Wednesday Whimsy

By: Caelrona

Hiya all! The week is over already and I’m just sitting here wondering where it went. But anyway, Happy St. Patty’s Day to any of our readers who celebrate it. Aside from it being a small holiday; Sunday also brought us new episodes of The Walking Dead and Vikings; both of which I am loving so much. But today’s blog isn’t about television, no matter how much we all love it. Today I thought I’d talk about video games a bit. Lots of stuff happening on that front that I’m excited about; Minecraft just brought the 1.5 update which is murdering me with lag. That’s ok, Mojang, it isn’t like I was excited to play with the daylight sensors or anything. The newest Simcity was also released, but talk online says there are problems with it. Last but not least, Hidden Path Entertainment has finally stepped up to bring our beloved Age of Empires 2 into the modern age with an HD remake. So, let’s get started shall we?

Mojang finally released the much anticipated Redstone Update; otherwise known as Minecraft update 1.5. I’ve been waiting for this for a while with a lot of anticipation, because the daylight detector is a much needed circuit component and I loved playing with random redstone circuits. Unfortunately, the update did more than just bring new items. It brought lag; horrible, terrible, game stuttering lag. I mean, my laptop probably isn’t the best machine to run Minecraft on anyway; but this is just ridiculous. I get lag standing still. Aside from that they also changed the way texture packs have to be laid out, which means a lot of work for me converting mine to the new layout. In the long run, I’m sure I’ll eventually love the Redstone update, probably after a 1.5.1 hotfix to address the lag issue, but for now; screw you too, Mojang. =(

EA finally brought fans what they’ve been begging for with a brand new Simcity that has apparently crashed and burned since its launch. From what I’ve been reading, I’m really glad that I haven’t bought it yet. Apparently they are attempting to sell Simcity as an MMO, which is kind of silly. Take it from a Sim nerd; we don’t play Sim games to deal with other people. We play Sim games to control everything. An option to play with certain people would have been loved by pretty much all fans. Forcing us to play with random people, on the other hand, is not really welcome at all. We could just do PUG’s in World of Warcraft if we wanted to play with random players of questionable skill. Speaking of questionable skill; the AI built into the Sims is laughable. I don’t really think it can even be called AI, since there is no intelligence to it at all. They don’t actually have individual lives, as was promised. Instead they work at whatever the closest workplace is and live wherever the closest house is. But amid all the bad, there is some good news; apparently someone modded Simcity to work completely offline, proving the EA’s statements about online server play being integral to the game was a load of bunk. So hopefully the amazing modders out there can give us a functional Simcity that Sim-fans can love.

Hidden Path Entertainment is making many oldschool gamers very happy with an Age of Empires 2: Age of Kings HD release this coming April via Steam. I was so excited when I heard the news. I spent plenty of time playing Age of Empires, and having my friends slaughter me in online play. I still play it occasionally, although the hoops I jump through in order to run it on my Windows 7 machine without glitching are ridiculous. All of which is precisely why I am so excited; the HD release will feature updated graphics and had been designed to run on newer machines and operating systems. No more crappy graphics caused by Aero. As a bonus, they aren’t simply updating Age of Kings; they are also including The Conquerors expansion all in one glorious HD bundle, which is nice because that means we won’t have to turn around and pay again just to get those 5 civilizations. The best thing? They are charging a measly little $19.99 USD for this (a perfectly reasonable price, in my opinion) instead of some ridiculous amount that gamers would still begrudgingly pay for their much loved game. All in all, Hidden Path Entertainment is full of win!

Of course there are tons of other games being released, or have just been released recently that I’m also excited about. I mean, we did just get a Walking Dead game, and they announced Assassins Creed 4: Black Flag for then end of this year. All of which is super exciting, and I’m totally looking forward to them all. But since I didn’t want to bore you with tons of game announcements, I stuck to what pretty much sums up as my Top 3. I don’t know about you; but I’ve got some gaming to do!

Until next time,

Caelrona – signing off! ❤

Wednesday Whimsy

By: Caelrona

Hiya all! Another week, another blog post. It’s Wednesday again, and so here I am to bring you a dash of geek. This past weekend I went to see the new release Warm Bodies in theaters with a couple of friends. My popcorn was amazing, because we went to a theater with the flavored pop-corn salt thingies, and the movie was pretty good too. I mean, it’s nothing I’m super excited about, but it wasn’t bad at all, it just wasn’t as good as, say, Zombieland. It just had too much chick-flick in it to be something that I could really love. But anyway, I would hate to ruin it for those of you who have yet to watch it, so instead of telling you about it I thought I’d instead use it for inspiration. Between it and the new episodes of The Walking Dead airing this coming Sunday, I’m in a zombie mood. So here we have my Top 5 Worst Zombie Types.

Number 5: Suiciders from Dead Island

These zombies are gross. The game booklet describes them thusly; “This poor creature trapped in a disfigured, pulsing form retains a semblance of awareness even though its instincts drive it to get close to an uninfected survivor and attack with a self-destructive explosion. Fighting suiciders in a confined space is or from close range is… suicidal.” So yeah, they are big, walking pustules of infection waiting to explode themselves to kill you, and if you survive the explosion you’ll be covered in their nasty infectious puss. Gross. Also they attempt to garner your sympathy by uttering a creepy ‘Help Me’ when ever you come near them. No thanks!

Number 4: Rage Virus Zombies from 28 Day/Weeks Later

Zombies that can run? Screw that shit! If the zombie apocalypse ever happens then I want the dumb, slow, dead kind. I do not want running live ones!

Number 3: Bonies from Warm Bodies

Now, I don’t want to ruin the movie for those of you who haven’t seen it, so I’ll keep this short. They are zombies that have peeled all their flesh off. That’s right. Skeleton zombies. Creepy as fuck. Oh, and they can run.

Number 2: Mutations from Resident Evil

In basically every Resident Evil there are always weird mutated zombie-things. From the wall-crawling Lickers that bite Rain Ocampo in the very first Resident Evil movie, to the huge, muscled Axeman that Alice fights in the shower room of the prison in the 4^th Resident Evil movie, to the tunnel-digging Majini also from the 4^th movie. I dislike them intensely. Mainly because of their creepy factor, but also I just dislike the entire premise of them. While they have backstory and purpose in the games, they really just make very little sense at all in the movies.

 

Number 1: Reavers from Serenity/Firefly

The Reavers from Serenity/Firefly aren’t actually zombies, I know. But they’re cannibalistic, and kill everything so it is close enough for me have always kind of considered them as sort of zombies. Anyway, one thing is for certain; I absolutely, positively do not want able-bodied, running zombies who can think and use weapons and technology. That would be horrible.

 

There we have it! My Top 5 Worst Zombie Types. Of course there are individual zombies I dislike intensely, these types are my least favorite. Well, I should rephrase that. I enjoy watching them; they would be my least favorite kinds to have to deal with. but anyway,  all this talk of zombies has given me some cravings… No, not for human brains. For a zombie movie marathon! Or a zombie tv-show marathon… ooh, now I’m even more excited for the new episodes of the Walking Dead! I suppose I will survive the few days we have until the first one airs. Hopefully ya’ll can too!

Until next time,

Caelrona – signing off! ❤

Wednesday Whimsy

  By: Caelrona

Hiya all! It’s Wednesday again, and I’ve paused my video games to bring you another blog. This week I went to the movie theaters to see Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters with a couple friends of mine. This movie didn’t make it on to my list of 2013 movies from my last blog post because… well, I’m not really sure. It didn’t come up on any of the big lists for expected blockbusters when I was looking up movies for this year, and (maybe because I don’t watch much TV..) I haven’t seen too much in the way of promotion for it. My friends mentioned it to me, and so despite not making it on to my list (and it totally would have done!) I did actually go to a theater and see this one. Furthermore; I liked it. It was just my type of movie; plenty of violence and a bit of gore with enough humor and seriousness to keep it interesting.

Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters was just released here in America on January 25th. Unfortunately, it won’t be getting released until February or even March in other parts of the world, so I will try my best not to ruin it for those of you who won’t be able to see it immediately. So, in case it wasn’t obvious, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters is based on the classic children’s tale of Hansel and Gretel; two little children happen upon a house made of candy in a forest and get captured by the witch living in it. They end up killing her in a desperate struggle to save themselves from being eaten by her. This movie expands on the children’s tale, showing how Hansel and Gretel continued their lives after that incident and turned their gruesome beginning into a unique lifestyle and career.

This movie does a very good job of bringing that original tale to life for adults, as well as adding to it in a clever way. Jeremy Renner (AKA Hawkeye in the Avengers) plays a very no-nonsense, slightly socially-inept and ass-kicking Hansel, while Gemma Arterton (Princess Tamina from the Prince of Persia movie) plays his equally kick-ass, no-nonsense sister Gretel. Both actors are excellent, and their characters feel very believable and real as people. Playing opposite them as their foe is Famke Jansen (Jean Grey from the X-men movies) who delivers an excellent performance as an evil Grand Witch. Apparently she enjoys playing especially powerful female leads, which is nice, because she certainly is good at them.

If you get the chance, I would highly recommend you go and see this in the theaters. I enjoyed it immensely, and I cannot wait until a DVD release so I can have my own copy, because this movie was right up my alley. If you enjoyed movies like Van Helsing, The Prince of Persia, or The Scorpion King then this will definitely be something you’d enjoy. It has that same feel to it as those movies do, although I’m not entirely sure what you’d call that, exactly. Anyway, I will leave you with that!

Until next time,

Caelrona – signing off! ❤