Football is definitely coming to Los Angeles. Do you know how I know this? Farmers Insurance has agreed to pay $700-million to have its name attached to a downtown Los Angeles football stadium. I wouldn’t expect an insurance company to dish out that kind of money for something that isn’t a sure thing. Here’s the word from The Examiner:
Tuesday morning in Los Angeles, it was announced that Farmers Insurance has agreed to be the naming sponsor for a football stadium in the downtown area of the city.
The deal is valued at $700 million over 30 years, starting with $20 million for the first year and gradually increasing over time. The proposed name of the stadium is Farmer’s Field.
The rumor is that part of the Los Angeles Convention Center will be destroyed to make room for the new stadium. My secret wish is that this will lead to E3 moving from LA to Las Vegas. The industry has grown up so much in the last five years. It needs to regress a bit…well, at least I want it to. Ha!
It’s exciting because millions of gamers love Halo and would be thrilled to play the game with revamped graphics. It’s scary because…well, I’m pretty sure that it would be impossible to play Kinect Halo without looking like a complete tool.
What do you make of Kinect Halo? Is it something that you’d be interested in? Do you think that the game would get more “hardcore” Xbox 360 players to buy Kinect?
The fine people at Sucker Punch have released a new Infamous 2 trailer and revealed more on the game’s duality/morality system. Here’s the word from Sucker Punch’s Ken Schramm:
Karma moments from InFamous are now represented by character-driven dialogue and 3D mocap cutscenes. Your conscience comes into play with the introduction of Kuo and Nix, two NPC characters. Kuo is a NSA agent working to help Cole defeat the Beast. Nix is a New Marais native that grew up in the swamps around New Marias, whose hatred for Bertrand stems from witnessing him kill her family. She is your hedonistic guide that coaxes Cole into not thinking about the consequences of his actions.
As with most Sucker Punch products, I’m looking forward to this game. That said, I stillcan’t stop thinking of The Three Amigos whenever I hear its name. Hmmmm, perhaps my next DCUO character will be named “InFamous El Guapo”.
If you have a chance, please check out the trailer and share your thoughts.
Here’s an excellent trailer for Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One. I’m super looking forward to this game, which combines Insomniac’s charm with four-player cooperative action. I expect excellent humor and frenetic action. I hope that some of you will pick this game up and that we can play together.
Tech nerds were going gaga over this Reuters story that proclaimed that Google (Android) has toppled Nokia (Symbian) as the leading seller of smartphones. Certainly the numbers can be interpreted that way, but it’s a bit of an apples-and-oranges comparison. First of all, Google doesn’t make smartphones; it makes a smartphone OS. Nokia actually sells and makes smartphones. This fact was later added to the article, but the headline is still misleading. Putting that important distinction aside, the numbers are still impressive:
In the fourth quarter, phonemakers sold 32.9 million Android-equipped phones globally, roughly seven times more than the year-earlier quarter, compared with Symbian’s sales of 31 million, according to Research firm Canalys.
Although Samsung and Sony Ericsson offer Symbian phones, the majority of Symbian smartphones are made by Nokia. Compare that to Google Android, which is used in a wide variety of smartphones from a wide variety of manufacturers. The business models are entirely different.
Android vs. Symbian is a boring fight. Depending on your point of view, Nokia is either confused or being glacial with its smartphone strategy. While the company still ships more phones than anyone else in the world, it looks like it will keep losing more and more ground in the immediate future. What’s more interesting — and a juicier topic to debate — is the Apple iOS vs. Google Android battle. Here’s more from Reuters:
The numbers also highlight Google’s success in battling Apple, whose shipments of its popular iPhone increased to 16.2 million from 8.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2009, when it almost doubled Android’s 4.7 million shipments.
Again, it’s an apples-and-oranges comparison since Apple makes the hardware and software for iPhone. However, there’s no denying that 2010 was a breakout year for Android. In my opinion, the Motorola Droid (released in late 2009) was the first Android phone that truly competed with the iPhone. From there, the Android market snowballed. With a variety of models from numerous manufacturers available on different networks, I knew that Android’s numbers would be gaudy, but I don’t recall anyone predicting that it would grow so much in a short amount of time.
I’m excited to see how 2011 pans out. The iPhone will be available on more carriers than ever before, but will that be enough to slow down Android’s growth? How do you think the smartphone market will play out in 2011? Are people making too big a deal about Android vs. iOS? Will HP WebOS and Microsoft Windows Phone 7 make an impact this year? Can RIM reinvigorate consumer BlackBerry sales with an updated OS? Gaze into your crystal ball and let me know (please)!
In addition to announcing that The 3rd Birthday for PSP will be available on March 29, 2011, Square Enix confirmed that Yvonne Strahovski will be the voice of Aya Brea. This is exciting news on multiple levels. As you know, I’m incredibly psyched for the next chapter in the Parasite Eve saga. Strahovski is also hot. Here’s a clip from the press release:
Square Enix also revealed a celebrity voice cast for The 3rd Birthday, including Yvonne Strahovski of NBC’s Chuck as the voice of Aya Brea. “I was immediately interested when Square Enix approached me with the opportunity to play Aya Brea in The 3rd Birthday. I love Aya — she’s strong, driven and ready to take on the world,” said Yvonne Strahovski. “My goal was to bring all of her characteristics to life to really tell her story and create the best experience for all gamers.” Additionally, the mysterious Kyle Madigan is voiced by Jensen Ackles of the CW’s Supernatural. “The 3rd Birthday will pull players in immediately with its incredible graphics and character-driven story line,” said Jensen Ackles. “I felt like I was creating a movie.”
I bet you anything that those quotes are from the actors’ publicists and not the actors themselves. *snicker*
Seriously though, this is a great time to get excited for this game and look at pictures of Yvonne. Enjoy!
Kotaku posted an interesting rumor that PlayStation Plus users will be able to store PS3 game saves on the cloud. Saves would be tied to a PSN account, allowing users to access saves from various consoles. Assuming there will be games that work across the PS3 and the upcoming NGP handheld, this would allow gamers to access save files from different platforms too.
Storing game saves on the cloud would be useful on several levels. Obviously it would help gamers save some hard drive space. It also ensures that save information will remain even if a hard drive dies. Gamers that play on multiple consoles (perhaps their own and a friend’s) would have an easy way to access their save information. Lastly, it encourages developers to work on games that are compatible with the PS3 and NGP. Being able to start a game on a PS3, save, and continue on an NGP (and vice versa) would be a powerful feature.
While I find this rumored feature fascinating, I wanted to get your thoughts on the matter. Do you ladies and gents care about cloud storage on consoles? Is this a feature you want in the immediate future? Or is it just a curiosity to you?
On Friday afternoon I accepted a quickie weekend contract job that had me in the air longer than on the ground. Thanks to my handy United upgrades, I spent the air hours in business class and caught up on a ton of movies. Most of them were what I expected, but a few of them surprised me. Here are some random thoughts on the movies I saw over the weekend.
Date Night: I thought this would be a total comedic farce, so the action surprised me. The comedy was decent, while the action was surprisingly good. Steve Carell and Tina Fey were expectedly funny, but the supporting cast really made the movie for me. I loved the brief roles Mark Wahlberg, JB Smoove, James Franco, Mila Kunis, and William Fichtner played. I was expecting an okay comedy going in and was surprised by an above-average action/comedy flick.
Megamind: It’s completely unfair, but whenever I go into a DreamWorks movie, I’m always thinking, “Yeah, no way this is as good as a Pixar film.” That’s almost always true, but that doesn’t mean that DreamWorks movies are bad. Megamind was way better than I thought it would be. The voice acting was strong and the movie had more heart than I was expecting. It was a cute blend of comedy, action, and romance. Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, David Cross, Jonah Hill, and Brad Pitt were fantastic in their roles. Megamind definitely exceeded my expectations. Good stuff.
Due Date: I was expecting a very uneven movie and that’s exactly what I got. Some of the lines and scenes were hilarious, simply because Robert Downey, Jr. and Zach Galifianakis are great comedians. That said, a lot of the script was just poor and couldn’t be saved by the actors. This was the perfect airplane movie for me — something I was curious to see, but not curious enough to pay for in the theaters or as a rental. I’m glad I got to see it, but I’m even happier I didn’t pay money for it.
Red: I really dislike Bruce Willis. I’ve just heard too many stories from LA friends about what an absolute dick he is. He’s also getting harder and harder to accept as an action lead due to his age. Even Bruce Willis’ dickishness wasn’t enough to defeat an excellent cast and great choreography. Plus, Mary-Louise Parker is a total milf. Helen Mirren was her usual charming self, but it was hard to buy her mowing down baddies with a machine gun. While it’s easy to be dazzled by all the star power in the movie, it would be a mistake to ignore Karl Urban (Agent William Cooper). He’s fantastic in his role. Plus, geeks should give him props for his performances in Star Trek (Bones) and The Lord of the Rings (Eomer). I enjoyed this movie in spite of Bruce Willis’ sheer dickishness.
Morning Glory: This was a random selection on my part. I figured that Rachel McAdams is cute and Harrison Ford is awesome, ergo it should be somewhat entertaining. It wasn’t a great movie, but it had some moments. Diane Keaton was very good and I like seeing Patrick Wilson (Owlman from Watchmen) get work. There were some moments that I found funny, but left me wondering, “Would this be as funny to someone that didn’t know a little bit about video production?” I’m looking forward to seeing this movie again when it’s on cable, but I wouldn’t spend money to rent it. Also, I felt guilty for thinking that Rachel McAdams is like a poor man’s version of what Neve Campbell used to be.
It’s Kind of a Funny Story: I didn’t get to finish this movie on my trip back and I really want to see how it plays out. A little over an hour into it, I was very much charmed with its smart and subtle comedy. Zach Galifianakis is more restrained than usual and it totally worked. I was very impressed with Keir Gilchrist. Zoe Kravitz is hard to take your eyes off of — you can totally see that she’s the daughter of Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet. From what I saw so far, the movie seemed like a nice blend of a smart script and strong acting. I never heard of the movie before, but I’m super glad that it was on the menu.
Anyway, that was my wacky international movie experience. Let me know if you caught any of these movies and what you think of them (please).
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.
