Motorola has posted a teaser for its upcoming Super Bowl commercial for the upcoming Xoom tablet (Google Android). Once you get past the fact that it’s more than a little ridiculous to post a teaser for a commercial, the spot is actually pretty clever. Remember that classic “1984” Apple commercial? The Motorola Xoom commercial uses it for…inspiration.
Give it a look and let me know what you think (please)!
I now have a full week of DC Universe Online under my belt and my character is at level 18. I’m still enjoying the game, but most of the same doubts remain from my first weekend in DCUO. A few other aspects of the game have been bugging me as well. Let’s go through the list in my rolling (not a) review of DCUO.
Voice Acting — DCUO’s voice acting is irritatingly inconsistent. There are some marvelous performance from Kevin Conroy (Batman), Mark Hamill (The Joker), and Arleen Sorkin (Harley Quinn) — voice actors with fantastic track records. Then there are disappointing performances from Dwight Schultz (The Flash) and Tracy Bush (Booster Gold). Frankly…they suck. The Flash sounds like a nob and Booster sounds like an even bigger nob.
Sure, I understand that Booster Gold hasn’t always been the best hero in the DC Universe. He’s attempted (and failed at) numerous get-rich-quick schemes and sold out his image for things like toothpaste commercials. Still, he has saved lives and the world on numerous occasions. His voice work in DCUO just makes him sound like a complete tool. I really, truly hate it.
Rescue Me! — The game’s scripted missions have been the same after 18 levels. It’s a lot of find X, beat up Y, and defeat boss Z. I’m still enjoying it, but there’s a recurring theme in these missions that’s really starting to bug me — a hero always needs rescuing. I’ve had to bail out Raven, Batwoman, Robin, Nightwing, Supergirl, Wonder Girl, and several other heroes that I can’t remember. In the comics they’re extremely capable beings. In DCUO, they can’t walk for more than 50 feet without getting kidnapped.
As a comic book fan, it’s off-putting. I’m supposed to be a new hero that’s still learning the ropes. The people I’ve saved are established characters that have pulled of marvelous feats time and time again. A scrub like me is supposed to be bailing them out?!? This would have made sense later in the game (maybe level 20?). Perhaps the writers could have used several of DC’s damsels in distress for the early portions. For example, it would have made more sense to me if The Flash needed my help saving his wife Linda Park while he was being assaulted by Gorilla Grodd.
Diversity — I spent some time doing “Wanted” missions, tackling really powerful villains that are impossible to take down alone. Teaming up with others to down Solomon Grundy and Bizarro was a real kick. The first time I did it was a complete accident. I was randomly running around Metropolis (at super speed) and saw four heroes beating on Bizarro. Naturally, I stopped to help. He was almost defeated by the time I got there, so I got a ton of experience for a minute of fighting. In my experience, you can always count on randomly passing heroes to stop and chip in.
The group missions I’ve tackled were fun too. Teaming up as a group of four, our party received various orders from Martian Manhunter. It was basically defeat X and gather item Y over and over again, but it was fun completing the task with strangers at various levels.
This week I plan on doing more PvP missions. Hopefully my character is ready for the challenge.
Still Fun? — Yeah, I’m still enjoying the game, especially when I get to team up with my friends. I’m still marking out when different heroes and villains make appearances in my adventures. I love earning and finding new gear that makes my hero even more powerful. But, I’m still not sure I want to play for more than the 30-day trial. I have an aching suspicion that the repetitive mission structure will bore me and the novelty of the cameos will wear off. Let’s see how it goes after another week!
As always, if you have any questions about my experience with DCUO, please leave a comment. If you’d like to play with me — and it would be way more fun if you did — I’m “RPad TV” on the Crisis server.
WWE’s Royal Rumble pay-per-view event had some nice surprises. To briefly recap the PPV, World Heavyweight Champion Edge and WWE Champion The Miz retained their respective titles. Booker T and Diesel (Kevin Nash) surprised the crowd and received huge pops for their participation in the Royal Rumble match. When the dust cleared, Alberto Del Rio emerged as the winner of the Rumble.
It was nice to see Booker and Nash work for their old company, though I hope they’re done. Neither of them are what they used to be. I do think it’s hilarious that Nash dyed his hair to play the Diesel character again; Nash has repeatedly said that he wants to work as a “silver fox” character but Vince McMahon hates his gray hair. I love that WWE went with Del Rio as the winner. He’s relatively new, he does great work in the ring, he’s above average on the mic, and his personal ring announcer Ricardo Rodriguez makes me laugh.
Anyway, let me know what you made of Del Rio’s win and the Royal Rumble PPV (please).
Did you guys and gals catch Jesse Eisenberg’s monologue from Saturday Night Live? Well here it is! The Social Network star is interrupted by SNL’s Andy Samberg playing Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg. Meanwhile, the real Mark Zuckerberg is backstage and eventually makes his way on stage to join the two men that portray him. It’s cute and geeky. Check it out!
Sony has posted videos of its NGP press conference from Tokyo. It’s long and in six parts, but it’s definitely worth watching. In addition to Sony executives, developers from Konami, Epic, Sega, and more make appearances. If you have a chance to check out the clips, please share your favorite moments of the presser.
Confession: I like Ashton Kutcher. On paper, I should loathe him. Punk’d is retarded. A lot of his movies suck. And there was that stretch in the early 2000’s when he annoyingly went to every videogame party in Los Angeles…
Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, Timmy Bradley’s disappointing victory, Ozzy Osbourne’s sudden illness, or last-minute international jobs, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
Confession: I like Ashton Kutcher. On paper, I should loathe him. Punk’d is retarded. A lot of his movies suck. And there was that stretch in the early 2000’s when he annoyingly went to every videogame party in Los Angeles. (To be fair, it wasn’t just him. Every party had at least on person from That ’70s Show and American Pie.)
The truth is…I find him funny and charming in some of his movies. I’ve enjoyed listening to him talk about his politics (fiscally conservative, socially liberal). I like that he’s perceived as this idiot pretty boy, but is much smarter than he looks. I love that he was one of the first celebrities to use Twitter in a hardcore way. Although his restaurants — Dolce and Geisha House — draw a hipster crowd, they’re actually very good. The Demi Moore thing is pretty cool too.
Ah, I feel better now that I’ve come clean about all of that. Do you have any celebrities you like but, on paper, should hate? Whether they’re from movies, music, or TV, please share your celebrity confessions today!
At a recent financial results briefing, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata confirmed that the Nintendo 3DS eShop will not launch until May 2011. Numerous videogame pundits have criticized Nintendo for not having the online service ready for the 3DS’ launch. Here’s an excerpt from the briefing:
I would like to take this opportunity to inform you of our scheduled system updates of the hardware in detail. The first system update is scheduled for late May, at almost the same time around the world. Upon this update, you will be able to use some features including:
- Nintendo eShop,
- Transfer of Nintendo DSiWare from Nintendo DSi to Nintendo 3DS, and
- Internet Browser.
Does the delay change your 3DS purchasing decision? Are you going to wait until the eShop is ready or are you going buy a 3DS on launch day? Does the delay reinforce Nintendo’s shaky Internet reputation in your mind? Or is the company wisely waiting until it gets things right before it launches the service?
Motorola has posted a slick video showing off the Atrix 4G’s netbook-like functionality. Some of you will recall that this AT&T Google Android phone has an optional dock that allows it to be used like a laptop computer. While there are several Android phones with dual-core processors and large screens set for release over the next few months, the Atrix stands out from the crowd with its netbook-like functionality.
I’m hoping that Motorola starts a trend with the Atrix. Dockable phones would be very useful. What do you think of the feature and this video?
Here’s a sweet Killzone 3 behind-the-scenes video featuring the developers at Guerilla games, CG producers at Sony, the awesome Malcolm McDowell, and Ray Winstone. Some of you will recall McDowell and Winstone in this cool KZ3 story trailer video. Check out this bts video when you have a chance. It’s definitely worth watching.
John Carmack (id Software) posted an interesting tweet on the Sony NGP that said, “Low level APIs will allow the Sony NGP to perform about a generation beyond smart phones with comparable specs.” The tweet reminded me of several Twitter and AIM conversations I had with friends in Japan about the NGP. Contacts at Kojima Productions and Q Entertainment told me that their respective companies are psyched to work on the NGP. One of the reasons both contacts cited is that development will be easy and powerful. Both pointed out that working on the NGP will be much easier than working on the PS3.
Sure it’s early and developers are excited to finally be able to talk about NGP development, but there appears to be something here. A lot of developers struggled in the early days of the PlayStation 3. It took many developers a long time before they could harness the considerable power of the PS3. The early buzz on the NGP is that it will be easy to work with from the get-go. It will be interesting to see what the first generation of NGP games will look like as a whole.
Will the NGP’s purported ease of development combined with Sony’s superior third-party relations give it a better and more diverse catalog than the 3DS? I’m excited to see how it all plays out!
