Yet Another Random Bit of Insanity

[shadowspiri5]

Hey guys I done with summer semester. So how's it going?

[jgkitarel]

Still in my summer semester and it looks like I will be losing my 4.0 GPA unless I manage to pull off several weeks of absolutely perfect assignments. I'll certainly try to do so, but dropping a little doesn't concern me much unless it is in danger of dropping below 3.0 (my minimum personal standard).

[Wraith5]

So I got to go to the Billy Joel concert at Nationals Park in Washington D.C. on Saturday. IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!! I honestly didn't know he thought We Didn't Start the Fire was his worst melody... But the teasing he did before starting Piano Man was funny. He played the Loony Toons theme. Hearing the ENTIRE stadium singing along for those two songs was amazing.

[MEKristian]

Oh, hello childhood, haven't seen you in a while... guess I have to dig out the bomb shelter again, huh...

[Phht]

So, Guardians of the Galaxy.

...

Movie of the year. Hands down.

[gamebrain89]

Seen it twice. Probably going to go with some friends who were unable to see it opening weekend this saturday. It's near freaking perfect.

[MrRigger2]

Easily the funniest Marvel Movie, and probably the best Marvel Movie so far, surpassing The Avengers. Seriously impressive, especially since it had such relatively obscure source material. Two thumbs way, way up.

MrRigger

[Phht]

"Dance battle, you and me."

The movie opening was great. Serious seeming, serious seeming, title sequence starts... no chance in hell this was going to be a serious movie.

[MEKristian]

Well, since I don't really have anything to contribute to the Guardians of the Galaxy discussion... I'ma just do what I usually do and post links to stuff wooooooosh:

Fantasy World Generator
Sci-fi World Generator

[doc.exe]

I have heard of that kind of tools for tabletop gaming. Really practical.

I wanted to watch Guardians of the Galaxy on the weekend but couldn’t. Instead I ended watching Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and… well, I can’t say I was disappointed after all.

I have already expressed my opinion on reboots, but this new Apes franchise is great. While nothing can really match the classic from 1968, Rise and Dawn certainly capture its spirit very well (and if we have to be honest, they are really better movies than Conquest and Battle were). And unlike many other examples, in this case rebooting the franchise was actually appropriate considering the span of almost four decades since the last film (no there wasn’t a Tim Burton version in 2001, what makes you say that?).

In any case, I hope to finally watch Guardians this weekend. After that, probably the new TMNT movie. The reviews are painting it as just “meh” rather than the unmitigated disaster we were all expecting, so I think I will give it a chance. The design of the turtles is still fugly however.

[jgkitarel]

doc, that 2001 Tim Burton version is what made Rise and Dawn possible by renewing interest in the Planet of the Apes franchise.

The main difference, IMO, is that Rise and Dawn are not only a more effective reboot, but are doing it realistically and chronologically.

[doc.exe]

I would argue that the main difference is that Rise and Dawn are actually good while the 2001 film wasn’t. Don’t misunderstand me, I have loved most of the creative output from Tim Burton (even if besides Frankenweenie, he has been in a dry spell of sorts since Sweeney Todd), but that movie is honestly among his weakest ones. Although I suppose you are right in that it renewed interest in the franchise even if the net result was rebooting it again.

And well, I finally watched Guardians on Saturday. I’m not entirely convinced it’s the best one from Marvel Studios, but it’s definitely up there among their finest along with the Avengers and Winter Soldier.

[doc.exe]

Finally went on the weekend to watch the new TMNT. Turns out the reviews I read were right: It wasn’t terrible after all, but it wasn’t particularly good either. It has a few entertaining moments and action sequences, but it also suffers from some really cringe worthy developments. So it all evens out to be pretty "meh" indeed. Not that the other movies of the franchise are exactly master pieces of cinema, but the first two live action ones and the CGI one were more entertaining and had more… well, "heart" behind them.

Still, while I would not recommend it, if you end up watching it, you could spend two hours in worse ways. The one particular thing that did irked me (besides the new designs of the turtles, although I have more or less got accustomed to them by now) was the modification to their origin:

Spoiler: show

On one hand, I actually liked that they tied April more closely to their origin like in the IDW comics. On the other hand, they removed any mention of Hamato Yoshi and had Splinter learnt ninjutsu from a book he found in the sewers, then decide on a whim to teach the turtles with it. To be fair, is not that "ninja sensei turned/reincarnated into mutated rat" or "mutated rat who learnt ninjutsu from imitating his owner" are exactly the most believable or serious plot developments ever. But without Yoshi in the picture in any way, the entire "ninja" part of the title feels hollow and arbitrary, even for something that admittedly started as a parody and mishmash of multiple comics.

[RavynousHunter]

Watched Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods in a proper theatre about two weeks ago, when I was on vacation to see my family. I gotta say, the dub job on it was superb as always. As for the movie itself, it was really quite good. I just hope we get the next movie (I believe Toriyama has said he's planning another as we speak) is released to English-speaking audiences in a bit more...reasonable a time frame. I'd really rather not wait years to hear my favourite anime in my native tongue. Doesn't help that I find the fact that Masako Nozawa voices damn near every member of Goku's family, even those that are bloody adult men more than a little grating.

[MEKristian]

Gundam Build Fighters Try, now with animation!

[JamestheFox]

So this is now officially a thing. Coming to Japanese Arcades, will likely be brought to consoles about a year later.

[doc.exe]

Ok, after Pokémon Conquest, Hyrule Warriors, the (apparently premature) announcement of Fire Emblem X Shin Megami Tensei, and Nintendo stating that they were going to engage in more 3rd party collaborations, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised…

…But I am. And definitely and positively scared. After this, the possibilities are just endless.

[JamestheFox]

If Nintendo were to team up with Disney to make their Amiibo collectables be usable in Disney Infinity, they would probably have my money.

Just because of the massive crossover potential.

[MEKristian]

Finally.

[Phht]

Hey guys. Guys. Hey guys.

Persona 5. 2015. PS3 and PS4.

Damn straight.

[doc.exe]

Persona 5 for PS3 and PS4, new 3DS model, Shulk from Xenoblade in Smash Bros., new expansion of Saints Row IV…

Weekend of PAX Prime and eve of Tokyo Game Show, not a bad period for videogame news.

[Phht]

Disgaea 5 on PS4. I think there are Touhou fan games coming to PS4/Vita?

Also, I did not realize that Dynasty Warrior style games were becoming popular these days. But between One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3 and Dragon Quest Heroes being announced same press conference...

--

I will admit, I joking called an Atlus announcement at the conference as "P4A the Animation announced", then added it being a PS4 exclusive release via PSN when it was pointed out that anime wasn't a game.

I was hoping that Namco Bandai would announce Ace Combat 7 though. I miss that series. :<

[jgkitarel]

So, all that and they're bringing Touhou to the PS4/Vita? Maybe? Huh...

I foresee much rage if they get made and don't come to the states there.

[RavynousHunter]

Let's not forget Dragon Ball: Xenoverse! Okay, I may be the only one here excited about it, but damn it! I need at least one other good Dragon Ball fighting game to fully wash the horrid taste of Ultimate Tenkaichi out of my mouth.

[MEKristian]

So Nanoha ViViD's getting an anime.

I can't even bring myself to care any more... here's hoping at least that the anime team can fix the pacing.

And the very slim chance we could get that crossover as an anime OVA or something, because that team-up would be worth seeing in shiny HD animation...