Now, when it comes to concept bands, it’s really hit or miss. But these guys hit it. They play epic rock-driven ballads, but have a lot of range to their songs – mixing it up with some different types. They’re from Nashville, Tennessee and took the Mega Man lore that already exists and mutated it in their songs to some dark dystopian future that is filled with sadness and robots.

They have two albums so far which encompass 2 ‘Acts’ of their story. The great part is, when listening to the songs, you really feel the story they’re trying to tell, even if it’s about a twisted Mega Man-verse.

Here’s a couple of their music videos, the first one for their song ‘Hope Rides Alone’ on their first self-titled Album. It’s dark, epic, and I think really gives a good example of their music in general.

Second is titled The Hounds and it’s from their second album, with plenty of up-beat fun.

Oh Dr. Light, if only you had ever known an awesome Rock Band would be singing tunes of you!

It’s a surprisingly great listen, check it out! You can stream their songs and even get some free downloads from their site here.

Over the top Handgun? Check.

It had a lot of hype behind it, being shown at Comic-con and receiving lots of buzz on the Internet. On top of that, it’s already been renewed for a 2nd season; two episodes into its broadcast. The basic gist is it’s a human drama that focuses on the interactions between people and how characters would react to a Zombie Apocalypse, while attempting to straddle realism and approach it in a serious fashion while the characters deal with something obviously unbelievable – a zombie invasion. They like to call them Walkers, but we all know what they are.

The first episode seriously smacks you in the face and doesn’t screw around, sitting at over an hour – it’s nearly a mini-movie filled with nervous excitement. The depth of the vileness to the zombies becomes apparent very shortly and you’ll realize that although some of them may get a little speed behind their strut, they are mostly classic zombies and not super-fast, adrenaline-pumped zombies that some of today’s new zombie movies have. That isn’t to say they can’t easily take you down, but it certainly is a step away from the super-zombies that have filled many of the new non-Romero zombie movies to greet the scene these days.

That aside, the characters are very well-fleshed, well-acted, and damn – you care about them… Whether you care about them in the sense you want them dead, you’re pissed at them, or you sympathize… The fact that the show can pull you in at all with such a over-the-top premise (when you boil it down), is commendable.

The action is also top-par. After meeting characters, getting some development, you’re driven straight into action. As you’re watching, the importance of the action soon becomes apparent that it is not the event – but the repercussions of the events that will matter, and you will find yourself in these moments of reflection quite frequently as the story unfolds in the Walking Dead, because it seems that the choices the characters make really do matter and truly do have repercussions, rather then being baseless character decisions that have no long term effects.

"Just one little kiss, it can't hurt."

The zombies also look AWESOME. They look horrifying, they’re falling apart, they’re scary, they pop out of no where, and when there’s a bunch of them – you share the characters urge to soil themselves. It’s important that your zombies don’t look like non-scary garbage when they are the main antagonist of the story, aside from the characters themselves. Whether they’re putrid, come in groups, make disgusting noises, or eating anything that’s fresh, they’re the walking embodiment of scary zombies. Also, I don’t say they’ll eat anything with a grain of salt. You’ll learn this the hard way.

We came into this weeks new episode with the conclusion of an epic cliff-hanger at the end of the first lengthy episode. I was worried, wondering, and hoping that the next episode would live up to the expectations created by the first, and it did not disappoint. With more fast past scenarios as we see our would-be walking salad bars attempt to diffuse a zombie-intense situation. We’re introduced to more characters both likable and scum buckets, and we’re left salivating for more.

I don’t want to get into specific details, but the show is superb. There’s already plenty of build-up in the drama and you forget that there’s just so much more for these characters to discover as they stumble across this hell of a landscape.

On a final note on characters, our main protagonist, is awesome. Andrew Lincoln plays Rick Grimes, our local zombie land Sheriff. He has a lot of emotion in his face and can push a lot, and you’re still just not sure what he’s capable of. I also hope to see Lenni James come back,  (Snatch, Jericho) as the guy has a lot of diversity and talent with added hilarity skills, so it’s welcome to see the possibility of his return later. Now keep in mind, I have not read the graphic novels at length.

With that being said, without needing knowledge of the graphic novels, this show is top quality. It has the signs of awesome character development, with an added bonus of characters that seem pretty interesting. Great music, production value, and obviously – the zombies. They are fantastic. If you’ve been avoiding Walking Dead due to the zombie craze, now is your chance to check it out – because it’s definitely worth it.

You can watch the entire first episode of the Walking Dead online, so aside from time – you really have no excuse to miss this baby. Check it out here.

[Pics 1 & 2]

The plot is this: 80 million years ago a Giant Octopus and Shark decided they hated each other, they were battling, and got frozen in some cold stuff that freezes them just perfect enough to thaw and be perfectly a-okay, So it’s Ice…I guess. They are released in the modern world and decide to run amok. Emma, our blond female protagonist, who is supposed to be oceanographer or something – is running around dangerously getting people involved in her carefree antics to get to the bottom of this. See, when they first release the creatures, they aren’t sure what they did – somehow – and then unexplained ocean-related disasters start occurring. This is the point where the greatest scene of all time happens. It can’t be explained with words, it’s short – watch.

“We’re getting married in two days.” I love how he just says that for absolutely no reason. But I digress…

As the plot attempts to unfold and our characters discover the horrifying truth of the beasts they have unleashed, we’re introduced to some more 2 dimensional characters and you realize very quickly that this movie was made to be a drinking game. That’s truly the only logical explanation, because if you aren’t getting more inebriated as the plot goes on – you may stumble as you attempt to actually latch onto something of any emotional value. That aside, it does deliver – somewhat – on what it promises. You get to see some terribly nonthreatening 3D creatures run amok across the world.

Soon, the worlds forces quickly realize that of course – conventional weaponry is no good against these beasts who are apparently immune to combustive explosives and shelling… They then come up with the clearly easy task of deciding to pit the beasts against each other hoping that it will result in some kind of beast celebrity death match.

Without completely revealing everything (ha ha) – you do finally get to see the beasts battle one on one while humans scurry about beneath them pretty much just getting in their way. In this movie the humans are utterly incompetent and pretty much worthless save a distraction – but really, what can we expect?

It’s a cheese-fest, there’s absolutely no denying that – but if you’re with friends, looking for some fun, and love laughing at a movie trip over itself – then it’s worth it, but you’re probably going to want to bring some hard booze. Happy Halloween! (Trailer below)

Amnesia gives me the feeling of a Dead Space/Silent Hill-type game. Your basic survival horror in terms of genre, yet there is even less a chance for your survival or ability to defend yourself in this title, along with some other added little bonuses for uniqueness. The first thing I noticed when I entered the game was how wonderful everything looks. The game looks clean, has great lighting for added mood, and it is simply scary.

You wake up in a wobbly castle with no memory (big surprise) and a sudden sense of fear, or maybe that was just me. You have your standard health bar, but you also are thrown a mix with the sanity bar. Your characters sanity decreases the more time you play in the darkness, the more monsters you lock eyes with, and the more creepy events you witness. You slowly restore sanity in the light, or by progressing the story. Light is limited, and so is your ability to create light – so insanity to a slight degree, even if it’s ever so slightly, is going to ravage your characters feeble mind. The less sanity your character has, the more hallucinations you have and the easier it is for monsters to be alerted of your shaking bones. Beware.

Monsters are not pleasant with the lack of a weapon.

Without giving too much story away, you play a fella named Daniel that has decided to drink a memory erasing potion, for good reason – but without letting you know why, all you really know is that something is hunting you. You wake up in a castle, it does not seem to have a solid foundation as you tumble about, and you’re left hunting for diary entries and other such things to help uncover your past or whatever you decided was necessary to forget. You have the ability to interact with your environment – picking things up, blocking doors with tables to protect yourself, etc. The ability to interact with objects is also used to complete complicated puzzles by fixing things, moving things around, etc.

On top of all that, the sound is really where this game shines. Using technology to increase the scared noises your character makes depending on what he is seeing, experiencing, or involved in. If monsters are around, you’ll breath heavy. If something scary is about to happen, the music will slowly become more menacing and ominous. I’m actually surprised there isn’t a sound effect for your character soiling himself, because that really seems to be an effect that goes hand in hand with this title.

They also have a tool kit where you can create your own custom maps, which leaves lots of room for beautifully constructed (hopefully) add-ons by the community at a later point, really adding to some longevity after you’ve completed the original story.

Overall, it’s a great game that is tons of fun that promises to leave you scared of turning corners. You can pick it up on Steam or from their site for $20 – it’s available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux! Oh yes, Game-play teaser below! Enjoy!

"Uhm... Hello..?" /Gulp

The whole thing has the feel of a mix of Speedracer on methamphetamine and Madmax.  You can tell this one was made with a beautiful attention to detail as soon as you see some of the explosions. When there is a lot of detail to something like a fiery explosion, then you know there was some juice behind this baby. But truly, words do not do it justice. Check out one of the trailers below, I know I’m probably going to.. Again, and again… But I digress, I’ve included two, the first being my favorite with a very mood-setting song overlay and then a more traditional trailer. Enjoy!

First trailer with some very nice music.

Second, more full trailer.

Deciding that I love games of pretty much all kinds, and getting into the World Cup this past year, I decided I was going to break my uninformed bias and that I was going to give a Football (soccer) game a try. I also thought with all the people I know that love sports and sports games, it’d be fun to surprise them with mad Fifa skills one day – much to their surprise. It just happened to come out, so I picked up Fifa 11 over World Cup 2010 (which from my understanding, uses the Fifa 10 engine anyways). On top of that, Fifa 11 has most of the teams from the World Cup that I recognized, so it seemed like a good fit. I ultimately decided on picking it up for the Xbox 360 out of the systems I have, as I just felt the controls would be much better suited for this type of game V.S. my other console, the Wii.

Jumping into Fifa, I realized this game doesn’t screw around. It was difficult, and the computers were not pathetic push-overs who were going to let me shove points down their throats. Not having played any type of sports game in years, I expected a learning curve – and it delivered. After awhile of playing grueling games ending in draws against the computer in practice exhibition matches, I realized that I could tone down the difficulty – which I decided was a must as I continued to learn the game. I really wasn’t sure what to expect when I first started kicking the ball around in Fifa, but I have to say that I was left satisfied and surprised at the amount of content and depth the game has.

The first major thing I have to comment on are the graphics. It almost looks like you’re watching a real game. On top of the sounds, crowd, and interaction of the players – you definitely feel like you’re actually in a professional game and it gives you a feeling like you’re really there. The sounds, graphics, and actions are so immersing, it was down-right impressive. It’s astounding to see how far things have gone in this genre of games.

Once I toned down the difficulty, and I was able to actually score goals and start working towards mastering the controls – the game became MUCH more fun. It really all comes down to memorization of button combination and timing, which adds a thick layer of re-playability to the game as skill, tactics, and knowledge will only increase and add more to the game as time goes on. There’s tons of different game-types to choose from, which almost left me perplexed and lost where to begin – so just to conquer game mechanics, I’ve just been focused on exhibition matches at this time. There are so many different game-play types though it’s, as I said, almost over-whelming. There’s Tournaments, there’s career mode where you can play as a Pro-Player, Player-Manager, or a Team Manager, on top of that you can also play as a goal-keeper now, a new feature. I also did have to tune the controls for the remote a bit, but nothing too drastic.

At first, I thought I was never going to be able to climb this huge mountain of a learning curve – but after a couple hours of pushing on, I started kicking ass – Football style. Scoring goals in the game feels GREAT. Not only that, but as long as you stick on-par with a difficulty setting that truly matches your skills, you’ll find that you don’t easily score points and once you finally get that kick in – it’s glorious. Spitefully tackling opponents, having to win off penalty kicks, blocking goals that your opponents absolutely need, and even watching your little guys do their victory dances after scoring – it feels perfect. The authenticity even goes down to the in-game sports commentators – who talk enough trash that you begin to curse them in their unseen little boxes.

A Couple of other quick notes… Loading screens are even entertaining in this title, as you’re sitting around waiting for the match to load, you’re given a player, a ball, and a goalie. Practice your dribbling, shooting skills, or your shit-talking. Well, maybe not the ladder – but you get the idea. The game’s music is also really fantastic. I’ve heard artists such as Massive Attack, MGMT, and Ladytron.

It’s a game that I recommend. I find myself wanting to play more, chisel my skills, and surprise my sports-loving friends with my new found Football video game skills – which means I think the developers did something right. With the amount of content and flavor in the game, I see myself being able to find many different scenarios of game-play that are entertaining. EA Games really need no introduction, but from the perspective of a non-sports genre gamer (typically) – it appears my bias has been broken – Fifa 11, video Football/Soccer/sport non-Americans play – is plenty of fun.

[Screenshot 1, 2]

But things are getting better, simply because I now have proof — PROOF! — that CEO of Blizzard Entertainment, Mike Morhaime, is a fan of my work. How do I know this? Well, I wrote a speculative piece over at IncGamers regarding WoW’s “old dog” status among MMOs, how successful Cataclysm is likely to be, and how it’s interesting that Blizz hasn’t publicly proclaimed their subscription numbers for over a year. In that piece I muse aloud, wondering if Blizzard’s silence on the issue means that WoW subscriptions are declining.  Hmmmm? Well, Blizzard?  Does it?

Well, two days after I posted that piece, Blizz announced that subscriptions to WoW are now at 12 million. That’s up half a mil from a year ago, so they are actually increasing, not slipping away, as I’d speculated. Even if this claim is to be believed, it only proves one thing: Mike Morhaime is a fan of my MMO Weekly article over at IncGamers. He read my article, and he had his people issue a press release in response.  It’s proof I tell you, proof!

Or it’s just a mildly amusing coincidence, proving that I don’t really know anything about Blizzard’s subscriptions.    Anyway, if you’re interested, you can check out the latest MMO Weekly at the links above.  Enjoy!

It starts first with that tickle you feel in the back of your throat, then an uneasy stomach. Next, you find yourself thinking about your structures, or future structures, before you fall asleep at night. Then you’re seeing blocks everywhere, even in real life structures, even your lawn when you’re doing yard-work – which seems like you’re just clearing away space to build a new shelter – not really managing a real yard. With sweaty palms, and a nervous glance around you… You can take comfort in remembering, it’s just your Minecraft addiction.

"If I fall, I WILL die." - Me, overlooking my Skybridge Kingdom.

Joking aside, I can’t get enough of this game. So I’m going to take you on a small journey through-out my world, as I really haven’t been able to use my free-time lately to do much of anything BUT play Minecraft. The game just has incredible depth and limitless execution of imagination. I can only wait with fanboy patience and nerve-wrecking anticipation as Notch continues to update the game, hopefully.

How to be begin? Well – here’s where I’m at. I had just finished building a portion of my Sky Castle (which just sounds awesome), and decided that I wanted to set out on a journey and try to settle a new land far away with some new stuff. I also

had not ventured out very far in my world, it was sitting at 9 Mb in size (the world grows in HD space as you explore and generate more world). I decided that being far from my spawn point (where you start after death) would add some more added urgency to near-death situations and hell, I need to start colonizing the sad little world that I’m stuck in. By the time I was done exploring and decided on some new construction goals, my world was sitting at a pretty 19.5 Mb. It doubled in size, in what wouldn’t even be considered that far of a journey from my home lands.

In my home lands, I finished construction of a large sky bridge that was built out and over a large natural forest. When I get to the forest, I decided to just dump some lava off the end of my bridge which in-turn caused a massive forest fire. Destruction, flames, awesome. Finishing the out-lying structure of the entrance to the sky castle, I decided I was going to head out for some exploration.

Exploring new lands granted me with lots of awesome things to see. I finally got to stumble across an enemy slime while digging a new excavation site at my new base for supplies, but I only discovered it was a slime after digging in the fear and darkness for nearly an hour. Hearing the sounds of the slime in the rock around me but being unable to identify that it was a slime, never having heard one before, I simply shuttered in my boots as I dug deeper.

I also stumbled across my first natural lava-fall, coming out of the side of a mountain. That was the sign that took the cake and ultimately made the decision for me of where to setup my new camp. On top of that, I came across a bunch of great looking generated land mass. Lastly, I decided with a final certainty that my new camp would be the site of construction for a giant Tree-fort that would make even the piggies and creepers stare in awe. Of course, it’s still a work in progress, but it was an awesome day that I learned you can make trees grow on top of each other (as long as you plant the tree on a block of solid dirt and they have room to grow).

(Note: Another sign of Minecraft addiction is when low-resolution randomly generated blocked graphic landscapes start looking like beautiful and majestic landscapes of amazing creativity and endless possibilities. /End note)

The adventures in Minecraft are truly endless. Notch, the creator, has been busy as late, so his weekly updates have been suffering as he works to solidify his company and use his new found riches to create a real, honest-to-goodness, game development company. I wish him the best, so that awesome content can continue to rollout. He’s got a lot of great stuff planned, and if you aren’t or even are into Minecraft, you can hear him talking about the game on a recent podcast, here.

I took plenty of pictures of my adventure and explorations, which are included below. I also have included some pics of a top-view look of my world using a map-generating program for Mac OS X, found here. Take a peek, drop a line. Do you play Minecraft? Even if not, drop a line – let us know what you think. But for now – It’s time to refill my diamond supplies.

Anywhoooooooooo, enough rambling.  Being the shopping maven that I am, I went tumbling across the web looking for things to buy and of course one of my favorite places to buy things is eBay and I found some stuff you might enjoy.

Check this out!  Just in time for Halloween!

A Psycho t-shirt!

This beauty is a rarity and cool as cool can be.  You could definitely get your Psycho geek on wearing this sweetie around town. Oh gosh, I wish I could just buy out on this item, but alas, I cannot…and neither can you!  Nope, one must bid on this item, and by bid I mean, fight a long and bloody financial battle of which I will  lose since I only have about twenty pesos to my name.

But one of you peeps might get lucky!  And, if you do, think of the person who pointed you in the right direction!  Tis moi!

A question for all the ladies out there in cyberspace.  Who wouldn’t want to walk around with a giant Kevin Sorbo on their chests?  No.  Really?  Ok….so two girls would.

Well, for your girls out there….and some guys, there’s a super duper rare Hercules shirt that looks like he’s going to shoot and arrow out of your chest.

Not quite as cool as when that chestburster alien comes out of John Hurt’s chest in the movie Alien, but still pretty cool.

Eeewweee, I know!  Here’s a tidbit of Alien trivia for you if you’re interested.  But, back to my original point.  There’s these shirts and a few others from the same seller if you’re interested.  They’re all pretty cool and my understanding is that they are hard-finds.  So, good luck to you and happy bidding.

If you aren’t familiar with the AVGN, basically he writes angry and very descriptive and expletive filled video game reviews of typically classic NES games… Like Mc Kids, Top Gun, Castlevania 2, Fester’s Quest, and my personal favorite Ninja Turtles, which brought me countless hours of agony as a child. He does plenty of different games, but you get the idea. He’s also done many specials on Atari, Sega, all kinds of stuff just chalk full of nostalgia, good humor, and good ‘ol fashion vulgarity.

He started it on Youtube, as I said, years ago  and now he has apparently been working on a full length motion picture, and has a full script completed. A FULL script?! Awesome! The way he talks about it in his video announcement(below) is as if it’s pretty much guaranteed to happen, not just in talks, but happening. He  goes as far to say the worst case scenario is a small independent release with a limited release around the country… That alone sounds great.

This pretty much sums it up.

Without going into much detail, in the video he explains on how he wants to extrapolate the idea of his AVGN character into a movie character and touches on how he’d like to go the direction of Wayne’s World and the like. Taking a small idea and turning it into a fleshed out full movie.

The AVGN, or James Rolfe IRL, shows plenty of enthusiasm and you can just tell he has a love for film so seeing anything like this come out from him is exciting news, especially for us gamers out there. If you haven’t seen his reviews, check out the links above – I guarantee the hilarity.

He also has his own site, with all of his projects, located here.

Alas, here’s the announcement: