Live: the X-Box reveal!

So today, right now, as I'm writing, Microsoft are ready to reveal their new X-Box. I'm sittin' back with a couple of good friends and watching the stream - and I'll update this post if they reveal anything interesting, I'll put it here. So, depending on how much Microsoft is ready to put out there, this'l be a very long or very short post indeed.

Edit 1: And there we go. The name is Xbox One. So no 720, sadly. The thing is beautiful, by the way - it's a whole lot more angular and boxey in its design, but having never liked the look of the 360, I'm down with that. The Kinect that comes with it is kinda fucking huge, though, which might not look too neat on top of your TV.

The controller LOOKS to be sweet.

Edit 2: Slogan: The All in One Experience. Seems they'll be working with the whole multi-media thing.

The speaker, Yusuf Mehdi, just turned on the thing by saying "XBox on", so there'll be voice control, and, seemingly, motion control of the menues. They're already profiling the machine as catering to all your entertainment needs: TV, music streaming, Skype, friends' activity etc.

Instant Switching: Apparently you can instantly change between all sorts of entertainment instantly through voice commands - games, music, TV, and, of course, Internet Explorer (let's hope CHrome comes out for it too, eh?)

The motion controls for the thing can also go back and forth to menues and programs, and it looks kind of impressive.

"Snap mode" allows you to layer programs - you can watch a movie, yell for your IE, and google facts about the movie at the same time - through voice commands.

The voice command seems to be really well done. They just presented Interactive TV.

Edit 3: Trending feature on the TV, showing the trends in the whole XBox live community. "The beginning of truly intelligent TV", they're calling it.

Edit 4: "Under the hood" - this went by a bit quickly, but if I heard 'em right:
8 GB Ram, 500 GB HDD, USB 3.0, Blu-Ray. New, redesigned Kinect - voice, gestures, all that shit. 1080p on the Kinect, 30 FPS, and generally improved software on the Kinect, and more. Kinect seems to come much more central in games, so it's a good thing it's probably been improved.
SmartGlass.
Xbox Live: Going up from 15000 to 300.000(!) servers to power that shit. They better not have fucking lag.


Edit 5: Aaaaaaaaand EA just took the stage. Prepare your bricks!

Really though, news on games.

EA Sports Ignite: designed to "blow the line between real and virtual" - instincts, decision making, agility, speed, living worlds. Games "to launch within 12 months": UFC, FIFA14, NBA Live 14, Madden 14.

They claim they'll add "10 times more animation depth", and make the audience and surrounding game worlds of EA Sports more dynamic.

They plan to say more about the new companionship between Microsoft and EA "in a couple of months", apparently.

New FIFA mode: FIFA 14 "Ultimate Team" - Only on Xbox, apparently!

Forza Motorsport 5 just got announced - and shown. More on E3 - and it's a launch game.

Quantum Break, a new game from Remedy. Pretty impressive trailer without actually revealing  anything. The tagline is "Time is the fire in which we burn" if that tells you anything.

Apparently, they already have plans for -15- exclusive games. FIFTEEN. In the first year.


Edit 6: Apparently Xbox is becoming "the new water cooler". So it's probably the new place to meet.

Or it actually dispenses water. Maybe it's why it's so big.

343's Bonnie Ross just entered the stage. Is HALO coming up?


Edit 7: Nope - but they just announced a Live Action HALO TV show. With Steven Fucking Spielberg behind it.

Edit 8: Live NFL and fantasy league combined? That's pretty neat.

Edit 9: Release date is...

Psyche. No date. But this year. So I guess the date will be out at E3?

Promises for E3: Many exclusive games revealed.

Early CoD DLC promised for the Xbox, along with a look at CoD: Ghosts - the first next-gen one.

Stephen Gaghan (Syriana) is apparently writing, and the story will apparently situate the player as an underdog soldier in an America that got its ass kicked - you're part of the remnants of the special forces.

Next-gen Engine - and it does look good.
Dynamic maps in multiplayer - earthquakes, traps.
Character customization.

Edit 10: The CoD: Ghosts trailer...

Eh. As extremely mediocre as it gets. It's pretty, sure, but... eh.

And that's the streaming done with! E3 should bring us more news.

But, as a Playstation loyalist...

It actually looks pretty good.


EDIT 11: It seems that Microsoft are glorious, GLORIOUS trolls, at least if these rumors are true. Apparently, they themselves will put a fee on pre-owned games; if you put a pre-owned game in your disc, claims are you'll have to pay a fee to play it.
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/407912/microsoft-confirms-pre-owned-fee-for-xbox-one/
If this is true... well, the Internet is angry, Microsoft. The Internet is very angry.

Also, it's not backwards compatible with the 360, but I don't think people were actually expecting that.
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/407910/xbox-one-not-compatible-with-xbox-360-games/

But really, if the fee thing turns out to be true - which hopefully, it does not - that is a D-bag business model, and Microsoft will be in for a shitstorm of size.



I mentioned they apparently are working closely with EA, right?

So, how about that Arkham Origins trailer?

So the full trailer for Arkham Origins hit yesterday, following up on the teaser featuring Bats and Deathstroke dukin' it out and leaving people wantin' for more.

In case you haven't seen it yet, here's a link. Go watch it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWorwYmCuX4

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Done? Good. Then I needn't be worried about spoiling anything in the following.

What we have seen of the trailer thus far doesn't really reveal anything particularly new to us. It had already been revealed that the premise of the game featured Batman, Christmas, and a shitload of assassins out to get him due to a bounty on his head courtesy of Black Mask. stylistically, the game really seems to hold the tone from earlier Arkham games; it's gritty shit, and everyone who's played the other Arkham games are probably as excited about that as I am.

So anyway, let's talk about the visuals. As mentioned, it's very gritty in design, besides being very beautiful in detail, of course. If we're comparing to earlier games, the first thing one notices is of course the different design in Batman's armor, but that's not a problem. Au contraire; with the setting around 7 years prior to AA, isn't it only natural that Bats would learn from experiences and adjust his gear accordingly? Exactly.
Deadpool looks even more radically different in comparison to his AC appearance, and he somehow manages to look both less and more advanced: the gear looks more professional here, but his more standardized and less stylized kit better conveys someone who's new in the business. All in all, decent interpretations of the two characters - there's nothing that make you doubt the premise of the game, and they both look kick-ass. What more can you ask?
Deathstroke makes his first Arkham appearance in the trailer, and he, too, has been Arkham'd up well. His appearance here is more armored than his usual comic book appearance, more in style with his recent appearance in Injustice - and he looks fucking rad.
Black Mask and his white suit is stylish, but I'd have liked to see a somewhat darker design - like the permanent bottle monocle that Penguin has in AC, for example. It's not a bad design, but I could've hoped for more. Nevertheless, we haven't seen him under the mask yet. Who knows what he's like underneath?

As mentioned,we were met in the trailer by two assassins that are no surprise at all: Deathstroke the Terminator and Deadshot. But that's still a bit to go to the eight supposed assassins that are out to show Batman the true spirit of christmas in his very own, super grim, Christmas Carol. Who else might we see in such a connection?

Lady Shiva
Seems like a legit guess on my part. She is a hardcore assassin lady, arguably the most hardcore in the DC-verse. Amongst her accomplishments are training Batman and Tim Drake, helping Bats get back on his feet after Bane snapped his back, and bearing the child of another badass, David Cain - a child that, at least in pre-New 52 continuity, served as Batgirl for a time: Cassandra Cain. Other than that, Lady Shiva is also affiliated with Ra's al Ghul's League of Assassins, aggressively recruited into it by David Cain who murdered Shiva's sister.
Lady Shiva is generally considered to be one of the few people who can compare to or even best Batman in combat, and for that reason alone, she strikes me as a worthy candidate to one of the assassins.

David Cain
Shares many characteristics with Lady Shiva. League of Assassin, parent of Cassandra Cain whose life he majorly fucked up, and also trained Batman. Definitely not at all a good guy, and would probably cherish the chance of testing his skills against the Caped Crusader.

Merlyn
The nemesis of Green Arrow and one of the kickassest archers in DC, Merlyn is also one of the assassins that might have the skill and/or arrogance to take on Bats. Besides the fact that Merlyn is, you know, an assassin, there is also the fact that the bomb-containing box in the trailer is apparently from Queen Industries, which is at least a recognition of the fact that Oliver Queen, and by extension his friends and enemies, all live in the Arkhamverse. This list seems to be littered with tutors, by the way, as this gentleman tutored Cassandra Cain (The Batgirl from before) and also seems to have taught bow skills to Damian Wayne at one point (see Grant Morrison's Batman run, even if you don't care about whether this is true or not. It's fucking amazing.)
There is of course also the fact that the Arrow TV series has been enjoying considerable success this TV season, and without spoiling too much, Merlyn is a name that features pretty heavily in the show, and it could seem a good springboard to give him some screentime in Origins. Merlyn even underwent a name change in the New 52, becoming Tommy Merlyn like in the Arrow show, as opposed to his original identity of Arthur King - which I personally found to be a quite charming name, being an Arthurian nut, but if it's a step in giving other characters a shot at the spotlight in an AAA title, I'll go along with it.

The Black Glove
Is probably more a hope on my part than it's likely to happen, but a boy can dream, can't he?

The Black Glove became famous under Grant Morrison's run, and is essentially a group of mercenaries, super villains and assassins from all over the world, gathered together by villain Doctor Hurt. They're all in on a bet together: can Batman actually lose? Some of the members are more likely to appear than others, obviously. Sadly, it'll probably be a cold day in Hell before Doc Hurt makes his appearance outside of comic books (and probably the same with the rest, sadly), but 'least a guy like Mexican trap master El Sombrero would fit in with the assassin setting.


All the restBut then again, need the game only focus on the assassins and Black Mask? Some promotional artwork revealed sketches of what seemed to be Joker, Scarecrow, Bane and Killer Croc, and while Joker wouldn't really give two squirts about the money he might make from killing Bats - if he even wants to kill him, that is - Killer Croc isn't exactly a criminal mastermind and might very well be up for hire, and Bane too has some past connections in comic books with the League of Assassins (And in TDKR too, obviously), so he might be ready to take money from Black Mask. Venom doesn't come cheap, you know. Seeing as this is a AAA Batman title, it's pretty much guaranteed that Joker will be in the game somewhere, but AC introduced a bunch of side missions with appearances by different villains. It could be a way to introduce him into this game. Same goes for the rumored appearances by Falcone and Penguin, and Scarecrow could very well have an appearance like that, as well.

Those are my thoughts for now, 'least. I'm really glad to see Deathstroke and Black Mask get more screen time: they're awesome villains, and especially Deathstroke looks to be frickin' badass in this stuff. The guy's essentially a Batman who's in it for the money, and if you read something like Identity Crisis, you know how badass he is, where the guy takes out like 6 or 7 JLA members by himself like it was nothing. If they can just NOT mess with the fighting system, and the trailer delivers on the promises, then we're in for a great game, guys - even if it's not developed by Rocksteady.

The N*** Word

It’s always been easy to pick on the nerds. Those awkward guys and girls who cannot really function in society and who are only comfortable within the confines of their dimly lit rooms, in front of their computer, head buried in their comic books, or with paint-dipped brush in one hand, newly assembled orc in the other. And the only thing that can really awaken their passions, good or bad, are when they get quickscoped, get an epic drop, rage at Dan Slott because of Amazing Spider-Man #700 or someone makes fun of their miniatures.

And I call bullshit.

I’m a nerd, or geek, or whatever. And I happily embrace that identity. It’s not like I could hide it anyway (the Batman T-shirts are sort of a give-away), and I’ve been called it enough times by enough people to realize that it’s probably right. Not all of those comments have necessarily been derogatory in nature. Especially in the later years, where I’m now in my twenties, there have been different connotations. When I’ve been called a nerd and told people I thought that was unnecessary, I’ve been met with a somewhat surprised “it wasn’t meant as something negative”.

And you know what? I love that.

I’ve been met with all the derogatory applications as well, especially around 10 years ago, in my tweens and early teens, when there were always a couple of twats in your class who for some reason enjoyed spending time picking on the nerdy and the insecure. Because nothing’s better than making other people feel bad, right? Cunts. Many of us have been there, and it sucks.

But lately, I’ve been a nerd in the sense that I’ve been passionate about whatever the topic of discussion might be. This is a definition of the word that I can get 100% behind. A friend of mine’s told me that one of the reasons he enjoys my company is that if we, say, sit down to watch a superhero movie, he enjoys “getting all sorts of extra nerd-info” as I simply cannot shut my trap and simply have to launch into my own little commentary track, because I just fucking love Batman and love knowing that they actually did flip a big-ass truck in The Dark Knight, and I want my friends to share in my enthusiasm because I’m enjoying it thoroughly. All of us nerds know that feeling as well: you’re so wicked passionate about something, whether it be books, games, comic books, board games, movies, TV shows, cartoons, drawing, a music genre, an artist, whatever. WHAT is not the point. It’s the passion that matters.

Consider the words of indie game developer, novelist, game critic, internet personality and Prolific Nerd, Ben ‘Yahtzee’ Croshaw, speaking on what it is to be a fan: “If you got passion for something that’s always interesting, and if you got no passion for anything, if you claim not to be a nerd, about anything, you must be the dullest human being in the world.”[1] I think Yahtzee makes a very important point here: a life without Nerdism is a life without passion. So embrace it! Also note his point that if you’re not a nerd, that is without passion, then you’re dull. Notice that Yahtzee says “about anything”, not “about video games”.  As I said above, what is not the point. The passion in itself is.

Most people can probably agree that a hardcore gamer will qualify as a nerd. People might be somewhat less prepared to label a jock in the same manner, however. But I don’t really see why you’d separate the two. I’ve a friend who knows everything about the history of the film media, and can name drop Italian filmmakers from the 60’s like it was nuthin’. He’s a film nerd. At the same time, he’s ready to sacrifice sleep and a healthy day rhythm just to catch a certain baseball, football, soccer or basketball game when Giants, 49’ers, Fulham or Kings are playing. He’s definitely a sports nerd, too.

This goes back to what I mentioned earlier, namely the fact that a lot of nerds have probably been picked up by the jock type dude at school. Which is ridiculous, because few people were as zealous about their stuff and reacted as angrily as they themselves did. I’ve had discussions, heated ones as well, with friends about, say, which Batman movie is the best. But I’ve certainly never started a fight about which one of two equally shit soccer teams is the best (and yes, they’re shit. I’m from Denmark. We always lose when playing soccer). That was also a classic move for when they wanted to pick on someone, by the way: when you were asked about, say, soccer teams, and refused to provide an answer because you didn’t give a shit, or you God forbid provided the wrong answer, it was essentially a carte blanche to pick on you. Again, it’s pretty hypocritical, because THEY were the guys who got mean, or maybe even violent, about their opinions, and at the same time used Nerd in a derogatory manner. But the zealous fanboyism is a discussion for another time.

So yeah, think about it. You’re probably a nerd in some manner as well. I know people that are nerds in all sorts of ways. I know comic book nerds, movie nerds, videogame nerds, music nerds, PC nerds, roleplaying nerds, series nerds and so forth. But I also know people who’re nerdy about things of a quite different nature. I know cooking nerds, photography nerds, design nerds, Internet nerds, linguistic nerds, science nerds, sports nerds, gym nerds, career nerds, alcohol nerds (as in aficionados. Not alcoholics. I’m hoping) and so forth.

You can be a nerd about a general concept: as mentioned, I’ve friends who just love the film media so much that they know everything about Italian movie history, even though they’ve no connection to Italy and no formal education in Media or Film History or the like.

You can love the shit out of a specific TV show. Even if it’s no longer running, and it lasted only a short time, you can still love it like you wouldn’t believe, and to you, one of the biggest crimes against humanity is the fact that it was cancelled. Firefly, anyone?

Nerdism can be an extremely focused passion. I know a guy who isn’t really a sci-fi or roleplaying nerd in any way. But man does he love his space marines.

My point is simply the following: is passion bad? No. Too much passion can potentially be horrible, but you can’t really hate on anyone for loving something, can you? You do it yourself – and why would you hate on someone for loving something else than what you do? It doesn’t have to be either/or. Only a Sith sees the world in black and white, you know.

Those are just my two cents. About a nerd, from a nerd, if you want. So hi. I’m a nerd and proud of it. I love Batman. I love Star Wars. I love video games, TV series, sci-fi and fantasy. I love words. I love the English language. I love Shakespeare. I love Eminem. I love the Arthurian legends. I love comedy, and I love making people laugh. I love a good story. And I love bacon. My God, do I love bacon. I’m a bit of a nerd with all these things, some more in certain periods than others. But they are the passions that have helped form me and that have made me who I am.  And I’m pretty happy with that person, really. I spend a good bit of my time on “nerd culture”, and I felt like sharing my thoughts about it. So this is what I’m doing, and if you think my opinions are worth reading, I might share more of ‘em. And if you took your time to read this, thanks!

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[1] http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/escapist-expo/6300-Fanboyism