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Public - Fiction? - 1:15 PM 02/07/2009
Darkly lit and reeking of money, two individuals sit within an incredibly large boardroom of mahogany and leather. Their small frames engulfed by the dynamically large seats, which should more appropriately contain giants and captains of industry and government. Booming voices, brandy and cigars that should fill this room are all absent. Instead two meek figures sit at the very end, far from the frosted glass doors.

"Imagine it. No one has ever done this before" the first man suggests. His wiry and weasel like frame is bent forwards in excited anticipation. He shuffles in his expensive suit and seat with equal parts excitement and discomfort as he attempts to contain himself. "It will be incredible".

The second man speaks, "They'll hate me." A gloved hand stokes the leather arm of his chair, his eyes wandering behind mirrored aviators.

"No they won't! They're already completely polarized!" Spittle barely grips the lips of the rodent-like man in suit. "Love or Hate, that's all they have. Let the haters hate you for this, instead of the lies."

After a long beat, the responding silence is all the acceptance the weasel requires to launch into his pitch.

"Dead. The world will be shocked. They'll cry, they'll sing, they'll flock to the stores and streets. Sales will sky-rocket, media will over-flow. All free publicity. Past sins will be forgotten, virtues will be extolled. People will want more and more. So we'll give it to them. Tributes and re-releases. Controversy and conspiracy. Then we'll drop the hammer. We'll offer a public viewing. The haters will stay home but the fans will come in droves. All of your biggest fans, in one place."

More silence, but rapt attention.

"A silent concert, thousands of supporters, with you on stage in a glass casket. Your hits playing softly on the arena speakers. Then the lights go down and the volume goes up. People begin to stir and wonder. Thriller begins to play on the speakers as awe grips the crowd. Then a FANTASTIC Explosion as the climax of the song's intro comes! Pyro from both sides of the stage! Backup dancers explode from hidden beneath the stage and you emerge from the Casket to a thunderous explosion of "THRILLER" over the stereo's. You do the zombie dance with the dance-crew, as a huge banner unfurls from the ceiling calling for 'RESURRECTION TOUR: Return of the Thriller 2010".

Despite aviators and surgical mask, the shock, awe and shared excitement are plain to see upon the face of the second figure.

"Sure, there will be those who decry, but think about it! They will talk about this FOREVER. The media storm around your death will pale in comparison to your resurrection. It's perfect! Zombies returned from the dead. All throughout the tour they'll talk about it. The media will REFUSE to let it go. The haters will forget the court case. They'll forget the settlements. They'll talk about you for generations. If there is one artist in the world who can pull this off, it's you."

"Yes."
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Public: Ghostbusters, Unleashed? - 5:41 PM 21/06/2009
As I played through the new Ghostbusters game, a few
familiar thoughts came to mind over and over again.

For starters, the game is gorgeous. Intricate and well designed levels of all varieties allow you to explore hotel hallways, library stacks, city streets, and graveyards in all their urban/ghostly splendor. Transitioning from a hallway-shooter to open environments is really seamless, and provides a lot of variety. While you're effectively forced down a path single, the illusion of open environments is really well maintained through the NPC's. Further and without spoilers, the game blends real-world style elements with ghost world elements dynamically and with great success. Proton streams and special effects always look great, and the character models are top notch. I did have a few instances of sync problems with character dialogue, but it was minimal.

The game play is somewhat humdrum. There's not a lot of spectacular to talk about. This is where Ghostbusters started to emulate 'The Force Unleashed' for me. While operating a particle stream is pretty cool, they had to make the game difficult somewhere and remove the obvious repetition of find 'em, toast 'em, trap 'em. They also re-introduced the slime guns from Ghostbusters II. You end up using that stupid thing as much, if not more, than the regular weapon. There are other new weapons too for variety of game play purposes including the awesome 'Slime tether' which shoots elastic slime. This is used to draw items to you or even funnier, to tie flying ghosts to objects so they can't move around. Later, you can tie animated rock gargoyles to each other, causing them to smash each other to bits. But with echoes of TFU, as the game progresses certain ghosts become immune to your weapons, which makes previous upgrades worthless. Where GB thrives over TFU is the full 'Gears of War style' multiplayer survival mode, available on Live. So far I've played very little of this, because no one else I know has the game... yet.

So where's the game's saving grace? The story line is balls-tastic. Written by Ankroyd and Ramis, they've done a fantastic job of tying the first two movies together with this third installment. They even manage to blend some stories and elements from 'The Real Ghostbusters' TV show, without getting too hokey. All of the universe elements that you'd like to see represented, are. I can't say enough about the writing (or the voice performances (and body language for that matter)). The characters are ALL voiced by the original actors (right down to Annie Pots as Janine), and they all behave the way they should. I was really pleased with the story arc and the subtle nods to the super fans, which I'd like to believe I got most of (Watch for Lady Gozer's skull near the end). I beat the game over the weekend on the hardest setting, but unless you really need the GamerScore, I'd recommend playing it on casual or normal to experience the story.

I'll have to get back to you about the multiplayer, because with all the similarities to TFU I might have to recommend this one as a rental, if the multiplay's not that hot.
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Public: Hockey eh! - 2:46 PM 22/05/2009
I spoke recently of my hockey team, the Ice Dragons. Since then we've had 2 games and are in 3rd place overall by 'Goals For Average'. When considering only point spread (like the NHL does), we're tied for 1st. We've got a really mixed and excellent team. It's basically what you'd expect from an amalgamation of Andrea, Sean and my friends. We kick ass.

Our next game is 8pm Saturday May 23rd at Winterburn Arena where I played previously with Johnny's Canucks. We're playing against the Purple Cobras (I think it's a euphemism for penis) who are desperate for a win after their previous two showings.

Anyone is welcome to come to the game to watch and join for a beer afterward. I'll warn you however, Winterburn is a bit of a hole. If you can't make it out, I'll be posting photos and stories here, as well as making them available for the rest of the team over here. You can also feel free to follow our stats on the EMHL website. Just don't judge too harshly. My penalty minutes were the worst call ever. I didn't trip the guy! He could barely skate!
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