‘Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts’ Out On Nov. 18 for the Friendly Price of $39.99
August 19, 2008
Regardless of what people might say, Banjo-Kazooie has been a good series that, while definitely inferior to the Mario franchise (but which isn’t?), showed off what a great developer Rare was. They’ve had their fair share of duds (i.e. Perfect Dark Zero and Kameo), but this year might be good for the British team.
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts is due November 18 to the tune of a surprisingly cheap $39.99. As an incentive for pre-ordering the game, buyers will get a code to download the original N64 Banjo-Kazooie two weeks prior to the release of the XBLA re-release…for free.
We kind of like the idea of getting free stuff when we pre-order games around here, especially when the full game is $20 cheaper than the bloated regular price of other titles.
You guys plan on taking Rare up on their pre-order offer? Here’s a video of what you can look forward to if you do:
Top Five Summer Movies of 2008…So Far
August 19, 2008
The following are some of the chart-topping movies of the summer. Most are good, one is bad (we’re looking at you, “Hancock!”), but we’re glad its been a good year for summer movie watching and hope Hollywood entertains just as well next year.
#1 The Dark Knight - $471.1 Million
Heath Ledger’s swan song performance and serving to elevate Christian Bale’s popularity — apparently, the movie industry had yet to see his acting in “Empire of the Sun” and “Henry V” — “The Dark Knight” has been blowing up the box office this summer. Viewers have taken so much to the film that many are speculating it will break 1997’s “Titanic” $600 Million U.S. lifetime earnings (the highest grossing film of all time).
#2 Iron Man - $317.1 Million
Re-energizing Robert Downey Jr.’s career might be “Iron Man”’s biggest accomplishment, but it hasn’t done too shabby considering its earnings this summer. It’s easily one of the better comic book adaptations out there and if you haven’t watched it yet, shame on you.
#3 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - $315.1 Million
Proving that 80s franchises are still all the rage (and that Hollywood is still fresh out of ideas) has put “Indiana Jones” at #3, just narrowly missing to top “Iron Man” by a couple of million dollars. Actually…once written, that’s a LOT of money.
#4 Hancock - $225 Million
Wow. Sure, Will Smith’s latest might have provided a few chuckles and light entertainment for some but it easily beats all the other movies on this list to the “summer fluff and crap” title. Poor “WALL-E.” “Hancock” didn’t deserve to make more money than you.
#5 WALL-E - $214.1 Million
It’s a little surprising that “WALL-E” didn’t top a couple of the movies on this list (it should have taken down “Hancock,” at least!), but it was still hugely successful. The film showed a great maturation for Pixar as they took on touchy subjects while maintaining that high level of movie magic the studio is known for. One of the few movies this summer that entertained both kids and adults, alike.
‘Time Stand Still’ Dares You Not to Have Fun
August 18, 2008
We don’t know about you, but whenever a press release touts that their new game “contains no violence or foul language” and “no action sequences or timed puzzles,” our attention for it wavers more than a bit. Merscom’s Time Stand Still hopes to attract your attention regardless.
The game is completely mouse driven and features a story about an English girl, twenty-something, living in Sweden who takes on “cases.” Yes, the press release doesn’t go into any more detail than that.
Does it sound like a game you guys would play knowing that it keeps it G-rated and full of talkative, non-action bits? If it does, it’s now available for “as low as $6.99 with Game Club” here.
Via Press Release
The Good, The Bad, and the Unrated…August 18
August 18, 2008
We were once excited about Too Human but since we’ve heard so many “so-so” impressions of the game lately, we’ll be spending those sixty dollars elsewhere.
A good substitute would be Quest for Booty, which aims to give Ratchet & Clank fans a much-needed fix continuing the story immediately after last year’s furry-animal outing on PS3. Galaga Legions should be good, too, as it throws in the now familiar neon-techno coat of paint to the classic arcade game.
(The following scores were “aggregated-tive-ized” as of August 18, 2008 via Metacritic)
The Good…
ERROR ERROR
The Bad…
The Unrated…
Xbox 360
- Too Human
- Galaga Legions
PS3
- Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty
Wii
- Super Pick Ups
- Anibus
PC
- Shattered Suns
- MindHabits
- Tank Universal: Challenger Eight
- Sinking Sand
- Dracula 3: Pathe of the Dragon
DS
- Commando: Steel Disaster
Half of Kezins’ Staff Afflicted by the “Red Ring of Death”
August 16, 2008
It happened. The fatal “red ring of death” came in and swooped this writer’s Xbox 360 away. The system might have sensed the excitement over beating people online in Soulcalibur IV with Maxi-inspired “Carissa-foo” and shut down.
We gathered up a bit of info from around Kezins HQ and found out that half the staff has suffered from the dreaded “red ring.”
Will’s Xbox 360 crapped out after eleven (11!) months in use, Jesper’s is still up and running (or it should be, last we heard of him), and this writer’s took a dirt nap after a year and ten months of service. Juan? His can’t “red ring” because he doesn’t have one, but we’ll give his phantom system the benefit of the doubt and say it’d be living the good, gaming life.
What about you guys? Is your system still up and running? Or have you stayed away from the problematic Xbox 360?
The Force Unleashed Demo to PSN, Xbox Live August 21
August 16, 2008
We’re big fans of GameTrailers TV here at Kezins and, as fans, we look forward to the usual breaking news and exclusive trailers the show provides. In case you guys missed it last night, their reveal Godfather II episode made an exclusive mention of a Star Wars: The Force Unleashed demo landing on Xbox Live and PSN this Thursday, August 21.
Kezins got a chance to play the same demo at Comic Con in July and we came away impressed with how fun the force powers were to use. Fun enough that we forgot we had a lightsaber with us the whole time.
Considering the likely quality of Quest for Booty, Galaga Legions, and the above mentioned demo releasing this week, we must be heading into fall early this year.
Via GameTrailers TV
R3match Radio is Back!
August 14, 2008
Before Kezins, this writer got his start on R3match.com. We started a podcast on the site, but busy lives and conflicting schedules made it possible for only a few shows last year. Finally, we’ve got our “ish” together and have brought the R3match Radio Podcast back!
Listen in as Jason and yours truly dissect the latest in gaming and ramble on in this special “Resurrection Show.” 23-minutes of awesomeness awaits you here.
Unfortunately, we haven’t gotten ALL the kinks worked out yet, so to download you might want to try Internet Explorer instead of Firefox. If you just want to listen, any browser will work.
Please let us know what you think of the show in the comments below.
Movie Watch: The American Mall Review
August 13, 2008
MTV’s The American Mall is out this week and proves that even though it’s a musical from the giant that popularized music videos, it doesn’t mean they can produce a great movie. TAM revolves around a couple of aspiring songwriters who happen to live out their lives in a mall, fully going after the upper-teen crowd.
The problem is that even their focus group might be put off by this shoddy production with talented (albeit unknown) actors, ridiculous sayings, and forgettable songs. It tries to feed off of the popularity of Disney’s High School Musical, but is sub par in comparison.
An average mall as the main, and only, setting further cements its inferiority to Disney’s for-kids musical. It could’ve been an interesting setting, but it becomes tiresome to see store after store that only serve to market different products (i.e. Rock Band) and bolster brand identity (cough, Sears, cough). A mash up reminiscent of Kiss meeting Six Flags, but to worse results.
Besides the generic setting, unlike a good musical, the story bits and musical performances in TAM are integrated poorly, one cuts into the other abruptly every time; seamless transitions were clearly not the goal for The American Mall.
From what it seems, in-sync choreography was not a central focus of the film either as the timing is clearly off every time a song is performed. The actors look dazed and confused while they prance around for every song break, indicating that little time and effort went into rehearsing for the final cut.
Poor choreography might have deserved a pass if the songs were good but, besides the few that standout, prove to be forgettable titles. “Dreaming Wide Awake,” “New You,” and “Sorry’s Not Enough,” are about the only redeemable songs from The American Mall. So much so, that the first song mentioned is actually performed three times during the film.
It’s a shame that the most important part of the film, music, is botched because the actors actually pull off strong performances regardless of the tepid story. TAM is full of sexy, energetic leads that would’ve worked wonders if they had better source material.
RANDOM MOVIE COUNTS:
- “Backspace” Annoyingly Used as a Word: 2
- Shameless “Rock Band,” the game, Plugs: 6
- Signs of the Declining State of Sears: 3
- iPod Worthy Songs: 3 out of 10 Mediocre “Songs”
Nina Dobrev, as Ally, puts on a charismatic performance that brings light to every interaction she has with the rest of the cast. The movie shows glimmers of hope every time she’s confronted with the mall owner’s fiery redhead daughter, Madison, as their arguments are rightly heated and believable.
While the movie’s titular “American mall” might bring in the teenage girl in all of us to watch, the single setting actually becomes one of its biggest crutches being that there’s no variety and all the backgrounds look the same. There are a few good scenes and a couple of great songs littered throughout (sometimes times three), but are scatter shot and not enough to carry an otherwise typical musical about people trying to “make it.” If you missed the premiere presentation on MTV and want to see it, don’t bother looking for it on DVD…this reeks of “Generic Brand.”
DVD Release: August 12, 2008
[Editor’s Note: Walking down the aisles of your favorite retailer you’ll see movies that you’ve never heard of. Even if you’d like to know how they fare no one cares enough to review them! That’s where “Movie Watch” comes in…oh, and we’ll try to cover movies on Xbox Live from time to time. Because if you’re gonna spend those confusing Microsoft points on something other than games, it better be worth it, right?]
More Movie Watch:
Starship Troopers 3: Marauder
Batman - Gotham Knight
Like a Dragon (Ryu Ga Gotoku)
Raising Jeffrey Dahmer
