Top 5 Smash Bros. Characters

I was kinda bored so I thought I'd post my top 5 favorite characters from Brawl. You might be able to expect details later, but I'm not making any promises. I would still be maining with Sonic til just out of nowhere I kinda sucked with him. I still like him, I just don't know what happened. He even got replaced by Ike. That's quite a transition. I like Trainer because he's "Super Effective" against pretty much anyone. You just gotta use the correct Pokemon.

1. Pokemon Trainer (I main with him)

2. Ike

3. Sonic

4. Samus (and Zero-Suit Samus)

5. Olimar

Lol, Email craziness

I just checked my gmail account. Its the email address I use for things I know I'm gonna get:
A) Spam
B) Stuff I don't care about
I have 326 messages since last time a checked, a couple months ago. But, check this out, I even have a "Spam" folder that has 909 messages. I wonder how the other 326 messages slipped by that? I have everything from a $1000 Wal-mart Card, CSI training (how to get my Forensics degree - wtf?), testing Dell laptops, my college options, 2 min. quiz to get an iPod touch, etc. Its pretty hilarious to me. Not that I'm gonna sit here and read all 326. But the good thing about gmail is it has like unlimited storage (well, that was an exaggeration, but, ya know...gmail). My "Spam" folder is where it gets even funnier. I got this one email from a "Mary" telling me about how my Credit Card Debt has been canceled. Uh...thanks? I wish I had a credit card, I woulda just saved a bunch of money, lol. I have many, many weight loss emails (what, am I FAT?!?!?!):
1. Health Labs - Drop 20 lbs for Summer
2. Health News - Shed 25 lbs. in 20 days
3. SlimNews - Drop 17 lbs. in 27 days for free!
4. Health News (again?) - Josh drop 23 pounds before in 30 days. (what's that mean?)
...the list goes on and on. that's about 1/4 of what's on the first page. I also got an email from "JapanesesSecret" saying "Women needed age 25-55." I don't even know where that came from - since I'm not a woman nor am I ages 25-55. Funnily enough I didn't get anything from Viagra or any type of ya know...growth hormone. I know this isn't as funny as it would be if you were sitting here looking at my inbox yourself, but I thought someone out there might get a laugh out of it.

What is "good" metal anymore?

I was just reading an article about Avenged Sevenfold, and this mostly comes from the comments I was reading at the bottom. There was this guy, "Retrograde" who commented how back during the Waking the Fallen days, A7X had that "stereotypical post-hardcore look" and now they've gone to a "faux 80s wank rock look." This guy obviously has no idea what he's talking about when it comes to metal itself. Since the 80s, there has not been much of it, we can see from the decline of bands like Iron Maiden, Guns N Roses (ya, I know Axl hates everyone), and Pantera (ya, I know...Dimebag). Us metalheads haven't had much to survive on besides crappy death metal (ya, I hate death metal), and bands like A7X. These people aren't stuck in a dimension where time ceases to exist. They are going to progress from "post-hardcore" to "faux 80s." And isn't this very reminiscent of the 80s? Isn't this what metalheads want most in this rap-infested world we live in? A lot of us would give just about anything for metal to be on top again. And I think bands like Avenged Sevenfold are helping out our cause. Another guy, "Tag" responded to "Retrograde's" comment with "well, it pretty much is the next incarnation of metal. Well, the start of the next metal incarnation at least..." That's the point I'm trying to make. If bands like A7X continue to grow, they'll blow crap like Fall Out Boy and 50 cent and whatever else people listen to these days out of the water.

On a different note, I wanted to comment on the "faux 80s" thing. Have you ever stopped to realize that unlike some people (Retrograde), all the guys in A7X grew up in the 80s? Its kinda hard to be influenced so much by bands that dressed like that, then turn around and be preppy or something. As much as I'd hate to use gangstas as an example, look at them. How do people like Lil Wayne and Usher and Chris Brown dress? Now, walk outside, somewhere like central Florida. And tell me how you see people dressing. Ya, thought so. Its just natural.

Hope I didn't waste too much of your time with my rants which may or may not have made sense. I'm not going to bother to read through it to check that.

Gangsternisms

You might hear me say this word sometimes. So I'm putting my definition here. I'm also pretty bored.

Gang·ster·nis·ms (gāng-stĕr-nĭs-ŭmz) - v. An action taken by a gangster or gangsters. (The gangsters are always so caught up in their gangsternisms.)adj. used to describe actions made by a gangster or gangsters (Look at all the gangstas, going about with their gangsternisms.)

As you can tell, there isn't much of a difference whether you use the word as a verb or an adjective - so it doesn't really matter how you use it, so long as you're talking about gangstas.

New Release Dates

Alright...all of a sudden we just got a bunch of release dates for some of the big games this year. so I figured I'd go over all the ones we now know.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (Wii, 360, PS3, DS, PSP, PS2) - September 16

Mercenaries 2: World In Flames (360, PS3, PC, PS2) - August 31

Alone in the Dark (360, Wii, PS2, PS3, PC) - June 24

Ninja Gaiden 2 (360) - June 3

Dead Space (360, PS3, PC) - Halloween (presumably Oct. 31)

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3) - June 12

Grand Theft Auto 4 (360, PS3) - April 29

Alan Wake (360, PC) - Sepember 26 (Europe - I imagine U.S. won't be too far off though...)

Killzone 2 (PS3) - September 26 (Europe - see above)

Scream Aim Fire Review

Like my Bioshock review, I am aware that this is a little late. But, what can I say? I'm lazy. Anyway, here we go...

This album is hard to describe. It's distinctly Bullet for my Valentine, yet its hard to compare it to "The Poison" because the styles are different, yet remain unchanged. You got all that? What I guess I'm trying to say is that this album is distinctly Bullet for my Valentine, while retaining its own sound and style that's different from "The Poison."

Ya, I will say there is less screaming on this album. But it retains its heaviness. When there is screaming, its heavy and loud - just the way we like it. Also, BFMV followed through on their promise that this album would have the same ridiculously catchy choruses as the last album. The weird thing about this album is how it sounds different. Like I said, it sounds different, yet still remains the same. You'll have to listen to it yourself to understand what I'm saying. I can't figure out what's different about it. Whatever it is, its still awesome. Something you'll notice are the guitar solos. The most substantial thing about them is that Matt & Padge must have learned to sweep pick or something. This is something that I don't recall hearing on "The Poison," but you'll find in tracks like "Scream Aim Fire," "Eye of the Storm," and (my personal favorite) "Deliver Us From Evil."

The lyrical content of this album is mostly different from "The Poison." On there, you'll hear those eerie songs about love and loss and memories, but here, its more spread out. There's still songs like "Say Goodnight" and "Forever and Always," but now there's songs like "Waking the Demon" that recall how the members in Bullet were picked on a lot in school and how one day they're snap and are not going to take it anymore. Just like in "The Poison," the lyrics are written so "fans can make connections with our songs," according to Matt, and that's something any Bullet fan will agree with.

This is a solid effort put forth by Bullet in their sophomore album "Scream Aim Fire." It boasts some impressive tracks, but doesn't hold as many memorable songs as "The Poison." But Bullet's going in a good direction - they're not going to turn around to be the next Fall Out boy (thank God) - And they definitely aren't going to leave their metal roots behind.

8.5/10

Tracklist:

1. Scream Aim Fire*

2. Eye of the Storm

3. Hearts Burst Into Fire*

4. Waking the Demon*

5. Disappear

6. Deliver Us From Evil*

7. Take It Out On Me

8. Say Goodnight*

9. End of Days

10. Last to Know

11. Forever and Always*

*Bonus Tracks*

12. Creeping Death (Metallica Cover)

13. Ashes of the Innocent*

14. No Easy Way Out (Japanese bonus track - Cover of the "Rocky IV" theme)

*denotes essential downloads

Bioshock Review

Ya, I know Bioshock came out approximately 7 months ago, but I didn't have my 360 until mid-January, and I didn't have Bioshock itself until a couple of weeks later. But now, a month after that, I have my review for this awesome game.

First off, let me say that this is one of the most well-written games I can ever remember playing. Everything clicks, everything makes sense, and everything is explained throughout the game. And there's even a twist worthy of "Saw" a bit more than halfway through. This really adds a lot of fun to the game, and you're not walking around killing Splicers for no reason.

The gameplay itself is great. You have your standard weapons that include a pistol, shotgun, and machine gun, along with some other cool weapons like the grenade launcher, crossbow, and chemical thrower. Each of these guns have 3 types of ammo that can be used at any time adding a lot of variety to your weapons. Everything is aimed through little reticles on the screen, and some weapons like the crossbow, pistol, and machine gun have a down-sight aiming option, but since combat is to fast-paced you'll rarely be using this. Along with your weapons are also plasmids, which are genetic modification enabling you to use special powers such as shooting lighting out of your hand, lighting people on fire, and freezing people. Those are just 3 plasmids, there are a lot more such as Cyclone Trap (places a whirlwind on the ground that launches enemies into the air), Insect Swarm (shoots a swarm of bees at enemies that can attack large groups), and Telenkinesis. The plasmids mixed with the standard weapons make for limitless possibilities when it comes to killing your enemies. The most fun way to do that is to be creative, never kill 2 enemies the same way. A question you'll often ask yourself (especially against Big Daddies) is "How will I go about doing this?" Will you launch an enemy into the air and have them land in an oil slick which you proceed to set on fire? Or maybe you'll cover a gas tank with mines and use Telekinesis to throw it at your enemy. You'll make so many spectacular kills, there's just so way to explain it.

Onto the enemies. They are as follows:

Splicers:
-Thuggish Splicer
-Leadhead Splicer
-Nitro Splicer
-Spider Splicer
-Houdini Splicer
Big Daddies:
-Bouncer
-Rosie
Security:
-Security Bots
-Security Cameras
-Turrets

--Machine Gun
--RPG
--Flamethrower

Along with these enemies, you'll fight bosses that will be modeled after certain types of Splicers (which I'll get to in a moment), such as Dr. Steinman (Leadhead Splicer), Peach Wilkins (Nitro Splicer), and Sander Cohen (Houdini Splicer). The main boss though, is the Big Daddy. These huge guys are the protectors of the Little Sisters, who harvest the all important ADAM from dead bodies. You are going to have to harvest or save the Little Sisters, and this isn't possible until the Big Daddy is killed. There are 2 types of Big Daddies. The Bouncer is the one you've probably seen before. He has the caged helmet and the drill on his arm. Though he's easier to kill than a Rosie, he's cooler...You just can't beat the awesomeness of that drill. The Rosies carry around Rivet Guns and will throw mines at you. These are generally harder to kill because it involves direct combat - its very hard to lure it into traps since it can attack from long range.

The Splicers are your main enemy though. These are people who have used plasmids and other tonics to genetically altar themselves to the point where they've been driven insane. First, the thuggish splicer. They attack with blunt weapons. The leadhead splicer will attack with either a pistol or a machine gun, but you use a melee attack when at close range. Nitro Splicers will either throw grenades or molotov cocktails at you. Spider Splicers can walk on the ceiling, have incredible agility, and will attack by either throwing these hook things at you, or running up close and whacking you. Last, the houdini splicer has the ability to teleport in the middle of combat. They attack by shooting fire (or in one or two cases, ice) out of their hands.

Security is the last of your enemies. Making up the security in Rapture are cameras, bots, and turrets. The main thing about all of these is that they can be hacked, which will make them friendly. Once you get to the point where you can easily hack anything, you won't have to worry about security anymore.

The graphics in Bioshock are absolutely incredible. The ting you'll be most amazed by though, are the water effects. They way the water shimmers and reflects and everything else water does is just great. Everytime you see the water (which will be a lot, Rapture is prone to leaks and stuff), you'll be like "Whoa!" The people and everything also look great. The best part about this is that you won't see any stupid glitches like splicers running through Big Daddies or people standing in the floor (much like I've seen far too much of). The physics engine and AI also contribute a lot to the game. The enemies are smart, and often you'll be using the environment around you to attack them (since we all know plasmids are much more fun than guns), and this turns out to be easy since the physics are so realistic. Fire Spreads. Water conducts electricity. This is the kind of stuff that makes Bioshock such a great game and fun to play.

Last thing I'll talk about is the sound. The sound design in Bioshock is ingenious. From footsteps to weapon sounds, to music, to voices, everything just works out perfectly. In a dark room glowing from the only light coming in through the deep-sea windows that has 50s music playing, you'll be given a sense of eerieness that makes you feel isolated, yet you know you're not alone. This is what is creepiest about Bioshock. You'll also notice the way the splicers talk. Some are religious, others are just plain crazy - you can tell from the way they talk. You'll probably get a bit freaked out when you can hear a splicer mourning for a lost child or shouting threats into the air from around corners. On the subject of voice overs, the Little Sisters will probably give you the creeps once or twice. You can hear them referring to corpses as "angels" just before they plunge their huge needle into the body and start drinking the blood they extract. Other sounds that were extremely well-done were those of the Big Daddies. Hearing the low clunking footsteps of the Big Daddies and their whale-like moans in an otherwise empty location is very creepy and very cool.

So, everything said, Bioshock is an incredible game. You'll definitely play this through a couple times due to the immense amount of exploration and experimentation that is possible in it, or maybe it's because you want to see both the "good" ending and the "bad" ending. Either way, you'll be having fun with Bioshock for quite a while.

10/10

Random Stuff...

Its been a while since I posted anything here. But I feel I'm overdue for a couple things:
1. A Bioshock Review.
2. A Review of Bullet for my Valentine's "Scream Aim Fire"
3. Taste of Chaos stuff.

You can expect most of this tomorrow (or later today - since its 1:30 AM right now), since i'll probably be kinda bored.