFA 10 both come in the Spanish language.

Singstar Latino info right here....

2010-01-04T21:56:00.001-08:00

Sony and Gamestop announced today that, select Gamestop stores are releasing the Hispanic focused SingStar Latino for the PS3 and PS2 consoles. Popular Spanish speaking stations are to promote release events in core Hispanic markets in California, Texas, and Arizone. SingStar is one of Sony’s popular music franchises that does surprisingly well outside of the United States Market. Earlier in November, Sony released the game to Latino markets in Mexico and select Latin American markets. Musical hits are from select artists from Paulina Rubio (pictured) to Oreja de van Gogh.

Will Activision and EA/MTV put a tailored Latino/Hispanic product in the next year, as Sony is testing the water, who else will jump in. Ubisoft earlier courted the Hispanic market with a partnership with Univision with Assassin’s Creed 2 promos running during the Mexican soccer playoff games.

A Guitar Hero: Paulina Rubio video game would make my thirty-nine Guadalajaran friend freak in his pants.

Tiger Woods and EA Sports dire relationship

2010-01-04T21:50:00.000-08:00

In a study released today by two UC Davis Economic Professors, Christopher R. Knittel and Victor Stango, detail the 5 to 15 billion loss Tiger Wood's sponsors suffered ten days after the now infamous November 27th incident. The report can be found here in PDF form. I have included a graph from the linked report below.

The 10 day cumulative decline by the sport related sponsors of EA, Gatorade and Nike saw a 4.3% decline or a 5.71 billion loss. Much money loss for all those "transgressions" and will shareholders continue to support any future endorsements that involve Tiger Woods? Evidently, there is a downside to a sponsors' celebrity spoke person in the video game industry. Will EA Sports continue to have Tiger Woods as a spoke person, or drop the golfer, and use a rotating cast of PGA members, as they do with their FIFA, Madden and their other sports series?

FIFA 10 UK Cover Athletes

2009-08-05T05:00:00.000-07:00

Our British cousins, across the pond, website GamingShogun, has the scoop on the cover athletes, football stars that are to grace FIFA 10. Man U's Rooney, Chelsea's Lampard and Arsenal's Walcott are the coverboys.

Battle in LA; Beckham vs the fans

2009-07-23T23:07:00.000-07:00

David Beckham needs no introduction these days, husband of Spice Girl Victoria Beckham, ex-captain of English Football Team, and the $250 million dollar MLS superstar. The Armani underwear model, (no I will not post those pics), loses his cool by the mouth of a Disney Interactive Videogame Support Technician, David Martinous.

Kotaku's Stephen Totilo questions the odd behavior of "The World's Second Most Famous Athlete" and how a "videogame guy" story in the New York Times and Yahoo Sports pop up in his morning search ritual.

I really want to ask Totilo who he thinks is the first most famous athlete and why is he surprised that a videogame tech could be so loud and rude, at the very moment any twitter responses were not returned.

All the time behind a videogame screen, we have to get our jollies elsewhere, right?

During a preseason friendly, well preseason for AC Milan, but midseason for the LA Galaxy, the rossinerri squared off with the MLS team. The LA Galaxy really need a nickname. It was at half-time when the confrontation took place.

According to the LA Galaxy, the fan who jumped onto the field has been banned from the LA Riot Squad, but according the super-fans club there has yet to be a decision on the member, who according to their website, a recruit just needs to show up on section 138 and cheer. Tough requirements we all can agree.

The once Man U devil to wear the coveted number 7 jersey, strutted to section 138 and confronted the now infamous LA Galaxy support club, Riot Squad, and outstretched his hand. The incident reminds me of another infamous outburst of Red Devil #7. The kick that would go down in Football lore.

The incident in Los Angeles could of been worse, for all parties, Beckham's outburst was unbecoming of a superstar athlete who is a role model for children across the world and his own. For the fan Paige, who jumped off to greet Becks, could of recived a Red Devil kung fu kick, and ultimately the fans, who want the Galaxy to play well, make the playoffs, and win that MLS cup who has yet to be raise by the team.

Links visited;

http://www.soccerbyives.net/soccer_by_ives/2009/07/morning-ticker-galaxy-tie-milan-wambach-nets-100th-and-more.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/jul/20/david-beckham-confrontation-la-galaxy

http://www.mls-daily.com/2009/07/exclusive-fan-confronted-by-beckham.html

http://kotaku.com/5319791/did-a-video-game-guy-tick-off-worlds-2nd-most-famous-athlete

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/21/sports/soccer/21beckham.html?_r=2&scp=1&sq=david%20bekham&st=cse

http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=jo-beckham072009&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

OP-ED; UFC vs EA Sports

2009-07-23T23:06:00.000-07:00

Update: Added a link, pointing out the economical success of UFC 100.

With EA Sports announcement at E3 jumping into Mix Martial Arts foray, squaring up in the octagon and hitting the canvas with ferocity, fans of the sport and videogame enthusiasts would be open to the competition of having a competing title to THQ's superb, 1 million unit breaking (according to the NPD Group), UFC Undisputed 2009 game.

President of UFC, Dana White, is enraged at EA Sports decision to jump into the MMA business. Dana White comments on EA Sports on the night of UFC's most successful event, UFC 100 earned over 5 million at the gate, has confirmed a "war" with EA Sports. Has this pissing match of words gone too far or just started? Can President of EA Sports, Peter Moore, succeed in matching the sales of THQ's UFC Undispitued 2009? Is this beginning of EA Sports becoming a promoter of some kind of, EA MMA Fight Night at your local sports center?

Not everyone is an excited bunch, UFC President Dana White, speaking to MMA Junkie, had choice words for EA and any fighter who signs to fight (in the game that is) in EA's MMA,"

"We put our asses on the line, THQ and the UFC, to make a video-game deal in the worst economy in the world," White said. "We go out there and do this thing, and it's successful, and now [expletive] EA Sports wants to do a video game. Really? That's not what you told us a year-and-a-half ago.

"You told us you'd never be in business with us. They wouldn't even take a meeting because mixed martial arts disgusted them. This wasn't a real sport. Boy, they got over that real quick, didn't they?" "I'm not tap-dancing around this thing or whatever," White said. "I'm telling you straight-up, I'm at war with them right now. That's how I look at it."

"You won't be in the UFC,"

"You know what the difference is?" White asked. "I'm in the mixed martial arts business. EA isn't.

"EA doesn't give a [expletive] about mixed martial arts. They made that very clear."

To translate, Dana White offered EA Sports the UFC license, but were turned away, either because of the disagreement how fighting would be portray (too disgusting according to Dana White), or EA Sports said UFC was not a sport (probably meant as, UFC does do not high enough numbers to be considered a marketable sport a year and a half ago according to EA). Since UFC signed with THQ, Dana White has a special interest that his label succeeds (UFC is a label, like the NFL, MLB, MLS because they are not just sporting leagues but are marketable and profitable businesses as well). The hypocrisy weighs heavily on Dana White shoulders, as he should know, since he was the one who got into the MMA game by purchasing UFC from its previous owners.
Has two years really pass since Peter Moore's announcement from moving Redmond to Redwood Shores? It was actually July 17, 2007 when it was announced, and yes it is possible that Peter may have seen the EA MMA title in some form of concept before and right after that date. It maybe also possible, it was Peter Moore who said "NO" to Dana White, but according to White that meeting did not happen...

EA Sports President Peter Moore did not directly respond to UFC president Dana White, but in his official blog he wrote,"

"I love mixed martial arts, and we've been working on a game concept since I came to EA two years ago. I have great respect for the organizations and individuals that have invested in the sport's growth over the past decade - so this is one that is near and dear to me and I'm excited to see such good progress to date. I trace my MMA video game roots back to my support of Crave's UFC title on the Dreamcast in 2000, and have been a fan ever since. Our title will bring both innovation and further authenticity to mixed martial arts, not to mention a strong global publishing network that will help spread the sport's popularity around the world."

To translate, EA Sports president, of MS, Sega, and Reebok fame, Peter Moore has had his eye on the growing interest on mix martial arts in the Western World i.e. USA, UK and Europe. Peter has great respect to individuals and organizations who have invested in mma in the past decade, (he must be talking to philanthropists who have open jui juistu centers in flavelas or other poor areas in third world countries). Or is Peter referring to UFC previous owners, who must've worked with Crave and Sega to release a game on the Dreamcast (during a moment of hysteria, AZ Senator John McCain called MMA the equivalency of human cockfighting)? So how is EA Sports going to compete with a label that operates 90% of mma? By going worldwide of course, like its other game, FIFA, EA will probably sign with other smaller but known fighters from up and coming, although, smaller promoters.

Competition is a great thing, there is no doubting that concept, but in Dana White's business plan his company's goal on having the UFC become the NFL of mma in the US (the world?) really threaten by EA Sports coming into the marketplace? Or this the moment when EA Sports becomes more of a label of just videogames and become a promoter of some kind and partnership with smaller, yet competitive promoters?

Fight Night Round 4 Review

2009-07-23T23:03:00.000-07:00

I believe words must be conquered, lived, and that the apparent publicity they recieve from the dictionary is a falsehood. Nobody should dare to write "outskirts" without having spent hours pacing their high sidewalks; without having desired and suffered as if they were a lover; without having felt their walls, their lots, their moons just around the corner from the general store, like a cornucopia...

-JL Borges 1926

There is only one sport near and dear to my heart I love, none other "the beautiful game." No on can agree on who coined soccer (other parts of the world, football) as "the beautiful game" however, everyone agrees soccer is special to the world. Playing roughly all of my adolescence on those green fields chasing a peppered ball to only place it in white net, and in college cheering wildly for our favorite national or club team with teammates. The beautiful game did not start with the "stars", but with the youth playing on grassy, dirt, and asphalt fields chasing a ball made of hope and dreams. A game is not won on statistics alone, but by securing goals. The English play with tactics, Germans with efficiency, Brazilians with flair and Americans with grit. Soccer by definition is a world sport.

Boxing is rarely about beauty, it pits two beasts, pummeling each other with jabs, uppercuts, and haymakers in 12 rounds that last 3 minutes long. Death is not a rare occurrence in the ring. The crowd present and at home want the drama of a knockout. We root for the challenger, and despise the champion. We hate the prettyboy, and marvel at the history of cuts and bruises of the old timer. Fighters win and primadonnas hit the canvas. A fight is won by knockout or by outpucnhing your oppenent, statistics matter. Boxing by definition is a mans' sport.

I never understood boxing before 1992, that is, until I saw my first Pay Per View championship fight. Julio Cesar Chavez, the Lion of Culiacan, defending his WBC Lightweight belt against the speedy challenger Hector "Macho" Camacho in September 1992. For me, Camacho had a few things going against him, he had too much flair, very pompous, and not Mexican, were the easiest of features only a 12 year old boy could dislike on a boxer. In my eyes, Chavez was the darling, the Champion, 81-0 record, a Mexican folk hero and a legend in the making. With Mariachi music as he entered the ring, all of us were in awe.

Being part of a youth traveling soccer team, weekends were spent in hotel rooms, prepping for a tournament of games in Sacramento, Fresno, Davis, Los Angeles and San Diego was never out of the ordinary. One particular weekend, the fathers could not imagine of missing a highly anticipated fight. After our second game of the day was over, we rushed to the hotel to shower, sped to a nearby eatery, and hauled ourselves back to the room to watch the Chavez v Camacho fight.

The fight is considered legendary, cat vs mouse, the stronger Chavez punishing the fleeing Camacho, as a cat toying with its prey. By the seventh round, Chavez was in total control of the fight, Camacho failed to throw in the towel as his ringside suggested, the challenger would last five more rounds surviving a bloody pulp assault to his face and figure.

It was probably the best fight a 12 year old boy could of witness as his first. There are a few first memories men will cherish, their first fist fight in the school yard (a bully named Ryan), first crush on a pinup (Cindy Crawford), their first soccer goal (five years old in AYSO game) and their first PPV Title Match.

I will always remember JC Chavez the way I did in 1992. A Champion, Pound for Pound best fighter in the world, and a folk hero Mexican. The scandals, the losses, the women, the ad campaigns over time would dent JC Chavez credibility in my eyes and countless of others, I hear he even has a junior who wants to fight PACMAN Pacquiao.

A couple of nights ago, memories began to fill my eyes with tears of remembered youth, as I knocked out Sugar Shane Mosley in the seventh round of a Welterweight title match in EA's Fight Night Round 4. Mosley leaned into a haymaker uppercut, Mosley falls, referee counts to ten, fight over.

Fight Night Round 4 Review of some sorts

2009-07-13T20:40:00.000-07:00

I believe words must be conquered, lived, and that the apparent publicity they receive from the dictionary is a falsehood. Nobody should dare to write "outskirts" without having spent hours pacing their high sidewalks; without having desired and suffered as if they were a lover; without having felt their walls, their lots, their moons just around the corner from the general store, like a cornucopia...

-JL Borges 1926

Boxing is rarely about beauty, it pits two beasts, pummeling each other with jabs, uppercuts, and haymakers in 12 rounds that last 3 minutes long. Death is not a rare occurrence in the ring. The crowd present and at home want the drama of a knockout. We root for the challenger, and despise the champion. We hate the pretty boy, and marvel at the history of cuts and bruises of the old timer. Fighters win and primadonnas hit the canvas. A fight is won by knockout or by out punching your opponent, statistics matter. Boxing by definition is a mans' sport.

From Untitled Album

I never understood boxing before 1992, that is, until I saw my first Pay Per View championship fight. Julio Cesar Chavez, the Lion of Culiacan, defending his WBC Lightweight belt against the speedy challenger Hector "Macho" Camacho in September 1992. For me, Camacho had a few things going against him, he had too much flair, very pompous, and not Mexican, were the easiest of features only a 12 year old boy could dislike on a boxer. In my eyes, Chavez was the darling, the Champion, 81-0 record, a Mexican folk hero and a legend in the making. With Mariachi music as he entered the ring, all of us were in awe.

Being part of a youth traveling soccer team, weekends were spent in hotel rooms, prepping for a tournament of games in Sacramento, Fresno, Davis, Los Angeles and San Diego was never out of the ordinary. One particular weekend, the fathers could not imagine of missing a highly anticipated fight. After our second game of the day was over, we rushed to the hotel to shower, sped to a nearby eatery, and hauled ourselves back to the room to watch the Chavez v Camacho fight.

The fight is considered legendary, cat vs mouse, the stronger Chavez punishing the fleeing Camacho, as a cat toying with its prey. By the seventh round, Chavez was in total control of the fight, Camacho failed to throw in the towel as his ringside suggested, the challenger would last five more rounds surviving a bloody pulp assault to his face and figure.

It was probably the best fight a 12 year old boy could of witness as his first. There are a few first memories men will cherish, their first fist fight in the school yard (a bully named Ryan), first crush on a pinup (Cindy Crawford), their first soccer goal (five years old in AYSO game) and their first PPV Title Match.

I will always remember JC Chavez the way I did in 1992. A Champion, Pound for Pound best fighter in the world, and a folk hero Mexican. The scandals, the losses, the women, the ad campaigns over time would dent JC Chavez credibility in my eyes and countless of others, I hear he even has a junior who wants to fight PACMAN Pacquiao.

A couple of nights ago, memories began to fill my eyes with tears of remembered youth, as I knocked out Sugar Shane Mosley in the seventh round of a Welterweight title match in EA's Fight Night Round 4. Mosley leaned into a haymaker uppercut, Mosley falls, referee counts to ten, fight over.

From Untitled Album

David Villa to sign with Barca

2009-07-09T08:03:00.001-07:00

According to a report on www.barcaloca.com David Villa of Valencia will sign with Nou Camp giants FC Barcelona. More details to come...

A Hero's Welcome, Ronaldo packs the Bernebau

2009-07-06T13:39:00.000-07:00

a joyous occasion at the Bernebau!

Giuseppe Rossi, super sub, scores twice in Confedarations Cup 2009

2009-06-15T15:41:00.000-07:00

once a villain now a hero

Giuseppe Rossi, came of the bench to score twice agaisnt his native country (Rossi was born New Jersey), in Confedarations Cup 2009 group play. The defeat is a heartbreak for the American soccer team, which lead at halftime, but a red card to Ricardo Clark prove to be a vital part of the game. The two Rossi's, Villareal Striker Giuseppe Rossi and Roma's Daniele De Rossi, the later if US soccer fans recall violently elbowed Brian McBride in the 2006 World Cup Match, played exteremly well, with De Rossi scoring the leading goal.

In earlier game, Brazil edge Egypt with a last gasp penaly shot by the newly signed Real Madrid playmaker, Kaka, 4-3.

***

Did Rossi earn a starting spot with two marvelous goals? Sound off below!

David Villa to sign with Real Madrid

2009-06-13T19:05:00.001-07:00

In another display of big spending, Real Madrid is to sign David Villa prolific goal scorer of Valencia fame. Los Blancos with have star studded attack of Villa, Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo. Is there another jewel for Real Madrid's galaticos roster to come?
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

2009-06-13T19:00:00.001-07:00

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

C Ronaldo to Real Madrid

2009-06-11T07:42:00.001-07:00

More to come as the story is developing...
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Barca, Masche, Transfer Drama, oh my!

2009-06-09T13:20:00.000-07:00

Yes I did it! Barca! Barca! Barca!

Argentinian little man, Javier Mascherano, Liverpool midfielder, crosser extraordinaire, may be joining the other little wizard soon. Terra is reporting that the Masche is inching closer to signing with the treble winning, Man U pounding, Chelsea dream crushers, Barcelona FC.

Will Liverpool fans be up and arms, as they are in Milan, for the departure of one of their better midfielders? A Yaya Toure departure might just be in the cards afterall, since Mascherano, now team captain of the Argentina National Team, plays a similiar position.

Dante's Inferno Critique too harsh...

2009-06-09T11:19:00.001-07:00

Sexy Videogame Land blogger, writer, journalist, and drunken podcaster, Leigh Alexander, opened the gates of hell, actually, she critiques EA Visceral Game's Dante's Inferno for being, wait, she actually does not critique it all. Leigh only points to other sites, like Kotaku's Brian Crecente, First Wall Rebate and Chris Remo's posts successfully pulling apart the foundation of what the IP is based on. Very gory, yet insightful posts. (Visceral Game's are known for Dead Space, The Simpson's Game, James Bond, Lord of The Rings, Road Rash, and the 16 bit Strike Series.)

But are we not putting the cart in front of the horse a little bit?

The Dante's Inferno, the game not the poem, is not even out yet, as it may be possible, the story can change during any moment in a game's development cycle, especially if it is a cut scene heavy type of game (God of War, Devil May Cry series were) they may be pulling the wool over our eyes this entire time. It is too early to pass judgment. Or is it?

I will, of course, criticism aside, jump in the pool since it is all warm and filled with chlorine.

One of the core arguments is the usage of the literally work being done so freely, as without any historical and literal context, as being wrong, "anti-intellectual" and uninspiring. I do agree, using the term adaptation is fool hearty, a better term would of been interpretation, as this is Visceral Game's interpretation of Dante's Inferno. Boobies and all. It is possible, since the greek god shtick is taken, what other religions did the team at EA could of use for their God of War clone? Egyptian? Uto-Aztec? Maya? Inca? Catholicism! A Call of Onuris game sounds compelling, fighting a ton of demon like creatures with the pyramids as Giza as backdrop, it does not have to be historically accurate, does it? Since Ubisoft has that 3rd Crusade thing going on for them, doh!, they also took the Renaissance, a warrior poet fighting the legions of hell sounds cool and all.

***

My wishes for the game are a bit different than the rest of us criticizing it, I would of like to have seen, the sins (demons, lust minions, babies) cast into hell were of videogame cliches, for example, when in the sixth circle of hell, a group of enemies will spawn behind the avatar and the camera or in the seventh circle we are shot by fireballs from an unseen enemy or in the eighth circle, death closets and shot kills! Do not forget grenade spamming, oh I hate that! That is how I imagine videogame Hell to be like, and to spoil the ending, instead of Lucifer chewing on the heads of the traitorous Brutus, Cassius and Judas it will instead be, Master Chief's, Mario's and Solid Snake's heads. Interpret that as any way you may!

***

The God of War comparison is not fair, because no one held any type of criticism to its revenge story, but there may have been thought provoking commentary if it was named the as the classical, Virgil's Aeneid. It was not. Dante's Inferno may get skewered and grilled, not for creating a work on a classical poem, and missing the ironies that made the said poem so celebrated, but only because God of War 3, and Bayonetta seem so compelling.

***

Brazil's playmaker Kaka to leave AC Milan for Real Madrid

2009-06-08T13:32:00.000-07:00

In an effort to stay relevant in football, Real Madrid is poised to sign AC Milan and Braizilian playmaker extraordinaire Kaka for a hefty sum of £56 Million. If the reports turn out true, Real Madrid is restarting their bid to European domination by buying these Galaticos, players who are considered to the elite of football players of the world. Our only question at Latinogamer, who is next to go to los blancos?

Terra.com is reporting that the deal is done...

Where's my SOUL; Rock Band and Guitar Hero franchise off a step

2009-06-03T20:57:00.000-07:00

When it comes music, the industry itself has been always driven either by good marketing or creative hustle.

Why has MTV Games/EA/Harmonix and Activision/Neversoft failed, once again, to address Soul Music and Latin American Music in their marquee franchises of Rock Band and Guitar Hero at E3?

Sony's Singstar has included a strong multicultural lineup in their song selections, do to SCEE being part of multilingual market, but when it comes to American publishers and developers they have failed to properly capture the other popular music genres.

Soul Music, R&B, Hip Hop, Mariachi, Banda, Cumbia, Rock en Espanol are huge music genres, with multimillion selling artists and albums, but Rock Band and Guitar Hero have included very little amount of songs in to their respective franchises.

The Music Game genre is growing, DJ Hero, Scratch and The Beatles, were recently announced at the videogame tradeshow E3, but there is still an absence.

Nintendo, please make a James Brown Wii Balance Board game. Thank you.

Left 4 Dead 2, Valve and the Tale of Two IPs

2009-06-01T14:23:00.000-07:00

Earlier today at Microsoft's E3 Press Conference, Valve announced the sequel to their co-op zombie shooter, Left 4 Dead 2. PC Gamer has the exclusive print story and more details are bound to be announced at the EA Conference.

Valve has changed the way the way they support their IP's with the announcement of the sequel to Left 4 Dead.

I would say so, especially after the latest release of content to the popular online shooter, Team Fortress 2. Valve has released weapon add ons to almost every class, maps and even three new modes. With Left 4 Dead also received free content, the Survivor pack added two full campaigns of "Death Toll" and "Dead Air" for versus mode, as well as the survival game mode, where the survivors try to fight through endless waves of zombies. Why does the Left Four Dead 2 content, a year later of its' release,not added to the existing L4D?

The tale for Team Fortress 2, released in Nov 07, was a bit different, originally included in the Orange Box (Steam and retail) and later packaged as a solo sku, the free content received has trickled out of Valve for two years. If you add up all the content, Team Fortress 3 with updated visuals, could of been printed and released. Why do Left 4 Dead owners get the shaft, and also PC players who are accustomed to the free content of Valve, now have to pony up and pay for content that would been free? Considering one of the glaring issues reviewers and critics had for L4D as being too short.

How great will the backlash be?

Grand Theft Auto goes Latino...Why?

2009-05-27T21:05:00.000-07:00

Rockstar Games, creator of the multi-selling Grand Theft Auto Series, have revealed their next installment, GTA "The Ballad of Gay Tony" including a fabulous glitter rainbow font. Grand Theft Auto 4 received high praise for its execution of the story and gameplay of Niko Bellic and its' portray of immigrant life in America and New York City. Even one would say the tired old pun, " Is this our Citizen Kane moment?"

On the eve of E3, "The Ballad of Gay Tony" has the gaming industry in a buzz tweeting, blogging and podcasting on the next episode of GTA will be. As of know, it seems Microsoft's $50 million exclusivity deal with Rockstar for two episodic downloadable content was the smart choice. The announcement has writers/journalists/bloggers praising Rockstars move to include a Latino/Hispanic lead and the word 'gay' in the main title.

Kotaku's Stephen Totilo remarks , "two parties managed to make May 26, 2009 a significant date for Latinos" (the White House announced a first Hispanic/Latino Judge to the Supreme Court that day) as Rockstar named a fictional lead of the new GTA episode. Both of the news-makers are New York Puerto Ricans or Nuyoricans, and makes complete sense for Rockstar to include a Liberty City Puerto Ricans (Liberticans!) since Liberty City is a fictionalize New York City. It seems, the writers of Rockstar Games did not try to pigeon hole Latino/Hispanic or Gay and Lesbians into Liberty City, why would they, if in New York why not Liberty City?

Bitmob's Dan Hsu applauds the developer with the byline, "Rockstar's Got Balls" including, "Quite impressed that Rockstar doesn't shy away from potentially controversial subject matters." Having a GTA story based on "Gay Tony" may have a share of controversy, to right wing pundits, but gay and lesbians may have a differing opinion if the character is portrayed in a stereotypical manner. The title may be misleading, "Gay Tony" may not live a homosexual lifestyle, but because of his night life connections inherited the nickname (Latinos love to give weird nicknames).

Tiny Dancer of Gaygamer.net questions Rockstar's motive, "First the 'Over the Rainbow' achievement in Bully and now our very own gay-titled DLC episode? Have gay gamers managed to charm their way into Rockstar's heart, or is it the love of controversy that beats beneath Rockstar's ample bosom?" It is not Rockstar's first time to used a minority as a major protagonist; GTA "Vice City" an Italian American, GTA "San Andreas" an African American, GTA 4 an Eastern European, GTA "Chinatown Wars" an Asian American and now with GTA "Ballad of Gay Tony" a Latino/Hispanic or Puerto Rican. Lest we not forget Rockstar's "Read Dead Revolver" which the protagonist was one of Native American descent. Is it controversy what drives Rockstar or do they see the bigger picture, New York, historically, is a collection of different minorities living together, violently and peacefully.

***In GTA 3 protagonist, I would argue, was a carte blanche protagonist meant for the player (you) to create their own story.***

Rockstar is an innovating developer in the videogame world, we all can agree, but is their motive to portray a different view on American life through their protagonists sincere or are they taking tried and true stereotypical minorities and placing them in the videogame fold?

Rockstar's own founder details "Ballad of Gay Tony" as, "This episode's focus on high-end night life contrasts with the biker gangs portrayed in The Lost and Damned, whilst giving us a lot of new gameplay possibilities." Their press releases reveals a bit of the plot, "players will struggle with the competing loyalties of family and friends, and with the uncertainty about who is real and who is fake in a world in which everyone has a price." If the plot sounds familiar, it is, a movie that dealt with the same night life atmosphere scene was "Carlitos Way ", starring Al Pacino as retired Puerto Rican gangster trying to leave vice and crime behind him, with many scenes taking place at a night club.

However, a day later, I am press to see significance. Of course, the date is less significant to American Latino/Hispanics, since Judge Sonia Sotomayor has yet to be approved by the US Senate and no one outside of Rockstar has seen or played the protaganist Luis Lopez in "The Ballad of Gay Tony." Latinos/Hispanics have given lukewarm response to Judge Sotomayor historical appointment to the Supreme Court .

The Latino/Hispanic gaming community, however, will be up in arms if Luis Lopez is portrayed as a stereotypical hot blooded Latino lover, well, at least Luis Valdez will.

As of now, all comments at Kotaku point to indifference.

EA Sports Active; burning for a better beach body

2009-05-20T10:07:00.000-07:00

After a night with Electronic Arts new sports title, EA Sports Active, is the game (or interactive workout video) recommendable to Wii Fit owners and DVD workout connoisseurs? Details below.

***

First session was completed last night. I felt the burn, the day after sores, the blistered feet (usually thumbs from Team Fortress 2) but was the workout a greater value than walking your dog or jogging (mindlessly) on a treadmill? EA Sports Active will likely end up in a pile of Carmen Electra stripper, Taibo punching and P90x DVD videos. What does EASA offer that these videos do not? One simple caveat, there are times the game does not advance if you do not properly do the exercise.

It is like having a p.e. teacher yelling at you for being a dumb twitter twit for not doing one simple rep correctly. It is sixth grade all over again!

Keyword, patience, especially with the curls. If you do the movements to quickly or shake the Wii mote, it throws the game off. If you are patient and focus on the exercise (as a trainer would force someone to the exercise correctly!) the game registers it and you are on to your next rep. There was trouble with the lunges, inline skying and curls, but after a few tries, the work out was like a DVD exercise video (perspiration included). The gameplay mechanic of not letting the player advance before the excercise is done correctly is a buying reason over all of the DVD videos.

The Wii Fit balance board is supported, but there is no need to use one if one is aiming to do the EASA's 30 day workout regime.

As with all things that deals with getting fit, in shape, or rock hard abs, the game is as good as one makes it. Confusing? I know, but let me explain. The value of EASA will only be weighed agaisnt the effort of the user. If you are serious in losing weight, any DVD, any treadmill, any team sports activitiy and any gym of your choice will help you lose the weight, but the amount depends on you and only you. EASA does a good job on starting the path, but it is you who has to finish it.

A Daisy of a game; Sega brings pilates to the Wii

2009-05-18T16:34:00.000-07:00

Latina Daisy Fuentes, a MTV icon of the fab eighties, once lover of Luis Miguel, is bringing pilates to the Nintendo Wii. The Cuban-Spanish-American icon will sculpt gamers bodies via the fine aspects of the popular German fitness program, "Daisy Fuentes Pilates" will be available Summer 09.

Publish by Sega, on the heels of EA Sports active, pilates is a popular fitness program that sells tons of dvds and books very well local gyms. If Sega can come to market at an affordable price point, look for this title to be on future NPD lists.

God of War 3 Top Five Gods that should be featured!

2009-05-07T21:54:00.000-07:00

Phobos and Deimos (Fear and Dread) The sons of Ares will be on the warpath for revenge of the murdered father by the hands of Kratos

Enyo The Goddess of War, who else, wants to exact revenge on Kratos for the murder of her brother

Aphrodite Lover of the Fallen God of War Ares, mother of Phobos and Deimos, it seems Kratos has done to these gods what they have done to him, doing the exact opposite killing the lover, brother and father of their family

Hephaestus Scorn by the Gods married to Aphrodite but not loved by her, this maybe one of the only gods that may aid Kratos (besides the titans) that may help him on his quest to destroy Zeus

Kratos's siblings - Nike, Bia and Zelus, will they stand agaisnt Zeus or betray Kratos

Demilitarized Killzone; Five changes for Guerrilla to fix KZ2 multiplayer

2009-04-02T22:51:00.000-07:00

Killzone 2 has become a widely popular title for the Playstation 3 and the Playstation Network. Online players have moved away from popular franchises of Call of Duty and Resistance to KZ2 hectice online team based shooter. The multiplayer in Killzone 2 is similar to popular PC series, Battlefield, Call of Duty 4, and Team Fortress. By taking portions of each title, Guerrilla Games created a fun, challenging and addicting shooter. There are a few issues; listed below are the top five changes for GG to implement on their next patches.

1. Tone down damage done by grenades and rockets, matches have become grenade/rocket spam heavy
2. Class weapon exclusivity of each class and during gameplay, players can only get ammo from weapon crates
3. The ability to upgrade turrets increasing the damage output per each level
4. Medic faster recharge, extra points if alive after ten revives
5. Force class team balance, no more than four of a kind on each team

Sound off below with your own ideas.

Top 7 Non Sony Game Series that should be on PSN

2009-03-07T14:27:00.000-08:00

Sony recently announced an on-going courtship of third party non platform Playstation games to find a home at Playstation Network. (MTV Multiplayer Blog)
Latinogamer wants to see another kind of initiative, how about court non Sony PS classics to PSN. We scourged the internet, and our memories, to bring a top 7 list of game series that need to come to the PSN.

7. Spike's Fire Pro Wrestling

6. Atari's Driver

5. Midway's Mortal Kombat

4. Namco's Ace Combat/Air Combat

3. Atlus' Persona

2. Capcom's Resident Evil

1. Square Enix's RPG Backlog

SCEA announces 2009 Lineup for PS3

2009-02-19T16:21:00.000-08:00

Sony is one of the biggest publishers on the gaming industry and today was the announcement of games to expect for year 2009. Blockbuster titles include, God of War 3, Killzone 2, Uncharted 2, MLB 09, Infamous, Heavy Rain and MAG. A strong line up to help Sony push PS3 hardware to homes, college dorms, and children rooms around the USA and other regions.

Is there a pool of PS2 owners ready to move on the PS3, or will the lineup bring new gamers to the fold?

Kanye West a gamer?

2009-02-10T15:15:00.000-08:00

Kanye West has a blog, written by himself or ghost writer would be a guess, but the posts are all to do with fashionable clothes, music, architecture, women, and an occasional video game trailer. The trailer was none other, Final Fantasy XIII. Is Kanye a gamer?

Who knows, he has posted a Pac Man Couture fashion show, a Wipeout Chair, an LED Clock Shelf (to hold your games of course), a Complex Q&A with Soulja Boy, and a handful of women who had a hand in a female videogame roles. The list includes Angelina Jolie, Josie Maran, Krystal Forscutt, Michelle Merkin, and Maggie Q. All these ladies had parts in Tomb Raider, Need For Speed Series and Perfect Dark.

There is no concrete evidence that Kanye is a gamer, but posting a much anticipated JRPG trailer on his blog may be a sign. His fans comments were mixed;

"Kanye, why are you fronting like you like video games, man?"

"ye! i didn't know you got down like that!"

"DO YOU EVEN GAME LIKE THAT YE? OR DID IT JUST LOOK COOL TO YOU? this
game is going to change the gaming world how you changed the music
world."

Is it a sign of the times that videogames have gone mainstream? All those kids who played FFVII have all grown to be adults and their love of videogames would have to seep through. For Kanye, it was his posting of FFXIII that outed him.

Killzone 2 Demo code for North America FREE

2009-02-05T14:56:00.000-08:00

Just describe in the comments on why you deserve the Gamestop demo code.

Best response gets the KZ2 beta code courtesy of LGs. The code is redeemable on the Sony PS3 Network or PSN.

Update. The contest ends 10PM PST Time. The one code will be sent to the winner at 9AM PST on Friday the 6th.

Thank you.

NPD Top Five Selling Games for 2008

2009-01-20T15:24:00.000-08:00

NPD List;

Top-Selling Games In The U.S. For 2008

(All versions combined. Units in millions)
1. Wii Play 5.28
2. Madden NFL ‘09 5.25
3. Grand Theft Auto IV 5.22
4. Mario Kart w/ Wheel 5.00
5. Call of Duty: World at War 4.63

One interesting note, all of the top five form a different outlook on how to sell a videogame;

1. Mini games bundled with an extra controller
2. Multi-SKU(NO PC)with Special Edition and a Spanish Edition of a long running sports franchise
3. HD Multi SKU Sequel from popular developer
4. Exclusive sequel with a peripheral
5. HD Multi SKU sequel of a popular fps franchise

MEGATON News: Palermo back on, says Maradona

2009-01-20T13:52:00.000-08:00

Ten years after failing to convert three penalty shots during a 1999 Copa America match versus Chile, Palermo "está entre los seleccionables" (translation: El Loco in the AFA pool of players). Martin Palermo achieved cult status among Boca Junior's "12th column" after scoring twice against Real Madrid during the now defunct, replaced by FIFA Club World Cup, Intercontinental Cup final in 2000. Maradona has confirmed that Palermo is on an impressive list of Argentine players if he would return to form after his eight month injury layoff.

via Terra

I have embed the video, since Terra had not....ciao!

NPD Videogame Sales Numbers for December 2008

2009-01-15T15:58:00.000-08:00

Video game sales grew 19 percent, from 2007 to 2008, at $21.3 billion, according to NPD group.

2008 Dec
Hardware sales

PS2 410K
PS3 726K
PSP 1.02M
X360 1.44M
Wii 2.15M
DS 3.04M

Top 10 software sales

WII PLAY W/ REMOTE 1.46M
360 CALL OF DUTY: WORLD AT WAR 1.33M
WII FIT W/ BALANCE BOARD 999K
WII MARIO KART W/ WHEEL 878K
WII GUITAR HERO WORLD TOUR 859K
360 GEARS OF WAR 2 745K
360 LEFT 4 DEAD 629K
NDS MARIO KART 540K
PS3 CALL OF DUTY: WORLD AT WAR 533K
WII ANIMAL CROSSING: CITY FOLK 497K

Dec 2007
Hardware sales

* NDS: 2,470,000
* Wii: 1,350,000
* 360: 1,260,000
* PS2: 1,100,000
* PSP: 1,060,000
* PS3: 797,600

Top 10 software sales

1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (360) 1.47 Million
2. Mario Galaxy (Wii) 1.40 Million
3. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (PS2) 1.25 Million
4. Wii Play (Wii) 1.08 Million
5. Assassin’s Creed (360) 893.7 K
6. Halo 3 (360) 742.7 K
7. Brain Age 2 (NDS) 659.5 K
8. Madden 08 (PS2) 655.2 K
9. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (360) 624.6 K
10. Mario and Sonic: Olympic Games (Wii) 613.0 K
11. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (PS3) [500K - 613K]
12. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock* (Wii) >500K
13. Rock Band* (Xbox 360) [463K]
14. New Super Mario Bros. (DS) [401K - 500K]
15. Mario Party 8 (Wii) [401K - 500K]
16. Assassin's Creed* (PS3) [401K - 500K]
17. Mass Effect* (Xbox 360) 401K
18. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS) [385.7K - 401K]
19. Madden NFL 08 (Xbox 360) [385.7K - 401K]
20. Mario Party DS (DS) 385.7K

* Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Wii) >500k
* Mass Effect (Xbox 360) 401,000
* Mario Party DS (DS) 385,700
* Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles (Wii) 147,600
* Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings (DS) 117,200
* Half-Life 2: The Orange Box (PS3) 56,500
* Nights: Journey of Dreams (Wii) 60,800
* TimeShift (PS3) 25,000
* PS3 Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune - 206,000
* 360 Rock Band - 463,000
* PS3 Rock Band - 174,000

Meet The Chicanator! From EA Burnout Paradise

2009-01-09T14:09:00.000-08:00

Criterion has finally announced the remaining cars from the Burnout Paradise Legendary Cars pack. Rounding out the list, is the cleverly named, Calvary Bootlegger an homage to The Chicanator. But what the hell is a Chicanator, one might ask, since Spanish is not known to all.

A Mexican White Bullanator would have a better ring!

At first, I thought it was Chicana - tor, a Chicano(a) is someone of Mexican descent but born and raised in the United States, especially from the West and Southwest regions of the country. But why would Criterion name a car that is a knock off the famous Dukes of Hazard 69-70 Dodge Charger, General Lee, The Chicanator (The Confederate flag is replaced with the Mexican one). I know, the car is named the Calvary Bootlegger but what the hell is The Chicanator, a fictional tv character in who drinks and drives, slaps chicas asses, and saves Paradise City from a white haired industrialist?

Maybe it is not Chicana, but Chica. What does Chica mean, it can have different definitions, chica can be reffered as; girl, young women, or plural, darling, maid or to describe something as small or tiny. The most probable definition of The Chicanator is The PussyWagon or The Babenator (Babenator does not work, needs more syllables). So are all Mexicans, who generally buy American automobiles, a stereotypical chauvinistic macho women hungry man who also bootlegs liquor? The only bootleggers that exist currently in Mexico are the ones who create the illegal pulque, similiar to moonshine, makers are so poor, they have a burro rather than a Dodge...

I have a few better ideas for The Chicanator. How about a different homage, maybe a factual person like The Shermanator, named after the other famous General of the Civil War General Tecumseh Sherman, painted navy Federal blue and grey with Old Glory on her roof because if the car was named General Grant it would be an uproar. Or not. Too insensitive to our Southern compartriots.

The Chicanator will just fly over the heads of everyone else, Mexicans and Women gamers will not even know, heck, do latinos or women even buy HD games, or do they just play the Wii? What about a famous Mexican general, El Zapata, El Pancho Villa or even better, General Santa Anna, with some awesome hydrolics and a horn that plays a the famous mariachi song, Las Mananitas or El Rey, and painted green or red?

My favorite name, I came up before I typed this raving blog post, El Chonchanator or El Luchadore. I just can not decide!

Entry to Shawn Eliott's Symposium: Review Scores

2008-12-18T16:14:00.000-08:00

My entry to Shawn Eliott's Symposium: Review Scores

What does one of the "normal" people (as Dan Hsu describes us) feel about review scores? From someone who has read reviews since 1989 for purchasing decisions to now, my attitude has changed

At first, review scores have become the litmus test of a game that I am on the fence about or now nothing of. I want a review to answer the questions of a cynic, a skeptic or just a confused gamer if the game is worth one's time. It is especially true for sequels, sports games and now, all those Activision games that get once a year treatment.

Reviews are no longer the only source that influences my purchasing decision, I often listen to podcasts, the vidcasts, demos and/or follow the "buzz." Even previews have time to time influenced a decision, just recently, Shawn Elliott's Far Cry 2 preview spark an enough interest to buy the game. Stephen Totilo's daily dairies have become like a book club, as I play similar games, for example, I experience the same frustrations that Stephen faced in Dead Space.

Reviews will never go away, as Dan Hsu points out, "It’s ingrained in society and it’s pointless and stubborn to fight it. People don’t always have time to read a 2000-word, well-crafted review to get inside the brain of the reviewer. For most folks in this short-attention-span world, that “4 out of 10” usually says more than enough." The problem with Review Scores are not the scores themselves, but the fact that one person can never review the bulk of weekly game, as Roger Ebert does with the movies he watches for the Chicago Tribune. The last point is better reserve for the next topics.

Burnout Paradise Ultimate Box PC February 09 Release

2008-12-06T09:55:00.000-08:00

"Just when I thought I was out, THEY PULL ME BACK IN!"

EA and Criterion have announced the release date of Burnout Paradise for the PC arriving in February 09. EA has a checkered past with DRM issues, Crysis Warhead, Dead Space, Red Alert 3 and Spore. Criterion's Alex Ward once claimed they will never do PC games and its overclockign shenanigans. With Burnout PC, they seem to be moving away from DRM.

With Burnout Paradise, EA and Criterion will be distributing the a trial version for free, with a limited time demo all of Paradise City has to offer (download and dvd disc). To purchase the full content, EA and Criterion have attached an ingame store, with a few clicks the trial version unlocks to the full retail game. Details are limited, as the ingame store will be fully revealed in an upcoming CrashTV Episode.

Are PC gamers going to be pulled into Burnout Paradise, a year after its console release? Has EA learn its on how to properly handle consumers and DRM?

Call of Duty: World at War

2008-11-28T21:18:00.001-08:00

Treyarch's Call of Duty: World at War is the next installment of the successful first person series and sequel to last year mutli-million seller COD 4 Modern Warfare. WaW returns to the battlefields of World War 2 with two new theaters of war, the American invasion of the outlying islands of the Japanese Empire and the Soviet Union invasion and defeat of Nazi forces in Germany. As much as the publisher, Activision, leads us to believe, WaW remains to be the same 'war' with only updated visuals, an uninspired world war two atmosphere and tired gameplay.

More of the same

In WaW there are two campaigns, the American invasion of the Japanese islands and the Soviet Union march to Berlin with each portraying war as a necessary method to eradicate evil. The portrayal of the Japanese soldiers are one of the changes in WaW. In previous COD games knife and melee attacks only occurred in close combat scenarios or when the player would rush to positioned enemies' stationary positions. Now, the Japanese soldiers are trained to do suicidal 'bonzai' bayonet attacks. After a successful knock down, the player has one to two seconds to execute a counter by pressing down on the right analog stick. The 'bonzai attacks' become so frequent it play as cheap gimmick rather than innovate design.

Another new wrinkle is powered by the amazing rendered foliage as seen in Modern Warfare, however, WaW allows only the enemy A.I. to take advantage of the environmental cover. Japanese fighters will cover in trees, hide as dead soldiers, and lay in grass. Never do they flank, advance to better cover or show any other type of A.I. behavior.

The Soviet Union campaign is more of the same as previous COD games. A sniper mission. Check. Street fighting. Check. A tank mission. Check. The tank episode actually was enjoyable and captured the 'total war' atmosphere games strive to reach. There was multiple infantry, other enemy tanks, and a continuous battle, the level was a breath of freshness. Unfortunately, there are multiple levels tread the same areas tried and done from the COD franchise.

As a now veteran of five call of duties, WaW is not the best, MW is, nor the worst tour, COD3 is. World at War at its best, becomes the frankenstein monster experience, made from the best and worse gameplay pieces of previous entries searching for a soul.

Two out of Five stars.

Watchmen Trailer...I am still on the fence

2008-11-13T20:33:00.000-08:00

Alan Moore's Watchmen is perfect as graphic novel, and the movie seems to be just a rip off.

Well here is the trailer...

River y Chivas: Simeone is fired

2008-11-07T11:16:00.000-08:00

The River defeat against the mexican club Chivas, the loss to Boca Juniors and at the bottom del Apertura, Simeone is fired during its worse tour in years.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Diego "Hand of God" Maradona to head the Argentine National Football Team NO JOKE

2008-10-28T15:45:00.000-07:00

I am in utter disbelief...not sure to laugh manically or call the token "che" to ask for his opinion. Carlos Bilardo is to be included on the coaching staff, but still this reeks of desperation.

UPDATE

Just talked to my token "che" friend, he dropped the phone...and cut his wrists....

From Reuters Soccer Blog

Little Big Planet Beta Code; I have one to share for one lucky poster

2008-09-29T14:31:00.000-07:00

Just describe in the comments on why you deserve to be in the Little Big Planet Beta before the game hits retail.

Best response gets the LBP beta code courtesy of LGs.

Update. The contest ends 10PM PST Time. The one code will be sent to the winner at 9AM PST on Thursday Oct 2.

Thank you.

kanYe West : Blog##

2008-09-16T10:53:00.001-07:00

kanYe West : Blog##

Posted using ShareThis

Messi fullfills his dream; Maradona in tears...

2008-08-01T08:32:00.000-07:00

Not only has Messi, arguably one of the best players of the world, joined his Olympic teamates in Peking. Today he was announced as the cover athlete for Konami's highest selling sports title, PES 2009. Instead of shelling out for the best player of each region, as EA does for their FIFA series, signing the Messi is the way to go.

Maradona is in tears, he was never a cover boy athlete...
Press realase

PES 2009 gets Messi

Argentinean forward announced as the pan-European face of PES 2009

Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH has announced that Argentinean forward Lionel Messi is to be the face of its forthcoming PES 2009 title for PLAYSTATION®3, Xbox 360, PC-DVD, PlayStation®2, and PSP® (PlayStation®Portable), Wii and mobile phones across Europe.

Messi is one of the most exciting and paciest forwards in the modern game, and is an ever-present in both the Argentinean national side and for his club side, FC Barcelona. Having played for Argentinean sides since he was five, Messi moved to Barcelona when he was just 13,13 working his way through the CatalanFC Barcelona side’s youth and reserve teams, before making his full debut in October 2004 as the youngest player ever to play in the Spanish top flight. He made his debut for Argentina against Hungary in 2005, and has been a permanent member of the squad ever since.

As part of the new agreement, Lionel Messi will grace the box of all versions of PES 2009 when it is released later this year, and will also feature in promotional materials for the game. PES 2009 is the latest installment of the award-winning Pro Evolution Soccer Series, and will boast a wealth of extensive new additions to enhance the series’ reputation as the most realistic football game available. The new game enjoys a stunning graphical update wherein its players look and identically to their real-life counterparts, while new moves, innovative control elements and key online enhancements will further the realism of the new game.

“Most modern players are aware of the realism and skill of the PES series,” commented Messi on the deal. “It is a game that truly mirrors the pace and control of real football, and as a die-hard fan of the series, I am delighted to be working with Konami on the latest version.”

“Lionel Messi is an incredibly exciting player, and one who enjoys a world-wide reputation for skill, pace and all-round ability,” commented Jon Murphy, PES European Team Leader for Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH. “As such, he is the ideal player to front PES 2009, and his enthusiasm for the new game is certain to shine as we work closely together in the promotion of what will be the most advanced PES title to date.”

Konami will be announcing further enhancements and player contributions to PES 2009 in the coming weeks.

PES 2009 will be released for PLAYSTATION®3, Xbox 360, PC-DVD, PlayStation 2, and PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) and mobile phones in Autumn, and for Wii in Spring 2009. For more information, please contact…

All copyrights or trademarks are the property of their respective owners and are used under license.
© 2008 Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd.

EA announces Madden NFL 09 for the spanish speaking audience

2008-07-29T16:38:00.000-07:00

If you want the collectors edition, you may want to learn how to read english...
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Memo Ochoa linked to an EPL transfer

2008-07-29T16:31:00.000-07:00

Everton is the rumored team, not sure on how Tim Howard will feel. Cause like Mexicans and Americans can not get along...
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Memo Ochoa FIFA 09 Cover athlete....again

2008-07-29T10:51:00.001-07:00

My aunt, the aguilas fan she is, asked, "Do you think he is sexier in a suit or in a jersey?"

gah!

I guess she has not seen Beckham's bulge...

Sven Goran Eriksson Alert!

2008-07-29T10:51:00.000-07:00

Please apply sun block on face and body. Thanks!

via monterrey.theoffside.com

Eto'o recent impressive play might make him stay

2008-07-28T16:55:00.000-07:00

Could Eto'o find his goal scoring form from previous seasons to aid Barca's run to topple over Real Madrid?

Fans surely remember his perceived cowardice in drawing a yellow in a match before the rivals Real Madrid. We will all forget his faults after a few scores and brilliant play.
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Top PC Games that I want to play NOW!!!

2008-07-28T16:38:00.000-07:00

Left4 Dead
Think Half Life 2 zombie levels with co-op, a must play!

Spore
From the creator of sims, Will Wright, need I say more?

Fallout 3
A Bethesda's game that is not Elder Scrolls, first in-game character birth, insert your own cliche excitement here!
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Soul Calibur IV

2008-07-28T15:16:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow our souls will burn.

If there ever was a fighting series that promoted button smashing over finesse skilled play, it is Soul Calibur. Of course there is that stigma around the title, gamers shelling out hard earn dollars for "arcade" quality joysticks. Soul Calibur is a mainstream game, as Dead or Alive, anyone can jump right in and start playing laying out combos randomly. The payoff is wonderful, my niece can pass the story mode of DOA4 with every character, and the create your fighter feature in SC4 has piqued her interest. Tomorrow will be a fun day, but the true casual test will be on Saturday, when the whole family will be fighting for their own soul calibur.
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Violence in Sports

2008-07-22T22:45:00.001-07:00

Another sad day for sports, as violent scuffle broke out between two WNBA teams. Detroit Shock and LA Sparks players and coaches exchange pushes and shoves, as a Detroit assistant coach, Rick Mahorn, pushes star forward Lisa Leslie to the court floor.

Ronnie joins Brazil in Peking

2008-07-16T09:36:00.001-07:00

Ronaldinho will be joining with the under 23 Olympic squadmates for the August games. The decision came from his new club AC Milan who earlier this year said no to Kaka's olympic wish.
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Generation Kill; an HBO Miniseries

2008-07-15T23:15:00.000-07:00

Generation Kill a book written by Rolling Stone journalist Evan Wright has been adopted to television by the creators of the Wire, David Simon and Ed Burns. The series will adapt the award winning book, chronicling the events of his time with the 1st Reconnaisance Battalion during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Evan Wright's story with the US Marines was originally in Rolling Stone. The award winning articles and book will be the backbone for the HBO Miniseries airing every Sunday.

Ronaldinho accepted AC Milan contract

2008-07-15T14:52:00.001-07:00

Rumors ahoy, Ronaldinho has agreed with AC Milan regarding the players contract, time will tell if Barca accepts the transfer bid.
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Maradona sera abuelo del hijo Sergio "Kun" Aguero

2008-07-15T08:38:00.001-07:00

Chalk it up as a rumor, but the grandson of the "10" being fathered by Argentina's star in the making is ludicrous and crazy.
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E3 08: Microsoft best foot forward

2008-07-14T22:26:00.000-07:00

Today at the Los Angeles Convention Center, Microsoft showed off their blockbusters, family initiative, a 3d avatar with a new user interface, music must haves, arcade exclusives and the closest guarded secret that MS ever held.

Don Mattrick, in the middle of MS E3 conference, boasted, "the 360 will outsell the PS3 this generation." For North America, it will be point less to argue, that the PS3 will one day catch up to the Xbox 360 or even the Wii.

The blockbuster lineup consisted of two multi platform and two exclusive games being released in the fiscal 08 calendar. Resident Evil 5 and Fallout 3 were both demoed with live gameplay, showing off RE5 co-op play over xbox live and F3 showcased a bleak Washington DC. Fallout 3 will have exclusive downloadable content.

The two exclusive xbox 360 titles were Peter Molyneux's and Cliff Blezinski's, Fable 2 and Gears of War 2, respectively. Fable 2 impressed the crowd with an impressive co-op functionality, allowing a player to invite a friend to their world for questing, dungeons, or to hang out in the player created world. Peter claims Fable will innovate co-op play by allowing players to have their own unique world and to be able to invite friends without lobbies to any player at any point of the Fable 2story. Gears of War 2 co-op demo showed the already scene, meat shields, and brumak fight but announced a new five player co-op mode named "Horde." The mode will allow five players to team up against wave after wave of enemies.

The family strategy laid out by MS, included a new partnership with NBC/Universal as well as with MGM and Constantine to bring video content to North American and other regions of the world. Nintendo Mii's brought the family in to creating avatars of family, friends and even neighbors, MS hopes to bring that same mania with Avatars, a 3D model that will be implemented through a new dashboard or user interface this fall. Avatars will be used in family friendly game, Scene It? Box Office Smash and a new MS "Primetime" channel or portal.

The dashboard update will include new "Live Party," a mode currently used in select console titles and available on the PC. The Live Party will be up to 8 players, who can voice chat, launch certain multiplayer titles, basically a shared experience while playing games.

The biggest surprise of the conference, Square Enix announced, that one thought it would happen, Final Fantasy XII went multiplatform via the GDC announced Crystal Tool Software. The change, explained in a later Q&A session, is based on hardware numbers per region. Japan will see a small exclusive window via the PS3, with North America release seeing the Xbox 360 and PS3 launch on the same day and date.

Final Fantasy 13 coming to the XBOX 360

2008-07-14T12:07:00.001-07:00

Oh my god
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Iker Casillas the next Lev Yashin

2008-07-11T11:05:00.000-07:00

It is that time of year, where le creme de la creme of footballers are being penned to be the next winner of the Ballon d'Or award. The highly coveted award, rivaled only by FIFA Player of the Year, is being pursued by Cristiano Ronaldo, Iker Casillas, Leonel Messi and Fernando Torres.

If I was to vote, which one day may occur (probably not) I would cast ny ballot as Casillas to be first followed by Ronaldo, Torres and Messi.

It was the play and marvelous goaltending of Casillas that ended a long drought of under performing at the major football men events. Always being sent home early in the past World Cups, after dominating the opening round, Spain were vexed long enough by winning Euro Cup 2008.

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Olympics 2008: Messi is a go

2008-07-11T10:25:00.000-07:00

Messi and AFA, can now breathe a sigh of relief, as FIFA assured, that all players under 23 years (Messi is 20) are obliged to play if they are selected. La Pulga has been has won one youth World Cup, and is eager to add the Olympic gold to his growing trophy case.
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Eriksson address Mexican Press and Fans; World Cup or bust, presents his assistants

2008-07-10T23:31:00.000-07:00

Sven Goran Eriksson presented his group of assistant coach and medical staff in a conference addressing the media and ultimately the fans of the Mexican National Team. The Swede and former England coach has his first match on August 20th against Honduras, a team known for upsetting Brazil in Copa America 2001, believes Mexico is the better team. Eriksson explains, "I think that qualifying for the World Cup is an obligation for Mexico, without doubt," but with only three days for prep, "It's not ideal, but it's reality, we have to do it that way and that's the end of it."

There was no answer in regards to using Mexican nationalized foreigners for the national team, the Swede is not even sure what format they will take field with, or with what style, until he has spoken to the players.

"I feel that Mexico have a strong team and we won't have trouble adapting." There may be Big Trouble in Mexico City if the Mexican National team continues to play poorly. Only time will tell if the European direction via Eriksson will influence the Mexican players.

FIFA World Cup 2010 in the USA?

2008-07-10T16:17:00.000-07:00

How awesome would that be? Suck of the hundred thousands of South Africans who may have attended the games, but as an American I would love to have the finals here.
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Ronaldinho says Si Si, Barca No No, Messi ok ok

2008-07-10T15:59:00.000-07:00

The Brazilian olympic turmoil turn to a expected area, Ronaldinho wants to go to China and play for the selecao. Ronnie is quoted by the spanish Marca, " I only imagine playing at Olympic games, playing well and winning the gold medal.". As Barca has asked all of their players to report to training camp ready for the 2008/2009 season.

Leonel Messi, star player for Barca and Argentina is expected to be in Pekin and will miss the first weeks of August. Messi wants to play, and believes there will be no issue with the club.

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Too Human, Denis Dyack, Bringing it Home E3

2008-07-10T10:53:00.003-07:00

With only a few weeks for the release of the highly anticipated Action RPG Shooter, Too Human, today was the announcement of a demo to be on XBL. Microsoft's Bringing it Home E3, in the past has conisted of videos, vidocs, demos, and trailers for all the software shown at E3 available with a simple download interface via Xbox Live.

The demo of Too Human completes Denis Dyack's goal of world domination, err, to reach out to gamers without the Neogaf snark filter. Xbox live users love their demos, and is arguably a great way to get the game out to gamers who do not get all of game info from the Gaming Press or Gaming Forums. Bioshock is prime example, of how a demo, increased awareness before its release.

Is Too Human this year's Bioshock? Besides being released in August, offering replayability and offering a story besides "the bald space marine", action RPG's can be hit or miss. Action games this year have been lacking in sales as well, Devil May Cry 4 and Ninja Gaiden 2 have been critically thrashed for its unchanging and unevolving gameplay.

During the week of Denis laying out his, For or Agaisnt NeoGaf Post, I sent a few words of encouragement to Denis, that I would play Too Human before jumping on the hate or love bandwagon. He replied,

Denis Dyack
still figuring it out
(06-27-2008, 06:52 AM)
Reply | Quote
Fwd Re: Your "Pepsi Challenge" #
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Originally Posted by dasupremeone:
Hi Denis,

Your "Pepsi Challenge" while foolish to some, is an admirable one under the circumstances of how the internet may fuel the fire of a "bad word of mouth." I will take your "Pepsi Challenge," but the issue is, I do not own a 360. I can be your "guinea pig" and play the game without any fanboy influences, and I also can vouch that I do not have a predetermine "for" or "agaisnt" vote on Too Human. I can also post on my blog, "latinogamer.blogspot.com" my impressions of the game. Let me know what you think? I can probably borrow a friend's console, all I would need from you would be a copy of the game. Heck, send me a 360 and two copies, I can verify the co-op as well.

Ciao

Juan

Hi Juan,

Thanks for writing. The fact that you want to wait to play before making a call is the right thing to do and is actually one of the points of the thread. It is a fools challenge otherwise. :) Please try the game when you get a chance and write me with your impressions. I would love to hear them.

Best regards,
Denis

It is odd that a major head game developer would respond to the fans. Does Speilberg, Del Toro, respond to fans before a movie is released? Or even listen to critiques before the movie is edited? It just shows that Denis is a gamer at heart, and is making games for the end gamer in mind, and not just for the "dollar dollar bill yall."

Team Fortress 2; Heavy Weapons Pack

2008-07-10T10:53:00.002-07:00

At the Team Fortress 2 blog, Valve has opened their pandoras box when it comes to creating the new weapon class packs. The Medic and Pyro both received boosts, which makes them more viable in offesnsive and defensive situations. Next up, is the Heavy Class, which is a considered a defensive class, with Valve asking what one can add to the class without unbalancing the game. What can the heavy use, without entroaching on other class abilities?

I came up with three weapons.
1. Brass knuckles, critical hits when hit from behind or side.
2. Saw Off Shotgun, bullets have a spray shot effect.
3. Minigun with nuclear bullets, have an effect of bouncing incoming enemies back, no crits.

An added weapon to included the already upgraded ones, would be a riot shield. This will enable the heavy to push forward and give cover to teammates. The riot shield witll asorb damage buil can detoriate over time. So a charge field can be implemented or can only be used once during a life.

National Endowment of Arts "Big Read"

2008-07-10T10:53:00.001-07:00

There has a been string of posts in regards to NEA Big Read program. In a nutshell, they believe that the american adult reader will read on an average of 6 books in their lifetime from the list of 100 books provided.

Many of these books were read during my high school years, and with only a few from college. In college, it seems I read more essays on literature rather literature itself. I also majored in History…trying to minor in Film Appreciation.

The bold only selections are books that I have read, italicized selections are movie/cartoon adaptations I have seen, and bold/italicized means that I have done both. There are some of the selections that I have played them on a gaming console/pc. Coming up soon, will be the list of the top 100 films of North America. How well did you do, with your summer required reading

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Favorite Games of Mid 2008

2008-07-10T10:53:00.000-07:00

In no particular order;

Patapon

Pon Pon Pata Pon
Metal Gear Solid 4

BROTHER! LIQUID!

Grand Theft Auto 4

I kill people, I smuggle people
UEFA Euro 2008

GOAAAAAAAAAAL
Mario Kart Wii

Aww Crap, blue shell!

All of the games chosen were played to completion or enjoyed hours of co-op play with friends and family

Omitted games were either briefly demoed or never finish the game to completion, for example, Super Smash Bros and Devil May Cry 4. I played a bit of Super Smash Bros and Wii Fit at GDC San Francisco, and I never completed Devil May Cry 4.

I am a hobbyist, do not have access to all the games.

Top Five Games of mid 2008

2008-07-09T16:44:00.000-07:00

In no particular order

Patapon
Metal Gear Solid 4
Grand Theft Auto 4
Uefa Euro 2008
Mario Kart Wii

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Patapon 2

2008-07-09T09:52:00.001-07:00

Patapon's effective rhythm game mix with light RPG elements, made Sony ' a little game that could' a hit. From the magazine, Famitsu, the scanned images show huge bosses, five classes deployable, new classes and a flying mount. There will be multiplayer modes, the possibility of fighting friends' other patapons is just tantalizing.

Patapon made forty hours of my commuting time enjoyable and addicting.

Set to release in Japan in December, hopefully Patapon 2 will hit state side soon after.
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Robinho and Ronaldinho heading to the Olympics.

2008-07-07T16:00:00.001-07:00

Brazil's bid for Olympic Gold is now being pursue by Robinho and Ronaldinho. The Men's Olympic Football Tournament starts in August and will be arguably favor to win the gold. For Brazil, they will need to gear the players into match fitness in hope that their magic returns for the tournament.
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Brazilian footballer, Kaka, leaving Milan...

2008-07-07T09:34:00.001-07:00

The rumor mill is being blown strong winds of Chelsea offering an "astronomical" price for Kaka. He is worth it, as he is last years recipient of both the Ballon d'Or and FIFA Player of the Year awards. Kaka would be following his once coach and teammate, Scolari and Shevchenko to Stamford Bridge. The source is non other AC Milan vice president Adriano Galliani.

Currently, The Blues, are denying the claim from Galliani.

Why would Milan lay the string to selling their current play maker and star? Is the financial debt the concern for the Milan corporate office, as they are out of the Champions League in the coming fiscal year, with no additional revenue from the europe tourney, what is Kaka worth to them? Remember, it is World Cup qualifications for the next year, should they sell, in hopes Kaka does not get injured during their payroll?

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Argentina Futbol en route Beijing

2008-07-03T10:43:00.001-07:00

It is no surprise that AFA takes their winning titles seriously. It has been a sour spot that the Argentina Men's National team have not won a major title since Copa America 2003 with their 2 to 1 victory over Mexico. Even leading ELO Fifa Rankings for months, only to fall down five rankings to six.

Argentina's recent championships come from their youthful exploits in the FIFA U - 20 World Cup, of the three titles from came from the tutoring of Jose Pekermen. The two recent titles came from the two Maradona's to be, Messi and Arguero, in the 2005 and 2007, respectively.

With the Olympics in the horizon, as being defending champs from Athens 04, Argentina will be boasting a team of past youth champs. The trio is made of past youth champs of Juan Roman Riquelme, Lionel Messi and Sergio "Kun" Arguero, all once pegged by the crazed Argentine media to be successors of Diego.

Is it enough, with another Olympic victory being very likely, to satisfy their home front of fans? Can this Olympic be a preview of an Argentine team that can lift the World Cup in South Africa?

Spain's Fifa ranking jump as along with other European teams was expected because of the nature of the ranking system. The top mover was Russia who jumped 13 spots. The Fifa rankings are just a meter of the better played teams of the past four years at best, at worse, it is used to justify which national country is the best.
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French Coach keeps job after disastrous Uefa Euro 2008

2008-07-03T09:50:00.001-07:00

Raymond Domenech is still in the for the French National team. After a failed attempt to reach the second round of the UEFA UERO 2008, Domenech will keep his job. The French gamble with this decision, as the national team seems to be always titterring away from the great form they had in the World Cup 2006. Without a Zidane or a Plantini in the horizon, can the french afford the risk.

So when is Zidane's oldest son turning pro?
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Ronaldinho to Man City...

2008-07-03T09:37:00.001-07:00

FC Barca and Brazilian champ, Ronaldinho, is still being persuaded by Man City officials. Man City is seeking to qualify for an Euro Tourney, with transfer record signing of the twenty one year old Brazilian Jo. Man City is hopeful that two time FIFA Player of the year, will make a move to the Eastlands.
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Soulcalibur XBLA

2008-07-02T15:53:00.001-07:00

Soulcalibur has been re-released for the X-Box 360. Instead of downloading, spending space points and hound my cousin to step away UEFA 2008, I decide to reminisce. Back in the day, this is still relevant, day one console buyers had a to have a go to game at release. For the Sega Dreamcast it came as Namco's blade fighter, Soulcalibur.

Namco's lesser known Souledge (Soulblade in NA) looked and at times played like a Virtual Fighter. Soulcalibur branched away from those roots by included a free run allowing the player to go any eight ways by holding the joystick in any direction.

Combos were easy to learn, and with leniency on the buffering of moves, any casual could pull crazy combos on gaming veterans. Soulcalibur became the game to play when showing off your imported Dreamcast or whooping your cousin who lived and died by Virtual Fighter.

Widely considered to be the Dreamcast's killer app, as also receiving perfect scores from Famitsu, IGN and Gamespot. The release will pull your strings on nostalgia at best, but for new xbox live players, they may fill cheated and disappointed without any 2008 gaming make overs of online vs mode, wide screen hi res 720p(black bars with the 4:3 ratio). The original should of been included on the upcoming Soulcalibur 4.
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Ciao Deco, FC Barca parts way, Stamford Bridge bound

2008-06-30T23:18:00.000-07:00

Frenemies? John Terry and Deco jostling for the ball...

Can Deco fill the playmaking void that Chelsea suffered after the Arjen Robben departure? Can Ballack and Deco co-exist in the same midfield? What type of stucture will the Chelsea coach, Scolari, implement at the Stamford Bridge?

The Premeirship is only getting better and better with all these fabolous new signings...

Eagle Eye and Portal may have something in common

2008-06-30T14:52:00.000-07:00

Might be a bit of a stretch, but Valve's Portal famous villain GLaDoS who leads players to a certain doom sounds very familiar to the Shia Lebouf movie, Eagle Eye. The woman on the phone, leads Shia's character through similar obstacles in last weekends premier trailer.

Will post comparison videos...
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"We are every where"

UEFA UERO 2008 Game Video

2008-06-30T14:31:00.001-07:00

How awesome is this Henry gol? So awesome

EA SPORTS™ Football World: FRANCE - GERMANY 2 - 0

Latino Gamer for the Masses

Hanna Movie Review

Sony does owe us for the PSN malfunction

Buitiful movie review

Mexican state legislature moves to ban barely announced video game

Call of Juarez: Cartel controversy

Minorities are rarely featured video game characters

El Crítico

Dead Space 2 Ad Campaign of Fisting Mothers

Jersey Shore Season 3 Episode 2 Of I'll Pound You

Goal of the year and possibly the decade

Jersey Shore Season 3: Book of Proverbs Episode 1

San Francisco Auto-Show 2010

Cholula's Hot Sauce Review

SF Auto Show Range Rover

Lucha Libre AAA: Héroes del Ring Review

Video Game Law, Manga, the Taliban and Nazis

A Halo History

Six Video Game Titles to Budget for Holiday release

Machete Review: A Long, Hard and Cold Federale

Madden and Me

Mass Appeal in Video-games

Irrational's Ken Levine on Bioshock Infinite

Chivas on the cusp of Futbol History

I'm Back

FIFA World Cup 2010 South Africa Group A Preview

Assassin's Creed 2 Hispanic Market Campaign

Singstar Latino info right here....

Tiger Woods and EA Sports dire relationship

FIFA 10 UK Cover Athletes

Battle in LA; Beckham vs the fans

OP-ED; UFC vs EA Sports

Fight Night Round 4 Review

Fight Night Round 4 Review of some sorts

David Villa to sign with Barca

A Hero's Welcome, Ronaldo packs the Bernebau

Giuseppe Rossi, super sub, scores twice in Confedarations Cup 2009

David Villa to sign with Real Madrid

C Ronaldo to Real Madrid

Barca, Masche, Transfer Drama, oh my!

Dante's Inferno Critique too harsh...

Brazil's playmaker Kaka to leave AC Milan for Real Madrid

Where's my SOUL; Rock Band and Guitar Hero franchise off a step

Left 4 Dead 2, Valve and the Tale of Two IPs

Grand Theft Auto goes Latino...Why?

EA Sports Active; burning for a better beach body

A Daisy of a game; Sega brings pilates to the Wii

God of War 3 Top Five Gods that should be featured!

Demilitarized Killzone; Five changes for Guerrilla to fix KZ2 multiplayer

Top 7 Non Sony Game Series that should be on PSN

SCEA announces 2009 Lineup for PS3

Kanye West a gamer?

Killzone 2 Demo code for North America **FREE**

NPD Top Five Selling Games for 2008

MEGATON News: Palermo back on, says Maradona

NPD Videogame Sales Numbers for December 2008

Meet The Chicanator! From EA Burnout Paradise

Entry to Shawn Eliott's Symposium: Review Scores

Burnout Paradise Ultimate Box PC February 09 Release

Call of Duty: World at War

Watchmen Trailer...I am still on the fence

River y Chivas: Simeone is fired

Diego "Hand of God" Maradona to head the Argentine National Football Team ***NO JOKE***

Little Big Planet Beta Code; I have one to share for one lucky poster

kanYe West : Blog##

Messi fullfills his dream; Maradona in tears...

EA announces Madden NFL 09 for the spanish speaking audience

Memo Ochoa linked to an EPL transfer

Memo Ochoa FIFA 09 Cover athlete....again

Sven Goran Eriksson Alert!

Eto'o recent impressive play might make him stay

Top PC Games that I want to play NOW!!!

Soul Calibur IV

Violence in Sports

Ronnie joins Brazil in Peking

Generation Kill; an HBO Miniseries

Ronaldinho accepted AC Milan contract

Maradona sera abuelo del hijo Sergio "Kun" Aguero

E3 08: Microsoft best foot forward

Final Fantasy 13 coming to the XBOX 360

Killzone 2 Demo code for North America FREE

Diego "Hand of God" Maradona to head the Argentine National Football Team NO JOKE