Borderlands 2: Doomsday Trailer

by Carlos Marquez

For those of you who fell in love with Gearbox's sleeper hit Borderlands, here is the newest trailer featuring actual gameplay, new classes, a gazillion more guns, and what everyone and their momma was asking for when they finished the first game.... more wub wub! :robot dance:

Can't wait for this. Borderlands 2 is slated for release on September 18, 2012.

Resident Evil 6 and Street Fighter X Tekken Trailers

by Dr. C-LOS


Been a while my peeps! I was just completely overwhelmed with university and work but I'm trying to get back in the groove of things. What better way to ease in than with some cool new trailers? Check them out!

Resident Evil 6

Looking very action-oriented which isn't really a bad thing. I enjoyed the action of RE5, but this new iteration looks to have ramped that up even more. Looking forward to seeing more.


Street Fighter X Tekken

Let's start with this cool cinematic....

I'm loving the feel of these cinematics. They have a much more gritty feel in comparison to how Street Fighter IV felt. This is likely influenced by the inclusion of the Tekken universe, which has always been much grittier as opposed to Street Fighter's "cartooniness." And now for some awesome gameplay featuring newly announced characters!

Oh man, check out the silhouettes of Pac-Man and Mega Man! If playable, I hope they are not just for the Vita. It would be fun to duke it out with them on my 360. But did Mega Man look a little odd? Maybe it is Frank West from Dead Rising dressed up like Mega Man? Or maybe it's the infamous bad box art Mega Man from the original NES game? Either one would be a letdown, though extremely funny.

Even without the company mascots, I am looking forward to this game. Street Fighter X Tekken (pronounced Street Fighter Cross Tekken) is slated for a March 6 release in North America for the PS3 and XBox 360, with PS Vita and PC releases expected later this year.


I hope you liked these trailers as much as I did. 2011 was a great year in gaming but 2012 is already shaping up nicely too. I also hope I can keep updating while continuing my increased workload from school and work. See you next time my peeps!

New Movie Trailers!

Now I know these are not exactly "new" in the sense of time on the Internet, but if you aren't constantly keeping up to date with movies the way I am, then perhaps you have yet to see these trailers. Besides, watching these trailers isn't enough when you don't know what I think about them yet. :-P

This is the film I am most looking forward to next year. Bane can most assuredly be used better in The Dark Knight Rises than he was in Batman and Robin by Joel Schumacher.

Let's try to forget this version of Bane.

But I know what everyone is thinking. What are we supposed to watch in the year leading into TDKR? How about this?

Based on the Frank Miller graphic novel of the same name, Batman: Year One promises to deliver quality like the WB animated features have in the past. And so far, the trailer seems to show that the film is on the right track.

If you have never seen any of the straight-to-DVD/BD animated DC features, you're doing yourself a disservice. They have a very good track record. Batman: Under the Red Hood, and Green Lantern: First Flight come to mind as standouts. In fact, First Flight was more critically revered than the live action version of GL. Highly recommended films and I recommend you check out Year One when it releases this September.

But now onto something else.....

I was almost certain I wouldn't like anything new they'd do with Spider-Man. Primarily because I was upset that we couldn't see Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 4 (I think he's a great director and gets what needs to be done to redeem the franchise), but this trailer has won me over. It does look like a darker film and it will retell the origin story, but I like the idea of starting over with a somewhat different feel. I also like the inclusion of Peter Parker's original love interest from the comics, Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone). I'm going to be cautiously optimistic with this one but it does look good so far.

The next trailer is for a TV show, but I feel it needs recognition for being tied to my childhood.

I think it looks awesome. Looks like they expanded on the original story so that it has a feeling of being fresh and new while retaining what everyone loved from the old show. Look for the new ThunderCats to premier this Friday, July 29th on Cartoon Network.

There is another trailer that caught my attention recently, but for all the wrong reasons.....

I'm sorry you had to endure that but better you know now about this atrocity, lest you take a date to this film unassuming of the horrors that await you. And for those of you that enjoyed that trailer, and maybe even look forward to seeing this movie, well you cannot be my friend. Nor are you allowed to read my website any longer. Good day. :-P

Well those are just some of the films I'm excited about. Let me know what recent trailers you enjoyed. What films will you be excited to watch this year or next?

Sonic Generations Demo Impressions

by Dr. C-LOS

Actually, there are now only 10 days remaining for this demo.

Sonic Generations is the newest iteration of the long-running series (20 year anniversary) from Sega and the the Sonic Team. The story goes something like this: today's Sonic somehow gets blasted back in time and meets his younger self. Now both Sonics must fight whatever evil started this mess in the first place and set things right.

Past meets present in Sonic Generations!

Whatever. The point main is, the classic feel of Sonic is back! The demo lets you play the first zone in the game (Green Hill Zone), which is very similar to the first zone in the original Sonic game. Sonic can spin-dash his way through this familiar environment with loops and corkscrews, all while collecting rings. However, the graphics are much improved and there are some neat camera effects added in as a bonus. It is also worth mentioning that this game is compatible with stereoscopic television sets. Furthermore, this is definitely not a cut-and-paste job despite the similarities to the original Sonic. There is enough new to make it feel like a new game.

Old school Sonic goodness!

It's just too bad that the demo is over so quickly. You're having fun, speeding and bouncing around, when it's suddenly over. But that small amount of gameplay is a blast, and leaves you wanting more like a good demo should. And most importantly, unlike Sonic 4, the physics feel like Sonic should. I can see myself buying this game just based on that. The big question is, how good will the 3D modern Sonic levels play? Hopefully we get a chance to try out modern Sonic at some point before the game's release.

Prognosis: Great graphics and classic gameplay means you should keep an eye on this one. Definitely download this demo and try it out for yourself. But hurry up! This demo is a timed demo and will only be available to play for 10 more days! That means the demo will be disabled on July 12th! Sonic Generations will be available late in 2011 for the XBox 360, PS3, and 3DS.

Green Lantern Movie Review

by Dr. C-LOS

Marvel has had a lot of success with their movie franchises, even with their lesser known properties. DC, however, has been content to use only their big two, Superman and Batman. That was true until now. Green Lantern, one of DC's biggest properties in comics today, finally hits the big screen. But does the film live up to the potential that the graphic novel iterations seem to imply?

For those not in the know, Green Lantern follows Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds), an ace test pilot with the ability to overcome great fear. This ability is recognized by a dying alien and thus bestows onto Jordan a ring that is controlled by the green power of will. This ring can manifest green-colored constructs, limited only by the user's willpower and creativity.

Green Lantern's ring in action.

Jordan then joins an intergalactic group of aliens also chosen to be ring bearers. This group is called the Green Lantern Corps. Their biggest threat is an entity known as Parallax, a parasitic monster that feeds on the yellow power of fear.

This might sound a bit cheesy but this is based on a comic book after all. Green Lantern doesn't take itself too seriously except when needed, and has quite a sense of humor. My favorite gag being when Reynolds does his best impression of Christian Bale as Batman.

"Carol, I have a confession. I'm a green space cop."
"...................
Be serious Hal."

Overall, Reynolds does a great job as Hal Jordan though he may come off a bit more goofy than his comic book counterpart. Blake Lively, however, was not a great choice as fellow pilot Carol Ferris, but at least she is nice to look at. The best performances are by Peter Sarsgaard as Hector Hammond and Mark Strong as Sinestro. Unfortunately, Tim Robbins was chosen as Hammond's father, which is unbelievable considering how close in age they look. Angela Bassett as Amanda Waller was a great choice but her scenes are short-lived. And Sinestro is underutilized, along with other interesting Green Lantern Corps members. Furthermore, some characters could have been better fleshed out, leading to a feeling that the story is being rushed through so they can just get to the sequel. 

As for the special effects, they were very well done and are one of the film's best assets. Thankfully, the film was shot in 3D as opposed to being converted. It really shows as the 3D effects look great. The planet Oa, where the Green Lantern Corps reside, looks marvelous. It is too bad then that we don't see much of it or its inhabitants.

Wish we could have seen more of this.

One of Green Lantern's biggest downfalls, however, is that the story has way too much going on. There just isn't enough time to cover Jordan's background. We learn enough about his father to care, but there is more behind the relationship between Jordan and Carol Ferris. There just wasn't enough time to explore that relationship within the film. Furthermore, Sinestro could have been fleshed out a lot better. Showing his dark side develop would have made a great story arc. The story is there but it's only touched upon enough to make way for a sequel. And the film goes just a little longer than it had to. It's not that I got bored from it being too long, it's just that they tried to cram too much into it. If they had focused on just one villain, and hadn't been so adamant about getting everything out of the way for the sequel, the story could have been tighter and more enjoyable.

Despite the flaws, Green Lantern still ends up being very entertaining. The special effects, action, and sense of humor add up to a very good, though not great film. Green Lantern doesn't quite live up to the lofty goals of Dark Knight or Iron Man 1, but it ends up about on par with Thor or better. It might help to be a Green Lantern comics fan so you can understand a lot of the smaller details, but it does not hurt the film otherwise. And now that they have the origin out of the way, I can see the sequel being much more focused, and having more time to tell a better story. In the meantime, Green Lantern is an enjoyable but bumpy ride.

E3 2011 Musings

Well E3 is done and enough time has gone by to contemplate what we've seen. Let's get into it shall we?....

Microsoft

I was sorely disappointed with Microsoft again this year. They focused on Kinect a lot but did not show anything that really wowed me. I'm happy another Dance Central iteration is on its way, but not much else caught my attention. Being able to customize your guns in Ghost Recon using the Kinect is a neat idea, but I'd rather do it with my controller. I just cannot see myself being very accurate with a gun using the Kinect instead of an analog controller.

They showed Gears of War 3 again, and a revamped version of the original Halo, which are both nice but nothing too exciting at this point. The only somewhat surprising thing was Halo 4 was officially announced.

I always thought we would see Halo 4 announced sometime down the line but not this soon. I suppose Microsoft might have put too many eggs into their Kinect basket. They needed something to get the core gamers excited. Not that there aren't plenty of quality games coming out for the 360, but not too many exclusives to get excited about. Gears 3 and Halo 4 should help MS out but hopefully they have more up their sleeves for the future. Anyway, Halo 4 is a buy for me but only because I know my friends will buy it too. Otherwise I'd pass.


Sony

I admit I was surprised by Sony this year. Similar to last year, not much caught my attention... except for their new portable, the Vita.

It actually looks like they are putting some effort into the Vita. It features some impressive graphics along with analog controls, motion controls, a touchscreen, and an odd touchpad on the back of the system. I'm all for whatever brings in some creativity and maybe that touchpad on the back might help. As long as they do not take the same approach they did with the PSP then I'm all for it. After all, what's the point of a portable that just has the same stuff I can play on my PS3 right now? Well unless it is like Hideo Kojima's "transfarring" system idea then it's not a selling point.

For those not in the know, "transfarring" allows you to transfer your current game progress from the console (PS3) to the portable (PSP or Vita). You can get further in the game on your portable and later transfer it back to the console. It sounds like a great idea though that alone won't get me to buy a Vita. And so far, it seems to only be an idea Kojima thought up without any hard info on any games using it either.

The price point is very smart. At $249.99 for a Wi-Fi model, it's a very competitively priced new portable. Now let's see something that makes me want to buy it Sony!


Nintendo

I admit I like Nintendo much more than Sony or Microsoft, but I was hoping they would show more new games. The Wii got no love, but at least they showed some 3DS games to get excited for.

Luigi's Mansion was a decent game, and I've been waiting for a new Kid Icarus since forever so I will likely buy those two sequels. I'm a fan of Mario Kart but the new version looks to have too many gimmicks. Once I saw the underwater and floating parts I actually lost complete interest.

Not interested in 3D versions of old games like Star Fox, but there is definitely a market for that and it will keep gamers happy while they wait for more games. But the new game that got my attention this time was the new 3D Super Mario game.

Super Mario on the 3DS looks like it's going somewhat back to its roots by mixing the 3D gameplay with some old 2D staples. Primarily, I'm excited to see the return of Tanuki Mario! Can't wait to see more on this game. Especially can't wait to get my hands on it!

But the one thing that got me really excited was the official announcement of the Wii U!

Unfortunately, they did not show any real games. They only showed a few minigames and an amazing-looking Zelda tech demo. Hopefully that tech demo turns into a full-fledged game. And I'm sure it will with time. They need to finish Skyward Sword first.

Regardless, the hardware definitely has loads of potential. Nintendo is finally embracing HD graphics and seems to be moving in a direction where they are servicing both to the core and casual gamers. The tablet controller will be perfect for casual gamers with minigames and such. But the tablet could also be used for core games as well. The tech demo showcased this well but there are certainly other applications such as being able to see a planted turret's POV during an FPS multiplayer match, or using it as a rear-view mirror during a racing game.

Once again, there were not any big games actually announced for the Wii U but they did show gameplay footage from new games running on 360/PS3 hardware. These games will be released on the Wii U as well and will likely have similar graphics to what was shown. I imagine that we will see something more substantial at next year's E3, but Nintendo made their point. They are always thinking about how to innovate and change the way we play games. And I'm definitely excited for the Wii U and its potential. Now, like I said to Sony, show me some games Nintendo! However, something worth noting is the next Smash Bros. game was announced for both the 3DS and the Wii U! Can't get here soon enough!


BONUS~!

I've never been huge on MMO's, or Star Wars for that matter, but this game is shaping up nicely and might just pull me over to the Dark Side...... of gaming. I've even decided to pick up Knights of the Old Republic just to get an idea of what it would be like. So far, I'm greatly enjoying KOTOR. Hopefully SWTOR turns out well. Actually, I'm sure it will be awesome. This was the only thing that really caught my attention outside of the big 3 conferences. Well the only thing besides this....

Now wasn't that awesome? Rocksteady also recently announced that preordering at Best Buy will net you Tim Drake's Robin playable in a couple challenge rooms! A Red Robin skin is also available.

The Boy Wonder is looking pretty badass here.

A little research indicates that preordering only gets you Robin early and that he will be available later as DLC. I hope that is true because I am preordering with Amazon to use the $20 I'm getting from preordering Gears of War 3 with them. If not, no big deal.


So once again, I feel that if I had to pick a "winner" of E3, Nintendo would be it. A healthy showing of games for the 3DS and the potential of an innovative new console have won me over. But what did YOU think was most impressive from E3? What did you feel was lackluster? Maybe the Vita won you over? Or maybe playing Ghost Recon with the Kinect has you feeling goosebumps? Let me know your thoughts on what you saw from E3!

See you next time!

Best Movies of 2010

Hello and welcome to another edition of The Doctor's Prognosis! It's been a little over a month since my last entry but here are my favorite films of previous year.

Honorable Mention
Scott Pilgrim vs The World

What looked like eye candy ended up being a very entertaining film with a great soundtrack. Kieran Culkin's supporting character is hilarious and the story actually has a message. The amazing special effects are just gravy. Definitely a big recommendation from me.


Honorable Mention
Kick-Ass

Another comic book inspired film, Kick-Ass lives up to its moniker. A very gritty and entertaining film, Chloe Moretz as Hit-Girl steals the show. Even Nicolas Cage is likable in this film as he does his best Adam West/Batman impersonation. The main problem is that the film goes from gritty realism with the titular hero, to butt-kicking fantasy with Hit-Girl. Despite this problem, Kick-Ass ends up being an entertaining film worth watching.


3rd Runner-Up
The Fighter

The Fighter tells an emotional story following real life boxer "Irish" Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg). However, Micky's relationship with his half-brother is what really makes this film. Christian Bale shows off his acting chops as Dicky Eklund, Micky's aforementioned half-brother. You will believe Christian Bale is a drug abuser when watching this film. Melissa Leo also does an amazing job as Alice Ward. It is no wonder that both Bale and Leo won supporting awards. Watch this film!


2nd Runner-Up
The Social Network

David Fincher does an amazing job directing what could have been an otherwise dull film. The Social Network delves into the people behind the formation of the social networking juggernaut known as Facebook. Great directing, acting, and a soundtrack by Trent Reznor equals one of the best movies of the year.

1st Runner-Up
Black Swan

Darren Aronofsky is one of the most consistent directors out there and this film proves no different. The acting is amazing in this film. Natalie Portman delivers an Oscar-winning performance as Nina, a ballerina who aspires to be the principal in her ballet company's upcoming production, Swan Lake. If you watch Black Swan, there will be no question why she deserves so much praise. The supporting actors are no slouches either. The ambience in this film is creepy throughout. Even during the now infamous girl on girl scene, there is a sense of creepiness that permeates the screen. Thus delivering one of the most amazing psychological thrillers I have ever seen. And that's not just hyperbole. Aronofsky has quickly become one of my favorite directors.


Best Film of 2010
Inception

It was really tough to choose the best film this year. If you ask me tomorrow, I might change my mind and say Black Swan. That is how close it was. But no film captured my imagination, made me think, and at the same time entertain me like Inception did. Christopher Nolan, like Aronofksy, is one of the most consistent directors out there today. Nolan gathered a great cast and created an entertaining film that features that "hyper realism" Nolan loves so much. Delving into dreams is a concept that has never been done quite like this before. Furthermore, Hans Zimmer's score is so fitting and helps tell the story musically. It really helps create this great atmosphere like you are in another world. A world that is similar to our own, yet fantastical at the same time.

It is also worth noting how detail-oriented Nolan is. He created some amazing scenes in this film. Just mention the hallway scene to anyone that has seen Inception and they will know what you are talking about. It is amazing to think how much time and effort must have been used to create scenes like that. That is why I must present Inception with The Doctor's Prognosis' coveted Film of the Year Award!

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is my hero!

I hope you all enjoyed my latest entry. I'm sure you do not all agree with me, so please let me know what you think are the best films of 2010.

See you again soon!