Great Moments Of The Generation: Tomb Raider’s “I’M COMING FOR ALL OF YOU”

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Tomb Raider! How did that even happen? A burnt out franchise starring a bygone star of  a gaming age where breasts (and size thereof) were equal to guns (and size thereof). The next in a long line of adventure games that were quickly paling under the harsh cinematic light of *Uncharted*. The ubiquitous *reboot* of a *beloved icon* that was going to be *darker* and *grittier*. Yaaaaaaawn. Time to roll over and stay down, Lara.

But developer Crystal Dynamics had a twin-prong plan; make Lara real, and tell a *bloody good story*. Continue reading “Great Moments Of The Generation: Tomb Raider’s “I’M COMING FOR ALL OF YOU””

Review: Frozen

Frozen

There’s two things I can tell you right off the bat about Frozen. First, contrary to what the marketing would have you believe, it isn’t a movie about a snowman and a reindeer. Second, it is in facta Disney Princess movie.

What’s interesting about these two facts is that I have no idea _why_ they marketed so heavily on the snowman and the reindeer because it’s actually a _really_ good Disney Princess movie. More than that it’s actually just a really good movie.

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Great Moments Of The Generation: Almost Getting Fired Because Of Geometry Wars Waves

GWW2How important is employment? From very early on in our childhood, we’re funnelled down the process of refining some skills and repressing others to prepare for our mythical lifetime job. Nothing holds a higher priority than forcing children into shapes that might one day yield the all-important salary, an approach that is seemingly justified by the existence of endless bills as adulthood takes hold.

So, after years of education and hardship and crappy interim jobs selling your soul a chunk at a time in the form of car insurance policies, it must take something pretty special to tempt you into actually risking your hold on a stable, career-based job.

Unfortunately, *Geometry Wars Waves* is *exactly* that kind of special.

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Great Moments Of The Generation: Wii Bowling Takes Over

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The Nintendo Wii holds an unique honour in my gaming lifetime. It’s the only console I’ve ever sold – *twice* – while its been in the middle of its life. There’s has been no other console that has left me feeling so totally angry and ambivalent about its core mission and design. The lack of HD, the foggy motion controls, the dry spells between Mario and Zelda games filled with tumbleweeds; it was something that I just new I wouldn’t able to connect with. I bought two Wiis and sold them both, head shaking harder the second time for believing that there might have been some redeeming long-term feature I’d missed.

There wasn’t.

However, the Wii may not have had the longevity I required but it did have one thing that was unbeatable. So good, in fact, that it was the prime reason for my purchase each time I threw money at it. Because, as it turned out, there really ain’t  no party like a *Wii Bowling* party.

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Holy Shit: Fast and Furious Star Paul Walker Has Died In A Car Crash

Paul Walker

Did I mention holy shit? Paul Walker, best known as the star of The Fast and the Furious franchise, has died in a fiery car crash today at age 40.

Details are sparse but it seems that he was driving that he and a friend were leaving an event in a Porsche in Valencia, California, and the driver lost control. The car struck a light pole and a tree and caught fire. Both Walker and a passenger were pronounced dead at the scene.

This was confirmed by his official Twitter:

When more details become available we’ll update this post but for now we’d like to express our sympathies to his family.

Source: [GlobalNews Canada](http://globalnews.ca/news/1001023/actor-paul-walker-dies-in-fiery-crash/)

_Updated to reflect that Walker was not driving._

Great Moments Of The Generation: Leaving No-one Behind In Left 4 Dead

Left-4-Dead

The first time I heard of *Left 4 Dead* was from a forum member at [Eurogamer](www.eurogamer.net). Because of his involvement in the games industry, he’d managed to snag a preview build of Valve’s new zombie killing game, touted as a pure co-op survival test against screaming hordes and an intelligent adaptive AI. When asked of his opinion, he said that he thought it might be the best online co-op game ever.

I still think he might be right.

Continue reading “Great Moments Of The Generation: Leaving No-one Behind In Left 4 Dead”

Great Moments Of The Generation: Pressing Split/Second’s Button

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The fatness of *Split/Second*’s cars perfectly captures the spirit of the game. Bright, colourful and ridiculously wide, they are quick to slam into anything that dares to get in their way,  growling all the time like caffeinated angry tigers. At the risk of actually creating a genre, this is a determinedly *Michael Bay* racing game full of sparks and popcorn, a plump hog that has eaten the extra American fat and wants to drag you along screaming behind it.

So what does a Michael Bay game absolutely need?

*Explosions*.

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These Are The Episodes… Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s 14 Best Episodes

Deep Space Nine

Hopefully, you’ve at least started watching Star Trek: Deep Space Nine by now. It’s my favourite Star Trek series, and I believe the most underrated. While a highly serialized story doesn’t seem strange today, you must remember that in the 1990s, it was highly unusual. Syndicated shows like Star Trek generally returned to status quo at the end of each episode. Thus, Deep Space Nine had some of the deepest and most compelling character development in Trek of that era and an ongoing story that was genuinely thoughtful and impactful in a way that its contemporaries weren’t capable of being. 

So this week, as an addition to the viewing guide I’ve already laid out, I’d like to present to you what I believe to be the 14 best episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Just a word of warning, though: the viewing guide, I did my best to keep as spoiler-free as possible. I’m not going to do that here.

Continue reading “These Are The Episodes… Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s 14 Best Episodes”

Great Moments Of The Generation: Staying Together Through Journey’s Journey

Journey

 

Team Ico has been noticeably absent for the PS3’s life so far. A force to be reckoned with on the PS2, *Ico* and *Shadow Of The Colossus* frequently feature in many all-time-greatest-games lists. Team Ico’s PS3 title, *The Last Guardian*, was announced during Sony’s E3 2009 conference but then disappeared into development hell amid reports of technical problems, lack of direction, and lead designer Fumito Ueda quitting in the middle of the process. So, with the primary developers of outstanding emotive interactive experiences dragging their heels, who could fill the void?

Enter thatgamecompany.

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Review: The Day Of The Doctor – The 50th Anniversary Special

Doctor

The *Third Conditional* in English is the impossible *”what if?”*. All the other conditional forms deal either with present truths or future ideas, plans and dreams of what may come. They are the ones that are still soft and malleable, ready to change on a dime as the present hurtles into the future. But the *Third*,  it stands alone and stony in the past, a constant reminder of all the stupid decisions you’ve made, every ripple of the butterfly effect shaping the puzzlebox hotch-potch that you are today. The *Third* is impossible in that, no matter the reason or motivation, you can never change what has gone before; all you can do is dream of what you would have done instead. *If + Past Perfect + would have + Past Participle* is the very structure of regret.

But base emotions like regret are just for mere humans. Impossible is nothing for a Time Lord. What might he possibly have to regret?

Continue reading “Review: The Day Of The Doctor – The 50th Anniversary Special”