Ultimate Gambit

A new publicity shot for Spider-man 3 has been released today. As you can see, it shows our beloved hero in a BLACK costume! Or is it…

Everywhere I look, people are raving on about how this could be the introduction on Venom – one of Spidey’s best known villians, however, i’m a bit more dubious. I personally think that this is a publicity stunt.

Firstly, if you look at the picture, the outfit could well be blue and red as standard, just with dark lighting. This would help to convey that this film is going to be dark, perhaps with the death of one of Peter’s love interests?!

On top of this, Sam Raimi has always said that he has a dislike for the Venom character, and we already know that the Sandman is going to be in this film. In the previous two films, only one villian has been focussed on – why would they change the format, when it clearly works, for the third? And if you don’t like a character, you’re hardly gonna put them in a film are you…
Look at the picture for youselves – i’d be interested to hear what you think! Either way, I’ll be looking forward to the film!

There seems to be an awful lot of GTA publicity as of late – on top of it being announced that the franchise is worth over $900 million in the next 5 years, it’s now in the press because of prostitutes.Anyone who has played any of the GTA games knows that on every street corner in every city, you’ll find a prostitute (or there abouts). In the game, these ladies dont really put up much of a fight, but it seems that the same doesnt follow in the real world! The Sex Workers Outreach Project has called for a boycott of all GTA games due to the ‘influence they may have on children’. Something tells me that if prostitutes weren’t featured so prominently in the game, they may not have bothered to make this statement. Maybe they arent following the news closely enough – this game could actually be benefiting the children of the world
Seriously though, all other things aside, what are these guys (or more probably, ladies) going to gain from issuing this statement now. Its been a good few months since the last GTA game was released, and most of the media surrounding it had died down. By issuing this statement now, all they have done is revive the free publicity being provided to GTA around the world and is surely helping Rockstar sell more copies – afterall, everybody is intrigued by controversy. If nothing else, it’ll be whetting peoples appetites for the next game.

My point is that while these statements are clearly trying to make a point, and to discourage purchases of what some people see as an overly violent game, in reality they are going to have minimal effect in the way that they want. When i look at these games, i dont see the violence or the sex, i see great gameplay, new ideas and a game to keep people hooked for hours. There is nothing more horrific in these games than in the average Quentin Tarantino movie, and it isnt like the same age restrictions arent placed on them. People shouldnt be buying these games for their kids anyway – they werent made for kids – if they do, its their choice and their problem. If people like SWOP just left games like this be, then they would be doing themselves a favor!

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, for PSP:

Last night i went to see Simple Plan live at Nottingham’s Rock City. For those not in the know, Simple Plan are a punk rock band, similar (but different) to Blink 182/Sum 41 etc.

The support acts that warmed up the crowd last night arent really worth mentioning – i didnt think they were particularally good, and i definately didnt think they were suitable warm ups to a band like Simple Plan. So for me, i was waiting for the band i came to see…

I’ve liked Simple Plan for a while, and the thing that makes them stand out for me is their Lyrics. They’re both witty and meaningful, and many of them you can really relate to! Unfortunately, in my opinion, the one fault with the gig was that the vocals really needed to be turned up a bit. Other than this, the gig was brilliant.

The band were energetic throughout the one and a half hour set, really feeding off the sold out crowd. At one point, they even got one of their fans up on stage to play drums for the band! And to be fair, he did a pretty good job!

This energy really showed up in their songs – every song they played was excellent – great representations of the album tracks! I say representations, as they werent straight copies (thankfully – it always annoys me when you pay to see a band live and you just get a copy of their album on stage!).

All in all, the gig was amazing and thouroughly fun. It’s a shame that the support’s werent picked better to give a better representation of the music following. If that had been the case, it would have been a 5 star gig!

[rate 4.5]

Buy Simple Plan at Amazon:

So, Valentines day sucked – more than it should have done…

I was being a pillock around the office and managed to land really badly on my ankle, leading to me tearing a ligament (according to the paramedic in town last night!).

Now my foot really really hurts, and its a pain in the arse to walk on. There was a light at the end of the tunnel tho, as i saw Simple Plan last night – more on that later

I’ll be honest, i’m usually relatively partial to being romantic on Valentines day – especially when i’m with someone. I hate the way its so commericialised and seems to be a way for the card companies and Royal Mail to make money, so i never buy cards or presents – everything i do is always hand crafted or thought out properly in some way.

But the problem with valentines is that it really sucks when you’re not with someone, as all those couples who are being really tacky by sending flowers etc always catch your eye when you really dont want them too.

This year, i’ve ‘sent’ a total of 1 card, and recieved a total of zero (so far). That doesnt really bother me, as i’ve always prefered the giving to the recieving of things (so long as the person appreciates it).

But there’s another thing, you have know way of knowing how that person feels about it – you send valentines cards in secret, so how are you supposed to get feedback.

Stupid day…

That could be the TV Licencing’s campaign in the future according to this article here on the Register.

Personally, i find this less than exciting. I resent having to pay a TV licence as it is – there are 2 programs i watch regularally on the BBC – Neighbours and Top Gear – and i dont think that watching them adds up to £120+ a year. Having to pay a PC tax, while is some ways better (i use my PC a hell of alot more, so seems more worthwhile), scares me a little.

They can’t monitor whether you are using a PC (according to the article), so how are they going to know a) if you have a pc, and b) if you are using one without a PC licence.

Simple… spyware. If this is the route they choose to go down, how long before it is compulsary for every new PC to have a little piece of software installed (or even a small piece of hardware to avoid re-formats) that reports your activities to the governing body? That doesnt appeal to me at all. Nor will it to many others.

I really hope that this doesnt come down to this, but if it does, i hope it’s they don’t go down the route of monitoring users activities.

So there is hope for all us geeks out there!

While it doesnt stop you ageing all over, it does save your brain from ageing! My first thoughts on this were that it’s a bad thing – surely if your brain isnt ageing then you arent going to be learning anything and if you start gaming at 3 you’ll keep a mental age of 3?!

However, apparently (from globeandmail.com) “playing video games provides benefits similar to bilingualism in exercising the mind. Just as people fluent in two languages learn to suppress one language while speaking the other, so too are gamers adept at shutting out distractions to swiftly switch attention between different tasks.”

This means that gamers outperform in mental tests…

But hold on a second… arent many games just mental tests in their own right? So how does this really prove anything – you play games, you can solve mental tests easier… surely thats equivalent to saying that if you solve mental tests, you can solve mental tests!?!?

I’m sure there is probably alot more to it than that, but if thats the only factor, then it seems like a bit of a waste of money to me in order to solve something that’s pretty obvious!!

Anyway, at least it gives me an excuse for all those hours i spend kicking my housemates at Mario Kart!

In between learning my lines, i managed to find time to watch the Royal Rumble last night. I havent watched WWE in a while as i’ve moved on to TNA more recently, so wasnt sure how much i’d enjoy it.

I actually thought it was an extremely enjoyable event! And what a great outcome… I must admit, i thought it was a tad predictable when HHH and Orton were in the last three left, and was expecting a relatively predictable outcome (as i have come to expect from the WWE). I was pleasantly surprised. And good on the WWE for paying homage to Eddie Guerrero RIP
The surrounding matches were fairly average, and I dont think many people watch the rumble for those, and never understand why the Rumble isnt the Headline event! And how Mark Henry ever ended up in a headline slot i’ll never understand – ah well… at least Angle can carry a match with anybody!

All in all, an event well worth a watch (as usual).

[rate 4]

Pick up last year’s Royal Rumble here.