Shenmue the Animation Ep. 2: Daybreak - Summary/Review

Back again with more of Ryo's journey to find his Father's killer. Last time, he received a letter addressed to his Father and that is currently his only clue. I'm eager to keep going so click "read more" and let the journey continue.

Cheap Cheevos #8 - AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

We've got some really good surprises for this exciting eighth issue of the hip underground series that tells you about the easiest games to cheeve! This is Cheap Cheevos. Get ready to have your socks rocked. Yeah! (Click on "Read More" to read the full article).

Gran Turismo 7 Is Physically Unplayable Due to Microtransactions

Gran Turismo 7 was released earlier in March this year. At launch the reception was quite positive, and I also enjoyed the game the first time round. Progression was simple and straight forward. All up until last week, when an update popped up that shut down the game for reportedly 30 hours, After the update, Sony have now made it much harder to gain Credits, the in-game currency used in the Gran Turismo series to  buy cars. This has frustrated a lot of gamers.

Shenmue the Animation Ep. 1: Thunderclap - Summary/Review

 

This is it, my favorite video game series of all time turned anime thanks to Adult Swim and Crunchyroll. I don't know much about this adaptation going in other than it will be abridged compared to the games as a lot of filler content is skipped over. That is a reasonable change. So, click "read more" and let the journey begin...again.

Green Phoenix - Bicentennial Man Review

Everybody has that one movie. That singular film which is always guaranteed to tug at your heartstrings even when you know that it might not be the most technically perfect film. Either its themes hit you in such a way as to perfectly break down your emotional walls, or its music and visuals are so finely crafted that even a lackluster story can keep you enthralled. For me, that film is without a doubt the 1999 live-action science fiction comedy-drama The Bicentennial Man.

Based on the 1992 novel The Positronic Man by Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg (though that was itself based on an earlier 1972 short story The Bicentennial Man) and starring one of my personal heroes, Robin Williams, I was suddenly compelled to give my opinion on a film that has largely been dismissed by the critical community as "dull" and a "letdown".

I make no apologies for stating that I have a soft spot for this film and I hope by explaining why, I might enable you all to see this film from my perspective and, hopefully, either gain a greater appreciation for it or understand myself just a little bit better.

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A Run Down Of The New Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Tracks

Today after nearly a decade from release, Mario Kart 8 got a brand new update. It's nice to see Nintendo are releasing newer updates of their older games. I hope they continue to do more of this in the future. But is the new "Boost Pack" worth it? 

Ghost Ranger - Top 5 Evil Power Rangers

 

Evil Rangers are some of the most popular villains, and for good reason, they are a genuine match for the Rangers. Sometimes Rangers are brainwashed into fighting for evil, other times they are tricked, and on rare occasions they choose to be evil. So, for whatever reason they were fighting for evil, click "read more" allow me to count down my top 5 favorite cases of evil rangers. Please note, Rangers only, no extra heroes or "allies" and they had to have been evil for more than 1 episode.

HCG: Gaming with the Darkness (Sonic The Hedgehog CD Time Stone Run)

via IFTTT

Should We Be Concerned About Sonic Frontiers?

Back in 2019 at the SXSW Expo, Sonic Team director Takashi Iizuka stated that the next mainline Sonic game is in development. After many months of silence, and of course, the global coronavirus pandemic, which would have interrupted a lot of things going on during the development of the game, a teaser trailer was finally revealed during the 30th anniversary event last year which made a lot of people really excited. I'm also excited about Sonic's latest adventure. His last game, Sonic Forces, didn't do too well amongst the fans, but still somehow ended up being a commercial success.

Adventures of Sonic The Hedgehog Now Available On SD-Bluray

The cult classic animated Sonic the Hedgehog series from 1993, The Adventures of Sonic The Hedgehog - has arrived on Bluray for the first time by Discotek Media, who previously released SD-Bluray versions of Sonic X Seasons 1 - 3. 

Green Phoenix - Legally Blonde Review

From an Amazon Prime original new release to an early 2000s comedy, I have been planning on reviewing this film for a few months now. I must admit that I initially had little interest in speaking the 2001 comedy Legally Blonde as it seemed to be a film that was marketed as something completely not intended for my demographic at all. And while I have rarely ever been one to heed demographics in the name of watching movies, I will also admit that sometimes you have to be in the mood for a "chick flick".

Thankfully, my girlfriend was kind enough to make it her selection for our movie date night so the option was out of my hand and I was able to watch a surprisingly subversive film. On the surface, this film has all the hallmark's of your stereotypical shallow 2000s college comedy, complete with sex jokes and ridiculously hollow characterizations and archetypes.

Yet, underneath the surface I found a film that was fully aware of what its perception was and utilized that to enhance the underlying themes of the story, creating a film which has actually managed to not only remain relevant despite some of the early 2000s cultural references being over two decades out of date, but is actually still something of a touchstone in the lives of many young women as a powerful feminist piece.

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Ghost Ranger - Top 5 Power Rangers Main Villains

What good is a super hero without a fearsome foe to face against? Yes, a good villain can be half the fun and none matter more than the leader of a seasons group of villains. So, click "read more" and allow me to countdown my top 5 favorite main villains from Power Rangers. Just remember, this is for the main villains of the season, no generals or scientists ect. 

Cheap Cheevos #7 - A Bad Case of the Asteroids

Well, this week is certainly interesting. Got a good mix of homebrew Game Boy titles, ports of arcade games, and another really s#!t series from BreakThrough Gaming. Enjoy. (Click on "Read More" to read the full article).

Green Phoenix - The Legend of Vox Machina (Season 1) Review

 

I am a man of many passions and hobbies, owing in large part to my eccentric personality and propensity to acquire sudden urges to try weird or new things. Of all of my passions, my two strongest would probably be my love for film/television and my absolute adoration for table-top roleplaying games, especially Dungeons & Dragons.

I haven't mentioned this a lot in these articles, but I spend a great deal of my free time on Dungeons and Dragons, specifically in building my own world and characters that I hope to populate into my own campaign someday (I've already got some friends interested in playing in a few years when I finish my current campaign). I adore the capacity for storytelling and getting into the minds and mentalities of a character, allowing myself to be immersed in a unique perspective or history that is not my own but may have referenced themes at their center that I can look back on with reflection.

In fact, this love for immersing myself in strange and different viewpoints as actually resulted in me acquiring the reputation as the "weirdo" of my D&D groups, as I almost always play either a strange subversion of your standard fantasy trope or a high-concept character that requires complex additional rules to effectively roleplay.

So with all of this in mind, it should come as no surprise to any of you that I am a huge of Critical Role, the live D&D streaming show starring professional voice actors Matt Mercer, Ashley Johnson, Travis Willingham, Laura Bailey, Sam Riegel, Taliesin Jaffe, and Liam O'Brian. Airing on Twitch every Thursday, the stream follows the players as they battle enemies and engage in fantastic roleplaying with each other, with Mercer acting as the Dungeon Master (the person responsible for managing the game). The show is a blast and has built a massive fan following; so much so that the Critical Role Productions company actually started a Kickstarter to create a full-length animated special detailing an adventure from their very first campaign.

To say that this Kickstarter campaign was a success would be an understatement. Within the first day, the campaign had raised 4.3 million dollars of an necessary $750,000 for a single 22 minute episode. By the end of the 45 day campaign, Critical Role had raised over 11 million dollars, making it one of the highest earning campaigns in the site's history. This popularity also caught the attention of Amazon Prime, who agreed to assist the production of a whole season of animated contented around the characters from Campaign 1 of Critical Role.

Thus The Legend of Vox Machina was born. In production since 2019 and highly anticipated by its fans and the larger D&D community, does the Legend live up to the hype, or was this all an over ambitious Kickstarter campaign?

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Ghost Ranger - Five "Good" Things About Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3 (1993)

 

The 1993 film TMNT 3 is not good, not even close. It was a massive downgrade from the 2 previous films in terms of action, effects, acting, story telling, and especially humor. However, ripping on it is too easy as plenty of people have done so already. So, just for a bigger challenge, I am going to list 5 things I actually liked in this film. Or, at least thought were a good idea because nothing was executed very well. Perhaps a more accurate title for this is Top 5 Least Bad things. Click "read more" and let's begin.

What Happened To Sonic Colours Ultimate

Sonic Colours Ultimate is a remaster of the 2010 Nintendo Wii exclusive game Sonic Colours. Released on September 7 2021 as part of the belated 30th anniversary of Sonic The Hedgehog. With other upcoming mainline games in the series such as Sonic Frontiers, Sonic's first open-zone exploration game, and Sonic Origins, a rehashed collection of Sonic 1, 2, 3, 3 & Knuckles, and Sonic CD, games that have already been released before on previous collections countless times, but now running on new emulation and 16:9 aspect ratio amongst other things, are delayed to 2022 with Frontiers being released in November and Origins stated for sometime in 2022 but no proper release date given. 

So SEGA had to do something quick to keep the fans to happy while we wait painfully for Sonic's next big adventure. Thus, Sonic Colours Ultimate was announced for release in September of 2021. But Sonic Anniversary titles have always had a reputation, and Colours Ultimate was no exception following the tradition of past Sonic launch stuff ups.