My summer has been filled with super heroes.
While technically not the summer, The Avengers started the summer blockbuster movie season with a bang. Literally. Lots of stuff blew up. It was pretty spectacular. Plus, it means Joss Whedon can pretty much do whatever he wants. Whedon and Nathon Fillion could make a 2-hour movie that recreates Shakespeare's King Lear with shadow puppets and studio execs would literally (figuratively, whatever) fight to the death over who gets the rights.
Next came Lego Batman 2: DC Superheroes. At first, I had no interest in this game. I own probably a half dozen other Lego games aside from this one, and they all play exactly the same: Break stuff, collect studs, repeat for a couple of hours. But it was the subtitle that got to me.
DC Superheroes!
A chance to play as Superman and Green Lantern? Hell yeah I want that. So, I preordered the game the day before its release at a Gamestop to get the exclusive Villains pack (I had a giftcard to GS and I didn't know about BestBuy's Hero pack). After waiting for the obligatory patch download and installation (seriously!? A day one patch?), my brother and I started our trek through the cutesified version of Gotham.
This game does boast that it's the first Lego game to use voice-acting (though, look at a messageboard about that tidbit and there're plenty of internet nerds...er...users to tell you otherwise (apparently, there was voice acting in, like, Lego Island 2. Who knew, right?)) Level after level, I kept waiting for the other DC heroes to show up. Superman finally made an extended appearance half way through the game (after a two minute cameo after the second level), but the rest of the Justice League only show up for the last five minutes or so. Between that, the fact that you fight a giant Joker robot, and the stupid new splitscreen (the spitscreen shifts based on which character is where) and I was pretty disappointed in this game.
It also felt like the shortest of the Lego games, with the story mode completed in around 6 hours (and this was with my usual OCD, must break everything in the level to collect studs, antics). The developers expect you to go through the "open world" and collect every gold brick, red brick, and unlockable characters once the story mode is over, but, other than pittering around Gotham with a different hero (or villain), there really isn't much use for these characters (yeah, you can replay the story missions, but most of the collectables can be gotten on the first play through).
Wow...that blurb about Lego Batman 2 went on much longer than I thought. I'll have to try to wrap up the rest of this quick.
The Amazing Spider-Man movie- Yeah, it's only been ten years since the first of Raimi's Spidey films came out, but those films were cheesy as we were still stuck in the, it's-based-on-a-comic-book, so-it-has-to-be-goofy, right? phase. I thought the ASM was enjoyable, even if some of it was rehashed from the Raimi films, and Garfield got a little too neurotic as Peter Parker in some spots. Interested to see where they go from here and if Webb/Sony has the cahoneys to kill of Gwen Stacey. Oh, spoiler-alert, in the comic, Gwen Stacey dies. Shouldn't be too much of a spoiler, really. Emma Stone has already stated that this is where she wants her character to go.
The Amazing Spider-Man game - It takes place shortly after the movie ends. The gameplay is like a marriage of Spider-Man 2 (still considered by many to be the best Spider-Man game) and the Arkham series (which, really, had a lot of Spidey-like elements to it, anyway...). Liked it, but, again, nothing to do once the story ends.
The Dark Knight Rises - I liked it. That said, I didn't love it. Not the way I loved The Dark Knight. It feels a lot like a sequel to Batman Begins instead of a sequel to TDK. That sounds weird, I know, but that's just the vibe that I got. Also, Bane's voice was...weird. I likened it to a Shakespearean actor who has to over annunciate every word so the audience can understand him (even if one of the biggest complaints about Bane is that he's difficult to understand). But, yeah, overall, liked it. Nolan and Co. could make more if they so desired to, but, seeing as DCE is rebooting the Bat-film franchise to make it more Justice League friendly, I don't see that happening.
So, yeah. A lot of super hero stuff this summer...and next summer...and...wait, when does Avengers 2 come out...?
Monday, July 23, 2012
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Schools out for summer!
So I disappeared for a few months there. That was a trip. Anyway, short form of what happened from like, March to now is that I was hired on at a behaviorial reassignment school (read: school for students who have done something to get themselves removed from traditional schools. Not even going to go into what those things generally are).
It was a great experience with a bunch of (mostly) wonderful students. Who I hope to never see ever again (not in a bad way, mind you, because if I see them again, that means they did something to get assigned to that school. Again).
So what's on the agenda for summer? Not a whole heckuva lot at this point. Chicago Comic-Con is just around the corner, so Kelly and I are hunting for hotels for that. There is one wedding I am attending (my friend from UWM is getting married. Should be exciting!). And I'm still working at the OD because I didn't get picked up for any summer school jobs (we'll see how long I last at OD, because, well, the new ISCE program sucks (for some reason, corporate feels confident in pronouncing it 'ice,' like there is no 'S' in there)).
I have a huge backlog of games that I picked up during the summer, and there are tons of new releases in the coming months. Don't know how I'm going to get through them all, but hey, I'll do my darnedest to do it.
Still plugging away at editing book two of Project Zero and A Plague Upon Thee, which died down to maybe editing a page here or there during the school year. Editing is my bane when it comes to writing. I always get super-excited over new ideas, characters, stories, etc., but when it comes time to go over my work with a fine-tooth comb, I want to curl up in the fetal position and wish my grammatical errors and lack of sensory details away.
The third book in the Project Zero series is still almost done. Like, for real. If I sat down and wrote solidly for an hour, it'd be done. I'm that close to finishing it. I could do it right now, If I wanted. Yep, all it'd take is just to open the notebook, pick up a pen, and scribble down some words to finish up the book. Maybe instead of writing a blog entry that is quickly dovetailing into stream-of-conscious rambling...
I suppose one could look at it that this is just a warm up for doing some actual writing. I mean, it's kind of working. I do feel like writing actual stuff some more.
Oh, I picked up Lego Batman 2 yesterday. It's ok. Not nearly as exciting as I'd hoped. I mean, I know it's a Lego game, but the reviews made it seem like it was going to be different. Also, for a game carrying the subtitle 'DC Super Heroes,' it really does lack in other DC Super Heroes. I've played through the first three missions or so, and the only other hero has been Superman, who only popped in to say 'hi.' I want to make a Green Lantern Batman. Or Superman. Or Flash. A GL anything, really.
I ran out of things to say that don't sound like cynical rantings of a mad man. So, I'll be back later with a new post. Probably about how I'm going to promise those two books will be out by the end of summer. Or year.
Or maybe it'll be on my thoughts and feelings on Asus' Transformer Prime tablet computing device.
Until next time, stay classy interwebs. Stay classy.
It was a great experience with a bunch of (mostly) wonderful students. Who I hope to never see ever again (not in a bad way, mind you, because if I see them again, that means they did something to get assigned to that school. Again).
So what's on the agenda for summer? Not a whole heckuva lot at this point. Chicago Comic-Con is just around the corner, so Kelly and I are hunting for hotels for that. There is one wedding I am attending (my friend from UWM is getting married. Should be exciting!). And I'm still working at the OD because I didn't get picked up for any summer school jobs (we'll see how long I last at OD, because, well, the new ISCE program sucks (for some reason, corporate feels confident in pronouncing it 'ice,' like there is no 'S' in there)).
I have a huge backlog of games that I picked up during the summer, and there are tons of new releases in the coming months. Don't know how I'm going to get through them all, but hey, I'll do my darnedest to do it.
Still plugging away at editing book two of Project Zero and A Plague Upon Thee, which died down to maybe editing a page here or there during the school year. Editing is my bane when it comes to writing. I always get super-excited over new ideas, characters, stories, etc., but when it comes time to go over my work with a fine-tooth comb, I want to curl up in the fetal position and wish my grammatical errors and lack of sensory details away.
The third book in the Project Zero series is still almost done. Like, for real. If I sat down and wrote solidly for an hour, it'd be done. I'm that close to finishing it. I could do it right now, If I wanted. Yep, all it'd take is just to open the notebook, pick up a pen, and scribble down some words to finish up the book. Maybe instead of writing a blog entry that is quickly dovetailing into stream-of-conscious rambling...
I suppose one could look at it that this is just a warm up for doing some actual writing. I mean, it's kind of working. I do feel like writing actual stuff some more.
Oh, I picked up Lego Batman 2 yesterday. It's ok. Not nearly as exciting as I'd hoped. I mean, I know it's a Lego game, but the reviews made it seem like it was going to be different. Also, for a game carrying the subtitle 'DC Super Heroes,' it really does lack in other DC Super Heroes. I've played through the first three missions or so, and the only other hero has been Superman, who only popped in to say 'hi.' I want to make a Green Lantern Batman. Or Superman. Or Flash. A GL anything, really.
I ran out of things to say that don't sound like cynical rantings of a mad man. So, I'll be back later with a new post. Probably about how I'm going to promise those two books will be out by the end of summer. Or year.
Or maybe it'll be on my thoughts and feelings on Asus' Transformer Prime tablet computing device.
Until next time, stay classy interwebs. Stay classy.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Read an Ebook Week!
Running March 4th through March 10th is National (International? Has this thing gone international yet?) Read an Ebook Week. As such, many Independent Ebook authors and publishers (myself included) are offering their works for a discount (as cheep as free!).
My first NRaEW was three years ago, where I offered Project Zero: Bulletproof for the insanely discounted price of $0.00. That's right, I offered it for free. In that one week, almost 100 new readers discovered Lance Maxwell, Rain, and the entire world of Project Zero: Bulletproof. For FREE!
And, as I'm not a jerk (not most of the time, anyway, and usually not intentionally), I continue to offer PZ:B every year for free during NRaEW (Wow, even the acronym is kind of lengthy). I was hoping the new edition would've hit the Kindle store by now (the Smashword's Kindle distribution channel is wacky when it comes to updates), but their is a Kindle/Nook/ePub/Kobo/iPad compatible version on Smashwords right now!
So, follow the links above, or below (I'm sure I'll post the link, like, 50 more times) and discover what hundreds (let's try to make it thousands) of readers already have. A story of one man coming of age and coming to terms with a power he doesn't understand.
Use coupon code RE100 to get Project Zero: Bulletproof for free for your eReader of choice.
My first NRaEW was three years ago, where I offered Project Zero: Bulletproof for the insanely discounted price of $0.00. That's right, I offered it for free. In that one week, almost 100 new readers discovered Lance Maxwell, Rain, and the entire world of Project Zero: Bulletproof. For FREE!
And, as I'm not a jerk (not most of the time, anyway, and usually not intentionally), I continue to offer PZ:B every year for free during NRaEW (Wow, even the acronym is kind of lengthy). I was hoping the new edition would've hit the Kindle store by now (the Smashword's Kindle distribution channel is wacky when it comes to updates), but their is a Kindle/Nook/ePub/Kobo/iPad compatible version on Smashwords right now!
So, follow the links above, or below (I'm sure I'll post the link, like, 50 more times) and discover what hundreds (let's try to make it thousands) of readers already have. A story of one man coming of age and coming to terms with a power he doesn't understand.
Use coupon code RE100 to get Project Zero: Bulletproof for free for your eReader of choice.
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