Ant-Man teaser, My Thoughts

I have been wanting to put out my thoughts on the Ant-Man teaser for the longest time, but since this site tends to go bonkers when I try to put up videos or images on this site for some reason. That problem seems to be past now, so I can finally give my thoughts on the film.

I have to admit, at first, my feelings about the film were mixed. I have talked a bit about my thoughts on the film here and here. As for the teaser itself, well...to be honest, I have trouble talking about teasers in detail, mainly because well, I tend to be very generic in thought.

I'm not really sure what to say more about this film, to be honest. I'm not sure what else to say after what I wrote in two previous blog entries. I'm just hoping this film will be good. I have enjoyed all the Marvel films so far, yes, including the Iron Man sequels, so I'm hoping this'll be good, too.

I still am sad we won't get to see Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne fighting Ultron alongside the Avengers in the sequel. It would've been a shoe-in to have them involved in the sequel, considering that Hank Pym accidentally created Ultron in the comics. Ah, well.

Pixels Trailer, My Thoughts.

Recently, I got to see a trailer for a film that sounds like a lot of fun. The film? Pixels.

What is Pixels, you may ask? Well, this is a remake of a 2010 short film of the same name, albeit the story is altered. In 1982, NASA launched a time capsule into space in an attempt to establish peaceful communications with extraterrestrial life. Included in the capsule were video footage of video games of the era, like Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Centipede, Galaxian, and Space Invaders. However, when aliens see the footage, they end up thinking that the footage was the equivalent of saying "We're going to blow you up because we hate you because reasons", they attack the earth, in the form of the various creatures and characters for the games.

It's up to a 1980s-era gaming champion (Adam Sandler), alongside a team of retrogamers (one of them is Peter Dinklage with a mullet), to save the world using gaming skills built over thirty years.

I had to admit, I found some parts of this trailer to be pretty funny. When I saw this trailer, I was actually pretty excited to see this film. I especially liked the bit with who I thought was Toru Iwatani, the creator of Pac-Man. Turned out according to Wikipedia it was not the real Iwatani, just an actor portraying him. That makes me a little sad. Ah, well.

I think this film will definitely appeal to retrogamers young and old, as well as those who grew up during the Golden Age of Arcades. For me, much of those games are early 80s, generally before my time. However, I do have a great respect for these games, and how they helped lay the foundation for the games we all love and enjoy today, not to mention the entire gaming industry. And I will admit, I love Galaga. I thought I may have seen the bugs from Galaga, so I am especially excited for this movie (I was very happy when Galaga was given some love in The Avengers). Not to mention I have played the original Donkey Kong, thanks to owning Donkey Kong 64.

I think this film is going to be just a bit of silly fun. It's not going to be deep, or make us consider existential questions. Not every film needs to do that. I go to movies to be entertained, and I think this film will do that. Although to be honest, I don't get all the Adam Sandler hate. Yeah, his last couple movies may have flopped, but I think this one will do fine. Might even be a cult classic.

Adventures in Pokemon Y Part 8: Route 5 and Camphrier Town

Time to explore Route 5! A new route means more Trainers to battle, and more Pokémon to collect! I am so excited! I also think I finally figured out why this site went crazy when I tried to upload pictures.

I decided to spend some time on the route, adding some more Pokémon to my collection, as this route has quite a variety of them. It has been something I had noticed. It does seem to me that there is a large variety of Pokémon in this Gen of games, or it could just be me.

One Pokémon I want to get on this route is Abra. I hate catching Abra, though. Abra only has one attack: Teleport, a technique that allows it to flee from battles. It will use it the first opportunity it gets, so it's one of the harder Pokémon to catch. They are also rare, so it's a nightmare ENCOUNTERING one in the first place. Alakazam is worth it, though. Weak defense, but a regular powerhouse. The Abra line has driven players crazy since Gen One. Took a couple tries, but I caught one, dagnabit!

Abra. Wild ones guaranteed to make Trainers pull their hair out trying to catch them since 1996.

Speaking of the Abra line, I have played the original Red and Blue back in the day, and I distinctly remember Sabrina of the Saffron City Gym being a royal nightmare to deal with, mainly because one of the Pokémon she used back then, her most powerful, was an Alakazam. Back in those days, there weren't really much in the way of Ghost-type Pokémon to counter it, nor did the more numerous Bug types have any really good attacks. This was Generation One, so the Dark type did not exist yet. I had to evolve my Eevee into a Jolteon and level it up until it learned Pin Missile, one of the only really good Bug attacks in those days.

Sorry about that little tangent, it just popped up in my mind. I tend to remember the most random things, ha ha. Anyway, one thing I found on this route was a simple little skate park, including a big ol' bar to grind on. It's a rollerblade park, but unfortunately, you can't really do any tricks on it like in the Tony Hawk series. That would make for one funny Pokémon spinoff series. Why not, they did a game called Pokémon Conquest. What's Pokémon Conquest? It's essentially a crossover between Pokémon and Tecmo Koei's Samurai Warriors series.

Yes. This was an actual thing.

Anyway, this route led to Lumiose City, so I figured, let's go there next. Hit the next gym, and see what further adventures await.

On the way, I found myself arriving in this little town called Camphrier Town. You know, I can't help but think that Camphrier is a pun on "Campfire". When I entered, I got a call on my Holo Caster. Evidently, the Holo Caster was developed by Lysandre Labs to bring some convenience to Trainers on the go. We have gone a long way from the Pokégear phones in Gold and Silver.

Camphrier is a cute little town, with a Hotel, A Pokémon Center/Store. A lady there gave me some Berry Juice. It's essentially like a Potion, but made from berries.

I decided to explore the hotel, which was staffed by one man. One busy, busy man. A man in the hotel gave me a Full Heal. A guest there is visiting Kalos, and saying I should check out his region. Yeah, I'm guessing this was foreshadowing Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire. Another guest explains to me about this "O-Powers" thing. He claims good things will happen, like my Pokémon getting stronger, or getting more money after battle. And the more I use them, the more they level up, like weapons in Secret of Mana. Neat.

You know, the people in this town are very generous. Many of them give you things if you talk to them. Nice things, too! I got Berry Juice, a Full Heal, and an Ultra Ball. A punk rocker-like woman gave me a TM, TM46. The Thief move.

In the house I got the TM in, I meet a man named Cassius, who runs the PC Boxes here. He looks like he was a member of the Sex Pistols back in the day. Evidently, he was sent by Bill over in Kanto to take care of the Pokémon Storage System in Kalos. As someone who played Red and Blue when they first came out, a mention of a character from the original two games makes me smile a little bit.

I take the opportunity to ask him about the Battle Box and Trays, as they're new features. It's a special place you can put six Pokémon you use a lot in battle. It's a nice feature. You can literally raise a team to battle other players over the Internet, and keep them in that special area. Trays can be used to move groups of Pokémon around at a time, which can really making organizing boxes much easier. Gotta give Pokémon games credit, they put something new in every one.

I got ready to leave town, when I was stopped by a man, who encourages me to visit Shabboneau Castle. Evidently it's a bit of an attraction here, which does make me wonder why there are no tourists all over the place. When I arrive, I encounter Shauna, who was talking to what I presume is a tour guide. When he sees us, he remarks that with the two of us, he's never been this busy before. Evidently this place isn't exactly the tourist trap I assumed it was.

He explains this castle was the manor of a noble family, and the owners gave away a lot of their possessions. Shauna wonders if there's anything in the castle relating to Mega Evolution. He reveals he has no idea what that is, but then is called away to Route 7. A curious Shauna suggests we go there to see what the hubbub is about. I decide to explore the castle a bit first.

When the guide said the castle didn't have a lot of stuff, he wasn't kidding. It's a small castle, which I managed to look through quickly. I did find an Escape Rope, though, so it wasn't a total loss. It was nice, just a bit barren. Makes sense, though. Might as well hit Route 7 with Shauna. It's probably a Snorlax on the road or something.

Pokémon Obtained:
Chomp (Gulpin)
Scrapper (Scraggy)
Greenhorn (Skiddo)
Hydra (Doduo)
Jean-Luc (Furfrou)
Einstein (Abra)
Po (Pancham)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

As the post's title says, Happy St. Patrick's Day!

What is St. Patrick's Day? Well, St. Patrick's Day is a holiday held on March 17 of every year. The day is the day of the death of St. Patrick, the patron saint of engineers, paralegals, and most notably, the main patron saint of Ireland.

It commemorates the arrival of Christianity in Ireland, and is considered a celebration of Ireland and Irish culture in general, hence the drinking of Guinness and wearing green and the shamrock decorations.

The shamrock is often used as the symbol of St. Patrick's Day, because of the story that St. Patrick used the shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity to the Irish as part of bringing them to Christianity.

Here in the United States, St. Patrick's Day isn't a national holiday, but it is considered a day to celebrate the Irish and their cultures. Many major cities, most notably New York City and Boston (who's had a parade since 1737), have big parades, beer is drank, and the goal is generally to have a wonderful day and enjoy some great Irish music.

Super Smash Bros. For 3DS, My thoughts

Shortly before Christmas last year, I got my paws on the newest installment of the Super Smash Bros. series, Super Smash Bros. For 3DS, or as I like to call it, Smash 4.

I've been a big fan of the Super Smash Bros. series since it first came out on the Nintendo 64 so many years ago. It was a fun game to rent. Super Smash Bros. Melee was one of my favorite games for the Nintendo GameCube. I remember one night, I at down to play it, and when I stopped, I realized it was 4 AM. Yup, it was that addicting. When I got a Wii, I also got Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which I enjoyed playing a lot.

When I got a Nintendo 2DS, I knew I had to get my hands on the newest installment in the franchise, which was going to make its debut on handhelds. I loved the idea of playing Smash on the go, so I bought it.

This game is so much fun to play. One of my favorite mini-games is the Smash Run. Five minutes to power up your chosen fighter in various stats in a massive labyrinth, and then a challenge, usually a fight or a race. It's really fun to play, as you encounter enemy mooks from various games, like the Mario series, Sonic, Kirby, Metroid, and even an enemy from Dig Dug.

Another feature I think is awesome is the ability to customize fighters. Using various items, you can alter the speed, defense, and attack levels of fighters, and save them in a set of slots. It has encouraged me to use characters I normally don't like using. Normally, I like to use the all-arounder Mario or the speedier characters like Sonic and Fox. With this feature, I've tried out other characters, and now the tank Bowser is one of my favorites. I also like Lucina (unlocking her was easy, beating her to win her was a NIGHTMARE).

My only complaints are really quite minor, actually. One is the load time. It's longer than I expected, but it wasn't that big a deal. I didn't mind waiting. The other is, I wish they could've gotten back Solid Snake for this game. Hideo Kojima wanted Snake in Brawl, how hard would it have been to call him and ask him if he will let Nintendo and Namco put Snake in this new one? Ah well, Mewtwo is going to be DLC, maybe Snake will too, one day.

All in all, I highly recommend this game. If you like Smash, and want to play it on the go, get this game!

Marvel's Epic Collection, My Thoughts.

In the last few years, Marvel Comics has been releasing a series of large trade paperbacks known as the Epic Collections. The Epic Collection line has been collecting certain parts of character histories that generally tend to get ignored in other trade collections.

Quite frankly, I love them, and I've been snapping up as many as I can find. The trades focus on a variety of characters and teams in the Marvel Universe: Captain America, Thor, Spider-Man, Daredevil, the Fantastic Four, Wolverine, Daredevil, and even the X-Men.

Each of the trades are amazing. They have several hundred pages in beautiful color, and the covers are incredible, original covers from a collected issue beautifully recolored.

My personal favorite of the collections I have read so far is one of the Spider-Man collections: Cosmic Adventures. It collects the brief era in the 80s in which Spider-Man gained cosmic-level powers for a while. Yes, that actually happened, look it up. For a brief period in the 80s comics, Spidey gained cosmic-level powers after a power source exploded, and it turned out he was chosen to obtain those powers to fight a monsterous Sentinel. Yeah. Fun stories, though.

Pick up as many of these collections as many as you can, as they cover some great and forgotten eras in Marvel Universe history. And for all you Star Wars fans, there are a couple Star Wars Epic Collections coming, including one that focuses on Darth Vader. I definitely will pick them up, because I love this line, and I am eager to support it.

Adventures in Pokemon Y Part 7: Cafe Soleil and Route 5

After that visit with Professor Sycamore, I decided to go wander around the town some more. This is an opportunity to bring up one issue I've had with this game so far: the roller skates.

I love the speed that comes with the roller skates. They are a great idea to get places quickly, but my one issue is...it's hard to control the player character when they are being used. The roller skates would have been a better idea if this game was an overhead-view 2D game, but Pokémon Y (and its twin game Pokémon X), are 3D games. The Control Stick makes it difficult to go in a direction I want to go in. To me, the roller skates would've been better used if the game was like the older Pokémon games in the series, not the newer 3D ones.

I noticed Shauna in front of the building across from the Pokémon Center. I decided to go say hi to her and see what she's up to. She explains that the building is called the PR Video Studio. You can make ten-second little videos in it. Curious, I decided to check it out. It's a nice little studio, with a green room and an area you can change your outfit for the video.

I approached the guy at the desk, and agreed to make a ten-second video. It's a surprisingly robust little mini game, with a variety of backgrounds, effects, noises, and shots. I do think it could use some more custom forms, but it's pretty neat that this game allows you to essentially make a promotional video about yourself, and you can even feature one of your Pokémon. I made a video showcasing myself and Vulcan the Fennekin. It was awesome.

I decided to find Café Soleil to meet Serena. This town has several Cafés, so I'll have to start looking. I would like to look around the whole city, but the blackout has blocked out much of the city. Speaking of blocking out, I found something funny happens in this game. When in this city, you see NPCs (Non-Player Characters) running around all over the place. When you encounter a guard telling you the blackout has made this area inaccessible, the NPCs will rush past the guard and continue deeper into the city. Seriously? That is freakin' weird.

Eventually, I managed to find Serena standing in front of Café Soleil. She asked me to come inside with her, and I did so. When in the café, we saw Lysandre (aka Red-Headed Wolverine) and someone called Diantha. Serena explains that Lysandre is the head of Lysandre Labs. Lysandre Labs developed the Holo Caster, which is a video-messaging device. And Diantha is a big time movie star in the Pokémon world. We listen in on what they were conversing about.

Lysandre evidently is fond of Diantha's roles when she was younger, and asks her if she wanted to remain young and beautiful forever. Diantha said it was an odd question, as she wouldn't want to play the same roles forever, and that there is more to life than youth, and she is looking forward to the increased variety of roles she'll get as she gets older. She reminds him that things change, and she wants to change with them. Lysandre starts going on about how beauty should stay that way forever...yeah, he's definitely the villain of this game.

Anyway, he sees us, and introduces us to Diantha. Diantha notices we are both Trainers, and she reveals that she herself is a Trainer in her spare time. Gee, where would she find the time to train Pokémon with her busy life filming movies, doing talk shows, that kind of thing? It's kind of neat, getting to talk to a famous person in a video game.

Anyway, Serena says she would like to battle me again sometime. Sure. That sounds like fun. After leaving the café, I get a holo call from Tierno. He's on Route 5, where he's found quite a lot of wild Pokémon. He wants me to check it out, so I'll head there and see what he wants.

I tried to leave the town, but a man named Mr. Bonding stops me. Mr. Bonding. That is his name. Yup. He asks me if I have heard of O-Powers. Since I haven't, he explains them to me, strange abilities that grant all sorts of effects. He gives me two O-Powers: Attack Power and Defense Power.
He also tells me that the more I use those powers, the stronger they get. This is a heck of a time to tell me this!

Upon arriving on Route 5, I got accosted by a Lucario. Luckily, its Trainer arrives. She reveals herself to be Korrina, the Gym Leader of Shalour City. Evidently, one of her Lucarios took a liking to me based on my aura (Lucario can read auras. Heck, they're called the Aura Pokémon). She's looking forward to taking me on during my quest. Can't wait to take her on!

While on Route 5, I decided to explore it a bit. I ended up attacked by a swarm of Pokémon, mainly Minun with one Plusle in the group. Since Plusle was in the group, and it's the only way to get Plusle in Y without trading, I decided to try and catch it.

To put it simply, I hate swarms. I hate swarms. Well, to be honest, in concept, I like the idea of swarms. It adds a bit of realism to the Pokémon universe, especially if the swarms are of insect-like Pokémon. However, in execution, I am not a fan. I'm an old-school Trainer. I still train in the style of earlier gens, for one-on-one battles. Swarms make it miserable for that. I've adapted to double battles, but this is crazy. My Pokémon end up taking quite a beating before beating a swarm. I hate swarms.

Anyway, I decided to check out what Tierno wanted to do on Route 5. I arrived at the meeting place, and found Tierno, the dancing fool, and Trevor with him. Trevor remarks that hordes of Pokémon are intense. Yeah, tell me about it. Tierno compares them to a dance team, which leads Trevor to remark that he has a one-track mind. I gotta go with Trevor on that one, Tierno buddy. Tierno laughs it off and challenges me to a battle, because he wants to see if my Pokémon have nay cool moves. Alright. This'll be fun.

My Pikachu, Amperage, wrecked his Corphish. To give Tierno credit, his Corphish nearly took out Amperage with one hit. I like Amperage, but I think he's best for hit-and-run. He can't take a hit very well. I'll have to train up his Defense. Luckily, the Super Training feature makes that easy!

I have to admit, Corphish are cool-looking Pokémon. Won a nice chunk of change for it, too. After the battle, Trevor gives me some honey. Honey can be used to increase the odds of encountering Pokémon hordes. He does warn me that I'd better teach my Pokémon some moves that can hit multiple targets in case of hordes. Yeah, I'll have to do some research on that. Have to get some supplies and some Poké Balls! A new route to explore!

Pokémon Obtained:
Skarmory (Obtained via Wonder Trade)
Positron (Plusle)
Negatron (Minun)
Tyrunt (Obtained via Wonder Trade)
ROSE (Roselia) (Obtained via Wonder Trade)