The Boba show

Superman, again
So, the big news today is that Warner Bros. is looking to reboot the Superman franchise... again. That's not news, really. They've talked about it for a bit. Seems no one liked that whole Superman-as-deadbeat-dad reboot. Go figure. Here's where it gets interesting, Warner is bringing in Christopher Nolan as an advisor on how to approach the new film(s). Keep in mind, he's (probably) not going to direct them but help Warner figure out what they should do. Hopefully that won't include making Superman "dark." Dark is Batman's territory, that's why it works for him. Superman is not dark. Also, Superman would not knock Lois Lane up and then bail. Superman saves planets and solar systems from giant planet and solar system-eating robots -- he doesn't stop half-baked real estate scams, no matter how big or how much Lex Luthor has to do with them. Anyway, hopefully things work out for Supes. Oh, the article also mentions that Nolan and co. have begun the script phase for the third Batman film.

24
Does the idea of a 24 film excite you? Then prepare to get even more excited. Are you prepared? Hmm? Good. Turns out the long-talked-about 24 film may happen. I might even go see that if it does.

Star Wars
That whole Star Wars live action (possibly) cable TV show is starting to gel. It sounds interesting on paper, I guess. Darker, more character driven, well written. Let's believe it when we see it but it just might work. I mean, I was skeptical about the Clone Wars and I kinda like that show. Although, this one is being billed as "Sopranos meets Deadwood in space" and apparently features a young Boba Fett "making his way in the universe" while dating a Twilek prostitute. Two out of three facts in that last sentence are true. Having trouble picking them out, aren't you?

EA busy
Electronic Arts is a big corporation. They make some good games, and if they don't they buy the companies that do. At their recent shareholders conference call they announced a buttload of new games and initiatives, including a 2011 release for the new Dragon Age game and Crysis 2, among others. They also mentioned that Dead Space 2 will now be a 2011 release instead of the original 2010 announcement.

And finally…
Hey, remember that EA conference call I just talked about? Yeah, they also announced that there will be something seriously "far-reaching" for Mass Effect coming in 2011 as well. What could that be? A lot of people are saying Mass Effect 3, but how "far-reaching" is that? It's the last part of a planned trilogy, it's sort of the opposite of "far-reaching," no? Could it be an MMO? The Mass Effect universe would definitely lend itself to one of those given all the different cultures and abilities and whatnot. But who knows? I guess we'll have to wait and see.

The Player: Mass Effect 2

Did I mention that I had to go on a suicide mission? Yeah, that is happening. Like, in the next day or so.

One of the things I love most about Mass Effect 2 is its focus on the goal. From the get-go, you know the stakes: Commander Shepard must assemble a team of the galaxy’s roughest and toughest to take on a mission so preposterously difficult, it’s (essentially) a suicide mission.

That’s pretty much the game right there. Yes, Mass Effect had Shepard focused on stopping a single foe as well, but getting from A to B included hours of traipsing about the galaxy exploring planets, stopping pirates, discovering artifacts and being awesome in many different ways. It was a lot of fun, it introduced us to the vast universe of the game and rounded out everything nicely with its sandbox-y feel.

In ME2, pretty much everything you do is about the mission. No more fucking about and chilling with space monkeys: shit got real. (Yes, Martin Lawrence/ Marcus Burnett real.) Once you take on the mission: you spend a lot of time recruiting your 11-member team. Then you spend a lot of time helping them sort shit out so their head can be in the game. When you’re not Mr. or Miss Human Resources, you’re collecting resources and tech to make your ship and weapons awesome enough so that some of you might come home – or at least make it so your enemies regret ever pissing you off.

I keep thinking of two analogies for the differences between the two games.

One is that Mass Effect was like a TV series, lots of breathing room, time to get to know a lot of different characters and mine the minutiae of the universe. ME2 is if they took that show and continued it in a two-hour blockbuster film. It’s concentrated, focused and all the more intense for it.

The other one is simple: Mass Effect was the regular season, ME2 is the playoffs. No more room for mistakes.

And it’s the mission (and 90% of the game’s focus on it) that makes it so. It’s always looming there. And now it’s all that’s left to do.

For my part, I’d say my companions deaths are what’s looming most. I don’t know if we’ll all make it back. I’m not going to say that I like everyone on my team, but I like most of them and there are even some whose deaths would upset me a lot.

All I know is that I’ve done my best, we're well prepared, we're pissed off and no matter what the odds, you should never count me out.

Tell Liara I love her…

Pump Fake: Super Bowl radness

Hi. Long time no see. Or write, as it were, a-ha-ha-ha. Anyhoo. I've been busy. Saving the universe in the 22nd Century takes up a lot of spare time and mental space. I'm sure at some point I'll have had my fill of (space) adventuring, whoring it up with secret (space) agent ladies and shooting various (space) aliens in the face and will maybe start writing this blog again. I'll assume that crushing silence is both all of you shedding quiet tears of joy.

So, yeah, the Super Bowl. Guess, I'll put my two cents in. First off, this was my dream match-up way back when both teams were, like, 5-0. A Manning and Brees showdown sounds just about right and no matter who loses, we all win. (Or something like that.) But yeah, this should be a doozy.

As for a prediction, I'm taking the Colts. Manning is on a tear, the Saints looked unconvincing against the Vikings -- even after, like, 57 turnovers, it still took OT and a field goal to win. So, I don't know. I'm thinking the destiny thing may not happen this year. But who knows? All we can ask is that it's still a game going into the second half, right?

Now, back to killing aliens. Hard.

Only four days left

Mass Effect 2
Well, it's the home stretch now. Mass Effect 2 is out in less than four days. To you, those will feel like four days. To me, they will feel like four eternities squished together and slathered with eon icing. I was holding onto a hope that I might get a review copy delivered before the end of the day but, yeah, no. That's cool. Maybe Monday? If not then, then Tuesday I'll either get a review copy, my collector's edition or both. I know, I sound like Gollum -- and I'll probably look like him when I emerge from my cave/couch weeks from now, having completed several playthroughs of awesomeness. Until I get the game in my grubby little hands, I will watch this launch trailer until my synapses fry -- with tears of joy streaming down my face.

Lost
Hey, are you ready for the return (and final season) of Lost? If you're like me, you can't remember anything about last season and will scramble to (unsuccessfully) catch up as much as possible before it airs. A cool thing about the show's impending return is all the fun viral-y stuff hitting the net. Like this and this. Enjoy!

Cable
Why is cable TV better than network? Hey, how about because there's going to be a Walking Dead TV series and one for George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones, too.

And finally…
Japan. It's a hell of a place.

Pump Fake: Heading into the semis

Well, the Cowboys are out. They deserve to be after that shite performance. On the bright side: my ulcer can rest – at least until the World Cup in June, anyway. Bright side part deux: the Chargers are out, too. Sweet! I guess what bugs me more about the Cowboys-Vikings game was that it was a bad game that could have been really awesome. Oh well.

(Record: Last week: 2-2; Total: 5-3)

NY Jets vs. Indianapolis Colts
Here’s the thing: Yeah, the Jets are this sexy, wild Cinderella ride right now. And yeah, it would be something else to see them beat the Colts (again) and cruise into a seemingly destiny-filled Super Bowl appearance. Who wouldn’t want to see that, right? But, hey, friends, Cinderella rides suck when they don’t go all the way into the station and – I may be completely wrong here – but I don’t think the Jets have what it takes to beat any of the teams left. Then again, I thought they couldn’t beat the Chargers either. Still, there are a few things that make Indy extremely dangerous in this one. 1) They’re riding out their first ever playoff win with Peyton coming off a bye week. And 2) the Colts have something to prove here. That last loss against the Jets sucked and they’re looking to set that straight. Peyton Manning and those dudes are not people you want to piss off. Especially when you were the first team to spoil his perfect season. Especially when it’s just you standing between him and the Super Bowl game. Should be a great game. (And then maybe George R.R. Martin can get back to work on the next A Song of Ice and Fire book he's been working on for, like, 18 friggin' years or whatever...)

Winner: Indianapolis

Minnesota Vikings vs. New Orleans Saints
This one seems simple at first. While the Vikings played a good game, the Cowboys lost that game more than they won it. When you look at the Saints, they destroyed a Cardinals team that was playing full burn. That tells me the New Orleans team that came up with 13 wins this season is back, rather than that New Orleans team that posted three losses. But then there’s Brett Favre, so it gets dodgy. I’m still going to pick New Orleans, because I think they’re the better team and I’d love to see a Peyton Manning vs. Drew Brees Super Bowl. But if the Jets beat the Colts, I’d rather the Vikes win, too, that way the weird flukiness is cancelled out.

Winner: New Orleans

The Player: Dragon Age: Origins – “Return to Ostagar” DLC

Being an unashamed Dragon Age nerd, when I heard that the slightly delayed “Return to Ostagar” downloadable content pack had popped onto Xbox Live available for purchase yesterday, I was pretty damn excited to say the least. I made a promise to myself that the first thing I did when I got home was to crank up the Xbox and buy it. Promise achieved.

And soon after, I started playing it. And soon after that, I finished it.

That’s what you do with DLC, right? You download ‘em, you play ‘em and – soon after – you finish ‘em. No biggie. So what?

Well, when I got into work today I noticed there was a total clusterfuck ensuing surrounding the DLC. There was a bug. They pulled it from Xbox Live. Etc. and etc.

I guess I’m in a weird position as someone who’s played it, so I’ll offer up a review of sorts.

For starters, the bug didn’t give me any problems, and I was able to finish the pack and get the achievement. Apparently, the glitch messes around with characters’ specializations but I didn’t encounter anything like that. Things seemed to be running normally, so, yeah, there you have it.

Possible spoilers ahead:

For those who don’t know, “Return to Ostagar” follows The Warden back to the tragic battlefield where King Cailan and the Grey Wardens were sold out by Loghain to a Darkspawn horde – who slaughtered them all to a man. Or so you were led to believe. Turns out, there were other survivors of the Battle at Ostagar besides you, Alistair and Wynne. After coming across one of the King’s honor guard – a man who should be dead – you learn that King Cailan’s body, his armor, his sword and other important artifacts are still at the battle site and must be retrieved.

And that’s basically it. You head back to Ostagar. You kill a bunch of Darkspawn. You retrieve the artifacts. You are a hero. (I’m leaving out a few details, of course.)

What struck me soon after arriving at Ostagar was how eerie it was to be back. Dragon Age nerds will totally see what I mean when they play this. A nice slice of the original game was set here – but back before it was spoiled by the Darkspawn. Now, it is a broken ruin (well, it was a ruin before, technically, but now it’s extra ruined) and it creeps you out a little, especially because you remember your way around and see what’s been done to the place.

Outside of that, the DLC is pretty much a straight grind. No real twists. No new revelations, really (there is one, I guess, but it’s nothing mind-blowing.) But there is a lot of gear, even when you don’t count the King’s armor, sword and shield. Some surprise booty, too, which is always good (LOL! ** eye roll **)

I would recommend bringing Alistair and Wynne, most definitely, because they have a lot of DLC-motivated dialogue. I had Leliana with me and she didn’t say a peep that related to the Ostagar trip. I can’t really think of any other party members that might have dialogue that would have any sort of emotional stake here outside of being your friend, so definitely take those two and add whoever.

Now on to the bug question: Is it worth the 400 points?

In short: yes. If you love the game, get the DLC (uh, when it’s available again, of course.) It’s nothing insane but it’s a fun bit of closure. It buttons up the overall story arc nicely and would fit in well just before you head into Denerim for the buildup to the Landsmeet.

I’m hoping future DLC will be a little beefier, though.

Spider-Man go bye-bye

Spider-Man 4 epic clusterfuck action
Wow. Well, I guess that was one way to go with it, Sony. Most would have gone the "we want to make truckfuls of money AND a good movie" route, but I guess siding on the "fail-arity ensues" tip is something, too. While one might now segue to this story about Tobey Maguire's extracuricular hobbies involving the Spidey suit and mock, I think this is pretty awesome.

Yvonne S. talks Mass Effect 2
Chuck actor Yvonne Strahovski talks a bit about her (chunky) role in the upcoming BioWare extravaganza.

Conan, Leno, Letterman, the Incredible Hulk
It seems everyone has an opinion on this Leno-Conan-NBC thing. Seriously. Everyone. David Letterman? He has an opinion. The Incredible Hulk? He, too, has an opinion. Me? Do I have an opinion? Sure. I guess I think NBC are stupid poopy faces and Leno is a jerky man. Conan is ok, though. I think he should quit the network and it should go something like this.

Transformers
Even before Michael Bay and all that shizz, I was never much of a Transformers guy. I was more of a G.I. Joe guy, so, really, this isn't about being cooler than anyone, it's just a matter of taste. And, really, the use of that word to describe it all is tenuous at its most tenuous. Regardless, the new Transformers: War for Cybertron game is starting to look and sound pretty tasty. It's not up there with the Mass Effects and Dragon Ages of the gaming universe for me, but I'm looking forward to checking it out, definitely.

Fringe
I like Fringe. I've become a fan of the show and its paranormal shenanigans. Dunham is intense. Peter is Pacey with a gun. And Walter is one of the coolest characters on TV right now. I watch it on a regular basis and watch when it is airing so I get my Anna Torv the way she was meant to be seen: in HD. Fox moved the show -- somewhat controversially -- from Tuesday to Thursday this season, where it goes up against, like, every popular show on TV at the moment. Still, it's apparently doing well, according to Fox, and it looks good that it will get a third season. I like how Fox is all obtuse about it. But still, good news, I guess? And producer J.J. Abrams seems enthusiastic enough to talk about looking into the show's future, too.

And finally…
If you watch Lost, or ever have, you'll probably get a kick out of this.