The Zombie Survival Guide is the first zombie book by author and screenwriter Max Brooks. A lot of zombie fiction is either done poorly or in a silly way. That is the key difference between the way Max Brooks does zombies; you never feel like you are dealing with silly fictional monsters, with Max Brooks zombies are a serious issue and a matter not to be taken lightly. I recently finished reading the The Zombie Survival Guide and have to say that it is another fantastic Max Brooks novel. His second book titled World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War was also fantastic. I really hope he writes more in the future.
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Last night I saw an ad for MeeMix while on Facebook. The ad was engaging enough to get me to click it, but that’s usually where the engagement stops. Not so in the case of MeeMix, an online social radio site. You are immediately thrown into the application. It asks you to enter a song name (I must admit, it almost lost me here as it was not finding any of my first songs) and then either starts playing it or suggests a list of possibilities.
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I don’t go to the theater very often. The main reason is that for the past few years not many movies have really done it for me. I walk away thinking it either sucked or was just okay, couple that with the high cost of admittance and you are left with a steaming pile of… well you get my drift.
I am a huge Pixar fan and WALL-E, Pixar’s newest movie totally caught me by surprise. I am not a movie buff by any stretch of the imagination, so it’s no surprise that I was out of the loop when I stumbled across the movie trailers one evening on the web. As soon as I saw the trailers I knew I had to see this movie.
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GTA IV was released yesterday, and I managed to put in several hours last night. I played the single player for about 30 minutes and then went straight into the multi player free mode. I haven’t played it long enough to write up a review, but at first glance does it live up to the hype? Definitely, definitely definitely! That means yes.
The polish on this game is stunning. The AI is great, the graphics are fantastic, the fun level is through the roof, what more could you ask for. The attention to detail is what blows me away the most. Things they didn’t need to add, but did anyway, like dripping water when you come out of a lake, or mud tracks on the beach. Hilarious politically charged commentators on the TV and radios. The sound track should have something for everyone too. Let’s not forget the helicopters, bikes, mopeds, buses, trucks, boats, and who knows what else awaits.
If you are still on the fence about this game, GameTrailers has a fairly in depth review.
I finally finished reading World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks. I haven’t had as much time to read lately, but I sat down earlier this morning and decided to finish it.
The book title may sound silly, and if you have read The Zombie Survival Guide by Brooks you may even be expecting some humour, but you will find very little in this book. This is a much more serious and tragic novel about a writer who is chronicling a factual book about the Zombie outbreak 10 years after it has occurred. This writer also put together the official UN reports and felt that he needed to write a more human account of the tale.
Without giving too much away, the entire book is made up of short chapters sometimes only a few pages long chronicling the lives of individuals and their experiences throughout the Zombie War. The book is fantastic, and there are plans to turn it into a motion picture. Every story is well thought out and most of them are very believable and convincing.
If you have ever watched a Zombie movie or even read Zombie books, usually they are fairly hokey or they deal with one small isolated situation like a mall or even a city. World War Z covers the entire spectrum of the planet and many different scenarios. The book delves right into the politics and how badly many governments screwed up, but it also covers many other situations. Ever wondered what would happen to the oceans during a worldwide Zombie outbreak, or the mad rush to flee cities? What about the internet addicted shut in who follows the entire outbreak from the illusional safety of his room in Tokyo right up until the Zombies knock on his door? What about someone who is blind with no one to help them during the chaos. The book covers many personal stories like these.
This is every Zombie fans must read book and most have probably already read it by now, but because it’s so different from the run of the mill Zombie genre, I think many non-Zombie fans will really enjoy this book too. I guess it’s classified as horror, but it’s really not that scary and actually far more emotionally tragic.
So I finally got sick of the mass transit in Toronto which recently was threatening to go on strike. The TTC, our transit system is pretty annoying lately. My ride to work ranges from 40 minutes on a good day to the extreme of 2+ hours. With horrible service, zero reliability and constant fee hikes, I’d had enough.
I live outside the downtown core right on Lake Ontario, so I am lucky in that I have a beautiful paved bike path all the way downtown for about 95% of my ride. So I headed to the Urbane Cyclist a bike co-op downtown and after two days of talking to the most helpful staff I think I’ve ever have the pleasure of dealing with and testing bikes out I decided to go with a Dahon 7 speed folding bike. Before I entered the shop a fold up bike had not entered my mind.
Why did I decide on the fold up bike? Well a few reasons, the first one being I live in a condo and they want everyone to leave their bikes in the garage downstairs in bike cages. Unfortunately they had no bike cages available for me and bike theft is extremely high in Toronto. You aren’t allowed to bring bikes through the front entrance, but what if you are carrying it in one hand? Well, so far no complaints.
Another reason was I often work late, so if I do I can go downstairs and fold the thing up and put it under my desk at work. Bike theft usually happens at night. I can also keep it in my front hall and stick it in a closet, it is that small. Check out the pictures below.
The bike also comes with mudguards. These things are a must on a commuter bike. I have already road to work on a rainy day and gone through puddles and mud. The wheels are splattered, but I am totally clean on arrival. It also has a great rack on the back with three bungee cords. I have fastened my lock down, a fleece, and my dinner picked up on the way home. I plan to get a bag eventually for it too.
So far I am extremely happy with this bike and my biking experience; it’s been years since I owned a bike. It takes me no more than 30 seconds to fold it up, and the workmanship is fantastic. Everything feels and looks solid. All the hinges work perfect, and I think it looks pretty damn cool. My ride into work right now is about 35 minutes and I’m pretty out of shape, so I’m hoping I can get it down to 30 or even 25 minutes on a good day. This also saves me on the costs of a month transit pass and saves my sanity.
This bike is a great little gadget. You’ll also notice people looking at you when you fold it up because it’s pretty cool. I can’t recommend a fold up like this enough, and the bike only cost me $475 Canadian. If you live in Toronto and do plan on getting yourself a bike, any bike, do yourself a favour and go to Urban Cyclist, these guys are phenomenally helpful.
My personal list of top games for 2007. This is based on games that I played, and coming up with 10 was pretty hard. Until I got a DS Lite the list stood at 8. These are somewhat in order, although a few would be tied.
- Call of Duty 4
- Eternal Sonata
- Crackdown
- Super Mario Galaxies
- The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hour Glass
- Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon
- Orange Box
- Puzzle Quest
- Resident Evil 4 Wii edition
- Assassins Creed
Call of Duty 4
By far the winner for Multi-player gaming. It has about 95% of my online gaming attention. The game it replaced was of course Gears of War.
Eternal Sonata
The next game, Eternal Sonata has two entries on my blog, the first review and Eternal Sonata revisited once I finished the game. This probably got the majority of my single player gaming in the later half of the year.
Crackdown
A great single and multi-player experience, even if only two people can play it at once. This game had much fan fair at the time of release, because it gave access to the Halo 3 Beta. I personlly think this game is better than Halo 3, and I played it a lot more. The very definition of this game is FUN.
Super Mario Galaxies
Thi game has literally redefined the platformer genera. You really have to play this game to understand it. It’s one of the first Wii games I’ve played that feels like it was designed specifically for the unique Wii controllers.
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hour Glass
I have only just scraped the surface of The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hour Glass and from the moment you load up this game you know it is a top notch DS title. Again Nintendo innovates on every aspect of game play, from using the stylus to move to blowing out candles through the microphone.
Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon
I had never even heard of this game until I tried it and now I’m pretty hooked. It won’t be for everyone, it’s basically an RPG and virtual life simulation. The depth to this game considering it is a DS title is unbelievable
The Orange Box
What more can be said about this package of 5 games. You get Half-Life 2, episode 1, episode 2, Team Fortress 2, and Portal. You have a 1 out of 5 chance of getting a game you like. The sheer value of this game makes it worth it, and the best part is that all 5 games are great. If it wasn’t for Call of Duty 4 I would probably be playing a lot more Team Fortress 2 online.
Puzzle Quest
I actually tried on a friends DS Lite several months ago, and then ended up buying the Xbox Live Arcade version. This game is so under rated. It’s an RPG / Puzzle game combined into one, and it really works well. This is a game that has to be played to truly get it.
Resident Evil 4 Wii edition
While originally released in 2005 the Wii edition came out this year. I had never played the original, and although I haven’t finished the Wii edition, it has been great fun, and it is one creepy game.
Assassins Creed
Here is a game I have very mixed feelings about. If you had of asked me how I felt about it one hour into playing it, I would have said it was the game of the year, but like many gamers, after 10 hours into the game it becomes downright monotonous. I still believe it deserves to be in the top 10 for 2007 because the graphics are stunning, probably the best out there right now, and the game is still a lot of fun, even if you are just looking around the massive cities.
That wraps up my list of great games for 2007. I hope 2008 is as good or even better.
Nintendo’s Wii is an incredible system, and the first time you try it you will probably be blown away by its innovation. The second thing a gamer might think is all the possibilities beyond Wii Sports, the game included with most Wii’s. That said the Wii game line-up hasn’t been very good for hard core gamers. Couple that with the fact that that 480p is the maximum resolution with no real HD to speak of and the system starts shinning a little less after the initial novelty wears off. There’s a lot of games out there for it that I’m sure are giving families and kid’s hours of fun, but there are few that are entertaining more hard core 30 something gamers like me.
Then Super Mario Galaxy enters the scene to great acclaim. I had to buy this game for two reasons, the first one was everyone is giving it incredible reviews so it can’t be all that bad, and the second reason is I have so few good Wii games. Super Mario Galaxy is my fourth Wii purchase, Zelda Twilight Princess and Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition being my only worthwhile purchases so far, and I have yet to finish a Wii game. Zelda is one of those games that would have looked better in HD and would have worked just fine on a normal controller, so while still an incredible game, it just doesn’t seem to offer much extra to the Wii Remote other than being a great game. Resident Evil 4 was designed with a standard def CRT television in mind, so it suffers even more from the Wii’s lack of HD support. Resident Evil 4 does however benefit from the Wii Remote and both games are still fantastic and I would recommend both to any Wii owner. Super Mario Galaxy on the other hand feels like they had the unqiue Wii controls in mind when they developed it.
Let me just start off and say that Super Mario Galaxy is one of my best Wii game experiences to date. Yes it is very cartoony and kiddie, it’s a Mario game! But hey, I use to play Mario games for hours on end as a kid, and this game comes loaded with Wii goodness, and lots of Mario nostalgia. The greatest thing about this game is the Wii specific goodness, and what I mean by that is this game actually uses the Wii Remote in great and innovative ways and for once does not feel contrived. I find a lot of Wii games feel like the developers had to add some Wii Remote actions to the game, so they just added shake everywhere. You will still have to shake your Wii Remote in Mario, but there’s a lot more to it than just shaking your Wii!
The game story is typical to Mario games. So saying Bowser has captured Princess Peach and you have to rescue her shouldn’t be much of a spoiler. The game takes place in the universe, literally and you fly from galaxy to galaxy to restore star power to a ship you are working from, basically your home base in the game. Once the ship is fully powered you are told you can fly to the center of the universe and save the princess. No one should be buying a Mario game for the story line.
So what makes the game play so different from other games, or even Wii games for that matter? Well each level takes place on tiny planets, some so small that you can actually run completely around them in under 30 seconds. The feeling is weird to say the least, but that’s a good thing. Mario Galaxy takes place on every 3D plane, upright, upside down, sideways, top down, backwards, you name the orientation and Mario Galaxy’s probably got it. This is one of the things that make the game great.
The Wii Remote is the next great aspect, you actually use it. I haven’t finished the game yet, but so far I have done things like surf, balance on a ball, blow Mario around, point and pick up star bits, shake enemies off the screen, and climb vines just to name a few. All of these require different motions with the Wii Remote. So far I like the balancing ball Mario the best.
There are also different kinds of Mario, the old stand by’s like fire Mario, but new ones like Bee Mario are very fun. With Bee Mario you can fly for a short period of time before you have to land and recharge to fly again. As Bee Mario you can stick to certain surfaces just like a real Bee! Well at least a real Mario Bee. Other powerups include Ice Mario, Bee Mario, Boo Mario, Spring Mario, Flying Mario, and Rainbow Mario, most of which I have yet to try.
The greatest thing about this game is that it’s just plain fun to play. It’s not hard, at least most of the time, and for the most part it is very intuitive. Mario Galaxy is totally new and different, and you can just jump right in and play without much experience and I think this game will appeal to many age groups.
This is the first really solid new Wii game I have played yet. Games like Zelda and Resident Evil are fantastic games, don’t get me wrong, but they feel like they were not developed with the Wii in mind, and in Resident Evils case it wasn’t. Super Mario Galaxy could possibly be the best Wii game I have played to date.
I finished Eternal Sonata the other night and wanted to reiterate how incredible this game is. My first post is a more in depth review of the game. Although the game is a major grind fest, the story, graphics and music are just so engaging. The ending has a real twist, and it’s the longest ending I’ve ever seen in a game clocking in around 45 minutes.
I know reactions on this game are mixed and it will not be everyone’s cup of tea, but for those who do like this kind of game, I think they will love Eternal Sonata. The story is pretty deep for a game, and the characters are so memorable you actually care about each one of them in different ways. The voice over work is top notch, and the graphics are mind numbingly gorgeous. The creativity in this game is off the charts and the diversity of the artwork is always refreshing.
This is still one of my favourite single player Xbox 360 games to date and I think one of the most unique games on the console. I hope more games like this are in the works. So if your’re up for a long 40 plus hours of game play, lots of level grinding, fantastic music and phenomenal cut sequences, pick up this game.
Here are some shots of the game.
I finished Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare the other night. This game is the most intense shooter I’ve played to date. The realism and immersion are phenomenal, and the graphics are on par with games like Gears of War. It’s nice to finally see some games with GOW graphic quality. That game was a year ahead of its time, but it seems like the truly next gen games are coming out this year, with titles like COD 4, Assassins Creed, Mass Effect, and hopefully Grand Theft Auto IV early next year.
The only truly down side to COD4 is the length of the single player campaign. It’s short, and I do mean short. I finished it in about 3 days and probably put about 5 hours into it on the default difficulty setting. That said, this game is all about the multi-player, and the sheer number of levels, character leveling system, and game types will keep you coming back for more. COD4 has one of the most full featured multi-player games I have played out there at this time even though it lacks vehicles, something that isn’t necessarily a bad thing once you play it.
There is another down side which will effect only a small number of people, myself included. I have never in my life experience FPS motion sickness, but COD4 is the first game that does it to me. After about an hour of playing I start getting a dull headache and a sick feeling in my stomach. Maybe I have just been tired lately, but a quick search on the web shows that I am not alone, and a co-worker of mine has had the same symptoms. The game is extremely realistic and very fast paced. The game bob when running is a bit disorienting at times, which I think might be causing the problem. One solution mentioned which seems to be working for me is chewing gum. Anyway, don’t let a little bit of motion sickness hold you back, this game is incredible.
That said, run out and buy this game, pick up Assassins Creed while you’re at it too, you won’t be disappointed.
