Derek Bodner’s Blog

Last Sunday (May 6th), I also “finally” was able to find a wii. I say finally because I wasn’t really scouring stores daily, but occasionally (like maybe every other week) checking to see if stores had them in stock. I ran into a ToysRUs the day before, and they said they were getting some in the following day. I got there a little before they opened (not ridiculously, it ended up being an hour, but that’s only because I thought they opened at 9 instead of 10), but in reality I could have walked up when they opeend and been more than fine.

So far I’ve only gotten Wii Sports, Zelda and Spiderman 3, but so far it’s fantastic. With Wii sports, Golf and Bowling are tons of fun. The Wii-mote is going to absolutely revolutionize sports games and shooters. I would have never bought a Golf of Bowling game in the past, but now I absolutely would. The Wii Sports games are really just mini-games, with a lot of features that could be added, but they’re loads of fun. And what makes them great is if you’re playing by yourself, you can play in 10 minutes easily. I haven’t really played Spiderman enough to have an opinion on it, it came bundled with the system.

Zelda is absolutely phenomenal. It goes back to the Ocarina roots, but adds plenty fresh. Those complaining (and there’s few) that it’s too much like Ocarina and not enough has changed are nuts. You don’t change something just for the sake of changing it, and the controls and presentation on Ocarina are great. The new additions the game has made are enough to keep it fresh. Overall, this is definitely the best Zelda made yet.

And the Virtual Console is absolutely great. Keep in mind, I’ve used emulators quite a bit, probably since about ‘99. Playing the old games isn’t something new. But having the option of playing them on a console again, in front of the TV, with multiple players in the room is very nice. Adds a little more nostalgia than playing them on the computer (not to mention the controls are better). I’ve only got a couple (Mario64, Super Mario Brothers, Punch-Out, Donkey Kong Country), but there’s hours of gameplay I can still play there. Particularly with Mario64 and Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Yeah, there’s no doubt that my opinion of those games are influenced by memories, but those are two of the greatest games ever. Mario64 revolutionized gaming, and Zelda: OoT is still considered by many to be the greatest video game ever. I can play both of them, and even 11 and 9 years after their releases (respectively), those are still viable games that can be played (and sold) today. There were certainly consoles I played longer when I was growing up, and consoles that had a better range of games. But the N64, for my buck, was the most memorable console ever, mainly because of those two games.

Saw Spiderman 3 last week (Saturday, May 5th), with Keith and Jimmy. Overall I thought it was entertaining, but nothing epic. Good, but not great. Fun, but probably the lesser of the 3. I loved some things (how they did Venom, although I wish he had stuck around), and disliked some others (the CGI, some of the acting).

Good:
* The CGI on Sandman was amazing. Best special effects in any of the 3 movies. Especially the scene where he became The Sandman for the first time. Overall I liked Sandman (liked how in the end, he wasn’t Ben’s killer. Liked that he wasn’t a pure bad guy. Liked that Peter forgave him. Really liked the CGI in that particular scene where he became Sandman the first time)
* Liked the way they did Venom. I thought he would be a very easy character to screwup, but I think it worked. I thought the character looked phenomenal. Thought it worked with Parker ruining his career, and loved that they included the bell tower. Thought they caught the essence of Venom well.
* Thought Spiderman’s “black suit” and the struggle worked well. Overall, there’s certainly criticism that the movie was low on plot, or that there was too much going on and the characters weren’t very developed. Certainly I think this could be true for the villains, but they weren’t what this story was about. They were side attractions, and Spiderman’s struggles was the primary story. And I thought that was done well.
* Liked that in the end, Harry and Peter got back on the same side. Thought it was well done, and could have been a disaster.

Bad:
* Sandman had a lot more potential as a character. If there’s one character I thought was underdeveloped and rushed because they were trying to do too much in the film, it was him.
* Harry’s “amnesia” was very poorly done, IMO, and unnecessary.
* The CGI, particularly in the first alley-fight scene between Spiderman and Green Goblin was bad. It looked very CGI’ish and was very overdone. Overall I thought the effects were subpar for the movie (with the exception being Sandman and Venom.
* Overall I thought the acting was subpar. Tobey and Kirsten were adequate, but nothing special. Thomas Haden Church didn’t have enough to work with. And I don’t like James Franco one bit.

Overall fun, but not special. Which is a shame because it could have been, had a few kinks been worked out.

Disclaimer: Johnny Hughes might not have handled it perfectly, but he’s still right, and it’s absolutely hysterical.
(Sorry for posting a year old news, I just ran into it today).
http://www.centos.org/modules/news/article.php?storyid=127

Click on the link, or “Read the rest of this entry” for the e-mail exchanges between an enraged Tuttle city official and the CentOS team.
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