Fanboys Anonymous

When I was three years old, I received my first gaming system: the Nintendo 64. Many remembered the N64 for its awkward as hell controller, games like Golden Eye 007, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and Super Mario 64, and for it being one of the most durable consoles ever (mine still works to this day).

Today, we aren't going to talk about those things. Instead, we'll focus on a game that I believe to be the best one on the Mario Kart series...Mario Kart 64.

The start up screen from the game itself.

Released in Japan 1996 and to the United States and Europe in 1997, Mario Kart 64 is the second game in the Mario Kart series and is the successor to Super Mario Kart for the SNES. Many of my friends hate to play this game with me due to me always winning as this was the Mario Kart I was best at - besides for the Mario Kart Wii, which it isn't too difficult to be good at due to the simplicity of it. That's a discussion for another day. Mario Kart featured eight playable characters (Mario, Luigi, Peach, Toad, Wario, Donkey Kong, Bowser, and Yoshi) and featured sixteen tracks brand new tracks to play on. Graphic wise the world is a step up from its predecessor as the world is a 3D, however the game uses billboarding to display the characters and items.

Now to me, a reason why this game was so successful was because of its up to 4 player multiplayer mode which included a battle mode and a standard racing mode between you and your friends, and for some of the music in the game. Now when I say music I am mostly talking about the music on the course Rainbow Road. This track itself is my favorite one in the series due to its length as it takes almost two and a half minutes to complete one lap and because of the is incredible. I have the song on my iPhone and I always listen to it when I am in the back seat of a car. There is a certain nostalgia about it and it always make me remember of my childhood and how happy I would always be when I was playing it with my family, friends, or by myself. Here is a link to a YouTube video that features the song from the race: Rainbow Road Music.

I spent a good majority of my childhood playing this game and I am proud to say this is one of my favorite games of all time. It is a must own for those who are trying to collect these games for collections and is a very fun game to play if you have friends over and you are trying to find a game that allows at least four people to play. That's all I got this for this article my fellow Fanboys. Be looking for my next article, which I have no clue what it will be yet, to be out in the next week or so. See you guys then.

Welcome back Fanboys to my final character review on the road to E3 2013, this week we ponfer the question who will be the new face from Pokemon making their Smash Brothers debut or even a return?

Ever since Super Smash Bros. Melee, Pokemon has always had a solid four fighters representing the franchise. The usual veterans being Pikachu and Jigglypuff began in the first Smash game on the Nintendo 64, they returned in Melee and two new names made their debut in the forms of Pichu and Mewtwo. As for Brawl a similar scenario with the newer faces ended up being Pokemon Trainer and Lucario as the big name players to hit the Smash Brothers scene from Pokemon which as always has been a very popular series in gaming, television and even movies respectively.

I feel something similar is going to happen with a fifth generation rep in the form of Zoroark. A shape shifting Pokemon who takes on the likeness of her enemies as an attacking and defense mechanism. Maintaing her high level of popularity over the last three or so years, her inclusion as a newcomer seems very likely when talking about new debuting stars to the roster.

That now brings us to the multitude of fans who want Mewtwo to make his return to Smash Brothers, especially that he now has a recently revealed new form known simply as "Mewthree" for Pokemon X and Y. Which could make for a rather exciting return for him to the series and would put a new twist on how he would end up playing out.

Last but not least if Pokemon Trainer does return, I hope it ends up being a more recent trainer with a group of Pokemon from the last generation or two. Even a Team Rocket villainous trainer or two would be very interesting too see. Either of these two new possible trainers would of course come with their own new set of three different evolved level Pokemon.

To hear more of my opinion on the subject of the next Pokemon representative in Super Smash Bros. 4, please watch the video below.

Hey Fanboys I am back after taking a while off due to a broken laptop and some other crap in the process. Anyways lets not talk bout me as I want to talk about my frustrations with the Call of Duty series. The title of this article may be a little bit misleading as I don't necessary think they need to quit making them, I just want them to quit making a new one every single year. As you read on I will voice my reasons behind my opinion and talk a bit more about arguably the most popular video game series of the 21st century.

Ok lets begin this with a history lesson on CoD.Call of Duty so far has taken place in 4 different time periods, WW2, Cold War era, Modern era, and a futuristic 2020 era. The first 3 took place in the World War 2 era and then with the 4th CoD it went into modern timed with Modern Warfare. CoD 4 is where I believe CoD became the most popular game in the world. It featured a solid online experience and had one of the best campaigns in the series. It jumped back to WW2 for the 5th installment and that game began the best game mode in the whole series.... NAZI ZOMBIES! CoD 6 went back to Modern Times, Black Ops takes place in the Cold War, Modern Warfare 3 came after that, Black Ops 2 followed and went to the future, and now we will be getting 10th installment into the series entitled Call Of Duty: Ghosts.

Now lets begin the hating. First off most people play Call of Duty for the multiplayer experience and that's where most of my issues just happen to be at. My first complaint is going to be about the stupid killstreaks. this doesn't apply for CoD 4, WaW, MW2, and Black Ops and mainly applies towards Modern Warfare 3 and Black Ops 2., To simply put it, there are TOO MANY KILLSTREAKS. To make matters worse in those two games, getting a high killstreak was relatively easy to do. The kids in about any video game are annoying, but for some reason they are the worse in any Call of Duty. I can only hear some kid say "I had sex with your mom" a certain amount of times before I tell myself to never have kids. I consider myself a very competitive gamer as I play on Gamebattles with some friends and we were ranked in the top 10 on MW3 before I started hating it and sold it a few weeks later. So when I hear anyone say anything about me, you can bet I will go out of my way to go try hard and kill the kid in the game. The games online never change. The graphics never improve too much, the guns are recycled a lot, the game modes are virtually the same except for getting rid of a few and replacing with some that suck, and the maps are just getting worse with each game. There are too many attachments now and there is too much to customize. I couldn't care less about the camo on my gun and the face paint that my guy has on. To me where CoD got it wrong was with the customization. To me it is about the action and on the field. Seriously just give me a gun and some perks and I will go onto the field and do good. Now the campaigns are not much to talk about. They tend to be relatively short and are not impactful at all to the point that you want more. That is my only complaint I have about the campaign to be honest with you.

The reason why I am not in love with the series as much I use to be is because it doesn't change much from game to game. I honestly believe that's because of the fact that they release a new game ever year. It gets stale and repetitive, and if series shows no signs of progression then there is no need for me to care for it anymore. I know someone could try to make that case for the Mario series as a whole, but at least they branched off into many other genres of games like with the Mario Kart series and the Super Smash Bros. series. That's part of the reason why Mario was able to stay as a household name in the gaming industries for now four decades now, and I doubt that is going to change anytime soon as Nintendo has been very successful at advertising Mario to new gamers a.k.a. the kids. Do I expect Call of Duty to get that same success that Mario has had? No. There will be a time where the series loses its steam, most likely to a new FPS game that becomes more successful. Unfortunately I don't see that happening for at least another five or so years so I guess I will just have to put up with the CoD craze for the next few years.

Let me go ahead and say that I am a fan of the CoD series despite what I have said above. I am just tired of a new one coming out each year. I wish they would release one every two years,  but it is all about the money to these companies so I don't blame them for trying to cash in on this series. So be looking for my next post sometime soon, and I will end this with a meme.

I have been a long-time fan of the X-Men. I grew up with the original animated television series, which featured perhaps one of the most iconic lineup of X-Men to date. Almost every member of that cast has gone on to do great and wonderful things. One member, however, seems to have fallen into obscurity as of late, especially after the loss of her mutant powers. Jubilation Lee (aka Jubilee) is a character that I've always found endearing and am ecstatic that she's finally making a reappearance in this new installation of X-Men.

Brian Wood is the writer for this fourth volume of the series. He's dabbled in the X-books before, but all eyes are on him now as he becomes the captain of a flagship Marvel title. Teaming up with penciler Olivier Coipel, X-Men #1 is beautiful to look at. There is an attention to detail in Coipel's works that just jumps out of the page at you and draws you into the story.

Wood does a nice job of setting things up right off the bat. At the end of the first issue, you know quite clearly who the bad guys and the good guys are. The plot is not anything we haven't seen before, but it's a tale that you really can't get bored of: evil and good team up to stop even bigger evil. Perhaps my one complaint about this introductory issue is the lack of explanation into Jubilee's background. Newer X-fans might not be familiar with her past, and even long-time X-fans could probably use a refresher on where she's been.

Wood also has a nice grasp on the personalities of the characters and the dynamic between them and others. It's hard sometimes for a writer to step into the shoes of such iconic personas, but Wood does so effortlessly, writing dialogue and actions that ring true to each and every character.

Overall, X-Men #1 did not disappoint. This lineup of X-(Wo)Men is made up of the classic female characters that everyone knows and loves. Harking back to the X-Men of the 90s, this is sure to be a great ride for both new and old readers alike.


Score: 8.5/10

Going into this game, I was prepared to hate it.

Yes, I know this is a cheap callback to my previous review, but its true. When I first came up with the idea to do 90's Kid Presents, one of the first games on my list of games to review was Croc. It had been years since I played this game, and my memory of it was quite fuzzy. So just glancing at the game's packaging I thought "Pfft, a post-Mario 64 platformer for the PS1? This game is gonna be terrible. Why do i even still have this thing?!" And you know what? This game honestly surprised me. This game is good, damn good actually.

Lets start off with the history of the game. Croc: Legend of the Gobbos was made in 1997 by Argonaut Games (a studio that mostly stuck to licensed titles for properties like Harry Potter, Alien, and Disney, with their only big claim to fame being co-programmers on the original Starfox game) and published by Fox Interactive (this being their first non-licensed game they published) With a pedigree like that, its no wonder why my expectations were so low. you play as Croc, an orphaned fang-toothed Crocodile that washes up on Gobbo Island, home to the Gobbos and their leader, King Rufus. The native Gobbos raise the baby Croc until one day the Island is overrun by the villain of the story, Baron Dante. Dante kidnaps the Gobbos, and it's our hero's job to rescue his captive family. The plot is pretty straight forward and gets the job done.

Speaking of straight forward, lets talk about the gameplay. In the post-Mario 64 landscape of platformers, it was hard for platformers to stand out without having the brilliant level design and 3D gameplay of Nintendo's juggernaut. Such is the case with Croc. Levels are fairly straight-forward: go from area to area collecting shiny orbs for health ala Sonic the Hedgehog, while along the way finding 6 of your trapped Gobbo comrades per level, with the last one usually hidden behind a secret doorway that can only be opened by finding 5 colored orbs. Collecting all your Gobbos unlocks secret levels in each of the 4 worlds that lead inevitably to the final world with Baron Dante. So a big part of the gameplay is collecting things, and while it may seem like arbitrary fetch quests, all those things do lead to a something in the end.

Control-wise, its your standard fare for games like this. Croc can jump, spin his tail like a whip, and do a hip drop ala Mario. Like i said, its the standard platformer fare. As is the level design for each world. Levels are close-knit, and dont offer much in the way of frills. If you've played platformers from the 16-bit era with no problem, you will do fine here. you're only main contention in this game light be the control scheme. Keep in mind, this was a pre-dualshock PS1 title, so Croc control via the D-Pad. So expect him to control like a tank, though his turn radius is not as bad as something like, for example, Tomb Raider. The game does give you a 180 degree turn button that works in a snap, so that does alleviate some of the trouble. Camera controls are mounted to the shoulder buttons as you would expect, and the camera does a pretty solid job of staying behind you in action. Aside from a few missed jumps here and there, the controls will have you moving through the game with ease. Graphically, the game is nothing special. Models are as detailed as what you would expect from the 1997-era PS1 game, as are the textures. Levels are small, and even though there's a sense of emptiness in some of the levels, the layout is such that you never feel anything is out of place or gets in the way. Just don't expect a scenic view.

Honestly, there's not much i can say more about the game. Even with all the positive press Ive given, there really isnt much to say about it other than its good. Its something that even after writing this review, I do expect to keep playing and even finishing. Its satisfying in almost a mind-numbing way, in the same way old beat-em ups from the 16-bit era were fun. Its not something I would expect you to go out and purchase as a classic, but if you happen to see a copy cheap at a flea market, you could do worse with your money than pick it up.

Grade: B

There's always going to be a new James Bond film on the horizon. Hell, they even make it a point to tell you at the end of the credits that "James Bond will return".

As soon as the latest entry in the 007 franchise has ended, speculation begins about the same few topics:

Who will be the Bond girl?
Who will be the villain?
Who will sing the title theme?
What will the name of the film be?
Who is going to direct it?

It normally takes a long time before we find out which actors will be involved (and even longer to hear a theme song) but the title of the film and the director typically are the first things to be announced.

Right now, things are heating up for potential names to direct the 24th installment. Let's take a look at some of the people being discussed...

Sam Mendes - Lots of rumors have circulated that the Skyfall director would return in a back-to-back directing situation. Some other reports say that he is unable to, but is interested in returning in the future, possibly with #25. Skyfall has been one of the most successful Bond films out there, so it makes sense why Mendes would be a nice choice to give it a second go. I just personally think that David Arnold needs to do the music as that was one of the things I really missed in Skyfall.

Christopher Nolan (Inception, The Dark Knight Trilogy) - The second most repeated rumor has revolved around Christopher Nolan taking the helm after Interstellar is in the bag. However, these things are always so conflicted that the truth could be anywhere from "Nolan is definitely doing the next film" to "Nolan won't". Another aspect to this story is that there's a chance Nolan is interested in rebooting the franchise a bit and starting with a new actor after Daniel Craig is too old, so he could theoretically direct #25 or 26 depending upon when the series wants to get a new James Bond. I am ALL for this, 100%, especially if it means we'd have a new Bond that fits in the Dalton-esque mode.

Ang Lee (Life of Pi, Hulk) - I personally don't understand this choice at all and I hope that it doesn't necessarily come to pass, unless I can be proven wrong and the end result would be awesome. Lee strikes me as the type of director that wants to put a stylish twist on what he does and the Bond series doesn't lend itself well to that. Look at what happened with Quantum of Solace. Bond is a formula film and I would really rather not see something from Ang Lee trying to bring a different flavor to it.

Tom Hooper (Les Miserables) - Hooper has two "Oscar-bait" pictures under his belt, so in a negative light, a Bond film seems a bit of a downgrade. In a positive light, it's a fresh change of pace and it could be an exciting challenge. I can't imagine Hooper necessarily doing it, but I wouldn't be opposed to seeing what he could do with a Bond film.

David Yates (Harry Potter) - I don't see this as a likely option, to be frank. Then again, I thought Daniel Craig was definitely not going to get the role of James Bond, so my track record isn't amazing at predicting the Bond series. To me, it just seems like Yates is another name tossed around with no true substance to it.

Shane Black (Iron Man 3) - People seem to be really against this, but I actually think Shane Black would be a great choice. Iron Man 3 in itself felt like a Bond film audition to me and it sold me on the idea of Black taking a shot at the series. Some say he would make it too comedic, but I don't think that's the case. In fact, some comedy needs to be added back into the series as it's a bit too somber at times in my opinion.

Nicholas Winding Refn (Drive, Bronson) - There are better options out there I think. I need to see more from Refn before I develop specific reasons why I feel this way, but Drive didn't give me the sense that I would like to see that particular director take charge of a Bond film.

Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours) - Pass. This is similar to Ang Lee but at the same time I think the film would end up being too long with not enough substance to it. Yes, I said it. Go watch 127 Hours and disagree with me.

Who would you like to see direct the next James Bond movie? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Bond 24? With pleasure, Eon & Sony. With pleasure.

Welcome back to another week of speculation Fanboys, if you have been following my content on here you are well aware of what I'm doing by now. That of course is talking anything and everything Super Smash Bros. 4 and what could potentially be in the next game. This week I continue my streak of recent character review videos as I take a look a two very interesting Capcom characters.

Our first subject for discussion is none other than Okami's own Amaterasu who is a wolf creature that is essentially a goddess of the sun. A play style that uses her canine quickness and primitive attacks, while combining that with special sun and fire themed magic attacks it could combine for well very well rounded fighter. Having previously been in Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, she does have some fighting game experience behind her even if other options for a Capcom third party character selection seem more likely.

Then we also take a little look at Shantae who has appeared twice on Nintendo's handheld consoles in a plat forming series of her own. She is a half-genie with the ability of many magic spells that include a transformation to different forms (monkey, elephant, spider, and harpy). That in itself leaves a bit of mash up of a play style like combing Zelda with Pokemon Trainer if you will. A slightly obscure character but the more obscure a character is, the more fun they always turn out to be. To hear more of my opinions on these two potential Capcom representatives in the video below.

Going into this game, I probably wasn't going to like it.

To understand why, you have to understand what I had to go through to play this game. My Sega Dreamcast is very, very old (obviously since its at least over a decade old considering the console itself died in 2002). So trying to play games on it is not as easy as just turning it on and popping a disc in. A lot of time and effort has to be put in to get these games to work, usually recalibrating the laser in it. So after an hour of trying to recalibrate the laser (twice), having to use CD repair kit on the game disc since it had one or two problematic scratches on it, and emptying half a can of compressed air into it, I finally got the game booted up.

Now, putting that all aside to look at this from a professional standpoint, I still wasn't sure if I would like this game. I played it years ago back when I first got my Dreamcast in the mid-2000s. It was one of the first games I got for the system, so I played it alot not having much of an alternative. Since then my collection has grown in size and quality. So going back to this game, I feared my taste in it would have suffered. I remembered at least not hating it back then, but then again I remember liking a lot of things that I regret liking. Let me just start the review by saying this: Even keeping that in mind, this could be one of the worst games i have ever played for the Dreamcast. I'm even gonna be as bold as to say this is one of the worst retro games I have ever played.

Blue Stinger was one of the many launch titles for the Dreamcast back in 1999. Its essentially a Resident Evil clone, and was the only traditional action title that was exclusive to the console at the time, with the only other action title at launch being a port of the PC game, Expendable. I think that fact is worth mentioning because at the time of launch, this game got pretty high marks from sites like IGN and the now defunct Gamepro magazine. I'm gonna assume this was because there really wasn't anything else in terms of traditional single player action. This game represents the worst of Shovelware, which if you're not familiar with is a term used to for a game that is thrown onto a console's launch just for the sake of being there at launch.

The game starts with text crawl and narration outlining the base of the story. It all revolves around a mysterious island formed off the Yucatan Peninsula in the year 2000. Said Island forms after a meteor strikes the Earth, which according to the game is the same size as a meteor that fell from the sky 65 million years ago back in the Cretaceous Period. Naturally the island is cleverly named "Dinosaur Island". We then cut to the year 2018, where we meet two men out at sea, one of them being our main character, Eliot. Its here that we see the biggest problems with the game. Not only are we treated to the worst dialogue in modern gaming, we are also treated by equally bad voice acting. This is worse than the original Resident Evil. None of the dialogue spouted reflects the emotions of anything going on on-screen, attempts at brevity are groan worthy even for a cheesy action game, and the voice actors themselves deliver each line so wooden and stiff that sentences just crash into each other. But perhaps the biggest affront to the presentation is that, I'm gonna assume in translating the text from Japanese to English they just translated the text verbatim and tossed it into the game. At NO POINT in the game does the dialogue said by the characters match the lips on the characters themselves. Characters will speak when their lips are closed, while other times they will be silent and yet still flapping their lips. It doesn't help either that all the characters pantomime their dialogue in ridiculous and over the top ways. Characters will flail their arms and shake their heads around at even the most calm and subdued dialogue. All these factor combined ruin any of the atmosphere this game attempts to build.

And then there's actual gameplay. One of the key factors that set Blue Stinger apart from its Resident Evil counterparts was the last minute choice to go from a more cinematic fixed camera to a dynamic moving 3D camera ala Tomb Raider. This choice was ill conceived. The camera is constantly whipping around to lock itself behind the player, causing some frustrating movement issues. Half the time I was having to walk in a serpentine pattern just to center the camera in place as im running. It's almost impossible to run in a straight line thanks to the camera. Combat itself is bland. You have the choice to switch between two characters, the fast yet not as powerful Eliot or the character of Dogs the fisher man, who can take more damage and has access to heavier weapons but is much slower. Both of their traits tend to cancel their negatives out, so there's really no point to switch unless one has lower health than the other. You also have the ability to use not only ranged weapons but melee as well. Shooting in this game is like any other in that its auto targeted, so nothing to speak about. Melee on the other hand is hollow and spotty, with punches and kicks just randomly landing no matter how close you are to your target. Also this game has probably my biggest pet peeve with games: regenerating enemies. Clear a room of enemies, walk out, walk back in, all the enemies are back. Considering how much back tracking you do in this game, that is just inexcusable. I get why they did it, because the game also has a currency system in the form of coins (yes, literal coins spew out of fallen enemies) that you use to buy health and weapons that you can use to kill bigger and badder enemies. So i get that the enemies re-spawn for coin fodder. But the way the game implements that just makes the combat feel like busy work.

Really, that's the best way to describe the overall gameplay of Blue stinger: busy work. Most of the game is spent running from place to place finding locked door and key cards with the occasional important knickknack along the way. Of Course, its a Resident Evil Clone. But where RE had a taut atmosphere and pace as it unraveled its mystery slowly, Blue Stinger's awful presentation ruins any mood or intrigue this game could muster. The characters are so unlikeable, charmless, and annoying that I don't care why things are happening or what will inevitably end up happening to them. And combine that with the lackluster gameplay, and its a wonder why I was ever lenient to this game. The only area the game steps up in is in the graphics department. Character models are mush more intricately detailed than what was possible on the previous consoles, although most suffer from bad texture work that makes them look unfinished, especially in the case of the main characters. Enemies have a lot of originality, and environments are fully 3D, something that even RE at that time couldn't claim to have.

Even with that little ray of light, this game is terrible. Its the worst kind of launch title. Terrible presentation ruins any mood this game could have made, while boring combat and gameplay make this experience forgettable at best. If you need Resident Evil on your console, pick up RE: Code Veronica. and if you can only afford a knock off, find a copy of Carrier. It's derivative, but its a step up from this game.

Grade: F

Welcome back all Fanboys to yet another character review or analysis if you will from me about their likely hood of being included in the next Smash Brothers game and the over all potential they have as playable fighter on the roster. This week we focus on one of my favorite characters from gaming and the main protagonist of one of my favorite gaming franchises thats not Smash, which is Kingdom Heart's own Sora.

As unlikely as it is for Sora to be included in the fourth coming game as he is owned by both Square-Enix and Disney, two companies who are notoriously stingy when it comes to use of their intellectual property he is still a very interesting prospect from a fighting stand point. His swift combat from both of the previous Kingdom Hearts main console games not counting all ridiculous handheld spin-offs released since, would make for a seamless Keyblade focused move set that would of course come with his trademark speed and agility.

He has just as much potential with other attack forms like his magic used in his previous games which could be the basis of his B move set to compliment his ever so heavy smash attacks given by the A button. You could also charge his Drive Gauge if they could find a way to creatively implement it so you could use such awesome KH related moves like Sora's drive forms and summon abilities. These would be especially useful as specialty down B maneuver. If not for B button specialty attacks then save them for something epic like a Final Smash if those actually make a come back

Now it isn't a completely impossible scenario as Sora has appeared a handful of time on Nintendo's hand held consoles as thats where the majority of Kingdom Hearts non-sequel spin-offs have been released for. It's just the companies that actually own him aren't really the type to collaborate for such projects and like to keep their properties to themselves. If he ends up making an actual appearance then color me pleasently surprised as he is among the top of my dream roster but the likely hood is that it's just that, a pipe dream. For more of my opinion on this subject please watch the video below.

For my entire life, Star Trek was stupid to me. I had tried to watch it several times on television and found it incredibly boring and flat out dumb in comparison to Star Wars. Naturally, when they announced that they would be doing a reboot film, I was at first assuming it would look ridiculous and I would laugh at them. I was wrong.

The first trailer I saw looked interesting and when I decided to go to the theatre to watch it and then make a judgment call, I ended up having to admit that I liked something Star Trek related. Since then, I've defended the J. J. Abrams film as a prime example of not only good filmmaking but also a prime example of how to pull off doing a reboot the right way.

Thus, when they announced a sequel, I knew immediately that I would not only go to see it but that I would be amongst the crowd on opening night. Sadly, there was no crowd for my midnight showing tonight, which I'm speculating is due to the fact that most midnight shows are on a Thursday and this was a Wednesday, but I digress. We're not reviewing the inadequate popcorn or the overpriced ticket, we're reviewing STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS.

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: The plot revolves around a manhunt for John Harrison, aka Khan Noonien Singh, who has murdered tons of Starfleet Academy officers.

MY THOUGHTS: Honestly, there isn't much that I can nitpick and speak negatively about in regards to this film. The visual effects are fantastic and the lens flares have been toned down. The action is captivating and exciting. The characters stay true to themselves and never seem to do anything that they wouldn't do just for the sake of the plot. Khan is an engaging villain (that you almost kind of root for, at least more than Admiral Marcus). The weakest part of the film would have to be the inclusion of Carol Marcus, though even that is a bit of a stretch to call it a weak point, as there's potential to develop a romance between her and Kirk in the third film of the trilogy.

Plus, c'mon, you know most guys watching this movie were ok with this scene

As expected, the film focuses heavily on Kirk and Spock - which it should - but it doesn't leave the rest of the core cast out in the cold. With the exception of Chekov to an extent, everyone has something important to do. McCoy feels like a true senior medical officer. Uhura gets her hands a bit dirty but we aren't beaten over the head with her the way a lot of films feel the need to force-feed us the "women can fight too" concept. Sulu even tastes the command chair and looks like a badass in the process. Scotty is given the most time out of them all, which is funny considering the way his character was used in the previous installment as being extremely important after not showing up for the majority of the film.

Then there's Khan, who admittedly starts off kind of ridiculous as the first several times they show him, it's done so by zooming in to a closeup of his face with music that just felt awkward.

The first 20 minutes of character development = "must zoom in more!"

The plot is interesting, the characters are believable in this universe, the acting serves the film well, the dialogue isn't shaky, so on and so forth. There's really nothing to shed light upon and start belittling. I just thoroughly enjoyed this film and the things that they've done to set up a third film make me very confident that the next one will be just as good if not better than the two that preceded it.

REVIEWPOINT = HIT

This is a very, very good movie. Do not mistake that by me saying it should win Best Picture or anything of the sort, as it shouldn't. However, as a sequel to a good sci-fi action film, this matches if not surpasses the previous one in some regards and does not disappoint at all. If you were a fan of the first one, definitely go see it.

Hey Hey Hey Fanboys!! Chris "The Dace Man" Dace back from the beyond and here with another installment in the Dace-Sphere. So if you're a nerd chances are you are one of the 80,000+ twitter followers of Bryan Singer especially with the much anticipated X-Men: Days of Future Past! Now Singer has been playing with the minds of fanboys across the world by tweeting pictures from the set like the one he just posted yesterday:
 

 
To the right we find the return of the beautiful Ellen Page as Kitty Pride. I'm hoping that she becomes a bigger part of the franchise then she was in the past as well as her comic boyfriend Colossus. One can only hope with Singer at the helm and all these past and present X-Men signed onto the project it's not a run away film with no subsistence. Plus maybe we'll get lucky and see some of that chemistry between Pride and Colossus.

Along with the lovely Ms. Page is the not so pregnant looking Halle Berry reprising her role as the vivacious Storm. Like Page's character Storm seemed to take kind of a back seat in the previous trilogy especially to Hugh Jackman...lets hope he doesn't overshadow this All-Star X-men cast again. Sporting the new hair cut rather than the long flowing white locks one can only imagine the impact Storm will have on the next film in the X-men Saga.

With all these sneak peak tweets of Former X-men gearing up again the Fan Boy world is a buzz with speculation as to what the hell is going down on the set of the sequel. I for one hope the roll SuperHero Movies are on continue to stay hot...yes I'm ignoring Ghost Rider 2.. For the foreseeable future us Fan Boys can sit back and watch our childhood take on a life of its own on the big screen. Of course there will be different perspective of our favorite comics but that's what makes the adventure of The Marvel Big Screen ride so much fun. I mean honestly...how many versions of Shakespeare's plays have we seen. I don't think another take on the X-men will kill us. Keep an open mind and stay excited. I for one don't want to pay $15 for a story I can recite word for word.

As always check back regularly to see what  Chris "The Dace Man" Dace is looking at, and no not just porn, as well as all other bloggers here at Fanboys Anonymous. So for The Few, The Proud, and of course The Dacetacular, grab a beer, or in this case begin your mutation, and check out what's going on here in the Dace-Sphere. See ya next time!

With respect to artwork, writing, style, plot, and everything else that goes into comic book making, Uncanny X-Force has been one of my favorites in the new rush of Marvel NOW series. Writer Sam Humphries and artist Ron Garney are a dynamic duo, bringing together a group of mutants with a drawing team dynamic to fight a darker and grittier sort of evil.

Uncanny X-Force #4 picks up right where the last issue left off. We get a clearer look into the antagonist of the series and how certain characters tie into it all. As always, the writing is superb, with excellent dialogue and character interactions, which is one of the great points of the series. It's gotten to the point in the series where certain lines are beginning to cross, and the bigger story has begun to come into play. This issue sets things into motion and does so without leaving the reader too much in the dark.

In terms of art, there are no complaints here. I am a huge fan of Garney's artwork. It is very clean and distinct and is quite frankly one of my favorites when it comes to comic book drawing.

Score: 9.5/10

My name is 90's Kid, and I am a retro addict. I don't mind living in the past. We had better music than you have today, our TV wasn't all reality-based, and we had what I consider to be the Golden Age of video gaming. And that's what I'm here to talk about. My job is to uncover hidden gems of the good ol' days, remind you of some of your old favorites, and give props to a forgotten time in retro gaming (sorry, but the NES is SO 1980s). So, with all that out of the way, lets begin with a historic N64 title: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3.

Now, I can hear what you're thinking: Why is the first review of a 90's retro blog a game from 2002. That's a fair question, but think about the franchise in general. 1999's Tony Hawk's Pro Skater perfectly encapsulated the late 90's extreme fad, from the pop culture icon in Tony Hawk as its lead, to the packed 90's alternative soundtrack; this game fit the time perfectly. and with its tight level design and fluid controls; it managed to become one of the more endearing franchises of the modern era.

While many debate where the franchise has fallen to now, the consensus among fans is that the peak of the franchise came with Pro Skater 3. THPS 3 made the leap into the next generation in a big way, with bigger levels with tons of interactivity, a massive soundtrack filled with the likes of Motorhead, Xzibit, and The Red Hot Chili Peppers, a brand new skate park creator, and exclusive for the PS2: online multiplayer. Future installments would add things like free-roaming ala Grand Theft Auto, plastic skateboard controllers (looking at you, Tony Hawk: Ride), and a debatable "welcome" cameo by the Jack-Ass crew, but those games just tended to muddy the waters of the series into what its become today. When it comes to the perfect balance of simple-yet-effective skateboarding gameplay, THPS 3 is where its at.

So, what happens when you take an amazing game known for launching a franchise in the 21st century, and cram it into a console that still had its hooks in the last generation even in its own time? Answer: a game that completely misses out on its own potential.

Now, before i say anything negative, I will give the new development team credit. Released as the final official game for the Nintendo 64 in America, Edge of Reality took the original game, made by Neversoft, and did their best to shrink what was a massive game into the confines of the limited N64 hardware. And to their credit, all the meat of the game is here. You still have the core gameplay, all the levels, all the modes (sans the online play, which is fine since not even the Xbox version had that), all the main characters, and all the new moves (including the revolutionary Revert). Sadly, everything on this game, while present, is woefully scaled back.

From the moment the game loads up, you see that the cartridge was not made for a game like this. Gone is the full motion video intro to the game, as well as all the FMVs of the characters you unlock through career mode. In fact, all the unlockable characters (with the exception of Wolverine) are not included in this version. So while you do get the play the same starter roster as the next-gen version, those of you hoping to play as Darth Maul, Officer Dick, or the Neversoft Eye mascot will be SOL. Another glaring omission is the full length soundtrack. While most of the songs are present (and I say most because as of this writing, I can not confirm or deny if all the songs from the next gen versions are in the game) its clear that they were only able to fit the instrumentals of said songs, with barely a line or two of actual lyrics just to remind you what it is you are actually hearing. For a franchise that's most notable for its soundtracks, this is a huge blow.

Level design also takes a hit as well. Gone are any interactive elements. People in the background? Trigger-specific missions? Secret areas within the levels? All gone. What you see is what you get, which takes alot of the charm out of the levels, like the massive earthquake in the LA level or the avalanche you can trigger in the Canada level. Speaking of what you see being what you get, the levels themselves are seemingly scaled smaller. while all the key set pieces are present, they all seem much closer-spaced than in the next gen versions. I cant say if it hurts or helps the overall level design, but its noticeable. Also noticeable is the presence of low visibility, or as i like to call it "N64 fog".

But for all the faults, this is still THPS. And while it loses alot of the shine, its core is still there. Control in this game is still as smooth as ever. All the maneuvers are mapped to the C Buttons, so if you're familiar with the controls from the PS1 versions and beyond, this will feel right at home. Surprisingly enough, the gameplay actually rarely if ever suffers from slowdowns, a challenge for most N64 titles. Its not as fast the 60 frames per second the next gen versions have, but it doesn't ruin the gameplay. And like I stated before, while the levels are scaled back, they are still just as fun as ever.

So what do we have? A version of a game that feels less like Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, and more like Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2.5. In the end, playing this game is like watching a bare-bones DVD of a great movie. Yes, the core is still there and as good as ever. But knowing that there's so much more out there just makes you want to go out and pick up the Special Edition Blu-Ray. Like I stated earlier, it was the last N64 game, and was more of a pop than a bang.

Grade: C

Episode 24 of the I Got Gameplay podcast is now online. On this episode, Michael Burhan, Mike Paden, Brandon Liggan and Sean Mitchell discuss pre-order bonuses and whether developers can entice you to put down a deposit. Find out in this very unusual live episode.

Episode was live on 11/05/2013 on Ustream.tv

You can check out this episode and the previous two by using the following links:

Lybsin: http://adf.ly/IwSX3

iTunes: http://adf.ly/IwSaK

Stitcher: http://adf.ly/IwSd0

If you'd like to join the discussion, like us on Facebook and comment on our page here: http://adf.ly/IwSfZ

You can also subscribe to the podcast's YouTube channel at http://adf.ly/IwShu

(Note: the links use adf.ly, just click skip to go to your required destination.)

Welcome back all Fanboys as of now we stand legitimately one month away from E3 2013 as this time next month I will actually be covering the event itself. Today's topic on the other hand is a very interesting and rather debatable one as well. We are going to discuss the likely third party characters that could be added to the Smash Brothers roster.

Namco Bandai are clearly going to get a representative of their own since they are helping co-develop the upcoming game for the Wii U console. My likely choice for this is Pac Man but thats just me. I would never rule the possibilities of a Tekken or Soul Calibur representative thrown in the mix instead to attempt to shake things up but I personally just don't see it.

I would also really dig a Sonic return to the franchise as not only am I huge fan of the character but Sega and Nintendo have been the closest in terms of working together that they have ever been. Sonic returning to Smash is still debatable as his appearance in Brawl last time could have been a one-off deal but leaving Sonic out of the Smash Brothers picture entirely to me seems like just another wasted opportunity.

Last but not least, maybe least in terms of the probability of this actually happening is Capcom having a rep in the upcoming mascot brawler. We all want to see Mega Man, he is our guy not only to represent Capcom but as the ultimately desired third party character choice as well. His treatment as of late though with Capcom's intent on burying him he seems the least likely to combat out of their stars. An addition to the roster in the form of a Viewtiful Joe or a Street Fighter character like Ryu seem more likely as brand name fighter that Capcom could potentially throw in the mix of things, if they even do so at all. For more on my opinions on the subject in this article please watch the video below.

The first details of the new CoroCoro magazine came out today and revealed four new Pokemon! This article is going to cover those new Pokemon. Their confirmed types, and names in Japanese. As well as images of the new Pokemon. I hope you enjoy!

The Panda at the top is a Fighting type named Yancham. He is the naughty Pokemon. He is 0.6 meters tall and weighs 8 kg. It has a new move called Parting Remark which lowers the opponents stats and causes the user to switch out. This could be useful for gym battles if you had multiple Pokemon with Parting Remark you could swap between Pokemon lowering the leader's best Pokemon's stats while spreading out the damage over multiple Pokemon. Once the defending Pokemon is in a weakened state. You then bring in a Pokemon to finish it off. I can't see it seeing much use in competitive play though because Pokemon switch out so often. Maybe in double battles if it affected both the defending Pokemon.

The Bird on the left is a Normal/Flying Robin Pokemon named Yayakoma. He is 0.3 meters tall and weighs 1.7 kg. It announces itself with a beautiful voice. It can also learn the move Flame Charge. This seems wierd maybe it will evolve into a Fire/Flying type at some point. This is more than likely the Pidgey of past games.

The Lizard on the bottom is a Normal/Electric type named Elikiteru. He is 0.5 meters tall and weighs 6 kg. It has a new move called Parabola Charge which heals the user while damaging opponents. We haven't seen the stats on this thing yet but if it evolves into a Pokemon with some bulk this could be very useful. Poisoning the defending Pokemon then switching out into this guy and spamming Parabola Charge would be a good way to take down foes. It all depends on the damage output of the move and how much it heals, how bulky is Elikiteru and his potential evolutions.

Finally on the right is the Goat Pokemon GoGoat. Literally pronounced GoGohto and is the Riding Pokemon. It is a Grass Type stands 1.7 meters tall and weighs 91 kg. You can actually ride this Pokemon in the games! Which is really cool. It learns the move horn leech.

That's all the information we have at the moment but there should be a boatload of more information coming out in the coming weeks regarding X and Y. The Summer is here and CoroCoro is gonna be revealing all sorts of new stuff. I'll be here to cover it when they do. So keep on checking that stuff out. If you wanna know when I'm working on a new article or anything you can also follow me on twitter @thatjesterkid. Thanks for reading!

Episode 23 of the I Got Gameplay podcast is now online. On this episode, Michael Burhan, Mike Paden, Brandon Liggan and Sean Mitchell discuss the games that went bump in the night, the spine-tingly games that made the hosts jump at the sight of seeing them, a great episode for fans of the genre.

You can check out this episode and the previous two by using the following links:

Lybsin: http://adf.ly/IwSX3

iTunes: http://adf.ly/IwSaK

Stitcher: http://adf.ly/IwSd0

If you'd like to join the discussion, like us on Facebook and comment on our page here: http://adf.ly/IwSfZ

You can also subscribe to the podcast's YouTube channel at http://adf.ly/IwShu

(Note: the links use adf.ly, just click skip to go to your required destination.)

The Uncanny Avengers series started out as a novel idea that has since blossomed into a story that is much bigger than itself. Bringing back the classic villain Kang the Conqueror, we are inevitably thrust into a tale of time travel that transcends the basic laws of time and space that we are so used to. As such, the last couple issues of the series have been somewhat confusing, jumping from past to present to future a little bit too many times for comfort. Well, it looks like Uncanny Avengers #8 is starting to tie the knots together in the story, and we can finally see the big picture that is being ever-so-delicately painted.