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I’ll start out by saying that I never watched the leaked “work print” of the movie that came out several weeks ago, which seems to be the source of most of the trash talk, since it was only released four days ago (from posting this).  After hearing all the negativity, I had pretty low expectations about the movie, but I thought, even if the movie around him is bad, Hugh Jackman as Wolverine would still be fun.

By the way, I’ll keep try and keep this as spoiler-free as any trailer you’ve already seen. 

This movie ended up being somewhere around the first X-Men movie, not quite to X-Men 2 level, but far better than the third movie.  Like I thought, Hugh Jackman was good, but some of the story around him was equally good.  There is MUCH creative license with his origin. Had this been Spider-Man they were dinking with, I probably would have been more critical.  However, with Wolverine’s past, so much of it has been muddled with false memories, amnesia, his healing factor “healing” his brain from painful memories, brainwashing and so forth, that it’s hard to definitively nail down his past, even IN the comics.

It pretty action-packed, with a few slowdown parts to show that Wolverine has a heart.  That may be another sticking point with die-hards.  He seems to be VERY sympathetic in this movie (and the following ones).  From what I’ve read in the comics through the 80’s and 90’s, Wolverine was more apathetic and self-centered than this, but I understand that you’ve got to care about the guy.  Otherwise, why would some of your audience watch the movie?

The weakest part, as I’ve discussed with some other people familiar with the source material, is the expendability of some of the complimentary characters.  From what I’d read, Gambit was an afterthought added by the writers after realizing that they’ve skipped him in three movies already, and the fans wanted to see him.  But unless there’s some director’s cut, he’s SEVERELY underused, using his kinetic power MAYBE twice, never his hypnosis, and otherwise just being really good at fighting with a staff.

The weakest part of the entire storyline, and what I’m betting is the most upsetting to the fans, is what they do with Deadpool.  It’s very weak, and I wish they’d just created a new character to do what he does, but instead, I suppose for name recognition, they pulled in Deadpool.  The only positive of that is that it doesn’t take up much time in the story.

Overall, I think the movie was as fun to watch as its predecessors, and don’t understand all the bad press it’s getting.

Now, the second, bigger surprise was the game of the same name.  This game is incredible.  It’s not the same as many other movie tie-in titles, rushed out the door to make sure it’s there for kids to buy as soon as they leave the theater.  This game is a Wolverine game, that just happens to have some ties to the movie. 

In an interview with Major Nelson, Don Vondrak with Raven Software’s explained that after doing Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, they wanted to make a mature Wolverine game, and it wasn’t until a way into development that they were approached for movie tie-in themes.  The game, which was already very violent, could have some tweaks made to the plot, and they could continue making the game they wanted to make.

Then, in another bit of rare game development, Vondrak said the game had been wrapped up in December of 2007, but after the movie was delayed, they were given an extra 12 months of development time, which they used to polish it into exactly the game they wanted.

I’ve played several hours into it, and I’m TOTALLY impressed.  There are already several story lines that have nothing to do with the film, so I feel like I’m really forging new ground with Wolverine. 

Also, the game maintained the hyper-violence most suited for the character, instead of being watered down to match the tone of the movie.  So you get a better sense of the Wolverine in the comics, that you’re actually leading down this cool path of his broken memories.

Another amazing feature of the game is this incredible physics engine they use to destroy and rebuild Wolverine’s body as he takes damage.  His body can be stripped of skin, then muscle, then down to just bone.  Then, it will slowly rebuild itself as you watch.  It’s REALLY fun to experiment with.  At one point, I had taken a shotgun blast to the head.  Half of Wolverine’s face was gone, and just his metal skeleton showed through, but slowly, muscle tissue regenerated over it, then skin, then hair.  It was WILD.

I really liked both, so it was a good weekend for geekery.

Seth Movies, Review, Xbox

After learning that I was going to be able to get a hold of an OLPC machine, I decided to look into what it can, and cannot, do.  After realizing it needed custom, proprietary hardware to run Windows, I changed directions, and started getting into Linux, and more specifically Ubuntu. 

I’d messed with Ubuntu around 10 years ago, when a vendor sent Sean a kiosk display of free CD’s for the counter of the computer repair shop where we worked. Then, it seemed more of an uber 1337 super-system for Linux fans, maybe bored of Red Hat.  Now, Ubuntu’s installation of apps, GUI and system is incredibly inviting to me, as more of a day-to-day sort of software.

As a die-hard Windows guy (minus my phone), I generally need my Windows desktop to really feel ‘at home’ with my computer.  My games, my desktop ‘gadgets’, Windows Media Center and several other things keep me coming back to the Microsoft mothership. 

But since I was wanting to get more familiar with it so I could be fluent when I get my OLPC, I installed Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) onto a spare hard drive I had.  I’ve liked it very much so far.  I’m learning how to tweak it to what I want it to be, but in five days, I haven’t had to switch back to Windows… yet.  I’ve been able to do instant messaging, web-browsing & several other things with apps that I can find that are comparable to Windows counterparts.  I know it makes me ‘uncool’ in the tech world, but I DEFINITELY prefer IE to Firefox.  It still gets around fine, but just doesn’t seem as intuitive to me.

Now, going back to a previous topic, my phone, cannot sync to Ubuntu through what I’ve found.  I need it to sync MORE than just songs.  I need apps, contacts, photos and more to sync, and I cannot find a viable option for that, so though my Ubuntu journey has been fun, it may be seeing an early end.

That’s not to say it won’t work for the OLPC.  I think it’ll be ideal there.  I just don’t think I can do it on my main machine.  Perhaps dual-boot?  Who uses Ubuntu out there? 

What apps should I get?

Seth Review, Tech

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars came out for the Nintendo DS this week, and I was blown away. 

Let me start by saying that the game is set in the Liberty City of GTA IV.  While it’s not COMPLETELY street for street, it IS an amazingly accurate portable version of the city.  I was laughing as the opening scenes showed the main character being driven around town, and I could figure out where they were!

Then, as the city opened up for me to explore, I grabbed a car and started exploring, only instead of finding new places, I was just visiting familiar places within the city I knew.  Packie’s place, the diner by Roman’s taxi shop and the Cluckin’ Bell in Schottler were a few of the places I was getting some tiny deja vu. The only island not included in CW is Alderney, the GTA version of New Jersey.

Read more…

Seth Nintendo DS, Review