ALIEN DAY: In Space, No One Can Hear You Celebrate: April 26 (LV-426)

IN SPACE, NO ONE CAN HEAR YOU CELEBRATE

     Because every day is some sort of celebratory day now, 20th Century Fox has made today "Alien Day."  It was announced back on March 29th, and of course there's probably a monetary component involved at the bottom of this decision to help hype the 30th anniversary of the original Alien film this July as well as boosting info for both the upcoming films- Ridley Scott's Prometheus follow up and Neill Blomkamp's Alien 5 film.

     The date itself should be a familiar number to fans of the series as it is the number of the planetary body LV-426.  The distress signal came from that the Nostromo picked up, then later to be colonized and nuked from orbit to complete the Colonial Marines' disastrous bug hunt.

     To kick things off Jeffrey Godsick (President of 20th Fox Consumer Products) had this to say:

“The ALIEN franchise holds a special place not only within the universe of Fox but with movie enthusiasts across the galaxy.  We noticed that fans of the ALIEN films were starting to rally around the calendar date of April 26th - given the connection to the planet LV-426. Quite simply, it gave us the idea to do something special on this day; to officially mark the occasion alongside fans and to build excitement online, in stores and once again, in theaters."

     And then, from the official press release:

"Twentieth Century Fox Consumer Products announced today an out-of-this-world global celebration of the ALIEN franchise culminating with a special 24 hour, fan-focused social media event on April 26th – a nod to LV-426, the planet from the iconic ALIEN films. ALIEN DAY (#AlienDay426) to encompass a wide range of executions including nationwide screenings, never-before-seen consumer product activations and the kickoff of the ALIEN: Ultimate Trivia Challenge*, allowing fans to test their ALIEN knowledge – with the chance to win memorable prizes every 42.6 minutes on Twitter."

#ALIENDAY426

     I'm not going to lie, I'm really into this.  Dark Horse Comics has a ton of the Alien comics on sale for 50% off on Comixology (sale ends on 05/02 leaving plenty of time to shop), so I'll buy a bunch of those.  Although I've already got Alien: Salvation and can safely recommend that to any Alien fan or any Mike Mignola fans, it's a great short book.  There's a wealth of great material in there for fans.

     NECA and Funko have new figures on the way, Titan and Audible books, and other special edition merchandise will be available.  Zen Studios made an Alien Pinball app game available on iTunes, Google Play, or Xbox.  In addition, participating theaters will be showing an Alien and Aliens double feature!  But the coolest item might be the fact Reebok is issuing the iconic high-top ALIEN STOMPERS!  Sadly though, the shoes are all sold out and going for ridiculous Weyland-Yutani prices on Ebay.

     To join in on the face-hugging fun just go on over to Twitter and Instagram @AlienAnthology or on Facebook at http://facebook.com/alienanthology.  The horror here will be how much we all spend on all this cool merchandise.

     Personally, I'll be celebrating by playing some Alien: Isolation.

     Sources [ Blastr ] [ Inquisitr ]

*Trivia participants must pre-register their handles In advance of the contest kickoff at http://AlienAnthology.com.

Alien 5: Blomkamp's New Concept Art

     Months after being Greenlit by 20th Century Fox for his new Alien movie pitch, Blomkamp has given us the first new look at the film he is working on with a pic via instagram.

     Blomkamp's previous films were both good (District 9) and merely ok (Elysium), but his take on Alien, through all the shared concept art that shows he knows what should be- or  what rightfully should have been- happening, will hopefully avoid pulling a Ridley Scott and crapping on his own saga with something like Prometheus.

     I have an odd faith that Blomkamp can pull this off.  He's got all the perfect ingredients- a reverence for the franchise, the iconic xenomorph aliens, Ellen "The biggest badass ever" Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), and Corp. Dwayne "The next biggest badass ever" Hicks (Michael Biehn).
     He also has a nice bit of continuity that the 3rd and 4th film lost through the magic of poor storytelling.  So really, if this goes anywhere near as well as it looks according to all the conceptual art, it could be the perfect rejuvenation for a listless franchise.

New "Alien" Confirmed with Neill Blomkamp Helming

     It's been about 2 months since Neill Blomkamp posted some extremely interesting Aliens images on his Instagram feed telling of a project that had fallen through.  The series of images showed a continuation of Ripley and Hicks after the nuked LV-426 and the infested Hadley's Hope terraforming colony.

     Two days ago, 20th Century Fox announced the news that they've closed a deal on an as yet untitled Alien film with Blomkamp in the large Engineer's Pilot seat.  This is good because all the disappointment I had after seeing Ridley Scott return to the series with Prometheus.  It should also be noted this will not be tied to the Prometheus sequel with Ridley Scott has going with Fox.

     Blomkamp has shown a wonderful talent for gritty science fiction with both District 9 and Elysium, then he may prove himself once again capable with the upcoming Chappie.  It'll be great to see him tackling an official Alien film.  This is a tremendous opportunity for him, and a great chance to really reinvigorate the franchise.
     It is currently unclear whether Sigourney Weaver, the badass extraordinaire Ellen Ripley herself, will return.  It is also unknown how they'd work in the previously deceased Corp. Dwayne Hicks (Michael Biehn) may return.  There are plenty of ways around story problems, and if Blomkamp handles them well enough, we might be able to forget some of the lesser films in the series.
     In any case, the images have sold me on this project.

     Oddly, no images of Newt have surfaced, which I find a little bit curious indeed.

     Source [ Variety ]

Alien: Isolation: 2 DLC Preorder Bonus: The Nostromo Edition

     In an interesting turn of events, the makers of Alien: Isolation, The Creative Assembly, have announced what the preorder bonus is- a 2 part DLC purchase upgrade called The Nostromo Edition.

     What makes this interesting is it brings together the original cast of Ridley Scott's original Alien film from 1979.  Sigourney Weaver will once again play Ellen Ripley, joined by Tom Skerritt, Veronic Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, and Yaphet Kotto all reprising their characters.  I do notice that the man that played the deceptive android Ash, Ian Holm, is the only one not returning.

     The first part of the DLC is called Crew Expendable and will begin right after Brett's death and allow you to choose one of three different perspectives to play from- Ripley, Dallas, or Parker.  Each character offers their own slightly unique view of the events and will have their own starting resources in an attempt to root out the xenomorph and get it to an airlock.

     The second part, titled Last Survivor, will be only available through certain retailers depending on which territories you are in.  In this DLC you play solely as Ripley during the finale of the movie while she must initiate the self-destruct sequence of the doomed Nostromo and try to reach the safety of the escape shuttle Narcissus.

     These DLC's will have a large and explorable part of the Nostromo, but the alien itself will retain the unpredictable nature of the main game, so each time you play it will behave differently.

     Alien: Isolation will be available Oct 7th for PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, and PC.

     Source [ IGN ]

Community Season 5 & Alien: Mash-up Meme: In Space, No One Can Hear You Pop. (Magnitude)

     I've been thinking about making this since I first saw the second episode of this season's Community when Magnitude breaks a window and screams his trademark, "POP-POP!!!"  The idea just popped into my head (apologies for the pun.

     Then I went on a tangent and thought of ways to Meme other characters- like replacing Ian Holm's Ash from Alien with Richard Erdman's Leonard from Community.  They would all involve lines from both and end up with something along the lines of Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) saying, "Shut up, Leonard!"


     Who knows, if I find some down time between school and work I might make a few more of these- there's so many swaps that could be done like Dallas (Tom Skerritt)/ Jeff Winger (Joel McHale).

Alien: Isolation- Sega's Official Announcement Trailer

     Sega has officially released the trailer for Creative Assembly's Alien: Isolation, and it looks good.  Really good, in fact.



     The trailer definitely evokes the feelings of isolation and horror hearkening back to Ridley Scott's original Alien film.  Inspiration drawn straight out of it.  Darkened hallways, moving shadows, and a dangerous predator hunting you on a space station.  The atmosphere of fear is pervading.
     Seeing what has become of your crewmates doesn't help, and being unarmed will necessitate a lot of hiding and planning to escape this foe.  This looks to be a real return to survival horror many Aliens fans have been waiting for- a deadly and ominous game of hide-and-seek.

     Isolation takes place 15 years after Alien, on a large, decommissioned trading station called Sevastopol where someone has recovered a Nostromo flight recording.  As Weyland-Yutani engineer Amanda Ripley (pictured above), seeking to know what happened to the Nostromo, sets out to find the ship's Black Box.  She's trying to find answers to how her mother disappeared.  I am very curious how well this story fits in the Alien franchise.  As it is, this game looks much better than Colonial Marines.

     Here's a couple of hopeful quotes from Joystiq:

     "The thing we're always focused on is that first film," Lead Game Designer Gary Napper told Joystiq at a recent press event. "It's making the game as much like that original experience of being focused on a single alien in a single environment, and not being prepared to shoot it. It's that really close-up, personal, and connected experience with the Alien. That's what we've always focused on and wanted to do."

     "We wanted you guys to see the Alien in its raw form," Napper explained, "Because we've built this entire game around that set of core mechanics, that kind of base behavior of the Alien, hunting and searching for you and you having nothing to defend yourself."

     I, for one, am quite eager to experience the terror and desperation this game looks to provide in a first ever "real" Alien experience.

     Alien: Isolation will be released in late 2014 for PS3, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, and PC.

     Source [ Alien: Isolation Official Site ]

Alien: Isolation: Leaked Screenshots and More Thoughts

     As a fan of the Alien series I was not only shocked upon hearing that another Aliens game was on the way, but just a little bit excited.  My interest waned a bit when I then read it was to focus on Amanda Ripley, daughter of legendary Alien icon Ellen Ripley.  Can't we just let that family be?  Haven't the Ripleys suffered through enough xenomorphic horror?
     My worries are more to due with the coincidental occurrence of Ripley's daughter coming across something so similar.  Sure, the Weyland-Yutani Co. is not the most truthful of organizations to get one's information from, but why would they lie to Ripley?  If they lied to her daughter, which resulted in her death, it would actually make quite a cycle.  Ripley "dies" in the Nostromo explosion while attempting to obtain xenomorph specimen, W-Y agrees to let her daughter investigate with hopes of finding new specimen, she dies, then original Ripley is found and sent in with no friends or family to, once again, attempt to inadvertently retrieve a specimen.
     So we could hypothesize that Amanda joined a crew that went in search of the lost USS Nostromo, and wound up in a situation like her mother.  I mean Prometheus showed us that there were definitely more ships than the singular encounter on LV-426, so it isn't impossible.  She would be following some very dangerous footsteps.

     Anyway- my hopes have once again been restored by seeing the 4 "leaked" screenshots.  This looks to be heavily inspired by the first Ridley Scott film and that holds a fair amount of weight.  Development studio Creative Assembly has me so far with Isolation.  But then again, Aliens: Colonial Marines looked really great until you had the actual game...
     If they can make this FPS stealth-horror (and survival?) work, they'll have me as a fan for a long while.  It seems to be a tough genre to make work, even without using an IP that is so beloved.


     Source [ Kotaku ]

Alien: Isolation - Ripley's Daughter's Game

     It looks as if Sega has more plans for the Aliens franchise.  After the almost universally terrible reviews of that space turd called Aliens: Colonial Marines (by Gearbox and TimeGate), they are taking some of that critically negative advice to heart.

Is this the face of a badass?  Possibly.

     The new Alien game for current and next gen consoles is called Alien: Isolation (being developed by the Creative Assembly) and is starring Ellen Ripley's daughter(mentioned in an Aliens deleted scene).  An odd choice of character to plunder.  I'm sure they want to retain the ultimate badass Ripley namesake while getting a bit of freedom in the storytelling department.  Presumably, it'll take place after the first movie, but before Ellen Ripley was awoken from her 57 years of hypersleep.  Although due to the inclusion of "hypersleep technology" one can't really tell.

"According to our source, the protagonist of Alien: Isolation is Amanda Ripley, daughter of Ellen Ripley, the character that made Sigourney Weaver famous and kicked off the ubiquitous sci-fi franchise over 30 years ago. Amanda, who is mentioned in the special edition of Aliens as having died while Ellen was frozen in space, has not yet been the focus of any books, movies, or games in the Alien extended universe.

You, as Amanda, spend most if not all of the game on a single space station, according to our source. There's only one alien for "most" of the game, our source said; you'll mostly be shooting through "clones and soldiers." Vents, lockers, and melee weapons are a big part of Isolation, our source said, and the game is heavily inspired by the first Alien movie."

     It's said to be a first person shooter combining stealth and horror.  They're aren't many details other than that, but at least they are listening to the fans about the horrible way the Aliens franchise has been handled in the past.

     What I'm wondering is if Burke lied to Ripley (Amanda died at age 66), which is something he would definitely do, what are the odds that her daughter would encounter something this similar?  Why not make a stand alone tale about some nobody in that time period?  Draw reference from games like Dead Space, and create an atmosphere of fear and desperation in space.  This should be survival horror, not a clone shoot-em-up.

Source [ Kotaku ]

Damon Lindelof Breaks up with Twitter

“After much thought and deliberation, I’ve decided t...”

    Is this the first line of a new project?  Is this a new mystery he's created?  A plot twist?  Or a much needed reprieve from all the hostile fans?  Regardless, it's the best ending he's written yet.

     Well, this was the last Tweet he posted before departing this social network.  He's now gone from the Twitterverse.  I don't blame him either- while I've not been a fan of many of his works- LOST, Prometheus, and the things he's done with the Star Trek films- I did enjoy his Tweets.  He was very good at matching wit with the internet trolls that painted him with a giant target.  More often than not I got a laugh out of his wonderful Tweetfests.

     There seems to be a problem with many of the trolls aiming their hate towards him and not his writing.  Really, I complain about his stuff all the damn time, but I don't take it out on him personally.  For example- his Ultimate Hulk vs Wolverine comic series- it started off AMAZINGLY in 2005...  and then disappeared for years until resurfacing to finish the last 4 issues in 2009.
     Yes- I was pissed about a four year delay, but I didn't blast him with hate mail.  I did not bombard him with degrading mail, no verbal attacks were thrown.  Sure the new Star Treks have a million problems, but it's the writing that is the issue, not the man.  Either get rid of the current Star Trek writers, or bring in better editors.  Listen to the fans of the series' you work on. (not necessarily the rabid/crazy fans)  There are reasons fans stay with the stuff so long, and if you keep ignoring those things you'll only incur more wrath*.

     One might suppose the inundation of hate mail led to this, and vanishing is a great way to distance from all that negativity.  Will Lindelof return better off than before?  If you would ask me, I hope he really hunkers down and focuses on writing, truly hone his craft.  He's got a ton of great ideas (See my post about the Lindelof Idea Generator), he just isn't implementing them properly.  He's lacking cohesion.  Learn to do it right, and we will genuinely look forward to your future work.  Even I'm eager to see what he'll be capable of with some improved skills.

     Perhaps we'll see his return under a pseudonym...  such as David Spindlebroth.



     *ZING!

Duke Nukem Forever... Forever Immature

     This shouldn't really surprise anyone, that after playing through Gearbox's tremendously delayed (12 years or so) Duke Nukem Forever, that The Duke is just as crass, self obsessed, and over the top as I recalled from long ago as a teen in the mid 1990's.  Honestly, there's an endless stream of film referencing one-liners, mostly naked ladies, and impossible weapons (the shrink ray is exceptionally fun- allowing you to shrink enemies down and boot stomp them).  This is a game my 13 year old self would've loved.

     Duke's machismo is more than enough to assert his testosterone laden muscles over the alien invaders, so much so that he doesn't even have a health bar- it's an EGO bar!  He has plenty of methods of slaying the invading aliens through the campaign- FPS, turrets, driving in a remote control car and an over sized monster truck, and even smaller games to distract you from the main game like slot machines, air hockey, and a whack-a-mole knock off.  I would like to note that the controls are absolutely horrendous on the mini games and somehow, even worse, in the swimming sections.  They get to be very frustrating and detract from what the game was actually somewhat good at- the stupid humor and just plain shooting things into a bloody pulp.  Just fixing the controls would've boosted this game's playability a considerable amount.

     Really, the only parts that are worth it are the FPS and the ludicrous humor.  As immature as it is, I admit I laughed out loud more than I should have.  I mean there's an Achievement/Trophy called Turd Burglar, for picking up a turd from a toilet.  And, yes, I did laugh out loud about it.  Finding all the Easter Eggs that are classic Gearbox nods to other games and movies were actually one of the highlights for me- the Portal companion barrel and the shrink ray's gun design is awfully reminiscent of the one used by Chell.  These are wonderful additions, but they cannot support the whole game.  Yes, there was a bunch of fun in this beer guzzling, steroid using, stripper ogling man, but when it comes down to it the crappy game mechanics and poor story don't keep it going to the end of the game.  Just a small amount of more depth could've gone a long way.

     In fact, after playing this, I wonder how much of Alien: Colonial Marines was stripped straight from this game.  I can see the blatant theft from their own games- weapons, melee attack, and all the alien eggs and bursters.  Really, Duke Nukem Forever could've been a wonderful way to update and satirize FPS games, but it ended up being a joke in itself.  Perhaps they'll make use of the IP and create something more worthwhile.  Probably not though...

     ...because...

     ...luckily for us all, Gearbox put all their time into the Borderlands series, and rightly so.  Despite the flaws, the Borderlands games are far superior.  (Why didn't they just re-skin the Borderlands stuff into Aliens: Colonial Marines?  It would've probably been much, MUCH better if they had.)

Lawsuit: Aliens Colonial Marines "False Advertisement"

It's all just a demo...

    It seems to be official, Sega and Gearbox are in legal trouble due to the demo's highly misleading advertising fiasco.  A class action suit, to be specific.  When I hear about this I laugh.  In my head I hear Bruce from Family Guy saying, "No Wa-a-a-a--a-y!"  Really, it was only a matter of time that this would happen.
     I was one of the many that preordered and got burned by a horrendous game.  It wouldn't be so bad if they patched and fixed it for those of us that stuck it out.  Something to show that Gearbox and Sega are working to repair the damage done to all of their faithful consumers.

  "We think the video game industry is no different than any other that deals with consumers: if companies like Sega and Gearbox promise their customers one thing but deliver something else, then they should be held accountable for that decision."

-Ben Thomassen (Edelson LLC)

     I fully understand the fact that there may be discrepancies between early forms of the game and the later changes that occur just before we actually receive the product, but this particular case is undeniably wrong.  Does anyone else remember the early Borderlands game VGA trailer? (Check it out here if you can't recall- http://youtu.be/WSvTqfmv3DE)  They definitely made some massive changes to the ENTIRE visual style.  BUT!  As previews kept coming, they REFLECTED those changes.  Aliens: Col. Marines did not.  They continually advertised the enhanced graphics and gameplay.
     I am curious to see how this plays out.  There is a part of me that hopes they are held accountable for such deceptions, but then again-  I sincerely hope the gaming industry isn't opening the door to petty and frivolous legal actions to come.  What kinds of marketing issues are we to look forward to now?

     Here's my previous Aliens: Col. Marines post with a better picture: A disclaimer- SUCKERS!

Source: Polygon

Aliens: Colonial Marines: DISCLAIMER!

In space, no one can hear you complain.

     Here's a bit of an interesting item concerning the travesty known as Aliens: Colonial Marines.  It has been widely known that the game we were delivered had been NOTHING like what was advertised.  The demo and trailers showed things far exceeding the graphics and play that gamers received, despite the fact we were led to believe we'd receive after the hype.

     A redditor actually did something about it.  Reddit user Subpardave sent a complaint to the Advertising Standards Agency (UK)- http://redd.it/1bjtot 

     ...and he actually got a reply.  A very disappointing one, but something at least.  Sadly, that reply is only the fact that a disclaimer will be added to the footage stating things we now already know to be true:

  "They agreed to add a disclaimer, both on their website and in all relevant YouTube videos, which explains that the trailers depict footage of the demo versions of the game. The disclaimer will be visible when each online trailer is played."

     ...uuhhh...


     ... so after almost 2 months after the game released, Sega Europe will put a disclaimer on something we all already know to be EXTREMELY MISLEADING on their official videos.  Not all of Sega (or other developer names attached to the game), but one part of a company will be acknowledging this train wreck.
     Aren't demos usually parts of games that are currently in production, parts of a product we will be getting?  Disturbing that we can't get more out of this.

     One small step I suppose.

Gearbox at PAX East.

     Anyone else expecting a bunch of frivolous information from Mr. Pitchford at PAX East tomorrow?  Probably a bunch of vague, over-hyped statements mostly focused on their cash cow Borderlands.  They had the teaser for their new playable character stating that the new vault hunter was heading to PAX E, so at least we may get the full reveal.  I hope it's the previously mentioned "Quasimofo" as that sounds like an amazing character.

     Will they give any news on the raise in level cap or "Massive Expasion" for Borderlands 2?   How about the blunder called Aliens: Colonial Marines?  With a bit of work Aliens could be fixed.  By a bit, I mean a butt load of work.  It would be extremely nice if Gearbox would release statements on the mistakes made.  They can't ignore it forever.  A simple apology would go a very long way.     It would be nice to know that all the big promises we were given would actually be made right.

Gearbox's PAX East live panel-  http://twitch.tv/2k   (Sunday, March 24th at 12:30pm ET)

Borderlands 2: News- Level Cap Raise

     Here's another piece of news on the raise in level cap for Borderlands 2.  Mr Randy Pitchford tweets again!!!

     It's not much, but it IS something.  So he mentions something is actually being WORKED ON, not just planned.  Predictably, we'll probably be paying for it- as it is "in addition" to the  campaign's current season pass.  Let's hope there is a 2nd season pass, and plenty more DLCs- Gearbox has to make up for the horrible Aliens: Colonial Marines fiasco, and I will be getting whatever DLC is put out for this game as it comes even though my interest is waining.   
     There are plenty of fans still awaiting what is to come for the Borderlands saga.

     PS: After beating Aliens Colonial Marines I have to say that Gearbox should be funneling a decent amount of funds into fixing that game.  It's playable, at least in single player, but it needs TONS of work.  The multiplayer is just awful- stuttering gameplay, players randomly disappearing, completely random deaths without cause.  It is just horrendous.  Please fix this Gearbox.  I would love to enjoy it, but the game itself is fighting against me.

UPDATE: A fellow over on the Gearbox forums has summed up some of my thoughts on this "announcement" quite well-

"i've been saying it for months now the first season pass was grossly misrepresentation of what the actual end product was. 4 DLC's the same size and quality of Knoxx, yet we got none of the things most gamers wanted, and instead those things will be included in additional content that we'll have to buy.


i'm sure if we were told up front no level cap increase, no additional bank spaces, short DLC's, nobody would have bought the season pass. Oh except the people who think if they dare say something bad it'll hurt someone's feelings. Well personally I'm offended by the fact that the DLC's I was promised were short changed on me.

No mention the DLC's were being outsourced, no mention the DLC's weren't going to include level and or inventory increases, no mention that one of the DLC's would barely pass the 2 hour mark in terms of total completion.

i'm sure this message will get marked because god forbid you mention being disappointed about paying for something beforehand. Also before people say it, I have zero issues paying for the content, which is why I purchased the Season pass in the first place. I do have a problem with being promised Diamonds and getting cubic zirconia."  -Orge Lambart

     This is VERY true. Gearbox made a bunch of highly exaggerated claims about the DLCs, and none of the claims lives up to those promises. The only way they could please the gamers that are desperately hoping Gearbox redeems themselves is if the 4th DLC is absolutely massive. It would have to implement all the things we've been promised and then add an extra 10% of unexpected, but awesome, additions as well.  We need to be wowed after all these mediocre releases.  (Granted I have enjoyed them (Hammerlock's Hunt and Mr. Torgue's at least.  Torgue's has been the best so far), but they were super short.  And Scarlett's was just -Meh.)
     In my experience, the continued dashed hopes leaves my interest lagging.  I'm sick of hearing we're going to be getting these GRAND ADD-ONS, and fail to receive them. 

     PPS: So if Gearbox barely did anything on Aliens: Colonial Marines, and the Borderlands 2 DLCs were farmed out, shouldn't the one DLC they ARE working on be mind blowing?  And shouldn't they have had the foresight to fix the potential problems of "game breaking" level cap additions... oh... I don't know... when they made the Trophy/Achievement for being "Capped Out... for now"!?!

Aliens: Colonial Marines: GAME OVER MAN!

     After playing a bunch more, I've come to note that while this is NOT a good game, by any means, it is an enjoyable game, by me- at least.  I find myself at odds- on one hand I want to enjoy it.  I love the Aliens franchise, even Aliens 3, 4 and Prometheus, despite the massive problems found within them.  Then on the other hand all the games downsides make it very difficult to continue liking it.*

Is it "GAME OVER" Gearbox???

       I hope Gearbox comes out and fixes this game. I'll give them a chance.  They need to take care of the fans outside of their money maker Borderlands franchise. It's getting tiring when even Borderlands 2's DLCs are being put out at sub-par levels.   Lackluster add-ons, on top of Duke Nukem Flub-ever, and now this seeming Aliens failure- will this mean GAME OVER MAN for their many of Gearbox's supporters???

     As I said yesterday:

     When it comes down to it, a whole game cannot be patched, and soon we consumers will find out if Gearbox can "patch" their credibility. I'm eagerly waiting to hear what Mr. Randy Pitchford will be saying about this Aliens controversy, as I'm still hopeful something good may come out of it. 

     *So many flaws...  Really, I've had to restart checkpoints far to often due to my character being stuck what appears to be absolutely nothing.  There's been countless times of enemies being lodged in walls and doorways.  A minimum of 5 times I got killed by a xenomorph that was NOWHERE on screen and definitely not on the motion tracker. 
     The Weyland-Yutani soldiers have a tendency to shoot through walls while you're in another area and magically one one shot me from across a room full of path blocking obstacles.  Hell, I've run into an area where the xenomorphs continually spawned until I completely ran out of ammo and subsequently became overwhelmed and died.
     I truly believe with a large patch this game could be a lot more fun.  Make the damage system fairer.  I'm sick of being killed by one swipe from a xeno when I have full health and armor\shields.  The Weyland-Yutani marksmanship needs to be levelled out a bit as well.  Why can they one shot me, but I can empty a shotgun clip into their face and they're still not dead?
     Should I even mention how useless all the other marines are?  Mostly they just get in the way, so I find myself using them for cover and as a short of make-shift shield while in combat by sliding around behind them.  It works occasionally because all the Xenomorphs tend to target ONLY the player and ignore all the other marines.

     Although I must say, once again, I love the pulse thump sound on the motion tracker.  I'll continue playing and attempting to renew my love of Gearbox and what they've done to this beloved franchise.

Aliens: Colonial Marines

     Even after reading the horrendous reviews, I kept my preorder with hopes that maybe I would be thoroughly enjoying this game.  It's happened with other games- Warriors: Legends of Troy, Green Lantern, and Thor for example.  They aren't good games, by any means, but I enjoyed them anyway. 
     Gearbox's Aliens is only half meeting that expectation.  I've only made it through a couple levels, but the frustration is already setting in.  I'll continue to play through the whole game, and then try out the multiplayer.  I don't think I'll be as cruel as the reviewers, and have actually found myself enjoying a couple parts.  The sound for instance- the Pulse Rifle firing and the Motion Trackers are SPOT ON and I absolutely love that.

     Within the last few months of Gearbox's Borderlands 2 DLC's being only decent, seriously lacking in length and quality- I've been consistently losing faith in this company.  Sure, the Borderlands stuff is decent- I love Torgue's Campaign of Carnage, but Scarlett's Pirate's Booty and Hammerlock's Hunt are both lacking.  No REALLY new weapons and shields, short quest lines, and all right stories. 
     Really, what's going on with them.  Where's the Borderlands 1 Gearbox team quality gone to???
     Here's a decent link to a Jim Sterling article that may shed a bit of light: http://www.destructoid.com/developer-gearbox-lied-to-sega-2k-over-colonial-marines-245986.phtml

     I'm only moderately liking this game so far.  It's playable, but as ALL the reviewers have noted there are numerous problems with it.  Too linear, bland writing, clunky character movements (both marines and alien NPCs) and blatantly ignoring previously canon story in the "Aliens" franchise.  Really, I can see ignoring Alien 3 and beyond, as well as that beautiful mess of a film Prometheus, but what the EFF Gearbox?!?  There are a bazillion fans that can be put to use as proofreaders.  Hello beta testers...  how much of this game could've been prevented with proper acknowledgement of fans?
     And just as many others have said, I feel lied to.  I feel cheated.  The game is nothing like the demo.  There seems very little about the game we got that is actually like what was advertised.  With Borderlands 2 we were promised a bunch of stuff still hasn't been provided- a worry free bank size, when will we get that?  How about that Armory of General Knoxx sized DLC?  Still nowhere in sight.  For Aliens, we are lacking both the wonderful atmosphere and feel of being in that world. 

     When it comes down to it, a whole game cannot be patched, and soon we consumers will find out if Gearbox can "patch" their credibility.  I'm eagerly waiting to hear what Mr. Randy Pitchford will be saying about this Aliens controversy, as I'm still hopeful something good may come out of it.  Then again, maybe not. 

Prometheus: Alien could've been a lot different...

     Hey people-  I was just thinking that Alien would've turned out a LOT different if John Hurt's character Kane did this in the Derelict Ship. 

     All he had to do was yell, "LEEROY JENKINS!" and run like hell through the ship's egg chamber.  Set off all the eggs and facehuggers come springing out galore- maybe the astronauts get away, maybe they don't.  And I have no clue how resilient the facehuggers are without food or water.  Perhaps they could survive the hostile LV-426 atmosphere? 
     I just thought this potential story could be humorous.

Prometheus: A Beautiful Mess

     Before wasting your time with a long, jumbled, and blabbery post on the movie, here's what I think David said to the Engineer.  It would explain why it got so pissed and went on a rampage.

 

     Just to start, I'll say I enjoyed the movie.  At least the visuals.  The reason I posted this with the subtitle of a beautiful mess is because I believe that's what the movie amounts to.  A wonderful visual buffet with a very poor, perhaps rushed, script.  Maybe a few editors could've fixed the Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof story. 
     Well, at least try to make the script into a story.  It's like the writers had a bunch of unconnected visual ideas they scribbled on to blank pages and then pasted them in random intervals into a script for an android's story of rebellion and struggle for independance against It's creator/father.  I mean most of the time people set out to write scripts/stories they know the answers to, to fulfill the questions raised- or at least lead viewers towards an answer.  This particular movie has too many problems. It probably could've been fixed if it had been postponed a year before filming.  Companies are in too much of a hurry to make a buck.

*SPOILERS AHEAD*
*RANDOM THOUGHTS ALSO AHEAD*

     The movie starts with one of the race of Engineers on a planet, assumed by many to be Earth.  This indivuidual seems to be seeding the planet by drinking some black goop out of a small container.  This wonderful black substance starts to break down the Engineer's being and spreads his DNA into the waterfall. 

     What I would like to understand is why this individual would do that?!?  Seriously, a baker doesn't bake themselves into their cakes.  What if something wasn't right, or the process didn't go as planned?  Well the the magical black goop apparently does whatever the hell it wants. (More on this later)  After it breaks down the Engineer DNA and then switches it's function to building life.  Now, I'm no scientist, but one would think that when starting to seed a planet, one would seed it with tons of varint species, all over.  Not with one type of magical DNA that will evolve over thousands of years into a smaller, weaker, and just generally lesser version of yourself... as well as all manner of plants and animals. 
     I suppose that many animals have quite similar DNA to humans.  (I've read somewhere about fruit flies and chickens being 60 % correspondant to human, cats around 90%, and chimpanzees about 97%.)
     Why wouldn't they just make smaller versions of themselves and plop them down on the planet?  Doesn't make much sense.  Which leads me to say- this is the start of a movie about poor science.  Perhaps this particular Engineer was a lone worker or maybe the equivalent of a suicide bomber.
What baker bakes himself into their cakes?  Do architects build themselves into their buildings?  NO!  Why?  Because it's stupid.  You can't fix a building when you're dead in the walls, and you can't bake any replacement cakes when you're a dead ingredient.

     Ok, with this odd beginning out of the way, I want to say that I'm super disappointed that they didn't keep the Elephantine "Space Jockey" a non-human.  It seemed so much more amazing to have a large creature that isn't a human in a technological marvel.  In fact it always reminded me of Robert E. Howard's story "Tower of the Elephant" about Conan the Barbarian's encounter with the elephantine alien Yag-Kosha.

     So the story cuts to the 2 main characters, Dr.'s/Scientists "Girl with an Alien Tattoo" Shaw and "Not Tom Hardy" Holloway, finding some old cave paintings even older than the other 10 carvings and paintings by ancient cultures that have previously been found.  Why they would get super excited about something they ALREADY know is beyond me.  These 2, Shaw and Holloway, have already found all these unconnected cultures had pictures of the same thing- people essentially worshipping a giant humanoid gesturing to a group of planets/stars.  Which to me would mean we've been visited A BUNCH OF TIMES and if we waited a while longer they would come back again.

    Shaw has an immense faith because her father told her something as a child and she CHOOSES what to believe.  Sounds like science to me.  I'm going to CHOOSE to believe in what I want and not bother to ask any questions, and subsequently screw everything over in the end.  IDIOT! 
Let's just CHOOSE to ignore all the evidence that looks negative and assume we got an invite to a party!  Yay! 
     Fifield, the only outright Nay sayer in the whole Prometheus' crew asks why, and niether Shaw nor Holloway can answer.  They just resort to the "because" mentality.  Not very scientific.  Not very mature either.
     In all reality, the picture could be a reprimand or warning.  Something along the lines of, "Hey humanity, this is daddy's dangerous stuff, KEEP OUT!" 
     So, really choosing to believe one thing with something akin to children's drawings makes me wonder, what the hell kind of Dr.s are these main characters anyway???  Do they just hand out PH.D.s to anyone that graduated high school in the future?  I'd say that "No Child Left Behind" really held back future intellect.
     BALH BLAH BLAH  this is getting too long, so I'll shorten the rest.

     It also strikes me as highly preposterous that of the two people that get lost in the cave complex, one of them is a geologist.  He also has a 3 dimensional map of the place.  How many cameras do we have nowadays that just send pictures to be printed without having them on a viewscreen?

     Problems with the Black Goo Substance.  1) It disintegrates the Engineer at the beginning after being ingested, but takes forever to have an effect on  Holloway.  2) After an infected Holloway impregnates Shaw, she C-section birthes a squid baby.  3) Fifield is splattered with it and turns into a contortionist/acrobatic/zombie/gymnast/killer.  4)Etc.  Seriously, where's the continuity?  Have it do one thing, not a bunch of random crap "that looks cool."  That's dumb.
     If it broke down the Engineer to eventually evolve into people, shouldn't it be doing that to everything living it contacts?  Especially since we all come from the same source according to the opener of the movie.

     After Shaw C-sections herself and loads up on drugs she becomes an olympian champ.  Nonstop sprinting for the rest of the film.  Must've been some good stuff in those syringes.

    When David brings Weyland to visit the Engineer I had to ask a quetion that bugged me a LOT.  If Weyland is so sure his creation had no soul, and his subsequent contemptuous treatment of David, what would make him think the Engineers would think any better of us?  From the film all I could gather is they made humans(at least 1, but maybe a few more Engineers.  Maybe "Prometheus" stole the black goo and made us, I don't know) Then they spent a considerable amount of effort to create an unstable product(Black goo), and mass produce it in a secret military installation, send out invites, then seek to destroy their creations.  Are humans that dangerous?  Were we a by product?  A failed military bioweapon?
     If Weyland can put people into a hypersleep, why couldn't he just wait out the time until we've designed a youth drug, replacement bodies, or mind transferance? 
     Also, with all the technological might of the Engineer empire, why would they start their ships with a damn flute?  I could see a whistled tune or sound/vocal commands, but a FLUTE?!?!?!?

     At the end after the Squidbaby magically grew, locked in a room without any sustenance and going 100% undetected, into a Squid giant and impregnated the Engineer.  It sprouted a chest bursting alien-esque creature.  A part that many of my friends were anticipating.  My reply to this is at least 1 of the Engineers had to know what was going to happen.  Which means the Black goo should have predictable qualities.  How would they know?  Glad you asked- when they room with the ridiculous giant Engineer head was opened the mural had a GIANT ALIEN QUEEN PAINTED ON IT!
     Shaw and David after hijacking another Engineer ship decide to go on a wonderful quest: Engineer homeworld!  Are you friggin' serious?  A single Engineer ripped one of their heads off and almost killed the other.  How well do they expect to fare against a vast number of them?  Absurd.  They should at least head back to Earth for some kind of reinforcements, reverse engineer some of the tech, maybe get some smarter crew members that CHOOSE not be be complete idiots, and then head out.
     Ugh.  I'm sure I've missed a bunch of things, and forgotten even more.  It's been like a month since I saw and discussed it with friends.  So if you've managed to read this far, thank you.

Well at least the movie sparked a ton of conversation.  Makes me wonder how long it will take James Cameron to make a better sequel.  It'll be called Epimetheus.  Which is more appropriate because there wasn't a lot of Prometheus(forethought) in this film.