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What are we playing this week?

May 30, 2011

Editor-in-chief: MasterAbbott

Scene is set : Capsule Computers Head Quarters (somewhere in the world)

MasterAbbott walks into the interrogation room, wearing a slick brown suit and a matching fedora hat. He takes a seat, stares down his suspect, then begins his questioning.

MasterAbbott : So, could you tell me where you were on the night of the 14th of October 1977 ?

Suspect : LOOK I DIDN’T DO IT … I’M INNOCENT I TELL YA!!!

MasterAbbott : YOU’RE LYING.

Abbott takes out his trusty magical notebook, opens it up to the right page and begins looking for hard evidence. He thinks to himself, “hmmm… everything’s so neat in this notebook. It’s organized so well: people, clues, locations…I can find everything I need in here, plus I never knew I had such neat hand writing – must be this ultra-pointy led pencil I keep in my pocket!”.

Abbott glances through his clues and finds the evidence he needs to nail this scumbag.

MasterAbbott: Hmm, let’s see…I have proof that you were at home playing Pong on your Atari 2600 ! Your fingerprints all over it, and PLUS your mum said she could hear you complaining and yelling that the DOT was too small and moving too fast, and the other PONG board was cheating! Then she heard a loud crash, and moments later saw you running from the scene of the crime.

Suspect swallows awkwardly, and adjusts his collar, feeling very uneasy.

Suspect: …. OK.. OK !!! It was me but I can explain. This new gaming console called the ATARI 2600 just got released today at the local store. Everyone’s been talking about how good this new game called PONG was, so I went and picked up both a new Black & White TV and the Atari 2600. I followed the instructions and connected it all up. Then I started playing PONG…that’s where it all started. The TV all of a sudden was flickering just when I was about to hit the pong ball, which made me miss and lose a point. Then just when I was about to win and needed one more point, the ATARI would FREEZE one me, so I had to reset the game and start all over again. I couldn’t WIN !! I lost EVERY SINGLE GAME. THEY WERE WORKING TOGETHER AND CHEATING I TELL YA !!! I KNOW THEY WERE !!! THEY BEAT ME 20 TIMES IN A ROW !!! No one beats me !!! NO ONE !!!

MasterAbbott : This all the evidence I need. You’re under arrest for the destruction of a defenceless black and white TV and an ATARI 2600. You have the right to remain silent …

Suspect : YEAH YEAH YEAH !! I KNOW I KNOW !! Just cuff me and take me away. That TV and ATARI got what was coming to them. I’ll be out in 6 months, and when I get out I’ll do it all over again, and this time Mr Smartypants DETECTIVE you won’t catch me !!!

MasterAbbott : 6 MONTHS !!! HA !!! By the time you get out they’ll have video game systems that’ll be 100x times smarter than you, they’ll be controller-less and also in 3D and will freeze up a whole lot more than this poor little ATARI ever did !!! Who knows they might even make a game about me sending you off to JAIL, now wouldn’t that be a sight to see. Take him away boys.

Abbott gets up and walks out the room, happy that another video game bully has been brought to justice.

Screen fades to black….

As you can see all I’ve had time for this week was L.A Noire. If you want the empowerment of sending scumbags to Jail, then run off to your local store and pick this game up. You won’t regret it, ROCKSTAR GAMES have really hit the ball out of the park with this potential “GAME OF THE YEAR” make sure you check out our review of the game here.

Now If you’d excuse me, I have work to do (runs into the closet to change into his black suite and fedora had). Somewhere out there another scumbag is throwing a controller at a poor defenceless TV, just because they can’t get pass the first level (tutorial) of whatever they are playing.

Enjoy your week. Remember, play hard or don’t play at all!

Senior Editor: Travis Bruno

Unfortunately this week I haven’t been playing a whole of different games since my time has been spent with family more often than not. But when I did have time of my own I have been spending it searching crime scenes for clues and interrogating suspects in L.A. Noire. After putting more time into the title I’d have to say that it really is an amazing game. I don’t think I have seen a title before that has went to such lengths with storytelling in recent memory that wasn’t just an RPG. It is good to see a title such as this, a blend of mystery and drama, do so well in the market. One thing that is interesting though, and that I actually appreciate, is the fact that the action sequences are not the biggest part of the game, but instead the interviews and clue collecting are. You can mess up during an action sequence as many times as you like and the game may just let you skip it with no consequence. Then again if you mess up all of your questions or don’t have enough evidence then you are left without a chance in the world.

Besides L.A. Noire I’ve also got my hands on Dead or Alive: Dimensions for the 3DS. I’ve put a decent amount of time into the game already since the first day I received it, and I’d have to say so far that it is the premier fighting title on the 3DS. Super Street Fighter IV may be more popular in some circles, but Dead or Alive’s three dimensional fighting is not only more advanced, but also more enjoyable as well. If only turning the 3D on didn’t make the screen play a little choppy. Also, it has a storyline! The idea that a fighting game can get away without a storyline is archaic in this day and age. Sure it takes a bit of work, but it at least shows fans that you are trying to develop your game further than your last title. Or you know… add two characters and charge $30 calling it new.

Senior Editor: Jed Bradshaw

This week I got about halfway through one of last years summer of arcade games: Hydro Thunder. So far I am enjoying it a lot, although the graphics look like something from the last generation of consoles. The addition of collectibles was ill thought. Other than that though, I love the off the wall psychics and awesome shortcuts. Jumping other boats to take 1st is also loads of crazy awesome!

Senior Editor: Dylan Radcliffe

I bought myself the LG Revolution, and it is one sexy phone. It runs on the Android OS and I have been playing random games on that. I refuse to pay for the games though, so they are all the free ones I could get my hands on. The current list is: Unblock Me, Trapball, Alchemy, Nova, Puzzles, Chippers Challenge, SpeedX 3D, Abduction 2, Impossible Level Pack, Fruit Ninja, YooNinja NinJump. The list keeps growing daily because I tend to find a bunch of games that are either already free or I know how to get for free. Since the Android is an open OS (one of the main reasons I wanted to buy it) if you know just a small amount of programming you can do a lot with this phone – that and if you don’t mind settling for ads, there are free ad supported apps that are the same as the paid ones. I also started playing Pokemon White. Pokemon White is a fun game and all, but amazingly I am unable to get my main six that I like to have. I tend to be able to slowly fill in all the gaps for the six starters that I like, but I now have a fighting type pokemon in my group and the stupid Patrat Pokemon simply because I need all six. My Water type of the group keeps switching because every time I get a new Water type, he tends to disappoint me and I replace him with another Water type. I’ve managed to accumulate three that I want to keep, but the other three are still up in the air and there are no Pokemon that are actually catching my fancy. I treat my Pokemon as real creatures: they have the choice from the minute I start using them to either impress me or disappoint me. If they disappoint me they are quickly gotten rid of. Also, it isn’t like I expect them to win every battle, but if they consistently lose (especially in easy battles where they had the upper hand in everything) then they aren’t worth my time.

Senior Editor: Dustin Spencer

This week has been a busy one for my 360. I started playing Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale, which honestly is starting to feel like more of a chore than entertainment. D&D is a brilliant franchise that I have recently started to enjoy, and this game just doesn’t represent it as it is not only buggy, it is bland and somewhat boring so far. Maybe that will change, but for now I just feel that this release is one that will be quickly forgotten and deemed a cash-in rather than a worthy entry into the series. I have also put a bit more time into L.A. Noire, which I am still enjoying greatly. I am almost done with homicide at the moment I believe and the story is really picking up. Thankfully if I go a day or so without playing I still feel like I can hop right back in where I left off. Not too many games are able to accomplish that anymore, which makes L.A. Noire that more worthy of a GOTY (so far) candidate.

This week I purchased my first Games of Demand title through Xbox Live with Beautiful Katamari. It has been a long time since I played a Katamari title, but this is by far one of my favorites in the series. Still hoping for a 3DS release as well. Other than 360 titles, I have been trying to get my head around Dream Trigger 3D for the 3DS, which is a fantastic game, but very hard to pick up and play due to the learning curve and control scheme. Other than that, Pokemon, Strange Journey & a bit of Borderlands round up this week nicely and hopefully next week’s release of The Hunted will live up to the hype as I am anticipating it greatly due to the gameplay…and Lucy Lawless.

Editor: Ben Webb

I recently came across APB: Reloaded, which is the relaunch of the cancelled RealTimeWorlds MMO, All Points Bulletin. You see, folks down here in Australia never recieved the game in its original run due to RTW not wanting to shill for servers here. I would also like to point out that a large number of Aussies were dying for this game and RTW not catering to an Australian audience is what could have been a deciding factor in their demise. But that is just me over-thinking things – at the very least, our market could have kept them from becoming broke at an increased rate, but we’ll never know now. Anyway, the game is really, really fun! And even though I’m accessing the servers from down here in AUS, I don’t experience any of the lag that some users more locally complain about…though I do get other errors (freaking punkbuster!). It’s still in beta, and problems do happen and get patched out in this phase, so let’s hope I don’t continue to get random PB kicks at launch.

Also this week I’ve also been playing…you guessed it, QuakeLive! I think my skills are starting decline due to my newfound addiction to APB:R. No incredibly awesome scores this week 🙁

I’ve also been playing Yu-Gi-Oh World Championship 2011. Man, I absolutely love that game! It’s got the children’s card games, the card games on motorcycles and even Jack Atlas! ‘Eff yeah!

Lastly, I may or may not have a review for The Witcher 2 coming out in a day or two (or three… or never). I don’t want to talk too much about it here, BUT IT IS SO AWESOME! I’m loving this game so far, so make sure to check back on the review when it’s up.

Editor: Matt Vella

I’ve been taking a slight break from the gaming side of Capsule Computers recently and focusing more on the other side of the entrainment world, so I’ve been ‘playing’ Blu-ray discs more so lately! My reviews of Winter’s Bone and Chobits Collection will go up in the next few days, and I’m quote stoked to share them with everyone! As for video games however, my passion has been revived for ‘Words with Friends‘ on the iPhone. My user name is Smelloner. Find me and start a game, and have your butt annihilated!!!!!

Oh yeah, and I don’t think I’ve mentioned this yet, but that Call of the Dead map for the Black Ops expansion pack Escalation is epic to say the least! I really wish they’d hurry up and release a COD game focused just on the zombie mode for the 360, that’d be amazing!

Editor: Michael Marr

Not much time for gaming as of late due to a heap of university stuff being piled on as of late. The only things I’ve really gotten around to playing this week have comprised of a little bit of Portal 2 Co-op mode, and a little bit of Dragon Age 2, starting up a new Mage profile for a second, alternate playthrough.

I still have yet to fully complete Portal 2’s co-op mode, although I have to admit, I’m certainly reveling in the humour level delivered even in a 2 player game. That said however, the co-op puzzles I’ve found to be so much more difficult than the single player ones. The additional of 4 portals instead of 2 really forces the mind to think logically, co-operatively, creatively, and in some senses, competitively. I can’t be the only one hoping to appease GLaDos more than my partner, can I? More than anything, I like the fact that it keeps the cruel humour charm of the single player campaign, and mixes it in with the co-op campaign. I also find it particularly funny how GLaDoS even tends to sledge her own kind, and taunt the “can never die” thing. If you haven’t played Portal 2 yet… then why the hell not? No excuses. GO BUY IT. NOW.

Editor: Adam Tabor

So I am back from my little vacation to Myrtle Beach and now that I have had my fill of fresh sea air and UV rays, sadly I return to the real world of bills and boring day jobs. Not much gaming was done but I was able to pick up a new game for my 3DS while I was there: Dead or Alive Dimensions. If you played DoA games before then you know the drill: hot babes fighting and beating the crap out of one another and jiggly physics all around. There were dudes in the game…but sorry I wasn’t paying attention, the physics engine of the game has my focus. I also rented Riden IV on the 360 and its a nice little shoot’em up. I also need to get back to LA Noire. For now I’m on my PC listening to Costa Del Sol (or the beach theme) from FFVII and missing the beach.

Editor: Alexis Ayala

We now return you to another gripping tale from, A New Yorker in Sydney!

Last week we left off with our hero bravely moving forward and feeling the blight of not having his consoles, as he painstakingly awaits their arrival from New York via ship. How will he cope? What will he do? Will he survive!? Read on to find out!

Controller… Oh how I miss you controller. It’s been so long. So long have I had to suffer with this substitute. This buttonless beast that keeps on insisting I touch it. This iPhone… Always with the touching. This week I played more of Orions 2 (iOS). I’ve decided, collectable card games despise me. Such a fitting thing for me in my consoleless Hell. I’ve also spent time with Frog Minutes (iOS). The name should really be Frog Hours. However, it’s barely a game. There’s a review up, so please. I implore you: read it. I have however, had a slight ray of light shine on me. Namely in the forms of Bumpy Road (iOS) and To-Fu: The Trials of Chi (iOS). Both have been a generous light in my life and filled me with great joy. Expect reviews sometime in the future. And to the future. Oh sweet, sweet future. I long for you to arrive with my long lost controllers. I long to press their buttons. Such a simple, yet beautiful thing… a button.

Editor: Jorel Alvarez

I haven’t done much gaming in recent weeks thanks to the endless amount of uni assignments. But this week I thought I’d take a break from hammering my head and try playing Pockie Ninja! As I’m a big fan of Naruto and Bleach, when someone suggested I play it, I went straight to it! One of the things I hate about myself in regards to gaming is my indecisiveness when it comes to creating/choosing my character. There’s 18 starting characters to choose from in Pockie Ninja so with that many choices, I think it took me around half an hour just to decide who I wanted to be (which ended up being Aburame Shino by the way). I’m pretty much new to the online gaming scene. The only games I used to play online were Farmville and Restaurant City on Facebook to pass the time at uni (don’t judge me), so playing a more enjoyable game like Pockie Ninja got me all fired up and motivated to work on my brain-bashing assignments!

Editor: Luke Halliday

This week I have been playing Marvel vs. Capcom 3: The Fate of Two Worlds. Yes, quite the ominous subtitle for a game. I mean the fate of not just one, but two worlds rest in the hands of a bunch of Capcom characters and Marvel superheroes. What is happening to the worlds, you ask? I wouldn’t be able to tell you, but it all sounds quite spooky. The game itself is pretty neat, although pretty much everyone online uses the same team: Wolverine, Iron Man and Albert Wesker. But that’s not the games fault, it’s all you punks making me rage quit, fist-through TV style. So please, no Iron Wolves Wesker combination’s punks.

Driver: San Francisco Collector Pack Detailed in new trailer…

Dustin Spencer

May 30, 2011

After many delays, Driver: San Francisco is set to release in late August, but off course many of you have been following this entry in the series probably already knew that by now. To go along with the release, Ubisoft are also spicing things up with a Driver: San Francisco Collector Pack, which includes extra goodies such as a replica model of the 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T, a comic book, map of the city with all collectibles displayed, and codes to unlock extra vehicles in the game for multi-player.

With this news of this special edition of the game also comes a new trailer, displaying all of the content that will be sure to make any fan of the series drool a bit as this whole set is done remarkably well. Driver officially releases August 30th in the U.S. & September 2nd for Europe. Until then, you can watch the trailer for all of the aforementioned contents below.

Undead Review

Michael Irving

May 30, 2011

Genre: Horror/Comedy/Sci Fi/”Ozploitation”
Directed by: Michael & Peter Spierig
Starring: Felicity Mason, Mungo McKay, Rob Jenkins
Year of production: 2003
Running Time: 100 min
Available at the Madman Online Store (DVD $19, Blu Ray $34.95)

Overview

Not sure if you’d like Undead? Well, there’s an easy, effective way to tell – put the disc in and watch the menu. If the image of a pair of legs with a piece of spine poking out the top, dancing across the screen, makes you laugh or cringe, or both, you’ll likely enjoy the film. But if films like Evil Dead are not your thing, there’s nothing for you here.

I hadn’t heard anything about Undead before watching it, and often the best way to go into a film is bias-free. I didn’t really know what to expect, but that simple, memorable image gave me a clear indication of what I was in for – a self-aware, gory, funny, B-grade zombie movie.

This was the Spierig brothers’ first film, and as their later, better-known film Daybreakers does with vampires, Undead puts an interesting spin on the zombie formula.

Plot

The film mostly follows a well-worn narrative, as a rural Australian town is overrun with zombies, and a small group of feuding townsfolk band together to survive.

René (Felicity Mason) is the town beauty, appearing in local pageants and advertising, but after her family’s farm is repossessed, she decides to head to the city to pursue bigger things. Unfortunately, a freak meteorite shower turns many townspeople into zombies, and leaving becomes much harder when a giant wall appears around the town.

She hides out in a farmhouse, where she meets other survivors, including Marion (Mungo McKay), a, gruff conspiracy guy who is strangely prepared for the infection, and claims aliens are involved. Others include a couple expecting a baby, a pair of panicky cops, and….

I’m actually going to interrupt myself here, to point out that I was racking my brain for ages trying to remember all the characters. I realised that the fact that I couldn’t recall them, and had to resort to IMDb to refresh my memory, doesn’t make a good case for the characters in the film. They are generally forgettable and don’t seem to develop through the film. Even Marion, the most interesting person in the film, began to grate on my nerves. His tough-guy lines, delivered so seriously, incite many a cringe. After watching the film I read an interview with the directors that indicated it was supposed to be funny, but in practice, the lines just come across as lame, macho quips.

The dialogue for the other characters is inconsistent, with some fairly funny lines scattered among others that were probably meant to be funny, but didn’t quite get there. The panicky cop is a good source of one-liners, but they’re lost in a sea of dropped lines from Marion. I’m sorry, I just couldn’t make myself like Marion. With a voice gruffer than Batman’s in The Dark Knight , and the appearance of a parent’s-basement-dwelling computer nerd, I couldn’t take him seriously. Yeah, I get that he isn’t meant to be taken seriously, but a degree of likeability is required in a main character. I couldn’t help seeing in him the Manwhore from Sexual Lobster’s animated shorts on NewGrounds. If you know what I’m talking about, you’ll understand how distracting it is.

It’s not until towards the end that the scenario is revealed to actually be quite clever. As the survivors navigate the town avoiding the zombified townsfolk, they encounter regular showers of acidic rain, and strange beams of light from the clouds that carry people up, adding weight to the idea of alien involvement. The last twenty minutes or so, as the weirdness falls into place and things begin to make sense, redeems the film from becoming nothing more than a generic genre piece that it attempted to make fun of.

Visuals

The brothers are clearly inspired by classic B-movies, stating Sam Raimi (Evil Dead) and Peter Jackson’s early work (such as Bad Taste) as direct influences on their work. As such, the film is overtly ludicrous and silly, and excessively gory. The image of the disembodied legs and spine mentioned earlier is a perfect example of both, as is a zombie with a shovel lodged in its head trying to walk through a doorway, and Marion punching zombie fish. These are the moments to watch the film for. The action sequences are exaggerated to comic effect, as the rather stocky Marion performs acrobatic combat movements usually reserved for cliché hot chicks in action movies. Seeing a heavyset neckbeard pull handguns from unseen pockets, do a backflip, dig the spurs on his boots into the wall, and shoot zombies while hanging upside down, is something you won’t find anywhere else.

The visual style is where the film really shines, not just through the gory humour and outlandish action, but in the colours. At the beginning, the film is a yellowish, almost-sepia tone, giving it a warm, classical feel, and the accompanying scenes set up the town as the peaceful fishing community it was. Once the mysterious clouds cover the sky, frequently depositing the acid rain, the image becomes a dark, cold blue for the majority of the film, effectively setting the mood.

DVD Extras

The bonus features included on the disc are nothing too exciting, but there are a lot of them. It has all the usual stuff, like trailers, image galleries, deleted scenes, “making of” featurettes, etc. If you’re into that sort of thing, the behind-the-scenes looks are interesting, showing how the zombie makeup effects were achieved on such a modest budget. And who doesn’t enjoy watching squeamish crew members spraying chunky fake blood onto walls and extras?

Overall

It’s hard to recommend Undead in a general sense. It will appeal to a niche audience, and within that niche, some may prefer the classic Evil Dead series, Brain Dead, or the recent exploitation films like Planet Terror and Machete. If you are a fan of this kind of film, then you will probably enjoy this. Just watch it with the understanding that it isn’t meant to be taken seriously. It’s not in the same league as the classics, but it is a noble attempt at an Australian entry to the genre, and with the unique spin of alien involvement and a bit of a twist at the end, the film has found a dedicated cult following.

I give Undead:

Hackers, Patches and Game Developers

Darren Resnekov

May 30, 2011

All of this information is freely available on multiple websites, I have no inside knowledge regarding the situation only a few random ideas and opinions and decided to share. So please anyone who reads it take it as my own thoughts not based on any insider facts.

I have to begin with how PS3 games are booted and load at a very very basic level. I have no development knowledge but have been following Sony and the whole jailbreak thing from its start. Every game has within it something called an eboot file and a param file which are apparently very important in initial booting and directing the PS3 towards various other loading protocols. Each eboot has been signed by Sony with the ever important Master keys that tell the console what firmware it requires to boot the game. All games Portal 2 onwards have been signed by Sony with 3.60+ keys meaning they are not playable by hackers and those with unauthorised homebrew installed. The Param file contains information on the game such as the ID as well as firmware requirements. Ok simple enough, if you have 3.55 firmware you can’t play these new games regardless of whether you have a hacked console or not unless you update the firmware.

Yet, with the exception of Portal 2 and one or 2 other games, the hackers are still able to enjoy these newer games thanks to official patches released by the actual game developers. Personally I can only come to one conclusion besides total incompetence as to why they would put this out; to allow as many people access to the game regardless of the small number who obtains their copy illegally. There is simply no explanation for it except laziness and ignorance which I hope is not the case. Surely if Sony had gone to all the effort of signing these games with new keys after the whole Geohot saga they would give these keys to the developers to use for their patches.

A lot of these companies although reporting no real impact from the PSN outage would still have lost substantial amounts of money and users. Many games were delayed, while the online services of others were mute for extended periods, impacting on sales forecasts and profits. Who could really blame these developers for wanting as many users as possible to purchase their games? How does this make sense you ask, simply update and everything’s fine? The Scene groups who work on homebrew for the PS3 are not all involved with piracy. There are plenty of cool legal PS3 applications that many users refuse to let go off in exchange for the ability to play the newest games. Remember I am talking about non-pirates who would legitimately purchase the game most often on preorder. Unable to play these games they take their business elsewhere, resulting in one less sale. Looking around forums this doesn’t seem to be an isolated small issue and I’m guessing hasn’t escaped the attention of the major game developers.

Check out the latest games to be released onto the market

LA Noire – a huge release and originally signed by Sony with 3.60 keys

– Patch released by Rockstar Games allows loading on lower firmware increasing market scope

Brink – another big release and also originally signed with 3.60 keys

– Patch released by Bethseda studios allowing lower firmware to load

MX vs. ATV – not a huge release but also signed with 3.60 keys

– Patch released allowing lower firmware consoles to load

Motorstorm Apocalypse – signed with 3.60 keys by Sony

-patch lowers firmware to 3.50 allowing users with lower firmware to purchase

Mortal Kombat – released working to all but special moves didn’t work on lower firmware

– Patch released which allowed special moves to be performed on lower firmware

It all seems a little bit nonsensical to me unless the developers are trying to widen their market by allowing users with modded consoles to still be able to purchase their games. Maybe I’m wrong and it’s all a mistake and Sony just haven’t sent out the new keys to developers yet. Maybe they are seeing what the hackers do before they commit to new keys only to have them compromised. Either way surely it can’t be that hard to send an email to developers unless of course they don’t trust them. Enough of a ramble, it’s just my thoughts but I found it interesting. In case you were wondering how I know all this it’s called google.com and is a good resource. This stuff is not hard to find it’s just not splashed across the front page of commercial PS3 sites.

Apparently Sony are unofficially releasing a new firmware 3.70 in conjunction with updates needed to use new peripherals in the form of headphones, but no official statement has been made.

FOXTEL on 360: No Data Charge, More Channels

Alexis Ayala

May 30, 2011

For all you Aussie readers, FOXTEL just announced that it really wants you to watch using the 360 more. If you’re a Telstra BigPond broadband customer, you wont be charged for any data while using FOXTEL on your Xbox 360, and to top it all off, there will be six BigPond TV channels added to the service from Monday, May 30, 2011.

This means all video content will be unmetered for Telstra BigPond customers when viewing the FOXTEL on Xbox 360 service, including watching TV shows from up to 30 world-leading FOXTEL channels on the live streaming television service, the six BigPond TV channels, Catch Up TV, and hundreds of new release films, library movies and TV episodes from the FOXTEL on Xbox 360 On Demand service.

BigPond TV Channels include:

FOOTY TV: AFL TV is around-the-clock action featuring the best of the AFL regular-season and finals series. With match replays, highlights, player interviews, International Rules action and much more, this is 24/7 footy at its best. From June AFL games will be available as Catch Up video on demand after a twelve hour delay following the live game.

LEAGUE TV: Catch every game of the Telstra Premiership, Finals Series, State of Origin, City v Country, Four Nations and Test Matches on LEAGUE TV. LEAGUE TV offers match highlights, full game replays, NRL news, player interviews and more. From June NRL games will be available as Catch Up video on demand after a twenty-four hour delay following the live game.

V8 TV: Suit up for 24/7 streaming of the big events including, live action, interviews and driver features, expert analysis, race recaps, crash compiles and more. V8 races are streamed live and a highlights piece from each race is available as Catch Up video on demand.

RACING TV: TVN is a dedicated thoroughbred racing channel including local and international racing, commentary, tipping services and the latest thoroughbred industry news and information from Australia and around the world.

BigPond News: BigPond News provides the latest entertainment, finance and technology stories, regular weather updates, live crosses to breaking news, broadcast around the clock.

BigPond Sport: BigPond Sport TV covers everything to do with sport – tune in and sit back for big news, plus live events, big-match replays, highlights, opinion and profiles from all the sport you love.

Duke Nukem Forever iOS Soundboard: A Little Duke For Everyone

Alexis Ayala

May 30, 2011

Is that a Duke in your pocket or are you just happy to see me? 2K Games and Gearbox Software just announced that the Duke Nukem Forever Soundboard app is available on the iOS App Store. The perfect compliment for those awaiting the return of the King this June.

The Duke Nukem Forever Soundboard app bestows anyone with the power of a huge array of Duke-isms anywhere, anytime they want. No more boring midday board meetings, no more unsettlingly quiet shopping lines at the super market, no more politically correct nonsense stuffing up your entire day! Just inject Duke’s patented inappropriately appropriate one-liners, brazen insults and audaciously truthful claims and you’re good to go.

The Duke Nukem Forever Soundboard app features over 25 classic Duke-isms including silky smooth seduction lines sure to impress the ladies like “I’ve got balls of steel” and “Anybody mind if I take off my pants?”. If that doesn’t have you dripping with desire, the app will also include such lecture monotony busters as “I had eggs for breakfast,your mom had sausage” and stand-up to bullies anthems like “my job is to kick ass, not make small talk”.

The Duke Nukem Forever Soundboard is currently available for zero dollars and zero cents in the iOS App Store.

Two Modern Warfare 3 missions detailed

Kellie Wallace

May 30, 2011

I can proudly admit I can call myself a Call of Duty expert, specifically the Modern Warfare series so once the third installment was announced last year, I have been reading up on all breaking news and recently released images.

So once specific missions were leaked I was all over it. We know Modern Warfare 3 opens in India, following Soap, Price and Nikolai as they continue to run from the law. The mission following is set in Manhattan called ‘Black Tuesday’. In the level you take on the role of Frost, a Delta Force operative under the command of Sandman.

A source close to the developer describes the newest levels, “The level opens with Frost bolting down a street in Manhattan fighting his way as he makes his way toward the Stock Exchange. He is flanked by an enemy Armored Personnel Carrier. The Stock Exchange building is surrounded by rubble, as he approaches the building we see televisions in a nearby window showing a live broadcast from CNN which is covering the “Battle for New York”.”

“After making his way through the debris surrounding the Stock Exchange, Frost goes inside and fights his way up to the roof of the building. Once there he plants thermite on a jamming tower that has been scrambling all communications and guidance systems in the area.”

The next level which was recently released is yet to be named but rumored to be called ‘Mind the Gap.’

“This level opens with players taking on the role of an SAS operative tasked with keeping an eye on a charity operation suspected of being a front for a terrorist group. The surveillance watches people moving stuff to trucks and then trucks leaving the area. After noticing suspicious heat signals in a building, you’re sent in to check out what’s going on. This quickly devolves into a gun battle on the docks, with players controlling a black-garbed, gas-mask wearing SAS operative.”

Nerdy Niches – Sugar Fix

Aura

May 29, 2011

Welcome to the first of the weekly update of nerdy niches and today I’m looking at a wonderful candy store in the middle of the city.

Walking in the walk through to the Queen Victoria Building, me and my co-writer, Spike or Michael, came across this candy store and INSTANTLY had to go in. The store is filled with all kinds of candy imaginable, not only from our country but also from the UK and US, which ranged from every flavour jelly beans to something as weird as crunchy ice cream. In the end we could not resist at least buying one or two things, even though we are supposed to be on diets.

Here is some helpful information:

What: Sugar Fix, an awesome candy store

Where: Westfield Sydney Central

Some rememberable products:

Crunchy Ice cream
- Which is freeze dried and in a packet (most of you know it as Dipin’ Dots) – MasterAbbott’s FAVOURITE ICE in the whole entire WORLD !!!
Every flavour jelly beans
Red Hots
Butter Fingers
Gob stoppers
- bigger then my mouth
Tootsie Rolls
Nerds rope
Twizzlers
American Cereal
- such as Trix
Atomic Fireballs
War Heads
Baby Ruth Bar
Hersheys Chocolate Syrup
Pop Tart

So I think this is probably a great nerdy niche and if you have a sweet tooth like me I advise you to check it out 😀

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Check out our other Nerdy Niches here

Senator Ron Wyden Anti-Piracys Thorn

Darren Resnekov

May 29, 2011

I actually have a lot of respect for this guy. In an age where the majority of people in any position of power or responsibility will roll over with very little pressure this guy has stood his ground. Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat continues to be a thorn in the side of all those in favour of trying to pass the COICA bill in the US. After the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act was introduced late last year by Senator Patrick Leahy it was passed unanimously, but in a law system where individual Senators can uphold pending legislation, Wyden proved to be a brick wall.

Already backed by obvious supporters, such as the majority of Film and music studios, the COICA has attracted the attention of many others who have signed on board such as Nike, Adidas, Viacom, NBC, Chanel and MLB franchises. While the likes of Nike and Chanel may seem a little odd on a list of companies worried about internet piracy, if passed the bill will also give these manufacturers more power over stopping the influx of counterfeit and knock-off products that profit from their IP. (and yes I see the irony of a companies like Nike and Adidas jumping on the bandwagon considering the outsourcing and labour sources they use to achieve such massive profit margins.

Companies have always battled online piracy and honestly all it has proven to be is a complete waste of time, effort and money. You could feed third world countries sometime into the next century with the disgusting amounts of money spent through the American legal systems combating piracy. The entertainment industry in general is undeniably down in sales figures but instead of looking at the current economic climate where a lot of people have to make the choice between buying the latest Blu-ray or I don’t know um…….eating, they blame internet piracy. Since Apple brought ITunes to the world, and music went online, CD shops have been closing down worldwide. This is more a sign of changing technology not a result of internet piracy. Again it all comes down to the fact that these companies count every download as a lost sale, which could be true in maybe 15% of cases.

COICA gives the US government the ability to shut down any website they deem to be breaking any part of the bill. This would include forcing CC companies to refuse payments to suspect sites as well as forcing anyone (think Google), to remove any offending advertising. While Senator Wyden has worked closely with many US industries to combat more tangible counterfeit goods, he feels the internet is “too important to our(US), economy and to advancing American values to be inappropriately regulated and censored under the guise of protecting IP”. Personally I agree with him as it seems to be an exploit the government could use to shut down other sites.

There are many other critics to the bill besides a world of teenagers already pissed off that Limewire doesn’t exist anymore. Google Chairman Eric Schmidt is heavily opposed to the bills passing saying that Google would fight its implementation even if it became federal law. He is quoted as saying “Even if there is a law that requires DNS to do x, and its passed by both house of congress and the president , and we don’t agree with it we would fight it”, he goes on to add that if it was merely a request , he would have no part of it.

As the months have gone on, Wydens stance has not changed, as he still feels the costs are far higher than the benefits, stating “…I am not willing to muzzle speech and stifle innovation and economic growth to achieve this goal”.

I hope this guy continues to stand his ground as no government should have the authority prevent their people from accessing information. There is a case for major companies to protect their IP but I don’t think this is the way to do it. Giving any government the authority to shut down websites based on their content (with the exception of the obvious underage sex issues), will eventually get out of hand and slowly sites unrelated to the bill will start disappearing. In Australia the Communications minister Steven Conroy has had plans for years to censor the internet in an effort to remove child pornography, already making a vast list of sites to be blacklisted at a federal level. While I’m all for this concept it’s not the right way to go, and is really an excuse to be able to monitor and censor whatever material he and his Family first party deem fit. Sorry, while I disagree with the theft of others property the current solutions encroach too much on my freedom for my liking.

Rubber Review

Kelly Teng

May 29, 2011

Genre: Comedy/Horror/Cult
Produced by: Asylum
Director: Quentin Dupieux
Featuring: Stephen Spinella, Roxane Mesquida, Wings Hauser
Running Time: 78 minutes
Available for purchase at: Madman Online Store ($29.95)

Overview

If you’re a person that is absolutely logical, needs an explanation for everything, and loves pointing out every little inaccuracy or absurd detail in a film, I’m warning you: put down the film, walk away, and watch some sort of documentary. The entire basis for this film is that there is “no reason” to anything, and that is – if anything – an understatement for everything that goes on in this killer tire movie.

Rubber is plenty of things: B-grade, funny, quirky, and a little bit subversive…but it isn’t to everybody’s liking. The film finds itself walking the tightrope between arthouse and B-grade horrors, and ends up somewhere in between funny and unsettling. If you are one of the few like me who can let go of cinematic reason and just observe, it’s an interesting experience; however the majority of audiences will probably watch for half an hour, shrug, and walk away.

Plot

The plot is predicated on the fact that there is no reason, and therefore everything in the film is possible. In the middle of the desert, there is an animated tire that has discovered it has telekinetc powers: it can concentrate its energy on an object and cause the object to explode. While the tire initially uses this power to destroy cans and bottles, it soon realises that it can destroy living things: birds, rabbits, and humans. It wanders to a nearby highway, where it sees a beautiful woman drive past…and surprise, surprise, the tire becomes obsessed with this woman and follows her to a hotel to watch on her. Meanwhile, there are a group of people with binoculars a little while away, watching the tire and its story as it unfolds, much like the audience watching the film in the cinema.

This shot pretty much sums up the entire film: killer tire vs. the world.

Yeah, the storyline needs a big question mark stamped straight over it. Of course, it doesn’t make sense at all, and Quentin Dupieux seems to count on the nonsensical ways of the film to score some easy laughs with the viewers. While the idea of no reason is charming and comedic in the beginning, it quickly spirals into a big dose of confusion and doesn’t reappear as comedic until the last ten or so minutes. With that being said, though, I have to give Dupieux a million and one brownie points for originality: there is absolutely no way that anyone could wander into this film and know exactly what is going to happen at the end.

Without giving away too much, I do have to add that I think this film says something deeper about all movies which try to follow the classic Hollywood narrative. It can be shrugged off as something that just tries to be silly and comical, but what I have learned about a lot of B-grade filmmakers is that these films will, on occasion, try and make a point. Dupieux is great at breaking down the boundaries between spectator and character, between the real and the constructed, and creating some laughs while he’s at it.

Characters

Since the main character is a tire, it can be hard to understand that the film is actually quite relatable. In fact, one of the spectators in the film summed up my sentiments perfectly: “It’s the first time I’ve ever identified with a tire”. The tire is funny, charming, and even though it’s on a major power trip, it’s not evil. In fact, Dupieux gives the tire enough human qualities to validate it as a legitimate character, and I have to say that it was most definitely my favourite in the film. Girls will like the tre because it falls over and makes funny noises, and guys will like the tire because it stalks the really hot girl.

I’m pouring this water…for no reason.

The rest of the characters ranged from terrible to brilliant, but in a B-grade movie that’s to be expected. The policeman who introduces the film reminds me of Craig Ferguson: someone who knows how silly the movie is, and therefore just goes along with it. The acting of some spectators was a little exaggerated – almost to the point where it seemed they were trying too hard to be funny -, but I suppose Dupieux would argue that they are supposed to be that way (for no reason, of course). Really though, aside from the tire, a few spectators, and the policeman, I felt the other characters were negligible and I probably wouldn’t have missed them if they all spontaneously disappeared from the movie.

Visual and Audio

The best part about Rubber was its cinematography. Being able to make a film about no reason meant that Dupieux could also make it beautiful for no reason…and that’s exactly what it is: visually stunning (minus the animals and humans exploding). Because a lot of the film depicts the tire’s journey through the desert and its discovery of its telekinetic powers, it really did need to be presented well in order to keep the audience’s interest. From the high contrast to the slight sepia tones which sometimes seep through, this film really makes the most of its setting. The tire is also brilliantly animated, and Dupieux does, as I mentioned before, give the tire a sort of lifelike quality through the animated movements.

Yep, that’s a beautiful tire.

Soundtrack-wise, the film is interesting and while the soundtrack suits the film, I’m not sure how I feel about it. The music is akin to that used in arthouse films – straight out of the book from indie films, in my opinion – but sometimes is adjusted to conform more to the horror genre. What Dupieux has done here is create a unique tone to an already unique movie, and provide what can only be described as a new experience. The sound effects are pretty standard, although the sound the tire makes when telekinesis-ing is extremely entertaining and very likely to get stuck in your head.

DVD Extras

The DVD came with a few teaser trailers, the original trailer, and a few Madman trailers. Suffice to say that this DVD really wasn’t jam-packed with a lot of goodies to watch after the feature had finished, but in all honesty I don’t think I would have wanted to watch any extras anyway. For 70 odd minutes, the film felt ridiculously long: my brain was absolutely exhausted from all the lack of reason and switching from no reason to a normal “making of” would have been too much to bear anyway.

Final Comments

Rubber surely was an interesting experience, but I’m not sure I could do it more than once. It’s a film that’s more comedy than horror and more nonsensical than logical, and Quentin Dupieux has really got me baffled on this one. What he was going for, I’ll never know…but I suppose the real beauty of this movie is that there is absolutely no reason at all, and maybe the point is that sometimes a lack of reason can be okay.

I give Rubber

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