Comic Reviews - Week of 6/20

Pretty big week, so be ready for it.

The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #13
"Full Throttle" Conclusion
Writer: Marc Guggenheim
Artist: Tony S. Daniel

Opinion: Buy It



All I can say is that we pretty much saw it coming. Bart did indeed die at the end of the issue. We see a flashback to what Iris told Bart when she first arrived and it was that Bart was going to die no matter what he did. There was a point in the issue where Bart thought it was going to be Inertia that was going to die and presumed that Inertia also saw the Black Flash (who always appears to a speedster when they are about to die). Needless to say Bart had no chance and the Rogues ended up killing him even though Piper tried his best to stop it from happening.

If we are to believe Dan Didio, this whole Flash series was supposedly planned ahead of time. I would believe that Guggenheim's time on it was planned, but when the series first started there was no way this ending was planned. After the outrage readers had with the Flash TV writers writing the story and how poorly it was done, chances are Didio decided he needed to end the series ASAP and brought Guggenheim in to do so. It is sad that many people didn't jump on board when Guggenheim started writing, there was a marked upgrade when he came onto the book and he did the best with what he had.

I certainly hope this is not the last of Bart...what a crappy way to die. He gets to stand out on his own as the Flash and then he is sacrificed to make the Rogues look all the more dangerous so the next Flash (who we'll get into in the next review) can put a beatdown on them? I just don't understand why Bart needed to die. Why not send him back to the future or something? Why kill him? If I was Tim (Robin) or Cassie (Wonder Girl) I'd be watching my back because it looks like the Post-Crisis Teen Titans are being taken out.

In the end this comic was really top notch except for the somewhat rushed ending. I give DC and Guggenheim credit for holding onto the secret for so long. The art was also excellent and there is a great interview with Tony Daniel about it on Newsarama. Now we wait for All-Flash #1 next month before we revert back to the Wally West numbering.

RIP Bart. I wonder if Val is going to end up pregnant by Bart or not...



Justice League of America #10
"The Lightning Saga" Conclusion (Part 5 of 5)
Writer: David Meltzer
Artist: Ed Benes

Opinion: Read It



I had to read this comic 2 times in order to even come close to understanding all that happened in it. There is a LOT of story contained within a small space here and it almost makes Parts 3 and 4 of this arc even more aggravating to me with the slowness of them. The Legion (and I'm still not sure which Earth this Legion is coming from and what Earth the current Legion book comes from) plays their endgame here and in the end 2 Legionnaires are left in our time: Starman and Karate Kid.

There is still a lot of interpretation to be made toward the end of this book. I agree with a lot of people that believe the Legion came back to catch Barry Allen and bring him to the future. The foreshadowing of this idea is found in this book. Hal Jordan makes the astute observation that the Legion sets each member in a specific place where Barry Allen's DNA would be (the lab, where Batman saw him in CoIE #2, Blue Valley, etc.) in order to maximize their chance of catching him.

In the final pages we see that Wally West and his family rode the lighting from the future to get back to the present. It is also my belief that Barry Allen came back as well and is housed in the lighting rod held by Brainiac 5 in the future. Brainy says something akin to, "well, at least we got the person we wanted." Wally has become part of the JLA now (thank God a Flash is back on the JLA), but there is no indication of whether he still has the Speed Force or not other than the must have ridden the lightning with his family.

I'm happy to see Wally back simply because he is my generation's Flash. I love Barry Allen too and wouldn't have cared either way of who came back. It looks like both came back though; or at least that's what we're all hoping. Meltzer only has 2 issues left before McDuffie takes over, so it will be interesting to see where he goes from here. I can only guess Wally's story is going to spill out into the Flash books coming out and may not be talked about in JLA, but who knows. In the end the arc itself was slightly above average at best, but the ending was a pretty big payoff and somewhat rights what DC did wrong at the end of Infinite Crisis.

Once Wally finds out the Rogues killed Bart there's going to be a big beatdown coming, but Piper should be happy again now that Wally and Linda are back.



The Amazing Spider-Man #541
"Back in Black" Part 3 of 5
Writer: J. Michael Straczynski
Artist: Ron Garney

Opinion: Buy It



So far this is probably the best part of the "Back in Black" arc. The decisions Peter makes are written very well and based around the whole immediacy of the situation. MJ tells Peter that eventually with them paying cash for May's care that red flags will come up and their cover will be blown, so Peter decides he is going to try transfusing his blood into May and see if that makes her better or not. He had tried it before way back and it had adverse effects, but he feels this is a last ditch effort that must be made. Pretty powerful stuff knowing that you could be killing your closest family member even faster if things go wrong.

In the end Peter has a face-to-face encounter with Wilson Fisk at the end, but no punches are thrown yet. One of the negatives of this arc is that it is happening between Daredevil #92 and #93 (an editoral mark about it is here) and now we are up to #97 in that book. In Daredevil #93 we see Fisk outside of the prison and visiting Vanessa's grave, so obviously nothing adverse is going to happen to him in his encounter with Peter. This kind of leaves the next issue as not that exciting as we move into the last issue of the arc with Peter looking at a body under a white sheet on the cover.

This was a really well written and penciled book, but the whole situation lost a lot of air given the Daredevil editorial mark in it. In some ways maybe they should have left that out because that book is farther in the future at this point and there is a good chance some people may not be reading that book either and will now go and hunt out the comics and see that nothing is going to happen to Fisk in the end.



Captain America #27
"Death of a Dream" Part 3 of 6
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artist: Steve Epting

Opinion: Must Own (Comic of the Week)



So, how does a writer create a fantastic comic where the title character isn't even alive anymore? I don't know, but Ed Brubaker certainly seems to. This is easily my pick for Comic Book of the Week. It has now been 2 issues since Steve Rogers was killed and I am more engrossed in this comic than any other one I'm reading. Brubaker deserves whatever titles he wants to write because he is simply that good.

I always thought Bucky's return was done better than Jason Todd's return on the DC side and this issue just solidifies it that much more for me. There are more flashbacks from Bucky's early days of being the Winter Soldier. We now find out that he helped train the Black Widow when she was young AND that he was romantically involved with her back then. The Black Widow has slept with a lot of people in the Marvel Universe, so now Bucky can join the others.

This part revolves around Bucky trying to get Cap's shield back from SHIELD. He goes to check out the exhibit that Tony has set up and realizes the shield there is not the real one, something he already assumed since he knew Tony couldn't leave it out in the open. When he tracks it down it ends up that the Black Widow is the one charged with keeping the shield safe. Bucky knocks her out and takes the shield while Falcon and Sharon decide to follow him to see exactly what his plan is.

I can't wait to see what the ending of this arc actually is. I'm still wondering if someone is going to take up the guise of Captain America or not.



Fallen Son: The Death of Captain America - Spider-Man #1
Writer: Jeph Loeb
Artist: David Finch

Opinion: Read It



The delays on this series has been pretty agonizing. I'm not sure whether Loeb is at fault or the artists are. My guess would be the former just because there are different artist attached to each issue while Loeb is the constant through the whole thing. Whatever they have planned for Loeb in the future I certainly hope he can be more timely than he has lately. I still don't buy that the final part will be out the first week of July, especially with Cassidy on the art.

Outside of that this issue was very good and sees Peter mistakenly taking on Rhino at the cemetery. Both of them were there to see loved ones, but Peter reacted poorly and took on the Rhino. We then flashback to a time where Captain America helped Peter take on the Hulk and we see parallels between that fight and the current one that Peter is fighting.

At the end of the issue, Peter gets an unwanted heart-to-heart talk with Wolverine about Captain America that brings a sense of closure. It was a really well done issue as has most of the parts in this arc so far. Now we just have Iron Man left and that should also be quite interesting.

David Finch's art should be given a special note here as it was excellent as always.



X-Men: Endangered Species One-Shot
Writer: Mike Casey
Artist: Scot Eaton

Opinion: Buy It



I'm not a huge X-Men fan. I lived through years where nothing seemed to go on in any of the X books while they were the top selling books around. Nowadays there are some quality X stuff out there, most notably Astonishing X-Men, X-Factor and Morrison's run to close out New X-Men's last iteration. For a while now we've known there will be a huge X event later this year. Last week we got a title for it, Messiah Complex. The one-shot I am reviewing today is the opening chapter to the event and this will spill out to 8-page backup stories in the next 17 X books to come out and then Messiah Complex will start.

This book was an excellent introduction to what the X books are shooting for in the coming months. It has been nearly two years (our time) since House of M ended and I believe we are on the cusp of finally answering all the questions people have had about it when it applies to the X books. Endangered Species revolves around one of the students from the school's (and one of the 198 mutants left after Wanda's spell) funeral. It is said he dies normally being run over by a truck, but the issue itself is set up so the key players can question exactly how to keep the mutants from being an extinct race. They've already lost 99% of their original population, all it takes is for that last 1% to be killed and there certainly won't be any more mutants.

Beast finally decides it is time to solve the problem of extinction however he can and even at the end of the book where they show the upcoming 17-part backup story it sounds like Messiah Complex shall revolve around Beast. Could we be seeing Morrison's future at the end of New X-Men where Beast is the alpha mutant? Who knows, but I am interested in seeing what happens.

This book is a good set-up and hopefully Marvel is finally going to set the table correctly on the X books as we move out of this and into Messiah Complex. I will continue reading the backup stories in all the X books and I can only guess there will be a TPB coming out with the whole thing in one place before the next event begins.

Comic Reviews - Week of 6/13

Taking a page from one of my favorite sites, Evil Avatar, I've decided to start doing Comic Book reviews along with my regular posts on all things comics. I will attempt to not duplicate the books that EA covers, but for this week we'll cover pretty much the same stuff. I will be rating each book into 5 categories: Must Own, Buy It, Read It, Skim It or Skip It.

World War Hulk #1 (of 5)
Writer: Greg Pak
Artist: John Romita, Jr.

Opinion: Must Own (Comic of the Week)



To say I was a bit apprehensive about this event is an understatement. I loved the Planet Hulk story by Pak where the Illuminati sent the Hulk to what they thought was a peaceful world, but the ship went off its course and ended up on a warring planet. I am apprehensive because I just don't think a lot can change to the status quo. I don't see Iron Man, Reed Richards, Dr. Strange or Black Bolt actually dying, do you? I see a lot of destruction happening, but I don't see any major deaths or major upheaval in the Marvel Universe.

The Hulk is returning to Earth with his Warbound pals in tow. He's about to exact revenge on the 4 people responsible for putting him on the warring planet he spent Planet Hulk on and also for (supposedly) blowing up the ship and killing a lot of people, including Hulk's wife: Iron Man, Reed Richards, Dr. Strange and Black Bolt. In the latter's case we see the result of the Hulk battling him on the moon, but we don't see the actual fight go down.

The other really interesting thing to come out of this issue is that Iron Man allows the New Avengers to help them stop the Hulk from destroying everything with the promise that everything will be forgiven if they register after the whole event is done. Tony's a smart man, he realizes why the Hulk is back and needs all the help he can get to stop him.

This issue was far more action than I thought there would be. This could be more exciting than Civil War was, although that series also started off really well and then slid as it continued on. I can only guess that there will be a lot of destruction left by this event, but in the end I'm sure we'll find out the Hulk's Warbound friends are the ones that set off the bomb that destroyed Planet Hulk just so they could continue fighting and not be bored to death by the peace the Hulk initiated. It's the only logical ending, but Marvel has been known to take chances lately, so who knows.



New Avengers #31
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Leniel Yu

Opinion: Skim It



Marvel has touted this issue for months as "No hype! No BS! The most important last page of any Marvel comic this year! Do not miss it!" Well, I got to the last page (actually last pages because there are 2 reveals) and was not moved by it. The Elektra that was running the Hand was a Skrull and on the very last pane of the comic we see that Luke and Jessica's baby has green eyes, making it seem like there is another Skrull. To me it was a "meh" ending and really fell short of what Marvel and especially Joe Quesada had been hyping it up to be. Yes, there are obviously characters out there in the Marvel Universe that are Skrulls and now Marvel is into the whole, "Who do you Trust?" thing.

I hate to say it, but maybe Marvel is really pushing too many major storylines in tandem or sequential order and there may be some burnout from comic buyers out there. There's WWH, the new Annihilation, the upcoming X-Men blockbuster and now the Skrull story that supposedly will intertwine with all of the Marvel Universe. Yeah, that sounds like a bit of overload even though Quesada swears up and down that sales are showing that this is what people want. Eventually a wall will be hit, it's just logical.

My other problem with this overall arc is that it lasted too long. Bendis has been accused of decompression before and usually I blow it off, but when there is such a delay between issues it becomes that much more pronounced. I mean it's great that we finally know that the new Ronin is Clint Barton and even I would say that was more of a shocker even though it was the worst kept secret in comics. The Skrull ending will have greater implications as we move through this year and into next, but at the moment it just wasn't even close to what was hyped.



Green Arrow #75
Writer: Judd Winnick
Artist: Scott McDaniel

Opinion: Skim It



The final issue of this series is an example of schizophrenia and parallels a lot with the last issue of Nightwing before the One Year Later jump when Dick proposed to Barbara. The parallels are that the majority of the issue is really good, but the last part feels so jarring and forced that it makes you feel dirty inside.

Here Deathstroke is back to top form (look at Identity Crisis for the last time he acted like this when he took out the assembled JLA members). An all-out fight with Ollie and Dinah, although I question Dinah just standing there with Slade's sword in her throat on two occasions. Slade is good and all, but how exactly can he perfectly get the sword in there without damaging anything...twice. The fights are wonderful, but then at the end Ollie proposes to Dinah and that's how the series ends. Soon we will have Green Arrow: Year One and the Black Canary/Green Arrow series. It is cool if they do end up getting married, but there is still a lot of baggage in Ollie's past and I can't believe Dinah has forgiven him for all of that. In the end this was a good issue, but just a weak ending for a series that started off with a bang (Kevin Smith writing Ollie's return to life) and coasted for the rest of the run.

Comic News from the Weekend

Lots happened at the Cons this weekend. Let's look at the major stuff point by point. All news items are linked to my favorite comic site, Newsarama

1. Amazing Spider-Man News: Although it is tough to pick this one over #2, I'd have to say this is the bigger news. The only minus here is I can already see from the Newsarama boards that some people are confused by the whole thing. Marvel is canceling Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man and Spectacular Spider-Man after JMS' final arc, One More Day is done. Then starting the next month Amazing Spider-Man will ship 3 times a month. Basically Marvel is doing a switcheroo, but one that is pretty logical. Amazing is the flagship title and easily outsells the other two comics, so Marvel is betting that people will pick up 3 of the flagship a month. This also allows Marvel to have a cohesive storyline around their #1 player instead of having different storylines going on at the same time. It is a gamble, but I think it will pay off.

2. Flash News: If it wasn't for the news above, this would easily be the biggest news to come out of the Cons this weekend. The new title ends this week with Flash #13 and recently DC showed a teaser with Bart laying on the logo looking defeated and possibly dead. This weekend DC showed off the final cover for Flash #13, and things aren't looking so good:



Along with that news, we have the news that Mark Waid will be coming back to write the title and it will be going back to the old numbering system that Geoff Johns left off with (so the next issue is Flash #231). The internet is abuzz (and I tend to agree) that Wally West will be coming back and filling the shoes of the Flash. Waid writing and them going back to Wally's numbering just points to this fact. I just honestly hope Bart doesn't die at the end of the issue this week. He was great as Impulse and I'd hate to see him gone.

3. Dwayne McDuffie new writer of JLA: This is good news in my mind. McDuffie will take over after Meltzer's issues are done. It also looks like the Injustice Gang will be making a comeback which is always a good thing.

4. Peter David new writer on She-Hulk: At least they are replacing Dan Slott with a capable writer. They have yet to announce the new team(s) on Amazing Spider-Man, but I can only guess that David and Slott could be part of that.

5. X-Men Event Finally Named: It will be called Messiah Complex and it will pour out of the One-Shot Endangered Species that comes out this week.

Those were the major news stories from my perspective, I'm sure there are some others that people would be interested in. Check out Newsarama for all the updates.

Rescue Me is Back

Bad news is that The Sopranos ended, good news is that Rescue Me's new season started just a few days later. There are a bunch of other summer series coming up as well (Dead Zone, The 4400 and Entourage's new seasons start this Sunday; Monk, Psyche and Dr. Who start up next month), but Rescue Me is easily the one to be most excited about in my mind.

Last night's episode was great just because we were coming off a really good cliffhanger from last year. Since it was written by the two creators (Peter Tolan and Denis Leary) the writing and acting was simply excellent. It is too bad the seasons didn't start off right from Tommy being in the fire, but I think they handled it just fine. I have heard that there is a death of a main character coming up and it would be sad to see one of the gang die off. I can only guess it is the Chief, but who knows.

If you haven't seen this show before, be sure to get the previous seasons on DVD. This is one of the FX Network's best shows they have to offer.

Guitar Hero II Save Games: A Frustrating Experience

I've basically loved Guitar Hero II since I picked it up a few days before its actual release in stores. I've been enjoying my time with the game and was just about to start hammering into the Hard mode (remember, this is my first experience with a GH game, so I'm starting off from scratch) this weekend, but it was not to be.

I had 3 songs left on Medium (Madhouse, Psychobilly Freakout and The Trooper I believe) to get 5 stars on to unlock that achievement plus whatever guitar is unlocked as well. On Thursday night I decided to delete the band that I had set up so a friend could play the game. Chances were they wouldn't be back to play the game since they got it themselves, so I deleted the band through the menu and shut off my Xbox 360. When I came back to the game on Saturday night I turned on the game and it locked up at the "Loading" screen. My initial fear was that my launch system was getting close to a 3-ring death and I just wasn't prepared to pay the money to have my 360 fixed or replaced. Before going into full meltdown mode I decided to go looking on the internet to see if other people were having the same problem. It seems that it is a "flip of the coin" chance that your save can become corrupted if you delete or change a band. Well, I flipped the coin to where it corrupted itself, so I had to start all over again.

It is excruciating to go through the Easy mode again, but I started with that. Easy is just so slow when you've spent most of your time in Medium and I expect to feel the same about Medium as I go into Hard and Expert. I went through Easy just to unlock the guitars for finishing it and getting all 5 stars. Then I started through Medium and am about halfway through now. I believe I am getting better scores than I had before, but I also remember I had at least 12 perfect songs in Medium (this includes Xbox Live downloaded and purchased tracks from the Store in-game). My goal is to at least duplicate that, but we shall see.

This whole thing is a bit frustrating though with having to go through it all again instead of being able to continue from where I was. In the end, the moral of the story is to be sure to copy your saved game to a memory card (if you have one) for backup purposes. I still love this game, but we're going through a "difficult" period at the moment.

A Fitting, But Possibly (for Many) Unlikeable, Ending

Obviously I have to point out that I will be revealing spoilers in case you have yet to watch the final episode. All I can say is "Wow" at the ending of The Sopranos. After taking some time to reflect on the episode after the big "WTF is going on" cut to black of the final scene, I have to say that the ending was pretty darn good. Just by reading some forums I lurk at it seems that the ending is left to your interpretation of what it actually means.

Opinions vary from the family dying to the fact that Tony will be looking over his shoulder for the rest of his life to the whole restaurant being blown up as Meadow enters. I take the ending a different way. Debunking the above ideas is pretty simple:

1. The Whole Family Dying: If someone was going to shoot, they would shoot only Tony because it is the mob way. Tony even talked last week about how they don't go after the family when trying to tell Carmela what to do.

2. Tony Always Looking Over His Shoulder: Who is left that wants to take Tony out? Phil was whacked and his right hand man gave Tony a handshake and told him he could do whatever to Phil. Carmine, Jr. probably stepped up to the plate to take over New York (something Tony was pushing him to do this season) or NY is just bossless...who knows. Fact is Carmine, Jr. is on Tony's side no matter what, so NY shouldn't be a threat anymore. This thought process is thrown out in my opinion given how much more "in the public" Tony is after Phil is whacked. He has no reason to look over his shoulder.

3. The Restaurant Being Blown Up: This is credible, but this ties into #2 as well. I think the beauty of the final scene is that we (or at least I) was gullible enough to believe that any of those guys coming into the restaurant were there to kill Tony. I wasn't thinking about the fact that he really had no one who wanted to whack him, but the scene was set up so beautifully to make us believe he was about to be killed. It was set up much like last week's Bobby hit where we knew he was going to get shot dead. This time David Chase did a swerve and basically laughs at us going, "why the heck did you think anyone was after Tony now?"

You also have to remember in this scene there are camera shots of everyone: each Soprano member coming in (first Carmela as Steve Perry sings, "Just a small town girl, living in a lonely world", then AJ and finally Meadow after she parallel parks the damn car...although we don't see her come in and sit at the booth), the guy with the boy scout troop, the boyfriend/girlfriend having dinner, the black guys coming in, etc. Those were the shots of everyday America and relationships (remember, the title of the episode is "Made in America") and Tony had no worries at all. In fact he seemed at ease as he picked "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey on the table jukebox. The song is about everyone doing their thing - sometimes they win, sometimes they lose - but they just keep "going on and on and on and on".

This series finale was not the best one I've ever seen. Another HBO series, Six Feet Under, topped this one. Not that I'm saying 6FU's was the best I've ever seen because I'd have to think about that. Before watching this episode I was secretly hoping Chase would do something akin to 6FU at the end there. I think that finale totally turned around that series, the difference is that Alan Ball decided the 5th season was it for the series and that last season more than made up for the 2 before it. David Chase on the other hand kept coming back to the table with HBO clamoring for more Sopranos.

I still expect there to be a lot of people calling their local cable company and canceling HBO. I did not get a chance to watch John from Cincinnati yet, but the reviews I have read have not been very good. That does not bode well for HBO and its new Soprano-less lineup. Once their returning 4 series are all done (Entourage, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Wire and Big Love) - and that could be a while - then it will be interesting if HBO has anything to hang its hat on.

In the end, the door is left open for a possible movie or made-for-HBO special in the future. Given what James Gandolfini and David Chase have said in the past and recently, this sounds like the end...but you never know what could happen.

The Final Sopranos Tonight...the End of an Era

Tonight is the end of an era...the final episode of The Sopranos is shown tonight at 8pm CT (my time zone), followed by the debut of David Milch's John from Cincinnati. It is weird that one of the best TV series ever ends while a new series by the man that made (and killed) Deadwood starts after it.

With the end of The Sopranos so ends HBO's heyday and there are countless articles about whether HBO is going to be able to survive with Sex and the City and The Sopranos now gone. My guess would be they will survive, but they probably won't have the same number of subscribers as before. Chances are good that calls will be made around 9pm CT to local cable companies with people ending their subscription to HBO.

That's a sad state of affairs considering HBO still does have some great ongoing shows: Entourage (short season during The Sopranos final episodes, next full season starts next Sunday), Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Wire and Big Love. The first of those easily takes over as HBO's centerpiece until possibly one of the new shows hits so big that it takes over. I enjoy the other 3 shows and Big Love starts its second season tomorrow, but even it paled in comparison to The Sopranos and Entourage as a "centerpiece" show. Maybe John from Cincinnati or some of the other shows coming up will hit a chord, but I don't think many subscribers are going to stay around for them. Maybe they'll come back if critics praise the shows, but who knows.

Hopefully later tonight I can give my thoughts on the final episode and what I thought of John from Cincinnati, since I will give it a chance given how good Deadwood was. Also, for those that missed out on it, the excellent show The Tudors ends its first season tonight on Showtime. It has easily gotten lost by The Sopranos and Entourage (who it is in direct competition with), but it is good nonetheless. Comcast was nice enough to have this week's finale up last Sunday on On Demand, so I've already seen the season ender and thought it was quite good.

PC Gamer Editorial on Penny Arcade

Bill already beat me to it (check out his opinion piece from today), but I wanted to talk about Greg Vederman's editorial that will accompany the July issue of PC Gamer with a cover story about Penny Arcade's upcoming game, Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness which is being developed by Hothead games with Ron Gilbert (the man behind most of LucasArts greatest adventure games) lending a hand.

You can read the editorial, along with Scott Kurtz's (PvP Online) rant on it here. I'm not exactly sure what Mr. Vederman is trying to convey in his editorial. First off, it is poorly written from a structure perspective. He talks about Garfield for close to, if not over, 50% of the editorial. He says he enjoys some of PA's comics, but then roundhouses them by saying he blows it off when his friend asks him whether the comic is funny or not when he points it out.

The key problem with his editorial is that he is comparing something from his (and my) childhood and comparing it to a webcomic that is 20 years younger than Garfield (it debuted in 1978, PA debuted in 1998). With 20 years of experience under his belt before PA even debuted, chances are good that the eyes of an adult are going to be far different than the eyes of a child.

I'm going to guess I am around the same age as Mr. Vederman. Gabe (Mike Krahulik) is a year younger than me and Tycho (Jerry Holkins) is a few months older. Fact is all 4 of us grew up in the same pop culture lexicon. I know I can sit here in 2007, go to On Demand on my cable box and watch some of the cartoons I used to watch in the 80s. I remember how awesome they seemed back then, but watching them now through adult eyes makes me wonder what the heck I saw in them. A perfect example is I recently watched the Transformers Movie again and it just wasn't as special as it was when I saw it in the theater. Doesn't mean I'm any less excited about the live-action version coming on my birthday (July 4th) though.

Mr. Vederman's editoral simply has a disconnect when trying to compare things that are 20 years apart. I know I also loved Garfield in grade school and I remember picking up the combined strip books (I think I have Books 1-21 or something of Garfield) at my local bookstore when I was young. I would spend hours reading those along with my comic books and playing video games. I probably liked Garfield longer than Mr. Vederman given his words in the editorial, but much like him I eventually found out the strip just wasn't as funny as I got older. I still read the strip today, but it is more out of habit than anything else.

I think I've been reading PA since the beginning or very near to it. So, I've been reading it for almost 9 years; chances are that is longer than I religiously read Garfield, but I'm not positive. I will also continue to read PA until it is no more. Mike and Jerry have built a successful company from nothing. They even went through a time where things were so bad that they had to ask for donations and gave back to their donators by sending out exclusive prints and other items. They made bad business decisions before Robert Khoo came on and took over that side of things.

Since then they've created PAX, a convention I'd love to go to one of these years. With the classic E3 gone, PAX has become one of the biggest conventions around. It is so big they had to put it in a new building this year. They also created Child's Play, which made over $1 million last year in donations to many Children's hospitals around the world. Of course Mr. Vederman makes no mention of that last part, only about the "fanbois" that follow PA like a cult. Thing is PA really isn't a cult, it's a cultural phenomenon.

Penny Arcade IS the trendsetter in webcomics. They have connections with many companies; and unlike the game magazines out there they don't have to say a thing about the products they are sent. When a product is talked about it's free hype (or free death if they are negative) for the product maker that can reach out to millions of people per day that check out the site. When we contrast this with PC Gamer's latest known subscriber base (250,147 as of Jan-Jun 2006) my question is how can millions of people be wrong?

Then again, maybe Mr. Vederman is trying to strike the fire in us with his editorial. He should be careful though because he could find himself out of a job if people cancel their subscriptions or enough of an uproar is unloaded upon this editorial. As was pointed out in the comments section on PvP Online, you wonder if he will have the same sort of nasty editoral based around StarCraft II, which is next month's cover story. Chances are good he won't since Blizzard and Vivendi are probably big advertisers for the magazine whereas PA is not.

The fact is many people will pick up all 5 covers of PC Gamer and his job will probably be saved for the moment. The editorial was just a bad idea, he probably should have had a second version of it without the Garfield comparison. Heck, he could have just talked about how he is not a fan of PA, but understands there are a legion of people that are fans and still find the comic funny even to this day. It does put a sour taste in people's mouths when the people behind their cover story are being outwardly hated by the Editor-in-Chief of the magazine. Maybe he should have just stayed quiet.

Chances are Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness will be a good game. Both Mike and Jerry have said on multiple occasions that they wouldn't allow it to be released if they thought the game sucked and with Ron Gilbert helping I can't see it not being above average at best. It's just too bad this major cover story is brought down by an EIC that is not a fan of the webcomic. Trust me Mr. Vederman, PA is going to last for a long time after you are long gone as EIC of PC Gamer...that I can promise you.

What Have I Been Doing in Gaming?

Since it's been almost 8 months since I last blogged, many of you may be wondering what I've been playing over that time. With my busy work schedule I haven't had a ton of time to play games, but you can always keep up on what I'm playing on the Xbox 360 on my Gamercard to the right.

Over these 8 months I've gone back to some 360 and PS2 games and played what I had missed. I am almost done with Fight Night Round 3 and I blew through NBA Street Homecourt over a number of weeks. I like both games, but their inherent problem is that after a while they can get boring. The ability to double-dunk in Homecourt really hurts when online. Once you get the hang of how to time the double-dunk you become that much more dangerous in an online game. When I played my brother-in-law I destroyed him and I tried to not do the double-dunk, but the timing in my hands was so ingrained that I let a couple slip out accidentally. I think without the double-dunk that Homecourt would easily be the best game in the series. With the double-dunk it kind of fits in with the last iteration as being the best.

I did pick up God of War 2 when it came out, but I have yet to play it. With work being so busy I never felt I could give it the time I needed to give it. In fact, my Playstation 2 has not been plugged in for a while, but I will soon plug it in to play this and finish up with Final Fantasy XII. The rest of my time I've spent playing Guitar Hero II, the Shadowrun beta, Crackdown and the Halo 3 beta on the 360 side.

GH2 was my first time with the series and I have to say it is awesome. I'm still trying to get all 5 stars in the Medium level, I think I only have 4 songs left before I accomplish that. I have walked tepidly into the Hard mode, but will start hitting that hard here soon. The Mall of America is having a GH2 tournament this weekend, but I'll be nowhere near there as we get to go watch the in-laws dog this weekend. If I was at home (I don't live far from the MoA) I might go and check it out although the mall is pretty crazy on the weekends.

I'm enjoying Crackdown quite a bit, although I would like to get farther into it. I need to set aside some time to play it because I've only played it in spurts so far. My brother-in-law and I played co-op over Live last week and that was pretty fun, but given how low we were in abilities the fun only lasted so long. Then we played some NBA 2K7 and had a close game.

The two betas are polar opposites to me. I got into the Shadowrun beta early on and I played it a bit and just was not pulled into it at all. I have played the pen and paper game a long time ago and I played the RPG on the SNES. I know many people have a problem that this isn't Shadowrun to them, but to me it just isn't an exciting game.

Same can't be said for Halo 3 beta. I'm loving it quite a bit and can't wait till the game comes out September 25th. I got into the beta on the first entry, but I never received any e-mail from Bungie after I had been accepted, so I ended up getting into the beta through Crackdown. Yes, I feel I was ripped off by Halo 2's ending, but my hype factor is still very high on this game.

There aren't a whole lot of games coming up outside of NCAA Football 08 and then the August rush of things like BioShock. I still don't have a Wii or PS3, but maybe one of these days I'll pick up one or both.

DC Comics: Countdown...What the Heck?

So, 52 ended up being a wonderful series in the end. I was low on it late in Act 1, but it grew into an explosive conclusion and overall really good series. Yes, the multiverse is back and I have no clue where they are going from here and I had hoped Countdown would excite me more than it has. I would dare say that 52 was the strongest of the big events that DC has seen over the past few years. I'd rate them this way (not including the current Countdown series):

1. 52
2. Identity Crisis
3. Countdown to Infinite Crisis
4. Villains United
5. Infinite Crisis
6. The OMAC Project
7. Day of Vengeance
8. Rann-Thanagar War
9. World War III (4 issues expanding upon 52 #50)

Now we have Countdown and I think I am seeing a vast difference between an arguably All-Star creative team (Geoff Johns, Mark Waid, Grant Morrisson, Greg Rucka, Keith Giffen and Steve Wacker/Michael Siglain) and a Countdown's rotating set of creativity (Paul Dini and Keith Giffen being mainstays with rotating writers).

I think Countdown's biggest strike against is the fact it is happening in continuity with the current DC universe, unlike 52 which told the story of the missing year. With it being in continuity that means there will be crossovers if you want to read more about what is happening. Marvel did a pretty good job with crossovers while Civil War was going on by keeping the main story in the main book while letting people read more of the story elsewhere. I don't have the same sort of faith in DC to be able to keep the reins held on this crossover. So far we've seen connections to events that started months ago and just this week at the end of #47 we see the Amazon's attacking, something that started in Wonder Woman weeks ago. If they aren't careful it is almost assured that a comic could spill the beans about what happens in Countdown or what happens in another book that affects Countdown.

So far I am not as impressed with Countdown as I was with 52, but I shall continue to read it. If you want my honest opinion though I think Marvel has better editorial control over their books than DC seems to have. Marvel is running on all cylinders at the moment with some excellent new books out there (Avengers: The Initiative, The Mighty Avengers, Omega Flight, Nova, and New Warriors just to name some) that tie well into the aftermath of Civil War and will soon tie into World War Hulk and whatever the upcoming X-Men event is.

In the end though it may be interesting to see exactly what DC is counting down to with the series. Are they going to reboot the whole universe again? I hope not, but who knows at this point.

Welcome Back

It's been a long time since I last blogged on here. Work became busy not too long after my last post (November 20th) and continued through the end of last month. I've spent the last couple weeks trying to recover from some long and hectic days at work. I thought many times about blogging again and I would either start writing something and delete it or just think to myself that I can blog another day.

I know I've said it before, but I do plan on being a bit more regular this time around with my blogging. It is still tough to fit it in with everything going on in my life, but I am going to attempt to do so. My first big post after my absense is going to be about the editoral in the new PC Gamer about Penny Arcade, a site near and dear to my heart (I have them linked on the right). I was quite surprised that neither Mike or Jerry said anything about the editorial, but Scott Kurtz (of PvP Online fame and "mortal enemy" of Mike and Jerry) certainly unloaded on Greg Vederman. I expect many more people to unload on him in the future.

Yes, I realize there are people out there that don't find PA funny in the least bit, but I'd say that the majority do. Anyway, welcome back to Virtual Viewpoints. I hope you'll stay a while.

State of Comics 11/20

It's been a while since I last touched on comic books, so I figured now is as good a time as any. I titled this "State of Comics" because I will be looking into where Civil War and 52 are at this moment in time.

Civil War

There is a good series going on in the Marvel Universe, but it isn't this one; in fact, it is Annihilation. If you haven't been picking that series out you've been missing out on the best that Marvel has to offer. Civil War has, so far, been a hugely hyped series that has not reached the level it could. I'm not sure if it is Millar going into different gears or whether he's planned out the end and is slowly getting to it.

The reason I bring up gears is because this series was promising during issues 1 and 2. After that, everything seems to have gone downhill and the series seems to have slowed down. Granted, I talked about this back in June that issue #2 would be the high point and that there was no chance Millar could top himself after having Spider-Man unmask. That big of a reveal that early (which of course got the mainstream press in a tizzy) is a dangerous thing to unleash and maybe Millar is starting to realize that. Issue #3 wasn't bad, but it was the start of the slippery and slow slope that the series has taken.

Issue #5 was simply bad in my mind. It was cool to see Spider-Man against the new Thunderbolts team (that will now be missing 2 characters...heh), but what I don't understand is how Spider-Man didn't do anything to defeat them. Yes, he had his run-in with Iron Man and SHIELD, but he should have been in a pissed off state of mind and ready to kick some ass against those guys. Bad writing in my estimation, it was just a way to get the Punisher into the story; a very lame way.

I am interested in this week's Civil War tie-ins, but I don't have much hope for the series as a whole. I still say pick up Annihilation, a far better read.

52

As a series, 52 has its good and bad weeks. I was about ready to write it off after Week 24, but since then the series has kept me interested. I am still bummed about Booster's death and I am very interested in what the heck is going on with Skeets. I think the strongest sections of this series revolve around Booster and Skeets; Ralph and the Fate Helmet; Question and Montoya; Animal Man, Starfire and Adam Strange; and the Black Marvel Family. Those make the strongest of the stories so far in this series. The Magnus and Morrow stuff as well as Steel's sections have gotten a bit long in the tooth. I am wondering where the heck Supernova has been though, haven't seem him in a while.

We're into the second half of the series now and things are ramping up on all fronts. I certainly hope no one I like dies, but it could very well happen. I'll keep reading this series and so far it is better than Civil War, but there are far more issues available here than that series.

This Week in Entertainment (11/19 - 11/25)

I won't cover the Wii games since they are already out, but those did get released yesterday. The key games would probably be Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz (multiplayer), Rayman: Raving Rabbids (multiplayer) and possibly Madden 07 just because of the gameplay. Onto the rest of the week and my picks for the week in every category.

Games

NOTE: This is one of the weakest Thanksgiving week release list that I ever remember, but maybe I'm not remembering them correctly. I know Nintendo is probably going, "well, we released Zelda on Sunday and that's during the week", but come on!

Superman Returns: The Game (360/Xbox/PS2/DS)

For those that haven't done so already, be sure to download the Xbox 360 demo of this game. I have to say I was quite surprised by the demo. This game had been pushed back from the release of the movie to roughly the release time of the movie on DVD. The graphics are nice and the draw distance is quite large (I flew all the way up in the clouds to see the area you play in from far above), but it certainly isn't going to overcome Gears of War on a graphics level. Superman's powers are readily available and hopefully they will be available from the start of the game. Keep an eye on this game it could be a really good action game along the lines of the last Hulk game.

Rainbow Six: Vegas (360)

Never been too big on the Rainbow games even though I have played some of them. From all I've read this is the cream of the crop for the series. I am even thinking about picking it up just to play online in a group. This is my Game of the Week just from early reviews of it. Gamespot's review should solidify the need to buy or rent this game.

Need for Speed: Carbon (Wii)

This will be interesting to see how it plays with the Wiimote. It should be like ExciteTruck where you hold it horizontally like a wheel, but from gameplay videos it looks like you point it straight and turn left and right.

Movies/DVDs

Ice Age: The Meltdown (DVD)

Default DVD of the Week from me. I liked this movie, but there were other computer animated movies that came out this year that are better than this one, including a movie that came out 2 weeks ago AND came out in the theater after this one: Cars.

You, Me and Dupree (DVD)

I will have to rent this movie. I heard it was bad, so it isn't worth buying.

Da Ali G Show Complete (DVD)

For those that have seen Borat, here is what made Sasha Baron Cohen a name here in America. There is no added substance from the season releases that have already come out, this is just a repackaging of all the season together for a cheaper price. HBO is doing this for a lot of series that are completed, which should piss off a good deal of people that paid premium prices to pick up each season of HBO shows.

Deja Vu (Theater)

This movie looks interesting and certainly has the pedigree (stars and director) to be as big of a Thanksgiving hit as National Treasure was 2 years ago.

The Fountain (Theater)

I have a feeling not many people will watch this movie, but this is my Movie of the Week to watch in the theater. Darren Aronofsky is writer/director and Hugh Jackman and Rachael Weisz star in this time-travelling tale. Chances are it could be one of those "thinking person" movies that makes you think or may be over many people's heads. I still think it is a safe bet from a Science Fiction perspective.

For Your Consideration (Theater)

Another Christopher Guest ensemble movie. I may be one of the only people out there that disliked Waiting for Guffman, but I have liked all the other movies this group has put out. Reviews are excellent, but that doesn't necessarily mean I will like it.

Comics

Amazing Spider-Man #536

Easily the Comic Book of the Week. After last week's avalanche of good comics, this week is the fallout of Civil War #5 (which I will talk about soon). I have enjoyed "The War at Home" so far, although when taken in conjunction with Fantastic Four it lessens its impact since JMS seems to be recycling the same story, making ASM the far better book since it comes out first.

Civil War: Frontline #8

I've enjoyed this mini-series that ties into Civil War. I like that there are 3 stories told in each one, although I could do without the final act of each book honestly. More Ben and Speedball, less history please.

Daredevil #91

"The Devil Takes a Ride" arc continues here. Brubaker has totally taken up the reins from Bendis on this series. If ASM wasn't around this week this would probably be my pick.

Exiles #88

I was late coming onto this series, but am liking it quite a bit.

Fantastic Four: The End #2

I liked the first part and will continue to read the series at least into this release.

Runaways #22

Enjoy Vaughn while you can until Whedon comes over for the future of this series.

Ultimate Spider-Man #102

I have no idea how Bendis is going to end the "Clone War" in the next three issues, but it has been an engaging read.

X-Factor #13

Peter David has struck gold on this series again.

Wonder Woman #3

The now bi-monthly series has another issue release. I've liked this series so far and I'm glad they pushed it to a realistic bi-monthly schedule. It would be nice to be monthly, but I can understand the delay. Heck, Whedon and Cassidy get away with it in Astonishing X-Men.

What Did We Learn This Weekend?

So, the Playstation 3 and Wii launches came and went. I think Bill put it nicely in his blog (Dubious Quality) this weekend in two separate posts and I'll try not to just retread on what he said.

I was one of the people with inside info on the PS3 and launch quantities that Bill talked about and it will be very interesting to see Sony's press releases starting today. I am actually surprised they didn't send out a form press release saying that the PS3 launch was an unqualified success this weekend. I'm not exactly sure how they are going to spin the 140k units that went to stores instead of the 400k target (this is rumor at this point, but many signs are pointing toward this number being realistic). On every news channel I watched and every newspaper I read they made it a point to say that 400k units were shipped to stores. I'm not sure when NPDs numbers come out, but that will be the telltale sign. I'm sure Sony is hoping to have more units in the channel before that report comes out because I don't think it will look very rosy. They may even bring out a PR piece that says, "well, Wal-Mart is not taken into account in NPDs numbers" (since they aren't).

The most funny thing to come out of this weekend is how fast the eBay price of the PS3 dropped after roughly Friday night. If you hadn't sold your PS3 by then you were talking more in the $200-600 profit range at this point (although there are some still going for $1.5k). Some people have even taken to raffles, but so far I haven't seen much movement in those auctions. It's hard to guess at what this sort of thing means though. Does it mean that the PS3 isn't nearly as "wanted" as Sony would like us to think it is? Have the bidders decided that the system isn't worth 2x+ the original price and they can wait? Have the people that wanted a PS3 for Christmas already purchased their systems from eBay and now there are slim pickings when talking about buyers out there?

If I were to guess I'd put the most credence on the first question. I think the Wii launch on Sunday signified that to me. Chances are good that Nintendo came out with 400k+ units yesterday and as far as I can tell all of them sold out. I think Nintendo will come out of this with a great holiday season, but much like the GameCube if there isn't much quality 3rd party support I don't see it selling very well going through next year. That is the major bump that Nintendo must overcome for the Wii to be a valid console this go around. I hope they learned from the ongoing N64 and GameCube sales failure.

Heck, even the New York Times has a scathing article about the PS3 today. It is worthy to note that some of the things he talks about the Xbox 360 having vs. the PS3 were not available at 360 launch. The key one I am thinking about is the multiple downloads section (the summer update added that) as well as component cables not being included in the Core system (he doesn't make a division between the Premium and Core 360s).

I did not pick up either system this weekend. I decided I didn't want to stand out in the cold again like I did last year. The PS3 is certainly going toward the "buying next year" category after some more quality games have come out and we know more about the exclusive games supposedly coming next year. Do not be surprised if previously exclusive games go multi-platform if the PS3 is a flop coming out of the holiday season. I will probably pick up a Wii at some point simply to play Zelda, although I may just hold off for the GameCube release. The Wii was certainly calling to me more than the PS3 this weekend honestly.

Also, if you have a 360 as well as a PS3 and you are thinking about getting some multi-platform games, do yourself a favor and stick with the 360 version. Every PS3 version so far has had problems: Call of Duty 3, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (has 1080p support) and Tony Hawk's Project 8 all have framerate slowdown. NBA 2K7 has major problems in 1080p resolution from my understanding. EA's games also have some graphical missteps when compared to their 360 counterpart as well. All in all, the ports have not gone over very well. This leaves you basically with one standout game (Resistance: Fall of Man) and two duds (Genji and Untold Legends) from Sony...whoops!

I can't wait for those numbers from NPD and see how Sony is going to spin them. You may also want to check out your local video game establishment since some people may be returning their PS3s because they didn't get the money they wanted from an eBay auction. Don't be surprised if there is some resupply at stores with unopened and returned units.

PS3 Camper Update

I decided to drive around a bit tonight and see if there were any lines around. I talked about the one in Richfield, MN earlier that I had seen on a local news station. Well, now the campers fill up the front right and looks like the whole right side of the building. This Best Buy is obviously one that should get more than the 20 promised. I think they had over 100 360s last year (I just checked, it was 178...134 Premiums, 44 Cores), so that's a good bet.

I also went to few Targets, Wal-Marts and other Best Buys as well. Each one either had people waiting in line outside or, in the case of Wal-Mart and one Target, they had people inside waiting (the Wal-Mart is a 24-hour one, so I can only guess they will release at midnight on Friday). Compare this to last year and the store I stood in front of at 8pm the night before the 360 release (I was 1st in line) has about 12 people in line almost 48 hours before the PS3 release. The weather is slightly warmer (I think I sat in 22 degree weather last year, it's 34 here now) as it should hit about 29 tonight and about 24 for those that have to wait until 8am on Friday (26 for the midnighters).

I have to say that people must have obviously learned from last year and decided to line up early this time around. I know there were several fights at other locations over the 360, but there wasn't much incident where I was other than people being pissed they didn't get Premium systems. They have also obviously learned that eBay is a precious asset from last year and see lots of money in their futures. I don't think I could push myself much past the 12 hours I waited last year in the cold. Many of these people have tents though and probably have some heaters as well. I could easily do 48 hours with those amenities, but the toes get really cold really fast.

Anyway, that's just a report from the frozen north of Minnesota. We are just lucky there hasn't been any accumulation of snow (it has snowed here though). Last year I don't think it had snowed yet when the 360 came out (November 22nd). All I hope is that some people don't go crazy and violence ensues on Friday. Tempers become very thin when you're the unlucky person that didn't get the last ticket and everyone after them.

Opinion: Playstation 3

The Playstation 3 is only a couple days for release and even up here (Minnesota) people are already camping out to get one on Friday. Woke up this morning and the news already had that people had tents and were camping outside the Richfield, MN Best Buy (for those that don't know, Richfield is also the city where Best Buy HQ is located, but it is a separate building from the Best Buy store a half mile away). The Richfield Best Buy is the only one around here opening at midnight and when there are midnight openings for things, this is the store that is usually the only one open.

I have also heard reports of people already camping at 24-hour Wal-Mart locations (that would also sell at midnight) and I can only guess some Target stores may have lines starting. The problem with Target is that they also have a charity CD coming out for one of the local radio stations tomorrow morning.

I did not pre-order the PS3 or Wii and may or may not stand in line to get one or the other. My gut feeling is that the number of PS3 units available will be well below expectations, possibly a cut of as much as 50%. I can only guess there will end up being less PS3 systems at launch than 360 last year. I wonder if Sony will come out and say that they will not meet expectations or not. Chances are they won't since they haven't shown lately that they can be up front about stuff.

Much like the Wii below there are some valid questions to ask about the PS3, such as:

1. How big of a percentage of PS3s are going to go up on eBay by Christmas?

At this moment there are 2,441 PS3 systems up for sale at eBay. Back as far as October 31st at around 9am my time (Central) there were 2,260 that were put up for bid (but not necessarily sold). There can only be more that were put up between the pre-order date at Gamestop and October 31st. Given those first two numbers (and guessing that enough were sold in-between the dates I don't have) there are probably 5,000+ PS3s that have been put up for bid or sold at this point. Not knowing the full amount of units Gamestop, EB and Toys 'R Us have I can only go by Sony's initial 400k unit launch and say that a little over 1% of PS3s have been sold.

Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Target, Circuit City, etc. have not sold systems yet (Wal-Mart did do online stuff yesterday) and I can only guess a good chunk of those bought will go on eBay. The lure of money (most PS3s are going for over $2k currently...over 3x the price of the $599 system) is just going to be too great for people. The idea that you can make $1400 on this system and possibly make your family's Christmas a very good one is probably why people are already camping out here (in the cold...it's in the 40s, but the nights are below freezing) and elsewhere.

My best guess when all is said and done is that at least 25% of PS3s will be sold on eBay and I may be lowballing on my figure. The only thing that could screw up my percentage is if the saturation point of people willing to spend $2k on the system is hit. Chances are very good that that $2k price will go higher if you hold out past Thanksgiving on putting it up on eBay.

2. How strong is the launch lineup?

Much like the Wii below the launch lineup is not that exciting. Just like the Wii there is really only one standout game at launch, Resistance: Fall of Man. The other original games (not games on other systems) are Genji: Days of the Blade, Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire, and Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom. The last one could be another standout, but I haven't heard anything about it from any magazine at all. That's not a good indicator to be honest, especially since they are covering other games.

The rest of the games are multiplatform ones. Early reviews on the Activision ones (Tony Hawk's Project 8 and Call of Duty 3) is that there are major framerate hitches in both and the online component is either not there (THP8) or not as robust (CoD3). On the reverse side are the 2K sports games. NBA 2K7 has a 1080p output (supposedly running at 60fps) and the Sixaxis controller is used for free throws. Previews have noted that they can't tell a vast difference between the look of the PS3 and 360 versions, but I would guess once they have it in their hands and can play side-by-side they'd know.

Is the launch lineup stronger than the 360? That's more of a subjective opinion from anyone. From my vantage point the key games of the 360 launch were Project Gotham Racing 3, Call of Duty 2, Kameo (don't let anyone tell you this game sucks), Condemned and Perfect Dark Zero (hindered by the inability to meet hype). That's 5 worthy games in my opinion, but many people are not into racing or platform games for instance, eliminating 2 of those games. The key game to hone in on is Call of Duty 2 which really ran well on the 360 and the early review of Call of Duty 3 from Gamespot that says there is lots of slowdown even in empty places on the PS3.

3. Can the free online play challenge Xbox Live?

Sony has kept very quiet about this and maybe some of you don't know the full details, so I'll lay it out here. Unlike Microsoft who runs pretty much every game (minus EA games and some others) through their servers and Xbox Live service, the PS3 online service options will be limited by the publishers/developers who want to support it. Sony is leaving it to the companies to develop and run their online multiplayer. Sony is just giving us a way to connect to each other, but the companies will maintain and upgrade the servers the games run on. This is much like it was in the PS2 world with online, but with the move to PS3 I find that online multiplayer will become that much more important in the overall scheme of things.

Don't be surprised if some games come out where the company releasing it would like to see you pay an amount per month to play the game and keep the servers up and maintained. For a company like Electronic Arts it isn't too much trouble because they usually phase out online play on old games every year as the new iteration comes out, but for the smaller companies out there the only way for them to see a profit and not a loss via online play is to charge a fee. With Xbox Live almost all servers are handled by Microsoft and that is what we pay the $50 for. The companies develop the netcode for their games via the Live SDK, but Microsoft runs the servers the games run off of.

Neither way is necessarily perfect, but I don't see the PS3 online section being on every game like it pretty much is for the Xbox 360. With production costs already high for both systems (and the PS3 development is evidently higher than the 360), companies may decide to drop the PS3 online component to be cost effective.

4. Will the price keep people away after the initial release?

This will be the true test for the PS3: How will sales go once it is readily available? As noted above I figure a good percentage will be bought just to sell on eBay, but what about once all the craziness settles down? Can the PS3 outsell the 360 at the +$200 price point? It will be interesting.

5. Will the 20GB version be enough in memory space?

Word already is that there is an option to install several gigabytes onto the hard drive to run Ridge Racer 7 (5GB) and Genji: Day of the Blade (2GB). It is confirmed as an option on Genji, but no idea if it is one on RR7. The original Xbox cached a lot of stuff onto the hard drive in order to play a game faster and this is pretty much the same type of thing although the hard drive hit seems to be of a larger quantity. No word yet on other games needing this space, but it is quite possible that the 20GB version will be tapped out rather quickly. The good news is you can put any 2.5" hard drive into the PS3, but that's an extra price hit.

6. Can Sony overcome their overall bad PR moves?

Granted, most people won't know all about Sony's missteps with the PS3 and other things this year. E3 was a disaster for Sony, especially in comparison to the Wii and 360. The first big misstep was the announcement of the price. Sony believes enough people out there trust the name brand that they won't be pissed to pay $200 or $300 more than they did the PS2 at launch. Some polling place, which could be valid or not valid, even said a lot of people thought the PS3 was $300. Could there be people in the lines that don't know the actual price of the PS3? I think it would be tough because if they saw Sunday ads they would have seen the price.

Sony is also reliant on the Blu-Ray player on the PS3. This is them trying to push that format as the defacto one of the new generation of DVD players. It works well for those people that have 1080p systems in the fact that they get a player and game system for $400 less than a standalone player, but is the PS3 a better Blu-Ray player than the standalone one? I don't know. There may also be loading issues given that this is a first-generation Blu-Ray system versus one down the road that may speed up loading quite a bit. The good news is that it is probably quieter because it runs at a lower speed than the 360's DVD drive. It also allows for larger information to be stored on the disc. Whether that is good or not is up for debate.

The other misstep was obviously their battery problems with many notebook computer manufacturers. This will cost Sony a lot of money and I don't know whether people should be worried about the PS3 controller or not with the battery in it. If that battery blows up Sony could be in a world of hurt more than they are now. Sony is on its way to the toilet as a brand and they've put all their eggs into the PS3 basket hoping it will pay off as it did the 2 generations prior.

In the end I'd have to say the smartest move is to pass on the Playstation 3 at this moment. Resistance: Fall of Man is the only game to pick up and play and hopefully you'll have a friend that has the system and game and you can play it. The news is much more rosy as we move into next year with more (supposedly) exclusive offerings like Metal Gear Solid 4 and possibly Final Fantasy XIII along with many others.

In many ways I am sure people wished they would have waited a few months on the Xbox 360 because that was when things started to get good for many. I think the same thing is going to befall both the PS3 and Wii. There will be a quiet quarter after this one and then some standout things will start to emerge as we move into the spring and through the rest of the year next year. I just hope nothing hardware based goes wrong with the PS3, that could also doom Sony pretty quickly. For those getting in line I wish you luck and hopefully we'll have some hard numbers before the systems actually go on sale.

Opinion: Nintendo Wii

The Nintendo Wii is an interesting counter-choice to the Playstation 3. The Wii should have more plentiful numbers and the price point is rather attractive when put up against the PS3 ($499/$599 vs. $249). The only problem with the Wii is that there may be more question marks surrounding it than the PS3 has. Things to consider:

1. Will there be any heavy support after the initial 6-12 months of release?

Developers are saying they are big behind the Wii because of production costs being less on a game than those on the 360 or PS3. This may be true, but the developers also need to think about what would make a game exciting to the owners of the Wii. With a new way of controlling how you play the game, the developers need to start thinking outside the box and utilizing the full range of motion that the remote supposdely has.

I question whether support is going to be there after a year. I think it is a valid point of worry with the Wii. Yes, Metroid and Mario are coming, but after that what other original or big selling games are there? With Zelda coming out on Sunday that is a big selling point for the Wii, but it also spites those people (like myself) that were waiting for the game on the GameCube. We have to wait almost a month to get our hands on that version unless we picked up a Wii.

2. Will Red Steel end up being a game worth picking up or has nothing changed since the disastrous previews?

I still think Red Steel could end up being another strong release alongside Zelda for the Wii release. Both Nintendo and UbiSoft have been touting the game, but when early previews started coming out it painted a not so rosy picture. Did UbiSoft go back and refine the game and make it all it could be? That's the question.

3. Is the controller a gimmick or a real revolution?

From a conceptual standpoint the controller is revolutionary, but from real world use in games at launch and the future will it actually stand up? Journalists who have played Zelda at the recent event in Redmond sat on both sides of the fence on whether the Wii controls were good for the game or not. What they were pretty unified with was that using the controls would not make your arms tire. The latter is an important factor since logic would dictate that your hands would tire after hours of play, but the previews on 10 hours of play refuted that.

The thing to worry about here also ties into #1. Developers have to think outside the box when creating games for the Wii. In many ways it will be easy to use the new control system, but can they utilize it to its full potential? They are going to decide whether the control system is viewed as a gimmick or a revolutionary idea.

4. Will the idea by many that the Wii is just a GameCube 1.5 hurt the system?

I don't think of the Wii like this, but I get the impression that many do. This could hurt the Wii in the end simply because we (unfortunately) live in a society where graphics are pretty important. The Wii is not going to wow people like the 360 or PS3 might, it just isn't going to happen. The Wii is there for much the same reason as the GameCube, a system where people can have fun playing games with other people. With the Wii they get into the game physically, a vast change from the GameCube. Nintendo still hasn't shed the kiddie image that many people talk about and they plan on having many Mature games on the Wii, but they'd have to do something pretty badass to lose the kiddie label.

5. Is online multiplayer gaming really that important?

Online multiplayer gaming may not be very important to Nintendo again this time around. Yes, there will be online play, but is Nintendo really taking an aggressive stance on it? I don't think they are. Sony, for all they've done wrong, have embraced online play with the PS3 although the success of it can be debated. Microsoft obviously makes Live a key component of their system. Could a repeat of the GameCube happen again where there are very few games that support online play? It is cool we'll have the Virtual Console available via the network, but we certainly can't play those games with other people around the world, can we?

In the end I hope people pick up the Wii, especially if you're in a family environment. The unfortunate part (that is shared with the PS3) is that there is really only one game to pick up for the Wii (Zelda) that is a for sure must buy. Outside of that what do you have? The vast unknown.

This Week in Entertainment (11/12 - 11/18)

This is a nice quiet week...oh wait, I'm looking at a different week! Big releases in all the categories I list in these posts, so get ready. As usual, I have my pick of the week in every category.

Games

Playstation 3 System (11/17)

The system we've all opined about (and every eBay seller's fantasy) is ready to drop on Friday. Sony has said they hope to exceed expectations, but I'm willing to bet the amount of systems available will be 400k or lower. For those that pre-ordered at EB/Gamestop I wish you luck and hope your local store goes chronologically and not sell to those that spent more on the system/games/accessories as you. I'll make a post later on talking about my feelings with the PS3 and Wii about to drop.

PS3 Ported Games

This includes such games as NBA 2K7, NHL 2K7, Tony Hawk's Project 8 (sans online), Call of Duty 3, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, Need for Speed: Carbon, NBA Live 07, NHL 07 and Tiger Woods 07. I may have forgotten some, but it will be interesting to see how they stack up against their 360 counterparts.

Resistance: Fall of Man (PS3)

It is a busy games release week because of the Playstation 3 and this easily tops the choices coming out of the PS3's launch. IGN's review gave it a 9.1, although it was a poorly written article. I await Gamespot's take on it since I find they run generally at the same wavelength I do. I think no matter what this game receives my Game of the Week endorsement even though I may not play it for a long time.

Final Fantasy III (DS)

This game was also in the running for the GotW award, but with the PS3 avalanche coming in the same week it gets relegated to a note from me. I've heard good things about this 3D re-imagining of FF3 and I hope it turns out nicely. I don't have a DS as of yet, but this is yet another reason to think about picking one up.

Genji: Days of the Blade (PS3)

I think the various reviews (Gamespot 6.4, IGN 6.0) that are out there now pretty much sum up the game. It looks nice, but doesn't play so well. I give a big Rent It to this one for those of you that get a PS3 and keep it.

Ridge Racer 7 (PS3)

So, this morning I run across this forum thread at Evil Avatar that compares screens from RR7 with those of RR6 on the 360 last year. This proves of course that Ridge Racer 7 is actually Ridge Racer 6 renamed (there may possibly be more tracks though). This isn't the best game to be making comparisons on since it isn't a game that will graphically wow you, but it is interesting to see which system does graphics better. I just wanted to point this out, but you should certainly Rent this game.

Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom (PS3)

This game could be good given how well the PSP game was received. This game also started the whole Xfire controversy where people were thinking the PS3 online component was run by Xfire, but Sony had just used Xfire for this game. I'll talk more about the online capabilities of PS3 and how disjointed it is in another post. I think this game looks interesting and may be a good Buy.

Sonic the Hedgehog (360/PS3)

This game is going to suck if it is anything like the 360 demo that came out a bit ago. Sonic was once on top of the world, but with each successive release since Sonic Adventure on the Dreamcast the quality has been going to pot. If the graphics are pretty good I could see this game being a good comparison of the graphical power of the 360 vs. the PS3...I just think the game is going to suck big time. This game may go into the Skip It territory, but you may want to rent as well.

WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2007 (360/PS2)

I have not gotten my new issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly, but they supposedly reviewed this game and scored it a 7.5. I don't know if EGM is still doing the 3 reviewer thing or not since this issue was supposed to see big changes, but if 7.5 is the average of the 3 reviewers I'd say that is pretty good for a wrestling game. IGN also reviewed it and gave it an 8.0. My only problem with that is that IGN also gave the Xbox RAW games reviews in the 9s and neither game was THAT good. I say Rent It on this one.

Movies/DVDs

The Da Vinci Code (DVD)

Easily my DVD Pick of the Week. I enjoyed this movie a lot, although it is obviously not as good as the similarly themed National Treasure. I think it is certainly worth a rental and maybe even a purchase.

Family Guy Vol. 4 (DVD)

Pick this up to continue your collection of Family Guy DVDs. I don't think this second part of the 4th season is as good as the other seasons, but it is still some quality viewing.

James Bond: Casino Royale (Theater)

Easily my Theater Pick of the Week. I know many people out there can't get used to a blond Bond, but give Daniel Craig a chance! I think this movie looks really good and hopefully it can rejuvenate the franchise via a reboot.

Happy Feet (Theaters)

Another computer animated movie, this time starring penguins. I have no clue whether this movie will be good or not, but they certainly are advertising it everywhere (even at Blockbuster!). The concept sounds interesting, but when I think of computer animation pioneers I don't really think of Warner Bros. in the same class as Pixar or Dreamworks.

Comics

Civil War #5

Comic Book Pick of the Week. Nothing gets the blood flowing more than another Civil War release from Marvel as it ramps up toward the end of the series. I'm not very high on Civil War, but I certainly await to see how much more Millar can push the future of Marvel. Spider-Man is front and center on the cover and I just hope Millar and JMS don't ruin Peter forever by the end of this series.

Astonishing X-Men #18

"Torn" reaches its conclusion. Will we find out the story behind Emma and the White Queen and how they can be or not be the same person? The sad part in all of this is that the next arc is the last one that Whedon will be working on, but the good news is he also moves into writing for Runaways.

Cable and Deadpool #34

I cannot stress how good and funny this series is. I think it goes largely unnoticed like She-Hulk does and I hope some people can drop a major book they don't enjoy reading for this book.

Iron Man #13

The series finally moves into Civil War territory. Hopefully this book will go at length to explain exactly why Tony Stark isn't the biggest ass in the Marvel Universe. Right now he and Reed Richards are striving for the title of biggest ass around. I think an explaination is well in order in this case.

Moon Knight #6

The first arc finally reaches its conclusion. I think this opening arc has been rather slow in execution and I hope this last chapter pushes toward the next arc.

New Avengers #25

Another Civil War tie in and only 1 month until the story about Wanda Maximoff and Clint Barton. Is it sad that I'm more excited about that issue than this one? The solicitation says that Tony is ready for the final battle...be he makes a "fatal mistake" that he will pay for. I'll believe it when I see it.

Thunderbolts #108

It is sad that this team is going to go the way of the wind to be replaced by more A-list villians, but hopefully they will go out with a bang. In this issue the conclusion to the fight between Zemo and Grandmaster reaches its end.

What If? Spider-Man: The Other

I am very interested in this issue simply because I like to see what the other way would have been for this arc. I didn't enjoy the Avengers Disassembled What If? much, but hopefully this will be different with Peter David writing it.

Action Comics #845

Part 2 of "Last Son", the Geoff Johns/Richard Donner team-up. I liked the first chapter and can only hope the goodness continues here.

Birds of Prey #100

The series reaches a new milestone as Oracle needs to look for some new recruits. I love this series and am sad that Black Canary has left, but hopefully new and exciting stories are ahead.

First Look: Gears of War (360)

I finish up my first looks with the game that stands head and shoulders above the 3 I played over the week: Gears of War. I could finish this first look by saying this game is a Must Own, but I need to quantify that somehow I think. Epic has created a game that will stand up with Halo and Halo 2 as killer apps of Microsofts console systems. In many ways Gears of War is better than either Halo (graphics, sound, gameplay). In other ways, such as multiplayer and story, it cannot hold a candle to either Halo game. In the end, this is how Gears of War will ultimately be judged: can it transcend the Halo games and stave off the upcoming onslaught of Sony and Nintendo's new gaming machines?

The story behind Gears of War isn't anything special. I think many reviewers and varied forum posters have said how sad the story is. The original Halo wasn't that great at story, but in the end it was a longer game than Gears of War is and therefore has more of a story behind it. Basically the story is you play a soldier who was put in prison by the alien Locust. Some Army guys bust you out and you spend the rest of the game following (or giving) orders and going through the motions of each checkpoint. The beauty in this game is that the gameplay is second to none in a 3rd person action game. I personally haven't felt like I was actually living through an action movie like I do with Gears of War. It is small on talk, but blows things up really nicely.

The biggest gameplay innovation here is the way you use cover. Cover means everything in this game; possibly even moreso than it does in the Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon games. I'm not big on either of those games simply because they are more squad based than Gears of War and it is far more strategic than GoW's run and gun perspective. From your cover you can look around or above you and aim (L trigger) and fire (R trigger) your gun. Blood will splatter as you shoot your enemies. The graphics are just fantastic and when you go into full-on run (by hodling down the A button while moving forward) the camerawork is exquisite and makes you feel like you're right there.

Gears of War obviously borrows a lot from the Halo playbook, but that's a really nice playbook to work from. There aren't as many enemies, although there are times you feel severely outnumbered. They also borrowed the health engine from Halo as well where if you stay still for a while your health will return to you. Much like Halo you can only have 2 guns on you, although you cannot double wield in this game. The cool thing about the guns is that your character switches them in and out with ease from their place on his back. This isn't a game where the player has tons of guns and no place to put them. Instead you actually see the guns on your character.

Another cool addition to the gameplay is the reloading of ammo. You can initiate it at any time with the R button. A little slide will go across and if you want to have a quick reload with extra power you have to hit the R button again inside the little sliver of white or within the section of gray. If you don't get it in either of those two sections the gun will jam and precious time will be taken away as you reload. You can also choose to just let the reload happen by itself and not try to do a quick reload. Quick reloads give you some extra power to your shots, so they are a valuable resource.

There is a minus to Gears of War though and that is the multiplayer aspect of the game. I think many people figured the matchmaking would be much like it was in Halo 2, but the story from Epic is that Microsoft built the Live play on the 360 differently than they did on the Xbox. I figure whatever problems there are will be rectified by the time Halo 3 comes out simply because they changed the way it worked when Halo 2 came out as well. Epic has talked about possibly fixing it themselves, but I would guess sales would be a good indication of whether they are going to take the time to work on it or leave it for Gears of War 2.

The multiplayer games I did get into were pretty fun, although there is really nothing akin to the Halo 2 game modes in this game. Basically it is a "one and done" type of situation for the games I played. You get picked off and you're done for that round. In many ways it seems a lot like the Splinter Cell games, but I think this game needs to have spawning going on and time limits. It's just one place where it falls well below the bar that Halo has set.

In the end I think this is easily a Must Buy and easily the first game where it is worth owning a 360 for. I certainly hope there are more games like this in the pipe coming up.

First Look: Call of Duty 3 (360)

Well, color me somewhat impressed. I had written this game off simply because Infinity Ward had nothing to do with it. Treyarch (the Spider-Man games and Call of Duty: Big Red One) took the helm for this iteration as IW works on Call of Duty 4 for PC only (supposedly).

Call of Duty 3 seems to borrow a lot from the previous game. You are put in a variety of roles for different countries on the Allied side. Instead of only controlling one soldier, you control the path of many. Also much like the last game, Call of Duty 3 is a very scripted game in the single-player universe. I personally don't mind it, but I know many people that don't enjoy playing these World War II games that have you go from point to point and never have an adaptive AI that comes at you all the time and not at intervals. I'm sorry to tell them that many FPS and 3rd person action games are scripted and checkpoint based, it just depends if you've grown tired of these crutches or not.

The graphics and sounds in this game are top notch, but there have been some missteps here and there that I have seen. Your friendly AI troops seem to enjoy getting in the way of gunfire and sometimes they just disappear from sight. Add to this the fact that the enemy AI sometimes starts to shoot like characters in GI Joe (not being able to hit the broadside of a barn) and miss you at point blank range.

The controls are pretty nice, but I would still love to have mouse and keyboard controls. I think I'm pretty hardcoded with the whole FPS control issue. If a game starts off in the PC world I have a hard time adapting to console controls. I just don't feel I have the pinpoint accuracy I have on the PC. On the reverse side I find that if a game starts off in the console world (Halo for example) I find that the controls are nice and tight and find my accuracy to be very good. I don't know if that means there is a different conceptualization of the controls depending upon where a game starts off, but it is interesting to note. In the case of Call of Duty 3, even though it isn't coming out on PC it is obvious that it has been built upon the last iteration and that game started off as a PC game even though many would consider the 360 version better from a graphics and sound standpoint.

Call of Duty 3 takes place during the Normandy Breakout Campaign period, meaning it takes place after the landing and follows the allies as they try to take back sections where the Germans held ground. This means you won't be re-living the Battle of Normandy in this game, but there are plenty of "Holy shit!" moments in the game thanks to the terrific sounds in the game. As I said in my opening statement, I am somewhat impressed by this game on the single-player side simply because I figured Teryarch would drop the ball. In the end they've kept the ball rolling, although it certainly isn't as engaging as the last game honestly.

Where Call of Duty 3 really shines is in the online world. This shouldn't be a surprise given how popular the last game was online for the 360. I've played a few games (Capture the Flag for the most part) and I find it quite fun to play. The voice communicator runs nicely and I can hear everyone. The only negative I have seen so far is there hasn't been any ranked games that I've been able to get into, only unranked ones. This is fine since I could care less if I'm on a leaderboard or not, but I am surprised more people aren't playing ranked games. They could of course all be playing Gears of War, but I figure this game will be quite popular as well.

In the end I'm leaning toward the Buy It category simply because of the online gameplay. If you are leaning on it strictly for single-player play I would rent it because you should be able to finish it within the rental time. $60 for a multiplayer game may seem a bit steep, but the fact is you can get more people in one game playing Call of Duty 3 than you can get in Gears of War. The more people, the more fun it is honestly.