Julian Cannon – Alternative Mindz

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain News- New Details about the game

June 5, 2015Julian Cannon Leave a Comment

It’s been some time since we have heard something new about Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, the latest entry of the Metal Gear Solid series launching later this year on consoles and PC in all regions. Thankfully some new details have emerged online today, details that will surely make fans of the series even more excited for the upcoming release.

The new Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain gameplay details have emerged thanks to a new preview published on the Official PlayStation Magazine UK. NeoGAF user Itchy//Tasty has provided a summary of the new details revealed in the preview, which cover the size of the map, the beginning of the main campaign, enemies, fulton upgrades and much more. There are some mild spoilers included included in the summary so beware.

– They say the opening hour is astonishing and one of the greatest they’ve ever seen. The original Phantom Pain/Moby Dick Studios trailer didn’t touch on it’s full brilliance. They say it’s completely different in tone to the rest of the game and almost horror-esque.

– Early on you can interrogate guards but you don’t understand Russian/African; it’s useless until you do a side-op to Fulton a translator. This unlocks the ability to understand foreign dialogue from enemies.

– Can get easily around the map using fast-travel with cardboard boxes. Orange signposts are delivery points and you can collected and dropped off elsewhere like in MGS1 and 3, but far more useful because it’s open-world.

– ‘Loadout’ screen like in Peace Walker, you can select the time of mission start, weapons, gear, tools, mechanical arm (electrocution is just one type), explosives, buddies, boxes, starting vehicles and player character. Says you can play as your generic troops, like in PW. You can have a car or lorry with you from the start, if you want.

– Lists the Buddies as Quiet, Horse, Dog, and mech-walker. Says the mech walker can go turbo, you can put it on cruise-control, and upgrade its skill-tree to give it more stuff like CQC and a stun-gun. You only unlock the mech when you finish a ‘specific’ mission whilst using the mech (danced around spoilers here).

– the dog attacks enemies and finds things in the environment that shows up on the iDroid. The horse is invincible. You can put a prisoner on the horse like in Red Dead.

– Says Quiet’s presence actually lowers morale on Mother Base, probably due to being a former antagonist.

– Setting off the alarm in a large base causes reinforcements to drive in from smaller, adjacent bases nearby. You can choose to shut down the smaller bases first to stop potential reinforcements, or sever smaller communications dishes in the main base to cut them off. You can also call the chopper to act as a distraction in an adjacent base, which removes reinforcements from the the base you want to get into, thinning out the ranks.

– The larger satellite dishes on the bases control automated AA defences. Blow them up and you can call for chopper extraction at closer points.

– Cardboard box tobogganing, says you can run and press square and you go into a funny slide, which retains momentum if you’re on a hill.

– They had a whole section on his notepad ready for notes on how it performed/technical complaints, and the only thing he wrote at the end of his whole session was that some foliage occasionally pops-in in Africa, i.e it was mostly perfect.

– Counted 14 or so major bases in Afghanistan, and over two dozen smaller outposts.

– Minor spoiler, they said once you rescue Miller the base you take him from floods with gas.

– Minor enemy spoilers about the pale, weird looking soldiers from the trailers: They’re called the Skulls, they can run faster than your horse, have glowing green eyes, and are described as ‘unkillable’ but the word is in inverted commas so there’s probably a way. They’re compared to MGS4’s Haven Troopers in that they fit the enhanced soldier archetype. They hunt you down after you rescue Miller.

– This has been said before, but the missions are presented a little like TV eps, with opening and closing credits. They remark how it wouldn’t matter if Kojima’s name was scrubbed from the box art and marketing because it’s EVERYWHERE in the game.

– Every mission has smaller side-objectives that bring extra rewards if you check them all off. Reminds me of Assassin’s Creed bonus objectives (or GTAV if you like). Says it only tells you the bonus objectives once you’ve finished the mission once, encouraging replayability without distracting you with it on the first pass.

– There’s a great screen of DD riding in a jeep with Snake.

– You have to upgrade the Fulton to extract heavier stuff. When extracted, it’s gone from the map for good, so you can’t farm for infinite stuff.

– Says that like PW, there’s a lot of cassette tapes to flesh out the story if you want to.

– Game structure is open-ended. Numerous missions are open at any time and you don’t have to go back to Mother Base in between. Some ‘Important’ side-ops open up new story missions. The game rewards you constantly with new blueprints and tapes.

– Some side-ops have you rescuing ‘crazed’ survivors from your MSF base-destruction 9 years ago.

– One side-op you have to tranq and extract a ‘legendary brown bear’.

– New Mother Base is in the Seychelles. Compares MP to Dark Souls invasions, which can simply turn off in the menu.

– Goes over the base management, tl;dr sounds like a richer version of PW. Outer Ops seems to be back to send your Combat soldiers to.

– Wash blood off of Snake at the Mother Base showers, do target practice or fight with new recruits. Says MB starts off disappointingly small, but soon grows and adds new layers and levels. Morale of your men will drop if you don’t visit it often enough.

– The item to view enemy soldier stats in the field before Fultoning is back from PW.

– Mission completion times are recorded to the thousandth of a second.

– There was a lot more they saw, but not allowed to talk about yet.

Judging from these details, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is going to be truly massive. The huge amount of new gameplay mechanics will end up making The Phantom Pain the ultimate Metal Gear Solid experience.

The release date of this game will be on September 1, 2015 for the XBOX ONE, PS4, PS3, Xbox 360 and PC
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Who books this crap?: The WWE Divas thoughts

May 27, 2015Julian Cannon Leave a Comment

Remember at Summerslam when Nikki turned on her sister Brie, and they were constantly trashing one another? Do you remember that they had a match and Brie had to be Nikki’s servant, and now they love each other again despite their hatred for each other just weeks before? Do you remember when the Bellas were heels after Wrestlemania and Naomi “injured” Paige on Raw, and then the next week the Bellas were faces? What is going on!? There was no explanation or reason or anything that really justifies a face turn. The only thing I can think of as being a face turn was when Brie talked about Daniel Bryan in an interview, and talked about how much he loves his fans before Naomi shoved her down. Was that it? C’mon that’s lame.

First, it’s lame that they would have to have Brie talk about Daniel Bryan just to get people to like her again. Second, why should we like Nikki? We haven’t been given a reason to. It’s difficult to follow stories that don’t have any characters you care about in them. There’s no good or bad. Sometimes that’s not a bad thing, but not every story can have that. Now lets fantasy book a match in an house show and have Emma teaming up Summer Rae and Cameron to take on Charlotte, Alicia Fox and Natalya in a tag team match. Emma has been working as a heel in NXT lately. Alicia switches each week it seems like. Summer and Cameron are usually heels. Charlotte is new and hanging around Natty so she gets face pops. The only one in the match that you know where their character is, was Natalya.

The match would be cheesy and sloppy too. Cameron screaming like a child after someone did something to her mirror would make the fan not want to watch. It was slow and nobody would care and the fan would be glad that They missed it. The Divas Division has come a long way in the past couple years. There are more talented performers now. I think Charlotte will do well, and I also think Sasha Banks will be interesting if and when she makes the main roster.

The characters lack stability because they are constantly turning face or heel. Alicia Fox is sometimes entertaining and ok in the ring, but she’s switched between face and heel almost as many times as Big Show. Imagine Rusev doing his normal act. Now, imagine the next week he comes out waving an American flag. Then the next week he comes out waving a Russian flag again. That is basically what is going on with most of the Divas at the moment.

Lita and Trish never did that. One was good, the other was bad. The roles would reverse through time but you knew who to root for. That was the best female rivalry in the history of the business too, if not one of the best rivalries period. People can say that the days of “good guys” and “bad guys” are over. That’s not true. Stone Cold, DX, CM Punk, and maybe eventually Seth Rollins are the only exceptions to that. Their characters did awful things at times, but they were so awesome that it didn’t matter. They were anti-heroes. There are no anti-heroes in the Divas Division. Paige would be the only possibility. Fans are going to cheer her no matter what because she’s just rad. None of the other Divas can pull that off. There has to be good versus bad.

Maybe they’re just playing up the reality factor. That’s dumb because in real life there are people that we generally like and dislike. Everyone generally likes Morgan Freeman and everyone over the age of 12 generally dislikes Justin Bieber. That’s real. The company likes to use the term sports entertainment. Well in a show that is supposed to entertain, you have to tell the audience who are the protagonists and who are the antagonists. Sometimes the audience doesn’t like the protagonists. (Examples: Batista after the Rumble in ’14, Reigns at this year’s Rumble, the New Day) If the audience doesn’t like it, then tweak the story, but give a reason for the change at least.

I know they turned the Bellas because they also turned Naomi but there was no explanation. Give us a reason to root for the Bellas. It’s unfortunate because there are talented people there. The stories are just kind of blah and I blame that mostly on the number of heel and face turns in the Divas Division.
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In my eyes. The “hate” for John Cena is over

May 6, 2015Julian Cannon Leave a Comment

I won’t be sporting the latest in ‘Fruity Pebbles’ merchandise from John Cena but I can honestly say that after tonight, he’s earned my admiration. I’m sure he’s relieved. Even though what he did for Sami Zayn was pretty awesome, that’s not why I’m turning in my ‘Cena Hater’ card.

Cena has been eating crap from the WWE Universe for the better part of about five to six years now and tonight was no different. I’m actually glad somebody came up with a new chant to ridicule him because “let’s go Cena, Cena sucks” was played out two years ago. I watched as he took it all in stride, just as he does every other night, but what struck me tonight and engineered this sudden change of heart is the fact that no matter what, John Cena never flinches. I enjoyed him subtly manipulate the Montreal crowd to the point where the cheers drowned out the jeers. Sure, he was pandering like conservative at an NRA rally, but what else is he to do? Break character and “turn heel” (by the way, if you think that, you’re lost beyond all reason and there is no help for you). No, because you don’t become the top guy and stay the top guy for more than a decade by basing your reactions upon the whims of wrestling fans who are more fickle than a bipolar convention. Besides, in my opinion, him telling the fans what he thinks of them in response to their constant ragging would be the easy way out. The irony would be that those same haters would still give Cena the treatment because their little brains probably wouldn’t be able to process NOT hating him for whatever reason.
As far as being the top guy goes, sure you can hate him for the way that the WWE stuffed him repeatedly down our collective gullets, but take a step back for a second and ask yourself is that really his fault? Sure, he was positioned as the face of the company and has always played a major role in WWE programming, but isn’t that the kind of dependability you want from your top guy? Save for his injuries, he doesn’t take days off, he still works house shows, and despite his reputed “five moves of death” (plus the new springboard cutter), you can tell that he never phones in his performances. Other wrestlers such as The Rock, Kevin Nash, Warrior, Bret Hart has their “five moves of death” as well. But again, most importantly, he’s still here. He’s outlasted the C.M. Punks and Kurt Angles of the world, and will certainly outlast Daniel Bryan (I hate disclaimers, but I will say if you think I’m throwing shade at either of those guys, you should have a seat next to the “turn Cena heel” guys).
Who would have believed that the fresh faced Cena, during a backstage segment with The Undertaker after his first match against Angle would still be going strong all these years later? He’s been successful during every transitional phase the WWE has been through throughout his tenure with the company. From Ruthless Aggression to the WWE Universe era, he hasn’t missed a beat. Dear internet promoters and bookers, I ask, would you crown an undependable, oft-injured, locker room cancer YOUR world champion fifteen times? I’ll wait…
The one thing i will also say is that for the most part within the last few years, anything that touches Cena’s direction is an death sentance to a long road down the ladder. Look at Bray Wyatt last year, Nexus in 2010, Ryback in 2013, and Rusev now.

Continue to hate John Cena and boo him until your little hearts are content and your voice starts to crack, but don’t ever question his passion, love for the business or his loyalty to the WWE. To do that would only signify that the hatred has consumed and blinded you and you’re incapable of being objective. Will I ever cheer John Cena at a live event? Nope. Buy an armband? Nurp? Chide his haters and tell them they’re wrong? Not a chance. But I won’t continue to be so blind as to just hate him on principle for everything he does. That’s a step in the right direction. I’m sure John Cena will sleep better at night knowing that yours truly is no longer one of his biggest haters.

Top 10 Most Difficult Video Game Puzzles

May 5, 2015Julian Cannon Leave a Comment

Most video games has puzzles that can and will have us stuck for days or months trying to figure it out. Today, I will count down the top 10 most difficult video game puzzles. For this list, only puzzles within the game are allowed and not an entire level/stage of an game (for example, the water temple in The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time).

10. Hatching the Owl (Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake)

Late in the game, you find yourself blocked by a laser fence. You can’t pull off sweet acrobatic moves to get through it because there’s a guard waiting on the other side, and also this is a game from 1990. So you consider your options.

There’s got to be another, less obvious way inside. A hole in the wall you can sneak through, or a key card you can steal. Skulking around is Snake’s bread and butter, so that would make sense. But no, you search and search and come up empty.The only hint you can find is a kid who tells you that the gate shuts off at night. A prison that turns off its security features when it gets dark makes the designer of the Death Star look like a genius, but whatever, that’s just video game logic. Maybe they’re trying to save on their electric bills or something.

So you need to wait for night, but at no point in the game have you seen the time of day change. Maybe you have to find a location where you can sleep in safety? You’ve got no better ideas, so you start wandering aimlessly. Eventually, well away from the gate, you stumble across a lab that’s housing a giant, inexplicably well-guarded egg. Uh, OK. You’re not sure what that’s about, but you grab it, because the first life lesson gamers learn as children is to steal everything they see. Unfortunately it’s still daytime, so you keep wandering until the egg hatches into a full-grown owl that doesn’t object to being stuffed in your trousers.

Oh, well now it’s obvious. You take the owl out of your pants at the laser gate, because its gentle hoots will convince the guard that it’s nighttime. Wait, what? Shockingly, these sorts of puzzles didn’t make it into later Metal Gear games, because few gamers would think to resort to Doctor Dolittle antics in the middle of a war zone. Especially in the year 1999 (the year this game takes place in).

9. Temporal Rift Clocks (Final Fantasy XII-2)

This one is self explanatory. there are a number of these puzzles in the game and they are all randomized. this video should explain it because i cannot.

8. Rubber Duck (The Longest Journey)

In The Longest Journey, the player comes across a key that is lodged into a subway track. In order to retrieve this key, you need to go through what feels like the longest series of events. First, you need to go back to your apartment to get a clamp. This clamp can only be taken off a water pressure system if you use a gold ring to conduct electricity and get the system powered up, thus loosening the clamp. After that, you need to look outside your apartment’s window and throw food crumbs at a rubber duck down below. This will make a seagull come down to feast on the crumbs, ultimately damaging the toy. Then, grab a clothesline, head out of the apartment, locate the duck, tie the line to the clamp, put it through the opening of the toy, and re-inflate the duck the make the clamp stay open. Lastly, as you position this contraption over the key, the duck will need to deflate in order for the clamp to shut on the key. Not so simple, is it?

7. Pharmacy Keys (The Walking Dead- Episode 1)

The Walking Dead requires you to explore and click on any environment you see and try to interact with it. You need to explore your surroundings each time to figure out clues to progress throughout the game. Perhaps the “hardest” puzzle in Episode 1 is to locate the keys to the locked door to the pharmacy to retrieve the pills for Frank. I would rather explain how to do this incase if you are playing this game right now.

To find the pharmacy keys:

*Talk to Doug who is guarding the front door. Take his offer to go outside and look around.
You need to scan around to find your dead brother (pharmacist). He has turned into a zombie but is trapped behind debris and can’t move. He has the keys in his possession.

*You now need to distract the zombies. Give the remote control to Doug who will figure out how to program it to turn on all the televisions at the electronic store across the street. The glow and noise from the TVs will distract some of the zombies but not all.

*Break the combination lock with the ax (Note you must complete the mission to save Glen at the motel first to get the ax you use to break the lock to the gate.)

*Grab the brick and throw it at the window of the electronic store to break the glass so that the sound from the TVs will be louder. This will bring all the zombies towards it giving you a chance to go to your brother to collect the pharmacy keys.

Yes. Pretty tough.

6. Sealed Chamber’s Braille Puzzles (Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire)

Pokemon Masters who manage to find the obscure Sealed Chamber are greeted by wall after wall of messages written in Braille. The first room “helpfully” provides a cipher, except without making it clear what sections represent what letters.

To further confuse matters, the Braille marks for commas and periods are placed on the side without context, throwing off anyone who manages to realize what the room is all about in the first place.

Moving to the next room gives you messages to translate letter by letter with the Braille alphabet you were forced to write down, which you may recognize as defeating the entire purpose of a language designed to be quickly processed through touch. Not since perfume commercials have people so misunderstood how the senses work.

The messages provide some backstory and also give you instructions to include two somewhat rare Pokemon in specific slots of your team. Assuming you understood the message, you track them down and then haul ass back to the cave. Well, that was tedious, but now you get to battle some legendary Pokemon, right?

No. Now you have to scour the world to find three random doors that have suddenly appeared on rocks that you previously ignored because they looked like unimportant pieces of set dressing. Stumble across these totally arbitrary locations and you’ll discover more Braille, which give you instructions like “Stop and wait. Wait for time to pass twice.” So naturally you put the game down and don’t touch it at all for two minutes. Not because you understood the puzzle — you’re just sick of this bullshit.

Complete these silly little tasks and you can finally catch the game’s legendary Pokemon. After jumping through all these hoops, they must be pretty rad, right?

5. Shakespeare’s Stanzas (Silent Hills 3)

In order to solve this upcoming puzzle (which only appears to the hardest difficulty mode, respectively), you’re either going to need to know a lot about Shakespeare or have internet access. In Silent Hill 3, you come across a poem in a bookstore that looks like ordinary at first. If you’re a regular player of the psychological horror genre, you’d know that’s not the case. In this poem, each stanza is a representation of one of his plays. When you figure out exactly what you need this as a reference for, you’ll realize all you need is a four digit code whereas the stanzas are totaled to 5. You need analyze the fifth stanza to decipher the math needed to break into the other four stanzas and make the code. This just got really silly, didn’t it?

4. The Babel Fish (The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy)

This puzzle can get really absurd when you know what it takes to actual beat it. The player comes across a vending machine that only has five fish in it, and to make the game beatable, you need one of these fish. Be careful, though – one wrong move and you’ll have to start over again. When the player attempts to get the first fish, it shoots out of the machine and into a hole. To stop the next fish from doing the same, the player can place their dressing gown in front of the hole.

This continues on with fish being shot out and being misplaced or swept away by inconveniences like cleaning robots and more unreachable areas. In order to actually get the fish in the end, you need to put some junk mail onto a satchel that you placed in front of a floor robot. This causes the junk mail to fly into the air for a flying robot to take care of instead of snatching away the fish, leaving you with the option to safely retrieve it.
3. Water Sample Puzzle ( Resident Evil 3)

After placing the Water Sample into the machine, you are shown the panel. It displays five view-screens:

Screen 1 – The desired combination of blocks.
Screen 2 – The ‘A’ blocks, red.
Screen 3 – The ‘B’ blocks, yellow.
Screen 4 – The ‘C’ blocks, blue.
Screen 5 – The recreation of Screen 1,

In order to recreate the combination showed in the top screen, the ‘A’; ‘B’ and ‘C’ blocks must be shifted – each of the three can be moved to the left or right to change the order. It should be noted that if ‘B’ has a block where ‘C’ does not, the ‘B’ block will fall to the bottom when displayed in the recreation; it will not simply float. I have spent hours trying to solve this one and it was rewarding when it happened. Also, there is 4 ways to solve it a d each time you fail, you have to attempt it another way.

2. The goat puzzle (Broken Sword)

Imagine this: you’ve been your point-and-click adventure game for a while with the same level of pace and play throughout the whole thing. Analyzing and planning is the key component to getting past all the prior puzzles, so you think it’s just all brain power until the end. Wrong. A few hours into the game, you come across a goat that will kick your player away from entering the next area. By processing of elimination, you’d think that it’s a simple click away from getting past the damn thing. Unknowingly to a lot of players at the time, this puzzle required fast reflexes where you had to immediately click the farm machinery right after the goat attacks you. The difficulty was more into the switch of gears rather than brainpower.
1. Name that Gnome (King’s Quest)

If one of the most asked questions for your company’s hotline is, “what’s the answer to this puzzle?” then you know you have a difficult puzzle that needs solving. We’re talking about the one found in King’s Quest where Sir Graham is challenged by a gnome to guess his name. If you’ve paid attention while playing, you’d notice a lot of elements from Grimm’s Fairy Tales. A lot of people guessed that “Rumplestiltskin” would be the match, but it was wrong. The way you need to figure this out is to find an irrelevant-looking note located in the witch’s house that reads “sometimes it’s wise to think backwards”. Instead of using common sense and thinking it’s “Rumplestiltskin” spelled backwards, you need to take it an extra step. Reversing the alphabet itself and matching the letters of the above name to the reverse order of letters (A is Z, B is Y, C is X, etc.) is the way to do it. In the end, your answer is “Ifnkovhgroghprm”. Really?

Game Of Thrones Product Showcase Event photos

April 29, 2015Julian Cannon Leave a Comment

Last week i was invited to an event to cover an Product Showcase from The Game Of Thrones. i took as much pictures as incan as isedn pretty cool products such as cosplay items, figures, props from the show and more merchandise.

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Top 10 The Walking Dead Episodes

April 23, 2015Julian Cannon Leave a Comment

Season 5 of The Walking Dead has ended a few weeks ago and Season 6 is coming our way in October. Today, i will count down my favorite best episodes from The Walking Dead from Seasons 1-5.

10. What happened and what’s going on? (S5:E9)

Of all the episodes i have seen, this one caught me and the viewers off guard towards the ending. At the beginning of the episode, we are shown a grave being made for what we thought was for Beth along with flashbacks. During the episode, Tyreese, Noah, Rick, Glen and Michone went to the area where Noah used to live but to see that it has got overrun by Walkers. this also includes his family. Once Tyreese was alone with Noah, he was bitten and for most of the episode, we get to see hallucinations from his vision along with characters that were killed off. At the end of the episode, we get to find out that the grave from the beginning of the episode was actually for him since he is now dead. Talk about “the mind playing tricks on you”. This episode is a must see since the production and editing was so great that you would have not thought that he would die in the episode. Also to note, if you see any Walkers with an “W” carved into their heads along with the small wall with “Wolves not far” tagged onto it, save those for clues for the remainder of that season.

9. A (S4:E16)

The season 4 finale was a roller coaster for Rick, Michone, Carl and Daryl. First, the 3 of them encounter the claimers at the night as they were about to kill Rick and Rape Carl and Michone in retaliation for Rick killing one of them a few episodes prior. Daryl tries to reason with the claimers but then he gets assaulted. Rick, Michone and Daryl managed to get the upper hand along with Rick stabbing the last one of the claimers nearly 15 times for putting his hands on his son. later in the episode, they arrived at TERMINUS but to quickly find out that something is up when they noticed that their friend’s belongings are there. Gareth trapped Rick’s group after a gun battle and ordered them to go to an train cart labeled “A”. The good news is that Rick and his group reunited with the rest of the group but the bad news is that they are all captured and are being held in that one train cart.

8. Conquer (S5:E16)

The near 2 hour season 5 finale of The Walking Dead left with a bang and an cliffhanger. In the aftermath of the fight Pete and Rick had along with Rick being knocked out to his senses by Michone, Deanna and the rest of the residents of the Alexandria Safe Zone holds an meeting to decide whether if Rick gets kicked out from the Zone or he stays. Meanwhile, we get the first Appearance of the first members of The Wolves, Morgan saving Daryl and Aaron from a trap full of walkers, Nicholas attempting to kill Glen, and the last few minutes of the episode where Rick explains to Deanna and the residents that they need to be ready to survive. during this, Pete arrives with Michone’s sword and accidentally slashes Deanna’s husband. Deanna then told Rick to kill him and without hesitation and giving zero f***’s at all and in less than two seconds, he shoots his gun at Pete with one of the coldest looks i’ve ever seen Rick had. Morgan also meets Rick for the first time since season 3 in the final seconds of this episode as he saw Rick kill Pete.

7. Clear (S3:E12)

In this episode, Michonne, Rick, and Carl are on a supply run. During this, they stop at an small town that has traps for Walkers from one side to the end of the other side of the block. The group manages to get away from the traps until Rick and Morgan reunited for the first time since season 1. Morgan has changed as they both caught up on how have they been since they last seen each other but not in the matter of a normal reunion. Morgan revealed that his son has been eaten by Walkers. Also, Carl and Michonne spends time together as Carl wanted to go back to his old school to get a framed photo of his family. During this, we get major character development between them two especially for Michonne since her backstory was kind of a mystery for a while.

6. Pretty much dead already (S2:E7)

the first half of season two, the entire group is looking for Carol’s daughter, Sophia. After Rick told her to stay in an small area to kill off Walkers, she is no where to be seen when Rick returned. There were a few clues to where she was last at throughout the next few episodes until this episode. While the group takes out the Walkers inside of Hershel’s barn, there was one left and the final one was an zombified Sophia. everyone including myself was in stunned silence as we were all caught off guard for that reveal. Shane shoots her to put her down. Talk about a way to end an episode..

5. Days gone bye( S1:E1)

The first episode that started it all and showed us what we are getting too when we get that first shot of Rick putting down an Walker. Rick was shot during an arrest attempt and Shane took him to the hospital. He woke up a few months later after falling into an coma to find out that the hospital is empty and nearly destroyed. He also sees the Walkers for the first time and then escapes the hospital to see that the world he has known, has changed and roaming with Walkers. Rick eventually meets Morgan and his son for the first time as he gives him a brief up to date follow up on what is happening. Elsewhere, we get scenes of Shane, Lori (Rick’s wife), Carl, Dale and others as they try to survive as Rick goes out to look for his Wife and Daughter. What an way to start the series.

4. Them (S5:E10)

After the deaths of Tyreese and Beth, the group heads to Washington, DC. The group is very tired and are showing signs that they are fed up. especially the part where they have to get out of their cars and has no choice but to walk during an heatwave while Walkers are behind them but the group does not care to take them down. The group also finds an shed later in the day and has relief from the heat when it rains. Rick then gave his infamous “We are the walking dead” speech and then, a heard of Walkers comes to the shed and tries to break in. The entire group with all of their strength, prevents the Walkers from coming in. they did not come in due to a tree falling on them during the thunderstorm. This episode was a very powerful one and it told the story that they wont give up no matter what obstacle is in the way and to have hope that there is an place for the survivors.

3. Too far gone (S4:E8)

For the entire 3rd season and half of the 4th, the group makes an abandoned prison their home. it was attacked by The Governor and his group two times but the third attack was the one that got them out for good. The governor and Rick has an discussion and also, Michonne and Hershel were being held hostage. The Governor wanted to take the prison or else he will force their way in. Rick refused the deal and then The Governor threatened Hershel with Michonne’s sword. Rick tried to plead with The Governor and would want to try to work everything out. That was, until the words “liar” came out of The Governor’s mouth. He then slashed and decapitated Hershel as the gun battle begins along with the tank. Rick and Governor then goes into a deadly fistfight until Michonne pierced her sword into The Governor. He is my favorite TWD villain but his death was needed after he killed Hershel. The group escapes separately into smaller groups as Walkers begin to overrun the place.

2. No sanctuary (S5:E1) (WARNING:for mature readers only)

The season 5 premier i believe was the best and darkest opening in The Walking Dead. Rick, Glen, Bob, and Daryl are in deep trouble as they are tied from their hands and feet as they are taken to an slaughter house within TERMINUS. This is when the viewer realizes that the people within this place are cannibals. they are kneeled down along with 4 others as they and the viewer witness the butcher hits the other people in the back of their heads to knock them out with bats as the other butcher cuts their throats out with a large knife as the blood spills into the stainless steel tub. Gareth does a bullet count and asks the butchers to give him the results until a rumble happens. Glen was about to be next to die until the rumble continues. As Gareth checks to see what is going on, Rick kills the two butchers with an wooden shiv he made while they were inside the train cart and freed the group. When they escaped the slaughterhouse, they rescue the rest of the group as Carol use an grenade launcher with an firecracker in the barrel to cause an explosion on an oil tank. Walkers begin to overrun the area, Rick and the rest fight their way to escape TERMINUS. at the end of the episode, Rick and Carol reunite along with Tyreese holding Judith (Rick’s daughter who separated with him in the last season while The Governor attacked the prison) as Rick runs to see and hold her. In the final few minutes of the episode, The group follows the railroad tracks until they happen upon a Terminus sign. Rick crosses out most of the text and modifies it to read, “No sanctuary.” Also in the post credits scene, Morgan appears alone as he is looking for Rick.

1. Beside the dying fire (S2:E13)

In my opinion, the best episode of TWD that has aired. After Rick kills Shane and to find out that he has reanimated into an Walker, Carl puts Shane down. that was the episode that lead to this episode as when Rick and Carl return to Hershel’s house, a large herd of Walkers approach. Rick and Carl lure a number of them to the shed as Rick set them on fire. Also, Lori, Maggie, Glen, Carol, Hershel, Andrea, Daryl and T-dog defend the house from approaching Walkers but they were starting to outnumber them along with devouring a few more of their members who could not defend themselves. the group separates as the Walkers overrun the farm. Rick, Carl and Hershel was at the highway the group was at before to wait and see if others would show up. everyone except Andrea showed up. They later go to an area to camp for the night and this is when Rick revealed to the group that once someone dies, they reanimate into an walker (they all wanted to know why some Walkers they have seen were not bitten when they saw them). On the final few minutes of the show, we see Andrea running for her life until she tripped and fell, An Walker walked up to her until someone with an sword shows up and decapitated the walker. The person also has 2 Walkers chained up to her as this is the long awaited debut of Michone. This episode was full of character development along with moments in this episode that affected the group later on in future episodes.

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Top 10 Worst Super Smash Bros Stages.

April 21, 2015Julian Cannon Leave a Comment

Super Smash Bros. is an fighting game which features nintendo characters and 3rd party characters from other video game franchises. the first Smash game came out in 1999 for the Nintendo 64 and the most recent release for the Wii-U and 3DS. There are alot of good stages and bad ones and today i will count down in my opinion, the worst stages in the Smash series.

10.Planet Zebes (Super Smash Bros.)

This stage is not as bad as the rest on this list but at the time since this was the first SSB game, it was very unfair. The yellow acid is the biggest problem with the stage as it can send you up for an KO within a few hits as the player lands in it. it also can rise to the highest point of the stage occasionally. Plus, there is an platform on the far right of the stage so players can “camp” there.

9. Big Blue (Super Smash Bros Melee)

Side scrolling stages are annoying and ridiculous and this one is an prime example. This stage’s origin is from F-Zero for the super nintendo and the only thing that saves your life on this stage is the vehicles that are used as platforms. Sometimes, they break away leaving an open area for the players to fall off to either get KO off the stage or land on the road as the players will be quickly rushed back to the blast zone for an KO on the far left.

8. Rainbow Cruise (Super Smash Bros Melee)

Another side scrolling stage based off of world 15 in Super Mario 64. First, it starts on the ship, and after that, it gets ridiculous as we go towards small platforms and falling edges and etc and it repeats again when you land back on the ship.

7. Icicle Mountain (Super Smash Bros Melee)

The first time i tried this stage, i thought it was interesting. That was until it randomly scrolls up or down for a few minutes. sometimes fast, sometimes slow. make one wrong move and you can get stuck and cause yourself to get an KO.

6. 75m (Super Smash Bros Brawl)

This Stage is based off the Donkey Kong arcade game and it is annoying. you are mostly climbing the ladders to tri verse the area to get to another section without being damaged from the obstacles. sometimes, the 8-bit Donkey Kong appears and whoever is near him, will be damaged. this stage was not needed in Brawl due to the size but SSB:Wii-U gets an pass for it since 8 players can play on this stage when this stage returned in the game.

5. Mario Bros. (Super Smash Bros Brawl)

What can i call this stage? an total nightmare. It is too frustrating to get an KO on this stage and the Koopas and Sidesteppers seem way too overpowered for stage hazards. you are better off playing the original Mario Bros game than to play on this stage.

4. Balloon Fight (SSB: 3DS)

This is the only stage in Smash history where if you walk on one end, you will end up on the other side of the screen (in reference to the actual game mechanic in the original Balloon Fight game for the NES) instead of hitting the blast zone but that does not say much for this stage. the permanent flipper in the stage will catch you in the least deserving times, the radius of the entire stage is way too short for an KO to happen and the damn fish in the water will 90% of the time, pull you in the water for an KO if you end up in the water and that happens way too many times.

3.The Great Cave Offensive (SSB:Wii-U)

It was either this stage or Palutena’s Temple to take the number 3 spot. I believe this is the largest stage in Smash Bros. history. This stage is meant for 8 players and it is extremely hard to KO anybody off the stage or to do smash attacks that launch. also, it is extremely annoying to travel on this stage as there are “Lava Zones” in most places on this stage. If a player ends up on one of those zones with more than 100% damage, it is an instant KO. Also, do not play this stage if you have a small TV.

2. Poke’ Floats (SSB Melee)

there is not much to say about this stage except that there is different pokemon that serve as various platforms. they randomly change starting with squirtle.

1. PACLAND (SSB:Wii-U)

Here it is. In my opinion, the absolute worst stage in Smash Bros. history. you start at the beginning of the level of this side scrolling stage. but then, the stage hazards appear as the screen is scrolling. the difference between the hazards in this stage than others is that you cannot tell the difference which is an stage hazard since the original PACLAND game had the same exact layout and items in the way. Once you reach the end, the screen scrolls backwards until you reach the start and then repeat. you cannot think for a few seconds on what move to pull off for most of the time and this stage has the most disadvantages for characters to be used on this stage.

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Quick Movie Review: The Overnight

April 14, 2015Julian Cannon Leave a Comment

The Overnight is an American comedy film written and directed by Patrick Brice. i had the chance to see the movie as I was invited to a press screening and i will say that i enjoyed the film. I will give the details on the review.

Cast:

Judith Godrèche as Charlotte
R.J. Hermes as RJ
Max Moritt as Max
Taylor Schilling as Emily
Jason Schwartzman as Kurt
Adam Scott as Alex

The Overnight takes place over one adventurous night in the lives of Alex (Adam Scott) and Emily (Taylor Schilling), a couple who have recently relocated to Los Angeles with their young son. Uncertain if they’ll be able to make new friends, they happily accept a dinner invite from Kurt (Jason Schwartzman), a fellow parent they meet at the park. Upon arriving for dinner, Alex, Emily, and their son instantly hit it off with Kurt, his glamorous French wife Charlotte (Judith Godrèche), and their son. Entranced by the couple’s carefree spirit and their beautiful LA mansion, Alex and Emily go along with Kurt and Charlotte’s fun yet increasingly questionable and uncomfortable activities that kick off as soon as the kids are lulled to bed.

Even though the story’s crack at the sexual frustration of thirtysomething parents is a bit clumsy, the humor is on point and the film is more than worthwhile as a mere showcase for this perfectly balanced cast, who are totally game to push their uncomfortable scenes to the limits in order to achieve some genuinely surprising and sidesplitting moments. As the magnetic and magnanimous Kurt, Schwartzman fires on all comedic cylinders, never losing an ounce of charm through every twist and turn his character takes. Godrèche is absolutely alluring and holds her own amongst her seasoned comic castmates, whom have all proven their comedic talents on the small screen — Scott with Parks and Recreation, Schilling with Orange is the New Black, and Schwartzman with Bored to Death. Anchoring the picture are Scott and Schilling, who have great onscreen chemistry and play off Schwartzman and Godrèche equally as well as they are paired off in different combinations throughout the night.

The Overnight fits in well with executive producers Mark and Jay Duplass’ mumblecore catalogue (which includes Brice’s directorial debut, Creep). What gives this film an edge and a chance to garner a wider audience is the star power it has and its easily digestible, almost episodic feel (and runtime — 80 min.) that Netflix scrollers and binge watchers will find hard resist.

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Video Game Review: Final Fantasy Type-0 HD

March 31, 2015Julian Cannon Leave a Comment

While most RPG gamers are waiting for the upcoming Final Fantasy XV video game, Square-Enix released a different FF game to the tune of Final Fantasy Type-0 HD. A gussied-up version of a 2011 PSP game by the same name, Type-0 HD brings the presentation of the portable original to a high definition standard so that PlayStation 4 and Xbox One owners can experience the game on their HDTVs.

The game is part of Square-Enix’s Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy sub-series and revolves around Class Zero, an elite class of recent recruits who, in addition to wielding a variety of weapons, have access to incredible magics and abilities. Every member of the class are made unique, though only a few are actually memorable by any degree. Those worth making note of include starting character Ace who attacks using a deck of enchanted cards and childhood friends Machina and Rem who take up the role of the group’s outsiders. Beyond those three, everyone else in the group fall into the trappings of your typical schoolyard archetypes including the brainiac, the tough guy, and the class clown.

Each member of the class has his or her own unique weapon. Unlike with most Final Fantasygames, however, these weapons can’t be swapped out for others or used by other characters. Rather, each character uses the same weapon all the game through. They can be upgraded as the game goes on, thankfully, so at least there’s that.

Parties are comprised of three active characters with the player controlling one in specific while the other two are A.I. controlled. The user-controlled character can be hot-swapped at the press of a button with either of the other two, which adds a bit of flexibility to the active (that is, non turn-based) gameplay. Furthermore, other characters can be put into reserve and swapped out completely at the game’s various save points. Even with all of the versatility provided to the player thanks to the large cast of playable characters, though, there are often times when it seems like the combination of active characters simply isn’t quite right for the situation at hand.

The game flows in a very structured and deliberate manner. Players are given a set of missions that tend to involve running through the game’s maps (which, by the way, tend to be comprised of a number of disappointingly small areas linked together), combating the occasional over-powered boss character, and helping the overall war effort as established in the game’s rather enthralling opening sequence.

As should be expected from a JRPG, Type-0 HD offers a good amount of side content outside of the main mission set. They way this side content is set up, however, is a tad disappointing. Accessible only during the class’ periods of “free time”, missions can be undertaken one at a time and provide players with items upon completion. While early on this seems just fine, as players progress into later parts of the game and one’s free time gets more valuable they prove to be irrelevant distractions at best.

Visually, it’s pretty easy to tell that this game wasn’t made natively for the current generation consoles. Still, as a prettied-up port the overall presentation is pretty good. Cut scenes are, in a word, amazing. Gameplay visuals, however, are a bit lacking. While the graphics themselves aren’t half bad, there are camera issues that really get in the way of things. These issues range from providing players with poor views of the action to jittering in confined spaces.

Thankfully, many of Type-0 HD‘s visual shortcomings can be overlooked thanks to the intriguing story that’s quite a bit darker and more mature than that of your average Final Fantasy game. Core gameplay isn’t ideal thanks to some control gripes dealing with enemy targeting, but it can carry its own. There is also quite a lot of content and players can expect to experience hours upon hours worth of gameplay, which is somewhat surprising considering the game was originally released for a handheld system.

For JRPG and Final Fantasy fans, Final Fantasy Type-0 HD is well worth playing. For those who want to hold off until FFXVeventually comes out, please take note than Type-0 HD comes bundled with a playable demo of the upcoming game.

final rating- 8.4/10

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ADR1FT Preview

March 19, 2015Julian Cannon Leave a Comment

Last week at the 505Games event I covered, I had the chance to try out for the first time the Oculus Rift. What that is you may ask? well it is an upcoming virtual reality head-mounted display, being developed by Oculus VR. The game I have tried out which was shown for the first time to the press was ADR1FT.

Adrift (stylized as ADR1FT) is a first-person video game developed by Three One Zero and published by 505 Games. It is scheduled to be released in Q2/Q3 2015 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The story follows an astronaut, who floats through the wreckage of a destroyed space station with no memory of the incident. Over the course of the game, players find clues that piece together the events of the incident, and attempt to repair the escape vehicle to return home.

When I first put on the Oculus Rift, for a few seconds it felt like I was putting on an football helmet but then I seen the amazing visuals as one person would if they are in outer space. you can also move and tilt your head in any direction and the rift will pick up your movements. But back to the game. From what I have played at the event, you begin in an destroyed space station in zero gravity, maintaining sufficient oxygen levels by collecting oxygen tanks. During this, you have to go different rooms and find other audio logs that expand the situation of what happened over there and solve puzzles. I have ran out of oxygen twice so I could not get far but it did left me anticipated to find out what is next for me to explore. From what it is also known, the objectives are to survive and to return home safely.

I will sure purchase this game and I will have my full review posted here but check out these cool screenshots.

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