I-n-j-i-n

I don't think people can complain when we're still seeing a near 40 character roster for the game. And the way you can customize all the characters' wardrobes and the deal with the create a soul feature. That said, I do think it's a bit of a waste that they didn't add a whole lot of new fighting styles. They basically added two or three. They could have covered all the conventional weaponry if they truly wanted to, and the create-a-soul characters can only use other characters' movesets which is a bit of a waste. I hear that's why a lot of gamers are saying the create a character feature in the recent Mortal Kombat is better. Because you can also change the movesets.

But why? It's sung by one of the most legendary intro singers in television history with Ichirou Mizuki. He's the guy who sings all the over the top anime and big-robot TV shows. I suppose the song is a bit quirky for the non-initiated though. But it's amazing to see a legend just do a proper sendup for one of his favorite games. This may be a more palatable send-up, and it's for the next gen Bionic Commando game:

This has to be the corniest and yet the coolest XBLA/PSN game trailer ever. Or actually, any trailer ever made: http://www.gametrailers.com/player/37623.html

Yes, obviously. I really have no idea how even the returning actors for Lost Boys 2 and Goonies 2 would do. Aren't some of them Oscar-calibur actors now?

I would argue that Iron Man was badly miscast but Robert Downey Jr saved the ENTIRE film singlehandedly. To me, the Dark Knight wasn't cast as well as even some of the older Batman movies (Sorry, but Michael Caine was way too bossy as Alfred. Michael Gough is the best Alfred, period), Bale was alright and the rest were between pretty good to horrendously bad (Maggie gyllenhaal should be shot. One of the worst female romantic interests I've ever seen in any movie). But the thing was that the production and the vision of the creator was really good. Some of the movies does have pretty high credentials attached like maybe Akira. I mean what the heck is Leonardo DiCaprio doing with the project? If he has a lot of serious respect for the source material, it might be okay. And there's something like Battle Angel (based on Battle Angel Alita) by James Cameron. And with such obscure comic/manga material they're basing off, I think the big-company support is there if they can even plan hard in making them. It's not like with Evangelion or Halo movie where their status is totally in the air, so a lot of them really could see a 2009 release. I am seriously hoping for a surprise mega-hit like with Transformers (which nobody thought it'd be any good) in GI Joe. They still haven't revealed whether it'd be a serious movie or a campy one. A lot of the projects can go either way, and almost all of them does have some star actors, directors or producers starring in them. I'll leave it up to luck that maybe four or five of the 20 or so geek-films will be good.

You have to understand that it was the first Batman movie since the campiest movie ever in the first Batman movie. And the idea of a more pathos-driven Batman was starting to take off in the 80's and clearly Tim Burton looked to capitalize on that. I mean, whenever you see Bruce in that movie, it was like a study in the character's self pity and feeling of pity for the city. That was basically what the two Batman movies made by Burton was about. The guy knows how to put in that ironic touch beyond the campiness. If you get hung about the campiness, then that's that. Even the music in that movie was sorta campy but it still ended up rising above the occasion throughout. Also, you say "Batman killed" but I have to laugh at the notion. It was more like the bad guys getting into it and getting themselves in the situation to be killed. Batman didn't go out there with the idea of killing them (maybe the remote controlled Batmobile bombing aside, but the baddies camped there, Batman flushed it out. Done and done). To me, that kind of Batman makes more sense than some ultra pacifist that seems to only work in the comicbook pages where Batman is infinitely more menacing than any real life Batman adaptation can be.

That's the thing isn't it? While most classical Jokers, the 89 Joker or the Animated Series Joker, they always had some sort of a solid story (except for the very first Joker who came out of absolutely nowhere... like 99% of villains back then). I am fully willing to accept the reasoning that the Ledger Joker is simply and purely insane. Again, I just think it's a break in some sort of an established tradition with the character. But that doesn't really make him worse. Just different. All this in depth about the Joker makes me sound like I'm totally bashing the film, so I'll leave it at that.

Strange as it is, they say a lot of the features makes the gameplay more similar to the Japanese FF4. To me, this is by far one of the best DS games and it definitely makes my top 5 Final Fantasy list. And finally, the musical quality isn't totally sacrificed like in most conversions and it actually sounds better on the DS (headsets, not those horrible pair of speakers).

I have absolutely no faith in the Cowboy Bebop movie conversion out of default. Same to all the others. If all the rumors pan out to be true, 2009 is going to be the year of the nerds in the movies. Akira, AstroBoy, Star Trek, Castlevania, Cowboy Bebop, Escape from New York, Goonies 2, Prince of Persia, X-men, etc etc. At least one or two of them should be noteworthy, playing by the sheer number of them.

Strangely, one of the most anticipated game releases this year for me if Otomedius Gorgeous for Xbox Live Arcade. Apparently it's a fanservice style version of Parodius/Gradius and of course, it's made by the same Konami team. The announced 3 player mode sounds absolutely crazy. That and maybe Geometry Wars having that 4 player mode. Every XLA game seems to be going multiplayer crazy and it's just incredible.

I think that was the point. j/k

I didn't. Actually the part about Joker's dad was a half truth, much like a lot of the stuff Ledger's Joker talked about. I guess that works as irony in itself and I think it's good. As for the versions of Joker, I think the reason why people can't see the similarity for much of the classical versions of Joker with Ledger is because the Ledger Joker is a much newer, more openly threatening version of the Joker. The Joker for decades, as a crazed mass murderer he was, was a smooth villain. Almost classical in how he was the antithesis to Batman. Really, I don't think one can make too big of a fuss on which Joker is better. Because both Nicholson and Ledger did GREAT Jokers on the types of Jokers they aimed to do. Yeah, because it's you who decides how snide it sounded right? No need to be defensive there. Hurrrrrrr

Strangely, I like Lizardman for his prominent (EXTREME SARCASM) role in Tower of Druaga. Oh, and the Red Crystal Rod and Blue Crystal Rod for Cassandra and Sophitia. That's pretty high level of nerd-dom involved to know the Druaga tie-in for Soul Calibur, but I like it. More Druaga please.

Okay, maybe not *DARK* dark, but still. Still pretty dreary. Also, we only got the night shots for the trailer, it seems. And the whole 300 director involvement so maybe the lighting is purposefully styled like that. Other than that, the look of the characters can't get much better.

But... but... the days in the Watchmen graphic novel were dark too.. I don't get it.

Time to start playing favorites? meh If we're comparing based on pure subjectivity, I thought Val Kilmer made a slightly better Batman. There, I said it. At least he didn't have the asthma-voice of the new one. Speaking of the Bale Batman, I didn't really fall in love with the cocky-Bruce of Batman Begins. I always gelled to the pathos/brooding Wayne most of the older versions of Batman. Which leads to Keaton's Batman which I liked the best because he made the best Bruce. The only knock being that Keaton was relatively short so he didn't have the intimidation factor of Kilmer/Bale. But personality-wise, I don't think there's a peer with Keaton yet (not to mention I feel Keaton is the more well tooled actor overall than any other Batman actor). Again, all that's subjective. I still think Bale did a great job for his role and that specific type of Batman. It's just that it's not the type of Batman I was accustomed to either.

No need to be snide there. Ledger's Joker was simply threatening. Not that it's a bad thing, but I never got that feeling much out of the comicbook versions that's all. Yes, I actually agree completely with you. The irony was there, but again, that seemed to be drowned out by the way Nolan tried to make Joker simply threatening than anything else. All the 'oh noes, here comes the creepy Joker' scenes gave me that hint that maybe the irony part of the classical Joker wasn't really the point of this new Joker. In that terms of bringing unadulterated chaos, I still think that's something you see more out of someone like the Violator Clown, causing mayhem just to create mayhem. Or maybe Joker when he goes berserk in some comicbook angles. Also, I'm not sure what to make of the Ledger version apparently being born simply because his daddy was a bad guy. Again, the the Nicholson Joker was picture perfect except for him being Batman's parents' killer. Falling into a vat and everything and while being murderous, only doing so in spurts and not quite on a full killing spree like Ledger's one (that, and the consistent insistence from the comics that Joker is fully sane while being the villain, hence why he is such an evil villain). I don't fault anyone for liking Ledger's Joker. I just never grew up with that type of character, that's all.

The only knock with this game was that the original story had a pretty dark feel for a Final Fantasy game and they are using some of the cutest polygons to ever grace the DS. It's really weird. I like it, but I think maybe they could've used more serious character proportions for this kind of story.

I'm not being that vague here. I just get the feeling that they're similar and a lot of discussions in anime forums have the same opinion. Just yelling "IT'S NUTHIN LIKE NAROOTO" isn't going to make me magically think they aren't similar. And did I say anything out of the line? Because I said their overall premise is very similar. Not in how the story specifically plays out or the exact technicality of the worlds. Also, why the hell does this kind of discussion boil down to hating Naruto all of a sudden? I like both Avatar and Naruto. No discussion there.

Dare I say it? I think Ledger was almost overplayed. I mean, the Oscars? Are you f'n kidding me? I think Ledger did a great villain but maybe not a good Joker. To me, he's more like the force-of-nature solitary evil like the Violator (Clown obviously) than the gangland-oriented Joker. And like some others have said, the Ledger Joker was simply threatening. No jokes and barely no laughing and no real sense of irony. Just plain mass murdering and killing. Again, that strikes me as some of the other psychotic characters than the vintage Joker we got out of Jack Nicholson.

I'm anticipating it. Between the Spirit and Watchmen, I actually am anticipating them more than Batman or any other 2008 superhero movies personally. Mainly because both have the potential to be either REALLY GOOD or really bad depending on how they stick to the source material. From the overall look of things, it looks like they will both get the visual look of it right. I think the Watchmen will fit in a movie just fine personally. There's surely a lot of scenes and dialog in the graphic novel, but you can always pare them down to the most crucial parts and put more words into actual action instead. Or split it between two movies. Either way, if there's any justice for the comicbook movie industry,I think the Watchmen should become a critical and commercial success. Too bad it doesn't have the idiot-proof factor of most major superhero movies.

Okay, I'm looking at the screens for the Wii version of Dead Rising more closely... and I see 10 zombies at most. Compared to the 100+ in the original. So now the entire draw of the game is gone. Great.

That's the thing. When people say video game rental places are dilapidated and such, I can't help but tune it out like it's not even real. I just don't put up with it anymore. Same with movie rental places. Hopefully with the 360's Netflix deal, I don't have to ever worry about even using the postal system for movies now. Maybe in the future, people can rent games straight out of the 360/PS3 online services. Maybe especially for 360 since they already have a deal with Gamefly.

Some of the real Famicom cartridges have way better artistic merit to the IMO. But maybe I'm too exposed to them from this one TV show about Famicom games I keep watching.

Not in general themes of ninjas, no. Not in every aspect or style or anything like that. Just the whole magical/martial arts fighting stuff. And Aang living up to his destiny? That feels way too much like Naruto to me. I agree. Naruto tends to drag things quite a bit, but that's not the similarity I'm seeing. The similarity is in the elemental fighting and the way Aang and crew goes from one elemental nation to the next. That is basically what Naruto boils down to in its storytelling. Badguys come, Fire Nation ninjas (Konoha) goes out to other elemental nations and fight elemental-attacking-ninjas. Obviously, technically both series are very different. But just about every anime boards out there seems to compare Avatar to Naruto and for the right reasons IMO. I really don't think Avatar should be bashed even if they based some basic ideas off of Naruto because they got around to all the important fights and storytelling in only three seasons. Though I wish there were more of it since there seems to be a lot of loose ends and some lost opportunities with some characters. Maybe a sequel should be in order.