The Last of Us: Small Easter Eggs

     Well, I figured there'd be something a little bit more in this game as Easter Eggs go, but this'll do for now.  I'm roughly 70% complete with the game and I found this a bit earlier today.
     There are 2 board games with familiar titles- Jak & Daxter and Uncharted.  Nice touch Naughty Dog, nice touch indeed.  (Sorry about the picture, took it with my phone.)

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Trailer thoughts

     Once again Peter Jackson has graced us with extraordinarily long and sweeping shots of beauty in the next Hobbit's trailer.  Studio's incessant greed is getting out of hand and the films are suffering for it.  Really, the only way a trilogy should work in this case is if each film was a slim 30 minutes. 
     Concise and well edited, The Hobbit could've been a masterpiece.  But NO-O-O-O, gotta make the coin, and horde it like Smaug himself. 


Am I the only one that doesn't like Smaug's look?

     The first film was bloated on scenes stuffed into it for extra time.  The Necromancer storyline wedged in on top of the Orc, Azog the Defiler, being squished in for filler has gotten to be too much.  I would prefer a much tighter film, not a long, drawn out story that gets boring to watch halfway through.
     In all honesty, I'm not to pleased with Smaug's appearance.  Maybe it'll grow on me, so I'll wait to judge it any more harshly.
     Of course I'm going to see it, and enjoy it.  There is just something highly bothersome about stretching the smallest book into a massive trilogy.  I can't wait until Peter Jackson announces a 12 part film adapting J.R.R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion, over the course of 36 hours.

     And because, yet AGAIN, the embed codes are not working:
          The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Trailer.

E3: The Last Guardian- Confirmed "On Hiatus."

     Sony Computer Entertainment President and CEO Jack Tretton confirmed the "on hiatus" status of the long awaited The Last Guardian to video game journalist Geoff Keighly from GameTrailers TV.

The Last Hiatus.

     Team Ico at SCE Studio Japan originally announced it as a PS3 game during the 2009 E3 show.  Much speculation had many believe it would be pushed to the PS4.  After all these years of setbacks will the game get the overhaul and enhancements needed to compete with the staggering competition growing in the mean time?  I hope so.

     Each bit of news dashes what little hopes I have remaining for this.

     They should hire another company to just boost the visuals, as they are starting to lag behind- not unexpected as the game is 5 years old even before a release date is set.  

     Seriously, at this rate it'll be out on the PS11 some time in 2038.

Helped A Deer Today

     Looky what I found on the way out of work today- a poor little baby deer was trapped in our fenced in parking lot.  So I caught it with my bare hands and got it to the other side.

     Sometimes strange things occur.  And quite frequently they happen to me.

E3 2013: It's All Geek to Me

     While I am unable to attend the E3 video game expo myself, my friend Mr. James LaPoint at It's All Geek to Me managed to land a pass.  I would recommend swinging by his site or links to get some nice on the floor coverage.

Instragram- as Minduster.
Twitter- as It's All Geek to Me.
Facebook- The It's All Geek to Me community page.

     And if you enjoy being overwhelmed with ads that prohibit your reading experience, he'll probably throw a couple articles up over at Examiner.

     Good luck sir, and I'm super jealous.

The Game Has Changed: Michael Shainblum

     It isn't often I stumble across videos that are truly remarkable, but this one is both well shot and aptly scored with Daft Punk's The Game Has Changed from the Tron Legacy Original Soundtrack.
     With great awe, I urge you to watch this video.

Northern Spark: John Keston's "Teleportation Platform X" (Instant Cinema)

     There's a huge art festival Northern Spark is happening tonight as a city wide experience in St. Paul. I believe the last couple years it was in Minneapolis, but whatever. It brings together an art community for the entire night. Yes, ALL night. Really, it is an amazing show put together by a ton of talented people, if you are even remotely able- go to this. Hopefully it inspires more people to use their creativity. (Note: the weather is looking less than optimal.)

     For this second Northern Spark post I'd like to tell you about another project I've had the privilege of knowing about.  John Keston has been my teacher at A.I. MN this term and he's been giving us small insights into this project.  Honestly, it's highly intriguing:

     Instant Cinema: Teleportation Platform X is an improvisational concert and projection piece that provides subversive musical accompaniment for Northern Spark projects as they occur. The mobile conductor, David T Steinman, roams the festival shooting video and capturing sound. This content is broadcast in real-time to a projection screen and sound system for musicians DKO to follow as an audiovisual score. The combination produces an instantaneous cinematic experience and no one knows the ending.
     (The show is from 8:55pm until 5:25am)
     (Located directly across from Kelly's Depot Bar and Grill on Kellog)

     They are improvising music to a team member's video that is being filmed and relayed to a video projector the musicians are watching. So they are essentially making a score on the spot to a film that is being made on-the-go at the same time.

      That idea alone is unbelievably amazing. Like I said a highly intriguing project. So if you are in the area at the Northern Spark show- swing by and check this out.That idea alone is unbelievably amazing. Like I said, it's a highly intriguing project, and I look forward to what future projects this method may be applied to. So if you are in the area at the Northern Spark show- swing by and check this out.

Northern Spark: Nicholas Straight

     There's a huge art festival Northern Spark is happening tonight as a city wide experience in St. Paul.  I believe the last couple years it was in Minneapolis, but whatever.  It brings together an art community for the entire night.  Yes, ALL night.  Really, it is an amazing show put together by a ton of talented people, if you are even remotely able- go to this.  Hopefully it inspires more people to use their creativity.  (Note: the weather is looking less than optimal.)

     My best friend Nicholas Straight will have a little show, here's the skinny: 

     Salutations! I'll be participating in the Northern Spark Saturday night! I'll be at the Analog Cave in the Bedlam Theater, from midnight to 3am... with other cartoonists! I'll be interpreting short bits of text... generated throughout the night by the public, transforming their words into neat cartoons and illustrations! Stop by... and say hello if you are out and about that night!

     If any readers happen to be out and about, swing by and cheer him on.  If not, click his name to visit his blog.  (These 2 images are his, and he also does freelance work.  So send an email!)

Tiny Brains: An Experimental Co-op Laboratory

     I haven't read much about this fascinating game, but what I have read about Tiny Brains makes it look like a wonderful love child of Pinky & The Brain and Ratchet & Clank (All 4 One).  Really, the co-op puzzle solving using 4 individualized characters and abilities is fairly brilliant.  

Spearhead Games (Montreal) presents: Tiny Brains  

Tiny Brains is a 3D co-op action puzzle game in which up to four players can take the role of tiny (but super-powered!) lab animals. Players must work together using complementary physics-based abilities to tackle the tests of a nefarious mad scientist. 

Tiny Brains is set in a lab where four super-powered animals have to work together to solve puzzles and escape from a mad scientist’s experiment. We chose this theme because now that we are indie devs and have more flexibility, experimentation is what we’re all about in our creative process. 

I absolutely LOVE the character designs

     In fact, I read that there are 16 different ways to combine the various powers to solve the first level alone. Creative flexibility in game design may be a hell of a game changer for Tiny Brains.  That fact by itself opens an entire world of game design up- think about that with your regular sized brains- that amounts to unlimited possibility.

     A small but fascinating experiment heading to the PS4.

     More information on the official [Playstation Blog].

Man of Steel: Nokia exclusive trailer

     This movie is looking so good!  And the new Nokia trailer is showing off some nice new stuff.  Although I'm slightly worried, as it looks like there may be a few too many Kryptonians around.  Have they messed with the iconic history of Superman?

"More like 'Man of Blue Steel'"- Zoolander

     Here's the link.