Angry Web

Are you an X-man? Or do you follow the ideals of Magneto and his Brotherhood of Mutants? These are the questions that, as a gamer, you must ask yourself while playing X-Men: Destiny. The only other question you must ask yourself is: “Why did I purchase this game?”

Let’s start with the story. If you are a fan of the X-Men comics, you will find the theme and story of this game familiar. That theme being: Acceptance. You get to play as one of three new mutants: Adrian Luca, the son of a hard-shelled and rigid Purifier idealist; Aimi Yoshida, a Japanese refugee sent to America to pursue a better life by her father; and Grant Alexander, the college football jock.

Another choice you are given at the beginning of the game is Mutant power selection. Your choices are: Density Control, a hard-hitting class where rock-like protrusions aid in attacks and defense; Shadow Matter, a quicker attacking class based on shadow-like daggers; or Energy Projection, ranged-based attacks through energy projectiles. As the game progresses, you are given more choices in abilities pertaining to which power-class you have chosen. Furthermore, you collect exp by defeating enemies and are given liberties on which abilities to strengthen.

As you follow the development of the character you have chosen, you are simultaneously thrown into conflict between the Purifiers, individuals devoting their lives to the eradication of Mutants, or organizations for the safety and progression of Mutant rights, such as the X-Men or the Brotherhood of Mutants.

One of the strengths of X-Men: Destiny lies in the franchise’s characters. Part of the fun of the game was waiting to see which popular comic-book-character-come-to-life (or video game life) you would run into next. The developers did not use the characters sparingly and have allowed for even some of the under-rated characters to be used.

Another strength for X-Men: Destiny are the unlockables. These include collectibles, which allow the player to access character bios, and costumes, which change the appearance of your character to classic outfits that also give stat boosts.

Unfortunately, no single game is perfect and with that comes weaknesses. In X-Men: Destiny’s case, there are plenty. Firstly, the combat. Combat is fun at first, but quickly become somewhat of a hack-n-slash, button-mashing, lack of strategy form of repetition. Secondly, character movement is slow. While fighting enemies, your movement feels as though you are weighted and fighting underwater. Thirdly, you are constantly fighting waves of enemies that follow similar character designs, with not much variation. Fourthly, environments change, but still have the same format and are very linear in nature. Lastly, many cut-scenes seem to suffer from a product of poor clipping and editing. While watching a particular cutscene, with much excitement of what will come next, the emotion and power of that scene are halted due to a rushed resolution.

In conclusion, the sole purpose for the purchase of this game was the use of the long-running X-Men franchise. Although it was fun to have the capability to play within the X-Men universe along with popular characters, shoddy game-play and a rushed polish hold this game back from being the great game it could have been for us comic book fans. Hardcore X-Men and Marvel fans like me can see past the many flaws, but gamers that are not familiar with the franchise may want to use their Mutant power of inhibition and pass on X-Men: Destiny.

As avid fans of the show may know, the “24″ movie has been in development hell for well over a year now.  Scripts have been rejected, potential directors discussed, and release windows announced, but with little to no eventual confirmation of anything.  Earlier this year, Sutherland had also announced that the film was set to shoot in early 2012, yet based on how little we’ve heard about things, this seems highly unlikely.

We do have an update on the film, however, but I would say for now, don’t get too excited.  At the rate this seems to be going, I wouldn’t expect the film to start shooting until late 2012 for a possible summer 2013 release.  In a recent interview with The Telegraph, Kiefer Sutherland was asked about the progress of the film.  Here’s what he had to say:

We are coming very close to having a finished script. That’s been the most difficult thing. You have to remember that we have 24 hours to explain the stories in 24 and so trying to condense that into a two-hour film version has been a real shift in gear for us. We were originally trying to make it too big and put too much into it – but once we relaxed, we found out how to tell that story. So yes we definitely do plan on making the film.

Being a “24″ fan myself, I have to say I’m starting to feel some major Jack Bauer withdrawal the longer this film is taking to make.  It’s been far too long since we’ve seen Kiefer kick some serious terrorist ass and as thrilling as his web series, The Confession, was, it still wasn’t nearly as satisfying as that 1-hour piss-in-your-pants, adrenaline rush that “24″ always promised

I also believe this movie is the reason why Fox has been holding out on the release of the entire series on blu-ray, as they plan to assemble an ultimate collection to include everything – all 8 seasons, “24: Redemption”, “24: The Movie”, and maybe a bottle of Jack Bauer cologne.  Yes, it’s real and it’s made of 100% pure, Bauer sweat (sorry, that part wasn’t real):

Let’s finally get this film made.  The clock is ticking.

Well, it wasn’t the iPhone 5 as most people were expecting and as of now, Apple’s stock took a slight hit after the announcement of a new iPod Nano, iPod Touch and the iPhone 4S.

After months of speculation online from insiders and other “sources”, there was no iPhone 5 announced. Apple’s method of keeping everything a secret until it is officially announced might have created a bit of backlash on this one as the keynote did not meet the media’s, or consumer’s, expectations.

The iPhone 4S will basically be the same phone on the outside with some tweeks on the inside boasting an 8 megapixel camera and double the speed with a A5 chip. Most of the new features will be available through a software update that is compatible with iPhones going back to the 3GS.

The most impressive news from the keynote was Siri, which is basically an AI assistant that will allow users to dictate text messages, search the web using voice recognition or schedule events.

The iPhone 4S will be available on October 14th and can be preordered for AT&T, Verizon or Sprint starting October 7th.

Last night, “Dexter” returned for its sixth season and doesn’t hesitate to get right into the action. Similar to how we were introduced to Dexter in the first season, last night’s episode starts off with Dexter killing two people within the first couple of minutes of the show.

Season six introduces us to what appears to be this season’s villains in Edward James Olmos and Colin Hanks. Just as methodical as Dexter was with his father, Edward James Olmos guides Hanks through murders that seem to be themed with religious undertones.

The episode wasn’t as deep as one might be used to and some dialogue felt out of place. Though I enjoyed it, it is hard to meet expectations after the shock of Rita’s death and this episode fell below my expectations.

Fortunately, the season overview shown at the end of the episode looks like this season will be packed with twists and turns that made the show so enjoyable in the past. “Dexter” has always been one of my favorite shows and bringing in some more big name actors that look like they can give Dexter a run for his money with the added topic of religion is bound to make for another great season.

“Dexter” airs Sunday nights on Showtime.

Fans of the series “Arrested Development” have been following news over the past few years about the possibility of a full length feature film. After Fox pulled the plug on the popular show after 3 seasons, viewers started signing online petitions trying desperately to get the show back on the air with no response from the network.

When word got out that there was progress being made on the production of the film, fans rejoiced. But recent news might allow for full celebration as The New Yorker has just announced that the show would be returning for a 4th season before a movie hits theaters.

There are few details at this time regarding when and where it will air but rumor has it that “Arrested Development” might find a new home on either Showtime or Netflix as they are looking for new content to provide for its streaming customers. It is looking like season 4 would be set to start airing in 2013, 7 years after the series originally ended.

Netflix has recently become the whipping boy of the stock market after Reed Hasting’s unpopular decision to both raise subscription fees 60% and split the DVD-by-mail service and streaming service. Stocks have gone down nearly 60% since the announcement to raise prices and getting quality content might start making their streaming service just a little more valuable.