I just decided to list the 4 extensions I use, since they come in pretty handy, or are just a little fun.
First, Xmarks – extremely useful. Formerly known as “Foxmarks,” Xmarks synchronizes your bookmarks and other browser related settings with all of the browsers you use. This is especially useful if you work on multiple machines, multiple browsers (works in IE, Flock and Safari also), or even just a nice way of backing up everything.
Next, Forecastfox. This one is a very simple add-on, it displays the current temp and weather conditions somewhere in the browser, at all times. The default is the bottom right corner, which works out fine for me, but you can put it topside or various other spots if you would like. It also shows you the weather for various different times that you set it up to display.
StumbleUpon is a great little tool as well. It works similar to Pandora, except instead for websites instead of music. It will show you random websites (or websites in a category of your choosing) and you give it a thumbs up or a thumbs down. The websites it shows you will begin to change based on your votes. It’s a really fun way to discover things that you otherwise would never see.
Finally, IE Tab – This one is particularly useful for those pages that refuse to understand that this is the 21st century and IE isn’t the only browser anymore. Instead of having to give Firefox a rest while you fetch IE from somewhere in your programs menu just to view one page, you can view it in Firefox with ease. If you visit a page frequently that needs IE, you can add these websites to a list that defaults Firefox to open it in IE tab.
I just thought I should share. Enjoy if you end up using them.
I have got quite a few suggestions for the next Pizza Adventure, I would appreciate a few more. I wouldn’t mind a decent amount in each borough. Here’s what I have at the moment:
WWE Legends of Wrestlemania has been something I have been waiting to play for quite a while. I don’t mean when it was announced, I mean back when Acclaim gave us “Legends of Wrestling.” Although there were some good things about Legends of Wrestling, it came up short. One of its big vices was that it contained wrestlers who were indeed legends, but a good deal of them were WWF legends and Acclaim did not have the WWF licensing to recreate all of the elements in quite the harmonious fashion I was hoping for. I wondered if the WWF were to release an all legends game, how it would fair. I felt like this may actually be that game. Again, we came up short.
The game features a nice roster, although conspicuous by their absence, some of the legends that you would expect to be in this game. Namely, Macho Man Randy Savage and Demolition were missing from the roster. The character models looked great for the most part, except Hulk Hogan and Andre were blown up a bit. The animations were very nice and the presentation really brought back memories. Unfortunately, THQ in their lacking wisdom, decided to rig the controls so that any nostalgic fan could pick up a controller and play. While this is great for the casual fan (who will most likely not buy the game), it was an excellent way to drive away fans who would feel much more at home having the same engine that Smackdown! Vs. Raw uses.
Your range of motion is very limited and after years of playing games like No Mercy, Fire Pro, and Smackdown! Vs. Raw, you feel like you’re being cheated out of gameplay elements. Due to the lacking range of motion, the action grows repetitive. I was also unhappy with some of the theme music. Apparently the WWE felt it necessary to change some of the wrestler’s signature themes to music that just did not belong. Luckily I have all of this music on my computer and ported it into the game and did some handy work to change the music appropriately.
The gameplay modes are mixed. The tagline of the game was “Relive, Rewrite, Redefine.” Relive is a mode where you, as it sounds, relive a Wrestlemania bout. What’s nice about these matches is that you have objectives to recreate from the match’s real life counterpart. Executing certain moves begins a string of actions which actually took place. Slamming Andre prompts a quick follow up leg-drop and a victory. Steve Austin picks up a bottle of water at ringside to spit it into the Rock’s face. Rewrite has you change the outcome of a match, basically the original loser goes over. Not exactly the most fun mode, but I guess if you were unhappy with an outcome, now is your opportunity to change it. Redefine is pretty fun, Wrestlemania (the first) hosted an Andre Vs. John Studd match, now we see that match take place in a Hell in a Cell match. Although this mode is interesting, I would have rather left the Rewrite and Redefine modes to my own exhibitions and had 3 times as many Relive matches.
For your Create A Legend, you have a set of gauntlets to run. The wrestlers you fight against are divided up in somewhat arbitrary groups of 10. After finishing a few of these you gain attribute points along the way. Eventually you end up at the gauntlet of the entire roster, all 38 legends. Finally, after porting the SvR roster into the game, you have one last gauntlet of 10 current WWE wrestlers to burn through. After this, there is really nothing left to do but replay the game. Because of the repetitive gameplay, however, you don’t really care to do this any longer. Plus, if you had any interest in playing this game before, the 38-man gauntlet has taken it out of you. It felt like they threw that mode in to artificial inflate gameplay time.
As for the create a legend mode, the physical appearance looks very good. The moves you have to choose from aren’t horrible, but why do they limit the finishers so much? The finishers are all chains (a succession of 3 moves). The finisher chains that exist for the superstars are the only ones in the game. You cannot designate your own. What does this mean? If you created, let’s say, the Macho Man, there is no way to make the elbow off of the top rope your finisher. very shabby. A good number of moves are locked until you import the SvR roster, but still, then you only have those finishers to choose from as well.
Sound: Rating:
It’s a sports game, so I can’t really beef with the sound too much, although having to do my own handy work to make the real themes be part of the game annoyed me. Is it so hard to get the same music you used back in the day WWE?
Graphics: Rating:
Although some of the character models are a little glorified, the game looks great, for the most part. The crowd still looks crappy, but I guess I shouldn’t be that picky about the crowd appearance.
Presentation: Rating:
I’m going to double dip with the incorrect theme music and take points off for presentation also. There also could have been a ref in the ring. That having been said, the game has a good deal of little things that were awesome. Having all of the venues for the event replicated in the game is really nice. The lower thirds for the wrestlers match how they really looked for each Wrestlemania is a nice touch also. The highlights of the matches you are playing with in the “Relive, Rewrite, Redefine” mode was also nice, personally I would have liked to see the whole match, but that may not have been possible with the remaining space on the disc.
Control: Rating:
I’m throwing off the gloves for this one. The control was balls. Seriously, it’s a steep learning curve with very little payoff once you learn it. There just is no depth. Once you master the controls, you’re just frustrated that it isn’t easier to do things that you want to do. The worst scenarios are when you have to have your opponent in the right place outside the ring and cause him to be groggy before grappling with him the right way. When you have to do this to fulfill an objective, it’s the worst. I take that back, kicking out of a pin is the worst. The amount of button mashing you have to do should be illegal. It doesn’t feel like it makes any sense. You can be winning a match and when you’re the victim of a small package, kicking out require way more effort and physical energy than it should. I also feel like limiting the buttons that are used complicated things more, as more combinations are required to execute simple tasks. You sometimes will find yourself doing something other than what you intended due to the same buttons being used for multiple tasks.
Gameplay: Rating:
Once you have watch the intros and grown excited, the thrill is now over. This is sad, you want to have fun with your legendary wrestler, but the control makes this too difficult. There are some nice elements, like if you have a manager he’ll help you out by distracting the opponent or placing your foot on the ropes during what would be a 3 count. I’m not quite sure how the game determines when your opponent has had enough. Sometimes beating on him for a while will give you a pin. Sometimes, several finishers in, they will remain unbeatable. The game just doesn’t flow.
My big question: why couldn’t they just use the Smackdown! Vs. Raw controls? Making fans of the game and product learn a new control set up just seems pointless and aggravating. Maybe next year. THQ has done some boneheaded things with WWE games, they sadly made this game a rental and not a keeper.
I think anyone who is roughly my age and older and had any interest in video games played Punch Out, or Mike Tyson’s Punch Out back in the late 80s. This game was awesome, there’s been plenty of great games from the past, but somehow, it was always very easy for me to pick up a controller and try my luck in the WVBA again. The characters were always so much fun to revisit. Sadly for me, over the years, defeating Mike Tyson/Mr. Dream grew more difficult as my timing declined with the lack of practice. The journey was always satisfying for me though.
For those who don’t know, Punch Out!! is a game for the original NES that takes place in a completely fiction boxing circuit called the WVBA. You play the role of Little Mac, a 17 year old kid from the Bronx, NY who weighs just over 100 pounds. Basically, the last person you would expect to be fighting pro boxers who are 6′3 and 250 pounds. Most of the fighters were flamboyantly patriotic to their respective countries, which made the colorful and gave them quite a bit of flair. After deciphering your opponents’ patterns and exploiting their weakness, you slowly overcome the odds and eventually become the World Champion and take on either Mike Tyson or Mr. Dream, depending on which revision of the game you got a hold of. Super Punch Out!! was released for the Super NES back in 1994. It featured new characters as well as characters from the NES version. It would be 15 years before we saw our friends from the WVBA again.
Once I heard that this game was coming out, I was psyched. I shot over to Video Game Buddy as soon as I got the call that this game was available. Lacing up the green gloves again was very exciting. We start with Glass Joe, as we did over 20 years ago. After a few snapshots of the opponent we are about to face in their element, the fight begins. I can’t help but wonder if the versions of the characters we see now are what the creators had imagined many years ago. Glass Joe yelling “viva la France” or Don Flamenco urging you to strike him with taunts of “vamos” and shouting “toro!” before throwing a punch at you. We have quick cut scenes between the rounds where your opponent will usually do something comical, followed by Doc giving you words of wisdom. By the way, the first thing I did during this was it the minus key, of course I heard a confirming jingle and when the next round started I had energy replenished. At the time of this writing, I’ve completed the Minor and Major circuit titles. So far, the game definitely feels like Punch Out!! I’ve opted to use the motion control instead of the old school method because, why not? It’s the Wii after all, I’m not so lazy that I can’t gingerly throw punches at cartoons yet. Let’s get to reviewing the game like they do on all the big websites.
Sound Rating:
Nintendo did a great job with the voice acting and sound effects. The music is excellent, borrowing many a track from the original Punch Out!! and glorifying it further.
Graphics Rating:
It isn’t a huge surprise that the graphics are not the strongest feature of Wii Punch Out!! This is one of those games where it just really doesn’t matter. The characters are cell-shaded, which probably was the best avenue to take since the characters are based on their original cartoon counterparts.
Presentation Rating:
I found myself getting very excited while watching the introductions for the boxers before a fight. The menus are flashy, but not too flashy. Load time is reasonable. For anyone who remembers what happens to Don Flamenco when you pound him enough in the NES game, you will not be disappointed this time around. One thing I don’t get, when did Doc develope this weird obsession with chocolate? They just throw it in, it feels kind of forced, but it is treated as if it’s something we’re just supposed to know like an inside joke.
Control Rating:
Spot on for the most part and simple are the controls. Sometimes I found myself not executing head punches with as much accuracy as I would like. In some cases, I’d dodge left or right when I meant to throw a head punch. You can activate optional controls to throw head punches via the trigger buttons rather than the analog stick on the nun-chuck. I’m guessing the regular control is as easy as the NES controls. Nintendo has always stuck by the KISS method which works perfectly as far as I’m concerned. I have heard that the balance board is a crappy addition to the gameplay and just frustrates you above all else.
Gameplay Rating:
Gameplay is the feature that made the Punch Out!! series so legendary. The basic pattern-based combat mixed with colorful characters and some of the exhibition modes are just really fun, which is how all games should really be, fun. As I have been known to say, “Gameplay is key.”
Overall Overall Rating:
Obviously, I’m very high on this game. It’s fun for anyone who played the original or SNES version, at the same time it introduces Punch Out!! to a new generation. I know not everyone has the same taste in games that I do, but I would say that Wii Punch Out!! is a must play. Maybe it isn’t a must buy, but I know it’s one of those games that playing it makes you want to play it more. Rent it, buy it, borrow it, play it at a friend’s house, just make sure you step in the ring at least once, you’ll be glad you did.
Walking into this movie, I had a bitter taste in my mouth from Terminator 3, but it occurred to me that my best hope to enjoy this movie would be to completely separate any connection to the first two movies. The third movie was of no concern to me. Clearly the producer just wiped his behind with some 8.5×11 sheets of paper a screenwriter translated it into a script. Enough seething with bitterness, onto the movie.
We aren’t travelling to the past anymore. We are now in the future and basically, just watching the war unfold. Watching this movie, it’s as if we’re forgetting the third movie anyway. We get to see the horror which Kyle Reese was describing to Sarah and all of us back in 1984. The homages to the previous movies was a nice little addition. The explosions are always welcome as well. The movie was really just fun to watch. The bonus of this fun movie was that it carried the Terminator license. I would actually recommend seeing this, highly. Again, it’s nowhere near the greatness of the first two movies, but frankly what movies are or ever will be? When this movie hits DVD, I’ll be watching it and cranking my speakers up. Anyone that knows me, knows that the amount of explosions affects the overall value of the movie. This flick was not stingy with the explosions, so there we have it. I was also thrilled to see McG’s name in the credits, the producer of Supernatural. Get out and watch this one! I’m done already.
It took me some time to form an opinion of this movie. It’s difficult to form a complete opinion about this movie because there are two ways to look at it. As a stand-alone sci-fi movie it was pretty good. As a Star Trek movie, it did not fare well.
Beyond this point maybe some spoilers, consider that the warning. Star Trek has bent its own rules for time travel over the years so this movie was no exception. I was happy with the angle of the villain. Often the villain in sci-fi movies is just some war-like barbarian who is bent on taking over the world. This villain had a legit beef with Spock, which is also how the movie ties into the old movies/series.
Spock (by some miscalculation) caused Romulus to be destroyed in the future of the timeline that we are all familiar with. As a result, Nero (the villain) gets hurled into a worm hole and ends up back in time, back to the day James Kirk was born. He ends up destroying the ship that Kirk’s father is piloting. This completely alters his life and as a result, many other events. Nero’s plot is to wait for Spock to show up and destroy Vulcan right before Spock’s very eyes as an eye for an eye-type punishment. Spock also is hurled back into time. Now old Spock, who retains all of the memories of the events we all remember, exists in this alternate timeline, where things are wildly different.
The movie just didn’t feel like a Star Trek movie. It was nice to see the upgrades to the visuals. We haven’t seen the Enterprise since the third movie, The Search for Spock. I feel like the presentation of the ship was a little more futuristic, by a little, I mean a lot. The way the movie was shot though, it just seemed way too serious. Star Trek always had a fun feeling. This movie had some fun elements, but I felt like it was more like one of the Star Wars prequels, except of course, Star Trek was 1000 times better than those. Still, the first half of the movie seems to drag on for a long time. I get it, a new generation is getting exposed to these characters for the first time, but there isn’t enough time in the day, and Kirk’s rise to being the captain is done very poorly. He practically falls into it by accident.
As a sci fi movie, it was still pretty good. It’s just hard to separate it from the rest of the series, especially when they find a way to tie it back to the originals. I was pretty pissed at the product placement for Nokia at the beginning. Seriously, Star Trek isn’t supposed to have product placement. You never saw Luke Skywalker chugging a Pepsi. JJ Abrams couldn’t resist throwing in some Easter eggs about Cloverfield, I guess that was okay. Unfortunately, the movie is a juggernaut for these reasons: if you’re a fan, you’re going to want to see it anyway. If you aren’t a fan, you will want to at least try this version of the story. It’s definitely better than most of the garbage competition out there today.
On a personal note, watching this movie made me realize just how much I know about the Star Trek universe. I felt very elite. I actually had beef with the scene where they made mention to “external inertial dampers.” The ship didn’t go into warp because the external inertial dampers were activate. Any Star Trek geek can protest this. I won’t bother though. My verdict, see the movie. I would watch it again, but wouldn’t pay to see it in the movies nor would I buy the DVD.
I apologize for how terribly racist this is in advance, but it came to me in a dream and is therefore completely excusable.
My subconscious is still very funny, as you can see. Thank you Eric Cire for the artwork. Yes, that says “Chinx” and yes, the cat is doing what you think it is doing with its eyes.
I wrote this about ten years ago, I don’t write poetry, which is why this is so awesome.
I’m so bad at poetry,
and I really don’t know why.
It seems I come up with nothing,
when I try and try and try.
It’s like everyone’s so good,
and for everyone, it’s a breeze.
When it comes to me, however,
it brings me to my knees.
Everyone’s a frequent writer
and everyone’s so good.
Then I show up and struggle to rhyme,
I can’t even rhyme with “good.”
You may think this is funny,
but it’s really quite sad.
Sure, you’re okay at poetry,
but me, I’m just real bad.
You call yourselves novices
and say you really suck,
But for me to even come close to you
I’d need a ton of luck.
In fact, just to word that last line
made me struggle for a while to rhyme.
Well, I’ve had enough of this bad poem.
Don’t even read it, stop reading….
GO HOME!
Formerly a static page, evolution has made it a ...b-b-blog! I will leave stuff on here from now on and post links to arbitrary pages. Most of this stuff will be editorials about how I feel. Most of them are explicit, and you should be prepared for some language problems before you read...
WWE Legends of Wrestlemania has been something I have been waiting to play for quite a while. I don’t mean when it was announced, I mean back when Acclaim gave us “Legends of Wrestling.” Although there were some good things about Legends of Wrestling, it came up short. One of its big vices was that it contained wrestlers who were indeed legends, but a good deal of them were WWF legends and Acclaim did not have the WWF licensing to recreate all of the elements in quite the harmonious fashion I was hoping for. I wondered if the WWF were to release an all legends game, how it would fair. I felt like this may actually be that game. Again, we came up short.
I think anyone who is roughly my age and older and had any interest in video games played Punch Out, or Mike Tyson’s Punch Out back in the late 80s. This game was awesome, there’s been plenty of great games from the past, but somehow, it was always very easy for me to pick up a controller and try my luck in the WVBA again. The characters were always so much fun to revisit. Sadly for me, over the years, defeating Mike Tyson/Mr. Dream grew more difficult as my timing declined with the lack of practice. The journey was always satisfying for me though.
Walking into this movie, I had a bitter taste in my mouth from Terminator 3, but it occurred to me that my best hope to enjoy this movie would be to completely separate any connection to the first two movies. The third movie was of no concern to me. Clearly the producer just wiped his behind with some 8.5×11 sheets of paper a screenwriter translated it into a script. Enough seething with bitterness, onto the movie.
It took me some time to form an opinion of this movie. It’s difficult to form a complete opinion about this movie because there are two ways to look at it. As a stand-alone sci-fi movie it was pretty good. As a Star Trek movie, it did not fare well.
