I finally got around starting Persona 3, because Persona 4 is soon released in Europe and I wanted to try out 3 before playing 4. Immediately I was struck with a familiar foe, choosing the difficulty. This is something I really hate in games, as usually in Persona 3 you have choose the difficulty right at the beginning, they even warn you that you cannot change it without restarting the whole game.

My problem with this is that I have no idea how tough the Normal difficulty is in Persona 3, especially since they warn that “this is for experienced players”. I would want to choose Easy, because if it really is too easy, then the playing becomes boring really quickly. On the other hand, I don’t want the game to be too hard either, especially since I had planned to play it more a snack before Persona 4.

I guess I can’t really offer any solutions to game developers, other than making it possible to change difficulty during the game. At least make it so that you can lower it.

….. I ended up choosing easy…

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After the devastating news in the beginning of the week (UGO buying 1Up.com and laying off 40people). With the realization that there would be no more 1UP Show, 1UP FM or even 1UP Your, so I started listening some podcasts from the 1UP Crew that I haven’t listened before. Like Legendary Thread, their World of Warcraft podcast with likes of Jeff Green, Demian Linn, Philip Kollar, Rob Bowen, Ryan Scott and others.

While listening to the podcast I started also to read about the different classes and races, and soon found myself delved into newbie guides. So after hearing and reading more and more about WoW, I finally caved in and decided to try World of Warcraft with the 10 day free pass. I had resisted for years and don’t know why I gave in now, but it just happened.

I started with Night Elf Hunter (I know quite unimaginative) and suddenly four hours had disappeared from my life. I was just soloing around and I gotta say I’m not disappointed at all, I had a blast. After playing even the short while, it clear why this is so popular. The game is amazingly polished (gameplay wise) also it seems to suit very well to soloing.

I’m not sure will I continue after the 10day free pass expires. I would like to do so, as I’ve enjoyed my time so far, but then again will it eat too much of my time and will I have the will power and sense to regulate it, so that I get other things done too. I guess it would be better to use the time be creative and do my own projects, rather than “waste time” by grinding in another persons creation. But then again I’m always going to spend some portion of the time playing something (be PS3, Wii or something), so if I could limit my playtime to the time I would otherwise be playing… then maybe.

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I’ve been playing the Prince of Persia game on PS3, and the pointlessness of gaming keeps popping into my head.

The new element in the game is the Princess Elika that follows you and helps you through the arenas. If you jump to nothingness Elika will pull you back to where you jumped off. If in a fight you miss a quick time event (QTE) and thus would be killed, Elika will interrupt the enemy, fend the enemy off and you will recover. Also one of her magical powers is a compass which will point you to the right direction.

So basically you are immortal, there isn’t a way to die in the game, not even in a boss battle and there is really no reason to wander aimlessly look for the a way to the next arena as the compass will always show the path to follow.

So while playing I started pondering, why in the earth I would play this, as there really isn’t any real challenge in playing it and not even a that good of story. But then the more I thought about it, the more I thought why then would I play any game? Why I play it just because I could die and would had to play same things over and over, or so that I would be more challenged, but then again skill learned from mastering a is useless outside the game, so in the end even that is pointless. Would I play it just for the story, maybe I would watch a movie or read a book instead.

The more time I spent thinking about it, the more depressed I was that all gaming is pointless. Until I came to the revelation that I play games because I enjoy them. It isn’t the challenge or any particular thing that makes worthwhile, but if I enjoy them then why wouldn’t I play them.

So I’ll keep playing the Prince of Persia and try to stop thinking..

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For the last year, I’ve been using my PS3 as a media center (ripping TV series to an USB HD playing them with PS3). But after seeing new versions of Plex and XBMC I realized how limited the solution was. Especially the browsing of the files is quite cumbersome.

Both Plex and XBMC understand a plethora of different media formats, making the conversions easier and I can concentrate on the quality. They also have very pleasing aesthetics, although the background images and such do take bit work, but that is the kind of tinkering I love.

I was also planning to convert all my DVD movies into MKV files, but realized both work perfectly with DVDs ripped to hard drive (they even understand .iso files). Although this is going to be disc space heavy, it is quite amazing to access full DVDs through media center menu.

Few open points still on my Media Center, what hardware platform to use (I’m leaning on Mini Mac) and how to handle the hard drive issue (I have well over 500 DVD movies and over 100 TV-Series boxsets and close to 200 Blu-Rays). I would like to use Buffalo Ministation type discs, but the biggest of those are “only” 500GB and my need is over 4TB.

Which brings me to one of my other problem, the Blu-Rays. Since summer of 2007 I’ve been transferring some of my collection to Blu-Ray, but now the media center plans are hampered by this. I don’t should I just not add the Blu-Ray movies to the media center, or should I buy PC Blu-Ray disc drive and convert some or all of the to Media Center friendly versions or just download HD mkv versions of the movies for Media Center use and use the discs when in need for “real” HD Experience.

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Benjamin Baker is sent to australia to serve a jail sentence, for a crime he didn’t commit, just because the Judge had his eyes on Baker’s wife. 15 years later he returns to London as Sweeney Todd and plans to have vengeance to Judge Turpin, who now is the legal guardian of Benjamin Barker’s daughter. With the help of Mrs. Lovett, a pie shop owner with a problem of acquiring meat, Sweeney is ready to lure Judge Turpin to his barber’s chair.

I don’t know what the marketer’s where thinking when they created the marketing campaign for the movie. If you watch the trailer there very very little singing in it, while the movie has very very little lines that are not sung. I doubt any of those horror or goth fans who went in uninformed where too pleased to find out it was musical. So no wonder if people aren’t giving it a far chance, with all the bad word-of-mouth going around.

Sweeney Todd: [singing] For what’s the sound of the world out there?
Mrs. Lovett: What, Mr. Todd? What, Mr. Todd? What is that sound?
Sweeney Todd: Those crunching noises pervading the air!
Mrs. Lovett: Yes, Mr. Todd! Yes, Mr. Todd! Yes, all around!
Sweeney Todd: It’s man devouring man, my dear!
Mrs. Lovett, Sweeney Todd: Then who are we to deny it in here?

Luckily I knew what I was going to see, well, I didn’t really know the story of Sweeney Todd, but I did know it was going to be a true musical. So with that I really liked what I saw and heard. Maybe surprisingly Johnny Depp was the one that whose singing stuck out like sore thumb in the beginning, but after you get used to listening it was good. Helena Bonham Carter’s voice was a very pleasant surprise, she should consider musical in the future too.

From the supporting cast Timothy Spall is a standout in his role as Judge Turpin’s henchman, combining perfectly sleaziness and villainy. Also Sacha Baron Cohen’s way too short role as Signor Adolfo Pirelli is marvelous. The world and cinematography are everything you would expect from Tim Burton, nothing really special (for a Burton movie), but still perfect.

All in all, Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street is really worth checking out, if you can enjoy musicals and are not too squeamish. As the blood spattering is very over the top and frequent.

Rating: 4 / 5

Sweeney Todd on IMDB.com
Sweeney Todd trailer on Apple.com

Reviews, Movies & TV | No Comments »

Rose (Helen Mirren) and Mickey (Cuba Gooding Jr.) are contract killers, and due to her cancer, Rose decides that next hit will be her last. They are hired to kill a mob boss’ (Stephen Dorff) pregnant wife, but all doesn’t go as planned as the wife goes on labor as Rose enters her room. In a quick onset of remorse for the life she’s lived Rose decides to help deliver the baby and take the mother and baby to safety. Which really isn’t something hitmen should do..

Shadowboxer is a beautifully acted crime drama. There is no surprise that this didn’t succeed in the box office, as this is the kind of a thriller I like, the kind that isn’t in hurry of going anywhere. There are no exciting chases or bad guys constantly hunting for the good guys. They are simply telling a well acted story that is interesting to follow. That being said, I’m not so sure there are good guys period. Rose does make a “right” choice at beginning of the movie, but that’s after she already knows that she’s going to die soon and has started to think about her life and possible afterlife. That is just what makes this movie good, it’s a story about flawed people (as we all are) trying to live in their life for the best they know.

Rose: [to Vicki] Feeling protected is very seductive.

One reason why this movie might have been left in the forgotten realm, is that maybe the studio didn’t fully believe in it’s possibility to succeed. There is quite an unheard of starring couple as older woman with a young black lover, but it is beautiful to see Gooding and Mirren together they really bring a lot of character to their roles. They are the main reason the movie works.

Supporting cast also compliment the main actors nicely, Joseph Gordon-Levitt (from 3rd Rock for the Sun fame) playing the doctor and Mo’Nique playing his nurse/girlfriend. Another coupling that is rarely seen outside the comedy plots, young white male with very overweight black girl, and in this they play it straight which is very nice to see. Rest of the cast is rounded of with Stephen Dorff as the crime boss, the beautiful Vanessa Ferlito (played “Butterfly” in Tarantino’s Deathproof) as the wife and the always zany Macy Gray playing the wife’s best friend.

If you don’t need 100-miles-per-minute action from your movies, this is definitely worth picking up. Beautiful images with great actors and an adequate script is more than you can say about most movies. And this is definitely something original, although the basic plot is quite familiar, the details and characters are something you’ve not seen before.

Rating: 4 / 5

Shadowboxer on IMDB.com
Shadowboxer trailer on Youtube.com

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