Every Single Article Written by N - All 1343
Paranormal Activity 3 – Movie Review – Now With One NEW Scare! (Clearly Marked Spoilers!)
I’m sorry, but I wasn’t aware there were ground rules when it came to horror franchises. The one I’m most offended by after seeing Paranormal Activity 3 says that ‘once you’re innovative and create some great scares, you must spend the following installments cutting as much from that same cloth as possible’. The original Activity was a decent flick for a variety of reasons. For one, it was novel. For two, there was a small inventory of characters, so there was no extraneous action or character development to drag the pace down. Finally, it spent quite a bit of time building some psychological tension. 3 spends so much time building up and building up and building up that when it finally releases, it’s a quick release and it’s over.
Doom 4 Cancelled?
So imagine you’re id Software. You’ve just spent six years building Rage, your most ambitious game ever (which I thoroughly enjoyed). You’ve managed to fill out two more teams, one of which has been working on a new Doom game for the past few years. Your sister studios under the Zenimax/Bethesda label – which have produced exactly one decent game series: The Elder Scrolls – have been releasing stuff like Brink that reaffirm the notion that even if your game isn’t even that great, you’re still better than them. Well, Rage finally releases to mixed-to-decent reviews (much like Doom 3 did) and a botched release on your lead platform, the PC. Then Zenimax comes and tells you that you’re the bad guy here and that your new Doom game is cancelled. How would you feel?
What Is This Chronicle Movie?
In an interesting stealth unveil, 20th Century Fox brings us a trailer for the previously unknown found footage thriller Chronicle. Starring some kids that I’ve personally never heard of (except for Michael P. Jordan, aux star in my beloved Parenthood) this looks like a really cool take on what unlimited power can do to a man.
Do We Really Need Assassin’s Creed Movies?
Well, it looks like Sony has picked up the rights to what might be a series of films based on Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed franchise. No one quite knows what the narrative will be based on, but the universe is thick enough that whatever story thread they chase should be full of meat. Before Sony locked it down, there had been a bidding war over the property, but I honestly don’t understand why the majors are diving for a property like this.
Ten Years Later, Is Grand Theft Auto 3 A Sandbox Masterpiece Or Overrated Success?
I hated Grand Theft Auto 3. At school, my friends wouldn’t shut up about it. At work, my customers wanted ‘the game where you have sex with hookers, beat them up, and take your money back’. As an Xbox fanboy in 2001, GTA3 as a PlayStation 2 exclusive was unbearable. Several sequels and plenty of successful copycats proved that it was a successful improvement and starting point for the 3D sandbox genre, but what lessons did we really learn from GTA3 and how has a decade changed my mind?
It Came From The Forums! Week Of 10/19/2011!
Our forum is a great place to have intelligent discourse on a more stable level and we invite you to join in! We love your comments, but c’mon, those are like a one night stand. Here are some highlights from the forums that are getting some great discussions, yo!
Gaming:
I wonder how you’re doing with Rage on any platform!
Entertainment:
CSquared1972 wants to know about your favorite weird movies!
Tech:
What about switching phone carriers? How’s that going?
Off-Topic:
I wonder what you’re thinking about the Occupy Wall Street protests, especially after our recent hour-long thing about it in our latest podcast!
Droid RAZR, Galaxy Nexus Team Up, Eat Apple’s Lunch
Look, I guess if you’re super into iOS, that’s fine. It’s a slick walled garden, but it’s still a walled garden. You may call me a hater because I would love me some Windows Phone goodness, but that’s a walled garden I could relate to better considering I’m not into the whole Apple thing. Today’s big Android announcements would’ve been exciting enough if they just showed off new phones, but they didn’t just do that, they unveiled the next major iteration of the OS that makes Apple’s recent 4S/iOS 5 releases look like minor, gimmicky updates in hardware and software. Is Siri the best you got, Apple? C’mon now.
Dear Sprint: I Am This Close To Dropping You
I’ve been with Sprint for eight years and it’s only been in the past two that I’ve really thought about phones and data plans. Y’know, the things you should really be paying attention to. My first phone plan was $35 a month with a candy bar phone I kept in the center console of my car most of the time. When I got my Palm Pre in 2009, I got into their exclusive Premier plan which allowed me to get a new phone annually at new retail rates. So after a year, I got my Samsung Epic. Then they cleaved the Premier service into two tiers and I fell into the smaller bucket. And now there is no Premier plan. So now I have to pay full retail price plus activation fee to get the shiny new phone of my dreams. Honestly, I’d rather pay the termination fee and switch to another carrier. And I’d save money, and I’d have…
Am I The Only Male Watching NBC’s Parenthood? Thoughts On The Third Season
It’s hard to believe it’s been eight months since I wrote my original love letter to Parenthood, a complex family dramedy that gets my attention every week via Hulu. Now that we’re a bunch of episodes into Season Three (of, hopefully, seventy-five), it’s time to sit back and reflect on the season’s run so far and how the Bravermans have been holding up. Obviously if you’re not into the show, you need to be. Don’t have enough time to catch up? Just read the original piece and then hop right in!
Number Of iPhone 4S Users Still Using Siri After A Week: None
Siri is going to revolutionize how we use phones. Siri is the first real implementation of voice commands ever. Siri is going to be worth upgrading to an iPhone 4S. You know what no one mentions about Siri? That it’s a cool parlor trick at best, something to show your friends. “Hey Siri, where can I dump a dead body?” “Hey Siri, close the pod bay doors!” Then wait for the cute responses! I’m not giving it enough credit though, Siri is a cool trick, but iPhone users are going to discover something about voice commands that Android users have secretly known for years…
